Actions in Ultima Online build the character’s reputation. Reputation being the combination of their fame and karma. Fame is gained through acts of heroism, fighting monsters or of industry, completing and turning in Bulk Orders. Karma is the result of the characters good or evil deeds.
You can see your fame and karma levels through your characters context menu by selecting ‘loyalty rating’. Karma has a range of -32,000
to +32,000 points with the highest and lowest karma titles being attained at plus or minus 10,000. Karma is also important for the skills of Chivalry and Necromancy where it has an active role to play in the effectiveness of the skills’ spells. Fame has a range of 0 to 10,000 points at which point the character acquires the title ‘lord’ or ‘lady’ which appears above the character’s head when approaching and on their lifebar as well as on the paperdoll. Fame can be used to gain the Sacrifice virtue. The scale for each level of Karma and Fame is exponential, so it becomes increasingly harder to get a higher title. The full list of fame and karma titles can be found in the table below.
Karma
Karma is gained or lost when hunting by the reputation of the creature you kill and its karma points. Their alignment can be shown by the colour they highlight on mouse over, but not always. You cannot gain karma from creatures having less karma points than your character.
Blue highlighting creatures are always good, killing them, or provoking them, will reduce karma and if your character has negative karma, they will attack. Blue highlighting player characters are rather more unpredictable, though they can not attack, or be attacked, unless in a Felucca ruleset area.
Red highlighting creatures are always evil, killing them will increase karma. Red highlighting player characters are only found in Felucca ruleset areas, killing them will increase karma, IF you can do it.
Grey highlighting animals are mostly neutral, will ignore you and have no effect on karma should you kill them. Grey highlighting mobs should be considered hostile and will increase karma if killed. There are, however, a number of animals which will decrease your karma if killed. These are:
- Cat
- Crane
- Dog
- Dolphin
- Horse
- Packhorse
- Packllama
In Ilshenar there is the additional option of gold highlighting creatures, ie paragons. These have a 40% boost to their fame and karma value, either evil or good. Neutral karma animals have no karma bump.
Some skills also lower karma, these are:
- Begging
- Stealing
- Poisoning
- Necromancy
The casting of certain spells can also reduce karma, for mages casting the spell ‘summon daemon’ and for spellweavers casting the spell ‘summon fiend’.
A character with a mixed skill set such as a pvm thief can find their karma in a constant state of flux. While you can not prevent loss of karma from negative acts such as stealing, you can lock your karma to prevent it rising. This is done through the context menu of an ankh at any shrine.
Fame and Karma / Reputation Titles |
||||||
 Points: |
Fame | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 – 1,249 |
1,250 – 2,499 |
2500 – 4,999 |
5,000 – 9,999 | 10,000 – 32000 | ||
| Karma | 10,000 to 32,000 | Trustworthy | Estimable | Great | Glorious | Glorious Lord/Lady |
| 9,999 – 5,000 | Honest | Commendable | Famed | Illustrious | Illustrious Lord/Lady | |
| 4,999 – 2,500 |
Good | Honorable | Admirable | Noble | Noble Lord/Lady | |
| 2,499 – 1,250 | Kind | Respectable | Proper | Eminent | Eminent Lord/Lady | |
| 1,249 – 625 |
Fair | Upstanding | Reputable | Distinguished | Distinguished Lord/Lady | |
| 624 to -624 | No Title | Notable | Prominent | Renowned | Lord/Lady | |
| -625 to -1,249 |
Rude | Disreputable | Notorious | Infamous | Dishonored Lord/Lady | |
| -1,250 to -2,499 | Unsavory | Dishonorable | Ignoble | Sinister | Sinister Lord/Lady | |
| -2,500 to -4,999 | Scoundrel | Malicious | Vile | Villainous | Dark Lord/Lady | |
| -5,000 to -9,999 | Despicable | Dastardly | Wicked | Evil | Evil Lord/Lady | |
| -10,000 to -32000 | Outcast | Wretched | Nefarious | Dread | Dread Lord/Lady | |