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Defender

Karma is the reflection of choices made during the game and how they are perceived by the inhabitants of the wasteland in Fallout 2.

Background[]

Joining the reputation game mechanic, Karma is measured in points. Classified by three types, good, neutral, and evil, the player character will always start a new game with 0 Karma points, which is considered neutral.

Wasteland inhabitants will behave differently toward the player character depending upon Karma, and it serves as a factor in unlocking certain dialogue options and game endings. Wanted posters with the player character's name on them will also be put up across numerous locations if they have evil Karma.

Note that both Karma Beacon and Cult of Personality are not implemented properly and have no effect in the game. Furthermore, there are many more opportunities to gain karma than lose it in the game, which means that it takes significant effort to reach a significant negative karma - which also offers no benefit aside from potentially farming bounty hunter encounters.

Effects[]

Titles[]

Karma status is defined by title, depending on one's Karma points.

Positive
  • Defender, +250 Karma points
  • Shield of Hope, +500 Karma points
  • Guardian of the Wastes, +750 Karma points
  • Savior of the Damned, +1000 Karma points
Negative
  • Betrayer, -250 Karma points
  • Sword of Despair, -500 Karma points
  • Scourge of the Wastes, -750 Karma points
  • Demon Spawn, -1000 Karma points

Gameplay[]

  • Klamath: Whiskey Bob will not talk to a player character with -3 Karma or less.
  • The Den: Rebecca Dyer will not give the player character any jobs if they have less than 0 karma.
  • Vault City: Amanda won't give her quest if the player character has less than 0 karma.
  • Broken Hills: Liz gains a unique dialogue option if the player character has negative karma.
  • New Reno: Cody will run away if the player character has -101 karma or less. Keith Wright won't offer jobs below that threshold either.
  • Vault 13: Gruthar will not let the player character inside the Vault if they have -1 karma or less. This can be bypassed by using Psycho, as "stupid" characters can consistently get inside.
  • San Francisco: Karma determines the trainer for kung fu. +250 or higher allows for training with the Dragon, -250 with Lo Pan. The training is the same.

In random encounters, merchant caravans generally have a specific alignment and will only trade with a player character of a matching alignment. More notably, once at -501 karma or a Childkiller, the player character will start encountering bounty hunters on the world map.

Companions[]

The recruitment of companions is impacted by Karma:

  • Sulik will leave if the player character's karma is -101 or less.
  • John Cassidy: will not join if the player character's karma is -101 or less. He's indifferent once in the party.
  • Lenny will refuse to join if the player character doesn't have at least 1 karma. He will leave if the player character's karma is -101 or less.
  • Marcus will not join if the player character's karma is -1 or lower. If joined, but dismissed, he won't rejoin if the karma is -101 or less.
  • Goris won't join if the player character's karma is -1 or lower. Will leave if it falls below 0.
  • K-9 will not join if the player character reaches -101 karma and will leave at this same moment.

Behind the scenes[]

  • Savior of the Damned was originally called "Holy Warrior" and is still referenced as such in REPPOINT.H and other places checking for reputation.
  • Three of the Karma images reference superheroes, each from a different comic company. "Defender" references Batman of DC Comics, "Shield of Hope" references Captain America from Marvel Comics, and "Demon Spawn" references Spawn, published by Image Comics.

Gallery[]

Note
These images are not actually used by the game.
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