Original Message:   Reputation Notes from TEF's Guide to Enroth
Here's a near-verbatim copy/paste from my old website. (Even if I included the style sheet, it would still look awful, so apologies to your eyes in advance.)

Reputation in the Land of Enroth

Caution: Here There Be Spoilers

Everything you always wanted to know about reputation, and then some. Nearly all of the information can be figured out on your own (paying just a little bit of extra attention).

tl;dr version (set to, "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover")

There Must Be 50 Ways
(Apologies to Paul Simon)

50 Ways to Drop Your Image
(Third Chorus by Chlala)

 
Just sell off your bones, Jones
Sprial a few heads, Ted
Threaten an NPC, Dee
and just listen to me

 
Then rob a few graves, Dave
Donate to Baa, Pa
Fix prices in the stables, Mabel
You'll avoid being repu-table
 
Bring the Candelabra back, Jack
Armageddon Bootleg Bay, Ray
Set Archibald free, Lee
and Notorious you'll be.

50 Ways to Raise Your Standing
 
Just knock off a few quests, Wes
Hire a young bard, Pard(ner)
Save a kewl chick, Dick
and ya listen to me

 
Expose the Council traitor, (that comes later)
Donate in Town, Clown
Help the Council dudes, Jude
And soon you'll be Saintly

Reputation Levels  (From Evil to Good)
EvilNotorious Monstrous DespicableVileBad
 Average
GoodRespectable HonorableGloriousAngelicSaintly

You can raise your reputation by...
  • Donating at town temples (limit: reputable)
  • Claiming any promotion quests (+1 level).
  • Completing any oracle-access quests (significant increase; one exception)
  • Fulfilling non-essential quests (only raises you a fraction of a category) (see below)
  • Exposing a traitor quest (takes you from respectable to saintly!)
  • Hiring 1 NPC Bard (raises party a full category).

    • Lowering Reputation
  • Donate at temples of Baa (limit: disreputable) (you can heal without reputation effects).
  • Bribing/threatening peasants (bribes: about 1/10 level; threats: about 1/3).
  • Selling bones (you may collect without ill effects). [It takes about 20 bones to drop from average to Notorious.]
  • One of the minor quests (candelabra) and one of the Oracle-access quests
  • Running the Spiral in Baa's Superior Temple.
  • Looting Sarcophogi in Darkmoor Castle.
  • Getting healed by the Curator of Kriegspire (drop four (4) levels)
       the Guardian will reveal a secret without affecting reputation.
  • Hiring a variety of NPCs (dupers, pirates, etc).
  • Killing peasants
    (I think you need to kill 11-12 peasants to go from Reputable to Notorious).
    (Reanimating dead peasants doesn't restore your rep.)
  • The penultimate quest: removing a curse on one of the royals.
    (2-3 levels? Makes it nearly impossible to finish as a Saint.)

    • Reputation Effects
    General Effects
  • Some peasants won't speak to parties with too high or too low a reputation.

    Benefits of Respect  (Reputations above average)
  • Reputable parties and better will receive a temple blessing for donations
    • The number of times you have to press <donate> depends on the day of the week;
    • The blessing strength depends on the week of the month;
    • Which blessing is determined by reputation.
  • Only Saintly parties can master Light Magic
  • Blessings:
    Respectable: Guardian Angel, Honorable: Wizard's Eye, Glorious: Hour of Power, Angelic: Day of Gods, Saintly: Day of Protection (note: you actually have to be slightly above Reputable to get the blessing)

    Downsides of Disrespect  (Reputations below average)
  • There are no permanent repercussions to killing peasants.
    However, you won't get the full benefit from quests.
  • Reputation doesn't have a significant affect on game play, except...
  • Only characters in Notorious parties can master Dark;
    only those in Saintly parties can master Light.
  • Disreputable parties do not get blessings by donating at Temples of Baa.
  • Notorious parties are imprisoned for 1 game-year when attempting to visit any of the Enroth leaders.

    • Additional Notes

  • Left untended, all reputations tend towards average (i.e. good ones go down, bad ones go ).
  • Any NPC bonus/minus ends when you dismiss the NPC.
    [and, as with all NPCs, only the first NPC of each type provides a change]
  • It's easier to lower your rep than to raise it.
  • You need Saintly to get Light Mastery (+ 4 skill pts and expertise).
  • You need Notorious to get Dark Mastery (+ 4 skill pts and expertise).
  • Some have suggested that speaking with Nobles (a type of NPC) will increase your reputation. I have not been able to confirm this.
  • The Diplomacy skill reduces the reputation drops caused by negative actions...parties with skilled diplomats can kill more peasants before suffering a reputation drop.
  • I have seen no evidence that an increased diplomacy skill will boost reputation gains.
  • As far as I have been able to determine, you cannot change reputation by completing Bounty Hunts or winning Arena battles.

    • Why Donate?
    Temple Blessings
    Donating can grant the party powerful spells.
    Leveraging Full Power of Quests
    Consider the following example: your reputation is Average just before completing a major quest.
  • Claim the reward (reputation increases to Respectable) and then donate.
    Your reputation remains Respectable.
  • Donate first (reputation increases to Respectable) and then claim the reward.
    Your reputation increases to Honorable, a full level better.
    Losing Rewards
    Confirmed: it seems that you can hurt your party's ability to raise levels by killing peasants.
  • Killing, threatening, or bribing peasants seems to affect your reputation boost from quest completion.
    The effect is rather small and I think it diminishes over time (or after you donate)...but I would like to do some more testing.

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