Fallout: New Vegas Reputation

Overview
Reputation in Fallout: New Vegas is a way to measure general feeling for your character in each principal towns and factions like Fallout 2, and will even give you access to new areas in the game.

Reputation can be modified by doing good or bad deeds, like completing quests or killing townsfolk or member of a faction. Your reputation with any given group is a measure of the combined total of Fame and Infamy that you have earned. The benefits and drawbacks of any given reputation depend of the group itself. You may receive discounts with merchants, provoke attacks from hired thugs, or simply be treated differently.

You can also equip faction clothing (e.g. NCR uniform) to impersonate a member of the faction the clothing belongs to, and will be considered one of them, meaning your reputation with the respective faction will be "neutral", regardless of their actual disposition towards you (i.e. a "vilified" reputation will turn into "neutral", as will a "Idolized" reputation, with all drawbacks a lower reputation brings!). Note that such a disguise will only work on common members of that faction and that officers, security guards and dogs will be able to see through it. Also, any member of a faction with a negative disposition towards the faction whose clothing you wear will attack you on sight as your true reputation with that faction will be ignored as long as you are disguised.

Reputation
There are two different scales of reputation (denoted 1 and 0 in the console), earned by doing helpful or harmful deeds, respectively, to the faction. The combined effects of the two scales result in an overall reputation that is either positive, neutral, or negative. In the table below, these are colored green, black, and red respectively.

Note that at this time there is no known way to erase past deeds except using PC console commands. (However, James Garret can start rumors in Freeside that affect your reputation, just visit the Atomic Wrangler Casino ). Your scores in the two scales only accumulate - neither ever goes down. In other words, while it's possible to move from 'Hated' to 'Sneering Punk', then 'Unpredictable', then 'Dark Hero' by doing more and more good deeds while avoiding bad ones, there is no permanent way to move from 'Hated' back to 'Neutral' or from 'Hated' to 'Idolized.' Similarly, once a reputation of 'Wild Child' is earned, there's no ability to change it at all. However, two specific story events will erase negative reputation you have gained with the NCR or Caesar's Legion when you get to the strip (example - a Smiling Troublemaker will become Liked, since Infamy is set to zero while Fame is unaffected).

When disguised, none of your typical reputation levels apply. This is reflected in the absence of reputations in your PipBoy. However, certain NPCs, particularly guards, may see through your disguise and attack you if you are Vilified with their faction and are standing in close proximity.


 * It is possible to temporarily move from from a lower status such as merciful thug, to accepted and up, but only while equipping faction armor. Equip the armor of the faction you are trying to work with to reset your reputation to neutral. Then complete quests and earn fame which will increase from neutral and go up, but only so long as you wear that faction's armor.

Faction reputation
Each faction has a disguise which alters your reputation among other factions.

With the exception of the White Glove Society, Great Khans and Powder Gangers in Vault 19 all factions will attack you with a negative reputation. Additionally, Powder Gangers outside of the New California Republic Correctional Facility and the Powder Ganger Camp South will attack you with a neutral reputation if you get too close to one.

Factions provide the following benefits/consequences with adequate reputation:
 * The Brotherhood of Steel will give you a key to the Brotherhood of Steel Safehouse and will replenish an ammo crate next to Ramos' room with random energy weapons ammo every three days if you have a positive reputation. This coincides with the completion of Still in the Dark (for either side).
 * Lucius will give you a key to the Caesar's Legion Safehouse with a reputation of at least Liked.
 * A positive reputation with the Legion is required to complete the quest I Put a Spell on You for the Legion.
 * A positive reputation with the Legion is required to help Silus escape from Camp McCarran.
 * The Legion will also provide various items at any neutral or positive reputation within boxes outside of Cottonwood Cove; for more information, see the quests Caesar's Hire and Caesar's Favor.
 * A positive reputation with the Great Khans is required to complete Diane's tasks in Aba Daba Honeymoon unless you are wearing Khan faction armor when you speak to her.
 * If you gain positive reputation with the NCR, they will send a trooper to give you an emergency two-way radio (called NCR emergency radio), which you can utilize for reinforcements or supplies while in good standings with the Republic every 24 game hours. However, if you lose this privalige through poor Reputation, it is unlikely to be able to get it back, as the NCR are notoriously hard to please.
 * James Hsu will give you a key to the NCR Ranger Safehouse if your reputation is at least Liked with the NCR.
 * A reputation of at least Liked is also required to ride the monorail without the NCR becoming hostile if you do not wear NCR faction armor.
 * A reputation of Liked will convince each camp in No, Not Much to send reinforcements to Bitter Springs without completing their quests.
 * A reputation of Idolized with the NCR will convince the mercenaries in Unfriendly Persuasion to leave without fighting if you do not pay them off or have high Speech.
 * A positive reputation with the NCR allows access into Helios One without high Speech, Science or Sneak.
 * A positive reputation with the NCR AND a Speech of 50 are required to trade with Bardon in Hoover Dam if you do not follow the NCR main quest line up to Colonel Moore.
 * An NCR reputation of accepted will allow you access to Silus.
 * Eddie will give you one stick of Dynamite, four Pistol powders, and four Rifle powders every three days with a positive Powder Ganger reputation. Note that if you initially have a positive reputation and drop down to a neutral reputation, asking him if he has dynamite available will permanently remove the option to receive dynamite, even if your reputation later becomes positive again.
 * If you buy an item, you can sell it back with the same price as long as it has the same condition. Liked or Idolized is required.

Certain major factions, such as the NCR or Caesar's Legion, will dispatch troops to kill you if your reputation is low with them: (Note: On Xbox 360 & possibly due to the reputation bug resetting reputation constantly to neutral, no one is "dispatched" at any point)


 * A negative reputation will reward you with a warning from an NCR Ranger accompanied by a veteran ranger and trooper in NCR power armor, who will grant you a three-day grace period to remove the negative status. If you are unable to remove the negative status before the allotted time, the Ranger and company will appear again, automatically open up dialogue, and then become hostile. It is possible to fight the hit squad up three times if the player attacks them as they appear every 24 hours to warn the player if their reputation has not improved.


 * Caesar's Legion is not as forgiving as the NCR. There is no grace period, but the automatic dialogue will occur. The Legion's forces contain a Vexillarius, two Legionary Assassins, and two Recruit Legionaries; all of them well armored. Attacking them will only serve to agitate the Legion further and bring more reprisal, however you can cower the second band of assassins with Terrifying Presence

These parties can be seen advancing towards your direction, so you can start firing at them preemptively. This will cancel out the formalities of a dialogue and the troops will immediately become hostile. The only way to avoid such confrontations is to maintain a level of reputation that is neutral (or neutral-like, such as mixed) or better. Also note that while you are within the borders of a populated area such as a town or while inside a location such as a vault or building, these confrontations will not happen; if that town just happens to be a faction you are not in good standings with, the NPC's within the town will still act accordingly based on your level of reputation. The troops will only appear while you are traversing the wasteland. However, when exiting a place such as a vault or building that is outside a heavily populated area, these troops may be right outside, and will confront you immediately upon your exit.

Certain companions will also react to your reputation:
 * Boone and Arcade Gannon cannot be recruited if your Legion reputation is positive. However, if you have already recruited them, then your Legion reputation does not matter.
 * Each time your Legion fame rises one level (i.e. from Accepted to Liked), a script initiates upon conversation with Boone which will have Boone confront you over it. If this script initiates twice, Boone will unavoidably leave you. Note that the script can only initiate again after the initial confrontation; thus, it is possible to go from Neutral to Idolized with the Legion and retain Boone as a companion as long as you or he does not initiate dialogue before becoming Idolized. A very similar, but different, script occurs regarding NCR infamy.

Quest scripts themselves rarely grant infamy towards factions, but there are a few which do:
 * Reporting to Colonel Moore or Mr. House that the Omertas have been dealt with in For the Republic, Part 2 or in The House Always Wins, or by completing both Wild Card: Change in Management and Wild Card: Side Bets, will cause infamy with the Legion and turn them hostile.
 * Reporting to Caesar that the White Gloves will or will not ally with him in Render Unto Caesar will cause infamy with the NCR and turn them hostile. Note that the only consequence you will experience from working with Yes Man or House with the NCR is being unable to receive work from Dennis Crocker or Cassandra Moore; your reputation with the NCR will not be affected.
 * The reputation with NCR shall decrease by almost two levels if you choose to bluntly deal a violent end to Alice McLafferty in the quest Heartache by the Number.
 * Completing Back in Your Own Backyard in any way will result in Legion infamy, although this infamy is not enough to lower your reputation by one level on its own.
 * After completing How Little We Know by siding with Cachino and speaking to Caesar, you will be warned that further crimes against the Legion warrant death. Completing Restoring Hope, Oh My Papa by breaking up the Legion alliance, or I Put a Spell on You by siding with the NCR and speaking to Caesar after this warning OR speaking to Caesar again after failing to confess all crimes will result in Legion infamy and the Legion permanently going hostile. Note that certain scripts, such as Caesar's dialogue on House's death, will override his 'warning' dialogues.
 * Activating the self-destruct sequence in Hidden Valley gives you 100 infamy points with the Brotherhood.
 * Completing Ghost Town Gunfight will always grant enough Powder Ganger infamy to lower your reputation by one level. Killing any Powder Gangers during the quest will further increase your infamy.
 * Completing Beyond the Beef by tattling on the White Glove Society to Heck Gunderson results in White Glove infamy.
 * Telling Marjorie that you "eat people, too" will result in the White Glove Society infamy.

Towns reputation
A town's reputation determines your treatment by the townsfolk. Unlike factions, you cannot alter a town's reputation with faction armor. Towns will never be permanently hostile to the player; leaving the town for three days and returning should remove any hostility. Note: Script for Primm reputation exists within the game, but is not used. A mod exists for PC users to activate Primm reputation.

A positive reputation may yield positive dialogue, discounts from vendors, and even free gifts from wandering citizens. A negative reputation may result in negative attitudes by the citizens and higher prices when trading.

Specific consequences of reputation within towns include:
 * A positive reputation with the Boomers is required to receive the Howitzer Firing Pin without stealing it in I Hear You Knocking.
 * One way for Arcade Gannon to join you is to have a positive reputation with the Followers. However, he will under no circumstances join you with negative Followers reputation.
 * After completing High Times and having a fame of 100, Julie Farkas will give you the Followers lab coat and a key to the Followers Safehouse.
 * A member of The Kings will regularly approach you and give you random food, medicine, or caps with a reputation of at least Accepted in Freeside.
 * Freeside thugs will not attack you with a negative Freeside reputation.
 * You can receive a free room key for the Novac motel safehouse from Jeannie May Crawford (or Cliff Briscoe, if Crawford is dead) with a positive Novac reputation. Otherwise, the key will cost 100 caps.
 * A positive Strip reputation is required for Marjorie to induct you as an honorary member of the White Glove Society during the quest Beyond the Beef.
 * Mister Holdout will not sell to you with a Strip reputation of Liked or higher, and will charge extra with an Accepted reputation. He will grant discounts with negative Strip reputations.

Scripted instances of town infamy include:
 * Lying to Lindsay about Mr. Cuddles results in Boomers infamy, regardless of whether you pass the Speech check.
 * Walking off during Pete's story in the Nellis Boomer Museum or condescendingly responding to his answers to your questions will result in Boomers infamy.
 * Completing Run Goodsprings Run will always lower your Reputation by one level in Goodsprings; killing townsfolk yourself results in further infamy.
 * Completing Beyond the Beef in a way which results in Heck Gunderson blockading food to the Strip will result in Strip infamy. Generally, this infamy would be garnered by tattling on the White Gloves and failing to pass the following Speech check.
 * Completing How Little We Know by siding with Big Sal will lower your Strip reputation by one level.

Bugs

 * It is possible that the game doesn't register taking off faction armor properly when switching directly to another piece of armor. In that case your PipBoy will still show your reputations as if you were wearing faction armor. This may lead to confusion when the player is being attacked by previously friendly factions. Putting on any kind of faction armor and taking it off again usually restores the players faction standing. Even if it gives you the message, "You are no longer dressed as a member of..." when removing faction armor it may not register correctly.


 * There is another bug that makes it when you equip a faction armor and take it off will reset that faction's reputation. This can be good in some cases like if you are vilified with the Powder Gangers and then equip and remove their armor then they will be neutral again. However, faction benefits, like the NCR Emergency Radio or McCarran monorail WILL be permanently lost. This can be very frustrating for players, as the reset seems it's not permanent. If you have completed all available side missions for the NCR or Legion, you cannot regain your reputation.


 * If the game manages to load a Powder Ganger while the player character has neutral or negative reputation, then that NPC will permanently remain hostile, even if they respawn and the player character later gains positive reputation. Additionally, the Powder Gangers at Whittaker Farmstead will be hostile regardless of your Powder Ganger reputation; however, killing them does not seem to affect your reputation.


 * A Negative Reputation With the NCR -- They give you 3 days to remove your negative status. If you wait 24 hours in the same spot after they've warned you, interacting in dialogue with them each day, you may find their dead bodies randomly in front of you when judgement day comes. How they were killed is unknown.


 * A Negative Reputation With the NCR -- NCR Rangers have been spotted inside Vault 34 during the quest "Et Tumor, Brute?" possibly attempting to warn you about your bad reputation (or killing you). They'll engage in a battle with the Feral Ghouls of the vault before attempting to interact with you.


 * Encountered a bug where Legion were hostile no matter what even though reputation with them was either liked or idolized. DID NOT have Boone as a companion or even have him recruited, nor was any faction armor worn. Work around: thankfully this reset after completing Ring-a-Ding-Ding!, although dogs sometimes still turn hostile for no reason forcing the player to sneak attack them when this happens to maintain reputation. This may have been possibly caused by previously wearing another faction's armor and upon removing it the disguise was not properly removed which is another known bug.