Deus Vult (3.5e Feat)

Deus Vult [General]

[[3e Summary::"Like a messiah we end crucified

Into damnation we rode

Torn into pieces of soldiers divine

Ehre sei gott, we explode"

-Powerwolf "Sanctified With Dynamite"]]

Prerequisite: Can only take this feat at 1st-level, Lawful Alignment Only, Aum Faith/Deity; Domain, restricted to Chaos/Knowledge/Law/War/Retribution.

Benefit: The character must choose a Trait from the following list:

• Equine Deuteragonist: The character gains a 7'0" tall pure black Friesian Horse that weighs 3,360 pounds and requires both a Ride and Handle Animal rank of at least 10 in order to truly become their companion. This giant light draught horse is both graceful and nimble for its size, having a movement speed of 70 ft.; the horse has Woodland Stride and Resist Nature’s Lure as natural abilities while also having Track and Rabid Fiend (Disease being Blood Poisoning) as natural feats. This specific breed of draft horse is built as muscular and hulking for its size, having a fearsome disposition and always appearing to have an angry snarl on his face, hinting that he does have some sort of dark personality. The horse will not truly recognize a person as their master until the prerequisites have been met. Upon having been tamed and made into an Animal Companion, the horse will prove to being unflinchingly loyal to his master and have the Fiendish Template added to him though without the owner being aware of such nature within the creature.

• Incomplete Homunculus: The character gains the "Noble Heir" trait, being the clone of the first genius of Aum named Aurelius Belaiscos. Aurelius Belaiscos invented Alchemy in the pursuit of the "Great Truth", which is implied to be something spiritual or beyond the mortal realm's comprehension. Aurelius Belaiscos became obsessed with utilizing science to discover the true nature of the gods, the purpose behind all life, and the secrets of the cosmos, thus he discovered a means of immortality by utilizing pure raw magic in the form of life force energy and science to allow himself to being reborn in a specimen that was "unblemished and being of purity as nature intended". Aurelius Belaiscos believed the Great Truth meant discovering other life in the cosmos, and reuniting them with their originate progenitor/creator of life together in the hopes that knowledge would be blessed to all creations in the name of progress. As noble as Aurelius Belaiscos's intentions were from the beginning, the manipulation of life force and magic through having himself rebirthed had its drawbacks, and all of them being quite severe. Centuries of cloning caused each rebirth to have accelerated aging as a birth defect; their skin forming deep cracks that would require the life force of creatures to be absorbed in order to heal and regain youth. In order to prevent his abnormal maturity and slow down his accelerated aging, the clones of Aurelius Belaiscos had to use alchemy to extract a subject's soul, siphoning it into crystals made of raw magic, and then ingest the item which caused extreme bouts of flaming pain within their body, as well as, descent into insanity anywhere from mere moments to days, and then years at a time.

• The character being a clone of Aurelius Belaiscos, gains a cruel disposition. They believe that understanding emotions is unneeded in the pursuit of alchemical knowledge; however, with this the character falls to the cardinal sin of lust, loving women to the point of jealousy - an emotion unknown to the character - but the strongest felt above all others. These dark desires that developed over continuous cloning throughout the centuries leaves the character's morality twisted; a voyeuristic nature that sexually objectifies women to the point of murdering those that would interfere with their desired target, stalking through peepholes carefully hidden, giving their target "pet names", treating their target as a trophy only they can gaze upon and touch, maniacally explaining full intentions to that target in charismatic tones while deceivingly portraying a personality that wants to assist and befriend them. The character's aggressive nature towards those intruding upon his objectified target doesn't exempt the target from discipline however, as being the clone of Aurelius Belaiscos makes the character particularly egoistic and the mere thought of a "chosen" being disobedient will prompt swift and decisive forms of disciplining, even to the extent of slapping violently till the point is made. If there is one thing the heir of this bloodline will not tolerate, it is rebellious defiance and ignorant intervention of their goals.

Character Background: gains a +6 bonus to Bluff, Concentration, Craft, Decipher Script, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Heal, Intimidate, Knowledge (Arcana, Architecture and Engineering, History, Nature, Nobility and Royalty, Religion), Profession, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand, Spellcraft, Survival, and Use Magic Device skills.

• The Curse: The character gains the "Noble Heir" trait, being the descendent of "The Gravis Family" who were the first nobility established in Kryptos Kingdom, and established the first church named "Exosso Cathedral" which was originally thought to be used in the worship of all deities on Aum. The first lord of the Gravis Family, Theo Gravis, established "Bustum Castle" on an island outside of Thades Island where the entirety of the family's lineage carried on their legacy undisturbed until "The 30 Nights of Tears" in which both the witches and dragons were obliterated to near extinction, and magic withdrew from Aum and it's races almost entirely. Up until the war, the Gravis Family worked closely alongside the interests of Kryptos Kingdom's Royal Family, both desiring to unlock the source of the Gods' power on Aum in order that those "worthy of such omnipotence" could ascend and manipulate Aum and its denizens to their will. In retort to their arrogance, Darklord Graves the God of Demons made Exosso Cathedral the secret headquarters of his cult "Memento Mori" where children within Kryptos Kingdom were abducted and used in demonic rituals, some of which included cannibalism and torture and massacre; as cultists were led to believe this would gain them immortality by doing so.

• The cult "Memento Mori" worshiped their god by the name "Night Father", and were all fearing of death, being handpicked survivors of "The 30 Nights of Tears" war so Darklord Graves' hold on members would remain unflinchingly strong. It is unclear how Theo Gravis died, though around the time of his death many strange rumors occurred speaking of Theo Gravis falling to insanity, wandering the streets in the dead of night bemoaning incoherent babbles no one could make sense of. The Gravis Family refused inquiries, and kept the matter private, withdrawing from the public completely after the fall of Kryptos Kingdom's Royal Family. One particularly nasty rumor that rose amongst the common folk was the accusation that Theo Gravis turned on the Royal Family, and used most of the members as a sacrifice in a ritual to appease Darklord Graves (being a member of Memento Mori all along) for the crimes committed against him by the Royal Family and that to spite him, Darklord Graves handed him over to his cult Memento Mori to be used in a ritual comprised of the same heinous methods the Gravis Family had used alongside Kryptos Kingdom's Royal Family. Some rumors insisted the former being too preposterous and that realistically the Gravis Family had instead poisoned Theo Gravis to prevent exposure of their connection to the Royal Family.

• One would think that the Gravis Family would fade into history, but the wrath of the dark god Theo Gravis had summoned continued to haunt the Gravis Family. A curse befell where Bustum Castle became the site of each member's eventual demise, all bizzare accidents that ended in gruesome and untimely deaths. The island upon which Bustum Castle stood upon became enshrouded by an eerie mist where fishermen swore sighting the dead of former members walking amongst the shore and moor. Bustum Castle always remained covered in a dreary overcast of darkened clouds, never allowing a single ray of sunlight to brighten the area's atmosphere. Surviving members succumbed to bouts of hysteria, paranoia, and mood swings, plagued with insomnia after exclaiming being haunted in their dreams by horrific nightmares too carnal for the lands of Aum. Many of the members drank into deep stupors, throwing sudden explosions of violent tantrums, causing damage to their home till Bustum Castle's interior seemed more like a ruinous catacomb then a regal castle.

• The character is a surviving member of the Gravis Family, originally trapped and locked inside a caged shed by a cloaked family member also claiming to being a member of Memento Mori. The traitorous family member originally intended to kill the character, but kept them trapped to make the character suffer more, sentencing them to this torture for seven years, being fed the meat of victims, forcing the character to become a cannibal to survive and causing them to lose much of their sanity.

Character Background: gains a -6 to all Will-based checks, has Insomnia, and is plagued by Nightmares at every resting instance, requiring a Will Save DC 25 to overcome otherwise will have bouts of hysteria and paranoia for 1d4 rounds.

• Dies Irae: The character is passed down as a family heirloom a weapon by the name of "Dies Irae", that houses a Celestial Dryad by the name of "Faebelina"; the Dryad is a Chaotic Good creature born from the now deceased (as of the Spellplague events) World Tree who was rescued long ago by the character's family and now acts as second conscience and guide along the character's journeys, always with the intention of steering them in the right direction.

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Normal: The character must choose a Flaw from the following list:

• The Judge's Sadism: The character gains a +6 bonus to all Intimidation, Gather Information, Bluff, and Diplomacy checks when used to interrogate, torture, coerce, or force the hand of a target. The bonus is only applicable when performed in a dungeon via the spell "Path of Exile".

• God Wills It: The character develops a contemptuous and uncompromising racism towards the Human, Yzmeris, finding the mysterious mythological legends behind their race a blasphemous and delusional fantasy, as no being can resurrect the dead and only the gods have the right to do so, believing that any magic created by the Yzmeri to being an infectious perverted form of sorcery, possibly witchcraft derived from a malevolent deity such as "Darklord Graves" who is the God of Demons. Due to these views, the character is unmerciful in the genocidal pursuit of eliminating the Yzmeri, either by forcing Meister to changing them into a more respectable race or by slaughtering them all should they choose to refuse in converting to "The Old Ways"; a perverted form of religious fanaticism based on ancient laws and traditions of Aum the character has developed.

• The Bell Ringer: The character is limited permanently to the use of one weapon; a bell crafted with a diameter of 49 inches and a weight of nearly 1,250 lbs, made of solid Mithril. The metal bell is attached to a 10 ft long mithral chain that grants it reach, so you can strike opponents at a distance equal to the chain with it. In addition, unlike most other weapons with reach, it can be used against an adjacent foe. The Bell Ringer is a Martial Two-Handed weapon that has a Critical of 20/x4, deals 1d12 Bludgeoning damage, and requires a Strength of 29 at least to wield competently with proficiency. The Bell Ringer upon successful attacks, causes targets to become stunned for 1d4 rounds.

• The Palace of Justice: The character refuses to allow any outside figures of authority to intervene on their duties and personal vendettas, so much so that the character gains a +4 bonus to all Grapple checks made against targets the character wishes to drag to a dungeon via the spell "Path of Exile" while also gaining a +6 bonus on all Intimidation, Sense Motive, Knowledge Religion, and Bluff checks vs other religious followers and orders.

• Hellfire: The character becomes consumed as a religious extremist and a dogmatist, convinced that all their actions are justified because they are serving their god's will; their goal (does not override Kingmaker feat) is to obtain higher ranks of authority, inadvertently displaying self as a cruel and arrogant government official who seeks to utilize such power for the personal agenda of establishing a Totalitarian religion that acts as the highest ruling authority across Aum, even to the extent of employing cultist criminals to enforce their interpretation of their god's will while posing as "soldiers." The character's faith/deity permanently shifts to the worship of "Darklord Graves" who is the God of Demons, while remaining completely unaware and under the pretense they're following another faith/deity.

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