Karma

After reading Chapter 6 on Buddhism and Hinduism, the idea of Karma was a thought that lingered with me. I always thought that Karma was that when you did something wrong, something bad would happen to you. Or when you did something good, something good would happen to you. Which is where the phrase "Karma will get to them" I would assume came from.

But after the reading, it became clear that that wasn't really the case. So the idea then behind Karma, if I'm understanding it correctly, is that if you do something bad during your life, then when you die and are reincarnated you will come back in a "lower" form. Or the opposite if you lived a good life. 

This concept could be compared to the Christian idea that if you lead a good life you'll get into heaven. But there's also the idea of salvation there through Jesus. 

So a question from my Q&A that I didn't get a chance to bring up in class was, is there something that is similar to the savior in the Christian faith, in Hinduism? Or is it more of a good works/good life/ good person idea?