Karma (Fallout: New Vegas)

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 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 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 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 Legate 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) gains the player 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's Karma. (See Fallout: New Vegas endings for details.)

Karma levels
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.

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 you positive Karma if you decline any reward you are 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 you let him live.

Maintaining Neutral Karma

 * Kill Fiends or Powder Gangers if your Karma is too low.
 * Steal items if your 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 you open a container once and steal two items, you lose 5 Karma, but if you open the same container twice, stealing one item each time, you will lose 5 Karma each time, which means you lose 10 Karma).
 * Exploding pants through reverse-pickpocket.
 * 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 you cannot find the thief during Medical Mystery.
 * Accepting the bribe from Private Stone.
 * 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.
 * Convincing Oscar Velasco to take revenge during Climb Ev'ry Mountain.
 * Lying to Lieutenant Monroe that the hostages are dead during Boulder City Showdown.
 * Humiliating Grecks by taking his clothes.
 * Causing Frank Weathers to kill himself 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.
 * Demand further payment from Markland during Bitter Springs Infirmary Blues.
 * Demand payment from Gilles during No, Not Much.
 * Encourage Alice Hostetler to kill Mrs. Hostetler during Someone to Watch Over Me.
 * Tell Lindsay that Mr. Cuddles is dead.
 * Devour 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 (killing both via combat does not affect Karma).
 * Lying to Waking Cloud about her husbands 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 your companions does not affect your Karma. However, Cass will permanently leave your party if you talk to her 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 character is well past level 20. This occurs with Good, Neutral and Evil Karma.
 * When reaching higher levels, the game may "forget" your karma at random times, then it will return without warning.