Speech and Persuasion
Speech and Persuasion is a tutorial codex entry in Kingdom Come: Deliverance.
See also; Speech skill; Shopping and Haggling tutorial codex entry.
Speech and Persuasion
Sometimes you need powers of persuasion to achieve your goals. When talking to people, you can often choose what kind of impression you want to make on them.
You can simply use Speech, which, however, is influenced by the reputation you have at that moment with the person you're talking to.
But in the middle ages, social status was paramount, so the quality of your attire and how well-groomed you are together with your reputation, can make a big difference to how people respond to you.
If you look dangerous, people will be afraid to cross you and will also be more willing to assign risky tasks to you. The main factors influencing that are Strength and the deterrent effect of your weapons and equipment, but other things are also taken into account, such as blood stains on your clothes.
If sweet-talking fails, you can always rely on money to do the talking for you. You just have to agree on a persuasive sum. Bribing people works in the same way as shopping (see the Shopping and Haggling tutorial).
In special cases, you can try any of your other skills, e.g. Horsemanship. [missing image: Horsemanship skill icon]
But watch out - different approaches work on different people. You won't intimidate a tough brawler easily and no matter how well you dress, the nobility can smell a peasant a mile off.
In this game, your character's abilities aren't simply assigned a universal value - they are compared with the abilities of his opponent. So if your Speech is no match for a trader's well-oiled tongue, you can always slip him some poison to take the edge of his eloquence. Or if you lure a guard away from his companions, it will be easier to intimidate him.
You can see the values of the various abilities in the game under the corresponding icons. You can always can see [sic] your own abilities. Your counterparts' abilities are visible to you if you know them well enough or are skilled at reading people.