On the topic of Followers...

I know there are a number of things that affect a followers attitude (Love, Amiable, Curteous, Suspicious, Hatred, etc...) towards you. The ones I am aware of include: Alignment (Good or Evil), Apptitude (Magickal or Technological), Level, Agenda (Competing a certain quest, Going to Tarant, etc), and Aggressiveness (I.e. openly attacking them). But lately I've noticed some unforseen attitude shifts in my followers.

I'm playing a purely Technological character with Good alignment (currently 53). Currently I have Virgil, Jayna, and Sogg Mead-Mug in my party.

Spoiler

At one point, I also had Magnus and Vollinger as followers, but due to certain plot options in dialogue, I fought and killed Magnus in the catacombs below P. Schyler's. Vollinger's fate falls into the topic I'm currently discussing.

I'm level 23 and finished IOD. Before this part in the MQ, all my followers had an attitude of at least 80 or more towards me. I did the SQs on IOD including the one where you

Spoiler

help the woman escape the camp to live with the amazons up north. They gave me the old revolver and I treck back to camp and give it to the lady. I opted to not help her with her escape and watched as the guard she opened fire on cut her down where she stood. I then immediately went and became the Pit champion after that (did no other quests in between) so I could talk to Thorvold.

It was at this time that I noticed my follower's attitudes towards me had taken a dramatic plunge. Jayna had gone from ~140 (Love) to ~80-90 (Amiable), Sog had gone from ~80 to ~40 (neutral), and Virgil had taken the biggest drop, ~90 to 21 (Suspicious). I don't know what could have caused this. I've been keeping to the MQ for most of my game, I've been keeping my character on the Good path the whole time, and I haven't made any of them wait for me anywhere for any amount of time. The same thing happened to Vollinger, as I had mentioned before. Unfortunately, he turned on me in the middle of a random encounter and I had already saved. I know he was more of an neutral/evil character, but he never warned me about my rightousness.

The only other things I've done differently since this change took place was outfit my followers in some new armor. I normally keep Virgil in robes, Jayna in a dress, and Sog in whatever large armor becomes available. But then I changed Virgil to chainmail and Jayna to studded armor and their attitudes continue to drop. Now Jayna is merely ~60 (Curteous) to me and Sog is ~30. Also, being a Technologist (majoring in Mechanics) I tend to keep myself and my followers at some level of encumberance. That's about it. I'm wondering if there are other factors influencing my followers' attitudes...one main one being the number of molotov cocktails I use in combat. I use them often even if my followers are near the site of impact because they never get hit with friendly fire (except for the rare 1H here and there). Could my combat tactics be making them hate me more? Or is there a certain point in the MQ where your character naturally draws a negative reaction from them...

Spoiler

like when you meet Arranax for the first time in a random encounter?

Anyone have any insight to shed on me?

 

What is your character's chosen background, and does anything you wear have a +/- reaction modifier... i.e. Amulet of Leadership.

 

I completely forgot about background. And my character has Extreme Personality. Go figure.

 

Extreme personality can be a deal-killer in many of Arcanum's situations. Some sidequests become very difficult, especially if they require an initial dip in the NPC's reaction to get the quest going.
It's a pretty interesting game when subtle choices in conversation can change a character's entire response to your presence. I've gone from 60 to 0 in three lines of dialog. Unfortunately for the sheriff of Shrouded Hills, he never new what hit him.

 

I never expected it to effect my followers though. Their Reaction literally plummeted from the time I was done trading at the General Store in Tarant to the time we left the city. And they always tend to drop when we've spent a fair amount of time in a dungeon fighting enemies. I thought it was from me always sending them into rooms full of enemies to draw aggro since I'm not playing a very combat effective character.

But when are checks (dice rolls) made for Extreme Personality concerning your followers? Every time you talk to them? Every time you talk an NPC? Every time you enter combat? This is what I'm still a little confused about.

 

I think they take their queues from other characters who walk into range and you interact with. Its a large crapshoot. Save your fate points for "Force good reaction"

 

It's got a lot to do with their individual "morality" when you talk to them, or when you talk to various non-party characters. Range is the key here. If you can see your characters in the same screen as yourself when you speak to an npc, they'll often change how they respond to you depending on how you handle the situation. An easy way to get around this is to tell your party to wait while you talk to the npc. There's no way to keep your party from reacting to your character, unless they can't see you.

 

When you say "same screen", you're saying it's a matter of distance or if they are actually "in" your party, and not idle from a "wait" command? What if I sent my followers off a distance with F1 and then engaged in conversation with an npc?

 

It's really just a matter of distance, though having them in your party at the time may impact how far you need to be to keep them from noticing. If you can keep them far enough away from yourself while still keeping them in your party, go for it.
The rule of thumb is your screen. If you can't see your party on screen, then you're most likely safe from their reprisal.

 

Alright, I've been playing for a couple hours now. I have Virgil, Sogg, Jayna, and the Priest from Caladon you meet in the Blackroot Pub. Everyone is at least Amiable (70 reaction or >) towards me. I've been strolling around Tarant, Stillwater, Qintara, Ashbury, and Blackroot doing various sidequests and leveling. No one's reaction has dipped at all in the past 2 to 3 nights I've been playing. In fact, they've risen a little since I last took note. I've been talking/interacting with several NPCs within this time [reminder: I have Extreme Personality bg] and my followers' devotion to me has been stable to say the least. Now, the second I descend into the Lost Temple to look for that Darien-Ka guy to recruit, and after a few battles with some undead, Sogg and the Priest turned on me and started attacking me. Virgil had plummetted from Love (106) to Curteous (60) and Jayna is now Suspicious (37). What the fuck gives?? There seems to be no method what-so-ever to how these Reactions are being modified.

 

Now it seems like a strange bug, more than anything else. That has never happened to me, ever...

But, have you checked the monsters' reactions to you before you attack them? If they're neutral when you strike first, regardless of whether or not you're evil, your party will lose reaction towards you. You can only hit an enemy when they hate you.

 

Sometimes they're Hating me and sometimes they're Neutral. What if I have my followers attack Neutral enemies first with F2. Does that still count as "me" attacking and thus lowering each follower's reaction, as if I gave them the order?

 

No, that counts as them attacking. They're fine in that case until you enter the fight. For some reason, when you enter a fight with enemies who are fighting your party, they can lose reaction if the enemy still is neutral towards you.

 

And don't forget to give your followers gifts once in a while (I don't know what those guys like, I guess Sogg probably likes wine, and Jayna probably likes Herbology manuals, but I'm not sure, I only know what Elves, Gar and Dwarves like: Spring Water, Earl Gray Tea and Dwarven Snuff).

 

Sweetcakes, actually.

 

Yes I learned that pretty quick. This is the first follower-heavy character I've played so I'm stocking up presents. 'Tis the season.

 

So what would one buy for followers that are strictly mage, Virgil, Dante and the likes?

I have noticed certain follwers will give you hints. Sogg likes the taverns, thats a given. Magnus likes dwarven stuff. Janya wants to learn herbology.
I have seen Virgil mention anything like that though . Very interesting. I've never really thought about those conversations untill now. Although I have never really cared about their reaction to me anyways. As long as they don't leave me in battle.

 

I dunno 'bout Virgil, maybe some of them Penarii Phamplets? Raven and Z'An are Elves, so Elven Spring Water seems logical. I dunno 'bout Geoffrey, Dante and Perriman. For the Dwarven Mage (who I never take as follower, so I always forget his name), probably Dwarven Snuff like Magnus.

Let's test it out.

 

If you're unfortunate enough to piss off your followers enough that they leave in the middle of a fight, or any time for that matter, they'll tell you in the next conversation what it takes to win them over to your side again. Sogg wants wine (obvious), Magnus wants Dwarven Snuff (obvious), Jayna wants sweetcakes (not so obvious). I don't think Virgil has a fondness for anything. Just talking to him and asking him what's on his mind will increase his reaction towards you. And it usually just involves him whining like a little bitch about sticking to the main quest.

 

Geoffery: Chateau de Be'ron Brandy
Dante: Nothing listed in his dialog
Payne: Earl Grey Tea
Sebastian: Wine
Perriman: Earl Grey Tea
Vollinger: Absinthe