FAITH

Faith is one of the few truly powerful personal weapons a hunter has against her supernatural foes. With Faith, a hunter can cause a Vampire to turn away, or be unable to approach any further. The hunter must hold the symbol of her Faith towards the Vampire.

In Vampire, the Undead must make Willpower rolls against a difficulty of the hunter's Faith. The number of successes made is the number of steps he may take forward.

Failure means he cannot move. A botch means he either takes Health damage or frenzies and flees in fear. But when running a Hunters campaign, it is recommended that this be reversed. The Hunter should roll her Faith versus the Willpower of the Vampire as a difficulty factor. The number of successes is the number of steps back the hunter can force the Vampire to take. If the hunter places her holy symbol against the Vampire's person, the number of Faith successes is the amount of damage the Vampires takes (not aggravated). If fine successes were scored, the Vampire needs to make a Frenzy roll or run in terror.

A Faith rating of greater than five indicates a true, intimate connection with the supernatural. Whereas characters with any level of Faith can use their devotion to perform various subtle and minor feats, those pillars of their religion with a Faith of six or more can affect the material realm in more tangible ways. Such levels of Faith are almost nonexistent; besides the increased experience cost to achieve these levels of Faith, it may only be raised this high if there is a significant experience in the game that would cause the character' s Faith to be raised.

Gaining Faith is not a subject for hard-and-fast rules; the inner workings of a person's soul may only be determined by roleplaying. Does the character seem truly uplifted by her deeds? More importantly, do you, the Storyteller, believe in the character's power and sincerity? If the character's deeds leave a taste of self-servingness or ulterior motives in your mouth, then Faith should not be awarded. Moreover, if the character does not consistently act in a manner harmonious with her Faith, then the Storyguide is justified in decreasing or removing Faith altogether.

Although Faith is the cheapest of the Numina to gain at the beginning of the game, it must be emphasized that anyone with real Faith is exceedingly rare. It tales more than driving to church in one's Volvo every other Sunday, or even prancing one's religion fairly frequently and sincerely. Faith is only gained and maintained by constant, scrupulous adherence to the tenets of one's beliefs. Long nights of volunteer work in soup kitchens, fasting on Lent (with the corresponding reduction of abilities), chanting mantras for days, frequently making pilgrimages to Mecca, giving the greater part of one's wealth to the poor, or even walking across hot coals are part and parcel of this ability.

Your lifestyle must reflect this. Take a long, hard look at your character. Would another person know of your pity and sincerely refer to you as a (good Christian / devout Moslem / enlightened Buddhist / crusader for the faith / whatever) within 15 minutes of meeting you? If not-if you want to have occasional (or not so occasional) lapses, lie and cheat your way into a Kindred controlled drug cartel, drink to excess, gain information via seduction or trickery, or just laugh at a dirty joke-then Faith is probably not the proper ability for you; you may well be a good and religious person, but you do not exhibit the total unworldliness necessary to possess Faith

There are many Stories through which Faith can be gained; such Stories should emphasize roleplaying, and can serve as a welcome beacon of hope in an otherwise gloomy and grimy Chronicle. Maybe the mayor of the city is uptight, conservative and totally against social programs for "lazy street people;" also, intermittent Kindred Domination keeps him committed to his policies (after all, the Kindred want the homeless out on the street instead of in a safe shelter). By virtue of your eloquence and compassion, your crusade for better living conditions touches the heart of even the mayor, and a homeless shelter is built.

Maybe bikers or drug dealers terrorize the streets; you enter their territory and, despite all odds, show them the path of righteousness through your own courage and inner strength. Or possibly a teenager you come to know is being abused by her parents and is horribly depressed, perhaps on the verge of suicide; at the last minute, you talk her out of ending her life and, by confronting her parents, fill them with remorse and show them the evil of their ways, giving the family a chance to start anew. All of there are suitable actions for gaining Faith. Tracking a Vampire down, beating it up and staking it is generally not.

The powers of the faithful take the form of miracles. These are few and far between (usually no more than one per Story) and are not strictly quantifiable in game terms: one cannot assign numbers to the Divine. An example of possible powers are listed below; any number of other effects are conceivable.

Remember, miracles do not have to be (and usually aren't) flashy or violent; giving a heroin addict that extra bit of strength to fight the last few days of withdrawal is as much of a miracle as calling down blasts of sunlight from on high to burn Kindred to ash. It must be stressed that the powers listed on the table are examples only, not concrete rules; Faith is an exceedingly personal quality, and any miracles will be in accordance with the nature of the person invoking them. It is rare for one of the greater miracle to occur twice, and it is even rarer for there to be truly tangible, showy effects; the Allmighty moves in mysterious ways.

The character has no control over the outcome of a miracle; their invocation and use is entirely up to the Storyguide, but one rule applies: miracles may NEVER be used for selfish motives. Using the power of your Faith to sway crowds for your own gain or to make the Ghoul guard let you in the computer room, is prohibited. Faith may be used for self-preservation, if your continued existence will serve a higher purpose, but never for personal gain or pride.

Examples of Miracles

Faith Event

6 Cleanse the taint of evil from an area.

Cause the difficulty of all reaction rolls in the area to be reduced by 1 (aura of tranquility).

Get a sign from God which inspires you (get an extra point of Willpower for the remainder of the scene).

7 Cause a creature such as a Vampire or psycho killer to collapse with guilt. You may be sympathetic or stern but you will not suckerpunch the guilt-ridden individual thereafter.

Add three dice to any reaction rolls made toward you, even with animals (don't bite me, Mr. Rattlesnake!).

'Know' the correct answer to a question posed to you by someone else, if the question concerns morals, the 'right' way to behave, et al., not "How do we slip into the corporate HQ?."

Bless a religious icon such as a cross, prayer wheel, holy water, etc. so that contact with the item damages supernatural beings (I die or so per success).

Get a sign from above which inspires the entire troupe-- you and all your allies gain an extra point of Willpower for the remainder of the scene.

8 Change the Nature of a person (conversion) for a temporary or permanent period depending on how well you roll your Charisma + Empathy against the target's Wits + Self Control.

Reduce the level of Vampiric disciplines by one for every success you roll.

9 Exorcise demons and evil spirits (your Faith versus the demon's Willpower).

Lay a ghost to rat.

Permanently leave an aura of tranquility (as per rating 6 above) in an area, such as a violent slum. The residents of the area will be more moral and cooperative, old feuds win fan by the wayside, crime will drop, etc.; you have permanently touched the world with your Faith.

Complete protection against supernatural evil, as long as you do nothing but concentrate and either stand still or slowly leave (no aggressive action); you may protect others as well.

Cause an evil being, if truly deserving of death, to realize this; this takes at least five successes of your Faith against the target's Willpower. The target must have a Humanity of 2 or below, and must have committed truly horrible atrocities. If successful, the creature will be overcome with remorse and either commit suicide or meekly submit to the stake (or silver, etc.).

10 Ignore a source of damage (up to 10 dice per round) if at least five rounds are spent in preparation for the feat and a difficulty roll is made against a 9; each success removes two dice of damage. You simply refuse to believe that your Faith win allow you to get hurt. Good for firewalkers and snake handlers.

Cleanse someone of the Embrace (difficulty 10, only in truly dramatic circumstance and the target must want to be saved).

Call the minions of the Divine (usually in mortal form) to aid you in your darkest hour.

Faith and Willpower: When a hunter is in dire straits, and has no more Willpower, then he can call upon the strength of his Faith. He can then use his Faith points to substitute for Willpower points (not for opposed Willpower rolls). When he is all out of Faith also, then he is out of luck except for the intervention of a miracle.

Willpower is gained back by acting within one's nature, but lost Faith is gained back by acting within the dictates of one's religion. If one is Christian, an act of Christian charity or compassion may give back a point; A Shintoist would have to purify himself and pray regularly to the Kami (spirits).

Crises of Faith: Sometimes a person can lose his Faith. Doubts arise about the truth of her calling and she begins to wonder whether her religious life is just a sham. Every time a hunter tries to use her Faith and comes up with two or more botches, she loses a point of Faith (and any abilities that come with that level).

This cannot be bought back up, but must be regained through the success of the hunter's actions, much like raising Willpower. The Storyteller is the arbiter of this. If the character has an unprecedented success after that in turning or affecting a Vampire with her Faith, then the points are returned (she may even gain more points). This is up to the Storyteller, and should be used to build powerful, dramatic moments of roleplaying.

Gaining Faith: It costs 5 Freebie Points to buy a level of Faith. It is the easiest Numina for a mortal to gain, for he simply opens himself up to his vision of the All. Religion comes easy to humans, but not all can reap its powerful benefits when tested under fire. This is what the Faith power represents: a tangible clinging to religion in the face of the darkest night of the soul.

It costs the hunter's current rating x 3 to raise Faith with experience points up to level 5, and the current rating x 5 to increase it thereafter.

The Storyteller, again, should not become too concerned with the Faith rules. It should be used to heighten moments of drama-- to bring epiphanies to the roleplaying experience. If players are becoming Faith accountants with the rules, then throw in some moments where their Faith won't work, or they meet someone of another religion whose Faith is stronger than theirs and causes them to doubt their calling.

If things have gotten boring, bring in some miracles to revitalize their Faith. The characters are being chased through the cemetery at night by a Vampire, and are backed up against a tomb with nowhere to flee. They pray for divine aid, and suddenly, the specters of the dead arise from graves all around and assail the Vampire with the weight of her sins. The Vampire falls to the ground, weeping in pain for her lost humanity, and is in the hands of the hunters to do with as they Will.

Always give the players an idea of the enormity of the power of Faith. It represents something greater than them. They may direct it and focus it, but its true power comes from Beyond. They are not the causes of it, but its servants.