Invoker
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At the dawn of time, the gods who inhabited the Astral Sea warred with the primordials of the Elemental Chaos, the mighty beings who shaped the world out of formless void. The greatest of the gods' mortal agents in that war were invokers, imbued with a fragment of the gods' own might to fight alongside them. No other mortal servant of the gods can claim the same kind of power. Through rites of investiture, avengers, clerics, and paladins gain the ability to manifest echoes of that power, uttering careful prayers and channeling divine energy through their holy symbols. You, however, channel your god's power directly. No mere symbol can contain it, for you speak the words of creation, shaping the universe to your and your god's will.

Perhaps you were trained in a secret monastery, or you studied in a library where the universe's oldest lore was preserved. Or perhaps you experienced the presence of your god firsthand and took a shard of divine power into yourself. You might even be an immortal born into flesh, slowly awakening to the awesome divine power that is your birthright. Whatever your past, you are among the gods' most trusted servants, bound to a covenant in which you swore to use divine power with great care. To what end will you wield that might?

Invoker Overview

Characteristics

Your powers are aimed at controlling your foes: slowing, stopping, or compelling their movement; weakening their attacks; or hedging them in zones of divine fire. You summon angelic beings to face your enemies, and you empower your allies to fight with divine fervor.

Religion

Like clerics, invokers can worship any deity, but few invokers serve gods who are newer arrivals to the pantheon, such as the Raven Queen and Vecna. Invokers dedicated to Bahamut often revere Tiamat as well, worshiping those two gods as the two halves of the slain dragon-god Io. More than most other divine characters, invokers offer prayers to and call on favors from the entire pantheon, for all the gods, whatever their alignments, fought together against the primordials.

Races

Dwarves and devas make particularly good invokers; both the dwarven devotion to the gods and the devas' heritage lend themselves to the invoker's worldview. Ancient and long-lived, eladrin and elves have a racial memory that keeps alive the legends of the first wars between the gods and the primordials, and the two races often follow in the paths of the first invokers. Invokers can be found among all races, however.

Class Traits

Role: Controller. You invoke the power of a god to blast your foes from a distance, leave them unable to defend themselves, and scatter them to the four winds. Depending on your choice of class features and powers, you lean toward either leader or striker as a secondary role.
Power Source: Divine. You practice an ancient form of divine magic, wielding the power that the gods themselves used in their battle against the primordials.
Key Abilities: Wisdom, Constitution, Intelligence

Armor Proficiencies: Cloth, leather, hide, chainmail
Weapon Proficiencies: Simple melee, simple ranged
Implements: Rods, staffs
Bonus to Defense: +1 Fortitude, +1 Reflex, +1 Will

Hit Points at 1st Level: 10 + Constitution score
Hit Points per Level Gained: 4
Healing Surges per Day: 6 + Constitution modifier

Trained Skills: Religion. From the class skills list below, choose three more trained skills at 1st level.
Class Skills: Arcana (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Endurance (Con), History (Int), Insight (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Religion (Int)

Class Features: Channel Divinity, Divine Covenant, Ritual Casting

Creating an Invoker

Invokers rely on Wisdom—as an expression of their link to the divine will—for the accuracy and potency of their attacks. Each invoker enters into a covenant with a god, a sworn pact in which the invoker agrees to fulfill certain duties in exchange for the divine power he or she will use to carry out those duties. The two most common covenants—the Covenant of Preservation and the Covenant of Wrath—lend themselves to two common invoker builds. Even though you must choose a covenant, you can choose any powers you like to help you fulfill it.

Preserving Invoker

You defend your allies, combining defensive magic with prayers that hinder or prevent your enemies' attacks. Wisdom should be your highest ability score, followed by Intelligence, since you need foresight and cunning to protect your allies. Choose powers that grant defensive benefits to your allies or penalties to your enemies. The preserving invoker leans toward leader as a secondary role.

Suggested Class Feature: Covenant of Preservation
Suggested Feat: Insightful Preservation
Suggested Skills: Arcana, Diplomacy, History, Religion
Suggested At-Will Powers: sun strike, vanguard's lightning
Suggested Encounter Power: blades of astral fire
Suggested Daily Power: binding invocation of chains

Wrathful Invoker

You are an instrument of divine wrath, smiting those who have the temerity to doubt the reach of your god's power. Make Wisdom your highest ability score, followed by Constitution, since your physical durability allows you to withstand and channel divine wrath. Focus on powers that bring ruin to your foes. The wrathful invoker leans toward striker as a secondary role.

Suggested Class Feature: Covenant of Wrath
Suggested Feat: Invoker Defense
Suggested Skills: Endurance, Insight, Intimidate, Religion
Suggested At-Will Powers: avenging light, grasping shards
Suggested Encounter Power: thunder of judgment
Suggested Daily Power: purging flame

Invoker Class Features

Invokers have the following class features.

Channel Divinity

Once per encounter, you can use a Channel Divinity power. You start with two Channel Divinity powers: rebuke undead and a power determined by your Divine Covenant. You can gain additional Channel Divinity powers by taking divinity feats.

Divine Covenant

Invokers wield ancient divine power that is not accessible to most mortals—only to those who enter into a personal covenant with a god. Invokers undergo long years of study and testing. Only after that time are they allowed to enter into the final covenant that grants them access to this class's powers. Some say that, in the final swearing of the covenant, the invoker's god briefly manifests, but the details of an invoker's initiation are a closely held secret.

Choose one of the options described below. The Divine Covenant you choose provides you with a Channel Divinity power and a covenant manifestation that takes effect whenever you use a divine encounter or daily attack power. Your choice also provides bonuses to certain invoker powers, as detailed in those powers.

Covenant of Preservation

The gods have charged you to defend the faithful and to ally with those who seek to defeat the gods' enemies.

Channel Divinity: You gain the Channel Divinity power preserver's rebuke.
Covenant Manifestation: When you use a divine encounter or daily attack power on your turn, you can slide an ally within 10 squares of you 1 square.

Covenant of Wrath

You have sworn to seek out and destroy those that oppose the gods. Primordials, demons, and devils fall before your magic like wheat before a scythe.

Channel Divinity: You gain the Channel Divinity power armor of wrath.
Covenant Manifestation: When you use a divine encounter or daily attack power on your turn, you gain a bonus to the damage roll equal to 1 for each enemy you attack with the power.

Ritual Casting

You gain the Ritual Caster feat as a bonus feat, allowing you to use magical rituals (see Chapter 10 of the Player's Handbook). You own a ritual book, and it contains two rituals that you have mastered: Hand of Fate and one 1st-level ritual. Once per day, you can use Hand of Fate without expending components.

Implements

Invokers do not make use of holy symbols, since they believe that their magic predates and transcends such representations of divine power. Instead, invokers make use of rods and staffs as representations of the gods' dominion over the world. When you wield a magic rod or a magic staff, you can add its enhancement bonus to the attack rolls and the damage rolls of invoker powers and invoker paragon path powers that have the implement keyword. Without an implement, you can still use these powers.

Invokers and Deities

Choice of Deity

Like other divine characters, invokers are dedicated servants of one or more deities. Most invokers devote themselves to a single deity, but all invokers recognize the entire pantheon as worthy of respect (see "Deities," Player's Handbook, page 20). Whereas a cleric might revere Corellon and despise Lolth as a rival and enemy, an invoker dedicated to Corellon recognizes Lolth and her servants as comrades in arms against the forces that seek to destroy the world and the gods. That's not to say that you can't oppose the evil schemes of Lolth's followers if you're dedicated to Corellon, only that you shouldn't lose sight of the grander scheme of things.

Choice of Alignment

Invokers don't gain their power through rites of investiture or ordination, as avengers, clerics, and paladins do. You bear the touch of your god's own hand on your soul, a direct channel through which divine power can flow into the world, shaped by your will. Because you strive to bring your will into perfect accordance with your deity's, your alignment must match your deity's. For instance, an invoker of Moradin must be lawful good, an invoker of Sune must be good, and an invoker of Kelemvor must be unaligned.

Invoker Powers

Your invoker powers are called prayers, but they are not as much supplications to the gods as direct manifestations of divine power. Each invoker has the Channel Divinity power rebuke undead. Your choice of Divine Covenant determines the other Channel Divinity power you start with.

Character Classes
Player's Handbook ClericFighterPaladinRangerRogueWarlockWarlordWizard
Player's Handbook 2 AvengerBarbarianBardDruidInvokerShamanSorcererWarden
Player's Handbook 3 ArdentBattlemindMonkPsionRunepriestSeeker
Setting-Specific Artificer (Eberron Player's Guide) ✦ Swordmage (Forgotten Realms Player's Guide)
Character Classes

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