Gods of Diablo 2 Fallen: Philios - The First Paladin

[Flix 5,066]

For more detailed info on Philios and his Divine Gift Redemption, check his SacredWiki page.

 

Lore of the Nephalem

Book 4: Philios - The First Paladin

Philios, according to legend, was a bold and powerful first-generation nephalem, who lived in the early days of Ancaria. After a love affair with the angel Lycander he became the first Paladin of Ancaria.

 

Origins

Philios walked the world with a power unrivaled by any except for Rathma. The angel Lycander felt drawn to him and the two fell in love.

 

When Lilith massacred Ancaria's renegade angels and demons, Lycander fled back to Heaven, though maintained contact with Philios through an artifact in his possession called the Sightless Eye. However, she ended the romance after her fellow angels discovered she was communicating with someone outside Heaven, and insisted that Philios hide the Eye so that Heaven and the Creator would not learn of Ancaria's existence. Philios grieved, but nonetheless obeyed, hiding the Eye on Dyr-Lain. The eye remained hidden for centuries until it was discovered by the daughters of Helgrotha.

 

Legacy

Philios continued to aimlessly adventure throughout Ancaria for years. One day while visiting a cabal of monks known as the Akarat, Philios was struck with a series of apocalyptic prophecies, perhaps brought on by his prolonged use of the Sightless Eye. In these visions Philios saw the Prime Evils, great and powerful demons, let loose upon the world, and cataclysmic battles between the forces of Heaven and Hell that would rend Ancaria apart. The monks recorded these visions, and thus Zakarum, the religion of the Light, was born.

 

During the mid-twelfth century, after the Church of Zakarum had gained prominence in the East, the Church decreed that the visions of Philios would be spread throughout the known world in order to redeem the masses. Thus, the Church selected a group of its most charismatic and devoted priests and sent them on a mission to proselytize the people of the West.

 

Unfortunately, the Church had not prepared these men for the rigors of travel nor the hazards of the world. The priests who survived their missions recounted tales of harsh weather, inadequate supplies, attacks from bandits and even encounters with horrible monsters. To ensure the success of future missions, Philios himself set about training holy warriors, Paladins, to accompany and safeguard their missionaries. In practice, these "Protectors of the Word" proved to be more successful at converting the native peoples than the Priests that they were assigned to defend. Impressing the locals with daring deeds, powerful weapons, and martial prowess was far more convincing than the condemnations of a soft-spoken monk. However, once the Word had been spread to every major city of the West, the "Protectors of the Word" faded from public view, and indeed Philios himself, now active for centuries, seemed to vanish all too quickly into legend.

The Inquisition

Some decades later, Paladins were again called into service. During the height of the Dragon War, the Church commenced a second campaign of conversion. This time, however, Philios had long since faded into legend, and the unconvincible were deemed evil heretics. The Inquisition spread through the lands like a tempest, laying waste to all suspected of demonic possession or corruption. Leading this crusade was a new generation of Paladins, known as the "Hand of Zakarum." These Inquisitors swept through the lands, expunging the taint of demonic contamination wherever they found it.

 

In the midst of this bloody crusade, a rebellion arose within the ranks of the Paladins of Zakarum. The rebels condemned the methods of the Inquisition, proclaiming that the new Order of Paladins should honor Philios's words by protecting the innocent, and that the evil corruption was rooted in their forebear's failure. They resolved to fight the true source of corruption, the Prime Evils. And so, these rebellious Paladins left their Inquisitor brethren and ventured out into the word to stop the demonic forces. The more powerful Inquisiton itself eventually came to praise Rathma and Trang'Oul over Philios and the Light, thus leading to a schism throughout the mainstream religions of Ancaria.

 

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Divine Gift: Redemption

Philios casts a blessed circle around the hero which annuls all enemy spells and fills most with a righteous terror which causes them to repent their evil ways and flee. Those who refuse to repent and remain within the magic circle are destroyed.

• Banishes most enemy spells
• 40% Chance to Block Combat Arts
• Slows enemy run speed by 100%
• 60% Chance for Fear
• Magic Damage: 30 + 15 per level
• Bonus Magic Damage against Undead and Demons: 124 + 42 per level
• Duration: 12 s
• Cooldown: 400 s (~6.6 minutes)

This Divine Gift bears little resemblance to the D2 Redemption. Instead, it is like casting a huge, extremely powerful Expulse Magic circle around the character.

 

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Statue

Clicking on Philios' statue will partially regenerate his Divine Gift, Redemption. Statue built by Pesmontis.

 

 

 

This is the final update of the gods. I hope reading this lore will help tie everything together in terms of the new history of the races, nations, and factions of Ancaria. There are more alterations to be found in the Geography books as well, so don't hesitate to peruse some of the old books if you find them. You might find some new surprises.

Edited November 29, 2016 by Flix

[Flix 5,066]

Small update for v12: Redemption's initial range is lower but scales better as it levels up.  It was starting out gigantic, now there's more of a sense of it growing as it levels up.

[chattius 2,377]

Daughter is playing a character named Zwölfsekunne (12 seconds). It is a priestess trying to end a fight with the god power which lasts 12-17s. Main reason for this is: a cruel dad who said you can have a short break gaming between ech exercise for homework ;)

One question which I didn't found in the wiki:

How is Divine Devotion when it is maxed out:

Will it have all three effects:

new cooldown formula (is in wiki)

new formula to calculate effective CA-Level (like a focus in a spell tree):)

new formula for x% damage and criticals (like a lore in a spell tree):)

 

Also not in Wiki: intelligence, ancient magic and combat displine boost the damage of a god power because it is a spell.

I think +CA range items will also be effective?

[Flix 5,066]

6 hours ago, chattius said:

Will it have all three effects:

new cooldown formula (is in wiki)

new formula to calculate effective CA-Level (like a focus in a spell tree):)

new formula for x% damage and criticals (like a lore in a spell tree):)

In the past, Wiki has stated that Divine Devotion "acts as both Focus and Lore," but I think truly it's just the first two.  Higher level without penalty, and better regeneration time.