Persuading/charming Npcs...

[penpal]

hi, im not a sexy toon , i chosed this lizardman-race :)

but what exactly does this persuasion/charming techqnique?

i figured out that with a correct order its possible to raise those points displayed inside the persuasion circle window. but it never gave me another option to choose in dialogue after raising it for a certain npc.

 

for example i enter a village, all npcs are unfriendly to strangers like me, i talk to them (directions and village name is only thing i can choose from to talk about).

after talking i try to charm/persuade them. but all i get is a more friendly "goodbye" afetr doing so, no new conversation options. is it because i still lack skill or do i have to get this numbers raised above 100 in order to take affect? its most time about 50 for me because tries are limited.

 

i know what the manual says but does somebody really has more dialogue option because of high charming ability/stats ?

or are those dialogue options just RARE while talking to CRITICAL quest npcs , like a tiny different plot-line to follow if this critical npc tells me more than he would normally do, but no affect on random npcs?

at the end i guess this skill is not worth anything eh? remebering bloodlines, in bloodlines i always had several additional answers and they all made lots of fun , even towards 0815 npcs.

 

im asking cause i probably would restart the game if you say it makes a difference and is really useful to all npcs not just to 10 critical npcs in whole game

[SoulBlazer_87]

Disposition is what you are asking about and for me it never made much difference. However with low disposition you will not be able to buy a house (apart from a quested one) and you may not be given much information. Also with HIGH disposition guards will ignore 1 or 2 minor crimes. All in all it MIGHT be usefull in a quest (maybe) but it will help you more when it comes to prices (haggle) and the previous guard thing.

P.S. You can't get disposition above 100. Mos npcs will actually limit you below it like 85 or even 60.

[Malchik]

It is rare that you cannot use the little game to raise an NPCs level high enough and if that fails bribery never does.

 

AFAIK it does not add new dialogue topics but it changes the responses from 'I don't know you well enough' etc.

 

If you want to join the Thieves Guild you'll need to do it to find out where to go to join.

[Setsuei]

Raising an NPC's disposition will not get you more dialogue options, at least, not that I've ever seen. However, if the NPC likes you enough he/she may give different answers to the same dialogue options, being more forthcoming with information. I've enountered at least one quest where raising an NPC's disposition to convince him to do me a favor was one of the solutions (there probably were other solutions to the problem).

[BlindEyeball]

like everyone else said it doesn't add new topics it just changes the NPCs response

and thier max dispostion is limited by your speechcraft skil

[Povuholo]

It also helps getting better deals in shops, you can haggle a bit more :)

[VladimIr V Y]

Oblivion offers many solutions on same problem...

 

A good thief will not need Speachcraft skill at all. If you bribe someone - you can always steal money back.

 

My PC have a high Illusion skill too, so he can just charm anyone and get information needed in quest, or sell anything in the shop. You just need to create a spell with high charm and short duration. 3 seconds is OK. Than you talking to someone - time is standing still, so you don't need to spend magica on longer duration.

[daeanor]

There are several quests that require you to "persuade" the NPC to tell you more; I think most have an alternative for less straightforward characters (such as killing them to get an item, or stealing it from them).

[finniksa]

If their dialogue text stays gold then they can tell you more if you make them like you. Using charm, speechcraft or bribing, or doing a quest, will achieve this.

 

IMO speechcraft is a waste of time as a skill. It rarely gives you much, it's way too easy to raise, and it's far easier to charm, bribe or quest into someone's good graces. Not to mention you only rarely need to raise an NPC's disposition in order to get that extra quest info - it was just VERY underused. Now if most NPCs had something special to say for sweet-talkers.. and if Charm spells were harder to get or possibly would make the NPC hate you after using them... then Speechcraft might be useful...

 

I'd probably still bribe. I can bribe Counts and Countesses, I mean, if I can bribe your king, I can certainly bribe some stupid shopkeeper.

[SoulBlazer_87]

I agree with shamud but this occured to me once: the countess once asked for lessmoney for the same increase than a shopkeeper! Shouldn't it be the other way round? Oh and one more thing:Bribing will not get you as far as the mini-game so you won't get to use the guards "special" attitude in your favor (they will not take crimes into account even if they see you when they like you a lot)