Day Mage

I must say Day Mage kicks ass. You get a nice boost at the day, when every normal character should be casting things, but at night it allows to sell various junks to tech smiths

 

The down-side is there's a boat-load of nocturnal critters and they're all happily drooling over the prospect of fresh meat....

 

Son of a hero and Natural teacher is also very good, especially the later one. The only penalty you get with Natural Teacher is that you can have one less follower.

 

Nietsche Poster Child right here.
I also like Born Under a Sign. With the latter, critical hits and failures happen less often...but are amazing.

 

Bree Van De Kamp? Another name for me.

The sword is kinda good actually. It's an Enchanted Sword.

 

Yeah, but it's kinda lame when held up against The Sword* **

*F4er teh P0W4H!!!11!1one
**Or anything else.

Besides, the enchanted sword you start with is hardly worth the negative reaction modifier.
Also, there was no other thought put into the background;
Who the hell was your parent? Why were they so cool?

 

The best backgrounds are the ones that infer bonuses that are useful throughout the game. Especially those that allow you to go over normal maximums in the endgame.

The raised by monks BG is a good example: You only get half your shitty gold in the beginning of the game, but an entire +1 to PE is a permanent increase in something that is finite in the game, unlike gold.

Son of a Hero is okay if you're planning on being Good, but there are certainly much better BG's out there.

 

What background is the best for an evil guy?

 

Sold your soul. Definetly.

I always favoured "Ran away with the circus" for my HO warriors. Add two points to strength, one point to dextery and two rows of melee, and a warrior of superbness is born. For extra effect, buy the Rapier. You can slice down ANYTHING.

 

Beaten with an ugly stick? That can be compared to Sould you soul, right?

 

Educator is the only background that can make gun-toting followers worthwhile in combat.

Sold Your Soul rules for the mages, especially if you don't want to rely on the Dark Helm bug.

Miracle Operation can be good for archers and gunslingers.

Beat with an Ugly Stick is great for melee fighters; Beauty is less important overall than other stats, and it is easy to compensate for.

 

Escaped Lunatic, anyone ?

 

Yeah, that one is real good. You are extremely resistant to damage: +25% to normal, fire, electrical, and poison resistance, but you get a -25 reaction. Wich can be compensated later.

Oh, the Mad Doctor background I really like. +2 Intelligence and Perception, a +20% to Poison and Electrical Resistance, and a +4 to Healing skill but you suffer -1 to Beauty and Charisma, -2 to Dexterity and -3 to Constitution.

 

Mad Doctor isn't good enough. Resistances, except DR, are of little value in Arcanum.

Hyperactive is an often-overlooked background. Having speed above the maximum never hurts.

 

Army Training is good if you want to become a melee guy fast.