"I cannot stand by while wickedness spreads, while the fiends destroy our families and our lives. The time for prayer is past. Now is the time for action!"

-Camren Lighbringer, Hellreaver

Devils and their ilk can go only so far before their actions demand a response. At some point, a devil will destroy enough lives that someone has to take a stand. That someone is often a hellreaver - a warrior whose outrage at the actions of the fiends and their ability to corrupt and seduce without consequence fuels an array of combat abilities. These potent options make these warriors tremendously effective combatants of the baatezu.

BECOMING A HELLREAVER

Though entry into this prestige class demands cross-class skill point expenditures, barbarians gain the most by taking levels in this prestige class. A barbarian's rage ability works well with the holy fury abilities granted by the hellreaver class. Likewise, paladins who become hellreavers find that the class features complement their paladin abilities even though it means abandoning their former class. Good-aligned fighters and rangers might also seek out this class. Finally, some monks and martial clerics find a powerful assortment of abilities that augment their innate capabilities.

PLAYING A HELLREAVER

You have had enough. It's time to make these fiends pay. Someone must stop the baatezu, and that someone is you. You have heard all the stories about how the gods have some sort of special deal with the devils that allows them to harvest evil souls, but you're confident that such an arrangement didn't include actively working to seduce mortals into signing misleading contracts. Let the clerics and their ilk fret about the immortal soul. Warning folks doesn't do a thing but make them want to dabble in darkness even more. If you're going to deal with fiends, the best way to do so is to butcher them - and their mortal allies - wherever you find them. Those fools who are in cahoots with devils had better not expect mercy from you, because you have none to spare.

Combat

You are a frontline warrior. Since your holy fury abilities can all be activated quickly, try opening with a charge attack to put your enemy on the defensive. Using your holy fury abilities early lets you improve your combat abilities from the outset. Be sure to keep at least 1 or 2 holy fury points in reserve to respond to spells and attacks as needed.

Advancement

One brush with infernal power, and you knew the shape of your destiny. The existence of creatures such as devils enraged you. The thought of an entire race of creatures that served no other purpose than to harvest mortal souls and deny them their heavenly reward filled you with so much outrage that you had to take action.

Once you committed yourself to the path of the hellreaver, strange things began to happen. When you fought, you could draw power from that inner reservoir, that wellspring of hate that impels you to greater and greater acts of daring. At first, you were able to shrug off minor injuries. In time, you found you could pierce your enemies' defenses, ignore their attacks, and more. Through it all, you have learned you must keep the fires of your wrath stoked lest you falter in your mission.

Though Strength and Constitution are important, Charisma is vital for your holy fury abilities. In addition to investing in magic items that augment your physical abilities, be sure to pick up a cloak of Charisma. As for feat choices, don't overlook Ability Focus at higher levels to boost the DC of divine retribution. Also, tried and true combat feats, such as Power Attack and Cleave, aid a hellreaver in her goals.

Resources

Few share your direct and violent approach to dealing with devils. Certainly, most good individuals see fighting the baatezu as proper, but your enthusiasm is intimidating. As a result, you have a difficult time forging longterm associations with organized groups that fight fiends. Instead, you rely on your cadre of companions for support and aid. Your allies likely share your vision and do their part to help defeat your chosen foes.

HELLREAVERS IN THE WORLD

"Hellreavers are as dangerous as the devils they fight. Their reckless assault lacks the subtlety needed to fight such intelligent foes. Certainly, these warriors have their uses, but they are thoroughly unsuited to missions requiring a gentle hand."

-Estella Montenegro, Knight of the Chalice

At the forefront of a righteous horde, leading ranks upon ranks of holy warriors into the teeth of fell infernal armies, rides the hellreaver. More a holy avenger than a paragon of virtue, the hellreaver lives to fight, and often dies in battle. Many hellreavers are celestials; hound archons turn to this class after facing fiends one time too many. Astral devas who failed in their efforts to protect mortals sometimes abandon their duties to take up arms against the devils. However, no hellreaver is as feared as a solar that has taken up this path to batter the walls of Hell with its wrath.

Mortal hellreavers are rare, since the mortality rate is high. Eventually, a hellreaver's path leads him to the Lower Planes, where he takes the fight to his enemies. On occasion, he gathers a host of like-minded zealots to accompany him on his mission. While courageous, such forays are nearly always doomed to fail.

Organization

Mortal hellreavers attract fanatics and zealous followers. Though they don't operate in large organizations, word of their exploits attracts members of fringe religious groups that hope to join their struggle. While a hellreaver's mission never changes, those who rally to her banner extend their enmity to others they perceive as wicked and evil.

In time, this opposition to devils and their mortal servants extends to others who might or might not share the creed of the fiends, and who might not be evil at all. As a result, hellreavers often try to dissuade others from joining their crusade.

NPC Reactions

Clerics of most good and neutral religions regard hellreavers warily, being indifferent at best. They see these individuals as reckless warriors who are willing to sell their lives cheaply in the face of the monolithic evil they oppose. Superstitious back water types might flock to hellreavers, regarding them as heroes of legend. Friendly, if not helpful, they abandon their homes to follow a hellreaver out of some genuine offer of assistance or to further their own, often darker, ambitions.

HELLREAVER LORE

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (the planes) can research hellreavers to learn more about them. When a character succeeds on a skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DCs.

DC 10: Some men and women have taken the assault of devils on our world personally. These individuals are dangerous, and possibly insane, but their motives seem pure.

DC 15: A hellreaver draws strength from her moral outrage, from a deep and abiding hatred of those who prey on mortals. I heard of one hellreaver who stood against a dozen devils by herself. They say that she couldn't be killed, that her anger kept her standing despite many grievous wounds.

DC 20: Hellreavers derive their power from their outrage over infernal plots and the devils' manipulations of mortals. They use this anger to great effect, growing stronger, tougher, and more dangerous. The most powerful of them can channel divine power with their fury and make devils explode.

Though tales of their efforts might be heard in taverns and pubs across the land, a specific hellreaver is tough to track down, since she is constantly on the move. A character can pick up a hellreaver's trail by succeeding on a DC 20 Gather Information or Knowledge (local) check.

HELLREAVERS IN THE GAME

Since hellreavers are so few, they might have existed in a campaign for a long time. Famous religious figures, especially saints and martyrs, might have been hellreavers in life, a fact the PCs might have only recently discovered. In any event, so long as devils exist as a cohesive force in your campaign, hellreavers have a place.

Players who appreciate the tactical side of combat will be attracted to this prestige class, since it requires quite a bit of resource management. The class is also appealing to players who take an attack first approach to combat and have little use for the subtleties of character interaction. On the other hand, hellreavers make for great doomed champions, and they might be a fine alternative for questdriven adventurers.

Adaptation

The hellreaver is a specialized warrior with a wide array of abilities to aid her when facing devils. For campaigns featuring some other kind of adversary, a hellreaver can be thematically changed to deal with all sorts of threats. So long as an enemy is evil, most of a hellreaver's abilities continue to be effective.

Sample Encounter

A hellreaver might be alone, striving to fulfill some personal vendetta, or she might have the company of several hundred overzealous fanatics. Such appearances cause all sorts of confusion and panic among common folk, as accusations fly about who's in league with whom, which poor peasant is in fact a filthy witch, and how various people were seen congregating under the light of the moon to conjure up the minions of Hell.

EL 13: Camren Lightbringer (CG female aasimar monk 7/hellreaver 5) is a famous folk hero. Believed to have destroyed a coven of devil-worshiping cultists in a small, nameless village, tales of her exploits spread throughout the land. It's whispered she was once a mystic, a master of a rare fighting style from an esoteric order of monks, but her zealous ways and bloodthirstiness make such rumors farfetched. Camren might be encountered as a temporary ally, an individual who shares the player characters' mission for a time, or she might be an adversary, believing the PCs are somehow in league with devils.