Karma (Fallout: New Vegas)

For an overview of Karma in the Fallout universe, see Karma.

Karma is the reflection of all good and evil choices you make during the game and how they are perceived by the inhabitants of the wasteland.

Overviews

Karma doesn't have as much of an effect on gameplay as in Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout 3, since reputation has a more important place.

However, it does still exist and if someone catches you performing an action that causes negative Karma against their faction you will often lose reputation with that faction; for example, stealing something from The Silver Rush where a Van Graff can see you. They may also become openly hostile despite your reputation with them not being lowered enough for you to be considered hated where they will attack you.

Karma's basic mechanics work similarly to the way they do in Fallout 3 (a 2001 point linear scale with -1000 being the most evil and +1000 the most good). Unlike reputation, where one can only gain fame or gain infamy, Karma can be gained and lost.

Karma also no longer determines which companions you can recruit. However, when opening a conversation with Cass after she has joined you and when you have substantially negative Karma (-100) she will complain about your behavior. You will get a second warning when your Karma is even lower (-150). After that, she won't complain anymore, as long as the player stays neutral. When you continue on your path to "the dark side" and talk to her again while having evil Karma (-250) she will leave for good. Note that Cass does not actually grant the player any grace period to improve their Karma, so a player who doesn't know better can alienate her in the space of minutes by making three attempts in a row to converse with her. Even though she will agree to accompany an evil character, the first attempt to talk with her (which you will need to do in order to tell her to travel with you) will result in her telling the player that they "can be a real asshole sometimes" and the first of three strikes will be used up on the spot.

When facing Lanius at the battle of Hoover Dam (assuming you choose to side with any faction other than Caesar's Legion), if the speech or barter checks can't be passed, or the wrong dialogue is selected at the near-end or the beginning, he will prepare to engage combat, and the player will have a unique "good" Karma dialogue option that will convince him to fight you alone, "honorably," regardless of whether you have followers with you.

The values for Karma gain may be bugged; currently killing very evil NPCs (such as Vulpes Inculta) gives only 2 Karma, yet killing some Fiends and Feral Ghouls grants 100 Karma.

Some ending narration in the game's epilogue will also depend upon the player's Karma. (See Fallout: New Vegas endings for details.)

Getting positive Karma points in FO3 and FNV	Getting negative Karma points in FO3 and FNV

Karma levels

Karma levels in Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas

You begin the game with a value of zero, which increases or decreases based on the players actions. There are 5 levels of Karma:

• Very good: +750 to +1000.
• Good: +250 to +749.
• Neutral: -249 to +249.
• Evil: -749 to -250.
• Very evil: -1000 to -750.

Karma titles

Your Karma status is defined by a "Karma title", depending on your Karma points and your level. The base level cap is 30 and the add-ons raise this cap for five levels each, but titles do not change past level 30.

Level	Good Karma	Neutral Karma	Bad Karma
1	Samaritan	Drifter	Grifter
2	Martyr	Renegade	Outlaw
3	Sentinel	Seeker	Opportunist
4	Defender	Wanderer	Plunderer
5	Dignitary	Citizen	Fat Cat
6	Peacekeeper	Adventurer	Marauder
7	Ranger of the Wastes	Vagabond of the Wastes	Pirate of the Wastes
8	Protector	Mercenary	Betrayer
9	Desert Avenger	Desert Scavenger	Desert Terror
10	Exemplar	Observer	Ne'er-do-well
11	Vegas Crusader	Vegas Councilor	Vegas Crime lord
12	Paladin	Keeper	Defiler
13	Mojave Legend	Mojave Myth	Mojave Boogeyman
14	Shield of Hope	Pinnacle of Survival	Sword of Despair
15	Vegas Legend	Vegas Myth	Vegas Boogeyman
16	Hero of the Wastes	Strider of the Wastes	Villain of the Wastes
17	Paragon	Beholder	Fiend
18	Wasteland Savior	Wasteland Watcher	Wasteland Destroyer
19	Saint	Super-Human	Evil Incarnate
20	Guardian of the Wastes	Renegade of the Wastes	Scourge of the Wastes
21	Restorer of Faith	Soldier of Fortune	Architect of Doom
22	Model of Selflessness	Profiteer	Bringer of Sorrow
23	Shepherd	Egocentric	Deceiver
24	Friend of the People	Loner	Consort of Discord
25	Champion of Justice	Hero for Hire	Stuff of Nightmares
26	Symbol of Order	Model of Apathy	Agent of Chaos
27	Herald of Tranquility	Person of Refinement	Instrument of Ruin
28	Last, Best Hope of Humanity	Moneygrubber	Soultaker
29	Savior of the Damned	Gray Stranger	Demon's Spawn
30+	Messiah	True Mortal	Devil

Ways to change Karma

To increase Karma to good or very good

• Go inside Vault 3 and kill some Fiends or go inside the NCR Correctional Facility and kill some Powder Gangers.
• Give Med-X to Boxcars, the injured Powder Ganger, inside Nipton General Store. Note that you can only do this once.
• Kill feral ghouls (any kind).
• Free the prisoners in Vault 3 (Karma can still be gained by simply unlocking the cell door even if the occupants are killed)
• Kill evil or very evil Characters. (Boxcars, Philippe, Mortimer...)^(note)
• Some quests will give you positive Karma if you decline any reward you are offered for completing them, including Bye Bye Love, and Someone to Watch Over Me.

Maintain Neutral Karma

• Kill Fiends or Powder Gangers if your Karma is too low.
• Steal items if your Karma is too high.
• The perks added by Lonesome Road (Ain't Like That Now, Just Lucky I'm Alive, and Thought You Died) all reset Karma to 0.

To decrease Karma to evil or very evil

• Steal items. (This can subtract Karma as many times as the player wishes by stealing from an owned container, replacing the item, exiting, and stealing it again.)
• Go on a killing spree.
• Access an owned computer terminal. This will cause players to receive -1 Karma every time they access it (which can subtract Karma as many times as the player wishes).
• There is a house in Nelson with 158 books, which are technically owned and will result as stealing if taken. This can effectively turn the player's Karma evil in a relatively short amount of time.
• In Nellis AFB, there is a room to the right of the Museum where Pete tells the story of the Boomers, this room is just past the lookout tower to the right. In this room, a large amount of airborne gas is visible, and there are just over 100 pieces of maize that can be stolen. This is a great way to reduce your Karma.
• Crucify Benny at The Fort.
• Attacking the Boulder City Memorial and insulting Kowalski (killing him does not grant an additional loss of Karma).
• Kill Mr. House
• Enslave Arcade Gannon for Caesar.
• Humiliating Grecks by taking his clothes.
• Choosing the attack option when conversing with Private Edwards.
• The Ultra-Luxe Kitchens contain a lot of owned items (mostly white plates, drinking glasses, cutlery and foodstuffs).
  • The Camp Searchlight home where Private Edwards resides also has many owned items, most of which are junk.
• Eat People (Cannibal Perk Needed)
• Kill Good or Very Good Characters.^(note)
• The following below is DLC content from Dead Money
  • Lying to Christine, or threatening her with the Terrifying Presence perk, and making her go down the elevator during the quest Mixed Signals will result in bad karma.
  • Killing Dog/God during Put the Beast Down will result in bad karma.

Companions and Karma

The recruitment of your companions does not affect your Karma. However, companions such as Cass will permanently leave your party if you talk to them too many times with evil Karma.

Notes

• Since you never get to see your Karmic value, you can use the console command player.getav Karma to get your current Karma points.
• When attempting to steal drained energy cells, casings, or any type of ammunition ingredients from non-player characters there is no risk of failure, Karma loss and the NPC will not react to the Courier even if detected when taking them. This could be due to the drained cells and casings having no monetary value, much the same way vendors will let you take casings for free from their shops.
• Good characters can still be good with the cannibal perk since you only lose 1 Karma point.
• Even if your reputation is "Vilified", stealing any items from NCR or Legion containers, or lockpicking their doors, will result in a loss of Karma. This occurs whether you are seen or not. However, no Karma is gained or lost if the player steals from containers belonging to criminal groups, such as the Powder Gangers, so long as their reputation with said group is "Vilified".
• The player character will only lose Karma for killing a non-Evil creature or NPC if they are assigned to a faction that is programmed to give the player character a Karma penalty for killing its members; by default, no Karma is lost for killing Good/Very Good characters. The same is true for Evil and Very Evil characters.

Bugs

• Playstation 3 There is a random glitch where the Karma title remains at "Guardian of the Wastes" or "Scourge of the Wastes" even when the character is well past level 20. This occurs with Good, Neutral and Evil Karma.^[verified]
• PC When reaching higher levels, the game may "forget" your karma at random times, then it will return without warning.^[verified]