About this mod
Bribes make no sense in vanilla, as the value mostly depends on your level, not your speechcraft. This mod fixes that.
- Permissions and credits
- The Problem
I noticed that bribes are completely ridiculous in the vanilla game. User IzzyTheOreo put it best:
And they are right. In vanilla, the amount for a bribe is mostly dependent on your level. The higher your level, the more you have to pay. When you're level 1, you pay very little (80 Gold for example), but this same bribe would cost you +1500 Septims if you're level 100.
You could argue "Who cares, when you're level 100 you can afford it", and you'd probably be right, but I don't like things being THAT dependant on my level, especially when it hurts my roleplaying and (cover your ears and eyes) immersion. It makes no sense you can bribe a seasoned mercenary with so little money ONLY because I'm a starting player. Atar doesn't care what level I am, and he's not going to charge me so little because "I'm a little green".
So I fixed this for my game and thought I'd share. Read below for more details.
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- Speech Now Matters
Level now pays no difference in the calculation of the bribe amount. Instead, I've switched the focus from your character's level to your Speechcraft. The higher your speechcraft, the lower the price of the bribe will be. This makes sense as a character who is a master in Speechcraft should be able to easily talk down (or... scam) a clueless negotiator. This adds some very needed extra utility in leveling up the underused Speech tree.
Please note that the changes work both ways: If your character is not skilled in speechcraft but the NPC you want to bribe is a silver tongued devil, he or she will tip the balance in their favor and you will have to pay up considerably to bribe them. Hey, it's only fair!
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- Compatibility
Small file. No scripts. Mod should be compatible with everything as it only changes 4 values that (afaik) no other mod changes
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- How does it work?
The new value shows up in the dialogue same as vanilla. I didn't change anything other than the values of the formula. The final amount of the bribe will depend on:
‣ Morality of the NPC you're talking to (Criminals will be easier to bribe than those that strictly follow the law)
‣ Your Speechcraft level
‣ The NPC's Speechcraft level
The math:
As you can see, your level does no longer inflate or deflate the price of the bribe, your speech is way more important now. The morality of the NPC and their own speech level will also play an important value in the final value.
The formula can be found over here. Reach out if you have questions on this :)
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- FAQ:
- Will this mod make bribes cheaper?
Not necessarily. In the long term yes, they are somewhat cheaper as the prices are no longer dependant on your level, but your spreechcraft. In vanilla, bribe prices start super low, and go up and up as you level up. With this mod, it's the opposite, they start very high, and decrease as you level up your speech. So at the beginning of the game when you're low in speech, the prices will be quite high compared to vanilla.
- Can I tweak the values myself to make it more difficult or easier to bribe?
Yes, I suggest changing fBribeScale to 0.01 if you think the bribe prices are too high, or to 0.03 if you think they are too low. I think I found a good balance in the current numbers though. The way I configured it, the most expensive possible bribe will cap at 1200 Gold, and the cheapest possible at 80.
- Mr JaySerpa, what are you doing next?
Psst... you, yes you. This one heard you like mod teases, yes? Khajiit has you covered, take a look. (=^・ェ・^=))
On a more personal level, I'm trying to fight my
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