I recently became Nerevarine, and now it seems a lot of NPCs that should normally be hostile are not. I'm wondering if it's a bug or intended. For example, the sorceress that has the Staff of Magnus that Ajira tells you the location of, isn't hostile. I have a feeling she's intended to attack me on sight.

ít's a bit odd yes, don't really know if it's intended or not. But the higher the personality and I think the reputation also, the more people like you. After some point you are so likeable that even hostile NPC's come over that magic threshold that makes them like you.. It's the same thing that makes merchants and others like you more, it just have a strange side effect. You could try a drain personality spell on yourself while you talk to them, maybe they will instantly attack you.

I dont think she is.... But the NPCs arent supposed to stop attacking you. Hm.... Try going to Dagon Fel and Skorvilds tower if you havnt already. A couple hostile NPCs there, should tell you if your good or not.

Sometimes its totally possible to rush up to an enemy so fast, and have them so unaware that they'll briefly stall before engaging in combat, or you can actually open up dialogue and talk to them.

In later versions of the game, I thought it was fixed, and when you attempted to speak to them, it'd say "this person is in combat" or something of the sort.

Are you on the Xbox by any chance?