Talk:Karma

Possible Reference to Fallout 2?
Ok, towards the end of Fallout 2, President Richardson and the Chosen One engage in dialogue. In this dialogue, the President can be quoted as saying "We are the last, best hope of humanity." This line is, of course, the name of the final good karma rank in the standard Fallout 3. (This is without the Broken Steel add-on.) Does anyone else see this as a reference? Half-BloodPrince 19:32, July 22, 2010 (UTC)
 * Seems like an insignificant coincidence to me. --TheBearPaw 08:59, July 23, 2010 (UTC)

Star Paladin Cross Early in the Game
"You cannot hire Star Paladin Cross before you gain access to the Citadel"

Actually if you glitch into the Citadel and have good karma you can get her as soon as you leave the vault. CryoPain 22:43, July 28, 2010 (UTC)

Glitching into the Citadel is one means of gaining access to it, so the comment still stands; however it might be possible to use the console (on the PC) to "summon" Cross to you, and then hire her. Kris (talk) 23:03, July 28, 2010 (UTC) confirmed: just type

and she'll appear at your location. With good Karma, you can hire her. Kris (talk) 23:08, July 28, 2010 (UTC)

Talon Mercs, Regulators and Neutrality
I edited the section which said that any excursion into "good" or "evil" would trigger ongoing attacks from the appropriate faction (talon merc or regulators). I'm at about level 18 (w/Broken Steel installed) of a Neutral playthrough. I've been Good a few times (right out of the vault, and inadvertently from time to time) and Very Evil for a while (after blowing up Megaton). From a previous "Very Good" playthrough I would recognize Talon attacks and I haven't seen them. They've only appeared in set pieces (at the capitol building, at the fort they occupy). I've never seen a Regulator in either playthrough. BenJackson 02:29, August 16, 2010 (UTC)
 * Your information is correct. Regulators won't attack a Neutral or higher player, nor will you run into Talon hit squads with a Neutral or lower Karma character (though the regular Talons you encounter will be hostile regardless of Karma). Kris   mailbox  02:37, August 16, 2010 (UTC)
 * They will spawn if you've ever been good or evil, though, which is what the article says. Nitty Tok. 02:38, August 16, 2010 (UTC)
 * Except that they won't. They may REspawn, but they won't spawn where they haven't already spawned before. Kris   mailbox  02:40, August 16, 2010 (UTC)
 * I'm not so sure of that. Just today I had both Regulators and Talons spawn at the overturned truck near the riverboat, where neither had spawned before. I had evil karma at the time, so, in theory, the Talons shouldn't have spawned. Nitty Tok. 02:50, August 16, 2010 (UTC)

Karma stuck at Lvl 20 even with Broken steel
Karma lvl stuck at lvl 20, no matter how much caps i donated to the church to rise the karma lvl, it will never go over lvl 20, is there a soultioin to fix that on PS3?79.71.247.167 15:43, August 28, 2010 (UTC)Xa

Fallout 3: Killing Very Evil/Good NPCs
Right, so, I've been experiencing some bizarre behavior with Fallout 3 regarding receiving Karma for killing NPCs. Specifically, sometimes it grants it so long as I deal the last shot, sometimes it's so long as I did enough damage to be given XP, and sometimes it was both. I think, think I'm getting a handle on what/why/when it's happening, but I'm not entirely sure. Fortunately I don't have to rely on my judgment exclusively; thanks to the combined miracles of FRAPS and YouTube everyone can see what I've found firsthand, and maybe catch something I've missed.

The first video I've uploaded thus far is me attacking Ymir barehanded, letting my follower (Jericho) get him down to near-death, then killing him with a single punch. In this instance I DID receive the Karma gain but no XP at all. I'll do a test to see what happens if I do a good chunk of damage to him but let Jericho kill him. -- Yukichigai 07:24, September 29, 2010 (UTC)


 * Second video, now doing enough damage to get XP from Ymir but letting someone else kill him. I wound up with the XP and no Karma change. -- Yukichigai 01:02, September 30, 2010 (UTC)


 * Ymir, killing blow only
 * Ymir, damage, no killshot

Karma points?
I keep seeing throughout this wiki references to point values on karma (like minus 1000 for blowing up Megaton) but no where in my game can I find out how many points my character currently has. All I see is whether he's good, evil, or neutral in the general tab of the Pipboy 3000.

Fallout New Vegas and Karma
The article seems a little lacking on Karma as it applies to New Vegas. For one thing its seems incorrect in its comparison to Fallout 3. You could play through Fallout 3 with evil Karma and still complete all the quest and not be shunned by anyone. Also raising/lowering your fame/infamy with groups in New Vegas doesn’t effect your Karma at all.

I was trying to figure out ways to raise or lower your Karma in New Vegas. Obviously stealing will lower it, no matter who or what faction you steal from, but raising it seems a little more difficult. I’ve noticed that killing both Fiends and feral ghouls raises it, but it seems like it only tells you you’ve gained Karma if you do so with a sneak attack. Do you gain Karma anytime you kill them or just in a sneak attack?

(I Would also like to know if it is only sneak attack that does it. I want to up my karma fast, and that should do it.)

Also are there any other ways to raise it? I like keeping mine at very good, but seeing as so much of the loot is considered stealing in this game, even if they’re evil factions like fiends or legion, mine is always dropping. Even things that don’t appear to belong to anyone has to be stolen in this game, which seems pretty odd to me.ReapTheChaos 01:11, November 6, 2010 (UTC)


 * I thought I'd add this in here, I forgot but you gain karma when you teach Jack at Red Rock Drug Labs how to make the various meds/chems.
 * Helping Keely in the quest There Stands The Grass will raise karma.
 * In the quest Someone to Watch over Me, settling things between Alice and her mother peacefully, then convincing her that only she can answer her dreams will raise karma, also not accepting a reward from Mrs. Hostetler will again raise karma.

Searching ways to rise it? i search ways to lower it, i think my game is bugged 'cuz even when im trying to get bad karma i'm always very good and i just keep killing fiends (I hate 'em), karma system in new vegas is f'd up.--Nuke-a-Punch 20:15, January 6, 2011 (UTC)

Hard to be evil
I have been playing through new vagas and have been trying to be evil. It isn't working, I have to deliberatly avoid fiends and powder gangers and all sorts of things and so far the only thing I can do to lower my karma is to kill innocents and steal and half of the time killing random innocents dosn't do a thing. I have quests that I want to do but need to be evil or have to go through fiend country first, so could we please expand the article to include a how to section for new veags?

-I've found that there are various non-named NPC's you can kill for negative karma. The gambler's in Atomic Wrangler and the old Mormon Fort grant negative karma for killing, but the ones in all other casino's offer nothing. I've started just murdering every non-named passerby in stealth mode just in case I get negative karma, but it seems like the vast majority of characters in this game are flagged as neutral. I guess everyone's a little sinful in New Vegas?

Is the cannibal perk the same in Vegas as it is in Fallout 3? In general, karma doesn't make a lot of sense in New Vegas. With the reputation all you get for massacring towns for no reason whatsoever is a reputation loss, if they catch you. And then at the last mission, if you are obnoxiously evil but are fighting the legion, in the process of killing them to complete the mission your karma will almost assuredly be neutral or higher. I mean, its ridiculous. You can kill every person in the NCR and eat their corpse, and still turn out good by killing Legion, Fiends and Ghouls. 24.161.174.219 04:35, May 27, 2011 (UTC)

KARMA: To be Good or not to be- That is the question.
Okay, so ,obviously, the Karma system in Fallout New Vegas needs a whole lot of going over. First of all, digging yourself out of that "evil hole" aint so easy. I have tried and tried to raise my karma level, but I have found no solution. Secondly, many people find it hard to become evil after going through many "good" karma levels. Again, on another character I created, I have struggled with this. I suggest adding a page focusing mainly on the karma system of Fallout New Vegas. On that page should be ways to become both evil and good. Any ways would be acceptable, for every little karma point counts in getting Cass to stick with me :p. Thanks to whoever read this, it's greatly appreciated. -Austin aka--Ab5597 02:32, April 13, 2011 (UTC)

New Vegas Karma system.
This is a bad system, does anyone know of a mod which can change the methods of karma gain? ie; snipe ghoul pack from distance (intelligent = + karma), run in to kill whilst being seen by them (stupid = no karma change = dead me usually)... snipe ncr/traveling merchants from distance (fun = reputation change), run and gun up close (fun = rep change) WTF!?!