WHY YOU'VE GOTTA HAVE FAITH
"Thor DOES exist, I tell you! Mayhap you'll believe me a might better after He's helped me put this hammer through your teeth! GRAHHH! Take that!"
To be sure, gods do exist in AD&D worlds. Gods grant their priests the power to cast spells, they occasionally speak to their devout followers, and on rare occasions they send their Avatars or other emissaries to interact with mortals. So, there is direct evidence of their existence. Given this, there probably would be no true atheists in such a world. Almost all people would have to acknowledge that gods exist. The question is only whether they choose to follow a god, and then to determine exactly how strong their faith is.
This article is an attempt to give characters a good reason to declare their faith, have them role-play their faith well, and give them some bonuses for doing so. Hopefully, the result will be more vivid, lively characters to enrich the campaign setting. This result can be accomplished by using a new system called Faith Points.
WHAT ARE FAITH POINTS?
Faith Points are a measure of a god's approval/fondness of a character who tries sincerely to abide by his or her god's wishes. Faith Points are measured in points, usually between 1 and 5. The higher the Faith Points, the more the god approves of the character and tries to help him or her. The point underlying the Faith Point system is that the god is fond of good followers and wants them to be successful in their endeavors. The god cannot grant spells to all believers, but the god can give passive attention to a dedicated follower to help him or her succeed in critical and heroic situations.
HOW DO FAITH POINTS WORK?
A person with some faith has a set amount of Faith Points, usually between 1 and 5 or so. Whenever the character decides, he can use the Faith Points to help him succeed in what he's doing. He does so by muttering something in character like: "Oh, Blessed Athena, let my aim be true!" asking for help from the god.
Upon doing so, the Faith Points are used up for that day and can't be used again until they get replenished. For non-priests, Faith Points come back automatically at a rate of one per day, up until the maximum for the character. For Priests and Paladins (hereafter, for the purposes of talking about Faith Points, paladins are considered to be priests), their full amount of Faith Points are regained automatically every day, instead of one per day.
Before going much farther, let's look at exactly what a character can do with Faith Points.
SPECIFIC USES OF FAITH POINTS
There could be any number of ways to use Faith Points in a campaign, with the DM as the final arbiter. However, the most common uses will likely be the following:
* Use the points to adjust a 'To Hit' or 'Damage' roll
The player states beforehand that the character is going to use Faith Points to adjust the roll, then each one Faith Point becomes a +1 on the given roll.
For example, a person with 3 Faith Points can get a +3 to hit, or +3 on the damage dice rolled.
* Adjust a percentile dice roll
Like above, the player states it beforehand, then the roll can be modified by +5% for every one Faith Point.
* Adjust a non-weapon proficiency roll
Like above, with each one Faith Point improving the d20 roll by one.
* Adjust the effectiveness of a healing spell
A priest with a healing spell can use Faith Points to make the spell more powerful. Every one Faith Point can be turned into a +1 point of damage to be healed. For example, the priest does Cure Light Wounds on a party member, rolling a 5 on the healing dice. The priest can use his 4 Faith Points to make it a total of 9 points healed.
* Adjust the damage dice done by a Wizard spell
The player states beforehand that he is using Faith Points, then each one Faith Point can be a +1 on the damage rolled. For example, a 7th level Wizard with 3 points can have his Fireball do 7d6, then add 3 points of damage to the end result.
* Any other creative uses determined by the DM
Some examples could be extending the Duration or Area Of Affect for spells and so on.
ABOUT USING THE FAITH POINTS
For non-priests, the character decides to use the Faith Points and uses them all in one shot, so to speak. For example, a character with 3 Faith Points can add +3 on to one 'To Hit' roll, but cannot decide to use 2 now and 1 later. It's all or nothing. This is because the PC is either asking for the god's help, or he isn't. And once they are used for the day, they can't try to use them again. He must wait until one is regained the next day.
Priests are much more flexible, though. They are much closer to their god, and know the relationship they have with their god. They know approximately how much they can expect their god to help them each day. In game mechanic terms, they know how many Faith Points they have and CAN decide to use a certain number now and save the rest for later. So a Priest with 5 Faith Points can decide to use 2 for that healing spell now, 2 for his next 'To Hit' roll and 1 for a +1 on damage.
Of course, this makes Priests somewhat more powerful. But it gives a nice incentive to play a Priest, and might help to make Priests more popular in campaigns. (Author's note: almost all campaigns I've ever been in have had either zero or one Priest, which is a shame.)
HOW MANY FAITH POINTS DO I HAVE?
A character's number of Faith Points depends directly on how strong their faith is, of course. A person's starting Faith Points are derived from the following categories.
* AGNOSTIC This kind of person acknowledges that gods exist but has no interest in following them or learning more about them. He or she considers religion and gods to be completely unimportant in his or her life. So long as the person is agnostic, he or she cannot gain any faith points through any means. 0 FAITH POINTS
* UNCOMMITTED This kind of person has some slight knowledge of gods and their affect on mortals' lives. This person may -- or may not -- lean towards one certain god, but rarely dwells on religion or godly matters. He or she might occasionally say, "Thanks be to Odin" or "May the Good Lady bless you," but perhaps not sincerely. 1 FAITH POINT
* COMMITTED This person has chosen one certain god to truly believe in and follow. His or her faith isn't perfect, but he/she does make a sincere effort to abide by the customs and dictates of the religion. Often invokes the god's name, usually in a sincere way. 2 FAITH POINTS
* PIOUS More than just committed, this person's faith is especially strong. This believer might play a leadership role in the local religious community, and has dedicated his or her life to serving the chosen god. The believer may have a non-religious occupation (after all, even the pious have to earn money to eat), but otherwise spends much of his/her time advancing the cause of the god. This is the minimum faith level for Priests and Paladins. 3 FAITH POINTS
* DEVOUT (only available to Priests and Paladins) This believer is ultra-committed to serving the chosen god. Serving the god IS this person's occupation. This worshiper is so upright in his/her faith that the person is "favored" by the god, to the point of being able to perform miracles, spells and other deeds that advance the god's cause. The devout person knows the religion's canon by heart, can preach it well, and will often try to win converts. 4 FAITH POINTS
Please note that the character can pick his/her faith category, but must truly play that level of faith in order to keep those starting Faith Points. If the DM decides that the PC is not really behaving according to his declared faith, the DM can adjust the PC's category down to the level that is actually being played, giving him less Faith Points.
CONCLUSION
This article should be considered an experimental system. It could be used for one adventure or so to try it out. If the DM and the players like it, the system could be kept permanently. If the DM disagrees with any specifics in this article, s/he could decide to change or drop any part of it. The system is untried so far, so it can probably be improved somewhere along the way.
To sum up the Faith Point system in a nutshell, the PCs will get an occasional +2 or so on some combat rolls. But the advantage will be that characters say and do more colorful, vivid things, adding to the fun of everyone involved.
"Aye, and thanks be to Thor for that!"
Please send any comments or notes to Allen Stout.