The games Ultima 4-5-6 are a trilogy about being virtuous. There are eight Virtues that the Avatar should master: Honesty, Compassion, Valor, Justice, Sacrifice, Honor, Spirituality and Humility. Karma is a measure of the level of virtue of the Avatar and his party.
The Avatar's party starts the game with a level of karma equal to 75, plus 3 points for each time the virtue of Humility was chosen during character creation. The minimum karma required to complete the game is somewhere between 50 and 75.
If karma drops, the companions will be unable to meditate at the eight Shrines of Virtue, therefore they will be unable to level up. Furthermore, with low karma you will also be unable to meditate at the Temple of Singularity and at the three Gargish Shrines; in this case, it will be impossible to complete the game.
If your karma is high (higher than 75?), the healers in Britain, Cove, Empath Abbey, Minoc and Trinsic will heal and cure your characters even if they have no gold.
Gaining and losing karma[edit]
You lose some karma if you act "bad":
- When you steal (Get) any item on the surface of Britannia or on the Gargoyle Lands, unless some character authorized you to do so (but you can freely collect any item in dungeons).
- When you cast the "Pickpocket" spell.
- When you attack and/or kill any character with a portrait or any character in a town (but you can kill outlaws who attack you in the wilderness).
- When you attack and/or kill any peaceful animal in the wild or in a dungeon (just let enemies attack you first, and possibly wear good armor).
You gain 10 karma points whenever you meditate (Talk) at a shrine the first time. Completing some other quests increases your karma, too. Such quests are covered in this walkthrough (no spoilers here).
How to check your karma[edit]
To check your karma, hold ALT and press 213. The first two digits in the long number that appears are your karma level.
The maximum level that can be displayed is 99, but your karma can be raised beyond 200.