I started a new character with the intent of making him a rat bastard, but I feel like I'm just playing almost the same way as before. I'm not very far in, so maybe in the early game this is normal. I just don't see any smart opportunities to be bad outside of random murder, which is in general self-defeating (targeted murder is much better, but up through the main path to Novac everyone seems much more useful alive). I got my first Legion quest, but at level 7, I don't have the skills to sneak around and whack the Forlorn Hope officers quite yet without enraging the entire NCR army. Eventually I'll be ok with that, but right now it's just going to get me killed.

Is this kind of how it goes for bad characters? If you went evil, what did you do early game? Play nice until you had the strength to really let your dark side show? Or are there ways to be a real jagoff that I'm missing?

Help Powder Ganger to take over GoodSpring, always ask for a price when receiving quest and most importantly, don't sneak kill Ghouls or Raiders/Powder Gangers.

Oh yeah, I did help the PGs take Goodsprings.

When I saw the bodies laying there, though, I felt really bad. I'm really not cut out for this, I think.

Steal and pickpocket a lot.

Yeah, I can never make even my most devilish characters help take out Goodsprings... even villains can have honor, and appreciate when someone saved your life.

Why do you want to play an evil character then? Maybe you want to make a "badass" character and believe that's only possible as a jerk?

Be a cannibal. You'll become evil real fast, and if you eat Powder Gangers/Fiends you counter the good karma for killing them. Take the Ghastly Scavenger perk and you can do the same with Feral Ghouls and Super Mutants.

But yes, it is harder to be evil than good in this game.

I heard eating corpses only subtracts 1 from your karma in Fallout 3, and it takes -200 or lower to be evil. Does it seem like you get more of a karma penalty in New Vegas?

I've never done a bad character in any game because I just don't think I'd enjoy it. There are a few morally questionable things I've done with property that I really need, but even that gives me guilt trips!

how does the gaming experience change if you have bad karma? i remember that in fallout 3 it just made everything pretty much harder and had hardly any benefits. playing as a neutral/good guy had lots of benefits while the few extra options u got as a bad guy were much less helpful. anybody knows how this is in FO:NV?

I never play evil characters, but I decided to play one in NV. Once I got over the initial hump of killing everyone in Goodsprings, I didn't have any problems with it. I thought I wouldn't enjoy it, but it was actually kind of fun. I still prefer playing good characters, but I did rather enjoy being bad.

I didn't notice any difference except that Mortimer of the white glove society will give you a quest if you have bad karma. When I did my good guy character, he wouldn't give me any work. That's the only thing I noticed.

Instead of things being hard if you get bad karma......it is hard to get bad karma in NV......there is just not enough NCR Veteran Rangers for you to stay bad compare to Fiends.

I've found that even in a RPG I can't help being myself. I've tried to be bad, but it never works. I can't help sympathizing with the decent characters and despising the evil ones. I knew immediately that I didn't like the Legion (especially that Vulpes character) and I knew instinctively that the Van Graffs were going to die by my hand eventually (I don't mind killing at all). The best I can do as far as not playing myself is make my characters of the opposite gender.

I definitely know what you mean. Pains me to kill NPCs I like :/

Also playing an 'evil' character it's hard to find motivations I can understand. Just "I want this character to be an evil playthrough" is completely boring and uninspiring.

Don't feel bad as there are many of us that can't do evil things even in a video game without the conscience making a fuss. You still have to pick some sides in this game and choose an ending so there is replayability without playing in a sadistic way.

I suffer the same 'can't get into evil' mentality. I have no heart for it. It's easy to put the barrel of my shotgun to the temple of some legion dirt bag and pull the trigger, but a guy like Easy Pete or Doc Mitchell, no way. I can't even leave the crucified powder gangers to rot, opting to mercy kill them instead.

there are actually tons of opportunities to commit very evil acts via conversation. but i agree the karma allocation is bit broken.
killing regular enemies shouldn't net you any good/negative karma, that for sure wasn't the best design decision.
even though, i'm a total cleptomaniac and tend to act a bit selfish at times, my karma won't ever plummet below 'very good' from the moment on where i help goodsprings.
from my personal feelings, my character should be more moving between 'good' and 'neutral', yet the game sees ma as saint.
but ok, i can get over it.

I'm bothered that there's no companion that is evil. FO3 had jericho and clover, but I can't exactly help the legion with boone at my side and it really wouldn't make much sense to have veronica or cass either.

Yeah, i kind of miss personalities like Jericho and quotes like :

"What's the matter? Can't stand the sight of your own blood?"
"I forgot how [censored] up everything was out here."
"Two hits kid. Two hits."
"I'm gonna tear you a new [censored]!"
"The floor don't look too stable"

I don't know the actual Karma loss, but it is definately more than -1, a lot more. My character went from neutral to very evil after four "meals". There was some stealing in between, but not that much - also picked up good karma from killing ferals. He prefers to eat women, not as tough or gamey. Though anyone who gives him a good fight will be eaten. He will consume their power, and gives them the ultimate insult by turning them into human feces. :wink_smile:

Though she may seem all sweetness and light, I've reached the conclusion that Veronica's evil through and through. On my 'evil bastard' playthrough she's been a constant companion, and not once has she so much as raised an eyebrow at the wave of horror I've been visiting upon the Mojave. Indeed, she all too enthusiastically joins in the brutality at every opportunity.

To the OP: opportunities for moustache-twirling villainy are somewhat few and far between, but there are a few situations tailored for nefariousness. Re-arming Helios; deliberately picking the wrong candidate for Boone's quest (falls under pointless evil though); subverting some of the Camp McCaren quests (helping the spy to escape, blowing up the monorail)... beyond these and a few other instances there's not a whole bunch to do except paint the map red in the name of the Legion though. In terms of the early game, most all you can do is pick the jerkwad dialogue options and try not to get too hated by the NCR 'till you're strong enough to deal with the repercussions.

Oh, and avoid ghouls and fiends, killing so much as a handful will send your karma rating to 'good' no matter how much of a terrible [censored] you've been. Apparently my Stupid Evil character is a 'Shepard'... :rolleyes:

First off, take advantages of Dialogues, take evil answers...that might help.....besides Help Evil factions like Caesars Legion, Powder Gangers and ect.

Ever see the movie "No Country for Old Men"?
My not so nice 'courier' was similar to the guy with the coin toss fetish.

I didn't snuff everybody... but a random person in every settlement or camp ended up with a terminal case of... something.
I tried to get creative, which made it fun even for a goody two shoes (me in real life).
Mines, C4, sniper shots, reverse pickpocket with a grenade, lure a radscorpion into a group of NPCs... I even went on a Brahmin tipping rampage. Mwah hahahahaha

I still felt guilt, but kept telling myself not to be silly. It's role play and the only thing dying is pixels.
It helped that I wasn't slaughtering everyone and everything. I just left enough bodies laying around to (supposedly) confuse/scare the locals.

About the time I got to the Strip I got tired of it and re-started from an early save.

I'm on my second playthrough and haven't started an evil run yet, but I know that I will. I've gotten better at playing evil in games over the years. I remember my evil run in KOTOR and forcing the Wookie to kill Mission. Really felt bad about that one. :sadvaultboy:

But yeah, having the evil option in RPGs helps extend the game for me, but I never do it on my first run, as some form of 'good' is more satisying to me than evil.