Never played a persuasion character - a question

I've never played with a Persuasive character - does it give new dialogue options? Is it primarily that the dialogue options are the same but I have a higher chance at success when/if I get a chance to lie/convince someone?

I'd appreciate if someone would explain it before I start a new game.

Thank you!

J

 

As far as I know it's a bit of both, actually. Playing as a persuasive character sometimes means getting new dialogue options while other times it means getting a positive result for dialogue options with skill checks that were already there but couldn't be passed by non-persuasive characters.

 

This of course can lead to completely new outcomes for quests and endings. Remember intelligence is an important stat to raise as well otherwise all you'll end up being is a charming dumbass.

 

Are there even any Intelligence checks other than the one for learning about the Shape and the Stone, excluding (not) having an Int of 4 or less?

 

On the top of my head I can't think of any, but I could of sworn they opened up more dialogue options because they provided insight.

 

There's the quest where you must help the mayor of Ashbury to build the statue honoring someone. I had 8 intelligence and i had only 1 reply only (a wrong one!) to every question. Had to drink an elixir of intellect.

 

And you need 20 intelligence to persuade someone near the end to commit suicide, if I remember correctly.

 

No, it's just 20CH/Persuasion.

The only IN checks that I can think of right now are:
- Ashbury Mayor quest (10 or 12IN)
- Wheel Clan (12IN)
- Bedokaan

 

There's a quest in Stillwater that requires you to have at least 10 IN if you want to get my favorite solution to the problem (the one that doesn't involve killing or robbing anybody).

And it seems to help to have IN of at least 9 if you want Thorvald to join you, although that may have more to do with charisma.

 

Is there actually any good reason to invest heavily into the persuasion skill? As far as I remember 95% of the game's checks can be made with about 2-3 points in it. Some things, like the master quest, may be a different matter but overall I don't think it pays off that much. Or does it?

 

It's so much more fun playing as an idiot doing persuasion. Doesn't seem to work as often as intelligent and persuasive characters, but when it works It'd awesome

 

You're saying such a thing as an idiot diplomat actually works? And here I thought all of the benefits coming from charisma and persuasion would be lost for stupid characters, with the exception of an increased follower limit.

 

I must have this confirmed: Is it possible to play as an idiot with persuasion?? To what extent?

 

I've played as a Raised in the Pits elf with maxed out persuasion.

It helps if you cheat and use a lot of Essence of Intellect potions. But if you're playing fair and square (like I usually did), you can still use persuasion to complete a lot of quests in more peaceful ways.

Convincing the people of Ashbury to build that statue is impossible if your IN is four or less, but you can get most of the good answers by drinking an Essence of Intellect potion like you probably would anyway.

IIRC, I had to cheat and use potions in order to get the Master quest and to resolve another quest late in the game in Tarant.

The only real problem with being dumb is that you either can't get some quests at all or you can't get as good of a reward. Drog could give you a better answer, but it seemed like I could still do about 75 to 80 percent of the stuff I like to do when I'm power gaming.