Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Histories Guide - what character history should you choose?
Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire is a direct continuation of the first game in the series, but it's also a friendly jumping-on point for complete newcomers. While veterans can import their save, newcomers can select a Pillars of Eternity I History - and these character histories will help determine your character background as if you've played the original game.
If you've played the original POE and have access to your original save game, you won't need to worry about this option - you can import your original save game, thus ensuring your character history in Pillars of Eternity 2 Deadfire matches up with what you did in the first game. If you didn't complete the original, lost your save or siomply never played it, you'll instead be presented with teh character histories menu.
On this page, we're going to run down the different histories, and what each history reveals about your character's background. The story of POE2 will change fairly drastically depending on what you pick, so choose wisely...
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Pillars of Eternity 2 Deadfire Histories Guide - all character history options explained
As we just said, Histories will impact a lot in Pillars of Eternity 2, including how Deadfire's story plays out. Entire conversation options will be locked away or unlocked depending on your choice - a character that has a history of being terribly evil is unlikely to say or do certain nice, benevolent things, after all.
You'll be able to spot these conversation options in-game, as they'll be represented with a box icon next to the conversation choice, revealing it is one that's been added or influenced by your character history.
By default, Pillars of Eternity 2 Deadfire offers up six different character history choices:
Character Histories: The Six Pre-Set Options
Rather than offering story spoilers in detail, we're going to give you a rough idea of what each of the histories does for you - and what type of character they represent.
- Benevolent Soul: This history is the one of a true hero, a good guy through-and-through. You help everybody you can and always try to do the right thing even if it is more difficult or less rewarding for you - and you'll even show mercy to your enemies.
- Fair and Balanced: As the name suggests, you try to keep the scales balanced. You're generally a good guy, though you're also cold and logical: you'll try to make the right decision, even if it might hurt others in the process.
- Survival of the Fittest: You don't mess around and you take no crap. You look after yourself, even if that means aligning yourself with the strong and leaving the weak to worse fates.
- Dark Times: Pure evil, dark lord stuff. You destroy, maim, kill, and you don't care about it.
- Keeper of Secrets: You believe yourself to be a step above everybody else around you - they're beneath you, and you are only secondary to god - bringing within the sort of cavalier attitude one would associate with that.
- Everything Bad: Well... you tried? Nothing worked out, though. Friends were killed, qeusts were failed, and things aren't going to be easy for you going forwards. An option for somebody who wants a real extra challenge...
How to create a custom character history
If none of the above histories do it for you, there is one more option: craft an entirely new, custom character history. This is a great option for new players to Pillars of Eternity 2, allowing you to make some choices before you even start. For veterans who have lost their save, this is your best path to roughly recreating your save.
To do this, simply head to the options menu in the game's main menu. In here you can build an all-new history from the ground up, making major decisions from the first Pillars of Eternity - spoilers, obviously. Each decision is given a bit of context and extra information, too, so you can make them almost as if you had in the game itself.