NPC Trust System
The NPC Trust System in Crimson Desert tracks your relationship with the characters you interact with throughout the world of Pywel. Trust is measured by a gauge that fills with green for positive actions and red for negative ones. Building trust with NPCs unlocks lower vendor prices, new quests, trade agreements, pets, and companion backstory content.
Trust applies to two broad categories of characters: general NPCs (merchants, townspeople, quest givers) and Greymane companions (your fellow mercenary band members). Each category has its own methods of building trust and its own set of rewards.
How to Build Trust
There are several methods for raising your trust level with NPCs:
Greeting NPCs
The simplest method is greeting NPCs by standing in front of them or hovering your lantern over them. Each greeting provides +5 trust. You can greet any NPC once per day, and roughly 20 greetings over time will bring a merchant to maximum trust. This is free but slow.
Completing Requests
Request quests are a type of side quest that rewards trust for the NPC who commissioned the task. After completing a Request, a notification shows how much trust you gained. Requests are one of the fastest ways to build trust because they provide larger trust increases than daily greetings.
Giving Gifts
You can gift items to NPCs to increase trust. Recipes and books provide decent trust values, but these are limited resources. The most sustainable gift option is pouches looted from defeated bandits. Pouches can be repeatedly farmed and gifted for consistent trust gains.
Recipes and Books: Good trust value but non-renewable. Use sparingly.
Bandit Pouches: Farmable from defeated bandits. Lower trust per gift but infinitely renewable.
Collectibles: Giving collectibles to NPCs can improve relationships and potentially unlock new dialogue options, quests, or rewards.
Companion-Specific Trust Building
Trust with Greymane companions works slightly differently from merchant trust. Companion trust is built through:
Sharing Meals at Camp: Cooking meals at the Greymane Camp kitchen and eating with companions builds trust. Different meals may have different trust values.
Giving Gifts: Companions accept gifts just like merchants.
Completing Companion Quests: Each Greymane member has personal quests. Completing these provides significant trust increases.
Making Aligned Choices: Story choices that align with Greymane values can boost trust with specific companions.
Freesword Dispatch: Sending companions on dispatch missions and having them succeed builds mutual trust.
Trust with Animals
The trust system also applies to animals you encounter in the world, such as dogs and cats. Building trust with animals works through petting and feeding:
Method | Trust Gained | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Petting | +5 per attempt | Daily limit of 5 attempts per animal. Takes roughly 4 days to max trust through petting alone. |
Feeding Meat | Varies by meat type | Different meats provide different trust values. Feeding is faster than petting alone. |
When an animal reaches maximum positive trust, you can adopt it as a pet. Pets provide practical benefits such as automatically gathering loot for you. For example, a Brown Dog can be adopted during the Faction Quest "The Greymanes' New Fangs."
Merchant Trust Rewards
Reaching maximum trust with merchants is worth the effort because of the significant gameplay benefits:
Reward | Description |
|---|---|
Lower Prices | High-trust merchants offer reduced prices on their goods. |
New Quests | Some NPCs unlock new quests once they trust you enough. |
Trade Agreements | Maximum trust unlocks purchasable supply contracts that expand your camp's shop inventory. |
Exclusive Inventory | Some merchants add new items to their stock at high trust levels. |
Information and Rumors | High-trust NPCs may share rumors about hidden locations or valuable secrets. |
Trade Agreements Explained
Trade agreements (also called supply contracts) are special items sold by merchants at maximum trust. When you buy and activate a trade agreement from your inventory, it expands the corresponding shop at your Greymane Camp. For example, purchasing Dahlia's trade agreement expands Ronnie's food shop from two items (Chewy Rice Cakes and Meat/Vegetable Porridge) to five items, adding Pickled Vegetables, Braised Fish, and Pan-Fried Rice Cakes.
The primary benefit of trade agreements is centralization. Instead of traveling to multiple merchants across Pywel for specific supplies, you can buy everything you need at your camp. This saves significant travel time, especially in later chapters when you need to restock frequently.
Companion Trust Rewards
Building trust with Greymane companions unlocks deeper layers of the game:
Trust Level | Reward |
|---|---|
Low | Basic dialogue and limited interaction. |
Medium | Companions share personal backstory and reveal more about the Greymanes' history. |
High | Unlocks Echoes of the Past flashback missions that let you play through key moments from the Greymanes' past. |
Maximum | Companions perform better on dispatch missions, provide more useful combat support, and share their deepest personal stories. |
Echoes of the Past
Echoes of the Past are playable flashback missions that reveal how the Greymanes first formed and the tragedies they have endured. These missions are unlocked by reaching high trust levels with specific companions and provide significant lore context for the main story.
Dispatch Mission Performance
Companions with higher trust are more effective on Freesword Dispatch missions and return with better rewards. Dispatch missions run on real-time timers, and companions return with gold, materials, information, or other resources depending on the mission type.
Group Morale
Related to the trust system is the overall Greymane group morale. Morale is influenced by several factors:
Your progress in rebuilding the Greymanes as a faction
The success or failure of dispatch missions
Story events and major narrative choices
Whether the camp is well-supplied with food and resources
Cooking group meals at the camp kitchen
Group morale affects companion behavior and dispatch mission outcomes. Keeping morale high by maintaining a well-stocked camp and succeeding on dispatch missions ensures your companions perform at their best.
Important Notes
Trust is not a romance system. Despite the affinity mechanics, no NPC interactions lead to romantic relationships. Pearl Abyss has confirmed that romance is not part of the game.
Trust can decrease if you take actions that NPCs dislike (the red portion of the gauge). Be mindful of your choices.
Bandit pouches are the most farmable gift item for building merchant trust quickly.
Prioritize trust with vendors you use frequently. The trade agreement rewards for food merchants are especially valuable for keeping your camp stocked before difficult chapters.