Tips for gaining piety?

[Salem Graves]

I want to create a religion but need like 4.9k piety and am only gaining 1.5 per month soooo.. Any tips on gaining piety?

[Kayeka]

Pilgrimages give you a big chunk of piety, so set the "Go on Pilgrimage" decision to "Notify when available".

Theologian lifestyle gives you a +1 to monthly piety. The Theology lifestyle tree also has a perk that halves the piety required to form a new religion. Theologian and Scholar lifestyles also often have events that can give you a good chunk of Piety if you choose the right options. If you get the perk that allows you to become Celibate, that's another +1 to Piety per month.

Having your court chaplain work on Religious Relations gives you some additional monthly piety based on their Learning skill.

Your own Learning skill also gives you additional Piety per month.

But the real jackpot is if one of your neighbours is at war with a religious enemy of yours, and you can declare war for the same titles. This will turn the other armies "hostile", and defeating them doesn't give you warscore, but it does get you Prestige and Piety as opposed to the Fame and Devotion you'd normally get from battle. I've had battles that gave me as much piety as a long Pilgrimage in one hit.

The same goes for raiding armies, if that is a thing in your neck of the woods. Any fight you take with an opponent that is not directly involved in any of your wars gives Prestige and Piety(if they're religiously hostile).

Even if you get this lucky, saving up all that Piety is going to take up most of your character's life. You're going to want to prepare a character with high Learning and traits that give additional Piety if you're religion is particularly radical.

[NachtRitter]

4.9k isn't too hard, it's like 64k to bring Hellenism back... If you're Asatru you can just wardec everybody around you with 'Invade for Captives' CB - you get bonus piety for executing captives gained from that war goal - please note the bonus piety ONLY applies to the captives you gain from the war, but you still get 100 piety for every non-Asatru you execute so...

Also, acting like a tyrant will get you more peasant uprisings and rebellions, this and raiding will get you captives to execute for piety.

[Lovecraft's Cat]

If you are Catholic, pilgrimages as soon as possible. Focus on learning - theology, and get at least the Prophet perk in the right tree. Avoid asking the Pope for money (this hurts, but you need the piety) and avoid spending piety on claims and such.

Edit. And build temples.