CR20: Mortals - Numina and True Faith

Psychics exhibit tendencies towards their abilities which are known as Phenomena early in life and at most in two areas. These extraordinary people often times have traumatic childhoods as they struggle to understand and control their Phenomena. For this reason, Phenomena must be purchased at Character Creation. As a psychic matures, they learn discipline and control over their innate ability and therefore may purchase higher levels of their Phenomena. However, it must be noted that for them to gain their own hold on their ability is difficult. Without training or mentoring or an environment in which tolerance and understanding are the norm, most will find it near impossible to gain control over their Phenomena. In the World of Darkness, potential benefactors may have agendas of their own as agencies within the government often times lure the psychic into research studies designed to further their own ambitions and private profiteers and charlatans would also find use for these individuals.

Types of Phenomena are varied and indeed the ones presented by White Wolf aren't necessarily all that are possible. Players may discuss with the Storytellers any proposed ideas for a type of Phenomena that is tailored to their concept. In Hunter's Hunted, Project Twilight, and in Vampire: the Masquerade Player's Guide 2nd edition there are several examples of Phenomena listed with their systems. Below are some examples of types of Phenomena:

True Faith is a trait possessed by only those who are truly devout and share a powerful connection to their personal spirituality. Every aspect of their life is devoted to their religion and spirituality and the nature of how their powers manifest is directly tied to the tenets of their faith. In the Judeo-Christian religions, God bestows gifts on those he charges with his cause and they are tested and tempted often to break with the tenets of their faith. When a character gives into temptation of fails a test, God punishes them and to reconcile with Him is another ordeal left to role-playing. In game terms, this means that those Characters with True Faith can loose it if they so choose to act in a manner that offends God.

What gifts He imparts and to whom is a mystery. It is a burden to do God's work on earth. They are huge shoes to fill and not always something a character wants. They don't wake up one morning and say, "Oh cool! I have True Faith." However, they do their task to carry out God's will out of faith, love, and devotion to their deity even if such actions bring with it feelings of guilt and remorse. Think of Noah being commanded to build that ark. Did he like building it, knowing that all not in the safety of the ark would perish in the great flood? No. Did Moses like bringing about the death of Pharaoh's first born? No. But both men carried out God's will out of their True Faith in their deity. Rest assured that any Character taking True Faith will have to have a great story on how God has ordained them and the ordeals that were borne of it. Where organized religion is concerned, many other men of the cloth whose own spiritual connection is weak or corrupt are loathe to acknowledge these miracle workers and even seek to discredit them. This may have been the case with your Character and if it was not, then the reasons for acceptance should be found if indeed the Character is part of an institution.

Characters coming from other tenets of faith such as Islam, Buddhism, or Hinduism or the like will also have had their own experiences. With each of these, the way that True Faith manifests should be directly tied to their religion and a story to go along with each supplied as with the Judeo-Christian model.

It is important to note that not all religions and tenets see other supernaturals as evil beings and no two religions see good and evil the same way. Therefore, no two characters with True Faith should have the same effect on the world around them. If that were the case, then there wouldn't be any sort of miracle attached to them as they would all be the same, rather than products of their own personal connection to their spiritual power.

True Faith often requires a focus and concentration. The priest that turns away the Undead and Demons, for example, concentrates all his spiritual strength in a holy symbol, the healer lays the hands on the infirm, the Buddhist monk meditates. In game terms, this means that your Character can not shoot a gun and send the devil out of Linda Blair's body at the same time.

Players should spend some time thinking on how their True Faith manifests and to choose a manifestation that makes sense given their Character Concept. Below are some examples of True Faith Manifestations and their systems:

Types of True Faith Manifestations

Turning - the ability to turn away the undead and repel evil spirits from a person or place.

System: True Faith Rating vs. Willpower of the target. The faithful concentrates on a holy symbol as a focus and displays it to the target forcing it back and reciting his deity's will to have the creature turn. Each success causes the being to take a step back. In cases of possession, each success deducts from the total amount of successes needed to inhabit the host, thereby weakening the possession. When all successes are cancelled, the host is completely rid of the possession.

Laying of the Hands - the ability to heal the injured and infirm.

System: True Faith Rating Difficulty of 6. Each success heals one Health Level of Damage regardless of type. In the case of disease or chemical abuse or poison 3 successes are needed to cleanse the target. The healer lays the hand on the subject and concentrates for a turn. If successful the source of the injury will appear on the healer. For example, one might start bleeding from a head injury the subject suffered. This causes no damage to the healer.

Holy Aura - the ability to glow with the aura of your deity to incite fear in evil beings around you with your presence. This translates into Rotschreck and the flight response in Garou Frenzy.

System: Activated by spending a turn of concentration on a holy focus. Those in sight of the holy must roll Willpower Difficulty 9 to resist the urge to flee or spend the number of Willpower points equal to the True Faith rating employed while the power is activated. The number of successes needed to resist the urge to flee on a roll are equal to the True Faith rating of the pious. Those that are around the pious will instinctively feel his holy nature.

Fist of God - having a part of one's person or a weapon imbued with holy power to cause aggravated damage in an evil being.

System: Activated by spending a turn of concentration on the weapon or part of the body charged. Each level of True Faith represents one automatic success of aggravated damage as with Potence. Damage is rolled as normal with the weapon used. Ranged combat weapons such as guns may not be imbued with Faith. Common physical manifestations may be that a sword would glow with the holy power or it might sing as it swipes through the air.

Eyes of God - the immunity to illusions and supernatural powers such as Obfuscate, Blur of the Milky Eye, and Arcane.

System: Each level of True Faith acts as Auspex to counter Obfuscate, Chimerstry, and subtracts from each level of Arcane. In the case of Garou Gifts such as Blur of the Milky Eye, it acts as a counter to the successes gained by the Garou upon rolling for activation of the Gift. In addition, it lowers perception difficulties at the rate of one per level of True Faith when the perceptions of the pious are being manipulated in any way by a supernatural. This power requires holding a holy focus in hand while attempting to perceive the supernatural.

Holy Conviction - the ability to derive strength of will from one's deity.

System: Each level of True Faith increases the difficulty of any Discipline, Gift, or Magickal effect that would subjugate the will of the faithful much like Iron Will. Should the difficulty increase beyond 10, then multiple successes are required. For example, a person with Holy Conviction Level 5 with a current Willpower of 8 would be at difficulty 10+3 successes for a total of 4 10's needed to subjugate them in a single roll. This power requires concentration on a holy focus.

Gaining True Faith is always a matter of role-playing. This means that the Character must have undergone a challenge to their tenet of faith and overcame it and therefore strengthened their resolve. For example, showing a hardened criminal on death row the path of the righteous and saving his soul. Whatever the case, gaining faith is a difficult and long road to travel.

Loosing faith by contrast is remarkably easy. For game purposes consider any Character possessing the trait to have a Humanity of 10. Acting in any way contrary to the tenets of the faith will cause a loss of faith. For example, performing a laying of the hands for personal gain would be a strong reason to have faith stripped from your Character.

Regaining faith is harder than gaining it in the first place. After all, your Character had a Divine gift and squandered it. In some cases, this is temporary as the Character experiences a Crises of Faith and must work diligently and piously to return to the good graces of the Divine. However, there are other cases in which a Character commits an atrocity either knowingly or unknowingly and has totally failed their tenets and has completely lost their tenet of faith and personal spiritual connection. In cases like these, there is virtually no hope of regaining their True Faith. A Character is either now a servant of evil, or simply is another of the flock who has been led astray and still worships his tenets despite not having the gift of True Faith. Imagine Biblical accounts of men of Faith who have been led astray by their own inner demons or external temptations. This is the drama of falling from Grace. A classic example would be the story of Adam and Eve. Whether gaining, loosing, or regaining True Faith, it should be treated as a strong dramatical turning point in a Character's development.

Well you must be a playing a greedy little Holy person. No. You may not. You may choose or make up one manifestation of True Faith that is in accordance with your Character's personality. If you decide to make a manifestation of your own creation, it must be approved by a Storyteller.

Can My Character Gain True Faith Or Psychic Numina Over The Course Of The Chronicle If They Never Had It?

Gaining True Faith when a PC was not created with it will require endless amounts of role-playing to justify. Your character must attract the attention of the Deity that they are devoted to and prove themselves worthy of such a gift. You had better hope that the Chronicle lasts quite a while.

In the case of Psychic Numina, no. Psychic abilities are present at birth or not at all.

What Happens to True Faith and Psychic Numina Upon Ghouling, Embrace, or Awakening?

Ghouling and Embrace - Your Character has lost its connection to its psychic powers because you are no longer living in the case of Embrace. It no longer is part of the psychic energy of the world around it as it once was. In the case of ghouling, your blood is polluted with Kindred vitae and all difficulties should be at +2 for using the Phenomena. For those characters with True Faith, ghouling and embrace means that they have failed the ultimate test of God and submitted to temptation and joined those cursed by Caine's sin. There is no hope of it returning.

Awakening - In both the case of psychic numina and True Faith your Character now is Awakened to the true nature of reality and has abandoned that course of channeling its energy or that tenet in the favor of pursuing something much much more grand. Even if the Character chooses the Celestial Chorus as their Tradition, the paradigm of that Tradition and the pursuit of Enlightenment replaces the former tenet of Faith.

Kindred - Your character is now a creature that feeds on blood and has a beast within to reckon with. This means that it will degenerate and commit atrocities when it looses control of itself. Also the fact that it feeds on blood and has to lie, cheat, and subjugate others in order to even feed itself on a regular basis should be a clear indication of why a Kindred can not have True Faith. Not to mention that just by being a Vampire or a Ghoul your Character is carrying the Curse of Caine.

Garou - Garou have an innate connection to their spiritual sides, that is for certain. However, Garou are also creatures with a bestial side that inevitably comes out. Given this fact, it is nearly impossible for a Garou to keep from sinning and breaking with the tenets of True Faith. Having an unusually strong connection to Gaia does not warrant the ability to have True Faith...that's what a high Gnosis is supposed to represent.

Mage - Mages are Enlightened. Their quest for personal Ascension and the Ascension of Humanity is what is important to them. Their ability to understand their spiritual Enlightenment is represented by Arete. Arete isn't just for how many dice you get to roll for a magickal effect. It is a complex trait that represents many many things.