The Fellowship of Terror

The Fellowship of Terror exists for the sole purpose of spreading dread in the name of their master, the Sultan of Fear. These clerics wage psychological warfare, known as the War of the Intangibles, against all sentient beings on Tellene. They believe that once fear is implanted in the mind, the brain will wage war within itself, eventually destroying the victim.

Clerics of Old Shivers are masters of alchemy and mind influencing drugs. Even the most powerful and fearless warrior can easily be taken captive when under the influence of a specially concocted powder. Most clerics conceal such powders within their divine focus.

In hand-to-hand combat, Fellows of Terror are poorly equipped; after all, fear is but an illusion. Therefore, clerics of the King of the Macabre try to avoid battle to maintain their fearsome image. Fellows tend to use hit and run tactics designed to split up their enemies. They then hunt down, trap and capture the foes split from the main group.

Adventures: Fellows of Terror seek to bring fear to all living creatures. They have a fine touch for knowing when to terrorize with subtlety and when to use panic with overwhelming force.

Characteristics: Fellows of Terror rely strongly on their spells to cause fear, provided their enemies are not magically immune to such. In that case, they have to cause real fear by circumstance. The favored circumstance, of course, is threatening mortal harm upon that person by a series of well-aimed sword or mace blows.

Background: Fellows of Terror come from broad backgrounds and are exclusive to no race, culture, or social class. One thing they seem to have in common is a particularly traumatic experience in their youth, such as a fire, abduction, or the murder of a family member. At some point in their lives, these people put themselves on the other side of that fear by committing some horrible deed on another and felt themselves empowered by breaking that person’s spirit.

Races: Humans form the core of this faith, but its members include shadow elves, hobgoblins, half-hobgoblins and some dwarves. Other races might show obeisance to the Prince of Terror, but rarely seek to spread his message.

Relations With Other Classes: Fellows exist among members of all other classes but paladins. The paladin’s aura of courage ability is the bane of the Fellow’s existence and virtually any means of killing a paladin is encouraged.

Relations With Undead: Clerics are encouraged to animate or create undead in their attempts to further the faith. If intelligent undead must be controlled, the cleric must free them of control as soon as possible. Clerics may freely destroy undead created by junior clerics of their faith, but should not destroy those of peers or higher-ranking clerics. A cleric is allowed to destroy undead created by another faith, if those undead hinder an act that furthers the faith. Violating these restrictions may cause the cleric to lose temple rank, or undergo a quest to atone.

Role: The Fellow of Terror is a group’s chief weapon against living foes not immune to fear. The Fellow scatters or weakens enemies with his magical abilities and intimidation, leaving them weakened or helpless against his allies.