Does anybody know how proselytize works?

[suejak]

I've tried searching Steam and Reddit, and I can't find any answers.

The wiki says this: "Converts someone into an ally. It works on nearly anything of lower level than you, including creatures with no obvious way to communicate; but a very high Ego is needed to use it successfully. You can only have one proselytized ally at a time; successfully recruiting a second ally will cause the first one to stop following you. However, you can have both an ally from this and an ally from Beguiling at the same time."

My ego is not very high (23, early game) and at level 8 the only thing I can persuade almost without fail is tortoises.

Intuitively, based on other people's accounts and my own experience, it really seems like proselytize is buffed by good reputation. My character has pretty high rep with tortoises (of all things) and I seem to be able to proselytize tortoises on every attempt. However, I can't proselytize anything else.

Other people report being unable to proselytize anything, no matter how much ego they have.

Is my reputation theory right? I really like the idea of grinding rep through water rituals and quests to potentially proselytize a good target.

[Little Strawberry]

It's quite simple. Your level has to bigger than the target or you can also roll against their pure MA (Mental Armor), while your roll consists of (1d8-6 + ego). Not really sure if reputation relationships change MA, but that are the only factors that matter.

[Anxarcule]

I don't think reputation is a factor - my lvl 30ish guy can charm rhinoxes and they are hostile to me. It seems to fail on even level characters a lot of the time though - just keep trying.

[suejak]

Originally posted by Little Strawberry:

It's quite simple. Your level has to bigger than the target. You also roll against their pure MA (Mental Armor), while your roll consists of (1d8-6 + ego).

I appreciate the answer, but this doesn't explain why I can proselytize tortoises almost without fail (90% success rate), but I can't proselytize the tons of "trivial" enemies or neutral bugs/dogs I find.

Unless you know for a fact that it's purely based on level and my experiences are just a weird coincidence, my theory is it's heavily influenced by ego and reputation...

Originally posted by Anxarcule:

I don't think reputation is a factor - my lvl 30ish guy can charm rhinoxes and they are hostile to me. It seems to fail on even level characters a lot of the time though - just keep trying.

What is your ego at, though? I think ego is also a factor.

Also, tortoises (with whom I have great rep) virtually always succeed on the very first try.

[Little Strawberry]

Originally posted by suejak:

Unless you know for a fact that it's purely based on level and my experiences are just a weird coincidence, my theory is it's heavily influenced by ego and reputation...

I didn't say it wasn't influenced by ego and what I've said was literally taken from the game's code. In fact, tortoises inherit their MA from basic reptiles, so there shouldn't be a difference in difficulty between Crocs, Dawngliders, Chameleons, Mimics, Frogs, etc, since they all inherit the same willpower for MA.

[suejak]

Ok, thanks for your answer. If that's taken from the game's code for proselytize (vs. beguile, which I think is better understood) then I don't know what's going on.

I can tell you that I reliably fail to proselytize vs. chameleons (who are hostile) but I just plain can't fail vs. tortoises, and the only one of those I have friendly rep with is tortoises.

I'll keep trying for a couple more hours :P

[Little Strawberry]

Actually quick correction because I didn't see the operator. It should always work on monsters below your level, regardless of ego, but you can also proselytize monsters above your level if you happen to beat their MA with your weighed ego roll. So not really sure what's up.

[suejak]

Oh you can actually check the code in real time! That's nutty.

I'm having more success vs. hostile monsters and my new pet is an eyeless crab :P Irritable tortoises are lower level than me so that could very well explain why I was getting consistent success with them, although I can't reliably persuade a lot of random noob mobs out there for some reason. May just be coincidence.

Thanks for the help!

[Fease]

Ha, I just updated the wiki for proselytize as I'm working on the finer points of my beguile build.

It's not based on reputation. Little Strawberry is right in some ways and wrong on others. They can't be over your level for one thing. Here is the formula otherwise:
(1d8-6) + Ego mod > 4 + Enemy Willpower mod + Enemy MA

Note that the enemy willpower mod and MA can vary from mob to mob in the same type because they just have a base that is randomly added to(little bit of an assumption here based on what i've seen). The stats on the wiki will just give a general idea of where something's stats are.

[suejak]

Awesome! Thank you.

So rep is just a currency of sorts. A little disappointing, but good to know. I guess my run as the tortoise whisperer was confirmation bias...

Unfortunately, I just died to a Gelatinous Frustum so I can't do any more testing D: Was stuck inside it and still have no idea how to get out, lol.

[Naturtok]

not to totally zombie up this post, but I just wanted to point out that there's a really good combo between Berate and Proselytize, since Berate reduces the enemy's willpower and is range so you can use it before you get in close. I just used the combo to get one of the boss snapjaws to my side in the first little cave area