Hextor (HEKS-tohr)

Champion of Evil, Herald of Hell, Scourge of Battle

War, Discord, Conflict, Fitness, Massacres, Tyranny

Lesser God of Avalas, Lawful Evil

Aliases: None
Domain Name: Avalas/The Scourge
Origin: Oerdian
Superior: None
Allies: Erythnul, Nerull
Enemies: Heironeous, Lords of the Nine, (Archdukes of Hell), Pholtus, Zilchus,Delleb, Fharlanghn, Johydee, Kurell, Rudd
Symbol: Six red arrows, fanning outward or held in a gauntlet
Worshipper's Alignment: Lawful Evil, Lawful Neutral, Neutral Evil
Hextor is the six-armed Oeridian god of war and discord, and the patron of evil warriors. He is commonly worshiped in the lands of the Great Kingdom. Hextor differs from his bloodthirsty ally, Erythnul, in his organized approach to warfare and bloodshed. Additionally, his worshipers tend to be members of the evil eastern armies instead of bandits and raiders motivated by bloodlust. Numerous assassins and mercenaries also worship Hextor, as do many evil nobles and tyrants.
The Herald of Hell is said to be fearless in battle, even when outmatched. He is combative and powerful, often moving those around him to strife and conflict with his mere presence. He has an interesting relationship with Erythnul, another god of combative tendencies and great power. The two would seem to be opposites, as one promotes the violence and bloodlust of battle, and the other is a strategic planner and conqueror. Long ago they forged an agreement, saying that neither would move against the other, and if the other fell into times of need, they would be aided by the other. Trust is foreign to these two powers, and both expect the treaty to be broken without warning.
Hextor is disliked by the Churches of Pholtus and Zilchus, both of whom have been greatly reduced in power in the Great Kingdom as the worship of hextor began to rise. The worship of Pholtus was banned completely from the lands of Aerdy by Overking Ivid V, and the church of Hextor no longer faces any religious opposition within those lands. Zilchus’s priests have also been limited within the Aerdy lands, though not to the extent of the followers of Pholtus. Their temporal power remains strong, however, through their influence on the mercantile house of Darmen.
It is said that Hextor is also despised by the Lords of the Nine, the Archdukes of Hell. Tales say that he was once (and some say still is) one of their devilish number, but was banished for his metamorphosis into a true god. He fled to Acheron, where he marshals his armies across his iron realm, The Scourge. Other tales tell of the Archdukes aid in Hextor’s ascension. His priests neither deny nor confirm these tales, but they do say that their god was not banished from the Hells, but departed on his own accord. It is known that Hextor occasionally travels to the Hells, and even visits the plane of Mechanus, or Nirvana, on occasion.
Of all the Champion of Evil’s foes, none are more hated by Hextor than Heironeous, his good-aligned brother. When they were offered a choice of paths to follow by the other gods, Heironeous followed the path of Law and Goodness. Hextor, who had always hated his brother, chose the path of Evil, just to spite Heironeous.
The two appeared evenly matched, but Heironeous was continually victorious over his brother. Tales say that the Archdukes, anxious to increase their power, came to Hextor and offered him their infernal power. Hextor accepted and was granted his six arms and other, less obvious, powers. With these limbs he is nearly invincible in combat, able to stand against Heironeous and any other god. The Archdukes were too clever, though, for with this newfound power, Hextor was quick to break his ties to the Hells, thus depriving the Archdukes of the powerful tool they had desired.
Hextor is malicious and spiteful, going to great lengths to harm or slight anyone who has offended him. He is also recognized as one of the foremost generals among the gods, with strategic and tactical skills unmatched save for Heironeous. Hextor’s arrogance is great indeed, but he is not so proud that he thinks himself invulnerable to sedition. He sees threats where they do not exist, and will end such “threats” quickly and violently.
On the Outer Planes, Hextor resides on an enormous iron block which forever drifts through the void of Acheron. A great iron-clad fortress serves as his capital, and endless armies of his faithful wage war against each other and anyone else that comes within their reach. In a twisted mockery of Valhalla, any who die in these battles are raised again to fight anew - only as skeletons and zombies. The subjects of Hextor’s realm live, and die, for battle.

Other Manifestations

Although Hextor rarely manifests himself outside of his avatars, he is known to send his trumpets of war to faithful priests who are truly in need of his aid. These trumpets play ghostly, haunting melodies. The trumpets cannot be harmed, and their music will animate all those slain by the priest within 30 feet as maximum hit point juju zombies. The zombies will serve the priest for 1 hour, after which they collapse into dust. A priest will never be so aided twice in their lifetime.
Other manifestations of Hextor include grisly omens of warning; stones bleeding; strange, haunting melodies played by some vile, ghostly trumpet; the sounds of battle; skulls appearing in the air.
Hextor is served by various types of devils; undead (especially those slain in battle), including skeletons, zombies, and lawful evil intelligent undead; spiders; nightmares; hellhounds; myrlochar (soul spiders reaves; shadowdrakes; sword spirits; tso; hellcats; bonespears; bladelings; and kytons. Furthermore, Hextor still commands the service of some baatezu, although these are generally reviled and hated by those fiends who serve the Dark Eight or Lords of the Nine.

The Church

Clergy: Cleric (10%), Crusader (35%), Specialty Priests (55%)
Alignment: Lawful Evil, Neutral Evil, Lawful Neutral
Turn Undead: No
Command Undead: No, Specialty Priests at 4 levels lower
All priests of Hextor are required to have the blind-fighting non-weapon proficiency, which they may learn without penalties from group crossovers. They also receive, free of charge, the religion (Oeridian) and religion (Common) non-weapon proficiencies. At the DM’s option, they may also be familiar with the Flan, Suel or Baklunish religions. Although it is neither required or given as a bonus proficiency, many Hextorians have the music proficiency, and are familiar with the playing of various wind instruments, horns, and drums. The clergy of Hextor includes humans (75%), half-orcs (20%), and evil humanoids (5%).
The clergy of Hextor is powerful but vile. They are spread across the Flanaess, and cause war and discord wherever and whenever they can. In the Great Kingdom they are the strongest religious (and some say military) force, and have tremendous influence and power.
The priests will sometimes rise up in great numbers, leading armies of humanoids and humans into enormous conflicts that result in massive deaths. A few of these forces have even included large numbers of the undead, whom Hextor shows some preference for.
Clerics and crusaders are common within the highly structured church hierarchy. The clerics, called the Battleguard, are the defenders of the faith. They have the responsibility of the church’s welfare on their shoulders, and make convenient scapegoats for the specialty priests, the Hounds of Hell, whenever something should go wrong. Lately, the Hounds of Hell have begun to give the clerics more privileges and positions of power, in hopes of restoring the defensive branch of the church.
The crusaders, called the Scourges of Hextor, are the church’s most militarily powerful branch. They are the officers and leaders of the church armies, and are thus in a position of great power. They are correspondingly fairly numerous, making up about 35% of the Hextorian priest population. For years the Hounds of Hell have been trying to limit the power of the Scourges, to little or no effect.
The specialty priests of Hextor are called the Hounds of Hell. They are the most numerous and visible part of the clergy of Hextor, making up more than half of all of the priesthood, and more than 90% of the top echelon of leadership. Hounds of Hell are masters of strategy and tactic, both in and out of battle. In addition to great skill at arms, they are accomplished at psychological warfare and sabotage. Thoroughly and irreedemably evil, the Hounds of Hell are responsible for much misery throughout the Flanaess.
At 9th-level a priest of Hextor is permitted to construct a temple or shrine to the Champion of Evil if he has acquired sufficient funds. A temple or shrine must always be built on the site of some great massacre or battle. It is not unheard of for a particularly devout priest to arrange for a massacre at some ideal building spot, and then follow with the construction of the temple. Typical shrines to Hextor are round towers, some forty or more feet high and twenty or thirty feet in diameter. There is never more than one entrance, and multiple arrow slits can be found around the structure’s walls. The true shrine is located at the top of the tower, and contains a statue of Hextor in his hellish form. Next to the statue is the sacrificial altar and a long horn hanging from the ceiling by chains. In ceremonies to Hextor the horn is blown after a sacrifice, signalling to the god that a sacrifice has been made. A shrine often serves as barracks to a small military or mercenary force (between 10 and 20 individuals) dedicated to Hextor.
Temples are much larger structures, based around a central worship hall. The main hall is a rectangular structure that is approximately 100' long by 40' wide. On the sides of the building are six shrines (see above), all connected to the main structure. Naturally the cost of creating one of these temples is far greater than a simple shrine. Correspondingly, the number of followers attracted by such a temple is much greater.
For the purposes of attracting followers, a shrine will bring in about 3d6 first level fighters 50% of the time, while 25% of the time it will attract 2d6 first level fighters and one first level specialty priest of Hextor. 15% of the time it will attract 1d8 first level fighters, one fifth level fighter, and one first level specialty priest of Hextor, and 10% of the time it will attract 1d6 first level fighters, one fifth level fighter, and one fifth level specialty priest of Hextor. A temple gains the same kinds of followers, only about 1d4+2 times as many as a shrine does. Note that creation of multiple temples or shrines does not attract additional followers above 9th level.
Novices of Hextor are known as the Weaponless. Full priests are known as the Children of Discord. In ascending order of rank, the titles used by the priests of Hextor are

• Buckler
• Fork
• Scimitar
• Flail
• Morningstar
• Patriarch

The leader of the church is called the Patriarch General. Certain independant and high-level specialty priests, charged with spreading discord, are known as the Arms of Hextor. There are never more than six of these priests at one time.

Dogma

The world is a dark and bloody place where the strong rule the weak, and power is the only reward. It is often necessary to be cruel and merciless in the pursuit of ones goals, and achieving those goals can have harsh consequences. Order must be forged out of chaos and law out of anarchy. The forces of tyranny must be obeyed and dissenters must be oppressed or destroyed.
War and conflict are the food and drink of a true life. Everything as a challenge in which the worthy must prove how fit they are and how capable and dominant they can be. Only those truly blessed by Hextor can be completely successful in life, but even they must prove their worthiness through combat. Once one has won their place through combat, they must keep it by ruling with an iron fist.
While skill in combat is very important to the priests, the ability to cause conflict is just as important, if not more so. Ideally, these priests are master manipulators and cruel liars, capable of creating discord between even the most passive groups, while at the same time being masters of the blade. Hextor’s servants despise and hate cowards and pacifists alike, seeing them as unfit to live.

Day-to-day activities

On a daily basis all worshipers of Hextor partake in strenuous exercise and combat practice. They also sing short hymns to Hextor before combat, and will follow various ceremonies with the blowing of wind instruments (usually horns and trumpets).
Often the lower-ranking priests are required to perform menial tasks given to them by their superiors. Disobeying a superior is rare (and usually fatal) unless the superior is challenged and slain. Favors are rarely granted by these priests, and on those rare occasions there is always a price attached to them.
Priests of the faith are expected to tithe 5% of their annual income to the church. Tithes and taxes are levied by the priests upon the peasants of the Great Kingdom to help support the immense Church armies maintained by the Hextorian clergy.

Important Ceremonies

Holy days are for the weak, say the Hextorians, and thus they make no use of them (they do celebrate the anniversaries of particularly horrific battles and massacres). However, their religion is rich with ceremonies. At least once every month (on any day), a priest must make a sacrifice in a shrine or temple. If made in the form of objects, at least 500 gp worth of valuables must be sacrificed. If in the form of living creatures, one prisoner of war (or any other combat) must be sacrificed on the altar. Following any sacrifice, the priest must play a melody on a wind instrument of some kind (generally trumpets, horns, or flutes). Iron gongs are struck, chants called out, and unspeakable rituals occur in honor of the Herald of Hell.
When great victories are won by the clergy and its armies, all prisoners taken are marched to the closest temple. There, one by one, they are decapitated and their heads thrown into great pyramids outside of the building. Such pyramids of gore are often burnt by the priests in great bonfires.

Major Centers of Worship

The Hextorians are at their strongest in the Great Kingdom, where Hextor is honored and held high amongst the ranks of gods. His temples appear openly in that land and his priests flaunt their power. The temples and shrines of the Scourge of Battle are hard to find in other areas of the Flanaess, but they are present, as are his infernal priests.
There are numerous temples of Hextor that are notable for their size and importance. On the grounds of the Palace of Rauxes is one of the greatest temples to Hextor, where Patriarch-General Pyrannden dwells. It is heavily guarded by priests, common warriors, and an elite guard. There are also four guardian statues here made entirely from coagulated blood, each as strong as a flesh golem. The temple also houses the Church’s most prized artifact: The Unholy Bloodshield of Hextor.
Another temple of note is the Cathedral of Carnage, located on Massacre Hill in Medegia. It is said that the priests of Hextor took a thousand refugees from the crushed city of Pontylver, and slew them all atop the hill. The Patriarch Ishzar, who had ordered the mass execution, animated the bodies into headless zombies, and had them build the cathedral. It is currently inhabited by the depraved priests responsible for its creation. Reminiscent of a great keep, it matches the grand fortresses of Rauxes in size. Atop every battlement are tall pikes on which the heads of the Cathedral’s undead builders are impaled. The heads are prevented from completely decaying by Ishzar’s magic. It is said that the headless zombies are now the Cathedral’s undead guardians, and that they are still a thousand strong. Ishzar is not presently allied with any of the internal factions of the Hextorian Church; he is biding his time and waiting for one side to take the initiative and make its move.

Affiliated Orders

Naturally, the Church armies of Hextor are vast and powerful. Most of the warriors in the employ of the Hextorian Church are armed and equipped with weapons that can be wielded by the specialty priests themselves. Numerous armies, mercenary bands, and adventuring groups of evil nature are also in league with this clergy; the Hextorians are more than generous in their funding of such organizations, and in exchange wield a great deal of military influence, spread throughout the Flanaess.
In addition, certain Patriarchs of Hextor are also known to be powerful masters of the undead. These include Patriarch Ishzar and Patriarch Moralto (of North Province), both of whom command large forces of undead. Certain animuses are also loyal to the church, and give the priesthood their full support. Patriarch Grenell, the Herzog of North Province, also has a large following.
The Knights of Doom in the Great Kingdom are loyal to the Church of Hextor.

Priestly Vestments

Hextor’s priests wear black robes adorned with white skulls or grey visages embroidered upon them. Only the higher-level priests (8th level and up) have arrows of hate and discord in red, lower level priests are only permitted grey ones.

Adventuring Garb

When in action, Hextorians prefer to wear chain mail adorned with metal skulls and images of their god.

Specialty Priest (Hounds of Hell)

Requirements: Strength 15 or Dexterity 15, Wisdom 10
Prime Requisite: Strength or Dexterity, Wisdom
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Weapons: Any bow, flail, fork, morning star, scimitar, staff-sling
Armor: Chain, Scale, Plate
Major Spheres: All, Combat, Elemental (Fire), Healing, Law, Necromantic, War
Minor Spheres: Creation, Summoning
Magical Items: As clerics and thieves
Required Proficiencies: Blind-fighting
Bonus Proficiencies: None

• Half-orcs may become specialty priests of Hextor. They may not multi-class.
• Hextorians are able to spend proficiency slots to become specialized in weapons, just like a member of the fighter character class.
• Priests of Hextor are trained in the arts of thieving and stealth (especially in assassination), and upon gaining sixth level in priestly ability they gain one level of thief ability as well. Thereafter, every two levels of advancement as a priest indicate a single level of advancement in thief skills. The maximum level of thief ability without dual-classing is 6th level, which is attained at 16th. These thiefly abilities do not require that the priest earn any extra experience points.
• At 3rd level a Hound of Hell gains + 1 to his strength score (maximum of 19).
• At 5th level the Hound of Hell may cast a ray of enfeeblement once per day.
• At 8th level the priest of Hextor may cast a fear spell once per day.
• At 9th level the Hound of Hell gains the power to inflict double damage in combat once per day, for 1 round per level of the priest.
• At 12th level the Hound of Hell may cast a symbol of pain once per week.
• At 14th level the priest may cast a symbol of discord once per day.

Hextorian Spells

In addition to the specialty spells below, certain high level priests of Hextor are able to create the undead being known as the animus. The process cannot be completed without the aid of outer-planar fiends, and involves powerful, undefined magics along the lines of quest magic. Details on individual animus can be found within the Ivid the Undying online sourcebook.
Hextorians also have access to the spells analyze opponent (Powers & Pantheons, pg. 46), and holy flail (Faiths & Avatars, pg. 160).

First Level

Analyze Opponent
Hextor's Fitness

Second Level

Mantle of Hextor

Third Level

Blood Groove
Scourge of Flame

Fourth Level

Arrows of War
Battlearms
Blood Mantle
Blood Rage

Fifth Level

Evil Arm of Hextor

Sixth Level

Arouse Discord
Hands of Hextor
Wave of Carnage

[Adapted from Hextor: The Herald of Hell by Will McPherson (Oerth Journal #9)]
[Some spells come via Bastion of Faith]