Editing Avenger (section)

==Ravenloft Avenger==
The Avengers of the [[Demiplane of Dread]] were a "Warrior" type class introduced in the AD&D sourcebook "Domains of Dread", which was the third and final "campaign setting" equivalent for Ravenloft under [[TSR]], the first to be set post-Grim Requiem, and the first to be a single massive book rather than a whole boxed set.

The Avenger of AD&D is one of four "setting appropriate" classes added to the game in "Domains of Dread", the PC & DM's expansion book for [[Ravenloft]], alongside its contemporaries the [[Arcanist]], the [[Anchorite]] and the [[Gypsy]]. Unfortunately, it suffered the curse that bedeviled Ravenloft player-focused content of AD&D (indeed, some would say of any D&D edition), a little weakened by the rule system version of the Paladin, yet good to roleplay.

Requiring [[Strength]] 15, [[Dexterity]] 14 and [[Constitution]] 15 to qualify for, the Avenger was DoD's thematic replacement for the [[Paladin]] (with a dash of Ranger); a warrior fixated upon a single nemesis figure, both individually and in general. Essentially, they're AD&D [[Fighter]]s with the following tweaks:
* Cannot be Lawful aligned, which is obvious, since his goal is to kill his nemesis, not to become someone else's pawn.
* Cannot specialize in Ranged Weapons.
* Do not establish Holdings.
* Do not attract followers.
* +5 hit points when fighting an enemy that "reminds them of their nemesis" in close combat.
* +10 hit points when fighting their nemesis in close combat.
* Can intuit which direction to go in order to pursue their nemesis by making a successful [[Wisdom]] check.

This Fighter variant is using the Paladin's experience table. 

In 3rd edition, [[Sword & Sorcery]] brought the idea back as a [[Prestige Class]] in "[[Van Richten]]'s Arsenal". Now a kind of "uber-[[Ranger]]", the Nemesis retained its original fluff as an individual driven to pursue the destruction of a singular Nemesis, and was consequently still a very one-trick pony class concept. To qualify as an Avenger in 3e, you need to be Non-Lawful in [[Alignment]], have a Base Attack Bonus of +3, two specific Feats (Endurance and Jaded), 2 ranks in the Gather Information Skill, and 6 ranks in the Sense Motive skill. Finally, you have to have suffered some disaster at the hands of a foe who subsequently escaped punishment; this is your Nemesis, and they are literally the defining focus of this class. If you ever lose your Nemesis, you can't progress any further in the prestige class.

The Avenger's class skills all tie into its Man-Hunter theme; Craft (for traps), Escape Artist (for getting out of Nemesis traps), Gather Information, Hide, Intimidate, Listen, Move Silently, Profession, Search, Sense Motive, and Spot. If their Nemesis is a kind of supernatural creature, than an avenger also treats the branch of Knowledge (Monster Lore) relating to that Nemesis' type as a class skill - for example, if your Nemesis is [[Strahd von Zarovich]], you have a knack for Knowledge (Vampire Lore). Not that it matters much, because an Avenger is hardly a skill monkey; 2 + Int modifier skill points per level is all they get. Which just goes to show how borked up the Skills system could get in 3e...

What an Avenger is, however, is a beat-stick. Their Base Attack Bonus increases by +1 per level, and they have strong (+2 at first level, +7 at 10th level) Fort and Will saves, if somewhat shoddy Reflex saves (+1 at 3rd level to +3 at 9th). They're proficient in all Simple & Martial Weapons, Shields, and all types of Armor.

The only class features that an Avenger gets in 3e are ''Intuition'' and ''Resolve'', both of which are Extraordinary Abilities. Intuition lets them make a Sense Motive check against a DC imposed by their Avenger levels (DC 20 at Avenger 1, DC 12 by Avenger 9) once per day; if they succeed, they are clued into the general direction they need to go in order to find their Nemesis; the better they do on this check (in variables of 5), the more precisely they can pinpoint where their target is, from a city-sized area (beat the check by 5) to a specific neighborhood (beat the check by 10) to specific locales within that neighborhood (beat the check by 15). Resolve, on the other hand, gives them a morale bonus to [[Constitution]] and [[Wisdom]] determined by their Avenger level (+2 at 2nd, +4 at 4th, +6 at 6th, +8 at 8th and +10 at 10th) when fighting their Nemesis - at 6th level, they also get a weaker version that applies when fighting their Nemesis' minions or opponents who strongly remind them of their Nemesis; the example given is that an Avenger seeking a [[werewolf]] Nemesis would gain this lesser bonus (+2/4/6 at levels 6/8/10) when fighting any werewolf.

All in all, it's not... '''bad''', per say, it's just very one-dimensional. It has one trick it does, and it does it well, but that's all it does. At the very least it doesn't cripple you the way taking the Avenger class in AD&D did (remember those pesky [[multiclassing]] rules, or lack thereof?), but it's still only useful if your DM wants to set up a specific "arch enemy" kind of campaign.