In The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Fame and Infamy are statistics on the player's character summary page, which are a measure of how well known the player's character is for performing heroic or dastardly deeds. Many quests, in particular the main story line, raise fame by a few points. Fame is necessary to purchase the houses in Chorrol and in Skingrad. Depending on a character's responsibility trait, fame and infamy can raise or lower their disposition. For low responsibility characters, infamy raises their disposition and fame lowers it and vice-versa for high reputation characters. For most characters, this determines whether they will attack the Hero on sight, but for merchants it mainly affects their haggle percentage. A Hero who has previously sold at a given rate may find that the same merchant will no longer accept that rate after increases in infamy.
Renown is the effective total value of the Hero's good and bad deeds, calculated as the number of Fame points plus number of Infamy points. Renown is checked when the player wants to activate a Doomstone.
Fame points[]
Main Quest[]
| Quest | Fame |
|---|---|
| Tutorial | 0 |
| Deliver the Amulet | 1 |
| Find the Heir | 0 |
| Breaking the Siege of Kvatch | 1 |
| The Battle for Castle Kvatch | 1 |
| Weynon Priory | 1 |
| The Path of Dawn | 1 |
| Dagon Shrine | 1 |
| Blood of the Daedra | 1 |
| Spies | 1 |
| Bruma Gate | 1 |
| Allies for Bruma | 1 up to 7 |
| Blood of the Divines | 2 |
| Miscarcand | 2 |
| Defense of Bruma | 1 |
| Great Gate | 2 |
| Paradise | 2 |
| Light the Dragonfires | 3 |
| Imperial Dragon Armor | 0 |
- The Hero gains a fame point for each city they get to send help in Allies for Bruma.
- The Hero gains a fame point for each Oblivion Gate closed, excluding the gates listed above.
Miscellaneous Quests[]
Note that one may lose fame points or gain Infamy points if a quests NPC dies prematurely or another condition is not met.
Infamy points[]
At low levels, infamy reduces the haggle amount merchants will accept. At very high infamy e.g. above 600 Infamy, Marauders and bandits will stop fighting you and greet you like any other NPC in the game. This can be quite useful for quickly going through forts and Ayleid ruins.
There is the exception of Orc Marauders which will attack you if you have any fame, regardless of your infamy.
| Location | Quest | Infamy | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anvil | The Siren's Deception | 1 | Premature death of a Siren |
| Bravil | Through a Nightmare, Darkly | 1 | Quest NPC dies while the quest is active |
| Bravil | Caught in the Hunt | 1 | Quest NPC dies prematurely |
| Bruma | A Brotherhood Betrayed | 1 | Quest NPC dies prematurely, or Raynil Dralas escapes |
| Cheydinhal | Corruption and Conscience | 1 | Ulrich Leland is killed by player |
| Cheydinhal | The Wayward Knight | 2 | Farwil Indarys is killed by the player in the Cheydinhal Oblivion gate. |
| Chorrol | Sins of the Father | 1 | Selling the Honorblade of Chorrol to Fathis Ules. |
| Imperial City | Order of the Virtuous Blood | 1 | Player chooses to kill Roland Jenseric. |
| Dark Brotherhood | --- | 20 | Completing Dark Brotherhood faction quests gives Infamy points |
| Thieves Guild | --- | 1 | Joining the Thieves Guild |
| Thieves Guild | --- | 2 | Each rank gained in the Thieves Guild results in additional infamy points |
| Thieves Guild | --- | 10 | Attaining the rank of Guildmaster in the Thieves Guild |
| Deepscorn Hollow (Plug-in) | --- | 1 | Every time your Dark Minion returns having successfully murdered someone. Can be done repeatedly. |
| Unearthing Mehrunes' Razor (Plug-in) | --- | 4 | After consuming the Beating Heart. |
One can avoid Infamy by committing crimes with no witnesses, but Infamy can be gained by accidentally attacking allies.
Removing infamy[]
By completing the quest "Pilgrimage," the Hero can reset their infamy to 0. This can be completed and repeated any time as long as the user has either the standard PS3 version or Knights of the Nine (Plug-in) or the Knights of the Nine (Expansion).
Guilds & Daedra[]
Quests from the Fighters Guild or the Mages Guild is a great way to raise the player's fame alongside with Arena Matches. Infamy will come to players while working for the Thieves Guild or the Dark Brotherhood.
- Fighters Guild – Every quest for the Fighters Guild earns you a fame point, excluding the last three from Modryn Oreyn. Total Fame Points = 16.
- Mages Guild – Like the Fighters Guild, you get a single point for all quests. However, once again, there are some exceptions. Giving the book to Teekeeus before Earana will earn you two points instead of just one. You get an additional fame point for completing Join the Mages Guild. Two points for A Mage's Staff and three points for Confront the King. Total Fame Points = 23.
- Arena – A point for every match and 10 points for the Championship match against Agronak gro-Malog. Total Fame Points = 31.
- Thieves Guild – Upon joining the Thieves Guild you will gain an infamy point. You shall also gain two every time you advance a rank and ten once you become the Gray Fox. Total Infamy Points = 22+.
- Dark Brotherhood – Once you complete the Dark Brotherhood questline and become the listener of the Dark Brotherhood, you gain twenty infamy points. Total Infamy Points = 20+.
- Daedric Quests – Every time you are given one of the Daedric Artifacts by the Daedric Lords, except Namira, you gain a fame point. Total Fame Points = 14.
- Oblivion Gate – Gain 1–2 fame points for every Oblivion gate that you shut. Total Fame Points = There are 50 Oblivion Gates, the number of points can vary from 50–100.