Avenger An avenger was an agent of one or more god s who sought to bring divine wrath unto the enemies of their divine patron . Invested with traditions both ancient and quite often secret , avengers served as a well - crafted weapon of their deity , finding the enemies of their faith and striking them down . Of all a god ' s agents they were the most deadly , marked and empowered by rituals of investiture similar , but not identical to , those that which marked the training of a cleric or paladin . Culture . Avengers were not a part of every faith or organization . The work of an avenger was , for one thing , abhorrent to pacifists , since , in all but name , avengers were killers working on the behalf of the divine . Similarly , members of their own religion were as likely to view avengers as heretics as champions of the divine or perhaps an unpleasant necessity . As a result , many avenger traditions were so secretive that they were largely forgotten by the unitiated . This was not a problem for avengers , whose methodology required a degree of focus that made outside distractions unwanted . Most avengers were , in fact , trained in monasteries akin to those used by monk s . The races most likely to breed avengers were human s , but when given to the task elves and shifter s also made excellent avengers . Regardless of race , avengers most commonly served deities that were neutral or even evil rather than those that were outwardly good . This was not to say avengers were usually evil , they were most commonly neither , serving gods such as Kelemvor or Oghma , but the duties of an avenger were contrary at times to the mandate of a god with a forgiving or compassionate nature and an avenger was required to match the alignment of their deity . Avengers were often also aligned along the lines of ancient feuds between the gods , seeking out the worshipers of their patron ' s rival or enemy . Abilities . Avengers , like other divine spellcasters , cast prayer s , also known as divine spells . Avengers , like cleric s and paladin s but unlike invoker s , drew on the power of their god through rituals of investiture and sophisticated training , rather than by innate talent . However , avengers so internalized these rites that it could be said that they cast prayers instinctively , rather than with conscious purpose . Avenger prayers , sometimes called " mysteries , " were generally deadlier than those wielded by other divine spellcasters , though with a number of adverse effects that went along with the power . Avengers typically had no training in the use of any armor and were limited most often to the use of simple weapons . However , this martial inferiority was upset by avengers ' training in other manners . For instance , an avenger had no need for armor since their god warded them against damage with divine magic . Likewise , the prayers that an avenger wielded were so deadly that there was little need for the avenger to use a weapon any more deadly than a dagger or spear . For example , the " oath of enmity " prayer allowed avengers deadly accuracy in their attacks . Avengers did , however , commonly use holy symbol s as implement s . Like other divine spellcasters , avengers had access to " channel divinity " , such as " abjure undead " and " divine guidance " , which enabled them to draw directly on the power of their god . " Abjure undead " allowed an avenger to blast an undead creature with radiant power and draw it closer to be struck again while " divine guidance " let an avenger imbue an ally with their god ’ s power , giving them the chance to attack a foe multiple times under the effect of the " oath of enmity " prayer . Avenger variants . All avengers were trained to focus their mind , body , and soul towards the goal of eliminating the foes of their god . However , how they did this varied from avenger to avenger , though most followed one of the following methodologies . Commanding avenger . While most avengers preferred to hunt the enemies of their faith as a solitary hunter , some preferred to work in packs . Such avengers were most often commanding avengers , who learned the " censure of unity " prayer , which enabled an avenger to take advantage of their allies ' positioning to corner an enemy . Like other avengers , practitioners of the censure of unity valued a high degree of perceptiveness in their line of work , but commanding avengers also encouraged intellectual growth and , to a lesser degree , nimble reflexes . Isolating avenger . Isolating avengers aimed in battle to corner their foes and cut them off from potential allies , skewing the situation against them . As such , isolating avengers focused on taking down one enemy and one enemy alone at a time , often learning the " censure of retribution " variety of " oath of enmity " , which made it dangerous for other enemies to intervene in an avenger ' s fight . Focused even compared to other avengers isolating avengers were both wise and intelligent , having a tactical awareness of the battlefield that made them challenging enemies . Pursuing avenger . Agile and dexterous pursuing avengers took the approach of earnest persistence as their methodology . Although pursuing avengers were less capable than other avengers of manipulating the battlefield to their benefit , they had a dogged tenacity about them that made it difficult for their target to escape , no matter how or where they fled . Often learning to use " oath of enmity " through the " censure of pursuit " prayer , pursuing avengers learned to exploit the stumbles and mistakes a fleeing enemy makes , using this in conjunction with divine magic to reap attacks that were even more deadly on escaping foes than those who turned and fought upfront . As one might expect , pursuing avengers valued both awareness of one ’ s environment as well as a high degree of dexterity .