Well, maybe a little funny.
So, I'm doing a Pacifist playthrough. That means I'm not killing anything. No people, no creatures, nothing. However, I am stealing quite a bit. And that has dropped my Karma very very low to the point where I am "Very Evil". Well, I think, that's just fine. The way the game is set up is that Reputation is the more important thing. That's how people are supposed to react to you, not Karma. Because if someone doesn't see me steal something, then there's no way they know I did it.

Fast forward in the game a bit and I recruit Cass into my party. The first thing I do is talk to her. I have done nothing but recruit her, you understand. So she's seen me stealing nothing. But she immediately tells me what a horrible person I am and I have to make a speech check to make her stay. If I talk to her again, even if I pass a speech check, she leaves the game and never comes back.

Seriously? Is she some sort of telepath? Can she read my inner-most thoughts? Can she tell that within my pacifist heart lies an endless void of darkness?

Meanwhile, killing some people gives you positive Karma, like Powder Gangers. So if I were to kill a bunch of Powder Gangers, that makes me a good person, while not killing anybody makes me evil because I have sticky fingers. So, I guess on my next playthrough, where I murder a bunch of evil Powder Gangers and don't steal any of their stuff, then Cass would be okay to travel with me. smh

LOL

why do you like cass so much she stinks...of whiskey

Cuz she's cute?

well your not doing anything exactly good are you? try completing a few quests the good or selfless way, or just give up the pacifism and murder some fiends or ghouls with extreame prejudice to get back in the good vibes lol

Also karma is really wierd in nv, i find it hard to stay in the evil zone unless you just murder an obscene amount of villagers or something

News probably reached her ears that you've killed some NCR, perhaps? Your guess is as good as mine.

I have been doing nothing but helping people. The only thing I do is steal their stuff while they're not looking. I'm Idolized in Novac, Accepted at the NCR and most places. Neutral in the rest. I am adored for the most part. The Karma I've gained from those quests isn't enough to counteract how horribly evil all my stealing is. It's dumb.

And no, I'm not giving up my pacifist ways. The whole point of this playthrough is to do it as a pacifist.

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/558699179560222910/FCB213EFE3DB8224AFC8F59C5D5F78CC77AEB947/

Well, you could justify killing somewhat by going into say, fiend territory, and lay out a bunch of mines. It'll be more of a defense, since you're not actively shooting at them, just protecting yourself.

There is no difference between killing Fiends with landmines out of defense and shooting them out of defense. None at all.

holy cow! how much stuff did you have to steal to manage that? i though you only got very evil with -1000 karma

I dunno. My stats say I've picked 375 pockets though. So...a lot?

basically cass is looking at you like ur one of those people,hopped up on drugs and alcohol breaking and sneaking into peoples houses and robbing them blind to feed ur kicks, addiction, and to get by. And from the sound of it ur doing it professionally lol.
Basically seeing u in a way that ur actions are actually deceaving the public to gain their trust to turn around and rob them blind so u can have money for drugs and new clothes...

Cass is glitched anyways when it comes to karma, just send her to the White Glove Society or the Van Graffs.

I'm not on drugs.
And who is she to call the kettle black considering what an alcoholic she is.

Ah, so the way to be evil in the game without using the console is to not kill anyone or anything.

Seriously, i don't understand what they were thinking with the karma system. You always end up as a saint (because who doesn't like shooting Fiends or hunting ghouls? ) but it still affects companions and endings

If this is an issue for you, since you're playing the PC version, you could just type this in the console: "player.rewardkarma 2000" to remove the Very Evil status.

This is what I recommend as well if you want to keep Cass and still talk to her(she will still stay with you as long as you don't talk to her three times while having evil karma), I'd also recommend just not paying attention to the karma system. It isn't really necessary to this sort of game and the reputation system easily replaces it.

It doesn't really bother me as I said in my original post. I just find it humorous that I haven't done anything particularly evil (like murder someone or even justifiably murder someone), yet the game says I'm Very Evil.

And like I also said, in my next playthrough, when I kill people and get good Karma from it, I'll recruit Cass then and laugh at the irony.

Also, I really don't want to recruit any permanent Followers anyway. It's easier to be a pacifist when people aren't following you who will attack creatures regardless if I'm aggro'd on them or not. I'll deal with the Followers on my next playthrough, as I mentioned. In this playthrough I'm an independent pacifist loner with nary a friend in this world.

Side note: Did you know you can recruit a follower, tell them to "Wait Here" and you can retain the perk no matter how far away you get from them? I am tempted beyond belief to abuse the crap out of that.

You could "accidentally" drop a few land mines.

that's what I do they always attack things i dont want them to attack ):<

U can keep her even when ur very evil, just wont be able to do anything with her except have her sandbox in ur base. If ud rather have that then when u recruit her go to the gun runners and use that machine to send ur companions to their home or ur base.

Also if ir using stims, hydras, healing herbs, etc, ur doing drugs

Stims, Rad-X and Radaway don't count as chems. They're listed separately in the in-game stats.

I've not been getting any good karma from killing Powder Gangers, just bad karma from stealing things from them after they're dead! Should I get good karma? Luckily I'm on the PC so can hopefully use that console command above, but it is ridiculous how there's a campful of dead Powder Gangers and I get bad karma for “stealing” a tin can from them. Unless it's owned by the NCR?