The Diakons - Servants of good - three subclasses with divine origins
The ongoing Sin War dictates that good and evil will continually struggle for power. With the birth of the powerful Netherspawn enemies comes a set of three servants of light, the Angel (Rogue), Avenger (Warrior) and Seraph (Sorceror). Whether they are themselves angels, or offspring of a human-angel pairing is unclear, but their zeal for good and hatred for Diablo excel those of mortals. In some areas they are called Deacons.

Angel - the Diakon subclass for the Rogue

Class: Rogue (a well rounded and versatile rogue) -- Designation: (AA)

Approach: frequent use of magic, most often wields a staff, both for combat and to help spells

Weapons: of Light/Radiance are preferred, most are fine, but not of Vampire, Bat, Blood, Leech, wicked, vicious, ruthless, savage, merciless, etc.

Bow: allowed, but only if 'fair', ie. vs ranged attackers, and a preferred suffix. Staff and Magic use are preferred, but not required. AA staff is supreme.

Shield: Yes, except of thieves

Armor: preference for Radiance, Saintly, Godly, Blessed, Holy. Other types are ok except 'of thieves'.

Spells: preference for fire (except infernal), no Golem, Elemental, Blood Star or Bone Spirit; Guardian is ok, all lightning types allowed. Note that all diakons capable of casting the spell must cast Mana shield when entering a new level (although the Avenger may or may not find it helpful to re-cast on a level). The Diakon casting of Stone Curse turns a wicked creature into a pillar of salt, and is permitted.

Items: most are ok except cruel sounding ones. Also disallowed: obsidian, zodiac, and serpent's. The preferred suffix is 'of the Heavens'.

Scrolls: same as spells, but nova and apocalypse are well liked

Stats: +2 Magic and +1 Vitality are required each level-up Starting off: (Angel only, not other diakons) the Angel must learn reliance on a higher power, and will sell all starting goods (bow and potions) and give away or drop that money; she will surely find a suitable weapon within the church (or use her feet wisely!)

Co-op: will play with any virtuous legit characters. Prefers not to accept gifts, but will accept 'donations', and items that are holy or blessed, of light/radiance, or belong to the 'heavens' or 'angels'.

Goal: to gain in power and holiness, leading to the defeat of Diablo. To pursue the first dot, the angel must have at least +20% light radius, and use a weapon & armor of 'preferred' status, and be in possession of an object giving +1 spell level. For the second dot, she must have at least +40% radius, all items 'preferred', and be in possession of an 'angel' staff. For the third dot, she must have at least +50% l.r., all worns items 'most preferred', and in possesion of (if not wielding) an AA staff. The titles for attaining these are: Guardian Angel, High Angel, Arch-angel.

Specific Allowed item list: (*=preferred, **=most preferred) Prefixes: amber, *angels, **arch-angels, awesome, azure, *blessed, blue, bountiful, champion's, cobalt, crimson, crystal, diamond, dragon's, drake's, emerald, fine, flaming, garnet, glorious, **godly, gold, **holy, ivory, jade, **king's, knight's, lapis, lightning, *lord's, massive, *master's, meteoric, mithril, platinum, raven's, red, ruby, **saintly, sapphire, sharp, snake's, soldier's, spider's, strong, topaz, valiant, warrior's, white. Suffix: of accuracy, *the ages, balance, brilliance, burning, craftsmanship, deflection, eagle, fire, fox, giants, harmony, haste, **heavens, jaguar, **life, *light, lion, magic, might, mind, osmosis, *perfection, plenty, power, precision, quality, **radiance, skill, sky, sorcery, wizardry, speed, structure, sturdiness, swiftness, thunder, tiger, titans, vigor, vim, vitality, wizardry, whale, wolf, zest

Unique items: no Demon-like items, Constricting Ring, neither darkness/shadow/black ones (it should be clear)

Preferred Unique Items: *Rainbow Coat (of Joseph), *Bloodslayer, **Celestial Star, *Hellslayer, *Sparkling Mail, *Celestial Bow, **Dreamflange, *Royal Circlet, **Holy Defender, *Stormshield, *Mindcry, *Light Sabre (Use of preferred items is not mandated, but very highly encouraged. There would have to be a very good reason not to use a 'most preferred' item!)

Special: The Diakon Quest of Righteousness
At some point after their first dot, the Diakon will seek to suit up in their finest/brightest/whitest gear, and make a bold strike into the depths of hell. To undertake this quest their radiance level must be at least +144% (!). They enter into hell with no spare equipment other than potions, and march down to defeat Diablo. The NO RETREAT rules of the Avenger apply to all Diakon subclasses for this quest, and they can NOT resurface to town until level 16 is cleared outside of Diablo's room. They then grab their gear (but no restocking), port back down to dlvl16, let Diablo loose, trap him in the maze, slay every one of his bodyguards in that room, and as the last one standing, kill Diablo with a Holy weapon or holy bolt. The Diakon may prepend his title with 'Righteous' should this quest be successfully completed (at Normal difficulty). A Diakon bold enough (and strong enough) to do so at Nightmare difficulty is termed 'Most Righteous', while on Hell difficulty, the suffix 'on High' is earned. (ie., a Most Righeous Holy Avenger on High) (Those who wish a suitable and dignified retirement may choose to restock one belt full of yellow potions and leave all excess equipment on the ground before their final re-entry into hell. The Ultimate award goes to such a character who gets his 3rd dot, at thirtieth level, with the Quest of Righteousness!)

Seraph - the Diakon subclass for the Sorceror
Rules same as for Angel, with these changes:

Seraph (Sorceror) -- Designated (SEER) or (SER)

Specializes in the channeling of magic to destroy evil. Typically wields a staff, especially Angel or Arch-Angel. Once found or available for sale and affordable, such a staff *must* be used. Nova and Apocalypse are favored, but to a lesser degree.

Can wear up to splint mail, or a breastplate of righteousness (blessed, etc.), plus allowed uniques.

Can use any spell the 'Angel' can, but works hard to do so at the hightest possible level. They scour the church levels for books and enchanted shrines, and do frequent catacombs runs as well. Golem's are never tolerated on a level, if one is seen, it should be destroyed.

Stats: they look not upon their own strength but rely on man(n)a from heaven, so they never add Vitality when leveling up (elixirs ok), and will ONLY give points to Str or Dex to wear a 'preferred' item they have found.

Co-op: the Seraphim are also guardians of purity; should a player enter a game and show him/herself to be a cheater, the Seraph must expel or punish that character immediately. Co-op note for angel: when playing with others the Angel will always keep a high-level "Heal Other" spell ready and look to cast this frequently. In these situations she also seeks to bind the evil forces (s.c.) and to provide Guardian cover. Also, she would not leave an Avenger to be slaughtered if he gets surrounded.

Titles: Seer, Cherub, Seraph (for 1st, 2nd, 3rd dot)

(Holy) Avenger - the Diakon subclass for the Warrior
Rules same as for Angel, with these changes:

Avenger (Warrior) -- designated (HA)

Prefers melee, avoids bow (same limits as above, and *only* vs ranged) Will NOT use a sword or axe, but uses only blunt weapons (club, mace, flail, morning star, maul, staff, shield, fist)

Armor/Shield: any (as long as pref/suffix ok)

Spells: same as others. May use teleport to position himself within battle, but not to flee, and cannot leave line-of-sight of enemy. They seek to master the tele-kill strategy. An Avenger may not stone curse an opponent (or beat on one stoned by someone) when it's the only enemy around (not fair! s.c. reserved for those who would try to gang up on the Avenger)

Stats: +2 magic/lvl required

Item Recovery: may choose to make a 'Divine Mission' run to retrieve items, wearing no equipment, and striking no foe, until the sacred items have been returned safely.

Co-op: an Avenger can always be relied upon to answer a call for distress, especially those slain in a dungeon and stripped of their goods. They may give and receive appropriate gifts.

Special: Does *NOT* RETREAT. Period. No backing away, ducking around a corner, or fleeing via Town Portal if any monsters present. Advance carefully, avoid running into rooms, and/or increase stealth as needed. Taking a few steps back into a corner/against a wall to prepare for an onslaught, and sidestepping movements & running around ('happy feet') are ok if they are used to position yourself, avoid damage and corner an opponent, but not to lure foes away to a safer combat zone. (You really might want to improve your stone curse abilities!) If that's not clear: you can't leave a room, leave the line of sight of nearest enemies, or run away from enemies, but you can chase one enemy down who happens to be running in the direction you would like to go! The Avenger does not fear death (or anything else, for that matter). (note: same rule as for Death Knights; how could the Avenger do any less?)

Titles: Avenger, Apostle (or Avatar, if the player prefers that title), Holy Avenger

Summary/Reference of Diakon Rules
Angel(AA), Seraph(SER), and Holy Avenger(HA) - for details, see above.

Class: Rogue(AA), Sorceror(SER), Warrior(HA)

Weapons: staff typical for (AA,SER), but others allowed. Blunt weapons for (HA). +Light Radius, and 'good/blessed/etc.' prefix/suffixes preferred

Bows: no 'nasty' pref/suffix, used vs ranged attackers only

Armor: up to breastplate (SER); all (AA,HA)

Shield: ok

Items: all but 'cruel'-sounding ones allowed; a number are preferred, especially radiance, of the heavens, godly/holy/etc., life, angels

Light: +20%, +40%, +50% light radius required to go for 1st, 2nd, 3rd dot

Spells: lightning(all), fire(except Inferno), magic(only flash, Guardian), plus stone curse, holy bolt, portal/teleport type spells and frequent mana shield

Scrolls: as spells, plus nova/apocalypse/identify/etc.

Staff: allowed, strongly preferred for (AA) and (SER) - eventual an Angel's staff

Stats: +2 Magic/level, (also +1 vitality for AA), (NO vitality by level-ups for SER)

Special: Quest of Righteousness (see above)

Other: HA's can never retreat; AA's sell starting items