Starfield Persuasion Explain: How to Pass Check & Build Meter

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Persuasion is a mechanic in Starfield that allows players to control the direction of conversations. You can persuade characters to get the desired outcome in Starfield, potentially skipping over any significant conflicts. It’s one of the many vital skills you can master to gain the best playthrough. Leveling up your Persuasion Skills will help make conversations in the game more successful and desirable. If you have low persuasion, you will likely not be able to talk your way out of anything or obtain an ideal outcome.

What Persuasion Is in Starfield

What Is Persuasion in Starfield — Image Source: Bethesda Softworks

While speaking with a non-playable character in Starfield, you will often be given a set number of responses to choose from. All the responses have a number and color attached on the left-hand side. There’s also a small Persuasion Bar on the bottom left of the responses. The number next to the bar represents the number of points the Persuasion meter will fill. The color indicates how likely the response is to succeed. Red means it will likely not advance, while green indicates it will probably pass.

If you fill in the Persuasion Bar, you have successfully persuaded the NPC, avoiding potential conflicts or convincing the character to your point of view. You only have a limited amount of turns to fill out the Persuasion Bar. If you fail to fill in the bar within the turns limit, you won’t be able to persuade the NPC.

However, there is no guaranteed right or wrong answer in persuasion. Every response you decide on has a chance of succeeding or failing, with the success rate for each response seemingly being random. While the colors indicate the responses most likely to succeed, it is always a game of luck.

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Also, not every conversation in Starfield will allow you to use persuasion.

Unlocking Persuasion Skills and Increasing Your Chances

You can technically use persuasion without unlocking the Persuasion Skill, but the ability makes persuading easier. You unlock the Persuasion Skill in Starfield by completing some speech challenges. Once you’ve unlocked the skill, there are four ranks you can level up your persuasion. Each rank increases your chances of success in persuading someone.

Rank 1 – 10% increased chance of success when persuading someone.
Rank 2 – 20% increased chance of success when persuading someone.
Rank 3 – 30% increased chance of success when persuading someone.
Rank 4 – 50% increased chance of success when persuading someone.

You increase your ranks by accomplishing more speech challenges, which require talking to and communicating with other characters.

When you first make your character in Starfield, you choose their background. Some backgrounds come with the Persuasion Skill already unlocked. These backgrounds are:

Diplomat
Industrialist
Sculptor
Space Scoundrel

You can also increase your chances of persuading by consuming food, beverages, or medicinal items that offer a persuasion boost. Most consumables will have descriptions, detailing if they offer a persuasion boost.

What Is Auto-Persuade in Starfield?

Sometime after unlocking the Persuasion Skill, an Auto-Persuade gauge will appear on the bottom right of the responses. The gauge is a ring surrounding the X button. Once that ring fills out, you can press X, which will decide which response for you. Decisions made with the Auto-Persuade in Starfield have a greater chance of success. Of course, you don’t get any pleasure of role-playing the choices for your characters; sometimes, speed is more important.