What is Faith?
Faith is a thing that all living humans have access to. They don’t need to do anything to ensure that they create this resource instead it is passively made. The Corrupted are unable to wield faith in its pure form, they are able to use it when they have altered it.
The act of using faith magic returns the power generated to the Spirit sphere. It does not send it to a God.
Generating Faith
At the start of every event each player will get one faith token on these tokens they will have their player ID printed upon.
How do I get more Faith?
A character generates one faith for the event (unless they have a skill that increases this). They are able to use any faith that they have collected from other characters by performing the Dedicate ceremony. There may be ways to get more faith within the world of Menhirs Fate.
Death and faith:
When a character dies any faith they had is immediately lost. In the game the power is sent to the sphere of Spirit.
Ceremonies
Ceremonies are workings that allow mortals wield the power of the gods although these may look similar to the magical Rites. These are empowered by the faith of the people instead of Wyrd and for this reason they have no chance of failing and often focus on a person’s spiritual essence.
Ceremonies Step by Step
All Ceremonies are enacted by following the same simple process:
- Choose a ceremony the Cleric (or group of Clerics) wish to cast.
- Perform the ceremony for the casting duration required, and choose any Faith you wish to spend. (handing the faith tokens to Menhirs Fate volunteer at the closest time)
- If the ceremony is successful, choose targets and call any effects.
Performing a Ceremony
To perform a Ceremony there are no set rules but as a general guide,
- Work together if you are in a team
- Reference the Ceremony name that you are performing
- Reference the specific God that you are calling upon
- Make the Faith is part of the Ceremony if they are required.
- Make sure your Ceremony lasts the specified duration
In Menhirs Fate we would like to encourage our players to make Ceremonies expressive and interesting works of Faith.
Relics
Relics are holy items that allow wielders of Faith to perform ceremonies. You must be carrying your Relic to use any of these abilities.
Faith Skills
Conviction
3xp – This gives the character access to the use of Faith abilities. The Devote and Devotion skills are acquired as part of this skill.
This also allows them to perform an Entreaty.
(This skill is needed before taking any other on this list)
When you select the Conviction skill you must choose a God to be Devoted to. (You are assumed to be devoted to the god in relation to the Devote spell)
- The Jester
- The Hearth
- The Muse
- The Smith
- The Reaper
- The Warrior
- The Guardian
- The Scholar
- The Shadow
- The Traveller
- The Justicar
- The Celebrant
Following
2xp – and plus 1xp after each buy. (E.g. 2xp for first additional faith, 3xp for the second additional, etc)
This skill allows a character to start the event with +1 faith each time they take it
Devotion
Cost: 0 Faith
Cast time: 30 second Ceremony
Duration: Instantaneous
Range: 5 metres
Effect: (Inform a ref when you start this Ceremony) The character calls out to their God, and through their will and devotion they form a brief link to them. While not sufficient for direct two-way communication, this link can be used to channel the faith, prayers, and hopes of the people into their God’s direct presence, instead of to the sphere of spirit in general. At the ceremony’s conclusion, the character may hand any amount of faith tokens to the ref, who will give them directly to the God they believe the Ceremony was directed towards. At the referee’s discretion, this Ceremony may have additional effects.
Dedicate
Cost: 0 Faith
Target: Other
Type: Ceremony – 30 seconds
Range: 1 meter
Effect: All humans have faith in one form or another, but some feel a need to draw closer to a specific God. Whether for a day of desperation, a season of reflection, or a lifetime of service. This Ceremony touches a person’s inner heart, directing it towards a God, and drawing out their faith to the surface. As part of the Ceremony the target must give at least 1 faith to the Cleric. The target becomes ‘Dedicated’ for the remainder of the event and feels strongly attuned to the God they have been devoted to. This can be expressed in any roleplay direction the player feels appropriate.
For example, Jess Bobbins has been devoted to the Reaper. Jess may now choose to roleplay celebrating those who have died for a spell or perhaps they feel the need to seek out others close to death. It’s up to Jess.
The Cleric must specify the God that the target is being dedicated to and the target must be willing and happy to be dedicated. The target may choose to end the Ceremony at any point. A character who has been Dedicated cannot have this Ceremony used on them in the same event unless they have been Excommunicated.
Please remember if you have been dedicated to a god – There may be in-character things that happen relevant on God
Advanced Faith abilities (Each of these cost 1xp)
Excommunicate
Cost: 1 Faith
Target: Other
Type: Ceremony – 1 min
Range: 1 meter
Effect: Faith can express itself in harmful ways. Humans are fallible and devotion does not change this. A Cleric can prepare a roiling rebuke within their relic, to deeply shock a person’s soul and disrupt their faith after they have been bringing their God’s name into disrepute. A character affected by this ceremony is no longer devoted. Until the end of the event (or until affected by ‘cleanse corruption’), they reduce their death count by 30 seconds, and have a corrupted spirit. Unfortunately, this temporary shockwave also disconnects any blessings they were receiving from a God, ending them immediately.
Spiritual reading
Cost: 1 Faith
Target: Other
Type: Ceremony 30 seconds
Range: 5 metres
Effect: Faith can sometimes be blind but is never without sense. This Ceremony directs the Cleric’s faith forward as a brief pulse. This faith then adheres to spiritual presences in a target person or object, allowing their nature or aura to be more easily felt, smelt, or otherwise discerned by the caster’s mundane senses. This will give the Cleric information on the nature of the spirit targeted. It will also identify especially powerful spiritual creatures.
All creatures (including player characters) should respond with a healthy spirit unless informed otherwise.
Plea of Refuge
Cost: 1 Faith
Target: other
Type: Ceremony – ongoing
Range: 1 meter
Effect: This ceremony is an act of faith in desperate need, trusting that help will come if the Cleric can only hold out for it. While chanting and calling for their God’s deliverance, the Cleric can bind a target’s soul within their own body, preventing further separation for as long as the Cleric maintains their faith that aid will come. The target’s critical state count pauses for as long as the ceremony chant continues. If the target is under the effects of any other effect (poison/curse ect) the effect is paused but will return at the end of the Ceremony.
Divine inspiration
Cost: 5 Faith
Target: Self
Type: Ceremony – 2 min
Range: Self
Effect: This ceremony focuses a large amount of faith around a specific topic or question, before entrusting it to a God. By giving it over to the higher power, faith can create a mental void around the issue, preparing space in the Cleric’s mind for the God to later fill with insights and knowledge. The God will offer genuine guidance on the topic or question. The response may vary depending on how powerful the God is and the nature of the God in question.
Sanctified Strike
Cost: 1 Faith
Target: Self
Type: Ceremony 30 seconds
Range: Self
Effect: Corruption is an unnatural heresy, twisting the world against divine order. By channelling their faith in the Gods design, a cleric can bind it to a weapon. The blade will force a restoration of their God’s order, and in doing so annihilate any agent of corruption it next strikes. The Cleric charges the Weapon or Foci (it must be a larp safe weapon) with Godly power, causing the next strike to call Smite. This lasts until you use it, or until the end of the day.
Martyr’s Gift
Cost: 2 Faith
Target: Other
Type: Ceremony 30 seconds
Range: 1 meter
Effect: When the faithful have conviction that the Gods watch over them, they can find courage to keep fighting in the face of certain death. This Ceremony allows a Cleric to stoke that conviction with faith, directing it into the target’s wounds so that they can continue to fight in their God’s name. The target is filled with righteous zeal and restores all their hit points.
Divine Light
Cost: 1 Faith
Target: Other
Type: Ceremony 30 seconds
Range: 5 metres
Effect: The faithless abhor simple trust in the God’s protection. This ceremony allows any cleric to turn this trust into divine light and repel those who would cause harm. After completing the ceremony, the Cleric must hold up a vigil of their God (this can be a weapon or any other item with a symbol of their god). They may then call “Stagger” against 3 targets within 5 metres. The Cleric is then unable to advance towards the targets for 10 seconds.
Cleanse Corruption
Cost: 1 Faith per corruption of the target
Target: Other
Type: Ceremony 2 minutes
Range: 5 meters
Effect: Through faith, no blemish upon the soul or aura is beyond redemption. This ceremony gently projects waves of spiritual purity through the target, massaging them back into their original innocent state. So long as the faith spent is high enough to overpower their corruption, the Cleric can provide a kind of spiritual atonement, cleansing the object or person of the Corruption tainting them. If the faith is insufficient to totally overpower it, the ceremony has no effect. You maintain your faith if the amount is insufficient to rid the target of its corruption.
Soul’s Reflection
Cost: 1 Faith
Target: Other
Type: Ceremony 2 minutes
Range: 1 meter
Effect: (Inform a ref when you start this Ceremony) The dark road is often made from well intended steps, and many fall to greed, malice, power, or other corrupting influences without realising how stained they have become. By drawing faith into their relic, a Cleric can use this ceremony to create a moment of reflection. Their own spirit briefly reflects the targets providing insight into how far they may have fallen by comparison. At the end of the ceremony, the Cleric will discover how many corruption points the target has.
Banish
Cost: 2 Faith/ 5 Faith/ 15 Faith/ 20 Faith/ 30 Faith/ 60 Faith
Target: Other
Type: Ceremony 30 seconds
Range: 5 metres
Effect:
This ceremony calls upon the Cleric’s total belief in their God’s absolute power. So long as their faith is of sufficient intensity, the ceremony is capable of destroying almost any supernatural creature. Count the amount of faith used in the ceremony and call “By the power of faith I banish you [Lesser 2/ Minor 5/ Renowned 15/ Herald 20/Greater 30/Exalted 60] being”
Entreaty
Clerics and Paladins are not Weavers. They can however, Use Fragments and Menhir to perform an Entreaty with their Gods and ask for a Boon.
How this works
The Clerics/Paladins must visit the Guardians and book a time slot as per any Weaving. To perform an Entreaty with Menhir, they must pay a basic Handsel cost of 1 Spirit Essence. This is the same cost regardless of what they are asking for and is used to activate the Fragment.
All participants of the Entreaty must be devoted to the god the ceremony is dedicated to. Anyone who participates that is not, must inform the Guardian before the Entreaty begins.
The clerics may now do an Entreaty to their god to ask for a boon. In this ceremony they may spend as much faith as they feel appropriate. They should give the relevant amount of faith tokens to the Guardian before they begin. In the Entreaty, the clerics must state which God they are doing the Entreaty to and what they want from their God. They may not use Menhir to simply devote faith without asking for a boon as this is a ceremony already and is a waste of Menhir’s time.
Either in the ceremony or up to 24 hrs later, that god will visit those characters and they can then negotiate with the god. Success of the Entreaty and the following interaction with their God will be varying, depending on the following factors:
- How Much Faith they have Devoted
- What Boon they have asked for.
- Which god they have sought help from
- How powerful that god is.
The Entreaty may vary in success anywhere from exceptional success to catastrophic failure as per the Weaving results.