Fetish Warrior

The fetish warrior believes he can gain power by consuming the flesh of his enemies.

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

While to some extent this is true, in exchange for his ability he becomes one of the most hated of his species: a cannibal. The powers he gains for his pariah status increase as he becomes more powerful himself. However, he must forever defeat greater and greater enemies in order to derive any benefit at all from devouring their flesh.

Non-Player Character fetish warriors are reviled and feared. Legions of paladins and clerics scour the lands to eradicate these disgusting freaks. In response, fetish warriors band together, seeking out similarly-minded barbarians. The result of this conflict of beliefs is that fetish warriors and their detractors are rare, for those who would eradicate this unusual practice kill plenty. Nevertheless, every overzealous paladin that falls prey to the begrimed hands of the cannibals adds to the fetish warrior’s strength.

Hit Die: d10

Requirements

To qualify to become a fetish warrior, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Base Attack Bonus: +6
Skills: Listen 9 ranks, Spot 4 ranks, Survival 9 ranks
Feats: Endurance, Great Fortitude, Track
Special: Must have devoured the heart a member of his own species

Class Skills

The fetish warrior’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Climb (Strength), Craft (Intelligence), Heal (Wisdom), Hide (Dexterity), Intimidate (Charisma), Jump (Strength), Listen (Wisdom), Move Silently (Dexterity), Spot (Wisdom) and Wilderness Lore (Wisdom).
Skill points at each level: 4 + Intelligence modifier.

Fetish Warrior
Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special
1	+0	+2	+0	+0	Devour the Senses
2	+1	+3	+0	+0	Borrowing
3	+2	+3	+1	+1	Adorned with Skin
4	+3	+4	+1	+1	Eating the Heart
5	+3	+4	+1	+1	Breathe the Soul

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the fetish warrior prestige class.

Weapon and Armour Proficiency: The fetish warrior is proficient in all simple and martial weapons, light armour and shields. 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.

Devour the Senses (Su): Any time the fetish warrior singly defeats a foe, he may consume their sensory organs (in most cases this would be their eyes) and absorb any detection ability and racial bonuses to Search and Spot checks of that foe. Fetish warriors may derive the following benefits from the target they killed provided the target had access to any or all of the abilities in question: Low-Light Vision, Darkvision, Scent, penchant for noticing secret or concealed doors, stonecunning or any other sensory ability as decided by the Games Master. This ability lasts for 8 hours. Creatures without such anatomy confer no bonus to the fetish warrior.

Borrowing (Su): Fetish warriors, at 2nd level, gain the ability to heal damage by consuming the heart of the enemy they personally defeated. Whenever they do so, they heal 1 point of damage for every hit die of the foe they personally defeated. Creatures without a viable or discernible anatomy confer no such bonus to the fetish warrior.

Adorned with Skin (Su): One of the most disgusting practises of the fetish warrior is the donning of the skin of their enemies. Whenever they defeat an opponent by themselves or with the aid of another fetish warrior, they may skin their enemy and wear its flesh. If done so within 10 minutes after the conflict, the fetish warrior gains whatever natural armour bonus their foe had in life. Therefore, if a fetish warrior defeats a Krenshar and skins him within the required amount of time, the fetish warrior permanently gains the Krenshar’s +3 natural armour bonus as a natural armour bonus. Thus, destroying another creature with a natural armour bonus of +3 or less confers no additional benefit to the fetish warrior, as multiple natural armour bonuses do not stack. Creatures without a viable or discernible anatomy confer no such bonus to the fetish warrior.

Eating the Heart (Su): Any time the fetish warrior successfully kills an enemy, either by himself or with the assistance of another fetish warrior, he may consume its heart. Doing so is a full-round action and confers a +1 Dodge bonus, +1 to all attack rolls and extends the duration of the barbarian’s rage (if any) by 3 rounds. These bonuses last for the duration of the rage. Harvesting said heart is equivalent to a coup de grace action and thus provokes an attack of opportunity if done so while in a threatened space. Creatures without a viable or discernible anatomy confer no such bonus to the fetish warrior.

Breathe the Soul (Su): A spell-user’s heart holds great power for fetish warriors, for they gain a modicum of the victim’s former power. Eating the heart of a recently-killed spell-user (regardless of the type of magic: arcane, divine or psionic) confers a random spell into the mind of the fetish warrior. The Games Master determines the exact spell randomly. Once it has been absorbed, the fetish warrior may release it as a standard action by expending experience points at a ratio of 10 xp per level of the spell. If the spell has a material cost, the gold piece equivocates to experience points in a ratio of 10:1. Thus if a spell requires 1000gp of diamond dust, then the fetish warrior would have to spend 100 xp. If the spell had an xp requirement, the fetish warrior must spend the requisite amount of experience points in addition to the cost of the spell. The original caster’s level and ability determines exact effects of the spell. Fetish warriors may only store one spell at a time for any duration and, once cast, it is removed from their memory as per normal arcane spellcasting.