Fame and Factions

The Fame & Faction system in The Depths is designed to make players' actions have consequences.

The playing experience for each character will differ based on choices made during the course of your adventures and depend on which side you choose to take in various ongoing disputes and which quests you choose to complete (and how you complete them).

Your Fame and Faction scores will have far reaching consequences and effect a number of things including the availability of certain storylines, quests, and equipment.

You can access information on your character’s Fame and Faction scores through the Quest Journal.

Faction
You Faction scores determine whether or not a given group of NPCs is Hostile or Friendly towards you. If you have a faction score below 110 with a group, they are very likely to attack you. Some factions are permanently hostile towards you, and some are permanently friendly. Many others, however, are dynamic, and so it is possible to become friendly with some factions that would normally attack you on sight.

You can improve faction scores by completing quests or by slaying members of an opposing faction; conversely, fighting members of a faction will reduce your score with that faction. Many factions have an opposing faction, making it difficult to be friends with both factions. Improving your faction score with any given group can be a slow process; however, losing faction with a group can happen very quickly. Take steps to understand the factions of your enemies and you may be able to make them your friends.

NB: NWN2 is currently bugged in respect of factions. A single NPC at any one time will either hate or like all players, and this is a global state. If you encounter an NPC that should be friendly to you but is not, this is probably because the faction has recently been in contact with another player character who has different faction scores from yours. Retreat out of their perception range and wait a bit for the perception to clear.

Fame
You can gain Fame, or occasionally lose it, when you complete quests and do other tasks for specific organizations. Many distinct groups, including towns, villages, guilds, and societies will award Fame points.

Your level of Fame with an organization represents your reputation within that organization, and will determines what quests are available, what merchants will sell to you, and generally how you are treated. If an NPC will not speak with you either to offer a quest or complete a quest, then it may be that you do not have enough Fame with that person's organization Try completing more quests with other members of that organization and returning later to the NPC.

It is obviously much harder to gain fame with a faction which is hostile towards you than it is with a faction with a friendly attitude towards you, although it is by no means impossible.

Many organisations have separate Fame and Faction scores: others (usuallly non-hostile by default)) have only a Fame score, although there are a few groups, hostile by default, that have a Faction score.