Despoiler

The despoiler is the antithesis of religion. He believes most gods are the enemies of mortals and therefore he holds temples, churches and other sacred sites to be ripe fruit, ideal for the plucking.

The Quintessential Barbarian
Author Robert Schwalb
Series Quintessential Series
Publisher Mongoose Publishing
Publish date 2003

His overarching motivation is to destroy and plunder. Once he has taken what he desires, he will burn the remainder, entrapping the survivors to meet their deaths in a conflagration. His motivation turns on divine magic’s inability to affect him. Naturally resistant to the will of the gods, he may act with no regard for retribution at the earthly level. Not all despoilers are evil, though; many specifically target evil cults and religions, seeking to wipe out the blight threatening the world. In these rare cases, despoilers can be useful allies indeed.

Despoiler Non-Player Characters are the inverse of paladins, more so than blackguards. Instead of holding to the dark powers, they hold to themselves only. They are despicable and dangerous plundering coastlines at will. Despoilers are typically leaders of hordes bent on ravaging their civilised neighbours. These individuals are a universal threat to religions of any race or alignment, forming the ideal foe for any party of adventurers.

Hit Die: d12.

Requirements

To qualify to become a despoiler, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
Base Attack Bonus: +12.
Skills: Intimidate 15 ranks
Feats: Horde, Iron Will, Toughness and Unbeliever
Special: By yourself, you must kill a cleric 3 levels higher than you are, or you must have at least 2 levels of ex-cleric.

Class Skills

The despoiler’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Climb (Strength), Intimidate (Charisma), Jump (Strength), Knowledge (religion) (Intelligence), Ride (Dexterity) and Swim (Strength).

Skill points at each level: 2 + Intelligence modifier.

Despoiler
Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special
1	+1	+0	+0	+2	Divine Spell Immunity
2	+2	+0	+0	+3	Fast Heal 1
3	+3	+1	+1	+3	Granted Power Immunity, Smite
4	+4	+1	+1	+4	Fast Heal 2
5	+5	+1	+1	+4	Atheistic Resolve

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the despoiler prestige class.

Weapon and Armour Proficiency: The despoiler gains no new proficiency in weapons, but gains Armour Proficiency (heavy). Note that armour check penalties for armour heavier than leather apply to the skills Balance, Climb, Escape Artist, Hide, Jump, Move Silently, Pick Pocket and Tumble.

Divine Spell Immunity (Su): At first level, the despoiler gains an effective SR of 20 + the character’s despoiler class levels against divine spells. From healing to injury, the despoiler is virtually immune. Since severing any connection to the gods, this places him beyond their agents’ ability to affect him. Granted powers gained through domains affect despoilers, despite their natural resilience to divine magic.

Fast Heal (Ex): As the despoiler comes to learn not to rely upon the assistance and aid of divine magic, his body compensates for the lack of divine intervention. At 2nd level, the despoiler gains access to Fast Healing 1, thus recovering 1 hit point per round. At 4th level, his fast healing ability increases to 2. See SRD for details on this extraordinary ability.

Granted Power Immunity (Su): By 3rd level the distance between the gods and the despoiler is so great that he may ignore any affects derived from granted powers. Thus, death touch or the smite ability from the Death or Destruction domains, respectively, have no affect on despoilers.

Smite (Su): The despoiler, at 3rd level, may make a single melee attack per day at a +4 attack bonus and a damage bonus equal to his total character levels. Like any other smite, you must declare it prior to making the attack. This attack functions on any target.

Atheistic Resolve (Ex): At 5th level, the despoiler’s resistance to divine spell energy passively extends in a 10-foot spread. All characters within the area of affect gain the benefit of Spell Resistance (SR) 20+ the character’s despoiler class level against divine magic.