Backgrounds in Solasta: Crown of the Magister is a character feature that is presented during Character Customization. This appears as the third step when creating a character after Ancestry, also known as the Race and, as well as Class selection. A character's background is what they did before taking up the adventuring life. The background gives them equipment and proficiencies, as well as the ability to select proficiency flags that affect the character's dialogue choices. This page covers a list of all the backgrounds available in Solasta: Crown of the Magister.
What is a Character Background in Solasta?
A Background is another step of the Character Creation process. It comes after Ancestry and Class selection and is followed by Ability Scores, Proficiencies and Indentity. Each Background comes with a set of a Backgorund features that allows them to be proficient wth certain skills or tools such as the Herbalism Kit for example, which in turn make them better with skills such as Potion making. Along with these features, the Background of a character also determines their starting equipment set. Each Background will have a set of equipment to start with. Players can explore different builds and party combinations to gain access to a variety of features as well as gain access to each of their available Background Quests that accompany each character with the selected background.
Background Quests in Solasta
- Honor Your Masters (Academic Background Quest)
- History of Violence (The Wanderer Background Quest)
- Apostasy (Acolyte Background Quest)
- Shadow of the Past (Spy Background Quest)
- The Nature of Evil (Philosopher Backgorund Quest)
- The Law is the Law (Lawkeeper Background Quest)
- Misaye's Birthday (Lowlife Background Quest)
Newest Available Backgrounds
A few new background options were introduced with the release of the latest Solasta DLCs such as the Primal Calling DLC and the newest release, the Inner Strength DLC. The Wanderer was one background released during the Primal Calling DLC on November 5, 2021 along with its new accompanying background quest, History of Violence, that can be activated in Coparann. Inner Strength introduces three new background options, The Ascetic, The Artist and The Occultist. These will become available on November 14, 2022, but will not be accompanied with any new background quests.
- The Wanderer: Primal Calling DLC
- The Ascetic: Inner Strength DLC
- The Artist: Inner Strength DLC
- The Occultist: Inner Strength DLC
Background Alignment
Describes the character's moral and personal attitudes affinity of your character. In Solasta, alignment is the second form of personality customization.
Character Personality
You can create strong personality features by combining the same flag from the background and the alignment. The resulting personality is summarized at the bottom left of the screen. The deepest color indicates the strongest personality.
Solasta All Backgrounds
Academic
You had two passions growing up: history and magic.
Personality Flags:
Pragmatism ♦ Lawfulness ♦ Greed ♦ Egoism
Acolyte
You have spent your life in the service of a temple to a specific god or pantheon of gods.
Personality Flags:
Lawfulness ♦ Altruism ♦ Caution ♦ Violence
Aristocrat
Born among the lords of your people, you have received a higher education.
Personality Flags:
Authority ♦ Lawfulness ♦ Egoism ♦ Altruism
Lawkeeper
As a former deputy, you have an instinct for spotting trouble and the force of personality to nip it in the bud.
Personality Flags:
Authority ♦ Violence ♦ Lawfulness ♦ Pragmatism
Philosopher
You have spent almost all of your life reading books and learning about the world of Solasta and even others.
Personality Flags:
Pragmatism ♦ Cynicism ♦ Kindness ♦ Altruism
Spy
You have spent years working as a low-level diplomatic aide, learning the tricks of spycraft.
Personality Flags:
Caution ♦ Cynicism ♦ Pragmatism ♦ Greed
Lowlife
Born in the streets, you have always been discarded by most commoners, and learn to survive with close to nothing.
Personality Flags:
Greed ♦ Egoism ♦ Caution ♦ Kindness
Wanderer
Born in the Marches, you were raised and trained to survive the harsh and perilous environment. You had few friends and no education - though you know the true worth of friendship, the kind that keeps you alive.
Personality Flags:
Caution ♦ Pragmatism ♦ Egoism ♦ Kindness
Ascetic
You eschew the world and its material concerns, devoting yourself to spiritual and intellectual perfection. Luxury and even comfort are anathema to you., for they soften the spirit and distract the mind from what is truly important.
Personality Flags:
Egoism ♦ Pragmatism ♦ Cynicism ♦ Caution
Artist
You have a creative talent, either inborn or developed through years of work and practice, that has provided you with a living. Be it music, painting, sculpture, acting, or some other form of artistic expression, your reputation has spread and people will pay for your works.
Personality Flags:
Greed ♦ Kindness ♦ Egoism ♦ Cynicism
Occultist
You have devoted your life to the study of hidden and forbidden knowledge. Where others follow well-trodden academic paths, you strike out into the intellectual unknown, which is as surprising and as dangerous as any literal wilderness.
Backgrounds Comparison Table
Highlighted Features for all Backgrounds
- Bookworm: Proficient in Arcana, Nature, and Insight.
- Runaway Antiquarian: You still have ties to the Antiquarians and your relationship with them is already good.
- Additional Languages: Choose two additional languages.
- Enchanter: Proficient with the Manacalon Rosary, supposed to be useful to enchant items.
- Religious Training: Proficient in Religion, Nature, and Insight.
- Potion Making: Proficient with the Herbalism Kit.
- Higher Education: Proficient in History, Persuasion, and Intimidation.
- Detective: Proficient in Perception and Intimidation.
- Enforcer: Proficient with Martial Weapons.
- Lone Wolf: Proficiency in Survival and Nature
- Crafter: Proficient with Smith Tools and Herbalism Kit
- Physician: Proficient in Medicine and Persuasion.
- Alchemist: Proficient with Herbalism Kit.
- Soldiering: Proficient in Athletics and Intimidation.
- Armored: Proficient with Medium Armor.
- Smithing: Proficient with Smith's Tools.
- Spycraft: Proficient in Stealth and Deception.
- Rough Diplomacy: Proficient with Nature and Poisoner's Kit.
- Spy Cypher: Proficient in Spy's Codebook language.
- Cutpurse: Proficient in Sleight of Hand, Stealth, and Deception.
- Burglary: Proficient with Thieves' Tools.
Background | Background Features | Skill Proficiencies | Tool Proficiencies | Weapon/Armor Proficiencies | Language Proficiencies | Starting Equipment |
Wanderer | ||||||
Academic |
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Acolyte |
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Aristocrat |
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Lawkeeper |
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Philosopher |
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Sellsword |
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Spy |
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Lowlife |
Personality Flags
Personality Flags in Solasta: Crown of the Magister is a feature of the personality system that infuses each character that you create or the premade Companions their own and unique characterization. Personality Flags reflects on how the characters interact towards the party, the world, certain conversations, and the various NPCs you'll meet. This page covers a list of all the Personality Flags featured in Solasta: Crown of the Magister
Your Background and your Alignment will each give you up to 4 Personality Flags to choose from, and some may overlap. Picking the same Personality Flag twice will increase its strength, meaning it will more often take precedence over the other Flags you selected. You will have to pick 2 Flags from each source and depending on your Background you may have a different pre-existing Flag. Personality Flags will help you in dealing with Skill Dialogues by answering someone through persuasion or intimidation, and it will also change how cutscenes are delivered by the character.
All Personality Flags
Pragmatism
A tendency to value principality over principles.
Lawfulness
A tendency to follow rules, laws, and order rather than chaos.
Greed
A tendency to value wealth and comfort above all else.
Egoism
A tendency to put oneself, friends, and family first, at the expense of others.
Altruism
A tendency to always try to help those in need.
Caution
A tendency to take care of one's own safety above all.
Violence
A tendency to solve problems with violence, even when there are other options.
Authority
A tendency to enforce rules and beliefs with authority and leadership.
Cynicism
A tendency to scoff at principles and values.
Kindness
A tendency to care about others, preferring to make friends rather than enemies.
Formal
The character uses complete sentences, with technical or academic vocabulary.
Casual
The character speaks as most folks do, neither overly formal nor overly colloquial.
Affected Backgrounds & Alignments
Name | Affected Background | Affected Alignment |
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Pragmatism | Academic, Lawkeeper. Philosopher, Spy, Wanderer |
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Lawfulness | Academic, Acolyte, Aristocrat, Lawkeeper |
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Greed | Academic, Lowlife, Spy |
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Egoism | Academic, Aristocrat, Lowlife, Wanderer |
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Altruism | Acolyte, Aristocrat, Philosopher |
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Caution | Acolyte, Lowlife, Spy |
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Violence | Acolyte, Lawkeeper, Sellsword |
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Authority | Aristocrat, Lawkeeper, Sellsword |
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Cynicism | Philosopher, Sellsword, Spy |
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Kindness | Lowlife, Philosopher, Sellsword, Wanderer |
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Formal | Academic, Aristocrat, Philosopher |
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Casual | Acolyte, Lawkeeper, Spy |
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Slang | Lowlife, Sellsword |
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Or summarized in one table, for those folks like me trying to have good skill coverage:
Background: skills; languages; crafting; other
Academic: Arcana, Nature, and Insight; +2 languages; manacalon rosary; start with good relationship with Antiquarians
Acolyte: Religion, Nature, and Insight; +1 language; herbalism kit
Aristocrat: History, Persuasion, and Intimidation; +1 language;;40 gp
Lawkeeper: Perception and Intimidation; +1 language;; proficient Martial Weapons
Philosopher: Medicine and Persuasion; +1 language; herbalism kit
Sellsword: Athletics and Intimidation; +1 language;; proficient Medium Armor
Spy: Stealth, Deception, Nature; +1 language; poisoners kit
Low Life: Sleight of Hand, Stealth, and Deception;;thieves' tools
8
+10
-1