[PEACH] Holy Avenger (Last Opinions Please)

[ShadowyFigure]

“ You cannot kill me,” The voice said from beneath the rubble that now lay where our opponent once had slowly bits of rubble began to move and pieces of body came into view first a hand crippled by the fallen stone then a head with a face no longer recognisable as one of human nature then finaly the hulking figure stood before us.

Taking a deep breath the figure lifted its mace onto his shoulder and grinned.

“ By my gods power I swore I would avenge all who have suffered the judgements of good and now 'heroes' you shall die,”
Extract from the Last Chapter Of The Story Of Amwar

The Holy Avenger is a class made up of warriors destined to seek revenge against others. They draw all of there power and strength from their deities fighting until the last breath hoping to gain more power so they taste the sweet nectars of revenge.

Adventures; Holy Avenger adventure for only one purpose and that is to gain power so that they may get there revenge it is for this reason Holy Avengers often seek quests that will require great power so that they my prove they are getting stronger to there god.

Characteristics; The Holy Avenger is a warrior at heart using there thirst for revenge to fly into a powerful Divine Wrath. While in this berserk fury he becomes stronger and tougher and better able to defeat his foes and withstand there attacks while calling on there divine strength to flow negative or positive energy through his strikes. However the Holy avenger is weakened by his Divine Wraths and so is limited on how many times they can display there inner hatred and thirst for revenge.

Alighnment; The Holy Avenger always has the same alignment as his deity.

Religion; Holy Avengers only worship gods of the war domain such as Hextor, Erythnul and Gruumsh.

Background; None ever choose the path of revenge but instead revenge chooses them. Only a great mixture of event brought on my greater powers and organisations can form the thirst that lies with in every Holy Avengers heart and once unleashed many Holy Avengers never leave the path always looking for more power. And more way to fulfil there pact. The first Holy Avenger was the survivor of a mighty orc crusade who took up a blade and promised his god the would slay the Orc war band. Hearing this Hextor the man's god at the time granted him great abilities allowing him to go out and slaughter his families murderers. Since many gods have allowed there worshippers to make blood pacts and take on the path of revenge.

Races; There are no specific races that make up the Holy Avengers though mostly race who wage war follow the path of revenge. For this reason humans and orcs suit the class the most but it is not rare for dwarfs to join the path of revenge.

Other Classes: The Holy Avenger finds themselves most comfortable with the barbarian who the avengers shares a berserk Divine Wrath with him battle the find Paladins to restricting and Fighters to focused in there weapon skills and often enjoy conversation with the sorcerer who is just chaotic enough for them.

Spoiler

Show

Holy Avenger
1D12 Hit Die
Custom
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th|6th|7th|8th|9th

1st|

+1

|

+2

|

+0

|

+0

|Divine Wrath 1/day, Smite 1/day, Pact Of Revenge, Weapon Focus (Deities Favoured Weapon)|1|—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—

2nd|

+2

|

+3

|

+0

|

+0

||2|—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—

3rd|

+3

|

+3

|

+1

|

+1

|Cling To Life +1|2|1|—|—|—|—|—|—|—

4th|

+4

|

+4

|

+1

|

+1

|Divine Wrath 2/day, Weapon Specialization (Deities Favoured Weapon)|2|2|—|—|—|—|—|—|—

5th|

+5

|

+4

|

+1

|

+1

|Smite 2/day|2|2|1|—|—|—|—|—|—

6th|

+6/+1

|

+5

|

+2

|

+2

|Cling To Life +2|2|2|2|—|—|—|—|—|—

7th|

+7/+2

|

+5

|

+2

|

+2

|Damage Reduction 1/-|3|2|2|1|—|—|—|—|—

8th|

+8/+3

|

+6

|

+2

|

+2

|Divine Wrath 3/day, Greater weapon Focus (Deities Favoured Weapon)|3|2|2|2|—|—|—|—|—

9th|

+9/+4

|

+6

|

+3

|

+3

| Cling To Life +3|3|3|2|2|1|—|—|—|—

10th|

+10/+5

|

+7

|

+3

|

+3

|Damage Reduction 2/-, Smite Evil 3/day|3|3|3|2|2|—|—|—|—

11th|

+11/+6/+1

|

+7

|

+3

|

+3

|Greater Divine Wrath|3|3|4|2|2|1|—|—|—

12th|

+12/+7/+2

|

+8

|

+4

|

+4

|Divine Wrath 4/day, Cling To Life +4, Greater Weapon Specilization (Deities Favoured Weapon)|4|3|4|2|2|2|—|—|—

13th|

+13/+8/+3

|

+8

|

+4

|

+4

|Damage Reduction 3/-,|4|3|4|3|2|2|1|—|—

14th|

+14/+9/+4

|

+9

|

+4

|

+4

||4|4|4|3|2|2|2|—|—

15th|

+15/+10/+5

|

+9

|

+5

|

+5

|Smite 4/day, Cling To Life +5|4|4|4|3|3|2|2|1|—

16th|

+16/+11/+6/+1

|

+10

|

+5

|

+5

|Divine Wrath 5/day, Damage Reduction 4/-, Weapon Mastery (Deities Favoured Weapon)|4|4|4|3|3|2|2|2|—

17th|

+17/+12/+7/+2

|

+10

|

+5

|

+5

|Divine Wrath 5/day, Damage Reduction 4/-|4|4|4|3|3|3|2|2|1

18th|

+18/+13/+8/+3

|

+11

|

+6

|

+6

||4|4|4|4|3|3|2|2|2

19th|

+19/+14/+9/+4

|

+11

|

+6

|

+6

|Damage Reduction 5/-|4|4|4|4|3|3|3|2|2

20th|

+20/+15/+10/+5

|

+12

|

+6

|

+6

|Divine Wrath 6/day, Smite 5/day, Mighty Divine Wrath|4|4|4|4|4|3|3|2|2

[/table]

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Holy Avenger is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, light armor, medium armor, and shields (except tower shields)

Spells: A Holy Avenger cast Divine spells which are drawn from the War and Destruction domain.

To prepare or cast a spell, a Holy Avenger must have a Constitution score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a Holy Avenger's spell is 10 + the spell level + the Holy Avenger's Constitution modifier.

Like other spell casters, a Holy Avenger can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day however a Holy Avenger only ever gains access to his spell while preforming a Divine Wrath and casting spell reduces the amount of rounds his Divine Wrath Lasts this is listed in the table below.. His base daily spell allotment is given on Table: The Holy Avenger. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Constitution score.

{table=head]Spell Level|Divine Wrath Reduced by
1-2|1 round
3-4|2 rounds
5-6|3 rounds
7-8|4 rounds
9|5 rounds[/table]

Divine Wrath: A Holy Avenger can fly into a Divine Wrath a certain number of times per day. In a Divine Wrath, a Holy Avenger temporarily gains a +4 bonus to Strength, a +4 bonus to Constitution, and a +2 morale bonus on Will saves, but he takes a –2 penalty to Armor Class. The increase in Constitution increases the Holy Avenger’s hit points by 2 points per level, but these hit points go away at the end of the Divine Wrath when his Constitution score drops back to normal. (These extra hit points are not lost first the way temporary hit points are.) While raging, a Holy Avenger cannot use any Charisma-, Dexterity-, or Intelligence-based skills (except for Balance, Escape Artist, Intimidate, and Ride), the Concentration skill, or any abilities that require patience or concentrationor activate magic items that require a command word, a spell trigger (such as a wand), or spell completion (such as a scroll) to function however he can cast spells from the Holy Avengers Spell List only. He can use any feat he has except Combat Expertise, item creation feats, and metamagic feats. A fit of Divine Wrath lasts for a number of rounds equal to 3 + the character’s (newly improved) Constitution modifier. A Holy Avenger may prematurely end his Divine Wrath. At the end of the Divine Wrath, the Holy Avenger loses the Divine Wrath modifiers and restrictions and becomes fatigued (–2 penalty to Strength, –2 penalty to Dexterity, can’t charge or run) for the duration of the current encounter (unless he is a 17th-level Holy Avenger, at which point this limitation no longer applies; see below).
A Holy Avenger can fly into a Divine Wrath only once per encounter. At 1st level he can use his Divine Wrath ability once per day. At 4th level and every four levels thereafter, he can use it one additional time per day (to a maximum of six times per day at 20th level). Entering a Divine Wrath takes no time itself, but a Holy Avenger can do it only during his action, not in response to someone else’s action.

Smite: Once per day, a Holy Avenger may attempt to smite with one normal melee attack. He adds his Class Level halfed to his attack roll and deals 1 extra point of damage per Holy Avenger level. If the Holy Avenger smites someone who is not hostile to him then the smite has no effect but still uses up a daily use.

Pact Of Revenge; The Holy avenger makes a pact for revenge to his deity should he fall from the path of revenge he loses all ability's gained by this class. An avenger can fall from the path of Revenge by forgiving or becoming in league with those who he has sworn revenge against. A Holy avenger may regain his power by swearing another pact and having a cleric of the same cleric cast the atonement spell on them.

Weapon Focus: The Holy Avenger gains the Weapon Focus Bonus feat in his Deities Favoured Weapon.

Cling to Life: The Holy Avenger gains the Die Hard Feat as a Bonus Feat. Starting at 3rd level the Holy Avengers wish to have his revenge becomes so strong that they can take more damage before dyeing. At 3rd level the Holy Avenger can be reduced to -11 health before dyeing this increases by and additional 1 every three levels. (-12 at 6, -13 at 9, -14 at 12 and then -15 at 15).

Weapon Specialization: The Holy Avenger gains the Weapon Specilization Feat in his Deities Favoured Weapon as a Bonus Feat.

Damage Reduction: At 7th level, when a Holy Avenger enters his Divine Wrath he gains Damage Reduction. Subtract 1 from the damage the Holy Avenger takes each time he is dealt damage from a weapon or a natural attack. At 10th level, and every three Holy Avenger levels thereafter (13th, 16th, and 19th level), this damage reduction rises by 1 point. Damage reduction can reduce damage to 0 but not below 0.

Greater Weapon Focus: The Holy Avenger gains the Greater Weapon Focus Feat in his Deities Favoured Weapon as a Bonus Feat.

Greater Divine Wrath: At 11th level, a Holy Avenger’s bonuses to Strength and Constitution during his Divine Wrath each increase to +6, and his morale bonus on Will saves increases to +3. The penalty to AC remains at –2.

Greater Weapon Specialization: The Holy Avenger gains the Greater weapon Specialization Feat in his Deities Favoured Weapon as a Bonus Feat.

Weapon Mastery: The Holy Avenger gains the Weapon Mastery Feat in the same damage type as your Deities Favoured Weapon as a Bonus Feat.

Tireless Divine Wrath: At 17th level and higher, a Holy Avenger no longer becomes fatigued at the end of his Divine Wrath.

Mighty Divine Wrath: At 20th level, a Holy Avenger’s bonuses to Strength and Constitution during his Divine Wrath each increase to +8, and his morale bonus on Will saves increases to +4. The penalty to AC remains at –2.

[ShadowyFigure]

FEATS

Deities Wrath
Prerequisites; Smite Ability, Rage Ability
Benefit: During a rage the user of this feat may use one charge of smite to add their charisma bonus to the damage rolls of a full round attack.
Normal: Smite only effects a single attack.

Deities Wrath, Greater
Prerequisites: Deities Wrath
Benefit: During a Rage when making a smite attack attack add double your charisma modifier to damage. This applies to Deities Wrath also.
Normal: You only add your charisma modifier to damage during a smite.

Expanded Smite
Prerequisites: Smite Class Ability
Benefit: You gain an additional use of the smite ability per day.

[Reinboom]

Very interesting idea for a mash up between a barbarian and a paladin...
The code is odd to me, since it can become -very- situational.
For example:
What happens when you discover the people you swore vengeance against turns out not to be the actual murderers of your parents culprits? This is a rather classic scene.
What happens when the avenger finally defeats them?
You may wish to make it "recommend" the people who take the class use vengeance for a broad cause, such as against "murderer of my parents!" rather than "The great evil Blahblador!" (who is thought to have killed your parents). Allows for Avengers to not accidentally fall from power because of bad wording...

Also:

Pact Of Revenge: The Holy avenger makes a pact for revenge to his deity. Should he fall from the path of revenge he loses all abilities gained by the class. An avenger can fall from the path of Revenge by forgiving or becoming in league with those who he has sworn revenge against. A Holy avenger may regain his power by swearing another pact and having a cleric of the same level or higher cast the atonement spell on them.

Tweaked the wording for you slightly, there was a couple minor mistakes.

I would say it's a bit underpowered overall. Also, you may wish to fill the 2nd and 14th levels, since they don't even offer feats. Rather bland levels.

(oh, and thank you for the use of my table generator)

[ShadowyFigure]

I was thinking of giving it spells a day using two domain as spell lists such as War and Destruction (Think The Crusader In Complete Divine). Your table generator is very useful SweetRein and stoped me making a mess of things.

Thanks for your coment will be working on it later.

[ShadowyFigure]

*bumpage....*

[Reinboom]

That would definitely give it some power and tricks it could use.


You might not want to 'bump' within 3 hours without significant change...

Oh, do you have a 3/day smite..? And you may wish to label increasing things such as that in their description. The description takes precedence over the table.

[ShadowyFigure]

I'll do that.

I also added the Weapon Focus feats in Deities favoured weapon just as a little bonus seeing as the Holy Avenger wants to be for powerful. I add the spells at some time tonight.

[ShadowyFigure]

Okay I added the spells anymore help will be apreciated.

[Reinboom]

Which spell formula did you use from the table generator (if you did)?
After 5th level spells, your spells per day starts getting very very weird.

Also, spoilering the class table is recommended, using:
[spoiler][/spoiler]

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

What has me worried is the d10 HD AND the Rage AND the DR AND the 9th level spells AND the full BaB. I think it might be a little much in the end.

Not sure though...

[ShadowyFigure]

Its basicly the cursader prestige classes spell progression only it goes up every two levels.

[ShadowyFigure]

Spells Fixed with a proper progression (Thanks SweetRein for the help.

I think class is preatty finished minus the empty levels bu still spells go up on them so im not sur eif i should leave it or what.

[Umarth]

The class feels a bit unfocused to me.

D10 HD
Rage
Spell casting (that can't be used raging)
Bonus feats
Smite
DR

Ability scores needed
Str: melee
Con: HPs/Rage
Wis: Spell Casting
Cha: Smite

It just feels a bit like a mix tape of the classes’ greatest hits with a nice dose of MAD thrown in.

The class is probably okay balance wise but I think anyone playing it would be frustrated by the ability score requirements and the conflicting nature of the class.

Here are my recommendations:

HD: d12

Change Rage to Divine Wrath: Just a name change to help everything feel tied together. Put in some fluff about calling on the power of the deity to fill their body granting them a touch of divine power.

DR: only works while raging.

Spell Casting: Only allow the spell casting while raged. Change the ability score requirement from Wis to Con. Remove spells per day and instead change it to casting a spell reduces the duration of the rage by 1 round for every 2-3 levels the spell is.
So the rage would be reduced by:
{table=head]Spell Level|Rage Reduced by
1-2|1 round
3-4|2 rounds
5-6|3 rounds
7-8|4 rounds
9|5 rounds[/table]

Keep the same spell progression though so they can't cast higher level spells earlier than what you have listed.


Those changes I think give you a class with a lot more focused feel to the class (it's all about channeling destructive power from your deity) and you change them from needing 4 ability scores to only 2 ability scores.

[Roderick_BR]

So, it has full bab AND full casting? A bit odd.
Also, reading the background, it could work more as a PrC than a base class. A character can start the campaign as an avenger, following through the 20 levels?

[ShadowyFigure]

The class feels a bit unfocused to me.

D10 HD
Rage
Spell casting (that can't be used raging)
Bonus feats
Smite
DR

Ability scores needed
Str: melee
Con: HPs/Rage
Wis: Spell Casting
Cha: Smite

It just feels a bit like a mix tape of the classes’ greatest hits with a nice dose of MAD thrown in.

The class is probably okay balance wise but I think anyone playing it would be frustrated by the ability score requirements and the conflicting nature of the class.

Here are my recommendations:

HD: d12

Change Rage to Divine Wrath: Just a name change to help everything feel tied together. Put in some fluff about calling on the power of the deity to fill their body granting them a touch of divine power.

DR: only works while raging.

Spell Casting: Only allow the spell casting while raged. Change the ability score requirement from Wis to Con. Remove spells per day and instead change it to casting a spell reduces the duration of the rage by 1 round for every 2-3 levels the spell is.
So the rage would be reduced by:
{table=head]Spell Level|Rage Reduced by
1-2|1 round
3-4|2 rounds
5-6|3 rounds
7-8|4 rounds
9|5 rounds[/table]

Keep the same spell progression though so they can't cast higher level spells earlier than what you have listed.


Those changes I think give you a class with a lot more focused feel to the class (it's all about channeling destructive power from your deity) and you change them from needing 4 ability scores to only 2 ability scores.

Thank you for your suggestion I have used most of them seeing as they seem to make sense. Smite now adds half you Holy Avenger class levels halfed to a minimum of 1.

I also made spells castble during Divine Wrath only aswelll as damage reduction however im gonna make cling to life be activated all the time so its not so Divine wrath related.

Thanks for the help I think this class is finished crunch and abbilities wise just need to sort out the fluff alot seeing as I have had an Idea for a race and another class based on common myths in Paganism. (Such as sacrifycing people. The race will have basicly been the first to have Holy Avenger seeing as they were almost wiped out completly. Thanks for your thoughts in advance.

[ShadowyFigure]

So, it has full bab AND full casting? A bit odd.
Also, reading the background, it could work more as a PrC than a base class. A character can start the campaign as an avenger, following through the 20 levels?

Not really. The casting is restricted to spell from the Destruction and War Domain. Also it is better as a base class cause as its said you are born into the path of revenge you dont just choose.

This gives it a more Paladin feel I know because it really is a warrior who channels destructive power through his Deitie.

So what I can see so far is.

Rage
Restricted spell selection but these spells are only cast during rage and reduce the duration of rage.
Cling to life allows survival for a tiny bit longer as does Damage Reduction during Rage.
The Proficiency in Deities Favoured weapon add more feeling to the Avenging warrior who is powered by his Deitie.

This isnt to bad and it make a nice mix IMO.

[Umarth]

I'd actually remove the spells per day and just restrict thier casting by reducing the rounds Divine Wrath lasts.

Just call out they can cast X & Y spells at level Z.