True Faith
Merit · 7 pts
You have a deep-seated faith in and love for God, or whatever name you choose to call the Almighty. You begin the game with one point of True Faith (see the sidebar on p. 372); this Trait adds one die per point to all Willpower and Virtue rolls. You must have a Humanity of 9 or higher to choose this Merit, and if you lose even a single point, all your Faith points are lost and may be regained only when the lost Humanity is recovered. Individuals with True Faith are capable of performing magical acts akin to miracles, but the exact nature of those acts are up to the Storyteller.
Also in M20 p. 645, M20 p. 644, BoS p. 82 — text differs from V20 (47%)
Strong belief is essential for a mage. You, however, hold stronger beliefs than usual. Possessing convictions in a greater outside power, you can channel that power for miraculous feats that go beyond mere magick.
Game-wise, your character has one dot of True Faith – a potent force, in the World of Darkness, that reflects devotion to a god or pantheon. Despite the usual association between Faith and Christianity, your character can belong to any sincere creed with an established moral code and historical legacy. (Sorry, but True Faith in postmodern satires like the Flying Spaghetti Monster does not count.) A Technocrat can hold
Levels of Faith
True Faith too, although such Faith is pretty unusual. (See
Technocratic Faith, Chapter Five, p. 184.) Even Marauders
and Nephandi can possess True Faith, although the Fallen version of this Merit inverts the usual purity associated with True Faith. Such Faith adds one die per point to Willpower rolls, offers countermagick rolls (even for characters who cannot normally use countermagick), and might allow the character to employ other miraculous powers at the Storyteller’s option.
Faith is no simple thing. It must be lived as well as recognized. A person with True Faith strives to be an exemplar of her creed, suffers crises of conviction, and might find herself losing the Faith entirely. Conversely, she can also grow into a paragon of her creed’s virtues, embodying everything good (or evil) about her Path. Deeds in accord with that Faith strengthen or restore it, whereas acts opposed to the creed weaken this Merit. For a mage, such Faith is an innate part of her magickal focus – the two must be in alignment, because they both depend upon the same beliefs. Some people believe that mystics of the Celestial Chorus depend entirely upon True Faith and do not use True Magick at all. (For details about that option, see the Revised Edition Tradition Book: Celestial Chorus, pps. 63-65.) People who can see auras view True Faith as a shining corona of light… or a crackling storm of colors for malignant creeds. For details, see Aura Colors
and Textures in Chapter Ten, (p. 507).
True Faith costs 7 points per dot and may be purchased only during the character creation stage. Events within the chronicle can raise or lower it, at the Storyteller’s discretion. People with True Faith are rare, and folks with Faith greater than 2 might as well be living saints. Again, a character must live, and perhaps die, by her convictions… a difficult thing, at times, for a mage, thanks to the compromises that a Path so often demands.
Liabilities that plague a character at the most inopportune moments, Flaws offer extra freebie points during character creation. Even so, they’re not only point-magnets; each Flaw presents a story-based challenge that must be faced and overcome throughout a character’s life. Until and unless that Flaw gets bought off with experience points and some significant events within the chronicle, a Flaw remains a monumental pain in the ass for a mage, his companions, and the player who decides to take it.