Karma (Fallout: New Vegas)

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

Overviews
Karma does not 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 the player character performing an action that causes negative Karma against their faction one will often lose reputation with that faction; for example, stealing something from the Silver Rush where a Van Graff can see the player character. They may also become openly hostile despite one's reputation with them not being lowered enough for the player character to be considered hated, where they will attack the Courier.

Karma's basic mechanics work similarly to the way they do in Fallout 3 (a 2000-point linear scale with -1000 being the most Evil, 0 Neutral, and +1000 the most Good). Unlike reputation, where one can only gain fame or infamy (with a single, scripted exception), Karma can be both gained and lost.

Karma also no longer determines which companions can be recruited. However, when opening a conversation with Cass after she has joined the player character and when they have substantially negative Karma (-100) she will complain about their behavior. The player chracter will get a second warning when their Karma is even lower (-150). After that, she will not complain anymore, as long as the player character stays neutral. Upon continue on the path to "the dark side" and talking to her again while having evil Karma (-250) she will leave for good. Note that Cass does not grant the player character any grace period to improve their Karma, making it possible to 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 one will need to do in order to tell her to travel with them) will result in her telling the player character that they "can be a real asshole sometimes" and the first of three strikes will be used up on the spot.

If one faces Legate Lanius at the battle of Hoover Dam and the speech or barter checks cannot be passed, or the wrong dialogue is selected at the near-end or the beginning, he will prepare to engage combat, and the player character will have a unique "good" Karma dialogue option that will convince him to fight them alone, "honorably," regardless of whether the player character has followers with them.

The values for Karma gain may be bugged; currently killing very evil NPCs (such as Vulpes Inculta) gains the player character only two 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 character's Karma. (See Fallout: New Vegas endings for details.)

Karma levels
One begins the game with a value of zero, which increases or decreases based on the player character's 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
One's Karma status is defined by a "Karma title", depending on one's Karma points 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.

Positive

 * Giving Med-X to Boxcars, the injured Powder Ganger, inside Nipton General Store. This can only be done once.
 * An additional +5 Karma can be gained by killing him.
 * Wiping out the criminal inhabitants of Vault 19.
 * Killing feral ghouls (any kind).
 * Freeing the prisoners in Vault 3 (Karma can still be gained by simply unlocking the cell door even if the occupants are killed).
 * Killing a Very Evil character or creature (Vulpes Inculta, Philippe, Mortimer, Duke, Cook-Cook, or Jackal Gang leaders): +100 Karma
 * Some quests will give positive Karma if one declines any rewards offered for completing them, including Bye Bye Love, and Someone to Watch Over Me.
 * Convincing Oscar Velasco to let go of his hate and join the Great Khans at Red Rock Canyon during Climb Ev'ry Mountain.
 * Informing Lieutenant Hayes about Tyrone selling chems to the Great Khans.
 * Giving healing powder to Daniel.
 * Untying Benny at the Fort if he is allowed to live.

Maintaining Neutral Karma

 * Kill Fiends or Powder Gangers if one's Karma is too low.
 * Steal items if one's Karma is too high.
 * The level 50 perks added by Lonesome Road (Ain't Like That Now, Just Lucky I'm Alive, and Thought You Died) all reset Karma to 0.

Negative

 * Stealing from a non-evil character or faction: -5 Karma per instance (note that when when stealing from owned (red text) containers, such as cabinets or lockers, the Karma change applies once per activation of that container. Meaning, if a container is opened once and two items are stolen, one will lose 5 Karma, but if the same container is opened twice, and one item is stolen each time, one will lose 5 Karma each time, making 10 Karma lost in total).
 * Planting an explosive through reverse-pickpocketing.
 * Repeatedly hacking an owned (red text) computer terminal (Classified as stealing, but can be done over and over again) -1 Karma per hack attempt. NOTE: even accessing the terminal will result in negative Karma.
 * Sabotaging the rockets during Come Fly With Me.
 * Crucifying Benny at The Fort.
 * Lying to Alex Richards that one cannot find the thief during Medical Mystery.
 * Accepting the bribe from Private Stone during Medical Mystery.
 * Attacking the Boulder City Memorial and insulting Private Kowalski (killing him does not grant an additional loss of Karma).
 * Killing Mr. House.
 * Enslaving Arcade Gannon for Caesar during Et Tumor, Brute?.
 * Convincing Oscar Velasco to take revenge during Climb Ev'ry Mountain.
 * Humiliating Grecks by taking his clothes.
 * Convincing Frank Weathers to commit suicide during Left My Heart.
 * Setting off the bomb collars on the Weathers family in Cottonwood Cove.
 * Choosing the attack option when conversing with Private Edwards.
 * Demanding further payment from Markland during Bitter Springs Infirmary Blues.
 * Demanding payment from Gilles during No, Not Much.
 * Encouraging Alice Hostetler to kill Mrs. Hostetler during Someone to Watch Over Me.
 * Complementing Alice Hostetler on killing Mrs. Hostetler during Someone to Watch Over Me (can be repeated by immediately talking to her again).
 * Telling Lindsay that Mr. Cuddles is dead.
 * Tearing Sergeant Teddy in half when talking to Melody.
 * Devouring a corpse. (Cannibal perk needed): -1 Karma per corpse.
 * Killing a non-evil creature: -25 Karma.
 * Killing a Very Good character or creature (Sarah Weintraub, Sunny Smiles, Julie Farkas, Keely, Bill Ronte, Jacob Hoff, Malcolm Holmes, Bert Gunnarsson, Old Ben, or Tomas): -100 Karma.
 * The following below is DLC content from Dead Money, Honest Hearts and Old World Blues.
 * Lying to Christine Royce, or threatening her with the Terrifying Presence perk, and making her go down the elevator during the quest Mixed Signals.
 * Killing Dog/God during Put the Beast Down.
 * Lying to Waking Cloud about her husband's fate at the end of A Family Affair.
 * Threatening to hack into 8|Dr. 8 during On the Same Wavelength.

Companions and Karma
The recruitment of companions does not affect one's Karma. However, Cass will permanently leave one's party if she is spoken to too many times with evil Karma.

Bugs

 * There is a random glitch where the Karma title remains at "Guardian of the Wastes" or "Scourge of the Wastes" even when the player character is well past level 20. This occurs with Good, Neutral and Evil Karma.
 * When reaching higher levels, the game may "forget" one's karma at random times, then it will return without warning.