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.
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
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
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 |