Understanding Reputation & Karma

Reputation and Karma in Fallout: New Vegas are dynamic systems that track your actions and influence how various factions and individuals perceive you. Your choices throughout the Mojave Wasteland will forge alliances or create enemies, impacting available quests, vendor prices, and even how certain characters react to your presence. Managing your reputation is key to navigating the complex political landscape.

As you pursue your attackers and navigate the political struggles between factions, your actions will influence your reputation with various groups. This can lead to making friends and enemies among the diverse inhabitants of the Mojave. For example, saving a Goodsprings Settler from Geckos at the third well will improve your reputation in Goodsprings.

Specific actions and quests can affect your Karma and faction reputation:

Melody's Teddy Bear: At Caesar’s Fort, a child slave named Melody asks for help retrieving her teddy bear from houndmaster Antony. You can get it back through Speech, Barter, perks, or pickpocketing. Your choice to return it or cruelly destroy it will impact your Karma or Legion fame.
Francine Garret's Debts: Francine Garret at the Atomic Wrangler asks you to collect debts from three Freeside locals. Resolving these cases using Speech, Barter, perks, or force, and returning the caps, will affect your standing and can lead to being hired to hunt Caleb McCaffery.