Karma and Fame

Fame and karma are your character's reputation. Fame measures how well known you are, and karma measures whether you're known for good or evil. Together they decide the title in front of your name, like The Glorious Lord or The Dread Lady.

A balron

At a glance

	Fame	Karma
Range	0 to 15,000	−15,000 to 15,000
Measures	How well known you are	How good or evil you are
Main way to gain	Killing powerful creatures	Killing evil creatures
Main way to lose	Dying and being resurrected	Killing good creatures, criminal and shady acts, murder

Whenever your fame or karma changes, you get a message: "You have gained a little fame", "some", "a good amount" or "a lot" (more than 40 points), and the same for losses and for karma.

How gains and losses are calculated

Every gain and loss runs through the same rule: the higher your fame (or karma) already is, the harder it is to raise and the faster it drops.

• Gaining: you get the award minus 1% of your current value. With 10,000 fame, every fame award is reduced by 100. If the award isn't bigger than that, you gain nothing.
• Losing: a loss is made bigger by 1% of your current value. With 10,000 karma, every karma loss is 100 points larger.
• Neither can go past its limit: fame stays between 0 and 15,000, and karma between −15,000 and 15,000.

Killing creatures

An ancient wyrm

Every creature has its own fame and karma, listed on its Bestiary page. When you kill it:

• Fame award = the creature's fame ÷ 100.
• Karma award = the opposite of the creature's karma ÷ 100. Evil creatures (negative karma) raise your karma; good creatures (positive karma) such as a Unicorn lower it.
• In Felucca, both awards are 30% bigger.
• You need to have done enough damage to have looting rights on the corpse to get an award.
• In a party, the award is split evenly among all party members.
• Your pets' kills count as yours. Summoned creatures and creatures that give no awards don't count.

Then the rule above applies, so a weak creature stops giving fame once yours is high. To keep gaining fame near the top, you need creatures with very high fame:

	Creature	Fame	Karma	Fame award	Karma award
	Orc	1,500	−1,500	15	15
	Unicorn	9,000	9,000	90	−90
	Dragon	15,000	−15,000	150	150
	Daemon	15,000	−15,000	150	150
	Lich Lord	18,000	−18,000	180	180
	Ancient Wyrm	22,500	−22,500	225	225
	Balron	24,000	−24,000	240	240

Awards are before the Felucca bonus and before the reduction for your own fame or karma.

Example: you have 10,000 fame and kill a balron alone in Felucca. The award is 240, plus 30% for Felucca (312), minus 100 for your own fame, so you gain 212 fame. Killing an orc with the same fame gives nothing, because 15 is less than 100.

Losing fame

• Dying: when you're resurrected, you lose 10% of your fame.
• That's the only way fame goes down. It doesn't wear off over time.

Gaining karma in other ways

• Healing others: healing someone with bandages gives you karma equal to a fifth of their karma, if their karma is positive.
• Helpful spells: casting a helpful spell on someone else gives you a fifth of their karma. If their karma is negative, you lose karma instead, so be careful who you help.
• Bounties: collecting a bounty from a guard gives you 20 karma.

Losing karma

Action	Karma
Killing a good creature	Depends on its karma (see above)
Carving up a corpse that isn't yours to carve (a criminal act)	−70
Carving up a corpse otherwise	−20
Trying to provoke an innocent creature	−75
Stealing	−50
Poisoning a weapon or food	−20
Snooping in someone's backpack	−4
Begging successfully	up to −40 (only while your karma is above −3,000)
Putting on an orcish kin mask	−20
Summoning a daemon	−70

Murder

When someone reports you for murder, your karma is set straight to −1,000 for each murder count you have. With 5 counts, your karma becomes −5,000, no matter how high it was. The players who were fighting the murdered player in the last 30 seconds also gain fame, as if they had killed a creature with the victim's fame. See the Rules and FAQ for more about murder counts.

Karma locking

An ankh

If your karma drops from positive to negative, it becomes locked ("Karma is locked. A mantra spoken at a shrine will unlock it again."). While it's locked, you can't gain karma, but you can still lose it.

To unlock it, stand within 2 tiles of an ankh at any shrine, open its menu and choose Unlock Karma. You can also lock your karma on purpose the same way, so you don't gain karma you don't want.

Titles

Your fame and karma together give you a title, shown when someone clicks on you and on your paperdoll. With 10,000 fame or more, you're also called Lord or Lady. Find your fame across the top and your karma down the side:

Karma ↓ / Fame →	0–1,249	1,250–2,499	2,500–4,999	5,000–9,999	10,000+
−10,000 or less	The Outcast	The Wretched	The Nefarious	The Dread	The Dread Lord / Lady
−9,999 to −5,000	The Despicable	The Dastardly	The Wicked	The Evil	The Evil Lord / Lady
−4,999 to −2,500	The Scoundrel	The Malicious	The Vile	The Villainous	The Dark Lord / Lady
−2,499 to −1,250	The Unsavory	The Dishonorable	The Ignoble	The Sinister	The Sinister Lord / Lady
−1,249 to −625	The Rude	The Disreputable	The Notorious	The Infamous	The Dishonored Lord / Lady
−624 to 624	(no title)	The Notable	The Prominent	The Renowned	Lord / Lady
625 to 1,249	The Fair	The Upstanding	The Reputable	The Distinguished	The Distinguished Lord / Lady
1,250 to 2,499	The Kind	The Respectable	The Proper	The Eminent	The Eminent Lord / Lady
2,500 to 4,999	The Good	The Honorable	The Admirable	The Noble	The Noble Lord / Lady
5,000 to 9,999	The Honest	The Commendable	The Famed	The Illustrious	The Illustrious Lord / Lady
10,000+	The Trustworthy	The Estimable	The Great	The Glorious	The Glorious Lord / Lady

For example, a character with 12,000 fame and 15,000 karma is The Glorious Lord (or Lady), and one with 12,000 fame and −15,000 karma is The Dread Lord.

Skill title

After your name, your title also shows your highest skill, like Grandmaster Blacksmith (once it's at least 30). You always see your own, but other players only see it once you have 5,000 fame or more. A custom title replaces it.

Skill value	Title
30–39.9	Neophyte
40–49.9	Novice
50–59.9	Apprentice
60–69.9	Journeyman
70–79.9	Expert
80–89.9	Adept
90–99.9	Master
100–109.9	Grandmaster
110–119.9	Elder
120	Legendary

See also

• Bestiary: the fame and karma of every creature.
• Rules and FAQ.