Religious skills
Every religious skill requires a dose of liao to use. Liao is provided to everyone who ministers to a congregation, which is a personal resource. A starting congregation resource produces five doses of liao per event.
The majority of the religious skills involve the creation or removal of auras. These are roleplaying effects only; they can affect a person, an item or an area but they have no mandated rules outcome. A player is always free to choose how their character responds to a roleplaying effect based on what they believe is appropriate for their characterization.
Religious skills do not require touch, but do require you to be close enough to touch the target. If there are multiple participants, they must be close enough to touch the target or another participant. You must complete at least 10 seconds of appropriate roleplaying to use a religious skill.
Dedication
- You must purchase dedication before you can take any other religious skills
A character may use this skill to mark the soul of another human, excluding themselves, with a dedication that matches the current dedication of their own soul. A character who has purchased this skill during character creation is entitled to choose to begin play devoted to one of Imperial virtues.
A dedication soul mark may be removed with exorcism or by replacing it with a more powerful mark. Several priests may co-operate with a dedication ceremony to make it harder to remove, or stronger than the one it is replacing.
Any character who has purchased this skill is able to act as a guide when someone consumes True Liao. A character who consumes True Liao can choose to have a single character with the dedicate skill act as a guide. Although that character does not experience a past-life vision of their own, they do share the past-life vision of the character who has consumed the Liao.
Anointing
Creates a roleplaying effect that directly affects the recipient of the anointing. The more priests who participate in the ceremony, the more difficult the aura is to remove.
Consecration
Creates a roleplaying effect in an area. The more priests who participate in the ceremony, the more difficult the aura is to remove.
Excommunication
This skill can be used to excommunicate a character. A character who has been excommunicated cannot make use of liao or use any skill that requires liao. The more priests that participate in an excommunication the harder the effects are to remove.
Exorcism
This skill can be used to remove an anointment, consecration, testimony, excommunication or other roleplaying aura. The more priests that participate in the exorcism the more likely to be able to take down the effect.
Hallow
A Hallow allows you to create a roleplaying effect attached to an item. The aura affects anyone who is bonded to the item. The more priests who participate in the ceremony, the more difficult the aura is to remove.
Insight
This skill allows you to examine the target’s soul. You can can sense if they are dedicated to one of the seven virtues, read any testimonies that have marked the soul and see any auras that are affecting them.
Testimony
By performing a testimony, you can place an indelible mark on the target’s soul. You can choose a keyword to describe the mark; e.g. “Oathbreaker”, “Bold Warrior”, “Wise Leader”. Testimonies can be perceived by any character who uses the Insight skill or an equivalent ability to examine the victim’s soul. The more priests who participate in the ceremony, the more difficult the mark is to remove.