Personal friendship and conversation

Read a person’s warmth

Personal friendship has seven stages: Cold, Wary, Stranger, Acquaintance, Friendly, Close and Beloved. After meeting a townsperson, the relationship header describes that warmth, such as Friendly toward you or Dear to you. Their underlying affinity stays between -100 and 100. Cold begins at -100, Wary at -39, Stranger at -7, Acquaintance at 5, Friendly at 25, Close at 50 and Beloved at 80. Your spouse reads as Your spouse and your children as Your child instead of using this ladder.

Meet, then ask a topic

An introduction marks that you have met but gives no warmth by itself. Choosing the first credited Talk topic gives 1 warmth. More topics during the next 2,000 turns do not give another Talk credit from that same person. The visit still records that you spoke. These detailed social menus need a current townsperson record in full-game Adventure, so an older town can offer fewer options. Healing an eligible townsperson or including them in a tavern round can use the same Talk allowance.

Replies have their own allowance

A warm reply gives 1 warmth, with a separate 2,000 turn allowance for that person. It can therefore pay during the same sitting as the Talk credit. A curious reply follows a topic and gives no warmth by itself. A brusque reply loses 1 warmth each time it is chosen. Reopening the menu does not reset these allowances. A full game restart clears the Talk and warm-reply allowances. Loading a save inside the same session can keep them.

Spend a moment together

Choose Spend a moment together to gain 4 warmth. Its own 15 turn clock is separate from talking and gifts, so an introduction and Talk credit do not block the first moment. A second moment before that clock is ready is refused. This moment clock is saved. The ordinary moment row is for people other than your spouse, whose household has separate ways to spend time together.

Share food deliberately

Share some food gives 6 warmth. When a person’s current family goal offers Bring food for the little ones, it gives 10 for a lone parent and 6 for another parent. The gift takes the first eligible plain food from your backpack and spends one item. Plain food includes ordinary food and edible berry plants, but excludes fish, spell cheeses, meals and potions. Protect and an old full lock prevent that stack being chosen. Retain alone does not. No food means no gift warmth.

A kindness can travel through a household

Moments and food gifts can also change how the recipient’s living relatives, friends, comrades and rivals feel about you. The change follows that person’s recorded relationships and their closeness. A favour can warm a spouse or friend while cooling a rival. The ripple is one step through those recorded ties, not a promise that every person in the town hears about it.

Warmth changes some answers

The base conversation bands are guarded below 5, open from 5 and candid from 25. Some answers can become more or less candid through the person’s personality, while the topics themselves depend on their history, family, work and other records. Higher warmth does not guarantee that a person has a particular story to tell.

Beloved is not a marriage stage

Friendship warmth is separate from courtship and the household bond. Courtship can begin from 40 affinity only when the person is eligible and you have neither a family nor another courtship. A proposal needs 70 affinity while courting that same person. Reaching Beloved does not marry you automatically. Use the family guide for the rest of those rules. Grudges and hostile beliefs can also block or break a courtship.

Friendship in co-op

Each computer currently keeps its own personal friendship record. The host and joiners can therefore read different warmth for the same person. This record is stored with the local game save and is not mirrored by the party snapshot. Faction standing, a town’s opinion and a person’s grudges are separate records with their own rules.