True Faith of alternate faiths/philosophies?

[Amseriah]

Personally, I'd say that there has to be true faith there and a power behind it to back it up. And not just a minor power, something on the high end of the scale.

I don't know, I see true faith as being a personal power rather than something that originates from an outside force/entity.  Otherwise when

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Harry uses his faith in Magic to fry the flesh mask off of Esmerelda in Changes,

he would have just been casting a spell.  Instead he used his personal belief rather than channeling the force itself.

[ludomaniac]

This is reminding me of a D&D campaign I played in many years ago (20 years, now that I think of it).  I played a priest of Aravache, the god of Trade and Commerce (don't look for this god in any published works, it was a homebrew game).

Anyway, my typical combat role involved going invisible and casting lots of cure spells on the fighters.  We called this the "Invisible Hand" tactic.  Also, when turning undead I would occasionally use this battle cry: "Your assets are LIQUIDATED!"

[TheMouse]

Great. Now I'm going to have to make the Knight of Communism. He believes in the common worker. Not even the beasts of the Nevernever can stand against the masses once they've thrown off the shackles of their capitalist overlords.

Workers of the world, UNITE!

[Richard_Chilton]

I've seen that in a book... I forget which it was, but someone held off a vampire with his (or was it hers?) faith in communism.

Richard

[sjksprocket]

Duct tape would work imo. It's like the force, It has a light side, a dark side and binds the universe together. Speaking of which, it would be interesting to be a jedi knight. have true faith in the force and an IoP that is a magical glowey beam sword of magic and awesomeness.

[sinker]

I think the tough part about this is that we're really talking about two different things rolled into one. I would expect that your faith in communism (or more likely your faith that humankind can unite for the greater good as opposed to the governmentish system of communism) would hold off a vampire or cause some of the effects that Harry uses in the novels. However your faith in communism is unlikely to be able to give you knowledge you don't have (the Faith manages trapping of Guide my Hand) or give aid in answer to your prayer (the Potent Prayer trapping of Righteousness). These seem to be an external force providing you with power.

[Becq]

For some reason, Beni comes to mind.  Remember Beni from The Mummy, in the scene where he's trying to ward of Imhotep with a series of holy symbols? 

[neko128]

For some reason, Beni comes to mind.  Remember Beni from The Mummy, in the scene where he's trying to ward of Imhotep with a series of holy symbols? 

Good movie.  I should watch it this weekend.

What if you were the champion of two faiths?    The books prove you don't necessarily have to believe in a faith to champion it properly, in Mr. Dresdon's world...

[newtinmpls]

“I think the tough part about this is that we're really talking about two different things rolled into one.”

Two things, but I don’t think they NEED to be combined.

“I would expect that your faith in communism (or more likely your faith that humankind can unite for the greater good as opposed to the governmentish system of communism) would hold off a vampire or cause some of the effects that Harry uses in the novels.”

I think these potential effects are similar to the discipline skill in that they represent effects resulting from something internal (belief or faith).

“However your faith in communism is unlikely to be able to give you knowledge you don't have (the Faith manages trapping of Guide my Hand) or give aid in answer to your prayer (the Potent Prayer trapping of Righteousness). These seem to be an external force providing you with power.”

I agree; I would almost call it a pure mortal version of sponsored magic, and allow for different trappings associated with different “sources” (i.e. a Wiccan might have different abilities, or something like that).

Dian

[Lawgiver]

I’ve done some exploration on this general idea. I’ve already started putting together an NPC who acts very much like Alan Dean Foster’s “Spellsinger”. He does magic through music. I started him out using the “Music to sooth the savage breast” concept matched to the “Will and the Word” basis of the Dresdenesque magic scheme. In other words, his music has power because he believes it does; it’s an act of Faith. I put him together using a lot of Faith Based focus (stunts, with evocation, etc. So far she's sitting somewhere between a Focused Practitioner and a Sorcerer. There are still some kinks to work out, but it’s shaping up. I don’t see why it couldn’t work with other concepts as well. How about Darwinian Evolution? Someone's faith in “Survival of the fittest” matched with an absolute conviction that you are not fit could get ugly.

[jadecourtflunky]

Don't forget about sanya: his faith is in communism (or really some obscure branch of it). He's a knight of the cross. If he can be that, then certainly there can be a true believer of socrates's teachings, or maybe those of other plilosiphers

[sinker]

Don't forget about sanya: his faith is in communism (or really some obscure branch of it). He's a knight of the cross. If he can be that, then certainly there can be a true believer of socrates's teachings, or maybe those of other plilosiphers

Sanya's not really a great example. Regardless of his beliefs, his power comes from the white god.

[newtinmpls]

"faith that duct tape fixes everything"

Makes me think ... there has got to be some church of coffee and duct tape.

[easl]

A person with True Faith in the philosophy of Nietzsche could be quite interesting.

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Isn't Sanya supposed to be an atheist?  And he wields one of the three swords (Hope, IIRC).

So I would say yes, its possible for true faith to occur in alternate faiths/philosophies

[Amseriah]

He is agnostic, but yes he isn't Christian and a Knight of the Cross