Reworking the True Faith Powers

[Save_vs_DM]

If you make it free, then why shouldn't every character take it?

I'd rather make it a free extra to another more powerful power.

Anyway, expect to see my versions added to the list later today.

As Silverblaze mentioned, concept is one reason. Though I suppose you could go with something like this.
Application of Righteousness [+1]. If you have Righteousness, you may take Bless This House for free if you so choose. It’s not mandatory.

[Sanctaphrax]

Um, yeah.

That's the problem.

If any concept which can't include Bless This House is denied free power, then the game is telling you not to play a character who can't justify Bless This House.

Which is obvious nonsense.

[Radecliffe]

Do it like Soulgaze.  It is a [-1] Power if taken alone but a [-0] Power if taken with Righteousness. 

[Sanctaphrax]

My take:

DIVINE PROTECTION [-1]
Description: God, or some similar force, protects you and yours.
Skills Affected: None.
Effects:
Bless This House. Whenever you are inside a threshold, add 2 to the strength of that threshold.
Bless This Soul. You may spend a Fate Point to give yourself or another character in your presence armour 3 against all physical stress for the rest of the scene. In order to do this in combat, you must take an action. One action is enough, regardless of the number of people you want to protect.

HOLY TOUCH [-1]
Description: You radiate holiness.
Musts: You must have the Righteousness Power in order to take this one.
Skills Affected: Conviction, attack skills.
Effects:
Holy Touch. Your presence is like holy water, which can hurt or drive away many monsters. This can be used as a justification for Compels and Conviction maneuvers. All of your attacks satisfy Catches that have to do with Holy Stuff, and any attack you make against a character offensive to your faith inflicts one additional stress. Such characters also take a point of stress whenever they touch you.

Any thoughts?

I'm pretty happy with Divine Protection, but not so much with Holy Touch. I can't decide whether it should be usable against humans.

[Tedronai]

I would be cautious regarding the bypassing of any 'True [X]' Catches in what seems to be a (relatively) stock power.
It seems narratively appropriate, here, and I don't think I could justify charging extra for it as a separate upgrade, but it makes me nervous.

[Sanctaphrax]

Why would "Holy Stuff" be any harder to bypass than "Cold Iron" or "True Magic"?

Way I see it, this Power is a big part of the reason that a Catch of "Holy Stuff" earns you Refresh.

[Tedronai]

It's not bypassing Catches of 'Holy Stuff' that makes me nervous.
It's bypassing Catches of 'True [X]', where [X], here, is 'Faith'.

[Sanctaphrax]

What's the difference?

[Tedronai]

'True Faith' evokes the same sort of rarity as 'True Love', or 'True Hope', etc..  It is not synonymous with holiness.  Holy objects and symbols seem to far, far more common than the Ideal Truths (yes, I just made that term up, but I like it for encapsulating what I've so far been referring to as the 'True [X]'s).
Holy water is available relatively easily, from what we've seen in the fiction, if you just know the right places to get it.
Ideal Truths, on the other hand, have no established mechanism to even confirm whether a suspected symbol of one will function short of using it on something that's known to be vulnerable (and remember that even the WCVs, the only significant example from the fiction, did not have their weakness known to the White Council, a substantial rival that stands or falls substantially on the basis of its intelligence gathering ability; mechanically, it was a +0 Catch with respect to the availability of the knowledge).

[Sanctaphrax]

Sounds like a wording issue. I'll edit it.

Does it look any better now?

(I also made it clearly usable against humans while I was at it.)

[Tedronai]

That gets back into the issues of 'offensive to your faith', again, but even more so since it states 'character' and not 'creature'.
The first thing that pops into my mind there is some homophobic 'holy-book-thumper' using this power to go on a murder-hobo rampage.  I don't think that is the intent... or at least, I don't think that should be the intent... but it's supported by the new text.

[Sanctaphrax]

It's the intent.

I figured that +1 stress wouldn't break anything.

[Tedronai]

I don't like it, then.

I feel that it incentivises the wrong sorts of activity, and that while it's still not likely to 'break the game', those sorts of incentives are still a Bad Thing (TM).

[Silverblaze]

Holy touch used to satisfy all catches.  At least that was my reading.  The creature didn't have to be offensive to your faith.  I read and reread it.  I was a little tired but I'm prettu sure it normally makes fist attacks bypass catches.

I thought the weapon : 1 -  was vs those offensive to your faith.

[Sanctaphrax]

@Tedronai: I dunno, I figured encouraging zealotry was appropriate.

@Silverblaze: I don't think that reading is correct. It just says that the holy power could qualify your touch to satisfy some Catches. It doesn't look like ACaEBG.