In Bannerlord filling your kingdom with vassals is one of the most important aspects of the game. Without allies, you can never hope to unite Calradia and take over the map. Luckily, there is a mechanic where you can convince other lords in the game to join your kingdom, (or the kingdom you’re serving). Your success in this conversation will mainly rely on your character’s Charm skill level.
This guide will show you some of the ways that you can increase your charm skill in Bannerlord. This will effectively make you a smooth-talking lord capable of convincing any lord to join you. (Or any single lord to marry you).
What is Charm and Why Should I Level it?
First of all, charm is one of the 18 skills that you can level up on your character. It is one of the three skills which fall under the Social attribute. The charm skill may not help you win any tough battles, but there is a lot of diplomacy in Bannerlord and not every win will be straightforward. The charm skill will directly help you sway others in conversation. When speaking to other NPC’s there will be a few different dialogue choices that your character can choose from. Having a high charm skill will help you find which ones they will respond positively to, thus convincing them of whatever you are trying to convince them of.
When you are in the mid-game, one of the most important things to do is to grow your kingdom. This is done by recruiting other clans to join alongside you. By having a high Charm skill, you will be able to convince them quicker and easier.
How to Increase/Level Up the Charm Skill
There are a few different ways that you can level up the charm skill with your character in Bannerlord. As you can see in the image above, these is a very brief description of some actions that will increase your charm skill. This is not very helpful due to how vague the information is. I will go over some of the different ways you can increase charm.
Barter With Nobles to Increase Charm
One of the easiest ways you can increase the charm skill is by simply bartering with nobles. Bartering is another term for trading in Bannerlord. You can barter items, denars and once you’ve leveled your trade skill enough there’s a perk to even trade fiefs!
To initiate a barter in Bannerlord, approach a lord from the main map. It’s important to note that you cannot barter with lords you are currently at war with. Once you are in a dialogue with another lord select the option There is something I’d like to discuss. Following this you will be taken to another set of options. Now select the option which reads I have a proposal which may benefit us both. This will take you to the barter screen and allow you to trade with this lord.
The trick here is to just gift the lord a small amount of money. This will give you a small amount of experience in Charm due to a successful barter. This used to be a great way of leveling up the charm skill quickly in Bannerlord but has since had a nerf in an update. Although this isn’t the best way to raise your charm skill anymore it is still good for getting small amounts. Plus, it is super easy.
Raising Charm Skill Through Relations Gain
In Bannerlord gaining relations with other NPCs can be important as well. This can include town NPCs and other lords. Every time you get a relation gain with another lord or clan you will gain a small amount of charm as well. One of the best ways to gain easy charm experience in Bannerlord is in kingdom decisions. As your kingdom starts to take castles and towns it will come time to decide who gets to take the fief over. These decisions will come down to elections but ultimately be decided by the kingdom leader.
By spending influence points to vote on a certain decision you will gain relations with the clan being nominated. This in turn will help you gain more points into your charm skill. So don’t pass up on any chances to have your vote!
The Best Way to Level Up Charm Fast
All these are great but what happens when you’ve come to the mid-game and still don’t have a decent charm level to go with your other stats? One of the absolute best ways to increase your charm, (not to mention relations with other lords) is by winning battles and releasing the loser after battle. If you fight an enemy lord and manage to knock them out in the course of the battle, at the end of the battle you are allowed to either capture them or set them free. By choosing the latter you will gain around 8+ relations with their clan and a good amount of charm experience.
If you are low enough level in charm you may even gain 3 points in charm just from 1 interaction! This is obviously going to be one of the tactics for when you have a pretty well established army. That being said, once you can take down most lords you are going to have a field day with charm using this tactic.
Can’t Gain More Charm? Check the Soft Cap!
If you are trying to gain charm using the methods shown above but still aren’t getting anything, chances are you’ve hit a soft cap. In order to keep gaining high skill levels in an attribute or skill, your character will have to invest focus points into the skill. Upon leveling up your character you will gain focus points. By allocating these points to the charm skill, you will raise the maximum level that your character can gain in this skill.
This can be seen in the skills screen, shown by the lighter highlight over the perks area. By hovering your mouse over this lightly highlighted area you will be able to see the maximum points your character can reach in this skill. If you’ve already hit the maximum in the skill and have invested 5 focus points in charm already, you will have to increase the main attribute for Charm which is the Social attribute. You will gain a point to allocate into attributes every few levels.