Despite having numerous factions, Crimson Desert doesn’t have a convoluted system of loyalties and alliance, no labyrinthine branching conversation trees, or some of the other trappings you might expect of an RPG of this scope. It does, however, have something of a reputation/morality system in the form of regional Contribution scores, and this page will discuss how to earn and lose Contribution and what rewards you can get from raising your Contribution in Crimson Desert!
Page Breakdown¶
| Quick Search |
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| Gaining and Losing Contribution |
| Contribution Rewards |
Gaining and Losing Contribution¶
Despite being rather unorthodoxically named for what it does in Crimson Desert, Contribution is rather aptly named - it rates the amount of good you’ve done in the local area, functioning as something of a mix of a reputation and morality system. You can gain Contribution in a variety of ways, including giving alms to the poor, freeing slaves and captives, completing quests and clearing out bandits and other hostiles from camps and strongholds. Alternatively you lose Contribution when you commit crimes - theft, assault and murder, in order from least Contribution loss to most. Mind that we said “commit crimes”, not get caught committing a crime - you lose Contribution regardless of whether you get a bounty or not. Contribution is, in this case, a measure of how much good you’ve objectively done rather than the region’s perception of your morality.
Contribution is measured in levels, and each level requires 100 Contribution points to reach. Small acts of kindness, like giving alms to beggars, will generally get you one measly point of Contribution, while completing quests and clearing areas of hostiles can get you hundreds. Clearly if you want to seriously level your Contribution, you will need to focus on acts of daring-do rather than kindness and philanthropy. Likewise committing petty crimes like theft will cost you 5 points of Contribution, which, in the grand scheme of things, isn’t a great price to pay if you really want to steal something (assuming you don’t get caught!). Practically speaking, this means any act of theft can be glossed over by tossing one copper count to five different beggars, but keep in mind that a crime spree can really add up - 20 acts of theft will cost you an entire level of Contribution!
You can trade Contribution for gear at Contribution Shops.
Contribution Rewards¶
While it’s always appealing to the primitive part of our brains to see numbers go up, Contribution serves as more than a mere moral barometer - it’s also a currency! Once you get access to Hernand Castle you’ll find the Contribution Shop, where you can trade Contribution for various Hernand-themed goods… in this case mostly armor and accessories, but the odd bit of horse gear can be found here as well.
This works like any other shop save that you buy goods with Contribution, and you don’t need to be terribly picky, either, as you can sell Contribution gear back to the Contribution merchant to regain the Contribution originally spent on it. Seems a bit weird commodifying an arbitrary measurement of your good deeds instead of, say, just giving permanent, tiered rewards for reaching positive Contribution levels, but it nevertheless incentivizes you to do good deeds and refrain from villainy, at least to some extent.
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