Morrowind:Disposition

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Disposition is a value that determines how much any given NPC likes you. Every NPC has a default Disposition, usually set to something relatively neutral. This Disposition is then modified based on your Personality and Reputation, both general and by Faction. Finally, it may also be affected by the clothes you're wearing. (Though it probably won't take long for you to be wearing high enough quality clothing that this is no longer an issue - unless you choose to wear rags and no armor all the time.) Disposition affects vendor prices, as well as how willing people will be to give you information. Additionally, if it gets low enough, some characters may refuse to provide you services, or in some cases refuse to speak to you at all.

Contents 1 Raising Disposition 2 Lowering Disposition 3 Very Low Disposition 4 Creatures

[edit] Raising Disposition

There are several ways to raise a character's Disposition.

• Sheathe your weapon - NPCs don't like talking to somebody with a weapon drawn and ready, and who could blame them? Putting away your weapon (or fists, or readied spell) results in an instant 10 point increase in Disposition.
• Take off your helmet - NPCs also like to see your face when they're talking to you. This is only an issue for full helmets which cover your face. (Thus if you are Argonian or Khajiit, you won't need to worry about this, because you can't wear such helmets anyhow.)
• Persuasion - Characters skilled at Speechcraft can Admire and Intimidate people into being more friendly towards them. Admire is mainly based on Personality, and Intimidate works better the greater your level in relation to the subject's. Characters with low Speechcraft should be careful, however, as Disposition is more likely to go down if done poorly. A poorly-skilled Admire may even result in the person attacking you.
• Bribery - If your skills with words are not sufficient, a well-placed bribe can loosen a subject's lips and get them to like you more. However, some people are more responsive to bribery than others. While any small bribe will be sufficient for a beggar, richer people may be insulted by too small an offer, which will lower their Disposition towards you. Bribery is also an effective means of practicing your Mercantile skill.
• Charm - The Charm spell will temporarily raise an NPC's Disposition. Time is frozen while you are in conversation with somebody, so you only need a very short-duration spell to be effective. 1-2 seconds will suffice if you talk to them immediately after casting.
• Personality - Using a Fortify Personality effect on yourself can also increase NPCs' Disposition. One easy way to do this is to drink a bottle of Telvanni Bug Musk. There is a glitch associated with this method, however. Any NPC you talk to while your Personality is artificially fortified will have their Disposition lowered after the effect wears off. This may cause their Disposition to actually end up lower than it was before you used the fortify effect. In general, you should avoid talking to people who already like you while under the effect of such a spell, particularly if they are quest-givers for a faction you're in.

[edit] Lowering Disposition

There aren't too many reasons why you'd want to lower an NPC's Disposition. The only major one is if you want to kill somebody without being accused of a crime. The best way to do this is to use your Speechcraft skill to Taunt them into attacking. A successful Taunt will lower your subject's Disposition, and possibly convince them to attack you. If it gets too low and they do not attack, Taunts will be less effective. Use one of the above techniques to raise their Disposition again, then Taunt again once it's high enough; every social action is more effective when the Disposition is near the middle (50), try not going below 20 and don't bother going higher than 75-80 if you only want to Taunt. One very sneaky method is to alternate between Bribes and Taunts. After you finally get them to attack, you can safely kill them in self-defense, and then take your money back off their corpse. If you are not very skilled in Speechcraft, try using Admire instead. A failed Admire may be just as effective as a successful Taunt at getting someone to attack. See also: Frenzy, which has no effect on Disposition, but is another good way to get somebody to attack you.

[edit] Very Low Disposition

As mentioned above, if an NPC's Disposition goes below a certain point, they will refuse to even speak to you, and you will be unable to use any form of persuasion or bribery to increase their Disposition. A Charm spell or higher Personality might help, or coming back to them after you've increased your Reputation is another possibility. But these can be somewhat difficult. One unorthodox trick that can get somebody to talk to you is to just - get naked. Yes, completely naked. Remove every piece of armor, clothing, and jewelry you have on. Don't forget your weapon. Talking to NPCs in the buff will cause them to react in shock and insist that you cover yourself up. No matter, at least they're talking to you, and you can now use persuasion or bribery to raise their Disposition up so that they like you enough to tell you things. Note that this will not work for Argonians or Khajiits, nor on certain more important NPCs, notably those with the "NoLore" variable set in their scripts.

[edit] Creatures

Creatures do not have Disposition, so the few creatures who will actually talk to you do not care about your Personality or Reputation or anything. They always treat you the same. This is particularly useful to know regarding the two creature merchants in the game, Creeper and the Mudcrab Merchant. Both of them will buy and sell items at base value because their prices are not modified by Disposition like NPC merchants' are. Note that this includes such characters as Yagrum Bagarn, Dagoth Ur and Vivec, who are technically creatures, even if they seem more intelligent than your average Guar.