I was under the interpretation that true faith powers didn't come from a respective diety but from strong belief so I thought faith might be enough to justify any type of true believer.
Oh dear, I seem to have misinterpreted the question. I was under the impression you were asking if Someone who worships an EVIL god could have GOOD powers.
Here's my take on it - based on the novels, not any real life opinions I have.
In the DV, followers of evil get "power now" types of rewards. Evil is the great shortcut when it comes the bad things helping you. Want to death curse someone and you don't have time to learn magic? Then you do a rite that helps The Walker Behind and someone dies. Want real power - including being able to live until something kills you? Then take up that coin and share your body with a Fallen Angel. Tired of watching the bad guys skate on those charges just because they have good lawyers? Then become Hexenwolves with a demonic co-pilot and kill those bastards.
In short, it's "Go evil and get your reward now, not later" because the forces of evil are actively recruiting the morally weak.
On the other hand, the forces of good are all "do good now and when you die we'll reward you". You don't see angels going around "tempting" people to be good. You don't get bribes for or make deals with the forces of good. If you're not good for the sake of good then they hope you see the light - but they don't offer "coins of goodness" to the nickel heads and get into a bidding war with hell over someone's soul.
The swords? They aren't bribes. You have to be the right person before you get offered one. They are tools that a few people get offer, not rewards or bribes, and they come with a strong obligation - you commit to putting heaven's work ahead of your life and family.
We could get into a debate over whether part X of a religion is good or evil (as seen by outsiders) but the books make that irrelevant. The existence of an agnostic knight shows that the forces of good are concerned with motives and actions - not dogma.
So when it comes to followers of evil, I'd give them other powers (including creature features and sponsored magic) and maybe minions rather than adopting the True Faith stuff.
Richard
I was wondering could a true believer satanist work as a character concept? ...
...true faith powers didn't come from a respective diety but from strong belief so I thought faith might be enough to justify any type of true believer ...
I was talking about people who belived in powers such as chaos and destruction as the ultimate meaning and purpose of reality and that serving these powers is not self serving but serving the greatest good.
Here's my take on it - based on the novels, not any real life opinions I have.
In the DV, followers of evil get "power now" types of rewards. Evil is the great shortcut when it comes the bad things helping you. Want to death curse someone and you don't have time to learn magic? Then you do a rite that helps The Walker Behind and someone dies. Want real power - including being able to live until something kills you? Then take up that coin and share your body with a Fallen Angel. Tired of watching the bad guys skate on those charges just because they have good lawyers? Then become Hexenwolves with a demonic co-pilot and kill those bastards.
In short, it's "Go evil and get your reward now, not later" because the forces of evil are actively recruiting the morally weak.
On the other hand, the forces of good are all "do good now and when you die we'll reward you". You don't see angels going around "tempting" people to be good. You don't get bribes for or make deals with the forces of good. If you're not good for the sake of good then they hope you see the light - but they don't offer "coins of goodness" to the nickel heads and get into a bidding war with hell over someone's soul.
The swords? They aren't bribes. You have to be the right person before you get offered one. They are tools that a few people get offer, not rewards or bribes, and they come with a strong obligation - you commit to putting heaven's work ahead of your life and family.
We could get into a debate over whether part X of a religion is good or evil (as seen by outsiders) but the books make that irrelevant. The existence of an agnostic knight shows that the forces of good are concerned with motives and actions - not dogma.
So when it comes to followers of evil, I'd give them other powers (including creature features and sponsored magic) and maybe minions rather than adopting the True Faith stuff.
Richard
On the gripping hand,
I was of the opinion that True Faith could mean true faith in anything, or to quote Terry Prattchett Religion isn't necessarily nice.
You are, of course, entitled to your opinion. And Pratchett is very clever. If you can make it work in a game, let us know how it goes. Don't let other folks discourage you.
But if the community's input is a factor you regard, then the overall opinion seems to indicate that this idea isn't particularly plausible. This can become - almost literally - a religious debate from here, and that's not a productive direction.
It could be interesting, from a story point of view, to have a LaVey Satanist be on the side of the angels (so to speak).
After all, the tenets of modern Satanism are more or less hedonism and selfishness. There's nothing wrong, from their written point of view, for someone to help kittens out of trees and little old ladies across the street...if that's what you WANT to do, and it does something for you. Doing something because it feels good is correct, from LaVey Satanist principles.
So, you could have a 'good' Satanist who has True Faith...although perhaps not from where he thinks it comes from.
I believe C.S. Lewis covered this idea in the last Narnia book in the series.
"Nasty" and "Faith Power from a good source" don't really mesh well either.
In the books there aren't many example of people who have Faith and they tend to do the Right Thing because of their beliefs. Like the scene where someone who has murdered and tortured and done unspeakable things agreed to toss away his coin and the two Knights of the Cross facing him gave him the chance to make a new life because that's what they should do.
Micheal is a Righteous Man, not a self righteous one, and that's the key to his Faith.
Richard
I have a several theological problems with your interpretation of true faith...
The theological at work in the DV seems a bit two dimensional at times - or maybe we just don't know enough about it. It could evolve the way the Wardens went from the Bogymen to "people doing the job that needs doing" as the series progressed. But until things change what we have to work are people like Micheal. There have been many other 'gods' talked about, but none of their followers seem to have gotten any Faith based powers.
As long as you Serve His interests, He sponsors you. Doesn't much care if you Serve in His name. - ObsidThat's why I brought up Ormazd/Ahura Mazda and Ahriman earlier. Because the White God has been associated with the monotheistic religions and portrayed as somewhat above the gods associated with polytheistic ones, the bad god of a dualist religion could be seen as having the same kind of above-ness. And might reward someone who a path based on believing evil nature to be truer nature (the type who thinks everyone wants to be just like them, but isn't honest and/or brave enough) - because it wants others to see those qualities result in power and reward, and so inclucate them. You're right, though, the believer would probably call it "beyond good and evil" or something rather than evil.
If you define the word "evil" only by public opinion, then you can think something is right and even good, despite being evil.The original post's example of the baals fits into this category too. The term's been demonised in the popular consciousness, because it was used to refer to the gods of Canaan; but the baals weren't worshipped in Canaan because their worshippers thought they were demonically evil, it was the Israelites who (eventually) thought that.