If you want to rise in Calradia without constantly looking over your shoulder, relations matter. A lot. In Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord, relationships shape everything from marriage prospects to army cohesion. Ignore them and you end up isolated. Invest in them and doors start opening quietly all over the map.
This is a practical guide for building relations quickly, without grinding aimlessly or wasting influence.
Why Relations Actually Matter
High relations are not just a cosmetic stat. They influence:
- Support in kingdom votes
- Chances of recruiting enemy lords
- Marriage success
- Fief allocation
- Army cohesion and loyalty
- Reduced likelihood of rebellion in towns
If you are trying to build a stable kingdom rather than a chaotic personal warband, this is foundational.
Complete Quests for Notables
This is the simplest and most reliable method early on.
Village elders, merchants and gang leaders offer quests that directly increase relations when completed. Focus on:
- Deliver the herd
- Train troops
- Escort merchant caravan
- Landowner needs manual labourers
Avoid quests that damage relations with other notables unless you are deliberately building underworld influence.
Why this works fast:
- Quests give direct relation boosts
- Higher relation increases recruitment quality
- Strong village ties mean better troops
If you are running around chasing bandits anyway, you may as well stack reputation while doing it.
Support Lords in Kingdom Decisions
Once you join or form a kingdom, influence becomes currency.
Back a lord’s proposal in the council, even if it is not your first choice. Supporting someone’s fief claim or policy proposal grants relation gains with them and their clan.
The key is targeted voting. Do not spread influence randomly. Pick two or three powerful clans and consistently support them. You are building political allies, not collecting acquaintances.
Pro tip: Check clan tier and strength before investing influence. Backing a weak, landless clan rarely pays off long term.
Release Lords After Battle
This is the fastest method during wartime.
After defeating an enemy lord, choose to release them instead of taking them prisoner. This grants immediate relation gains.
It feels counterintuitive, especially when you want ransom money, but the long term payoff is massive. Repeated releases can turn bitter enemies into future allies.
When does this shine?
- You plan to recruit them later
- You are preparing to form your own kingdom
- You want diplomatic leverage
If you are building a conquest empire, though, you may need prisoners. Choose strategically.
Improve Charm Skill Through Dialogue
Charm directly increases persuasion success and relation gain.
Ways to level Charm quickly:
- Successfully persuade lords in dialogue
- Resolve disputes between nobles
- Barter fairly instead of exploiting trade
High Charm amplifies relation gains. It turns small diplomatic wins into meaningful jumps.
It also makes marriage negotiations far less painful, which is a blessing for anyone who has failed three persuasion checks in a row and questioned their life choices.
Donate Troops to Allied Garrisons
This is underrated.
Donating troops to a lord’s garrison improves relations with that clan. It also boosts influence.
If you have spare low tier units after upgrading your main force, this is an efficient conversion of manpower into political capital.
Think of it as investing in goodwill instead of payroll.
Help in Battles and Join Armies
When you assist a lord in combat or join their army, you gain relation increases after victories.
Fastest approach:
- Follow large allied armies during war
- Join decisive battles
- Participate in successful sieges
You earn loot, renown and relationship growth at the same time. Efficient stacking of rewards is the goal.
Just do not join an army led by someone tactically incompetent. Your patience has limits.
Clear Bandits Near Villages
When you eliminate bandit hideouts or roaming bandit parties threatening a village, you improve relations with local notables.
This is especially strong early game.
It is low risk, repeatable and directly tied to future troop quality. Cleaner countryside, better recruitment options.
Everyone wins except the bandits.
Avoid Actions That Destroy Relations
You can build relations quickly, but you can also ruin them in one decision.
Avoid:
- Raiding villages of potential allies
- Executing captured nobles unless you accept permanent hostility
- Voting against everyone repeatedly
- Failing quests after accepting them
Executing nobles especially has kingdom wide consequences. It feels dramatic, but it locks diplomatic doors permanently.
Marriage as a Long Term Strategy
Marriage connects you to an entire clan.
Once married, you automatically gain a baseline of improved relations with that family. This is less about speed and more about stability.
Choose a politically powerful clan. Marrying into a minor house is romantic, but it rarely shifts the balance of power.
The Fastest Combined Strategy
If you want pure speed:
- Join a kingdom early
- Fight in wars
- Release captured lords repeatedly
- Back the same two powerful clans in votes
- Complete high value quests for their settlements
Stack these methods together rather than doing one in isolation.
Relations compound. A lord at 5 relation is indifferent. A lord at 60 becomes an ally. At 100, they will back you in most decisions without hesitation.
Takeaway
Improving relations in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord is not about being universally liked. It is about being strategically respected.
Pick your allies. Invest consistently. Release enemies when it serves you. Support votes intelligently.
Calradia rewards patience and memory. Lords remember who stood with them. Or who chopped their head off.
Choose wisely.
