Reputation FAQ: Blue, Grey and Red Flags

The following explains the different types of flags you may be tagged with while adventuring in Britannia. Origin's website vaguely refers to flags, but does neither explain what each flag does nor what their implications are. As a thief, I am exposed to many flags and I have compiled a list of what they do. I didn't bother to add enemy and ally guild flags, as information pertaining to guild flags can be found here. People who are not at war with your player guild will view your character normally, as discussed below.

Below are the definitions of each flag: how one can get one, what the symptoms of each flag are, and information you should know concerning them. It is very possible to have more than 1 flag such as Aggressor/criminal or stealing/criminal. Each flag has its own duration and sometimes it can have unusual results, such as attacking a grey but when they die the body is blue. If you read the following over carefully, everything that happens with highlighting in the game should be logical and predictable.

Criminal Flag:
How you get one

• Looting an innocent body.
• Attacking an innocent.
• Healing or casting beneficial spells on someone with a criminal or murderer flag.
• Attempting to steal from an innocent (see below for information on stealing).
• Moving or using an item guarded by an innocent.
• Casting an area effect or field spell that damages an innocent.
• Ordering or provoking a pet or hireling to attack an innocent.
• Using provocation directly on an innocent.

What are the symptoms?

• You appear grey to everyone.
• Anyone can freely attack or steal from you with impunity.
• Anyone who helps you by using the healing skill or casting beneficial spells (e.g. as In Vas Mani) on you will also be flagged a criminal.
• The timer for a criminal flag lasts for 2 minutes. The timer resets every time you perform a criminal act.
• The criminal flag lasts for 2 minutes on your corpse.
• If you receive a criminal flag in town, the guards may be called on you within a period of 10 seconds.
• Upon receiving a criminal flag, NPCs that notice the crime will yell for help.

Things you should know

• When you see someone with a grey flag that does not necessarily mean they are a criminal. There are many ways people can be grey to you, but there is one way to make sure they are a criminal. On the options menu under, change the color of the "criminal highlight" to slightly darker, or slightly lighter than "someone that can be attacked." That way you will know if someone is a criminal or just grey because of a different reason, and you will know if everyone else sees that person as grey too.

Aggressor Flag:
How you get one

• Attacking anyone with a criminal, perma-grey, murderer, or innocent flag. Not by attacking someone with a stealing flag or aggressor flag against you.
• Ordering or provoking a pet or hireling to attack someone with a criminal, perma-grey, murderer, or innocent flag. Includes energy vortex's and blade spirit's.
• Casting an area effect or field spell directly on a person.

What are the symptoms?

• You appear grey to the person you attacked. (If you attacked an innocent you will also appear grey to everyone else because of the criminal flag you will then also have)
• The person you attacked can freely attack you back with impunity.
• The timer for the aggressor flag lasts two minutes.
• The timer for the aggressor flag lasts 2 minutes on your corpse.
• The aggressor flag is "refreshed" when you attack your victim again either by double clicking or by doing damage to the person you attack.
• If the person you attacked kills you, you cannot report them for murder.
• If the person you attacked kills you, your body will be grey to them, and only them.

Things you should know

• Attacking a red, makes you an aggressor to them; they can kill you without a murder count. Attacking a criminal will keep the person highlighted grey to you as "someone that can be attacked." If the fight lasts long enough for your opponents criminal flag to wear off or if they die, their body will be blue because they are neither a criminal, an aggressor to you, nor a perma-grey criminal. If a person attacks you, and gets an aggressor flag against you and you kill them, then their body will have the aggressor flag for 2 minutes. If they weren't a criminal nor a perma-grey when they died, their body will turn blue after 2 minutes.

Stealing Flag:
How you get one

• Stealing from an innocent, either an NPC or a player, or from a container, such as a locked NPC container.

What are the symptoms?

• You appear grey to everyone.
• Anyone can freely attack or steal from you with impunity.
• Anyone helping you by using healing skill, or casting beneficial spells on you receives a criminal flag.
• The timer for a stealing flag lasts 2 minutes. The timer resets every time you steal.
• The timer for a stealing flag lasts 2 minutes on your corpse.
• If you steal in town you will also receive a criminal flag, and for 1 to 10 seconds guards may be called on you. The guard timer is dependent upon the success type of the steal.
• Anyone attacking you, does not receive an aggressor flag.

Things you should know

• Thieves can only steal from NPCs, NPC containers, pack animals, members of the thieves guild, murderers or PCs from a warring guild if they are not in the NPC thieves guild. Stealing flags are given to thieves who either totally fail, partially fail, or partially succeed in their attempt to steal from either an NPC, player or container.
  
  People attacking you will not receive an aggressor flag, so any damage you inflict by auto defend will make you the aggressor instead.

Perma Grey Flag:
How you get one

• Stealing from an innocent player.

What are the symptoms?

• You appear grey only to the innocents you have stolen from.
• You appear blue to everyone else.
• Anyone can freely attack or steal from you with impunity.
• Anyone attacking you does receive an aggressor flag to you.

Things you should know

• Simply being in the Thieves Guild does not give you a Perma-grey flag. But since most thieves join the Thieves Guild with the intention of stealing from innocents, they become Perma-grey pretty soon.
  
  If someone attacks you, you will highlight grey to them (after you get hit, or move 1 square) letting them know you're a perma-grey. Anyone can steal from you. Even if they are not a member of the thieves guild. This can be useful for training purposes, but it can also be annoying at the bank.
  
  If you are a member of the NPC Thieve's Guild, any player who successfully uses the Forensic Evaluation skill to reveal your membership in said guild may either attack or steal from you. If a player attacks you and that player dies and reports you for murder, you will be suspended from the thieves guild for the amount of time it takes for the long term murder count (40 hours) to decay. While suspended you still cannot give murder counts, but cannot use the disguise kit or steal from innocents.

Murderer Flag:
How you get one

• Get reported for murder so many times that your long-term murder count is 5 or more.

What are the symptoms?

• You appear red to everyone.
• Anyone can freely attack or steal from you with impunity.
• Anyone helping you by using healing skill, or casting beneficial spells on you receives a criminal flag.
• The murder flag lasts until your long-term count drops to 4 murders if you are not perma-red.
• Anyone attacking you does receive an aggressor flag to you.
• NPCs will yell for help upon sight of you.
• Guards will kill you on sight.

Things you should know

• Murderer flag is not the same as criminal flag. You can still interact with bankers and merchants. You will know if you are a murderer and a criminal if you're at the bank in Buc's Den and the banker calls you a criminal. And of course, talking to your vendor will make it charge you 5 times more than it normally would - permanently. Even after your murderer flag wears off.
  
  If you are an Innocent, any time you take damage the player who damaged you is recorded on your Murderer List. "Damage" includes spells like curse and paralyze. If you happen to die while damaged, you have the choice to report each character who is on your list, even if they aren't currently logged in. Reporting a murderer has the effect of increasing the murderer's short-term and long-term murder count by 1.
  
  People who you've reported are added to your recently reported list. People who are on your recently reported list are not added to the list of people you can report, should you take damage from them. After 5 minutes of not reporting anyone, the recently reported list is cleared. This is to avoid an exploit such as a mule character repeatedly resurrecting and letting himself get killed by a mage's blade spirit with the sole intent of turning the mage into a Murderer.
  
  Your Murderer List clears whenever you reach full health. If you die at any time while still damaged from an attack by other players, you will be able to report anyone on your Murderer List.
  
  For a detailed explanation of murder counts and stat loss see the Murder System Guide

Innocent Flag:
How you get one

• Not doing anything that will get you a criminal, stealing, perma-grey, aggressor or murderer flag.

What are the symptoms?

• You appear blue to everyone.
• Anyone who attacks you or steals from you receives a criminal flag.
• Anyone may help you freely by using healing skill, or casting beneficial spells.

Things you should know

• As long as you don't do anything to give you any other flag, you will be fine, especially if you stay in town, since the town guards will protect you. If you were to venture outside... you may be subject to thieves and murderers. You will be given notice when you are no longer under the protection of the guards. Proceeding further can be dangerous. On the other hand, you can meet very interesting people out there as well. With your knowledge of flagging you should be able to determine who you can talk to without fear and who you should be careful of.

More specific definitions:

Looting: Moving any item found on a corpse, opening any container found on the corpse, or using a bladed item to chop up the corpse. Double clicking on the body, and simply looking at what's on it doesn't constitute looting.

Healing: Using bandages and targeting a player. Checks for flags are done at the beginning of the heal and at the end. A person may be innocent at the beginning of the heal, but not at the end.

Casting Beneficial Spells: The following spells count as "beneficial": Heal, Nightsight, Reactive Armor, Agility, Cunning, Cure, Protection, Strength, Bless, Arch Cure, Arch Protection, Greater Heal, Invisibility and Resurrection.

Attacking: When in war mode, double clicking on someone who is not already attacking you (and pressing OK to noto query if applicable). Casting a harmful spell: Clumsy, Feeblemind, Magic Arrow, Weaken, Harm, Fireball, Poison, Curse, Lightning, Mana Drain, Mind Blast, Paralyze, Energy Bolt, Explosion, Chain Lighting, Mana Vampire, Flame Strike, Meteor Swarm. Or by casting area fields directly on such as: Fire Field, Poison Field, Paralyze Field, Mass Curse, or Energy Field (you can get damaged by an energy field, if you manage to step on the top of it.. can be done with height tricks.). Or having a magic hireling attack such as Blade Spirit, or Energy Vortex.