Stardew Valley Friendship Points: A Guide

Making friends in Stardew Valley is essential for a fulfilling experience in the quaint Pelican Town. Whether you're aiming to build friendships or pursue romance, understanding the nuances of the friendship system can significantly enhance your gameplay. Here's a comprehensive guide on how to maximize your relationships in Stardew Valley.

Updated January 4, 2025, by Demaris Oxman: With the release of the 1.6 update, many players have returned to Stardew Valley or started their journey for the first time. While the core mechanics of the friendship system remain unchanged, there are new elements to consider. This guide has been updated to reflect these changes, ensuring players are well-informed on the best ways to befriend the entire valley.

The Heart Scale

To monitor your relationship with every NPC, access the Menu and select the tab with the heart icon. This displays a list of each NPC along with the number of hearts (friendship levels) you've earned with them.

As you accumulate more hearts with NPCs, new opportunities unlock, such as witnessing special Heart Event scenes, receiving recipes via mail, or accessing unique dialogue options. However, the heart scale alone doesn't fully explain how friendship is cultivated.

What Is One Heart?

To increase friendship by one heart, you need to earn 250 friendship points with an NPC. Nearly every interaction, from talking to gift-giving, impacts your friendship points. Positive actions boost points, while ignoring or negative actions can lead to a decrease.

Boosting Friendship Gain

To accelerate your friendship gains, seek out the book "Friendship 101." You can obtain it as the ninth prize from the Prize Machine in the Mayor's Mansion, or with a 9% chance from the Bookseller starting in Year 3 for 20,000g. Reading this book grants a permanent 10% increase to friendship gains, making each interaction more valuable. Note that this book only affects friendship increases and cannot be used multiple times for additional benefits.

Point Values For Individual Character Interactions

Understanding how different interactions affect your friendship points is crucial for building strong relationships.

Everyday Interactions

- Simply talking to a character usually earns you +20 points. If the character is engaged in an activity, such as exercising or doing chores, you'll receive +10 points instead. Always greet them to prevent friendship decay. A check mark in the Social menu tab indicates you've spoken to a character that day.

• Completing an item delivery from the Bulletin Board outside Pierre's store grants +150 points with the recipient.
• Failing to talk to a character results in a slight decrease in friendship. The standard is -2 points per day, but it increases to -10 per day if you've given them a bouquet. For married players, not talking to your spouse leads to a -20 decrease on that day. Keep up with your significant others!

Giving Gifts

Gift preferences vary among villagers, but some options are universally good choices:

• Loved Gifts: +80 points
• Liked Gifts: +45 points
• Neutral Gifts: +20 points
• Disliked Gifts: -20 Points
• Hated Gifts: -40 Points

Gifts given on the Feast of the Winter Star yield 5x the usual points, while birthday gifts offer 8x the points. Be cautious with disliked or hated gifts on these special days, as they result in a significant decrease in friendship.

Stardrop Tea

Stardrop Tea is a universally loved gift in Stardew Valley. When given to an NPC, it boosts friendship by 250 points (one full heart). On birthdays or the Feast of the Winter Star, this increases to three full hearts. You can gift it even after reaching the usual gift limits (two per week and one per day).

Stardrop Tea is rare but obtainable from the Prize Machine in the Mayor's office, Golden Fishing Chests, as a reward for the Helper's Bundle on the remixed Community Center Bulletin Board, or from the raccoon for completing higher-level requests.

The Movie Theater

Once the movie theater is unlocked, you can invite friends or romantic interests to watch a film. Purchase a Movie Ticket for 1000g and present it like a gift. Each character's preferences for movies and snacks affect the friendship outcome:

• Loved Movie: +200 points
• Liked Movie: +100 points
• Disliked Movie: 0 points
• Loved Concession: +50 points
• Liked Concession: +25 points
• Disliked Concession: 0 points

Conversations & Dialogue

During conversations, characters may ask questions. Choosing the right answers can earn +10 to +50 points, while wrong answers may decrease points. Typically, understanding the character's personality helps in selecting the best response. Mean or snarky replies reduce friendship, whereas well-intentioned choices can earn points or remain neutral.

Heart Events often involve more personal dialogues, with choices that can impact friendship by up to 200 points. These choices are usually clear, allowing you to foster friendship or risk losing it.

Festivals & Events

#### The Flower Dance

To invite an NPC to dance at the festival, you must have at least four hearts with them. Participating in the dance boosts friendship by one heart (250 points).

The Luau

During the summer festival's community potluck, adding an item to the soup can affect your friendship with every villager:

• Best Soup: +120 points
• Good Soup: +60 points
• Neutral Soup, no item added, or Lewis' Purple Shorts added: 0 points
• Bad Soup: -50 points
• Worst Soup: -100 points

The Community Center

Completing the "Bulletin Board" bundles in the Community Center, which include the Chef's Bundle, the Enchanter's Bundle, the Fodder Bundle, the Field Research Bundle, and the Dye Bundle, rewards you with 500 friendship points (2 hearts) with every non-dateable villager.

By understanding and utilizing these mechanics, you can build strong, lasting relationships with the residents of Pelican Town, enhancing your Stardew Valley experience.