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True Faith
This page supercedes the True Faith in the book.
True Faith is a special Trait that only a few people in the World of Darkness possess. While many mortals are more or less devoted to a belief in some form of higher being or purpose, only a small number have the burning zeal, the profound conviction that can protect them against creatures like vampires. Note that, while most vampire legends portray the Damned being repelled by crosses and the like, Faith can manifest in any religious form. A devout Jew might be able to ward off vampires with her Star of David, or a Taoist might be able to intone special prayers, while a Christian lacking True Faith finds his crucifix impotent against the undead.
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Acquiring True Faith
The True Faith trait requires a Divine Mission before each point can be bought, next to the XP cost.
True Faith is treated as a Discipline for bookkeeping purposes, but some different rules apply than would for a normal Discipline. First off, Kindred cannot have True Faith at all without the True Believer merit. Once they have taken this merit, each rank in True Faith costs XP as if it were an out of clan Discipline.
Divine Mission
For PC's some special rules apply: instead of training as is required with other Disciplines, True Faith requires a Divine Mission be successfully completed before the first (or next) point can be learned - that is, instead of finding a trainer, you must complete a Divine Mission for each point.
A Divine Mission is a quest of a spiritual nature which to some degree is related to your faith and which expresses its interests for the greater good. Such a quest should pose a challenge to your faith, which you must reconcile with your beliefs so they can grow stronger through them. Moreover, to complete a Divine Mission, you must go beyond the normal definition of basic success in the completion of the quest, doing so while staying in line with your faith. Finally, you cannot set out on a quest with the goal of it being a Divine Mission, but rather a quest will turn out to be a Divine Mission upon completion
For example, an American Muslim from Los Angeles might go on hajj to Mekka. While this is a religious themed quest, it is not necessarily a Divine Mission. However, on the route there, he might be kidnapped by extremists of his faith, who judge him based on his national background. If he escapes captivity by slipping from his bonds before completing his hajj, he has completed the quest, but he has not completed a Divine Mission - he was not challenged in his faith and he did not go beyond the normal definition of success.
However, if he speaks to the Imam leading the extremists, being challenged in his own faith and challenging the Imam in turn, in a mutual, deep and profound debate about the interpretation of the Koran, and he convinces the Imam and his followers to abandon the path of extremism and seek to do good, in accordance with the American Muslims faith, this would certainly qualify as completing a Divine Mission - the American Muslim was challenged in his faith (quite literally in this case) and he went beyond the normal definition of success.
As an alternative example, a devout Catholic priest might discover rumours about a child sex-slavery ring, and set out to right this wrong. Upon investigation, he discovers that it is a group of Catholic priests, including the Cardinal he serves, who are involved in this shady business, leaving him with the problem of defying the local church leaders or allowing this sin to go unpunished. He might decide he needs to defy his superiors and go to Rome with evidence, getting the corrupt Cardinal defrocked. In this case, his faith might have been challenged, seeing those who represent his faith and whom he looks up to being so corrupted. However, he did not go beyond the normal definition of success and as such, this would not qualify as a Divine Mission.
However, if the devout priest also seeks out the victims of the child sex-slavery ring, gets them out of their respective situations and helps them reconcile and deal with what happened to them, this could then qualify as a Divine Mission. Note that it is not required that the victims return to the Catholic Church - that would just be an added bonus.
In general, Divine Missions should be granted if the character acted as if they were an agent sent by their God to help humanity, and they became closer to their God through that action. Whether they accomplished this through brilliant problem solving, extreme skill or raw perseverance doesn't matter.
True Believer
The following merit is proposed to replace the True Faith merit listed in the book. It places the additional requirement of a Divine Mission (see below), the character still needs to buy their first point of true faith (instead of getting it for free) and it no longer grants True Faith to all willpower and all virtue checks.
True Believer Merit
You have a deep-seathed faith in and love for God, or whatever name you choose to call the Almighty. Because of your deep beliefs, you can learn True Faith despite being a Kindred. You must still meet all qualifications before being able to take this merit.
This merit cannot be taken at character creation. To take this merit, you must have Humanity 9, you must complete a Divine Mission (see True Faith) and you must have permission from the Storyteller. There is no cost otherwise.
To keep the benefits of this merit, you must maintain Humanity 9, keep faith in your religion and stick to the tenets of your belief system. In general, you would agree with the Storyteller what requirements your faith places upon you.
Note: You do not get any benefits beyond having access to True Faith. All points, including the first, need to be bought in addition to this merit.
Note: This merit was written specifically for Elisabeth-Maria. Other faiths may have different requirements.
True Faith and Auspex
True Faith Aura
True Faith permanently modifies the aura of the person with a Faith rating, allowing someone with Auspex to identify them. The strength of their Faith determines the brightness and exact shape of the halo.
At faith ratings of 0, True Faith is still barely detectable in the aura, and at least 4 successes in an Auspex check are necessary for it to even be noticed (it is a “subtle shift”) - the faithful is otherwise treated normally for purposes of Auspex.
At faith ratings 1, 2 and 3, True Faith is immediately obvious to the user of Auspex, regardless of the number of successes. They can otherwise detect emotion, supernatural status, etc normally as per the Auspex rules.
At faith ratings 4 and 5, it becomes harder to sense the emotions of the person with True Faith as the radiance of True Faith begins to overpower the colours in the aura. It is still possible to detect non-colour aspects of the aura, such as sharp flickering if the subject is daydreaming, rapidly rippling colours if the subject is frenzying, etc, but colour provides no hint as to their emotions.
At faith rating 6 or higher, True Faith overpowers any other aura the user may evoke, even seeming blindingly bright to those using Auspex. It is no longer possible to tell emotions, nor is it possible to tell any patterns, details of brightness or other details. As such, Auspex cannot be used to identify any supernatural nature or lack thereof.
Special: Aura's of the faithful often follow certain expectations linked to their individual religions. A Christian's aura, for example, may take the form of a silver-gold ring above the head and an Islamic aura may take the form of silver-gold flames around the body as in Persian miniatures. It is encouraged for the possessor of True Faith to fill in these details themselves and describe them with their character.
A clear view of this aura (the number of successes in Auspex required may vary with the aura's strength at the discretion of the Storyteller, suggested 5 - True Faith rating) may allow the user of Auspex to use Intelligence + Academics to determine the religion of the subject.
Additionally, a Perception + Occult check may allow an informed user of Auspex (who is aware of what True Faith is) to determine the generic strength of the faith of the subject. Success allows them to see in which of the above four groups the subject falls, while 4 or more successes allows them to determine the exact level. As a special consideration, no check is required to identify a faith rating of 6+ - this is immediately obvious to even a novice user of Auspex.
