The Forbidden Lore (Cults) skill allows knowledge of the 'most notorious Imperial cults'. How does this differ from Common Lore (Imperial Creed), which basically is about THE imperial cult, and for example Common Lore (Mechanicus) which details one of the most famous imperial cults, namely that of the tech-priests.

I find the various lore skills so vaguely defined and overlapping that it's hard to see what covers what.

The skill is called forbidden lore (cults). so the name of the skill suggests it is knowledge of forbidden cults, the knowledge isn't likely to be as in depth as the knowledge for the 'legal' cults. At least thats how i have always taken the skill to mean.

Edit: Oops, double post.

darkstar952 said:

I agree. The big confusion for me is the difference between FL (cults) and FL (heresy). Also, how is FL (warp) different from FL (daemonology) and what do you use it for?

Cardinalsin said:

Forbidden Lore(warp) is knowledge about most things pertaining to the warp, but not limited to the Ruinous Powers or demons. The warp consists of alot more than chaos. Forbidden Lore(daemonology) is a narrower, more specialized skill. You know specifics about daemons and how they can manifest, the length of time they can stay, and what rituals it takes to summon them.

If a player asks," How does a rift in the warp affect an area?", you would ask them to roll a FL(warp) test. If they ask," Are these bloody markings some sort of summoning ritual?", ask them to roll a FL(daemonology) test.

(heresy). Not everyone knows how to spot heretical behavior, or has knowledge about infamous heretics of ages past. Without this skill, your dad could be a heretic cuz he hurt his finger and muttered the Emperor's name in vain.

(cults). Since the genesis of the original Cult of The Emperor, there have been too many cults to keep record of. Knowledge of this skill aids in knowing some of the more important ones. It also helps in knowing how to infiltrate a cult, spot a cultist, and differentiate between a sanctioned cult and a proscribed one.

(Imperial Creed). Pretty much speaks for itself. The Imperial Creed are all the rules man is supposed to live by. No cults really involved.

This is how I run my game. I hope it helps answer your questions, dark and card.

Cardinalsin said:

Something can be a heresy without there being a cult involved, and similarly a "cult" can exist and be condemned without inherently being heretical.

N0-1_H3r3 said:

=][= 1 "Lack of proof of innocence is not innocence exposed"

=][= 2 "this is a heretical exposition, you will be purged"

=][= 1 "No i wont, i made my dice check with three degrees of success"

=][= 2 "blast, foiled again by the powers of chance and fate. Wait, that's the domain of Tzeentch.. AHA! my broken logic demands a reroll!"

My cents about "FL (Cults)" vs "FL (Heresy)"

"Cults" refer to a given cult, where it was/is known to have followers, his names, of what people it is composed, there power base and generall believe and crimes of the past.

"Heresy" gives you a deeper knowledge of the believes/lies of a given heresy, What a followr of such a trice damned lie is holding "true", his world view, his philosophie and manners.

"Cults" will tell you what you are up against when you are fighting "the Logicians" or the "the Logicians" or behind Hereteks and machines-crimes. But "Heresy" might tell you that if you force to destroy machine X that they will not give a **** while they will give their lives for machine Y (no good thing since the logicians are little more "machines-are-not-holy", but you get the picture)

In the rulebook Forbidden Lore (Cults) is supposed to be about Imperial cults ... I thought this meant other non-Creed cults, but does it also include heretical cults like the Logicians and the Flower Sniffing Hedonites of Bulsara II?

In the rulebook Forbidden Lore (Cults) is supposed to be about Imperial cults ... I thought this meant other non-Creed cults, but does it also include heretical cults like the Logicians and the Flower Sniffing Hedonites of Bulsara II?

I believe "Imperial Cults" to mean "Cults that spread within the region of space that is the Imperium of Man and the attached domains like the Mechanicus".

I think there's text somewhere in DotDG which says that "cult" in DH is essentially just a word for a social group. So technically, a guild is a cult, for example.