is it actually possible to gain every trait?

[roadworker]

traits like honor/deviousness and merciful/cruel seems flexible enough that you can earn both

but then you have something like generosity/tightfisted...

• Party Starving Generosity Penalty = has a chance every day of giving - 20 generosity
• Party Treated Well Generosity Bonus = has a chance every day of giving + 20 generosity

first of all, what does it mean to 'treat party well'? give them high variety of food? have high morale?
this is the only lines i can find that alter generosity

if its a daily check, that also means you have to starve your party for 50 days nonstop to become closefisted as fast as possible, and thats assuming the check succeeds every day, before you go from 0 to -1000. even if you actively tried to become closefisted, its very nonsensical what you have to go through. all troops will long have deserted you, you risk snailing around alone on the map, so only realistic option is to wait in a town. none of this translates to being closefisted. its just a weird hunger strike. and if you happen to 'treat party well' afterwards, you have to negate that with more hunger strikes. again, the traits feel like an unfinished placeholder like a lot of other mechanics in the game

feeding your party only grain and being able to lower troop payments in exchange for morale hit would be more sensible for closefisted playthrough. as a trader, you could have the option to disallow consumption of food types

you could turn it around and give better pay for generosity points, increasing exp gain of troops, better morale, and having random troop types show up and ask if they can join you, knowing you are generous. takes a bigger hit on your purse, but it will make rebuilding a party after defeat much faster, so you have to worry less about contributing such sacrifices. or you can use it to empower the parties and settlements around you with easy troop donations - further adding to the aura of you being generous (also forgot to add, it will make maintaining your own parties easier too)

would also be nice if the npcs showed any signs of following their own traits beyond how they greet you. what does a generous vassal really mean to me, in practice? what if they tried to donate troops to me, like the player would? why does a merciful vassal raid villages.
i am pretty sure releasing vassals boosts some trait, whether thats merciful or valor, i dont remember. i dont see it listed on the personality wiki. but again, no vassals would show up in a dungeon they own that i am in and let me go. maybe they should consider it, if it fits their trait. i am fine if it forcibly boosts my relation with them, and i am even more fine with it if clans can take advantage of good relations with player and other clans. give reason for their generous actions


edit: i think i figured out that releasing lords and getting them to join your faction increases calculation. however, there is no way to decrease it. you cannot naturally become impulsive

i think decreasing calculation into impulsivity is a bit of a headscratcher, on how that is achieved. would engaging with a party on the map that is actively chasing you count as impulsivity? it could also be interpreted as valor. maybe chasing a party or meeting a party for a fight only to lose it should count as impulsivity. maybe some actions that grant dishonor should instead give impulsivity. failing a quest that puts you and your party at risk or in a loss seems more impulsive than dishonest. it feels like there needs to be more interactions available for this trait to make sense and be fun to roleplay

on that note, having someone chase you for long enough that they give up, even though you are both close to evenly matched, could decrease valor. in that way, cowardice can also be seen as a useful trait if npcs follow those tendencies. you could be fooled into thinking the party you are chasing is afraid of you because they are outnumbered in strength, but in fact they just lack confidence and are capable of beating you. fleeing from an ongoing fight where you can still extract some kills could also decrease valor. maybe it already does, but it isnt listed anywhere online then. the valorous action is to make sure your sacrifices pay off to the last drop of blood, where fleeing is only acceptable when your last troops are overrun or half of your last troops are already fleeing. valorous heroes are great commanders because they had to learn it the hard way how to overcome difficult obstacles, while cowardly commanders play it safe and put little to no pressure on the enemy. they are bad at striking uniformly on the battlefield. they will order their troops to step back a bit in a charge and leave others troops fending first. two cowardly commanders will lose troops to archers for hesitating a charge together. a cowardly commander will do best ordering archers in an offense, or commanding infantry in a defense. they do fine if they are asked to command a few cavalry or horse archers, keeping them safe, but will hesitate to do devastating charges despite having large numbers to pressure with

in an army, maybe losing too many of your commanded troops in ratio to other formations and in ratio to kills inflicted back can decrease calculation. that sounds like an act of impulse. keeping your troops safe while inflicting kills could increase calculation. impulsive vassals may rely too much on pushing and charging, while calculating vassals are good at reading the battlefield. at the very least, the impulsive vassal will gain some brownie points for keeping pressure on the enemy. they might fare well against a coward on the offense who is fearful of their charge and tries to back up instead of fight back, but will fare worse against a coward on the defense, though they may be lucky to score enough kills that the coward calls it a day and orders everyone to flee. a calculating commander will only read the battlefield, not the minds of their opponents

all these traits mean that the main commander will struggle to make generals of formations follow their command, as their traits will read opportunities and risks differently. this is where the honest general 'shines', as they will always follow in line, only straying if absolute necessary, if their other traits override in a dire situation. and a dishonest one, well, its like they dont listen at all. if the player is the main commander, they will see messages pop up of the generals changing their mind to your commands, and a dishonest one will steal your command over their formation entirely

 

[Quanta]

I was thinking about traits the other day. They don't seem to affect anything at all. I mostly don't bother with it.

But still somehow, whenever I have a child born with bad traits, I reload my last save. Just in case.

 

[roadworker]

I was thinking about traits the other day. They don't seem to affect anything at all. I mostly don't bother with it.

But still somehow, whenever I have a child born with bad traits, I reload my last save. Just in case.

it would be nice if they are reworked, have ways to earn them that makes sense to their description, that npcs follow these behaviors too, and that there is a list of behaviors that earn these traits like there is for skills

i think the only impact right now is increase and decrease in relations for matching and opposite traits among vassals. that would only really make sense if the traits actually called for opposite actions

dont think that positive and negative traits should necessarily be good vs bad, just different ways to do things, but where the negative traits clearly show a lack of empathy. its taking the easy, irresponsible route. it has consequences, but low empathy would treat it as an opportunity rather than an obstacle. while positive traits rely on the aura they have on others, you are consistent and trustworthy and thats a huge strength with equal minded. negative individuals cant quite cooperate with one another even if they understand each others actions, at least not in the long run

a bit hard to read the cowardice one into a lack of empathy, and valor could just as easily be seen as a disregard for ones own troops, but i guess it can be compared to a multiplayer competitive game. where a cowardly player has no respect for their opponents and clings to cheesy exploits or camp all the time, trying to gain an upper hand at all cost, no matter how silly it makes them look, or not acknowleding they squeeze the fun out of the game. so the lack of empathy, or respect, is more towards your enemy. the valorous person is the fun player who is not afraid to make room for even fights or admit defeat. not something you expect to witness in an actual real life battle, but in a video game it would be silly fun seeing npcs take on those two archetypes as commanders. where i think virtuality and real life meets, though, is the experience the valorous one has that the cowardly one misses out on for doing things the same easy way. that experience could be the reason why the valorous person dares to be risky. they see opportunities that the coward is blind to from their hiding spot

 

[saittam]

Yes traits need a rework. Feels broken to me. In the end all lords get the cruel perk because raiding gives that.
All traits should change behaviour and come with penalty/reward. It´s kinda the point with traits. Hope it comes in beta 1.3

 

[roadworker]

Yes traits need a rework. Feels broken to me. In the end all lords get the cruel perk because raiding gives that.
All traits should change behaviour and come with penalty/reward. It´s kinda the point with traits. Hope it comes in beta 1.3

only if player does that, npcs are unaffected by trait point gains

but i absolutely agree that lords should behave according to traits. i dont think merciful lords should think about raiding at all, they should instead be guarding over all ally villages, even if it will take two or three days to get there. merciful lords flocking to raided villages will give them a better chance of fending off raiders by outnumbering them. and while merciful focuses on that, the calculating and valorous lords will be more inclined to seek out sieges against their kingdom, because its a better focus point = calculating, and gives bigger fights = valorous

cruel lords only care to guard over their own villages and only if they are close by. which they often wont be, because they are busy going out raiding. cowardly lords refuse to help villages if the fight looks a little too equal or worse and wont stick around to wait for backup. i think cowardly lords would just avoid one on one party fights with other lords or mercenaries. they prefer to fight in armies where they can caution away, or they will want some other parties to show up for backup. impulsive - hotheaded they are also called - will rush in to fight even if they are unevenly matched against, so they are oppositionally stupid to cowards. there is a lot that can be done with traits both in combat and on the world map that would make npcs a lot more lively and make their personalities more believable

here is an idea to make player more willing to follow same rules. if player does similar to npcs, following their own traits, they get a party morale bonus or other bonus related to action. if they do opposite they lose morale. could go by the idea that regular troops agree with their leader's values, or just knows of them, while companions just assume their leader has same ideals as them since they openly shared, or because they didnt pay attention to the locals reputation while traveling around. you could also gain or lose relations with agreeing or disagreeing lords in the faction and anyone who witnesses your actions, but only if it corresponds to your traits so its expected/surprising. you just take it more personal when its "that a-hole" that raids your village again, instead of someone you cant pinpoint to be cruel, and equally shocking when its the merciful player who is acting all holier-than-thou but then caught raiding a village

something like spotting an enemy raiding your village, the game can take into account your current power and the enemy power, and make a reaction out of whether you engage, observe (wait for backup - maybe it is dishonest or closefisted if you already outnumber the enemy alone?), or leave and allow the raid to finish. last one is cowardly whether you have a chance against them or dont stand a chance, either way its not valorous as it would have been waiting around for an opportunity to retaliate with backup. the bonus in that case could for example be a speed bonus and reinforcement to the coward and their village (everyone nearby gets notified and can see the raider and their troop number to size them up). you would only get these bonuses if they align with your traits. if you are the raider and you see the enemy dash away even though they outnumber you, you would want to be alert about reinforcements then if ai also are granted these bonuses. coward basically becomes a snitch to get someone else to do the dirty work

rushing in to fight as a hothead could give a boost to morale shock against the enemy troops. they strike so unpredictably fast that the enemy does not know who, what, or how many are attacking, or why they allow themselves to be so enraged. they brought psychological warfare

you can imagine some positive and negative traits becoming a terrifying powerhouse together this way. calculating+impulsive always bringing psychological warfare to the table. cautious+merciful pulling the entire faction together where they are wanted without needing to form an army. their snitch bell rings much louder. or the snitch bell becomes clearer and less needlessly concentrated when its calculating+cautious, instead distributing aid more appropriately. but, the valorous+impulsive lord among the crowd of parties that came from the loud snitch bell will take the opportunity to form an army after the raiders are taken care of and immediately head out to start a siege or defend a town, skipping the army assembly stage. you can of course imagine a valorous player do this and get away with the army assembly cost free of influence, and get a speed bonus to their army for a while if also impulsive, all for doing their role part. again, could be same for the npc. if the game is able to detect the opportunity to make the npc act, it can also enforce the bonus

if the player forms armies often that can add to valor points, and if they often move out (straying far enough from the assembly point) before half their army is assembled that can add to their impulse

all the trait actions should be diverse and choice based enough that they player can willingly or unknowingly gain every trait, both positive and negative. it becomes a true reflection of their choices and encourages roleplay

i realize this might all sound too complicated to add to the game. but then im reminded m&b warband had traits for npcs too, they were just hidden but still revealed by dialogue. it definitely affected some if not most of their behavior. i remember the hotheaded npcs were needlessly aggressive and got themselves into trouble, but also really fierce and hard to shake off on the world map. they also had a tendency to charge at the start of battle, not caring about formations. not to mention them constantly being thrown out for treason, they pissed everyone off including their king. when i think about all that, bannerlords traits feel even more stale

 

[Count_Morfetico]

I was thinking about traits the other day. They don't seem to affect anything at all. I mostly don't bother with it.

I think they still do something. In one of my playthroughs a merciful companion came complaining to me when i raided a village...
I also remember someone telling that a impulsive npc in battle would often go with the charge order, but it isn't confirmed...
I think the idea is nice and they definitely need some kind of rework, they need to matter more.

 

[Zorion_no]

Traits have marginal at best impact.
Meaning if you are brave you'll get +1 to relations with other brave.
However if the other is "Cautious"(Derthert!) you will get a -1 relation.

There may kind of be some underlying factors that people claim, but I've neve seen it.

Some say that honorable lords is less likely to leave your faction if you are king(besides the relation between you and the noble).

As for getting the Generous.
Well from my experience I do get it typially in year 15-20 in the long games.
I always have good quality and variation of foods for the troops.
I also frequently boost morale by paying for dinners at taverns.

So basically you will if your math is correct a "chance" of +20 per day -> and you need 1000 to get a trait at tier1.
1000/20 = 50 days.
While I typically get it at say day 1500-2000 I very much doubt that the +20 is given pr day to put it mildly or its % chance is rather low.


Atleast 1 trait - Valor cant be earned ingame as of now, unless you are on pc and install the mod that fixes the underlying issue.
There is a math error from my understanding.
For the mod if on pc - https://www.nexusmods.com/mountandblade2bannerlord/mods/6835
You can of course get it if you pick it at start, but you cant earn it ingame.

Honor is relative easy to get - you know just missions and do as the questgiver says.
A great way is deliver herds of animals from place a to b(picked up at villages).
But the amount given is got to be relative small as again typically I dont see that before "alot of time".

Execution of lords will give you "Devious" in no time(read execute 2 lords who dont have that trait, you may managet to execute devious lords like 2-3 before it will pop)(not to mention you'll be hated by all the world(often even your own faction)(but it can be a great way if you want to cheese it to conquer the world though.)
Genocide the solution since dawn of time, the enemey will not be able to fight back from the grave, and you can repair the relations with lords in your faction easy enough(gold, vote for them to get fiefs etc).(this may seem more sinister and sick, but its said in a "dark humor" type of vibe if you dont get it)

Overall yes the traits do need to be improved upon if they are to have "any meaning".

They have another though, which many dont seem to understand.
So in the "dateing-sim" it can actually make it easier if you have similar to the wife/husband you want.
Since if you have the traits or the hidden value is "high enough" you'll have a higher x% chance to persuade that one.

This can also help when recruiting lords to your faction besides the relationship between you and the lord/lady.
Honor for an example if its very high can be used as a choice to something along the lines of "you may know me as an honorable man" and thus that one will be like 90-100% chance pending how high up on the honor scale so to speak you are.(the numbers shouldnt be hidden from the player for one, should have indicators from -2000 to 2000(which is the caps at either scale.
Example if you have valor rank 1 aka 1000 you hover over it "brave".
Example if you have valor rank 2 aka 2000 you hover over it "Fearless".

 

[roadworker]

Traits have marginal at best impact.
Meaning if you are brave you'll get +1 to relations with other brave.
However if the other is "Cautious"(Derthert!) you will get a -1 relation.

There may kind of be some underlying factors that people claim, but I've neve seen it.

Some say that honorable lords is less likely to leave your faction if you are king(besides the relation between you and the noble).

As for getting the Generous.
Well from my experience I do get it typially in year 15-20 in the long games.
I always have good quality and variation of foods for the troops.
I also frequently boost morale by paying for dinners at taverns.

So basically you will if your math is correct a "chance" of +20 per day -> and you need 1000 to get a trait at tier1.
1000/20 = 50 days.
While I typically get it at say day 1500-2000 I very much doubt that the +20 is given pr day to put it mildly or its % chance is rather low.


Atleast 1 trait - Valor cant be earned ingame as of now, unless you are on pc and install the mod that fixes the underlying issue.
There is a math error from my understanding.
For the mod if on pc - https://www.nexusmods.com/mountandblade2bannerlord/mods/6835
You can of course get it if you pick it at start, but you cant earn it ingame.

Honor is relative easy to get - you know just missions and do as the questgiver says.
A great way is deliver herds of animals from place a to b(picked up at villages).
But the amount given is got to be relative small as again typically I dont see that before "alot of time".

Execution of lords will give you "Devious" in no time(read execute 2 lords who dont have that trait, you may managet to execute devious lords like 2-3 before it will pop)(not to mention you'll be hated by all the world(often even your own faction)(but it can be a great way if you want to cheese it to conquer the world though.)
Genocide the solution since dawn of time, the enemey will not be able to fight back from the grave, and you can repair the relations with lords in your faction easy enough(gold, vote for them to get fiefs etc).(this may seem more sinister and sick, but its said in a "dark humor" type of vibe if you dont get it)

Overall yes the traits do need to be improved upon if they are to have "any meaning".

They have another though, which many dont seem to understand.
So in the "dateing-sim" it can actually make it easier if you have similar to the wife/husband you want.
Since if you have the traits or the hidden value is "high enough" you'll have a higher x% chance to persuade that one.

This can also help when recruiting lords to your faction besides the relationship between you and the lord/lady.
Honor for an example if its very high can be used as a choice to something along the lines of "you may know me as an honorable man" and thus that one will be like 90-100% chance pending how high up on the honor scale so to speak you are.(the numbers shouldnt be hidden from the player for one, should have indicators from -2000 to 2000(which is the caps at either scale.
Example if you have valor rank 1 aka 1000 you hover over it "brave".
Example if you have valor rank 2 aka 2000 you hover over it "Fearless".

yes as far as i know with traits, they have three things they do: the relation changes between lords of similar traits, courting chance, and other persuasion chances like in missions or other convincing. i dont know if the relation change is specifically -1 for opposite traits, cause i saw one clan member with opposite trait to me have -5. i didnt check the clan itself, though i dont know what would have put it down to only -4, i didnt interact with them at all

i dont know with the honorable lords not leaving a faction. it was a thing in warband, but a lot of things that were in warband are not in bannerlord. if bannerlord goes by warband rules, then impulsive (hotheaded) lords will be most likely to be kicked out or most likely to leave, while honest lords will be loyal through thickest of thick. but the threshold for lords leaving is also very different in bannerlord from warband. having no fief in warband was enough to get most lords sour with their king. but in bannerlord, clans can go without fiefs for years and not budge. in my current game going for many years, the only one that has joined our kingdom was a clan that had two fiefs already, and none have left, even though we keep being on the losing side of wars and constantly have to reoffer fiefs to the same fiefless lords. i am pretty sure every clan in my kingdom are not run by honest leaders. (also not that i care about being on the losing side either, i plan to make my own kingdom when my clan tier is high enough)

i can see that generous trait is possible to earn. because the only way you lower it is to starve your party and only if it checks, and that only bumps it in the other direction once. so simply having food variety and winning battles will get you closer to generosity, whether you wanted it or not. i am actually trying to do a closefisted run as my brother after my main character died. the way i try to achieve it is be real picky about prices, usually only buying grain or low priced fish, and if neither is cheap then my party has to suffer starvation marches. i only shake out of it if my morale goes too low and buy whatever cheapest is available, otherwise i rely on bullying enemy villagers or bandits for food, and i always sell food that has a priceup or nets a good income, so my troops cant even be sure of their next meal of gruel. though even trying to do it in this believable way, it feels more like something a cruel/sadistic person would do rather than closefisted.. plus, its not like i can force my party to starve march towards bandits. even looters become faster than your party if your morale is too low. i feel like setting wages to low/normal/high would be more suitable for closefisted/generous gains, though again only if generous actually receives something in return like free troops asking to join on the spot to make up for the monetary loss. and closefisted can have troops outright rejecting to join them. for example on hire screen, some random troops could just grayed out because they know you wont pay them well, depending on how long you have gone for with low wages, with higher tier troops being more likely to be grayed out

you get honor through missions but not always. some missions give you calculating or mercy. not all failed quests give you dishonor either. some also improve your positive traits. usually by failing quests of gang leaders. some missions seemingly have no trait changes at all whether you fail or succeed. im just going off by whats written on the wiki for traits since someone must have found answers in the code to list the gains and losses so precisely. then again, the wiki does not mention if there is a gain from releasing an already captured vassal prisoner, or whether there is a gain from releasing them on the spot. but you see players confidently mention that elsewhere

i have honestly not tried the execution route yet, exactly because it was talked down on for being exploitive. and i prefer to act in line with ai to keep things fair (also why i prefer ai to be a little more lively so im not boxed in with their dull behavior). but i can imagine with the change in difficulty settings and players now being liable to be executed back, that having a track record of executing lords will put you on the chopping block next, because no one likes you so no one will miss you. judging by how lords only execute rebels, it looks like ai will only execute people that have built no relations with other clans, including introduction. but that could just be the code telling lords to prioritize executing rebels, nothing else. maybe it just comes down to your captor hating the living hell out of you. i have yet to see lords execute other lords from already established clans, and rebel clans joining other kingdoms as fresh new clans also seem immune to execution

 

[Zorion_no]

yes as far as i know with traits, they have three things they do: the relation changes between lords of similar traits, courting chance, and other persuasion chances like in missions or other convincing. i dont know if the relation change is specifically -1 for opposite traits, cause i saw one clan member with opposite trait to me have -5. i didnt check the clan itself, though i dont know what would have put it down to only -4, i didnt interact with them at all

i dont know with the honorable lords not leaving a faction. it was a thing in warband, but a lot of things that were in warband are not in bannerlord. if bannerlord goes by warband rules, then impulsive (hotheaded) lords will be most likely to be kicked out or most likely to leave, while honest lords will be loyal through thickest of thick. but the threshold for lords leaving is also very different in bannerlord from warband. having no fief in warband was enough to get most lords sour with their king. but in bannerlord, clans can go without fiefs for years and not budge. in my current game going for many years, the only one that has joined our kingdom was a clan that had two fiefs already, and none have left, even though we keep being on the losing side of wars and constantly have to reoffer fiefs to the same fiefless lords. i am pretty sure every clan in my kingdom are not run by honest leaders. (also not that i care about being on the losing side either, i plan to make my own kingdom when my clan tier is high enough)

i can see that generous trait is possible to earn. because the only way you lower it is to starve your party and only if it checks, and that only bumps it in the other direction once. so simply having food variety and winning battles will get you closer to generosity, whether you wanted it or not. i am actually trying to do a closefisted run as my brother after my main character died. the way i try to achieve it is be real picky about prices, usually only buying grain or low priced fish, and if neither is cheap then my party has to suffer starvation marches. i only shake out of it if my morale goes too low and buy whatever cheapest is available, otherwise i rely on bullying enemy villagers or bandits for food, and i always sell food that has a priceup or nets a good income, so my troops cant even be sure of their next meal of gruel. though even trying to do it in this believable way, it feels more like something a cruel/sadistic person would do rather than closefisted.. plus, its not like i can force my party to starve march towards bandits. even looters become faster than your party if your morale is too low. i feel like setting wages to low/normal/high would be more suitable for closefisted/generous gains, though again only if generous actually receives something in return like free troops asking to join on the spot to make up for the monetary loss. and closefisted can have troops outright rejecting to join them. for example on hire screen, some random troops could just grayed out because they know you wont pay them well, depending on how long you have gone for with low wages, with higher tier troops being more likely to be grayed out

you get honor through missions but not always. some missions give you calculating or mercy. not all failed quests give you dishonor either. some also improve your positive traits. usually by failing quests of gang leaders. some missions seemingly have no trait changes at all whether you fail or succeed. im just going off by whats written on the wiki for traits since someone must have found answers in the code to list the gains and losses so precisely. then again, the wiki does not mention if there is a gain from releasing an already captured vassal prisoner, or whether there is a gain from releasing them on the spot. but you see players confidently mention that elsewhere

i have honestly not tried the execution route yet, exactly because it was talked down on for being exploitive. and i prefer to act in line with ai to keep things fair (also why i prefer ai to be a little more lively so im not boxed in with their dull behavior). but i can imagine with the change in difficulty settings and players now being liable to be executed back, that having a track record of executing lords will put you on the chopping block next, because no one likes you so no one will miss you. judging by how lords only execute rebels, it looks like ai will only execute people that have built no relations with other clans, including introduction. but that could just be the code telling lords to prioritize executing rebels, nothing else. maybe it just comes down to your captor hating the living hell out of you. i have yet to see lords execute other lords from already established clans, and rebel clans joining other kingdoms as fresh new clans also seem immune to execution

The reason you can have lower than -1 in normal plays as a default relation with a lord, is again if they have multiple opposite you.

So at start you can pick various choices to your character and one of tehm will include all the yellow/gold traits sans the Valor.
(if you pick the one something something nice to people or whatever you'll get mercy, generous and honest I think in 1 go).
This means you can have 3 at start either + or - to a lords relation.
I'm assuming one of the traits you had was in the case of the clanleader(thats the one that dictate how the whole clan look at you) +-.
So That way you start out with -3 if they have all the opposite.
I cant in vanilla see how you start out with -1 unless well if you do what you say against a village owned by that clan they wouldnt like that - read tbh I never extort villages so I cant say how that works! in terms of negative relations, I'm assuming it would be similar to the ones where you help villagers being hit on by bandits.

But overall the whole systems def need some tlc, not to mention abit more transparancy on what your actions do.
Like when doing a quest it would state that it gives you +2 honor and +1 generous.

Mercy can def be earned relative easy enough - let all lords go instead of capture + when you siege a town, always pick the mercy option.

I've got it plenty of times after conquering a city or castle and used that option + releasing lords.

You can also get it if you do that "village needs grain" you give it to them for free. (but they are to rare now vs what they used to be)(in my plays)(Sturgia towns used to have them alot around Sibir and Varnavopol).

Generous is also realtive easy to get though if you give away in trade for free fiefs to other lords.(note you need to have high high (imo too high) trade to be able to do this, I dont know if it works as a king).
I tend to pick 1 city alone and make it a powerhouse of the faction, and all the other castles and towns they try to give to me I spread out among the lords, so it also contribute to a more fair distribution of fiefs - instead of the ****ty system where you can see 1 clan haveing 8 fiefs and another 6, then the rest of the clans in the faction have 1 or 2.. Really bad distribution system imo.

 

[roadworker]

The reason you can have lower than -1 in normal plays as a default relation with a lord, is again if they have multiple opposite you.

So at start you can pick various choices to your character and one of tehm will include all the yellow/gold traits sans the Valor.
(if you pick the one something something nice to people or whatever you'll get mercy, generous and honest I think in 1 go).
This means you can have 3 at start either + or - to a lords relation.
I'm assuming one of the traits you had was in the case of the clanleader(thats the one that dictate how the whole clan look at you) +-.
So That way you start out with -3 if they have all the opposite.
I cant in vanilla see how you start out with -1 unless well if you do what you say against a village owned by that clan they wouldnt like that - read tbh I never extort villages so I cant say how that works! in terms of negative relations, I'm assuming it would be similar to the ones where you help villagers being hit on by bandits.

But overall the whole systems def need some tlc, not to mention abit more transparancy on what your actions do.
Like when doing a quest it would state that it gives you +2 honor and +1 generous.

Mercy can def be earned relative easy enough - let all lords go instead of capture + when you siege a town, always pick the mercy option.

I've got it plenty of times after conquering a city or castle and used that option + releasing lords.

You can also get it if you do that "village needs grain" you give it to them for free. (but they are to rare now vs what they used to be)(in my plays)(Sturgia towns used to have them alot around Sibir and Varnavopol).

Generous is also realtive easy to get though if you give away in trade for free fiefs to other lords.(note you need to have high high (imo too high) trade to be able to do this, I dont know if it works as a king).
I tend to pick 1 city alone and make it a powerhouse of the faction, and all the other castles and towns they try to give to me I spread out among the lords, so it also contribute to a more fair distribution of fiefs - instead of the ****ty system where you can see 1 clan haveing 8 fiefs and another 6, then the rest of the clans in the faction have 1 or 2.. Really bad distribution system imo.

i was playing as my brother so i had calculating and valor. the woman i noticed that had -4 relation with had impulsive but no other opposites. it could be raiding, maybe, but you usually get much higher relation loss from that, not just -3. forcibly taking goods or troops from factions you are at war with gives no relation loss at all, not even to the villagers

i would also like some transparency on actions. a lot of the actions that give trait points could as well be giving other points, like starvation being seen as cruel instead of tightfisted. even the music that plays on the world map when going through starvation suggests more that you are doing something evil, not just being a stingy nuisance. or going by the assumption that all failed quest are dishonest, because you dont keep your word. but instead its sometimes giving positive traits, with no reason to know why or which. i have looked at the personality trait wiki so many times, and im still unsure what the outcome of my actions in some quests are going to be. like the stolen goods quest which has four alternative solutions and the trait gains dont correspond well to each other. its very unintuitive

not to mention it would make more sense to lose honesty over quests where you choose not to keep your word, not where you try and fail and risked your own life. thats not dishonesty, thats plain failure. that also seems to be the vibe they are going for, but then if you fail to destroy a hideout on "associate captured by bounty hunter" you lose honor. oddly the regular bandit hideout quest has no trait loss. the gang leader one even gives double honor for completing. but both quests give the same rewards. well, at least according to the wiki. the wiki also states that you can accept both quests and earn double amount, but i think they have since changed that

edit: i saw a lord now who has four traits, cautious and calculating was two of them. my brother that i play as has valor and calculating, so that should even it out to 0 i think. but their relation is -1. or is it only opposites affecting it?