Does having weapons/magic ready cause NPCs to be more hostile towards you?

I always have Clairvoyance ready when I'm traveling across the map. But it seems that if I have magic ready, the other characters in the game remark that I need to be careful, I need to take my magic elsewhere, etc.

Does having magic or a weapon at the ready cause the other characters to he less hospitable towards me?

Solution 1:

They don't actually become hostile unless you hit them with an adversarial spell. It's just in-game immersion dialogue.

If you use a shout (such as Dragonrend on a dragon in Riften) at nighttime, sometimes a guard will ask you to quiet it down. I've never chosen the "Don't worry, there's more where that came from." option, so I don't know if answering negatively will hurt your standing or will force the guard to arrest you.

Solution 2:

In Oblivion if you had a weapon out while talking to someone it lowered their disposition towards you. This may be why you're asking this question :) This could be used to get a higher rating with that person by persuading them with your weapon drawn, then when you put your weapon away it would bump it up higher than you could normally get it.

Since they took out this mechanic in Skyrim, and because talking with NPCs is in real time (meaning sometimes you need to be at the ready to fight), having a weapon out doesn't effect their disposition toward you, but it may change their dialogue.

I just tried selling to a merchant with my sword drawn, and sheathed. Both gave the same prices. I recommend 'sheathing' magic in town though as I've set many a villager alight on accident :)