Talent Spotlight: Faith

There are some Talents for those characters that have the right Keywords. And in this case, its the Faith we are looking at. In this article we will explore:

1. Who can take those Talents,

2. some general advice when working with talents

3. and we look at the Talents from the Core rules one by one.

Target Audience

With few exceptions, you need the either MINISTORUM or SORORITAS keyword and better not be near the CHAOS or comparable one.

So you should be good to go if you are from those respective factions, read Battle Sisters or priests. But anyone with the keyword gains access to these talents. So if you somehow gain it e.g. via the [ANY] keyword you can also pick those. This allows you to go creative with your GM. Here are some out of my head examples:

• a Rogue Trader or Inquisitor with deep ties to the Ministorum follows a vision.

• a (Cawdor) Ganger that gives it all in a fanatic campaign and is brought back from the brink to serve the Ecclesiarchy.

• a former cultist that swaps the CHAOS keyword using the respective Ascension Package. (This might be a difficult to explain, but maybe as part of a inquisitorial entourage to repent for your sins?)

A general advice

When picking and evaluating Faith talents you should consider this. Even if a Talent is quite situational, it grants +1 Faith and thus allows you to just trigger another Faith talent again before needing to rest. So if you have one very universal talent like e.g. Inspire Blessing, you can take a more situational and let that shine when the time is right and stick to the basic talent in other cases.

Faith replenishes on these occasions:

• at the start of the session,

• after completing a respite (aka long rest),

• when the GM decides you did good (in a pious, righteous, fanatic way, wink-wink)

If you accumulate to many faith points, you might not be able to spend them all. So you should take your table game into consideration. For example, on our table we only have a respite every 1-3 sessions. so quite rare. Out of my gut I would think that maybe 3-4 talents maximum. Just a personal feeling obviously.

Inspect the Talents

If not otherwise stated, these talents all grant +1 Faith and also use 1 Faith to invoke their powers.

Bolstering Purity (40xp) allows one target in hearing distance to succeed in all Conviction and Resolve Tests for one round. This is quite a expensive one with a relative situational bonus. Might probably only worth when the enemy is known to use fear and corruption a lot and you have a weak willpowered individual in your party.

By His Will (20xp) can be quite powerful as it triples the dice granted by a help action! This could quickly result in 6 or event more additional dice, a hefty bonus if one task needs to go really well.

Consecrated Light (20xp) an area alternative to Bolstering Purity, half the price and gives IMPERIUM targets within 17/19/21 meters a solid +2/4/6 dice bonus to resist fear and corruption. Which roughly translates to Resolve and Conviction. I think this will find more usage as the mentioned single target buff.

Divine Guidance (20xp) alternative to the Help booster Talent. This is a combat action and grants +2/4/6 dice to a ballistic skill test for one round. You can target yourself... but if you would shoot in the same round, you would increase your DN by 2. So, maybe just attack? By His Will is more flexible and maybe with some creativity you can also convince the GM to just allow you to help someone who wants to shot. [EXAMPLES]

In His Name (20xp) grants you +2/4/6 dice to Leadership or Persuasion Tests. Very situational but I can see huge narrative potential by boosting that important public oration that you really need.

Inspired Blessing (25xp) is an excellent combat boost. On of the few options to replenish Shock and this comes in the AoE version. granting 3-5 shock on the first rank (7-9 at 3rd rank) to all IMPERIAL allies within 17/19/21 meters. If you expect combat, take this, it's worth it.

Litany Of Hatred (20xp) make your Hatred go AoE. Like your IMPERIAL allies within 10/20/30 meters will hate like you ("yes, yessss"). Hatred grants +2/4/6 dice to melee attacks. If you have 1-3 melee heavy fighters in the group and you also already hate the enemy with all your heart, this might worth a try.

Martyr’s Tears (20xp) as a Simple Action, suffer TIER wounds and heal double the amount for a single target. Healing 2-8 wounds is strong! You are limited by your own health so thus is probably better suited for backline and support characters that do not expect to suffer much combat heat.

Repent! (20xp) make others kneel and repent for 20/40/60 seconds with a successful intimidation test.

Righteous Wrath (20xp) allows you to gain 2 Wrath as a Combat Action. As part of the action, you can grant one of the two wrath to an IMPERIAL ally. This is interesting because it allows you to support others with a strong wrath point if they need it the most. Maybe the tank could need some Determination rerolling? Maybe a player is about to make an important skill test. Even if you keep it, its still good compared to Touched By Fate (20xp) that gives 1/2/3 Wrath at the start of the session.

Shield Of Faith (20xp) a reactionary immunity to psychic effects for one round. Spend an addition Faith to make this affect your allies too. The strength depends on your campaign, but if you will face great daemons, aeldari warlocks or ther psycker heavy treats, this is very strong.

The Passion (20xp) the weapons skill version of Devine Guidance and thus object to the same evaluation...

The Emperor Protects (30xp) (does he thou?) allows you to reflexive evade any attack unharmed for 2 hefty Faith points. In a Tier 4 Campaign with the periodic super threat this might be worth it. Because it only grants +1 Faith, your need another Faith talent to give you the missing second Faith.

Which to pick

You see that there a quite some talents. Some are Combat Talents, some few social and some are supportive. So which would work with your char depend a little on the role you see in the party and in combat.