Fanatical Zealot (PRC)PEACH

[BRC]

Brol grinned, he and his raiders had hit the jackpot, A caravan carrying gold to pay for the new Pelorian temple at Ender’s Bridge. They had done the classic trick, Mary and Shorty had approached the caravan dressed in rags and saying their horses had died and that they needed a ride to the next town where the poor child’s father was waiting. Of course the idiot cleric falls for it hook, line and sinker. The Paladin idiot who was in charge of defending the caravan even let the “Child” sit behind him on his horse, after about an hour Shorty knifed the paladin in the back, Mary did her sorceress thing and KO’d the cleric. Without mister shiny-armor to lead them the rest of the guards were useless when Brol showed up with the others, they got pretty beat up, and they lost a few of the rookies but that just meant less people to split up the goods. Brol pried the sword from the dead paladin’s fingers and took a few swings with it, nodding his approval, at that moment Shorty called out to him.
“Hey Boss, Somebody’s coming down the road on a horse, he’s dressed like these guards here.”
“Probably sent him to get them some rooms at the inn.” Brol turned to the rest of his raiders. “Everybody hide, we’ll jump him so he can’t ride back to town.”
After a few minutes the rider approached the caravan and stopped short, witnessing the devastation.
“This will be easy” Brol thought, then he gave a warcry and the raiders rushed towards the lone rider.
Shorty and Niels Paused to catch their breath. Niels gasped
“He killed Brol”
“I know”
“And Mary, and Xok, and Ralbe, he killed them all Shorty, and not with a magic sword or anything, and shouting that religious stuff the entire time. What the hell is he? A Paladin? ”
The halfling looked at the brambles they had run through, no way the idiot would follow them through that prickly hell.
“ I don’t think he was a paladin, they wear heavier armor, he was just in studded leathers.”
“THEN WHAT THE HELL IS HE?”
Before Shorty could answer “a nutjob” he heard a crash. They both turned to see the maniac standing there, all scratched up, his sword dripping with the blood of the other raiders.
“I AM THE HAND OF DIVINE JUSTICE, YOU ARE ENEMIES OF DIVINITY, AND BEFORE THIS DAY IS OUT, YOU WILL BE NO MORE!.”

The Fanatic ZealotClerics gain their power from gods, paladins from ideals, wizards from study, rogues from cunning, and fighters from strength and skill. A Fanatic Zealot draws their power from nothing but total faith and devotion to their deity. Their devotion is so great that even the churches they serve keep them on a tight leash. At best they will quote holy texts excessively, at worst they will attempt to kill you for nod bowing your head in reverence when you hear those quotes. Due to the nature of their strength, Truth is irrelevant, what matters is what the Fanatical Zealot believes to be true.
Requirements:
A holy symbol of the Fanatic Zealot’s chosen Deity, can be in any form.
Knowledge (religion) 10 ranks.
Special
Unquestioning Devotion: The Fanatic Zealot will, whenever possible, prominently display their holy symbol and obey the orders of a Representative of the Faith. They will not knowingly associate with an Enemy of the Faith, and will oppose to the greatest possible extent, any Enemy of the Faith.
Magic Feather: The Fanatic Zealot gains +1 to all rolls on ground they believe to be blessed by their deity (such as a temple), and -1 to all rolls on ground they believe to be blessed by a deity with an opposing alignment
Crisis of Faith: If at any point the Fanatical Zealot loses their faith and devotion to their deity, they lose all Fanatical Zealot abilities.

There are some special terms concerning Fanatical Zealots, they are Enemy of the Faith, and Representative of the Faith.
An Enemy of the Faith is anybody who the Fanatic Zealot believes to be one of the following
A: a worshipper or servant of a Deity with an alignment opposing the Deity worshipped by the Fanatic Zealot.
B: a person guilty of sacrilege, an example would be somebody who damaged a temple of the Fanatic Zealot’s deity, killed a cleric of their deity, stole a holy relic.
C: an outsider in the service of a rival deity
D: Somebody declared an Enemy of the Faith by a Representative of the Faith.
E: an associate of an Enemy of the Faith, however, the Enemy of the Faith they associate with must be an Enemy of the Faith for one of the above reasons. The mercenary bodyguard of a cleric of Nerull would be an Enemy of the Faith, however, his friend would not.
A Representative of the Faith refers to anyone who the Fanatic Zealot believes to be a servant of her Deity.

The BAB and saves of a Fanatic Zealot are always equivalent to the BAB and saves of the characters Base Class at Level(Levels in Base Class + Levels in Fanatic Zealot). A Fighter 12/ Fanatic Zealot 1 who took an additional level in Fanatic Zealot would gain the BAB and saves of a 14th level fighter.

Abilities
Level 1
In Divine Service: The Fanatic Zealot gains +1d4 on any skill checks they make to perform a task they were ordered to do by a Representative of the Faith.
Level 2
Burn the Heretics: The Fanatic Zealot gains the ranger ability Favored Enemy against all Enemies of the Faith.
Level 3
Paradise Awaits Me: The Fanatic Zealot does not fear death, and gains an additional 1d6 on will saves to resist fear effects.
Level 4
Fire and Brimstone: the Fanatic Zealot may use a move action to declare the punishment that awaits Enemies of the Faith, any Enemy of the Faith who understands the language being spoken by the Fanatic Zealot must make a DC (10+Cha modifier) will save or else be shaken for a number of rounds equal to the margin by which they failed the save (max 4 rounds). This ability will not affect the same foe more then once per day.
Level 5
Divine Destiny!: The Fanatic Zealot has lost it, they believe their deity has a plan for them, they may hallucinate hearing the voice of their deity, they will interpret anything as a sign from their deity to continue their current course of action. They gain an immunity to fear effects and may make a Will save (DC=targets charisma) to convince themselves that anybody they believe to have opposed them (And I mean ANYBODY) to be an Enemy of the Faith. They also gain the ability to Rage (as a 4th level Barbarian) when battling Enemies of the Faith.

Comments?

[JackMage666]

Uh... What? Skip the whole BAB=Previous Class, thing, and make it a true PrC. And things like Magic Feather is too much - If they're truly fanatical, everything is blessed upon them, giveing them +1 to Every Roll.

[BRC]

Uh... What? Skip the whole BAB=Previous Class, thing, and make it a true PrC. And things like Magic Feather is too much - If they're truly fanatical, everything is blessed upon them, giveing them +1 to Every Roll.

The BAB=Previous class thing is from 2 things
1) I'm not familiar enough with the rules to trust myself to come up with numbers I felt were balanced, I could give it a shot or wait for somebody else to come up with numbers.
2) I wanted it to be more of a PRC that would fit anything, a wizard could be a crazy fanatic just as well as a warrior can, though thinking back it definetally does seem more meele-based, so I might change that.

As for Magic Feather, I'll proably drop that now that I think about it. Especially since I don't imagine them thinking their Diety gives them their powers (or else they would suffer a crisis of faith whenever they failed an attack).
EDIT: another note, personally I see this more being somthing for NPC's that DM's should give PC's accsess too rarely, since all you would need to do would be have a cleric in the party be a cleric of whatever diety the zealot is fanatical towrds and declare whatever they were fighting at the time Enemies of the Faith.

[Lord_Gareth]

Okay, a few things - D&D is a universe where magic is not only real, but a defining force of the cosmos. The spells a deity grants and the powers they bestow are unique to them to a great extent, and as such, divine-based PrCs must also be unique to or adaptable for the dieties they serve. The Divine Champion class from the Player's Guide to Faerun is a great example of a generic divine PrC.

Additionally, something like this Zealot could never happen, because the deities ACTUALLY TALK TO PEOPLE. At some point, their god is going to correct them, and if he/she doesn't, chances are, there's another PrC they should be getting into (Ravager, anyone?).

It's a valiant attempt, but ultimately, I believe, doesn't fit into the D&D cosmos.

'Sides, the Pelorian Crusaders make them look like opportunistic worshippers :P Check out the class in my sig and tell me that you get more faithful than that ^_^

[The Neoclassic]

Additionally, something like this Zealot could never happen, because the deities ACTUALLY TALK TO PEOPLE. At some point, their god is going to correct them, and if he/she doesn't, chances are, there's another PrC they should be getting into (Ravager, anyone?).

Um, in settings like FR this is true. However, in Eberron, for example, nobody ever actually does talk with the gods directly. There is divine magic, but its ultimate source is unknown; when it comes down to it, the religion is faith-based rather than fact-based. So, in some settings, this class might be appropriate.

[Lord_Gareth]

>.> Heck, I was thinking Grayhawk (Ravager is Ethrynul's class), but unless you're talkin' Eberron, my statement still stands true.

[BRC]

Okay, a few things - D&D is a universe where magic is not only real, but a defining force of the cosmos. The spells a deity grants and the powers they bestow are unique to them to a great extent, and as such, divine-based PrCs must also be unique to or adaptable for the dieties they serve. The Divine Champion class from the Player's Guide to Faerun is a great example of a generic divine PrC.

Additionally, something like this Zealot could never happen, because the deities ACTUALLY TALK TO PEOPLE. At some point, their god is going to correct them, and if he/she doesn't, chances are, there's another PrC they should be getting into (Ravager, anyone?).

It's a valiant attempt, but ultimately, I believe, doesn't fit into the D&D cosmos.

'Sides, the Pelorian Crusaders make them look like opportunistic worshippers :P Check out the class in my sig and tell me that you get more faithful than that ^_^
Yes the gods talk to their followers and grant powers, but do they do that to Every follower or servant? No they dont.
Imagine John, he works as a janitor at the temple of pelor, so he serves pelor. Does this mean that if John gets lazy the voice of pelor will appear in his head and say "You missed a spot". I doubt it, does this mean that John can bless his mop and cast smite stain? Nope, unless pelor has been very bored indeed.
So if a divine voice isn't correcting John there, why do we assume it's going to correct Fanatical Zealot Jimmy who just killed a traveler he was convinced was a cleric of Nerull. If gods offered words of wisdom constantly, every DM who ran a campaign involving a party with a cleric getting tricked would be in violation of cannon. Besides, where does it say they must go against their dieties will. And who say's they are devoted to a good diety, a Fanatical Zealot of a war god could wander around slaughtering and his god wouldn't mind.



As for the setting, the behavior of the gods is up the the DM, most settings are homebrewed to some extent, even if its just the location of the cities. There is no "Canon" for D&D as a whole.

[Lord_Gareth]

First, John the Janitor is hilarious, and Smite Stain is going to become one of his class features. You have created a monster, sir, congratulations.

And while Pelor may not usually be bored enough to go, "Yo, dude, you missed a spot!", he's usually pretty inclined to tell people when they repeatedly and severely break tenents of the faith while claiming to act in his name. And if he doesn't do it himself, that 25 HD Solar with his greatsword drawn screaming death-oaths in Celestial will certainly be a hint. Gods don't like heretics pretending to be faithful, even if they believe themselves to be doing good works.

Onto the class itself - set any bonuses as static, not rolls (so instead of +1d4, +2, for example).

Fire and Brimstone should require a Perform (Oratory) check, and the check result should be the DC for the Will save. The duration should be static (4 rounds is fine) and useable only once on any particular enemy per 24 hour period.

Divine Destiny - Weak, and badly worded.

This class seems -very- martial - it should have the B.A.B. and saves of a fighter (I.E. Full, Good, Poor, Poor).

I personally don't see a reason for this class to exist, since Rangers can take favored enemy against organizations, and levels in Barbarian are not hard to come by. There's plenty of more devastating ways to instill fear in one's enemies. It's a sink of 5 levels with no real return that is better spent just enhancing your roleplaying representation of a fanatical character.

[Balkash]

Ok well i can kind of see the God of Death and Slaughter being fine with, well, death and slaughter. But lets say its a fanatical zealot for a really good and happy god. if someone were to go around killing travellers and citing them as enemies of the happy god, the happy god might not want a reputation of having psycho followers. so in that case, they might talk to the guy and say NO. Stop being mean.

[BRC]

First, John the Janitor is hilarious, and Smite Stain is going to become one of his class features. You have created a monster, sir, congratulations.

And while Pelor may not usually be bored enough to go, "Yo, dude, you missed a spot!", he's usually pretty inclined to tell people when they repeatedly and severely break tenents of the faith while claiming to act in his name. And if he doesn't do it himself, that 25 HD Solar with his greatsword drawn screaming death-oaths in Celestial will certainly be a hint. Gods don't like heretics pretending to be faithful, even if they believe themselves to be doing good works.

Onto the class itself - set any bonuses as static, not rolls (so instead of +1d4, +2, for example).

Fire and Brimstone should require a Perform (Oratory) check, and the check result should be the DC for the Will save. The duration should be static (4 rounds is fine) and useable only once on any particular enemy per 24 hour period.

Divine Destiny - Weak, and badly worded.

This class seems -very- martial - it should have the B.A.B. and saves of a fighter (I.E. Full, Good, Poor, Poor).

I personally don't see a reason for this class to exist, since Rangers can take favored enemy against organizations, and levels in Barbarian are not hard to come by. There's plenty of more devastating ways to instill fear in one's enemies. It's a sink of 5 levels with no real return that is better spent just enhancing your roleplaying representation of a fanatical character.
I'll take your advice on the crunch, and think of somthing else for a capstone
As for the purpose, thats just a difference of outlook between us, I'm a big believer in Fluff and concept over optimization. You think "I want a religious fantic character, so I'll take abit of barbarian and a bit of ranger". I think "I want a religious fanatic character, I'll pick a class that is specifically religious fanatics."

As for Hellfire and Brimstone, I would rather not require them to put points into a skill to make one abilitiy worthwhile, but I did just have an idea for a bard/cleric type class that works off the premise of preaching at your opponents. Which I'll proably enlist somebody else to help with.


But most importantly, Divine Janitor must happen, weapon proficiency Mop, smite stain, and ability summon: wet floor.

[Lord_Gareth]

Think of it like this - Varrai the ranger hates the worshippers of Hextor, since he's a faithful of Heironious. He hates them so much he took Favored Enemy (Church of Hextor) and spends his time ruthlessly hunting and assasinating them. In his fanatacism, he kills a few innocents, but so what - collateral damage in the fight against tyrrany.

That is an example of one way you can do a religious fanatic. Actually, requiring a class for it is somewhat rediculous - what about Kythan the rogue, who poisons those he suspects of worshipping St. Cuthbert? What about Brarrai, the druid who believes nature is so sacred, any who enter his grove must be slain (incidentally, that's how you play an NE druid)? What about the creator of the Hammer of Witches (Weapons of Legacy) - a zealot of Pelor if there ever was one who turned his wrath upon all arcane casters. There are too many ways to represent what this class is trying to encompass - hence, no reason for the class to exist. It's limiting an already diverse concept.

[BRC]

Think of it like this - Varrai the ranger hates the worshippers of Hextor, since he's a faithful of Heironious. He hates them so much he took Favored Enemy (Church of Hextor) and spends his time ruthlessly hunting and assasinating them. In his fanatacism, he kills a few innocents, but so what - collateral damage in the fight against tyrrany.

That is an example of one way you can do a religious fanatic. Actually, requiring a class for it is somewhat rediculous - what about Kythan the rogue, who poisons those he suspects of worshipping St. Cuthbert? What about Brarrai, the druid who believes nature is so sacred, any who enter his grove must be slain (incidentally, that's how you play an NE druid)? What about the creator of the Hammer of Witches (Weapons of Legacy) - a zealot of Pelor if there ever was one who turned his wrath upon all arcane casters. There are too many ways to represent what this class is trying to encompass - hence, no reason for the class to exist. It's limiting an already diverse concept.
Fair enough, you think it's uneccesary and redundant, I think it's somthing I thought up while bored and felt like actually making, somebody else might think its the best thing since breathing for all I know. In the meantime it's not hurting anybody.

And who said anything about requring it, I doubt the following conversation is going to occur.

Player: Well since his village was burned down by followers of hextor, and who was then raised by the church of pelor, he's incrediably devoted to pelor and hates the followers of hextor.
DM: okay, how many levels of Fanatical Zealot are you going to take
Player: none, I'm going full fighter
DM: Sorry, you have a religious fanatic character, gotta have the class for it.

[Lord_Gareth]

See, that's the thing - you give a class a name, and that's what people are gonna call them. If you call it, "Fanatical zealot", that's defining all fanatical zealots as this class - just like all Ravagers have the Ravager class, just like all Shadowbane Inquisitors have levels in that class, just like all Paladins have levels in Paladin.

And the reason I keep saying this class is redundant/unnecessary (aside from it being underpowered) is because the whole point of homebrewing something is that so it may, one day, see play. I don't believe this will - not with such a wealth of other options that require nothing more than some RP skill.

[Skelengar]

I love it. I think Miko has levels in this.

Besides, since when can rangers take favored enemy against organizations? The point of a ranger's favored enemy is that they have a hatred for a certain type of creature, and thus have studied it extensively and know the best ways of fighting it.

[Lord_Gareth]

It was originally introduced in the Urban Ranger variant, and has spread to the Faerun campaign setting (where certain PrC's/Feats offer it) and I've seen wide use of it in Eberron campaign settings. I typically allow it in games I run so long as the selection makes sense.

[The Neoclassic]

OK, just because it's called "Fanatical Zealot" does NOT mean you are defining everyone who is a hardcore religious freak as a class member. If I call someone a rogue or a scoundrel, even in game, I could be referring to their personality or sneaky skills, not their class. Unless we live in OOTS, characters don't see themselves as "I am a fighter, who has these class features in comparison with these monk class features or these ranger class features." Rather, classes are just a way to organize overarching game mechanics into several categories to choose from, with a blanket name for simplicity's sake. If people cannot move beyond the metagame into the campaign setting, then they aren't really my cup of tea to play with.

I believe there's a thread somewhere else ("Uses", I believe) that states homebrewing can be done for fun rather than practicality. Honestly, a lot of what people come up with won't be used, much less published.

Bloodyredcommie, I would recommend just making this a seperate & full-out PRC with a more concrete focus (perhaps 3 different versions for caster fanatics, combat fanatics, and sneak fanatics), but I like the idea.

[BRC]

Thanks QF. If anybody has ideas for abilities or anything, especially for the caster based (Fanatical Magician?) or stealth based (Fanatical Assasin?) versions.

I'm thinking of saying that for the purpose of Fire and Brimstone the fanatical zealot gains a Perform (oratory) skill of 10 that can only be used for that ability, but if they have more than 10 ranks in perform (oratory) otherwise they use that rank.

[Lord_Gareth]

No - never assign skill ranks like that. That's -beyond- a bad plan. Either require the skill and base it off their own merit (possibly making it a Zealot class skill) or make it a different kind of check.

[BRC]

No - never assign skill ranks like that. That's -beyond- a bad plan. Either require the skill and base it off their own merit (possibly making it a Zealot class skill) or make it a different kind of check.
Hrmm, having it as a class skill might work better, especially if I threw in a few other abilities that used it.

[Arakune]

You could just remake this class as 'Fanatic'. Choose one subject that your character are fanatic (at DM approval) and then unleash the fury!

[The Neoclassic]

Hrmm, having it as a class skill might work better, especially if I threw in a few other abilities that used it.

Yeah, I'd make it a class skill and then tie abilities in to it, like druids get a +2 class bonus to certain nature-y skills or bards need perform for their bardic music.

Perhaps Sacred Spell as a bonus feat or class entry requirement for the caster version? Just a thought.

[BRC]

How does this sound
Rally The Faithful: The Fanatical Zealot recites religious texts informing the faithful of the benefits that await them for divine service, this is delivered with such passion that, should the Fanatical Zealot succeed in a Perform (Oratory) check, all allies of the Fanatical Zealot who worship the same diety gain a +2 morale bonus on all attack rolls for a number of rounds equal to the margin by which the check succeeded up to a maximum of 4.

[BisectedBrioche]

I'll take your advice on the crunch, and think of somthing else for a capstone
As for the purpose, thats just a difference of outlook between us, I'm a big believer in Fluff and concept over optimization. You think "I want a religious fantic character, so I'll take abit of barbarian and a bit of ranger". I think "I want a religious fanatic character, I'll pick a class that is specifically religious fanatics."

As for Hellfire and Brimstone, I would rather not require them to put points into a skill to make one abilitiy worthwhile, but I did just have an idea for a bard/cleric type class that works off the premise of preaching at your opponents. Which I'll proably enlist somebody else to help with.


But most importantly, Divine Janitor must happen, weapon proficiency Mop, smite stain, and ability summon: wet floor.

Don't forget: Prefered enemy (Anyone with dirty shoes).