halo
2005-08-20, 11:57 PM
Man, do I get the weirdest people at my bar. I was sitting there, mopping up the mess that NI! yelling knight did yesterday, and the siege engineer the day before...but man did I get served the main course today. As I said, I was mopping up the mess from last night, when all of a sudden one man, completely suited in black armor and shield, as well as a black bastard sword. He struts in, smiling as he does. Following that, three of the men didn't like him [after 5 minutes, he had observed and informed the other players they were working together in cheating at the current card game they were playing] and pulled out swords, threatening to bring it on. The knight seemed to sigh, then welcome the challenge, then making one of the oddest battle stances I've ever seen. His sword seems to be defending the neck, while the shield his face. It looked impossible to be able to see anything from there. Yet, when the three men charged, he simply ducked to the left, right, OOP! over the third man, and when the second charge came, he...let them come. They slashed and hacked at his legs and stomach, the parts where they could slash their way through his armor, and you could see cuts and bruises everywhere. Or at least, that's what it looked like what was going to be. Yet, every slash, even one of the most concentrated, power swung ones, seemed to do even an ounce of harm to him. The men quickly abandoned the tavern, but not after attempting to slice off his head with a sword clearly enchanted to do so, which merely cut a small gash into his neck.
Requirements:
To qualify to become a defender, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
Base Attack Bonus: +10
Feats: Toughness, Combat Expertise, Dodge.
Special: A black knight must endure 5 rounds of fighting two other knights, whom he must have contacted and given 1000 gp for this pleasure, where he must not attack a single time throughout the battle, and must not leave the designated 10 foot radius arena, where two knights attack him from either side. He can use magic, but only of his own; no outside casters can be used during or 2 hours before the combat. At least one knight must have have 13 levels altogether (for the challenge to be legitimate, thus having 3 levels of black knight, normally)
HD: d10
\The Black Knight’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Profession (Wis), and Ride (Dex).
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + INT modifier.
{table]
Level
BAB
Fort
Will
Reflex
CON bonus
Special Abilities
[tr]
1
1
2
0
0
1
Knight’s Endurance
+1
2
2
3
0
0
1
Knight’s Blowhandling Capabilities
3
3
3
1
1
2
Physical shrug 1
4
4
4
1
1
2
Knight’s feat of Endurance
5
5
4
1
1
3
Hardened Skin
6
6
5
2
2
3
physical shrug 2
7
7
5
2
2
4
The Knight’s Parry
8
8
6
2
2
4
Knight’s Epic Defense
9
9
6
3
6
5
physical shrug 3
10
10
7
3
7
5
Greater Battle Endurance
[/table]
Knight’s Endurance: Every odd Level, the knight gains a +1 bonus to CON (Constitution).
Knight’s Blowhandling Capabilities(The knight’s greater combat expertise) : A knight, when using combat expertise, may increase the penalty to attack rolls/increase to dodge AC by +1 per level.
Physical Shrugs 1, 2, and 3: A black knight, after enduring the tough physical trials of a knight, may, at 3rd level, gain one of the following:
DR 5/Piercing or Slashing
DR 5/ Slashing or bludgeoning
DR 5/ Piercing or bludgeoning
At 6th level, the knight’s choices increase as his skin begins to harden and become less feeling to pain. At 6th level, he may gain either:
DR 5/Slashing
DR 5/Piercing
DR 5/ Bludgeoning
DR 8/ Piercing or Slashing
DR 8/ Slashing or Bludgeoning
DR 8/ Piercing or bludgeoning
Note: This is just an example of improvement. According to these gains, a knight cannot interpret them as separately gaining I.E. DR 5/two of the three weapon damage categories at 3rd and DR 8/two of the three weapon damage categories AND DR 5/ two of the three damage weapon categories at level 6th, or any other such interpretation. The knight, to say, drops the damage reduction of the previous levels to gain the next aforemented DR choices.
At 9th level, this increases to one of the following:
DR 5/-
Dr 5/ Piercing or Slashing and DR 8/ Slashing or Bludgeoning
DR 5/ Slashing or Bludgeoning and DR 8/ Bludgeoning or Piercing
DR 5/ Bludgeoning or Piercing and DR 8/Piercing or slashing
Or any such example where it gains DR 5/two of the three weapon damage categories and DR 8/two of the three weapon damage categories, but one of the weapon categories chosen must be different than the DR 5/two of the three weapon damage categories chosen
Dr 11/Piercing or Slashing
DR 11/ Slashing or Bludgeoning
Dr 11/ Piercing or Bludgeoning
Knight’s Feat of Endurance (Ex): A black knight, due to his ability to take many blows, may, with a successful Fortitude check every round he stays below zero hit points, stay conscious/alive even when he shouldn’t be, such as when he goes down an amount of HP below zero. If successful, he stays alive and conscious during that time period as long as he remains fighting and for 3+ CON rounds after, if he makes the successful checks to do so. The DC for staying alive is equal to (20-Knight’s Level+the amount of HP below zero+5[if he is below -10 hp, it being that hard to stay alive in the grip of death]) Even so, when a knight is about to die [not due to a spell death effect, but due to physical damage], he may make another FORT check with a DC equal to the one aforemented for staying alive to act as if he is at 0 HP for half a minute, but he may only do so once a day [a failed check ruins the attempt, thus.] If he is not healed to above 0 HP from the negative amount of hit points he has received after that half-minute (5 rounds), he will die.
Hardened Skin: A knight has, after the 5th level, gained the incredible ability to be able to shrug the out of the ordainary, devastating blows. For a number of times equal to 2+ Constitution modifier per day, the black knight may attempt to negate any affect that he could not be affected by if he had immunity to critical hits, such as sneak attack, vorpal strikes, and critical hits. After receiving the knowledge of receiving such a hit, he may make the FORT check at a DC = to 10 + damage dealt. If successful, the damage is only normal, not critical or added sneak attack/vorpal ability.
Knight’s Parry: At 7th level, For a number of times equal to the knight’s level, MINUS his wisdom and INT modifiers (only one, whichever is greater, and cannot be used to gain times per day), once per round, he may attempt a counterattack upon a missed enemy attack. If the enemy is immume to critical hits, the attempt automatically fails, for it has been targeted to strike at those who have struck out, failed, and thrown at the weak. The knight must make a concentration check (DC=10+BAB of opponent) to concentrate upon the spot weakest after the lunge, followed by a Reflex check (DC=10+BAB of opponent) to make a counterattack at the highest BAB. A knight that doesn’t wish to have attacks of opportunity against him due to his concentration must increase the Reflex check by 5, otherwise the any enemy adjacent that is not the target of the counterattack may conduct an Attack of Opportunity against him.
Knight’s Epic Defense: Whenever a knight of 8th level or higher uses combat expertise, he can give either half the expertise bonus to one adjacent ally or a quarter to two adjacent allies, but they gain it as deflection, not dodge. Also, it increases the expertise penalty by one and a half.
Knight’s Greatest Battle Endurance: At 10th level, a Black Knight becomes immume to vorpal strikes (cutting off heads on a critical hit), and can, once per day, emit a battle fervor. In this fervor, he must make an attack every round, but in doing so he gains a temporary +6 to CON and DEX, but a -4 to all mental ability checks (will, mind-influencing effects). He also may increase his negation to death effects (Check= To DC 10+ Spell DC (DC 10 +Spell Level+ Main Caster Attribute Bonus)]
Requirements:
To qualify to become a defender, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
Base Attack Bonus: +10
Feats: Toughness, Combat Expertise, Dodge.
Special: A black knight must endure 5 rounds of fighting two other knights, whom he must have contacted and given 1000 gp for this pleasure, where he must not attack a single time throughout the battle, and must not leave the designated 10 foot radius arena, where two knights attack him from either side. He can use magic, but only of his own; no outside casters can be used during or 2 hours before the combat. At least one knight must have have 13 levels altogether (for the challenge to be legitimate, thus having 3 levels of black knight, normally)
HD: d10
\The Black Knight’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Profession (Wis), and Ride (Dex).
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + INT modifier.
{table]
Level
BAB
Fort
Will
Reflex
CON bonus
Special Abilities
[tr]
1
1
2
0
0
1
Knight’s Endurance
+1
2
2
3
0
0
1
Knight’s Blowhandling Capabilities
3
3
3
1
1
2
Physical shrug 1
4
4
4
1
1
2
Knight’s feat of Endurance
5
5
4
1
1
3
Hardened Skin
6
6
5
2
2
3
physical shrug 2
7
7
5
2
2
4
The Knight’s Parry
8
8
6
2
2
4
Knight’s Epic Defense
9
9
6
3
6
5
physical shrug 3
10
10
7
3
7
5
Greater Battle Endurance
[/table]
Knight’s Endurance: Every odd Level, the knight gains a +1 bonus to CON (Constitution).
Knight’s Blowhandling Capabilities(The knight’s greater combat expertise) : A knight, when using combat expertise, may increase the penalty to attack rolls/increase to dodge AC by +1 per level.
Physical Shrugs 1, 2, and 3: A black knight, after enduring the tough physical trials of a knight, may, at 3rd level, gain one of the following:
DR 5/Piercing or Slashing
DR 5/ Slashing or bludgeoning
DR 5/ Piercing or bludgeoning
At 6th level, the knight’s choices increase as his skin begins to harden and become less feeling to pain. At 6th level, he may gain either:
DR 5/Slashing
DR 5/Piercing
DR 5/ Bludgeoning
DR 8/ Piercing or Slashing
DR 8/ Slashing or Bludgeoning
DR 8/ Piercing or bludgeoning
Note: This is just an example of improvement. According to these gains, a knight cannot interpret them as separately gaining I.E. DR 5/two of the three weapon damage categories at 3rd and DR 8/two of the three weapon damage categories AND DR 5/ two of the three damage weapon categories at level 6th, or any other such interpretation. The knight, to say, drops the damage reduction of the previous levels to gain the next aforemented DR choices.
At 9th level, this increases to one of the following:
DR 5/-
Dr 5/ Piercing or Slashing and DR 8/ Slashing or Bludgeoning
DR 5/ Slashing or Bludgeoning and DR 8/ Bludgeoning or Piercing
DR 5/ Bludgeoning or Piercing and DR 8/Piercing or slashing
Or any such example where it gains DR 5/two of the three weapon damage categories and DR 8/two of the three weapon damage categories, but one of the weapon categories chosen must be different than the DR 5/two of the three weapon damage categories chosen
Dr 11/Piercing or Slashing
DR 11/ Slashing or Bludgeoning
Dr 11/ Piercing or Bludgeoning
Knight’s Feat of Endurance (Ex): A black knight, due to his ability to take many blows, may, with a successful Fortitude check every round he stays below zero hit points, stay conscious/alive even when he shouldn’t be, such as when he goes down an amount of HP below zero. If successful, he stays alive and conscious during that time period as long as he remains fighting and for 3+ CON rounds after, if he makes the successful checks to do so. The DC for staying alive is equal to (20-Knight’s Level+the amount of HP below zero+5[if he is below -10 hp, it being that hard to stay alive in the grip of death]) Even so, when a knight is about to die [not due to a spell death effect, but due to physical damage], he may make another FORT check with a DC equal to the one aforemented for staying alive to act as if he is at 0 HP for half a minute, but he may only do so once a day [a failed check ruins the attempt, thus.] If he is not healed to above 0 HP from the negative amount of hit points he has received after that half-minute (5 rounds), he will die.
Hardened Skin: A knight has, after the 5th level, gained the incredible ability to be able to shrug the out of the ordainary, devastating blows. For a number of times equal to 2+ Constitution modifier per day, the black knight may attempt to negate any affect that he could not be affected by if he had immunity to critical hits, such as sneak attack, vorpal strikes, and critical hits. After receiving the knowledge of receiving such a hit, he may make the FORT check at a DC = to 10 + damage dealt. If successful, the damage is only normal, not critical or added sneak attack/vorpal ability.
Knight’s Parry: At 7th level, For a number of times equal to the knight’s level, MINUS his wisdom and INT modifiers (only one, whichever is greater, and cannot be used to gain times per day), once per round, he may attempt a counterattack upon a missed enemy attack. If the enemy is immume to critical hits, the attempt automatically fails, for it has been targeted to strike at those who have struck out, failed, and thrown at the weak. The knight must make a concentration check (DC=10+BAB of opponent) to concentrate upon the spot weakest after the lunge, followed by a Reflex check (DC=10+BAB of opponent) to make a counterattack at the highest BAB. A knight that doesn’t wish to have attacks of opportunity against him due to his concentration must increase the Reflex check by 5, otherwise the any enemy adjacent that is not the target of the counterattack may conduct an Attack of Opportunity against him.
Knight’s Epic Defense: Whenever a knight of 8th level or higher uses combat expertise, he can give either half the expertise bonus to one adjacent ally or a quarter to two adjacent allies, but they gain it as deflection, not dodge. Also, it increases the expertise penalty by one and a half.
Knight’s Greatest Battle Endurance: At 10th level, a Black Knight becomes immume to vorpal strikes (cutting off heads on a critical hit), and can, once per day, emit a battle fervor. In this fervor, he must make an attack every round, but in doing so he gains a temporary +6 to CON and DEX, but a -4 to all mental ability checks (will, mind-influencing effects). He also may increase his negation to death effects (Check= To DC 10+ Spell DC (DC 10 +Spell Level+ Main Caster Attribute Bonus)]