Evangelist

An evangelist was a person with magical abilities to proselytize.

Culture
While evangelists were religious, they generally originated from the lay people of a particular faith. There were not a lot of clerics and druids who learned the arts of an evangelist because it forced them to sacrifice spellcasting abilities. Bards and rogues could do well if they were religious enough to learn the skills. A few compassionate paladins who wanted to sway evil people onto the path of good also learned the skills of evangelist.

Racially, gnomes, halflings, and humans tended the most towards becoming evangelists, while the entire profession had a bad reputation among elves and dwarves. For half-elves and half-orcs, becoming an evangelists was a way to find purpose in their lives.

Abilities
Every evangelist had some basic theoretical knowledge in religious matters and oratory and was also good at collecting information, discerning a person's nature, and especially lying.

A skilled evangelist could persuade people in a rush and was very confident when he or she was in disguise, lying, intimidating, persuading, or attempting to see through people.

As mentioned above, evangelists were skilled in oratory. They could elevate this skill to some magical abilities that, at their discretion, instilled a kind of hopelessness that eroded their enemies' willpower, a kind of hope that bolstered their allies' willpower, or to conjure a fire shield around their own and allies' bodies. The highest ability of an evangelist was one that forced people to adopt the evangelist's philosophical viewpoints and to be effectively under a charm monster spell. When this forceful personality change wore off, the person could actually choose to become a changed person or revert to the original personality. However, an atonement could be necessary to regain lost powers.

Relationships
As a general rule, evangelists were wanderers who tried to convince others of their faith or of their version of their faith. This could lead to conflict with people, even with those who shared their moral and ethical outlook.

Notable Members

 * Daelegoth Orndeir, the leader of the Brotherhood of the Glorious Sun was an accomplished evangelist.