Fire-and-brimstone preacher

[petermcleod117]

I was thinking of making a character that was a fire-and-brimstone preacher, sort-of like a puritan minister. I think that the cleric class would be a little too martial for such a character, though the spell-prep fluff seems perfectly fine for it.

Are there any classes in the 3rd edition / d20 system rules that you know of which would make a good fire and brimstone preacher? any source is welcome, official or 3rd party.

[Rebel7284]

- Cloistered Cleric?
- Bard with Dragonfire Inspiration?
- Archivist?
- Charismatic Wizard with a Mindbender dip?

I think a lot about such a character boils down to roleplay, so your mechanical options are pretty open.

[Particle_Man]

Maybe a malconvoker where you summon fiends and tell them to say what the lower planes are like for souls that go there?

Another option, oddly enough, might be a beguiler. They have great face skills, great illusion magic (again to show how bad the lower planes are) and good enchantment magic. You even can do some (non-lethal) damage with spells in a pinch. You would need to add the Puritan personality yourself but it is compatible.

[petermcleod117]

Maybe a malconvoker where you summon fiends and tell them to say what the lower planes are like for souls that go there?

Another option, oddly enough, might be a beguiler. They have great face skills, great illusion magic (again to show how bad the lower planes are) and good enchantment magic. You even can do some (non-lethal) damage with spells in a pinch. You would need to add the Puritan personality yourself but it is compatible.

interesting. so it would rely primarily on using enchantments and illusions to help increase the effectiveness of intimidation checks.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

interesting. so it would rely primarily on using enchantments and illusions to help increase the effectiveness of intimidation checks.

If you're looking for a fear build, one of my favorite handbooks (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?389244-Caedrus-Art-of-War-vol-1-Fear-Handbook) covers a whole lot of options.

Looking through it, you'd probably like the Hellbred race (souls that escaped an eternity in the 9 Hells at the literal last moment, and have been reborn for one last chance at redemption) and the Evangelist prestige class.

Maybe something like Hellbred Bard 7/ Evangelist 3/ Sublime Chord 1/ X, or Bard 5/ Evangelist 5/ Sublime Chord 1/ X if you're willing to spend 2 feats on Versatile Spellcaster and a bloodline (probably Celestial Bloodline, but any will do).

(Getting into Sublime Chord isn't truly necessary, but it fixes your reduced casting ability, and you can progress it with other casting PrCs, like Dread Witch, or just take it all the way to 10th level).

Throw in some fear based feats like Haunting Melody (a fantastic rider effect on your Bard and Evangelist abilities), Frightful Presence, Doomspeak, and maybe Fell Frighten, and you've got yourself a build!

[Dalmosh]

We used Archivist to represent this kind of character. Dude was a Dwarven explosives expert who used to chuck alchemical vials around during his sermons, for emphasis.

[Maat Mons]

The Herald domain (Book of Exalted Deeds, p87) adds Intimidate as a Cleric class skill, and also gives a +4 sacred bonus to Diplomacy and Intimidate. The Domain Focus ACF (Dragon 347, p91) doubles the bonus from one domain, at the cost of losing the other domain. So with Domain Focus on the Herald domain, you'd get a +8 sacred bonus to Diplomacy and Intimidate.

The Dynamic Priest feat (Dragonlance: Legend of the Twins, p12) partially converts your spellcasting ability for any divine casting class to Charisma. It would help you focus on improving your Charisma score... as long as you don't care about casting spells that force saving throws.

[Troacctid]

Emissary of Barachiel (BoED) jumps to mind as an especially appropriate prestige class, but you could also just be an ordinary cleric with appropriate domains, or a divine bard.

Or...do you want actual literal fire and brimstone? Because that's an option too! We could make that happen.

[ShurikVch]

and the Evangelist prestige class.
Fun fact: Dragon #311 have the Evangelist base class (Cleric class variant) - thus, you can be Evangelist/Evangelist

Also, Brimstone Speaker PrC (Tome of Magic)

Or, for a "less sincere" approach - Charlatan PrC (Dragon #335)

[Psyren]

Pathfinder has the Evangelist Cleric (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/cleric/archetypes/paizo-cleric-archetypes/evangelist/) which gives up some of its armor and shield proficiency as well as a domain, in exchange for bardic performance using Perform (Oratory). That will get you a fire and brimstone preacher

[Maat Mons]

If we're being literal, Initiate of Amaunator (Power of Faerun, p58) lets you spontaneously cast anything on your spell list with the [Fire] descriptor. Check with your DM how that interacts with descriptors like [see text], [varies], or [Fire or Cold].

[Vaern]

If we're being literal, Initiate of Amaunator (Power of Faerun, p58) lets you spontaneously cast anything on your spell list with the [Fire] descriptor. Check with your DM how that interacts with descriptors like [see text], [varies], or [Fire or Cold].

I think I've asked about variable descriptor spells before in regards to reserve feats, and the general ruling was that they don't actually have a descriptor on your class spell list / spells known list / spells prepared and only gain a descriptor as you're casting the spell when you choose its effect.
Even if you were, for example, a cleric with the Fire domain and prepared Elemental Swarm* (*cast as a fire spell only), the spell doesn't have the [Fire] descriptor until cast and thus can't power your reserve feats as a [Fire] spell.
Assuming the ability in question checks for [Fire] spells in the same way as a reserve feat, they wouldn't be accessible.