Piety
Piety is a measure of your standing with your chosen god. Piety is consumed to use abilities
Useful Info
Piety is measured on a scale from 1-200; most characters start at 15 piety when first worshipping a god. If piety drops below 1, you are excommunicated and incur penance.
At certain piety thresholds, your god will grant abilities. Active abilities can be invoked with the a command; most actives cost piety to use. Passive abilities work automatically, and usually don't have a cost. Piety can also be used for obtaining gifts and for resolving penance.
Piety Gain
You can gain piety by following your god's conduct. A majority of gods reward you for one of two things:
- Killing creatures, or having an ally kill a creature. All gods exclude plant holiness creatures but most gods accept most types of kills.
- Exploring the dungeon, i.e., revealing new tiles. You are not rewarded for exploring the Temple or deep water in the Shoals.
Different gods may have different means of gaining piety. For example, Zin appreciates gold donations (and killing evil/[==[chaotic]] creatures), while Ru appreciates taking personal sacrifices. Gozag does not use piety at all - this god only cares for gold.
For most gods, piety gain slows down at 4*, and slows down again at 6*.[1]
You can lose piety by doing things your god dislikes - Trog hates it when you cast spells; The Shining One hates when you do evil. Also, most gods' piety will decay over time.
Estimating Piety
You cannot see your exact piety number in-game, but you can estimate it from the number of stars shown by your god's name on your HUD. Not coincidentally, these stars are the levels of piety required for you to receive new abilities.
| Ability Level | Piety | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1-29 | Noncommital | |
| * | 30-49 | Aware of your devotion |
| ** | 50-74 | Pleased with you |
| *** | 75-99 | Rising star |
| **** | 100-119 | Shining star |
| ***** | 120-159 | Favored servant |
| ****** | 160-200 | Prized avatar |
Not all gods give abilities at each level. For example, Okawaru gives the ability to invoke Heroism at *, and then nothing until Finesse at ****. Also, many gods grant powers that improve with your exact piety (not just your star level), so it is worth cultivating piety even if you think you've earned every reward on your god's chart.
Piety Decay
Your piety decreases over time. Every 10-30 turns (with uniform distribution), the game makes a roll to deplete one piety. Depending on your god, there is a 1/17 or 1/35 chance to do so; on average, you'll lose 1 piety every 340 or 700 decaAut, respectively.
Gods with fast piety decay (lose 1 piety roughly every 340 turns):
Gods with slow piety decay (lose 1 piety roughly every 700 turns):
Uskayaw has extremely fast piety gain and decay, while Ignis has none. Ashenzari, Ru, Xom, and Yredelemnul have their own unique piety systems, which do not use the normal decay function. And Gozag doesn't use piety at all (caring only about gold).
History
- Prior to 0.19, there were five possible piety decay speeds.
- Prior to 0.16, gods didn't treat followers' kills the same as the player's for purposes of piety gain.
References
- ↑ religion.cc:2450 (0.30.1)
