Judge Belief (sage ability)
Judge belief is an amateur-status sage ability in the study of Gods which provides insight into another's strength of religious belief, allowing the character to know whether others are pious, judicious, fearful or false.
The pious will be deeply absorbed in their religion, following the practices with love and devotion as one who truly desires to be spiritually one with their creed. The judicious will observe the teachings and rules of their religion rigorously, but see faith as a duty to be carried out rather than something to be loved. The fearful view their practice as a thing to be done to avoid the consequences of not following their beliefs — and so they see faith only in terms of being protected from malevolence. The false have no belief at all, but speak the words and go through the motions in order to blend in with the present culture.
The character able to judge belief will require an hour or two of discourse in order to evaluate others. If a die roll is required, I recommend the following, upon a d20:
- 01-06: false
- 07-15: fearful
- 16-19: judicious
- 20: pious
Pious individuals will be prepared to sacrifice themselves for others, even be a martyr if the religious cause be just. Judicious persons will be reliable, making good soldiers and servants of the state or their community. Fearful persons will follow, but offer very little true strength in times of crisis. False persons will usually flee at the first sign of trouble.
Note that the ability considers that zealotry. not named above, is not necessarily an indication of an individual's belief. Zealots are often non-believers, using a religion falsely to push their cause; zealots will appear among the fearful, using their belief to strike out against anything that threatens them; judicious persons may also be zealots, using religion in a pragmatic way without consideration for good or evil. It is not necessarily true that a zealot is pious.
