Oblivion:Infamy

Infamy is an attribute that measures your notoriety for misdeeds and crimes among the general population of Cyrodiil. At the beginning of the game, it is zero, and no limit exists, as certain crimes (such as murder) will allow you to gain infamy infinitely.

It is the opposite of Fame. The miscellaneous stats menu records both your Fame and Infamy. Neither attribute can be gained in the Shivering Isles.

What Infamy Affects

• Infamy affects the disposition of characters you meet. The exact effect depends upon the NPC's responsibility. NPCs with high responsibility will dislike you because of your Infamy. At a responsibility of 100, an NPC's disposition will decrease by 1 point for every 2 Infamy points. At lower responsibility, disposition decreases less rapidly with Infamy. For NPCs with a responsibility of about 10 or less, their disposition will actually increase as you gain Infamy. Disposition will be modified by at most 20 points due to Infamy (i.e., at most a 20 point loss for "good" NPCs and at most a 20 point gain for "evil" NPCs). This modifier is calculated independently of the Fame disposition modifier.

• Infamy limits your ability to use altars to the Nine Divines. If your Infamy exceeds your Fame, trying to use any chapel altar fails, giving the message, "Repent your crimes, wicked one!" This means you cannot receive the altars' blessings or their powerful healing.
  • To regain use of the altars, you must increase your Fame (by doing more "good" quests). Or, if you have installed Knights of the Nine, you can complete the Pilgrimage of the Nine Divines to reset your Infamy to 0.
  • The Vile Lair official download adds a Shrine of Sithis that provides healing for "evil" characters; you can only receive its blessing if your Infamy exceeds your Fame. The shrine's blessing grants additional benefits as your Infamy increases.
  • The Altar of Arden-Sul in New Sheoth in the Shivering Isles provides the same function as the main altar in chapels (i.e., restores attributes, etc.) but is not affected by your Fame or Infamy.
  • You can continue to use wayshrines regardless of your Infamy and Fame levels (unless you have Knights of the Nine installed, in which case using wayshrines with any infamy will activate the Pilgrimage quest).

• Each Heaven Stone will only grant you its unique Greater Power once you have reached sufficient renown (combined Fame and Infamy, ranging from 10 to 70, depending on the stone).

• With the Knights of the Nine official download, if your Infamy is greater than 1, you will not be able to wear any of the Crusader's Relics.

• To receive Master Training in the Blade skill, your Fame or Infamy must be at least 20.

Gaining Infamy

Location	Quest	Infamy	Details
Any		1	Doing anything that increases your Bounty by 1000. Can be done repeatedly.
Dark Brotherhood (Total: 27 Infamy)
Bravil	Honor Thy Mother	10	Attaining the rank of Listener in the Dark Brotherhood.
	18 quests	1	Each of the other Dark Brotherhood quests (18 quests total) awards you +1 Infamy. An exception, however, is Affairs of a Wizard, which awards no Infamy The Unofficial Oblivion Patch, version 3.3.6, addresses this issue. Affairs of a Wizard now awards +1 Infamy as well.
Thieves Guild (Total: 29 to 30 Infamy)
Imperial City	May the Best Thief Win	1 or 2	Joining the Thieves Guild.
Imperial City	The Ultimate Heist	10	Attaining the rank of Guildmaster in the Thieves Guild.
	9 quests	2	Each of the other Thieves Guild quests except Finding the Thieves Guild (9 quests total) awards +2 Infamy.
Official Downloads
	Unearthing Mehrunes Razor	4	After consuming the Beating Heart.
	Vile Lair	1 or more	Each time your Dark Minion returns successful in having murdered someone. This can happen repeatedly.
Miscellaneous Quests
Anvil	The Siren's Deception	1	If you kill one of the Sirens prematurely.
Bravil	Caught in the Hunt	1	If a quest NPC dies prematurely.
Bravil	Through A Nightmare, Darkly	1	If a quest NPC dies while the quest is active.
Bruma	A Brotherhood Betrayed	1	If a quest NPC dies prematurely, or Raynil Dralas escapes.
Bruma	Two Sides of the Coin	1	If Arnora Auria dies before you talk to Jorundr.
Cheydinhal	Corruption and Conscience	1	If you kill Ulrich Leland.
Cheydinhal	The Wayward Knight	2	If you kill Farwil Indarys in the Cheydinhal Oblivion gate.
Chorrol	Sins of the Father	1	If you sell the Honorblade of Chorrol to Fathis Ules.
Imperial City	Order of the Virtuous Blood	1	If you kill Roland Jenseric.
Imperial City	Unfriendly Competition	1	If Agarmir dies after you start the quest but before you enter the Trentius Family Mausoleum. Jensine also possesses this script but is always set as Essential.
Leyawiin	Tears of the Savior	1	If S'drassa dies after you start the quest but before you return with Garridan's Tears. Julienne Fanis also possesses this script but is always set as Essential.
Skingrad	Seeking Your Roots	1	If Sinderion dies.

• Completing most Thieves Guild quests awards +2 Infamy each. The exceptions are Finding the Thieves Guild (no Infamy), May the Best Thief Win (+1 or +2 Infamy, depending upon how you complete the quest), and The Ultimate Heist (+10 Infamy). At the end of the questline, you will have gained 29 total Infamy (or 30 if you completed May the Best Thief Win by stealing Rohssan's sword).
• Completing Dark Brotherhood quests awards +1 Infamy each, except for Honor Thy Mother, which awards +10. At the end of the questline, you will have gained 28 total Infamy. Murder may only be half as notorious as thievery on a per-quest basis, but the totals are similar for both questlines.
  • Be mindful that whatever Infamy you earn for being caught committing crimes while fulfilling contracts for the Dark Brotherhood adds to your total Infamy. The less often you are caught, the less additional Infamy you will gain. The first two sets of Dark Brotherhood contracts expect you to remain undetected, or you will forfeit their contract bonuses.

Notes

• As long as your bounty is less than 500, you can walk around and not be confronted by a guard (unless the guard himself was a witness or was alerted by a witness to your crime).
• Wearing the Gray Cowl of Nocturnal hides your character's identity under the guise of the Gray Fox. Donning the Cowl results in an immediate +100 Infamy and a bounty of 500 Septims. Any Infamy, Fame, or bounties you gain while wearing the Cowl will be attributed to the Gray Fox, not your character. Thus, you can hew an innocent citizen down in broad daylight with no effect on your personal standing as long as you are wearing the Cowl during the crime and subsequent escape. If you remove the Cowl before a guard begins their arrest dialogue, they will run up and begin their normal dialogue (where you can ask for directions, etc.), even if you took the Cowl off right in front of them.
• If you want to earn Infamy for whatever reason, just kill off random citizens or guards, but take care not to kill important citizens such as shopkeepers or other service providers.
• After completing the quest Lifting the Vale, the Draconian Madstone will be placed in the display case behind Countess Narina Carvain. If you are caught stealing it, you will gain +1 Infamy. This can be repeated endlessly.