Religious Reformation

[arduus]

I won't go in detail why I don't like the current system, because I am sure it was discussed hundreds of times before. I don't like to conquer huge swaths of lands to be able to acquire holy sites and reform my faith.

Here is my suggestion:

Let any ruler (both player and AI) with a huge amount of piety (6000?) to reform his faith without controlling any of the holy sites, maybe some traits like Zealous or Wise Man.

Let this reformed faith to spread to nearby unreformed countries of the same religion.

That way we can ensure that pagan faiths create new branches of the same religion just like Muslims and Christianity and get rid of the archaic system to conquer in order to be able to reform.

Thanks for reading.

 

[Tryvenyal]

I agree!

But let it cost 2000 piety and discount it by it by 400 for each holy site you do control, to a minimum of 500, should you control 4 or 5 of them.

 

[Vallahga]

I kinda agree a hard requirement on 3 holy sites feels way too restrictive, as I do not see any good rationale for this. But IMHO the piety cost should be still around the 4000-6000 piety bracket depending on helper factors like traits or holy sites. Reformation should still feel like a big deal, even if it should not be about conquest.

 

[moatman15]

I agree!

But let it cost 2000 piety and discount it by it by 400 for each holy site you do control, to a minimum of 500, should you control 4 or 5 of them.

Love this idea, but I do agree the cost should still be a bit higher still.

 

[DreadLindwyrm]

With three sites my reformation of Asatru cost over 7500 before discounts.

2000 piety would be nothing, comparatively speaking.

 

[moscal]

This problem is old like a "The Old Gods". In CK2 period there were many ideas, how this can be reworked.

I am a supporter of two options. The first - multi-stage reformation. The second - work of a prophet/sage/chosen one.

What mean "multi-stage reformation"? Rulers of faith X have to make and perpetuate next stages modernization of old religion. In fast this can be 1. "Standarization of pantheon", 2. "Making a holy book" 3. "Regulation of the priestly class" 4. "Reformation". Thanks this every stage can be done by other ruler, from other dynasties and realms. The most important would be last stage - here the ultimate face of faith is decided. To next stages should be needed innovations, piety and skills. IMO this should be good, because it shows the intercultural cooperation of members of the same faith to modernize. Reduce RNG problems, generated by random death ("I have tons of piety and many holy lands. I need only 1 piety and can make reformation. Wait, why this axe go to my head?").

What mean "work of a prophet/sage/chosen one"? This should represent a religion-formation process similar to that of, say, the Christian Reformation. Luther, Calvin and others. Calvinism was created thanks to the hard intellectual work of John Calvin and then through cooperation with the authorities. How this can look in game? We need very smart priests ("ambitious zealot genius") or priest with extra trait (chosen by $main_god$). Send him to eg. all holy places,("capitals" or maybe other things) with missions about acquiring religious knowledge and teaching it to others. After few positive missions "mission giver" can click in reformation button.