SegmentNextConan Exiles Race And Religion: Which God Is Worth Worshipping
Character creation in Conan Exiles asks you two questions that look equally important and are not. Your race decides what you look like and nothing else. Your god decides which recipes you can reach, which ritual tools you can use, and what descends on somebody's base when you have gathered enough favor. One choice is roleplay and the other is a build decision, so it is worth knowing which is which before the slider work begins.
Race is a look
There are more than ten races in the setting and fourteen you can pick from at creation. They change build size, hair and skin, and nothing about how the game plays. Choose the one you want to look at.
- Hyborian, natives of the land and the most recognisable people in Conan's world, descended from a northern barbarian tribe
- Cimmerian, raiders who trace their line back to the Atlanteans
- Stygian, a monarchy that answers in practice to the priests of Set
- Hyrkanian and Turanian, a seaside empire founded by freed slaves
- Khitan, sorcerers whose origins nobody has established
- Pict, warriors who will fight anyone, on principle
- Shemite, nomads known for craftsmanship and archery
- Darfari, bandits who dress as demons and behave accordingly
- Zamorian, thieves of international reputation
- Zingaran, whose nobles are chivalrous swordsmen and whose sailors are not
- Vendhyan, the Golden Kingdom, known for the beauty of its higher castes
- Nordheimer, northern warriors built for physical strength
- Kushite, from great empires and savage borderlands both, little understood outside them
- Tribal Himelian, fiercely loyal inward and fiercely suspicious outward, after generations at war with their neighbours
The gods, and what each one hands you
When this guide was first written the game shipped with four religions and promised more. The roster has since grown to eight, seven of which are available at character creation.
| God | What worship gives you | Ritual tool and what it harvests |
|---|---|---|
| Crom | Nothing, and asks for nothing in return | None. Crom does not want to hear from you |
| Set | Poison immunity and poison arrows. The avatar is a giant serpent that coils around a structure and pulls it down | Setite ritual knife, for human hearts |
| Yog | The ability to eat human flesh, plus improvements to weapons and armor | Yog cleaver, for unblemished human meat |
| Mitra | Sacred statues, clothing and healing consumables | Mitraen ankh, for lingering essence |
| Ymir | A melee focused arsenal, Foeshatter and Glacier-Crack among it | Hoar-frost hatchet, for ice shards |
| Derketo | The only avatar that heals and revives your allies rather than only destroying | Derketo's kiss, for sliver of the unfulfilled |
| Zath | Long range area denial, the spider god's speciality | Zathite ritual dagger, for venom-purified blood |
| Jhebbal Sag | A flying manticore avatar. Cannot be chosen at creation | Blood letter, for sacred blood |
Crom is the honest choice for a first character who has not decided anything yet, because picking him costs you nothing later. Yog is the one our leveling guide recommends starting with, on the grounds that the cannibal tree solves your food problem in the first hour using the bodies you were producing anyway.
Earning favor
Favor is not passive. Each god wants a specific act performed with a specific tool, which is why the table above pairs them: a Setite ritual knife cutting the heart out of an enemy at an altar of Set, a cleaver taking unblemished flesh that then goes on a Yog pit, an ankh purifying the fallen for Mitra. Accumulate enough and you can call the avatar down.
None of this works without a priest of the right god standing at the right shrine, which makes religion a thrall problem as much as a faith one. Our thrall capturing guide covers identifying the three original priests on sight, by blue clothes, an Egyptian style mask and a jawbone sword respectively, and our named thralls page points at the cities where the better ones turn up.
Changing your mind
Your starting god is not a life sentence. Levelling gives you the points to convert, and the conversion itself is done by finding the right teacher in the world:
- Jamila the Pirate Queen makes you an acolyte of Mitra
- Mek-Kamoses teaches Set
- Nunu the Cannibal takes you to Yog
- The Child of Jhebbal Sag is the only route into that religion, which is why it is missing from the creation screen
- Harpagus the Hatcher, by the summoning circle in Weaver's Hollow, teaches Zath
The first four all appear among the sixteen story NPCs that our camps and NPC locations page puts on the map, so a conversion is really just a walk you already know the route for. Everything else about surviving the Exiled Lands is gathered in the Conan Exiles guide.