Holy Avenger (3.5e Prestige Class)

Holy Avenger

“	He disturbs the natural balance... there will be no warning when vengance comes.	”
—Lasith the Hunter, Half-elf Holy Avenger

Holy Avengers are the devout. Their faith in their god is so great that they have become avatars for their god's will. Woe be to him who incurs the wrath of the Holy Avenger, they never give up.

Becoming a Holy Avenger

Holy Avengers are always rangers and paladins. Holy Avengers serve the order of their god. A very few Holy Avengers serve the cosmos as a whole to prevent any side from disrupting the order of the universe by getting to powerful and changing the dynamic.

Entry Requirements

Alignment:	Must be Lawful Good.
Base Attack Bonus:	+9
Skills:	Knowledge (Religion or Nature) 10 ranks.
Patron:	Must be devoted to a deity or other applicable entity.
Special:	Must have at least 4 levels in ranger class an 5 levels in paladin class.

Table: The Holy Avenger

Hit Die: d8

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special	Spells per Day/Spells Known
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+1	+2	+0	+0	Mount/Animal Companion, Detect, Lay on Hands, Divine Smite 1/day
2nd	+2	+3	+0	+0	Ancient Knowledge 1/day	+1 spellcasting class level
3rd	+3	+3	+1	+1		+1 spellcasting class level
4th	+4	+ 4	+1	+1	Ancient Knowledge 2/day	+1 spellcasting class level
5th	+5	+4	+1	+1	Favored Enemy	+1 spellcasting class level
6nd	+6	+5	+2	+2	Wild Mount, Faith, Divine Smite 2/day, Ancient Knowledge 3/day	+1 spellcasting class level
Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level) Climb, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Hide, Knowledge (Religion), Listen, Move Silently, Search, Sense Motive, Spot, Survival, Swim, Use Rope.

Class Skills may be slightly customized to the Avenger's deity.

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Holy Avenger.

Spellcasting: At each level you gain new spells per day and an increase in caster level (and spells known, if applicable) as if you had also gained a level in a spellcasting class to which you belonged before adding the prestige class level. You do not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. If you had more than one arcane or divine spellcasting class before becoming a Holy Avenger, you must decide to which class to add each level for the purpose of determining spells per day, caster level, and spells known.

Mount/Animal Companion At each level, if you had a mount or animal companion from a previous class feature, your mount or animal companion is improved as if you had gained a level in your previous class, but you gain no other benefits from that class. If you had more than one class with a mount or animal companion feature before becoming a Holy Avenger, you must decide to which class to add each level for the purpose of determining how to advance your mount or animal companion.

Lay on Hands (Su) functions exactly as the paladin class feature. Each day she can heal a total number of hit points of damage equal to his character level × his Charisma bonus.

Detect Evil/Favored Enemy: At level 1, a Holy Avenger's detect evil ability expands to be able to simultaneously detect both evil and favored enemies gained from ranger class levels.

Divine Smite: At level 1, Holy Avengers have the ability to use their faith to empower their attacks against enemies. This ability functions replaces your Paladin smite feature, but with a few changes. When a Holy Avenger uses Divine Smite, he adds a bonus to his attack roll equal to his charisma modifier. The Holy Avenger adds a bonus to his damage roll equal to his Holy Avenger levels + his ranger levels + paladin levels. When used against anyone not considered an enemy of their god, the smite use is wasted.

Ancient Knowledge: At level 2, the Holy Avenger is blessed with knowledge of struggles past against their god's enemies. 1/ day at level 2, 2/day at level 4, and 3/day at level 6, a Holy Avenger can cast Prayer as a swift action. Against enemies of their god, a Holy Avenger gains an additional moral bonus equal to +1 per two Holy Avenger levels to all attack rolls and damage rolls and saving throws. These bonuses stack with themselves.

Favored Enemy: At level 5, the Holy Avenger gains an additional favored enemy as the ranger class feature.

Wild Mount: At level 6, the Holy Avenger's animal companion and a paladin mount grow stronger. The Holy Avenger recalculates his ranger animal companion's advancement as if his character level were all ranger levels. The Holy Avenger recalculates his paladin mount's advance as if his character level were all paladin levels.

Faith: At level 6, 1/year, the Holy Avenger can use the spell Wish as a standard action. If he wishes for something that is not in alignment with his gawd's wishes, then the spell costs double the experience amount. If he wishes for something that is in alignment with his gawd's wishes, then the spell has no experience cost.

Ex-Holy Avengers

Playing a Holy Avenger

Combat: Holy Avengers serve mostly as frontliners.

Advancement: The most powerful Holy Avengers are Ranger-Paladins, but a most are just one of the two. Some Ranger-Holy Avengers multiclass to Cleric, while a few Paladins multiclass to Druid.

Resources: As both the best hunters and among the strongest combatants in any religion, Holy Avengers are supported as needed by their church, though most tend to rely on themselves and their god.

Holy Avengers in the World

“

This world is falling apart, themost I can do is hold it together a few more years.

”

Holy Avengers spend their time hunting down enemies of their god in an attempt to allow other servants to advance their god's purposes, or just to protect their god's servants. Holy Avengers of fiercer gods can be cruel, brooking no interferance, while the Avengers of kinder gods are incredibly altruistic.

NPC Reactions: Most people connect Holy Avengers to inquisitors, when they now what they are, but they discount the fact that they also have similarities to religious champions, prophets, and even avatars.

Holy Avenger Lore

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (Religion) can research Holy Avengers to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including information from lower DCs.

Knowledge (Religion)

DC	Result
11	Holy Avengers are among the most faithful of any god's worshipers.
16	Holy Avengers instictivly know who their god's enemies are.
21	After witnessing an act of disruption to the balance by his god, Holy Avenger Tarvin arose in great wrath, and vanquished more than half of the best warriors of his religion, striking an incredible blow to his god.
26	The power a Holy Avenger weilds comes mostly from his own faith, very little is actually a blessing from their god.

Holy Avengers in the Game

Holy Avengers range from imposing their god's will on the world to detesting the slightest change in patterns. Because of their god's blessing, the greatest among them see things over a vaster period of time than most mortals, even elves, due to the centuries of experiences.

Adaptation: This is a very generic class that can be fitted into any campaign with little effort. In order to have paladins of a non-good god however, you'll need to allow some variant or simply rule that Holy Avengers of non-good and/or non-lawful gods cannot have paladin levels until after becoming a Holy Avenger.

Sample Encounter: Holy Avengers work best as antagonists for non-traditional PCs, or allies for religious PCs.

EL whatever: <-Encounter scenario and character info on sample NPC including stat block. The CR of the NPC is typically the same as the EL for the encounter->

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