Skyrim Speech perks
Bartering, persuading, intimidating and bribing. Speech is a thief skill with 9 perks and 13 perk ranks.
- Perks
- 9 perks, 13 perk points to complete
- Skill type
- Thief (Stealth)
- Race bonus
- Breton, Nord +5
- XP 15 → 100
- 528,804 skill XP
- Training 15 → 90
- 120,450 gold (75 sessions)
Speech perk tree
| Perk | Rank | Skill | Requires | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Haggling | 1/5 | 0 | — | Buying and selling prices are 10% better |
| 2/5 | 20 | Haggling 1 | Buying and selling prices are 15% better | |
| 3/5 | 40 | Haggling 2 | Buying and selling prices are 20% better | |
| 4/5 | 60 | Haggling 3 | Buying and selling prices are 25% better | |
| 5/5 | 80 | Haggling 4 | Buying and selling prices are 30% better | |
| Allure | — | 30 | Haggling | 10% better prices with the opposite sex |
| Bribery | — | 30 | Haggling | Bribe guards to ignore crimes |
| Merchant | — | 50 | Allure | Sell any type of item to any kind of merchant |
| Persuasion | — | 50 | Bribery | Persuasion attempts are 30% easier |
| Intimidation | — | 70 | Persuasion | Intimidation is twice as likely to succeed |
| Investor | — | 70 | Merchant | Invest 500 gold with a shopkeeper to increase their available gold permanently |
| Fence | — | 90 | Investor | Barter stolen goods with any merchant you have invested in |
| Master Trader | — | 100 | Fence | Every merchant in the world gains 1,000 gold for bartering |
When a perk lists two prerequisites, you need only one of them.
Planning your Speech perks
Completing the whole Speech tree costs 13 of the roughly 80 perk points you get by level 81, so most builds take only the perks they will really use. Start with the perks at the bottom of the tree, then follow the branch that suits your play style up to its top perk.
The highest perks in the tree need a skill of 90 or 100: Fence (90), Master Trader (100).
How to level Speech
Every time Speech goes up, your character earns experience equal to the new skill level, so a high Speech skill also helps you level up quickly. Raising it from 15 to 100 takes about 528,804 skill experience in total. Trainers can take it to 90 for about 120,450 gold, five sessions per character level. Use the skill XP calculator for exact numbers between any two levels.