Level Up / Karma

Fallout 3 Guide - Useful Lists

Level Up / Karma

.----.-----.----------------------.---------------------.--------------------.
|LVL:|EXP: |NEUTRAL KARMA TITLE:  |EVIL KARMA TITLE:    |GOOD KARMA TITLE:   |
|====|=====|======================|=====================|====================|
|  1 |    0|Vault Dweller         |Vault Delinquent     |Vault Guardian      |
|  2 |  200|Vault Renegade        |Vault Outlaw         |Vault Martyr        |
|  3 |  550|Seeker                |Opportunist          |Sentinel            |
|  4 | 1050|Wanderer              |Plunderer            |Defender            |
|  5 | 1700|Citizen               |Fat Cat              |Dignitary           |
|  6 | 2500|Adventurer            |Marauder             |Peacekeeper         |
|  7 | 3450|Vagabond of the Wastes|Pirate of the Wastes |Ranger of the Wastes|
|  8 | 4550|Mercenary             |Reaver               |Protector           |
|  9 | 5800|Urban Ranger          |Urban Invader        |Urban Avenger       |
| 10 | 7200|Observer              |Ne'er-do-well        |Exemplar            |
| 11 | 8750|Capital Councilor     |Capital Crimelord    |Capital Crusader    |
| 12 |10450|Keeper                |Defiler              |Paladin             |
| 13 |12300|Vault Descendant      |Vault Boogeyman      |Vault Legend        |
| 14 |14300|Pinnacle of Survival  |Harbinger of War     |Ambassador of Peace |
| 15 |16450|Urban Myth            |Urban Superstition   |Urban Legend        |
| 16 |18750|Strider of the Wastes |Villain of the Wastes|Hero of the Wastes  |
| 17 |21200|Beholder              |Fiend                |Paragon             |
| 18 |23800|Wasteland Watcher     |Wasteland Destroyer  |Wasteland Savior    |
| 19 |26550|Super-Human           |Evil Incarnate       |Saint               |
| 20 |29450|Paradigm of Humanity  |Scourge of Humanity  |Last, Best Hope of  |
|    |Maxed|                      |                     |Humanity            |
'----'-----'----------------------'---------------------'--------------------'

Karma

.-----------.--------------.
|Indication:|Karma Value:  | In Fallout 3, your Karma value defines how good or 
|===========|==============| bad you are.  The value is invisible to you, but 
|Very Evil  |-1000 to  -750| you can estimate it by the indication given to you 
|Evil       | -749 to  -250| at your PipBoy's Menu, under Stats -> General.  
|Neutral    | -249 to   250| 
|Good       |  250 to   749| Karma ranges from -1000 to  1000.
|Very Good  |  750 to  1000|
'-----------'--------------'

Karma Affecting Actions

        .------------------------------------.------------------------.
        |Action:                             |Karma Consequence:      |
        |====================================|========================|
        |Killing a Very Evil Character       |          100           |
        |Killing an Evil Character           |          ---           |
        |Murder a Neutral/Good Creature      |          -25           |
        |Murder a Neutral/Good Character     |         -100           |
        |Steal from a Neutral/Good Character |     -5 (per/item)      |
        |Donate Caps to a church             | (x) (Depends on amount)|
        |Do something good in Freeform Quests|     50 Karma or higher |
        |Do something evil in Freeform Quests|    -50 Karma or less   |
        '------------------------------------'------------------------'

Negative Karma Consequences:

When you're considered Evil or Very Evil (thus in the -250 to -1000 range), the following things are affected:

o The followers Jericho (from Megaton) and Clover (from Paradise Falls) can be hired now.
o Speech Challenges with evil persons are easier.
o Characters such as Three Dog will make a remark.
o Instant access to Paradise Falls.
o Allowed to buy Dart Gun Schematics from Pronto in Paradise Falls.

Neutral Karma Consequences

When in the -250 to 250 range, the following is affected:

o The followers Butch (Rivet City) and Sergeant RL-3 (Tinker Joe near Tenpenny Tower sells him) can bow be hired.
o Good or Evil enemy groups will not attack you automatically.
o Raiders always attack you.

Good Karma Consequences

When in the 250 to 1000 range, the following things are affected:

o Speech Challenges with evil people are more difficult.
o Raiders always attack you.
o Characters act differently, such as Three Dog.
o Fawkes (Vault 87) and Star Paladin Cross (the Citadel) can be made followers.

And only if you are in the 750 to 1000 range:
 
o Characters will sometimes award your goodness with presents.  This varies from food to caps, ammo to chems, etc.  An example is the dark woman in Megaton.

Karma Related Trophy/Achievement Help

So you want to get those for bragging rights, eh?  Well you're in luck, because there is a fairly easy way to get them all in ONE playthrough.  It's certainly rather lame - and if you're going for a really good build you'll want to play a second time anyway, but here's how to snatch the Karma Trophy/Achievements in just one playthrough.

Collect as much Purified Water as you can and stock it in your house.  You can give these to the beggars in front of Megaton or Rivet City, and you'll get good Karma in return.

Try to stay fairly neutral to make things easier for yourself.  At least try to not stick to one extreme or another.

Right before you reach the 'key' levels (8, 14, and 20), save your game on a separate slot and don't overwrite it.  This means you'll be at level 7, 13 and 19 respectively in those savegames.  Depending on your Karma, you'll now either go on a rampage (start with pickpocketing and stealing things from all the villages), kill good people - simply do really bad stuff.  Or you will now play the saint and give Purified waters to the beggars (you can get Purified waters from your butler robot as well - use the wait function to replenish).  You can also do several good acts.

When you've reached the level with all three Karma rankings, Good-Neutral-Bad, you are free to reload your savegame and continue being the asshole or saint that you were pretending to be.  Or perhaps really was.