T.G. Oskar
2013-11-12, 11:28 PM
Ladyzombies and ghouls; slaymates of all ages... Evil outsiders and Eldritch Abominations too...
So yeah: I missed Halloween by almost two weeks. And there's no flow of new material; this is most disturbing! Thus, to fix this!
In this case, I followed a fun idea. The Dread Necromancer, a base class from Heroes of Horror, is an interesting class: a spontaneous Necromancy specialist, whose main purpose is to become a Lich without taking the template. Much like the Dragon Disciple, but without sucking that much*. So I figured: could I take my favorite chassis, the Divine Champion (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=11091707&postcount=60), and give it a twist by making a melee version of the Dread Necromancer (even though the Dread Necro does melee decently, because of the armor, the DR, the natural armor, the resistances and the Charnel Touch...), except that you turn into something else other than a Lich?
Fortunately, Lord Soth (one of the most famous exemplars of the template I'm about to mention) gave me the solution: how about making a class that, as a capstone, turns you into a Death Knight? The Death Knight template is pretty awesome, but some of the abilities...not so much. I mean...Abyssal Blast? Cute, but 1/day isn't really that cool. The increase to d12 is great; the loss of Con (and henceforth Fortitude)...isn't great. But, most importantly: all these goodies for LA +5!? Yeah: it hurts. It most definitely hurts.
Thus, I decided to do a first: a base class that combined Spontaneous Specialization with partial casting (well, half-casting, but with full CL) and beefed up melee. Naturally, it brought me to the Divine Champion chassis, and with it, options that should make Death Knights much more powerful.
In short: Death Knight in a can. And without the stinky Evil smell or funky Evil flavor (though, if you're a fan of it, might as well go for it, no?) Thus, without further ado, may I present to you...
DREADLORD
ABILITIES: Charisma determines many of the dreadlord's powers, such as the fear aura, their spellcasting and, eventually, the damage from their dread touch. Being melee combatants, Strength and Constitution are likewise important.
RACES: Most dreadlords are usually humans; only they combine the desired traits of ruthlessness and ambition that make them generals of the undead. Elves' respect for life and dwarves' respect for ancestors make them unsuitable, but there are a few exceptions.
Amongst the savage races, usually orcs and hobgoblins are guided by their deities to become dreadlords, preparing them for the grim task of death knighthood from a very early age.
ALIGNMENT: Any non-good. Becoming a dreadlord requires having, to an extent, a grim outlook on life; rather than avoid death, they choose to embrace it and use it as a weapon. Neutral dreadlords generally use their powers as a weapon against evil, but are practical rather than idealistic. As they progress through the path into undeath, they begin to accept the idea that protecting life may be a lost cause, but some find reasons; patriotic fervor, vengeance, or even the challenge of overcoming the impossible.
STARTING GOLD: As PHB Paladin
STARTING AGE: As PHB Paladin
Class Skills
The dreadlord’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (any) (Int), Disguise (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (religion), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis) and Spellcraft (Int)
Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Int modifier) x4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier.
A pretty interesting set of skills, particularly regarding Disguise, of all skills. Here's a good explanation:
Bluff and Disguise are necessary to hide the gradual transformation of the dreadlord into a death knight. Because of this, even if only wearing a cape and remaining evasive, a dreadlord can appear trustworthy; something necessary in a world where necromancy is usually seen as evil or, at least, uncivilized. If everything else fails, they can enter the shadows and hide; thus, they also get Hide as a class skill.
The rest is pretty basic from a Divine Champion chassis (something you'd see from a Blackguard), save for Knowledge (arcana), in order to show knowledge about arcane necromancy (their spell list). With 4 skill points per class level as a base, they can afford most of these skills.
Hit Die: d12.
{TABLE=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|1st|2nd|3rd|4th
1st|+1|
+2|
+0|
+2|Dread touch|-|-|-|-
2nd|+2|
+3|
+0|
+3|Dread resilience +2, Tomb-Tainted Soul|-|-|-|-
3rd|+3|
+3|
+1|
+3|Dread aura, unnatural toughness|-|-|-|-
4th|+4|
+4|
+1|
+4|Rebuke undead|0|-|-|-
5th|+5|
+4|
+1|
+4|Abyssal blast 2/day, dread channeling|1|-|-|-
6th|+6/+1|
+5|
+2|
+5|Bonus feat, fear aura|1|-|-|-
7th|+7/+2|
+5|
+2|
+5|Dread resilience +4, dread fortification (25%)|1|-|-|-
8th|+8/+3|
+6|
+2|
+6|Unnatural toughness (DR 2/magic), mettle|2|0|-|-
9th|+9/+4|
+6|
+3|
+6|Dread aura, dread focus|2|1|-|-
10th|+10/+5|
+7|
+3|
+7|Abyssal blast 3/day, bonus feat, dread wound|2|1|-|-
11th|+11/+6/+1|
+7|
+3|
+7|Unnatural toughness (DR 4/magic)|3|1|0|-
12th|+12/+7/+2|
+8|
+4|
+8|Dread resilience +6, undead mastery|3|2|1|-
13th|+13/+8/+3|
+8|
+4|
+8|Dread fortification (50%)|3|2|1|-
14th|+14/+9/+4|
+9|
+4|
+9|Bonus feat, improved mettle, unnatural toughness (DR 6/magic and good)|3|2|1|0
15th|+15/+10+/5|
+9|
+5|
+9|Abyssal blast 4/day, dread aura, dread channeling (full attack)|4|3|2|1
16th|+16/+11/+6/+1|
+10|
+5|
+10|Spell resistance|4|3|2|1
17th|+17/+12/+7/+2|
+10|
+5|
+10|Dread resilience +8, unnatural toughness (DR 8/magic and good)|4|3|2|2
18th|+18/+13+/8+/3|
+11|
+6|
+11|Bonus feat, dreadsoul sword|4|3|3|2
19th|+19/+14/+9/+4|
+11|
+6|
+11|Dread fortification (100%)|4|4|3|3
20th|+20/+15/+10/+5|
+12|
+6|
+12|Abyssal blast 5/day, dread transformation, unnatural toughness (DR 10/epic and good)|4|4|3|3[/TABLE]
As you can see, Dreadlords are pretty tough cookies to kill, and they get a very useful ability right from the beginning; the Dread Touch. While it starts much like the Charnel Touch, by the time you reach level 5 and Dread Channeling, you get the same touch as a Death Knight, but improved (and usable through weapons, something the original lacks unless it's a natural weapon). By 10th level, you get the full effect of a Death Knight's touch, including the Constitution damage.
The rest takes many, many cues from the Dread Necromancer and the Paladin (of Tyranny or Slaughter, mostly), such as the Unnatural Toughness (to replicate the damage reduction; it's eventually improved to magic and good because damage reduction X/magic is hilariously easy to pass), Dread Fortification (eventual immunity to critical hits and saving throws) and Dread Resilience (resistances that eventually become immunities) alongside Rebuke Undead.
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the dreadlord.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Dreadlords are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all types of armor, and with all shields.
Because the somatic components required for dreadlord spells are simple, the dreadlord may use his spells while wearing light or medium armor, and while using a light shield. However, like any other arcane spellcaster, a dreadlord wearing heavy armor or using a heavy or tower shield incurs a chance of arcane spell failure if the spell in question has a somatic component (most do). A multiclass dreadlord still incurs the normal arcane spell failure chance for arcane spells received from other classes.
Befitting their martial bent, dreadlords gain the ability to cast spells in medium armor from the beginning, giving them pretty good defense. Eventually they get to cast in heavy armor, but medium armor and light shields provide some excellent protection early on. As you can notice, they can use tower shields; if you consider adding tower shields odd, feel free to mention it.
Dread Touch (Su): Amongst the first things a dreadlord learns upon his journey to undeath is the ability to manipulate a small reserve of negative energy. This reserve starts small, but as he progresses, the damage becomes considerable. At will (but only once per round), a dreadlord may make a melee touch attack that deals 1d8 points of negative energy damage to living creatures. This touch can be used to heal undead creatures of 1 hit point of damage.
Much like Paladins and Blackguards get smites, Dreadlords get...the Death Knight's touch. While it may deal less damage than just making a melee attack, since it's a melee touch, it has a better chance of hitting, and the damage isn't so bad for an at-will ability (unlike Smite, which is usually a daily ability, and most homebrew fixes make it encounter-based). As it stands, it's mechanically similar to the Dread Necromancer's Charnel Touch, and that's intentional. However, unlike the Dread Necromancer, the Dread Touch has a special benefit that appears only one level afterwards.
Dread Resilience (Ex): At 2nd level, a dreadlord begins to assume some of the unnatural features of undead creatures, his body infused with a hint of negative energy that grows as he progresses deeper into the journey to undeath. He gains a +2 bonus on all saving throws related to disease, death effects, paralysis, poison and sleep effects. This bonus increases by 2 every five class levels after the 2nd. At 7th level, this also applies to ability damage, ability drain and energy drain effects; at 12th level, this applies to all spells of the necromancy subschool.
So yeah: the Dreadlord gets more resilient against special attacks, even though there's the precedent of early immunities. Certainly, being immune to disease by 3rd level or magical sleep effects as a racial ability might make this somewhat weak, but since you also have good Fortitude and Will saves, you're pretty much immune anyways. You also get strong resistances against death effects, paralysis and poison, something you don't get until much, MUCH later. Certainly, getting five immunities at 2nd level isn't fair, but a combination of special resistances and naturally high saves works well (it works for the Paladin, no?). By 7th level, you get resistances against eight difference effects, and by 12th level you get resistances against nine different effects, and with the combination of good saves, good ability scores (well, not very high Will saves, but if you get Force of Personality, you apply Charisma to them, and thus get very high saves).
Of course, if you've read thus far, you might suspect that all these resistances might become moot by the time you reach the capstone, OR if you become a Necropolitan. Or is it...? Read on.
Tomb-Tainted Soul: At 2nd level, a dreadlord gains the Tomb-Tainted Soul feat as a bonus feat. See Libris Mortis, page 31 for more details.
Yep: you get to use your Dread Touch to heal yourself (out of combat, of course) at will, as if you were using a Cure Minor (or should it be Inflict Minor) Wounds spell every round. Plus, you open the Tomb-Tainted line, in case you don't end up taking the capstone: the more feats, the better, no?
Dread Aura (Su): Beginning at 3rd level, a dreadlord serves as a font of negative energy which causes dread upon his enemies. This manifests as an aura that has a small distance, but that slowly increases in size as the dreadlord progresses.
Projecting an aura is a swift action, and the dreadlord can only project one aura at a time. An aura remains in effect until the dreadlord uses a free action to dismiss it or he activates another aura in its place. A dreadlord can have a dread aura active continually; thus, an aura can be in effect at the start of an encounter even before he takes his first turn.
A dreadlord that acquires this ability must choose from one of the auras presented below. Unless otherwise noted, the range of the aura is of 60 feet. As a dreadlord progresses in levels, he learns to manifest more auras and the size of his auras increase; at 9th level, he gains the ability to manifest one more aura from the list and his aura increases to 75 feet; at 15th level, a dreadlord gains the ability to manifest another aura and his area of effect increases to 90 feet. Opponents within the area of effect of the aura must have line of effect to the dreadlord in order to be affected by it. The dreadlord’s aura is dismissed if he becomes unconscious or slain, but otherwise it remains in effect even if she is incapable of acting.
All of the aura’s penalties start at -1, and increase by 1 for every three class levels of the dreadlord. If the dreadlord has the ability to manifest other kinds of auras (such as the dragon shaman’s draconic auras from Player’s Handbook II or the marshal’s major auras from Miniatures Handbook, but not draconic auras gained from feats or the marshal’s minor auras), his auras increase in power: for every two points of bonus from other auras, the dreadlord's dread aura’s penalties increase by 1, and for every two points of penalty from the dread auras, all other auras’ bonuses increase by 1.
Blasphemy: profane bonus to Armor Class and saving throws to all allies. A creature benefitting from the prayer spell or a similar spell (such as the recitation spell or the divine protection spell from Spell Compendium) has its effect suppressed while within the aura's range; an ally taking a penalty from a similar spell has its effect suppressed while under the effects of this aura.
Cowardice: penalty on saving throws. A creature benefitting from the heroism spell or the inspire courage effect has its effect suppressed while under the effects of this aura. This aura is suppressed within all areas a paladin's aura of courage applies, unless the dreadlord is of higher level than the paladin.
Despair: penalty on attack rolls and weapon damage rolls. A creature benefitting from the good hope spell has its effect suppressed while under the effects of this aura.
Despoiling: bonus on attack rolls and weapon damage rolls to all undead creatures within the aura (this includes the dreadlord). This suppresses the effect of a consecrate spell on all areas this aura touches.
Weakness: penalty to Armor Class. Allies within the aura's area of effect may ignore a number of points of damage reduction equal to the aura's penalty if the damage reduction is bypassed by magic weapons or weapons of evil alignment. At 18th level this also applies to damage reduction bypassed by epic weapons.
Fun auras, no?
For the Dread Auras, I took inspiration from the Project Heretica Blackguard and the Bez-Kismet, particularly from the second because it progresses auras in the same way (and the auras grant penalties rather than bonuses, though some grant bonuses). However, the fun part comes where they become capable of disabling the effect of some common buffs and spells (the Paladin's aura of courage, the Bard's inspire courage, and the spells mentioned above). Dread auras are strong debuffs (loss of attack and damage bonuses, AC and saves, and even some bonuses to allies), but if the enemy attempts to buff itself, it may end up with a nasty surprise when it sees its benefits suppressed. Makes the dreadlord a deadlier challenge, particularly as a BBEG or dragon (the latter figuratively speaking).
Unnatural Toughness (Ex): At 3rd level, a dreadlord's skin withers and toughens, assuming some of the traits of the undead. He gains a +1 bonus to his natural armor; if he already has a source of natural armor, this benefit is treated as an enhancement bonus to natural armor. This bonus increases by 1 for every 3 class levels after the 3rd, up to a +6 bonus at 18th level.
At 8th level, the dreadlord's skin becomes even more resilient. He gains damage reduction 2, bypassed only by magic weapons. This damage reduction increases by 2 for every three class levels after 8th, up to 10 points of damage reduction at 20th level. At 14th level, the damage reduction can only be bypassed by magic weapons of good alignment, and by 20th level only by epic weapons of good alignment.
So yeah: by 3rd level, you get natural armor, so you become harder to kill. By 8th level, you also get damage reduction, becoming doubly harder to kill.
The way Unnatural Toughness works, though, is interesting: if you have natural armor bonuses, the class-based increase is treated as an enhancement bonus, so it won't stack with an Amulet of Natural Armor (or Barkskin), but it'll usually end up being higher, so you're basically freeing a slot. If you don't have natural armor, you get a slowly increasing source AND you can add natural armor on top of it. That way, the dreadlord gets roughly the same amount of natural armor (in fact, 1 point higher) than the death knight, which is a nice bonus. Of course, in order to get a better natural armor than that of the death knight, you need to be nearly level 15th...roughly the same cap if you choose to "eat" the LA for the template. The damage reduction is slightly better, since (using the conversion booklet) the Dreadlord gains the same amount of DR as the Death Knight, but much harder to resist.
Spellcasting: At 4th level, the dreadlord gains the ability to cast a small amount of arcane spells, which are drawn from the dreadlord's spell list (see below). Like a sorcerer, he may cast any spell he knows ahead of time. When a dreadlord gains access to a new spell level, he automatically knows all the spells for that level given in the dreadlord's spell list. Unlike similar classes, the dreadlord may not increase his spell list through further study (such as by the advanced learning class feature), but he may add spells to his spell list if he enters a class or prestige class that does.
To cast a spell, a dreadlord must have a Charisma score of 10 + the spell’s level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a dreadlord’s spell is 10 + twice the spell’s level + his Charisma modifier. Like other spellcasters, a dreadlord can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given in the table above. In addition, he receives bonus spells for a high Charisma score (see Table 1–1 on page 8 of the Player’s Handbook).
Yep: spontaneous (Necromancy) specialist half caster. That's a new one for my homebrews, at least; that's usually one of the ways Paladin spells are handled by other 'brewers, ironically. That means you get a whole bunch of spells accessible on your spell list, but all of them are fixed. However, being an arcane caster, you can find ways to improve them (such as, say, Arcane Disciple?).
EDIT: Oh yeah, this is a slight boost that's part of the Divine Champion chassis: considering they get spells with saving throw DCs, they need those DCs to be worthwhile. Thus, their spells have their save DC by means of spell levels doubled. That should make the spells that have saving throw DCs more powerful.
Rebuke Undead (Su): At 4th level, the dreadlord gains the ability to rebuke or command undead creatures by channeling negative energy. He may use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + his Charisma modifier. He rebukes undead as a cleric of three levels lower would (see Turn or Rebuke Undead, PHB 159).
A Dreadlord is meant to lead the undead. Thus, they get the power to rebuke and, eventually, control the undead. In case you don't want to, you can power up divine feats through it, but at least they get an incentive to get loads of undead around them (their auras, for once, improve your undead).
A key aspect to consider is that you'll probably end up contolling usually weak undead (zombies, skeletons, ghouls, ghasts, etc.), which is curiously what you get as part of the Death Knight template. This is basically a taste of their eventual power to invoke undead, and with the ability to cast Animate Dead, you can effectively control a vast army of undead between the three abilities.
Abyssal Blast (Sp): At 5th level, twice per day the dreadlord gains the ability to unleash a blast of unholy energy which manifests as if a fireball. Treat as the fireball spell, except as follows: the amount of damage dealt is equal to 1d6 per dreadlord's character level (including racial Hit Dice; the dreadlord ignores the level cap on damage), the saving throw DC is equal to 10 + 1/2 the dreadlord's character level (including racial Hit Dice) + the dreadlord's Charisma modifier, and half the damage is of negative energy damage and ignores fire resistance. Undead creatures instead take no damage; undead creatures with fire resistance instead heal a number of hit points equal to their energy resistance or half the damage from the abyssal blast, whichever is lower (and undead immune to fire instead heal hit points equal to half that amount); undead creatures vulnerable to fire take one quarter of the total damage. At 10th level, and every five levels afterwards, the dreadlord gains the ability to use abyssal blast one more time per day.
You read it right. Oh, you didn't read it? Well, I'm so nice I'll explain why this is good.
So yeah: Dreadlords get the same power as Death Knights, but they get more uses out of it. But that's not all: even if you get 5 levels of Dreadlord and thus only get 2 uses of Abyssal Blast, you still get to deal large amounts of damage with them because it scales with your character level, not to class level. So far, the only difference between the template ability and the class feature is the large amount of uses...
...until I point this out to you: unlike the template ability, there's no level cap. That's right (and the reason why I said "you read right"); if you're a 30th level character, the attack deals 30d6 points of damage, and it'll be insanely hard to resist (well, if you're a pure-classed Dreadlord). And you get several uses per day out of it. Sure: fire is the most resisted ability, but half of that damage is negative-energy based, and thus you need two different kinds of resistances or immunities in order for it to work. Naturally, undead take no damage because you heal the same amount of damage you suffer (i.e. you take fire damage, you heal from the negative energy damage), and thus I found important to explain the interactions with undead (or creatures with some degree of resistance, immunity or absorption of negative energy or fire).
Dread Channeling (Su): At 5th level, a dreadlord's dread touch becomes stronger. The dreadlord adds his Charisma modifier to the damage dealt by the dread touch, plus 1 point of damage for every four class levels. Furthermore, he may channel this damage though his melee weapon, dealing the extra necromantic damage if he succeeds on the attack roll. The dreadlord may apply this only once per round as a free action, as usual, and if he uses his dread touch through his weapon, he may not use it as part of a touch attack. The dreadlord may choose to apply this benefit to his unarmed strikes; if he does, his unarmed strike is treated as if dealing lethal damage and all damage is treated as negative energy damage.
At 15th level, the dreadlord gains the ability to manifest his dread touch at every moment, not merely once per round. He is still limited to the amount of attacks he may do per round. He may alternate these touches with melee attacks, and may make either a touch attack or a melee attack as part of an attack of opportunity (applying the extra damage).
So yeah, lemme explain this in a bit more detail.
At 5th level, you get the ability to add your Charisma to the dread touch, and use it through melee weapons (the Death Knight only allows it through natural weapons). Since you can only use Dread Touch once per round, the slight indication of "[you] may apply this only once per round as a free action, as usual" may seem like an oxymoron. By 15th level, you get to use dread touch at will, but only one of the touches gets the Charisma bonus (and may manifest through your melee weapon); the other attacks are merely touch attacks. That way, you can channel dread touch through your first attack, make a second attack with your melee weapon, and your last attacks can be touch attacks.
Regarding AoO: since you can use a dread touch once per round as a free action, that means you can use a dread touch as part of an attack of opportunity, but if you already used it for the round, you can't use it again...until level 15th, where you can use it any time you can attack, and thus you can make a dread touch attack even if you already made one earlier on. That said, you can only use Dread Channeling once, either as part of a touch attack or channeled through your melee weapon.
That should explain it nicely.
Bonus Feat: At 6th level, and every four levels after that, a dreadlord gains a bonus feat in addition to those he obtains by means of improving levels. These bonus feats must be drawn from the feats noted as fighter bonus feats, divine feats, reserve feats (see Complete Mage) or from the list provided below. A dreadlord must still meet the prerequisites for a bonus feat, as usual. For purposes of fighter level prerequisites, a dreadlord is considered to have a fighter level equal to his class level -4.
Dreadlord Bonus Feat List: Arcane Defense, Arcane Mastery, Arcane Preparation, Combat Casting, Daunting Presence, Death Master*, Empower Turning, Eschew Materials, Eviscerator*, Extra Slot, Extra Spell, Greater Spell Focus, Greater Spell Penetration, Heighten Turning, Lifesense**, Necromantic Might, Necromantic Presence, Positive Energy Resistance*, Quicken Turning, Ranged Spell Specialization, Spell Focus, Spell Penetration, Touch Spell Specialization.
*: the dreadlord is treated as an undead creature for purposes of these feats.
**: the dreadlord is treated as an undead creature with no Constitution score for purposes of this feat.
As usual, when I use the Divine Champion chassis, I grant them bonus feats. The Dreadlord is unique in that they get a massive amount of bonus feats, because they not only get fighter bonus feats, divine feats and reserve feats, but also their own list. That list includes feats that require you to be an undead (and some to have a score of Con -), making it one of the few classes that explicitly allows you to ignore requirements for a fraction of their bonus feats (the Monk does it for ALL feats, not just a fraction, so there!)
You'll notice a distinct lack of the Corpsecrafter line. This is intentional, but if you feel they can make good use of it, feel free to point that out to me. They don't get that many feats, so make sure you measure carefully which feats to take, as Eviscerator tops off a pretty sweet line (particularly if you have other forms of fear, like...say, the Fear Aura or a method of Demoralizing?)
Fear Aura (Su): At 6th level, the dreadlord gains an unnerving presence that chills the souls of even the bravest of warriors. At the beginning of combat, any opponents within the dreadlord's dread aura range must make a Will saving throw (DC 10 + 1/2 the dreadlord's class level + the dreadlord's Charisma modifier) or be affected by a fear spell cast by a sorcerer of the death knight's level. Creatures with more than twice the amount of HD of the dreadlord are not affected, while creatures of half the dreadlord's HD (including racial Hit Dice) automatically fail their save. If a creature saves against the dreadlord's fear aura, it becomes immune to the effect of the spell for 24 hours. If the dreadlord has no dread aura active at the beginning of combat, creatures are not affected until the dreadlord activates his dread aura. Deactivating and reactivating the dread aura likewise forces a new save.
This is a pretty powerful aura, and it's gained at a pretty early level. A Sorcerer or Wizard has to wait until 7th level to get this ability, and Dreadlords manifest it at-will, one level earlier. What's worse, if the enemy is weak enough, they automatically fail their save, becoming completely panicked for a good number of round (read: incapacitated!). Even against creatures between half to full HD compared to yours, the effect is pretty nasty. Think about it; if you're powerful enough, you can make a dragon cower...even if you're shaken from the dragon's frightful presence. Fun, no?
Of course, if they pass the save, they get temporary immunity, so make it count.
Dread Fortification (Ex): At 7th level, the body of the dreadlord withers even further, without risking his life. This grants him a deathly pallor, but also great resilience against potentially lethal attacks. Because of this, any critical hit has a 25% chance of failure; this also applies to sneak attacks and other such precision damage. Effects such as flaming burst, which activate as part of a critical hit, are unaffected, but effects such as Stunning Fist (and similar abilities) do.
At 13th level, the fortification increases to 50%. At 19th level, the dreadlord becomes immune to critical hits and related effects.
Yay, Tomb-Born Fortitude for free! Well, sorta; the Dread Necromancer gets the same ability, so it's only fair that the Dreadlord gains increasing immunity to critical hits (until, one level before capping, they become completely immune). That makes Dreadlords even HARDER to kill.
Mettle (Ex): Beginning at 8th level, if a dreadlord makes a successful Will or Fortitude save that would normally reduce the save’s effect, he suffers no effect from the spell at all. Only those spells with a saving throw entry of “partial” or “half” are affected by this ability, and only for purposes of Will and/or Fortitude saves with these descriptors.
Pretty typical: if the Divine Champion chassis is there, Mettle (and Imp. Mettle) will be there. 'Nuff said. With their insanely high Fort and Will saves against most of the effects that require them (save for, say, Disintegrate), you can probably ensure virtually nothing affects you.
Say, isn't Fortitude the weakest save of Undead? Another buff for the Dreadlord!
Dread Focus (Sp): At 9th level, spells cast by a dreadlord are enhanced to such an extent that they resemble divine spells. A dreadlord may cast spells from his own spell list (and using his spell slots) while wielding heavy armor and using any kind of shield. Spells still require material components whenever necessary (both arcane and regular), however.
Better late than never: by 9th level, you can cast spells on the heaviest armor you can find, and with the best shield you can muster (if you believe on shields, though). That's even MORE AC for the Dreadlord (well, not THAT much, but they get more AC than most people because of their natural armor bonus from Unnatural Toughness), so that makes them...you know what, this is getting repetitive. You get the idea.
Dread Wound (Su): At 10th level, whenever a dreadlord uses his dread touch attack, or channels negative energy through his weapon by means of dread channeling, he may deal a point of Constitution damage with each attack. However, afflicted creatures may make a Will saving throw (DC 10 +1/2 the dreadlord's class level + the dreadlord's Charisma modifier) to ignore the Constitution damage. If using dread touch to heal an undead creature, the dreadlord instead heals 1d8 points of damage plus his Charisma modifier (plus the bonus from dread channeling).
Believe it or not, the Death Knight's touch deals 1 point of Constitution damage, but a Will save negates it. The Dreadlord, however, doesn't halve the damage from its Dread Touch, so the touch is now officially better in nearly all ways to the Death Knight's touch. -1 Con damage on an AoO? Nifty.
Undead Mastery: All undead creatures created by a dreadlord who has reached 12th level or higher gain a +4 enhancement bonus to Strength and Dexterity and 2 additional hit points per Hit Die. In addition, when a dreadlord uses the animate dead spell to create undead, she can control 4 + his Charisma bonus HD worth of undead creatures per class level (rather than the 4 HD per level normally granted by the spell). Similarly, when a dreadlord casts the control undead spell, the spell targets up to (2 + his Cha bonus) HD/level of undead creatures, rather than the 2 HD/level normally granted by the spell.
Oh look, the same benefit as Corpsecrafter. Hehe, I forgot to mention it; by 12th level, they get Corpsecrafter for free, but not the line. You can still get the feat (and thus, your undead will have 4 hp/HD), but if you don't have enough, your undead will still be pretty nasty.
But yeah: the dreadlord gains the same undead controlling and creating potential as a dread necromancer, so that's yet another boon to them. No, I don't intend to replace the Dread Necromancer with the Dreadlord (this class is the martial-inclined version of the Dread Necro), and this isn't my favorite class (how many times must I say my favorite class is Paladin!?), but with all the goodies they're getting, you may feel I'm either attempting to replace the Dread Necro or that this class is my favorite. At least, it'll be pretty powerful (but surely NOT a Tier 2 class).
Improved Mettle (Ex): At 14th level, a dreadlord’s mettle ability improves. He still takes no effect on a successful Will or Fortitude save that has the “partial” or “half” descriptor, but henceforth he takes only the partial effect or half the damage on a failed save.
Not much to say here, except that this protects the future death knight from those pesky "Fort-save spells that affect objects" just in case. Again: more survivability.
Spell Resistance (Su): A dreadlord of 16th level or higher gains spell resistance equal to 15 + his class level.
The Death Knight has spell resistance; the Dreadlord also gains spell resistance. They get a much more potent version, but they don't get a way to allow your allies to bypass it.
Dreadsoul Weapon (Su): At 18th level, a dreadlord begins to disassociate from his body, gaining the limited ability to cheat death in preparation for his undeath. By crafting a special weapon (usually a sword) with a specially chosen gem, he may infuse the weapon with a degree of his own power and use it as a receptacle for his soul after his death.
To craft the weapon, a dreadlord must succeed on a Craft check to create a masterwork version of his chosen weapon, and he must add to the base materials cost a gem or crystal worth 100 gp and expend up to 4 xp. The dreadlord is treated as if having the Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat (if he doesn't have already) for purposes of making this weapon, and may enchant it with the spells he chooses. Once done, the weapon becomes a dreadsoul weapon. This weapon is attuned only to the dreadlord, and anyone who wishes to use it takes a negative penalty for as long as the dreadlord is alive. A dreadlord may summon his dreadsoul weapon to his hand as a swift action for up to 100 ft. per class level. If the dreadsoul weapon is destroyed, a dreadlord may make a new one after a month it was destroyed.
If the dreadlord is slain while wielding this weapon (or within 30 feet of it), the dreadlord may then choose to enter the soul receptacle of his dreadsoul weapon and inhabit it for as long as necessary. While inhabiting his dreadsoul weapon, the dreadlord grants it the unholy weapon property (if it doesn't has it already), an enhancement bonus equal to 1 for every 5 character levels (including racial Hit Dice, unless the weapon has a higher enhancement bonus) and imbues it with his own intellect. The weapon has an Ego score equal 12 plus to your character level plus your Charisma modifier (instead of the usual Ego score), and the dreadlord may use his dread touch and abyssal blast as part of the weapon's powers. While inhabiting his dreadsoul weapon, the dreadlord may allow the wielder to use it without imposing a negative level (even if the creature is good-aligned, in which case it also allows it to ignore the negative level penalty from the unholy special quality).
At any moment while inhabiting the dreadsoul weapon, the dreadlord may choose to inhabit any nearby corpse. The corpse may be of any humanoid, monstrous humanoid, giant, or the dreadlord's own race type (such as dragon for a dragon-type dreadlord), but the creature may not have more racial Hit Dice than the dreadlord. The corpse may not have been slain for more than one hour per dreadlord class level or a day, whichever is lower. Once the dreadlord decides to inhabit the body, it is treated as if it had received a resurrection spell and the dreadlord gains full control of the body; at that moment, the dreadlord's dreadsoul weapon loses all properties granted by it and imposes the negative level penalty, as usual. A dreadsoul weapon which has the dreadlord's soul inside that gets destroyed automatically sends the dreadlord's soul to the Lower Planes, effectively killing it.
A dreadlord may use this ability once per month. At 20th level, the dreadlord may use this ability at any moment it perishes.
Fun fact: the lich, as you may know, encases its soul on a phylactery, effectively binding its soul to the item and thus anchoring it to the world of the living. Thus, what would be the death knight's equivalent?
Those who know will say "none, because the god that empowers it returns it to life whenever necessary!" But, as you may know, not all dreadlords have to worship a deity, and not all are actually evil. Thus, dreadlords (and only dreadlords) gain the ability to anchor their soul to their weapon, much like a lich can bind its soul to a phylactery, and remain alive despite having no gods sponsoring them. It also explains why they're so different (and also why they're more powerful) than your typical death knight.
The Dreadsoul Weapon is less of a MacGuffin that all liches must protect and instead becomes a tool the dreadlord will use very often. For once, they can summon it at-will, so they're effectively never unarmed. As well, they can modify it as they desire (it doesn't have to be a sword, and no two dreadsoul weapons are the same), as they get the benefit of a Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat for it (and since they can cast some spells, they can enchant them a bit further; else, they can get assistance from a friendly caster).
One key difference, though, is that the Dreadlord gets to cheat death two levels earlier than the Dread Necromancer. If they get killed, they can inhabit the weapon, thus passing as loot (and which self-respected adventurer, save for a devout of the good gods, would pass the opportunity of holding a really awesome weapon?). Then, when least expected, you can simply let your new "owner" kill a suitable body, possess it, and finish the job. As far as DM tricks go, this one is pretty nasty. As far as player tricks go, this one is pretty hilarious. I'd like to see Dread Necromancers pull THIS off...
Of course, it requires a month for this ability to recharge (up until 20th level, when you become an actual death knight), so make sure this second chance actually counts...
Dread Transformation: At 20th level, the dreadlord abandons his mortal coil, eternally becoming one of the undead. The dreadlord forevermore becomes undead, and gains all the attributes of a death knight (see Monster Manual II, page 207) except as follows:
A dreadlord retains all hit points it currently has, but loses his Constitution score. Thus, he gains bonus hit points equal to his former Constitution score (if any). A dreadlord does not need to reroll hit points.
A dreadlord gains a bonus to all Fortitude saves equal to his dread resilience class feature.
A dreadlord does not gain undead followers unless it has the Leadership feat (or the Undead Leadership feat; see Libris Mortis page 31 for more details).
A dreadlord's negative energy touch, abyssal blast and fear aura are based on his class, not the template. If any one of these features depends on his class level, it instead depends on his character level (including racial Hit Dice).
A dreadlord may choose to assume his former humanoid form or his undead form; when assuming his base form, he is treated as if under the effect of a disguise self spell and thus gains a +10 circumstance bonus to all Disguise checks. When first assuming his death knight form, the dreadlord may choose to assume a zombie-like appearance or a skeletal appearance; this does not affect his abilities. If he changes his body by means of his dreadsoul weapon class feature, he may choose between the form of his new body, his original form or his undead form, and he may switch his undead appearance at the moment he acquires the new body. When acquiring a new body by means of his dreadsoul weapon, the body is no longer resurrected, but instead reanimated by necromantic energy, immediately gaining the benefits of the death knight template (as presented here).
Unlike other classes, a non-humanoid dreadlord may gain the death knight template (this is an exception to the norm) except for undead creatures (which retain their traits). If a dreadlord becomes a death knight (or lich, or a similar undead template) before his 20th level of dreadlord, he may ignore his level adjustment but otherwise retain his features.
Unlike other such templates, a dreadlord retains his own alignment, although he may choose to become evil if he so desires.
And here's the capstone you were waiting for: you become a Death Knight, but with a few exceptions.
The sudden loss of Constitution and the defined bonus hit points smell of exploit, so let's make it clear: the amount of hit points you get as a bonus becomes equal to 20 times your former base Constitution bonus. Therefore, if you had a base Constitution score of 20, you get 100 bonus hit points, permanently. For this purpose, "base" implies the Constitution score you started with, plus any advances by means of level-ups, plus any inherent bonus you may have had. Thus, let's say you had a 18 Con, a +5 inherent bonus to Constitution and you spent all your level-based ability score increases in Con; your base Constitution score would be 28, and thus you'd get 140 bonus hit points when you reach level 20 (20 levels x a Constitution modifier of +7). If you, for some reason, had a negative Constitution modifier, you don't suddenly lose HP.
Also, the loss of Con means a loss of Fortitude, but here's where Dread Resilience becomes relevant again; it replaces your lost Con-based Foritude save. Remember I told you Dread Resilience would become relevant?
A final thing to notice is that Death Knights, by definition, are always evil humanoids. This breaks the restriction; thus, you can have a Dragonborn Death Knight, or even a Warforged Death Knight. Let that sink in a bit. Warforged. Death Knight. You know, just like a Dread Necromancer can make Liches out of Warforged. Thus, while humanoids may get to be Death Knights before, only Dreadlords can make Death Knights out of virtually anyone (even Necropolitans, though that's an oxymoron if I've ever seen one).
About that last bit...what it means is that, if you already get the Death Knight template, or somehow get the Lich template, before 20th level, once you reach 20th level IN the class you drop off the the LA. Thus, a ECL 25th Lich Dreadlord will eventually become a ECL 20 Lich Dreadlord upon reaching class level 20. Simple enough?
So yeah: I missed Halloween by almost two weeks. And there's no flow of new material; this is most disturbing! Thus, to fix this!
In this case, I followed a fun idea. The Dread Necromancer, a base class from Heroes of Horror, is an interesting class: a spontaneous Necromancy specialist, whose main purpose is to become a Lich without taking the template. Much like the Dragon Disciple, but without sucking that much*. So I figured: could I take my favorite chassis, the Divine Champion (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=11091707&postcount=60), and give it a twist by making a melee version of the Dread Necromancer (even though the Dread Necro does melee decently, because of the armor, the DR, the natural armor, the resistances and the Charnel Touch...), except that you turn into something else other than a Lich?
Fortunately, Lord Soth (one of the most famous exemplars of the template I'm about to mention) gave me the solution: how about making a class that, as a capstone, turns you into a Death Knight? The Death Knight template is pretty awesome, but some of the abilities...not so much. I mean...Abyssal Blast? Cute, but 1/day isn't really that cool. The increase to d12 is great; the loss of Con (and henceforth Fortitude)...isn't great. But, most importantly: all these goodies for LA +5!? Yeah: it hurts. It most definitely hurts.
Thus, I decided to do a first: a base class that combined Spontaneous Specialization with partial casting (well, half-casting, but with full CL) and beefed up melee. Naturally, it brought me to the Divine Champion chassis, and with it, options that should make Death Knights much more powerful.
In short: Death Knight in a can. And without the stinky Evil smell or funky Evil flavor (though, if you're a fan of it, might as well go for it, no?) Thus, without further ado, may I present to you...
DREADLORD
ABILITIES: Charisma determines many of the dreadlord's powers, such as the fear aura, their spellcasting and, eventually, the damage from their dread touch. Being melee combatants, Strength and Constitution are likewise important.
RACES: Most dreadlords are usually humans; only they combine the desired traits of ruthlessness and ambition that make them generals of the undead. Elves' respect for life and dwarves' respect for ancestors make them unsuitable, but there are a few exceptions.
Amongst the savage races, usually orcs and hobgoblins are guided by their deities to become dreadlords, preparing them for the grim task of death knighthood from a very early age.
ALIGNMENT: Any non-good. Becoming a dreadlord requires having, to an extent, a grim outlook on life; rather than avoid death, they choose to embrace it and use it as a weapon. Neutral dreadlords generally use their powers as a weapon against evil, but are practical rather than idealistic. As they progress through the path into undeath, they begin to accept the idea that protecting life may be a lost cause, but some find reasons; patriotic fervor, vengeance, or even the challenge of overcoming the impossible.
STARTING GOLD: As PHB Paladin
STARTING AGE: As PHB Paladin
Class Skills
The dreadlord’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (any) (Int), Disguise (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (religion), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis) and Spellcraft (Int)
Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Int modifier) x4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier.
A pretty interesting set of skills, particularly regarding Disguise, of all skills. Here's a good explanation:
Bluff and Disguise are necessary to hide the gradual transformation of the dreadlord into a death knight. Because of this, even if only wearing a cape and remaining evasive, a dreadlord can appear trustworthy; something necessary in a world where necromancy is usually seen as evil or, at least, uncivilized. If everything else fails, they can enter the shadows and hide; thus, they also get Hide as a class skill.
The rest is pretty basic from a Divine Champion chassis (something you'd see from a Blackguard), save for Knowledge (arcana), in order to show knowledge about arcane necromancy (their spell list). With 4 skill points per class level as a base, they can afford most of these skills.
Hit Die: d12.
{TABLE=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|1st|2nd|3rd|4th
1st|+1|
+2|
+0|
+2|Dread touch|-|-|-|-
2nd|+2|
+3|
+0|
+3|Dread resilience +2, Tomb-Tainted Soul|-|-|-|-
3rd|+3|
+3|
+1|
+3|Dread aura, unnatural toughness|-|-|-|-
4th|+4|
+4|
+1|
+4|Rebuke undead|0|-|-|-
5th|+5|
+4|
+1|
+4|Abyssal blast 2/day, dread channeling|1|-|-|-
6th|+6/+1|
+5|
+2|
+5|Bonus feat, fear aura|1|-|-|-
7th|+7/+2|
+5|
+2|
+5|Dread resilience +4, dread fortification (25%)|1|-|-|-
8th|+8/+3|
+6|
+2|
+6|Unnatural toughness (DR 2/magic), mettle|2|0|-|-
9th|+9/+4|
+6|
+3|
+6|Dread aura, dread focus|2|1|-|-
10th|+10/+5|
+7|
+3|
+7|Abyssal blast 3/day, bonus feat, dread wound|2|1|-|-
11th|+11/+6/+1|
+7|
+3|
+7|Unnatural toughness (DR 4/magic)|3|1|0|-
12th|+12/+7/+2|
+8|
+4|
+8|Dread resilience +6, undead mastery|3|2|1|-
13th|+13/+8/+3|
+8|
+4|
+8|Dread fortification (50%)|3|2|1|-
14th|+14/+9/+4|
+9|
+4|
+9|Bonus feat, improved mettle, unnatural toughness (DR 6/magic and good)|3|2|1|0
15th|+15/+10+/5|
+9|
+5|
+9|Abyssal blast 4/day, dread aura, dread channeling (full attack)|4|3|2|1
16th|+16/+11/+6/+1|
+10|
+5|
+10|Spell resistance|4|3|2|1
17th|+17/+12/+7/+2|
+10|
+5|
+10|Dread resilience +8, unnatural toughness (DR 8/magic and good)|4|3|2|2
18th|+18/+13+/8+/3|
+11|
+6|
+11|Bonus feat, dreadsoul sword|4|3|3|2
19th|+19/+14/+9/+4|
+11|
+6|
+11|Dread fortification (100%)|4|4|3|3
20th|+20/+15/+10/+5|
+12|
+6|
+12|Abyssal blast 5/day, dread transformation, unnatural toughness (DR 10/epic and good)|4|4|3|3[/TABLE]
As you can see, Dreadlords are pretty tough cookies to kill, and they get a very useful ability right from the beginning; the Dread Touch. While it starts much like the Charnel Touch, by the time you reach level 5 and Dread Channeling, you get the same touch as a Death Knight, but improved (and usable through weapons, something the original lacks unless it's a natural weapon). By 10th level, you get the full effect of a Death Knight's touch, including the Constitution damage.
The rest takes many, many cues from the Dread Necromancer and the Paladin (of Tyranny or Slaughter, mostly), such as the Unnatural Toughness (to replicate the damage reduction; it's eventually improved to magic and good because damage reduction X/magic is hilariously easy to pass), Dread Fortification (eventual immunity to critical hits and saving throws) and Dread Resilience (resistances that eventually become immunities) alongside Rebuke Undead.
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the dreadlord.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Dreadlords are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all types of armor, and with all shields.
Because the somatic components required for dreadlord spells are simple, the dreadlord may use his spells while wearing light or medium armor, and while using a light shield. However, like any other arcane spellcaster, a dreadlord wearing heavy armor or using a heavy or tower shield incurs a chance of arcane spell failure if the spell in question has a somatic component (most do). A multiclass dreadlord still incurs the normal arcane spell failure chance for arcane spells received from other classes.
Befitting their martial bent, dreadlords gain the ability to cast spells in medium armor from the beginning, giving them pretty good defense. Eventually they get to cast in heavy armor, but medium armor and light shields provide some excellent protection early on. As you can notice, they can use tower shields; if you consider adding tower shields odd, feel free to mention it.
Dread Touch (Su): Amongst the first things a dreadlord learns upon his journey to undeath is the ability to manipulate a small reserve of negative energy. This reserve starts small, but as he progresses, the damage becomes considerable. At will (but only once per round), a dreadlord may make a melee touch attack that deals 1d8 points of negative energy damage to living creatures. This touch can be used to heal undead creatures of 1 hit point of damage.
Much like Paladins and Blackguards get smites, Dreadlords get...the Death Knight's touch. While it may deal less damage than just making a melee attack, since it's a melee touch, it has a better chance of hitting, and the damage isn't so bad for an at-will ability (unlike Smite, which is usually a daily ability, and most homebrew fixes make it encounter-based). As it stands, it's mechanically similar to the Dread Necromancer's Charnel Touch, and that's intentional. However, unlike the Dread Necromancer, the Dread Touch has a special benefit that appears only one level afterwards.
Dread Resilience (Ex): At 2nd level, a dreadlord begins to assume some of the unnatural features of undead creatures, his body infused with a hint of negative energy that grows as he progresses deeper into the journey to undeath. He gains a +2 bonus on all saving throws related to disease, death effects, paralysis, poison and sleep effects. This bonus increases by 2 every five class levels after the 2nd. At 7th level, this also applies to ability damage, ability drain and energy drain effects; at 12th level, this applies to all spells of the necromancy subschool.
So yeah: the Dreadlord gets more resilient against special attacks, even though there's the precedent of early immunities. Certainly, being immune to disease by 3rd level or magical sleep effects as a racial ability might make this somewhat weak, but since you also have good Fortitude and Will saves, you're pretty much immune anyways. You also get strong resistances against death effects, paralysis and poison, something you don't get until much, MUCH later. Certainly, getting five immunities at 2nd level isn't fair, but a combination of special resistances and naturally high saves works well (it works for the Paladin, no?). By 7th level, you get resistances against eight difference effects, and by 12th level you get resistances against nine different effects, and with the combination of good saves, good ability scores (well, not very high Will saves, but if you get Force of Personality, you apply Charisma to them, and thus get very high saves).
Of course, if you've read thus far, you might suspect that all these resistances might become moot by the time you reach the capstone, OR if you become a Necropolitan. Or is it...? Read on.
Tomb-Tainted Soul: At 2nd level, a dreadlord gains the Tomb-Tainted Soul feat as a bonus feat. See Libris Mortis, page 31 for more details.
Yep: you get to use your Dread Touch to heal yourself (out of combat, of course) at will, as if you were using a Cure Minor (or should it be Inflict Minor) Wounds spell every round. Plus, you open the Tomb-Tainted line, in case you don't end up taking the capstone: the more feats, the better, no?
Dread Aura (Su): Beginning at 3rd level, a dreadlord serves as a font of negative energy which causes dread upon his enemies. This manifests as an aura that has a small distance, but that slowly increases in size as the dreadlord progresses.
Projecting an aura is a swift action, and the dreadlord can only project one aura at a time. An aura remains in effect until the dreadlord uses a free action to dismiss it or he activates another aura in its place. A dreadlord can have a dread aura active continually; thus, an aura can be in effect at the start of an encounter even before he takes his first turn.
A dreadlord that acquires this ability must choose from one of the auras presented below. Unless otherwise noted, the range of the aura is of 60 feet. As a dreadlord progresses in levels, he learns to manifest more auras and the size of his auras increase; at 9th level, he gains the ability to manifest one more aura from the list and his aura increases to 75 feet; at 15th level, a dreadlord gains the ability to manifest another aura and his area of effect increases to 90 feet. Opponents within the area of effect of the aura must have line of effect to the dreadlord in order to be affected by it. The dreadlord’s aura is dismissed if he becomes unconscious or slain, but otherwise it remains in effect even if she is incapable of acting.
All of the aura’s penalties start at -1, and increase by 1 for every three class levels of the dreadlord. If the dreadlord has the ability to manifest other kinds of auras (such as the dragon shaman’s draconic auras from Player’s Handbook II or the marshal’s major auras from Miniatures Handbook, but not draconic auras gained from feats or the marshal’s minor auras), his auras increase in power: for every two points of bonus from other auras, the dreadlord's dread aura’s penalties increase by 1, and for every two points of penalty from the dread auras, all other auras’ bonuses increase by 1.
Blasphemy: profane bonus to Armor Class and saving throws to all allies. A creature benefitting from the prayer spell or a similar spell (such as the recitation spell or the divine protection spell from Spell Compendium) has its effect suppressed while within the aura's range; an ally taking a penalty from a similar spell has its effect suppressed while under the effects of this aura.
Cowardice: penalty on saving throws. A creature benefitting from the heroism spell or the inspire courage effect has its effect suppressed while under the effects of this aura. This aura is suppressed within all areas a paladin's aura of courage applies, unless the dreadlord is of higher level than the paladin.
Despair: penalty on attack rolls and weapon damage rolls. A creature benefitting from the good hope spell has its effect suppressed while under the effects of this aura.
Despoiling: bonus on attack rolls and weapon damage rolls to all undead creatures within the aura (this includes the dreadlord). This suppresses the effect of a consecrate spell on all areas this aura touches.
Weakness: penalty to Armor Class. Allies within the aura's area of effect may ignore a number of points of damage reduction equal to the aura's penalty if the damage reduction is bypassed by magic weapons or weapons of evil alignment. At 18th level this also applies to damage reduction bypassed by epic weapons.
Fun auras, no?
For the Dread Auras, I took inspiration from the Project Heretica Blackguard and the Bez-Kismet, particularly from the second because it progresses auras in the same way (and the auras grant penalties rather than bonuses, though some grant bonuses). However, the fun part comes where they become capable of disabling the effect of some common buffs and spells (the Paladin's aura of courage, the Bard's inspire courage, and the spells mentioned above). Dread auras are strong debuffs (loss of attack and damage bonuses, AC and saves, and even some bonuses to allies), but if the enemy attempts to buff itself, it may end up with a nasty surprise when it sees its benefits suppressed. Makes the dreadlord a deadlier challenge, particularly as a BBEG or dragon (the latter figuratively speaking).
Unnatural Toughness (Ex): At 3rd level, a dreadlord's skin withers and toughens, assuming some of the traits of the undead. He gains a +1 bonus to his natural armor; if he already has a source of natural armor, this benefit is treated as an enhancement bonus to natural armor. This bonus increases by 1 for every 3 class levels after the 3rd, up to a +6 bonus at 18th level.
At 8th level, the dreadlord's skin becomes even more resilient. He gains damage reduction 2, bypassed only by magic weapons. This damage reduction increases by 2 for every three class levels after 8th, up to 10 points of damage reduction at 20th level. At 14th level, the damage reduction can only be bypassed by magic weapons of good alignment, and by 20th level only by epic weapons of good alignment.
So yeah: by 3rd level, you get natural armor, so you become harder to kill. By 8th level, you also get damage reduction, becoming doubly harder to kill.
The way Unnatural Toughness works, though, is interesting: if you have natural armor bonuses, the class-based increase is treated as an enhancement bonus, so it won't stack with an Amulet of Natural Armor (or Barkskin), but it'll usually end up being higher, so you're basically freeing a slot. If you don't have natural armor, you get a slowly increasing source AND you can add natural armor on top of it. That way, the dreadlord gets roughly the same amount of natural armor (in fact, 1 point higher) than the death knight, which is a nice bonus. Of course, in order to get a better natural armor than that of the death knight, you need to be nearly level 15th...roughly the same cap if you choose to "eat" the LA for the template. The damage reduction is slightly better, since (using the conversion booklet) the Dreadlord gains the same amount of DR as the Death Knight, but much harder to resist.
Spellcasting: At 4th level, the dreadlord gains the ability to cast a small amount of arcane spells, which are drawn from the dreadlord's spell list (see below). Like a sorcerer, he may cast any spell he knows ahead of time. When a dreadlord gains access to a new spell level, he automatically knows all the spells for that level given in the dreadlord's spell list. Unlike similar classes, the dreadlord may not increase his spell list through further study (such as by the advanced learning class feature), but he may add spells to his spell list if he enters a class or prestige class that does.
To cast a spell, a dreadlord must have a Charisma score of 10 + the spell’s level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a dreadlord’s spell is 10 + twice the spell’s level + his Charisma modifier. Like other spellcasters, a dreadlord can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given in the table above. In addition, he receives bonus spells for a high Charisma score (see Table 1–1 on page 8 of the Player’s Handbook).
Yep: spontaneous (Necromancy) specialist half caster. That's a new one for my homebrews, at least; that's usually one of the ways Paladin spells are handled by other 'brewers, ironically. That means you get a whole bunch of spells accessible on your spell list, but all of them are fixed. However, being an arcane caster, you can find ways to improve them (such as, say, Arcane Disciple?).
EDIT: Oh yeah, this is a slight boost that's part of the Divine Champion chassis: considering they get spells with saving throw DCs, they need those DCs to be worthwhile. Thus, their spells have their save DC by means of spell levels doubled. That should make the spells that have saving throw DCs more powerful.
Rebuke Undead (Su): At 4th level, the dreadlord gains the ability to rebuke or command undead creatures by channeling negative energy. He may use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + his Charisma modifier. He rebukes undead as a cleric of three levels lower would (see Turn or Rebuke Undead, PHB 159).
A Dreadlord is meant to lead the undead. Thus, they get the power to rebuke and, eventually, control the undead. In case you don't want to, you can power up divine feats through it, but at least they get an incentive to get loads of undead around them (their auras, for once, improve your undead).
A key aspect to consider is that you'll probably end up contolling usually weak undead (zombies, skeletons, ghouls, ghasts, etc.), which is curiously what you get as part of the Death Knight template. This is basically a taste of their eventual power to invoke undead, and with the ability to cast Animate Dead, you can effectively control a vast army of undead between the three abilities.
Abyssal Blast (Sp): At 5th level, twice per day the dreadlord gains the ability to unleash a blast of unholy energy which manifests as if a fireball. Treat as the fireball spell, except as follows: the amount of damage dealt is equal to 1d6 per dreadlord's character level (including racial Hit Dice; the dreadlord ignores the level cap on damage), the saving throw DC is equal to 10 + 1/2 the dreadlord's character level (including racial Hit Dice) + the dreadlord's Charisma modifier, and half the damage is of negative energy damage and ignores fire resistance. Undead creatures instead take no damage; undead creatures with fire resistance instead heal a number of hit points equal to their energy resistance or half the damage from the abyssal blast, whichever is lower (and undead immune to fire instead heal hit points equal to half that amount); undead creatures vulnerable to fire take one quarter of the total damage. At 10th level, and every five levels afterwards, the dreadlord gains the ability to use abyssal blast one more time per day.
You read it right. Oh, you didn't read it? Well, I'm so nice I'll explain why this is good.
So yeah: Dreadlords get the same power as Death Knights, but they get more uses out of it. But that's not all: even if you get 5 levels of Dreadlord and thus only get 2 uses of Abyssal Blast, you still get to deal large amounts of damage with them because it scales with your character level, not to class level. So far, the only difference between the template ability and the class feature is the large amount of uses...
...until I point this out to you: unlike the template ability, there's no level cap. That's right (and the reason why I said "you read right"); if you're a 30th level character, the attack deals 30d6 points of damage, and it'll be insanely hard to resist (well, if you're a pure-classed Dreadlord). And you get several uses per day out of it. Sure: fire is the most resisted ability, but half of that damage is negative-energy based, and thus you need two different kinds of resistances or immunities in order for it to work. Naturally, undead take no damage because you heal the same amount of damage you suffer (i.e. you take fire damage, you heal from the negative energy damage), and thus I found important to explain the interactions with undead (or creatures with some degree of resistance, immunity or absorption of negative energy or fire).
Dread Channeling (Su): At 5th level, a dreadlord's dread touch becomes stronger. The dreadlord adds his Charisma modifier to the damage dealt by the dread touch, plus 1 point of damage for every four class levels. Furthermore, he may channel this damage though his melee weapon, dealing the extra necromantic damage if he succeeds on the attack roll. The dreadlord may apply this only once per round as a free action, as usual, and if he uses his dread touch through his weapon, he may not use it as part of a touch attack. The dreadlord may choose to apply this benefit to his unarmed strikes; if he does, his unarmed strike is treated as if dealing lethal damage and all damage is treated as negative energy damage.
At 15th level, the dreadlord gains the ability to manifest his dread touch at every moment, not merely once per round. He is still limited to the amount of attacks he may do per round. He may alternate these touches with melee attacks, and may make either a touch attack or a melee attack as part of an attack of opportunity (applying the extra damage).
So yeah, lemme explain this in a bit more detail.
At 5th level, you get the ability to add your Charisma to the dread touch, and use it through melee weapons (the Death Knight only allows it through natural weapons). Since you can only use Dread Touch once per round, the slight indication of "[you] may apply this only once per round as a free action, as usual" may seem like an oxymoron. By 15th level, you get to use dread touch at will, but only one of the touches gets the Charisma bonus (and may manifest through your melee weapon); the other attacks are merely touch attacks. That way, you can channel dread touch through your first attack, make a second attack with your melee weapon, and your last attacks can be touch attacks.
Regarding AoO: since you can use a dread touch once per round as a free action, that means you can use a dread touch as part of an attack of opportunity, but if you already used it for the round, you can't use it again...until level 15th, where you can use it any time you can attack, and thus you can make a dread touch attack even if you already made one earlier on. That said, you can only use Dread Channeling once, either as part of a touch attack or channeled through your melee weapon.
That should explain it nicely.
Bonus Feat: At 6th level, and every four levels after that, a dreadlord gains a bonus feat in addition to those he obtains by means of improving levels. These bonus feats must be drawn from the feats noted as fighter bonus feats, divine feats, reserve feats (see Complete Mage) or from the list provided below. A dreadlord must still meet the prerequisites for a bonus feat, as usual. For purposes of fighter level prerequisites, a dreadlord is considered to have a fighter level equal to his class level -4.
Dreadlord Bonus Feat List: Arcane Defense, Arcane Mastery, Arcane Preparation, Combat Casting, Daunting Presence, Death Master*, Empower Turning, Eschew Materials, Eviscerator*, Extra Slot, Extra Spell, Greater Spell Focus, Greater Spell Penetration, Heighten Turning, Lifesense**, Necromantic Might, Necromantic Presence, Positive Energy Resistance*, Quicken Turning, Ranged Spell Specialization, Spell Focus, Spell Penetration, Touch Spell Specialization.
*: the dreadlord is treated as an undead creature for purposes of these feats.
**: the dreadlord is treated as an undead creature with no Constitution score for purposes of this feat.
As usual, when I use the Divine Champion chassis, I grant them bonus feats. The Dreadlord is unique in that they get a massive amount of bonus feats, because they not only get fighter bonus feats, divine feats and reserve feats, but also their own list. That list includes feats that require you to be an undead (and some to have a score of Con -), making it one of the few classes that explicitly allows you to ignore requirements for a fraction of their bonus feats (the Monk does it for ALL feats, not just a fraction, so there!)
You'll notice a distinct lack of the Corpsecrafter line. This is intentional, but if you feel they can make good use of it, feel free to point that out to me. They don't get that many feats, so make sure you measure carefully which feats to take, as Eviscerator tops off a pretty sweet line (particularly if you have other forms of fear, like...say, the Fear Aura or a method of Demoralizing?)
Fear Aura (Su): At 6th level, the dreadlord gains an unnerving presence that chills the souls of even the bravest of warriors. At the beginning of combat, any opponents within the dreadlord's dread aura range must make a Will saving throw (DC 10 + 1/2 the dreadlord's class level + the dreadlord's Charisma modifier) or be affected by a fear spell cast by a sorcerer of the death knight's level. Creatures with more than twice the amount of HD of the dreadlord are not affected, while creatures of half the dreadlord's HD (including racial Hit Dice) automatically fail their save. If a creature saves against the dreadlord's fear aura, it becomes immune to the effect of the spell for 24 hours. If the dreadlord has no dread aura active at the beginning of combat, creatures are not affected until the dreadlord activates his dread aura. Deactivating and reactivating the dread aura likewise forces a new save.
This is a pretty powerful aura, and it's gained at a pretty early level. A Sorcerer or Wizard has to wait until 7th level to get this ability, and Dreadlords manifest it at-will, one level earlier. What's worse, if the enemy is weak enough, they automatically fail their save, becoming completely panicked for a good number of round (read: incapacitated!). Even against creatures between half to full HD compared to yours, the effect is pretty nasty. Think about it; if you're powerful enough, you can make a dragon cower...even if you're shaken from the dragon's frightful presence. Fun, no?
Of course, if they pass the save, they get temporary immunity, so make it count.
Dread Fortification (Ex): At 7th level, the body of the dreadlord withers even further, without risking his life. This grants him a deathly pallor, but also great resilience against potentially lethal attacks. Because of this, any critical hit has a 25% chance of failure; this also applies to sneak attacks and other such precision damage. Effects such as flaming burst, which activate as part of a critical hit, are unaffected, but effects such as Stunning Fist (and similar abilities) do.
At 13th level, the fortification increases to 50%. At 19th level, the dreadlord becomes immune to critical hits and related effects.
Yay, Tomb-Born Fortitude for free! Well, sorta; the Dread Necromancer gets the same ability, so it's only fair that the Dreadlord gains increasing immunity to critical hits (until, one level before capping, they become completely immune). That makes Dreadlords even HARDER to kill.
Mettle (Ex): Beginning at 8th level, if a dreadlord makes a successful Will or Fortitude save that would normally reduce the save’s effect, he suffers no effect from the spell at all. Only those spells with a saving throw entry of “partial” or “half” are affected by this ability, and only for purposes of Will and/or Fortitude saves with these descriptors.
Pretty typical: if the Divine Champion chassis is there, Mettle (and Imp. Mettle) will be there. 'Nuff said. With their insanely high Fort and Will saves against most of the effects that require them (save for, say, Disintegrate), you can probably ensure virtually nothing affects you.
Say, isn't Fortitude the weakest save of Undead? Another buff for the Dreadlord!
Dread Focus (Sp): At 9th level, spells cast by a dreadlord are enhanced to such an extent that they resemble divine spells. A dreadlord may cast spells from his own spell list (and using his spell slots) while wielding heavy armor and using any kind of shield. Spells still require material components whenever necessary (both arcane and regular), however.
Better late than never: by 9th level, you can cast spells on the heaviest armor you can find, and with the best shield you can muster (if you believe on shields, though). That's even MORE AC for the Dreadlord (well, not THAT much, but they get more AC than most people because of their natural armor bonus from Unnatural Toughness), so that makes them...you know what, this is getting repetitive. You get the idea.
Dread Wound (Su): At 10th level, whenever a dreadlord uses his dread touch attack, or channels negative energy through his weapon by means of dread channeling, he may deal a point of Constitution damage with each attack. However, afflicted creatures may make a Will saving throw (DC 10 +1/2 the dreadlord's class level + the dreadlord's Charisma modifier) to ignore the Constitution damage. If using dread touch to heal an undead creature, the dreadlord instead heals 1d8 points of damage plus his Charisma modifier (plus the bonus from dread channeling).
Believe it or not, the Death Knight's touch deals 1 point of Constitution damage, but a Will save negates it. The Dreadlord, however, doesn't halve the damage from its Dread Touch, so the touch is now officially better in nearly all ways to the Death Knight's touch. -1 Con damage on an AoO? Nifty.
Undead Mastery: All undead creatures created by a dreadlord who has reached 12th level or higher gain a +4 enhancement bonus to Strength and Dexterity and 2 additional hit points per Hit Die. In addition, when a dreadlord uses the animate dead spell to create undead, she can control 4 + his Charisma bonus HD worth of undead creatures per class level (rather than the 4 HD per level normally granted by the spell). Similarly, when a dreadlord casts the control undead spell, the spell targets up to (2 + his Cha bonus) HD/level of undead creatures, rather than the 2 HD/level normally granted by the spell.
Oh look, the same benefit as Corpsecrafter. Hehe, I forgot to mention it; by 12th level, they get Corpsecrafter for free, but not the line. You can still get the feat (and thus, your undead will have 4 hp/HD), but if you don't have enough, your undead will still be pretty nasty.
But yeah: the dreadlord gains the same undead controlling and creating potential as a dread necromancer, so that's yet another boon to them. No, I don't intend to replace the Dread Necromancer with the Dreadlord (this class is the martial-inclined version of the Dread Necro), and this isn't my favorite class (how many times must I say my favorite class is Paladin!?), but with all the goodies they're getting, you may feel I'm either attempting to replace the Dread Necro or that this class is my favorite. At least, it'll be pretty powerful (but surely NOT a Tier 2 class).
Improved Mettle (Ex): At 14th level, a dreadlord’s mettle ability improves. He still takes no effect on a successful Will or Fortitude save that has the “partial” or “half” descriptor, but henceforth he takes only the partial effect or half the damage on a failed save.
Not much to say here, except that this protects the future death knight from those pesky "Fort-save spells that affect objects" just in case. Again: more survivability.
Spell Resistance (Su): A dreadlord of 16th level or higher gains spell resistance equal to 15 + his class level.
The Death Knight has spell resistance; the Dreadlord also gains spell resistance. They get a much more potent version, but they don't get a way to allow your allies to bypass it.
Dreadsoul Weapon (Su): At 18th level, a dreadlord begins to disassociate from his body, gaining the limited ability to cheat death in preparation for his undeath. By crafting a special weapon (usually a sword) with a specially chosen gem, he may infuse the weapon with a degree of his own power and use it as a receptacle for his soul after his death.
To craft the weapon, a dreadlord must succeed on a Craft check to create a masterwork version of his chosen weapon, and he must add to the base materials cost a gem or crystal worth 100 gp and expend up to 4 xp. The dreadlord is treated as if having the Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat (if he doesn't have already) for purposes of making this weapon, and may enchant it with the spells he chooses. Once done, the weapon becomes a dreadsoul weapon. This weapon is attuned only to the dreadlord, and anyone who wishes to use it takes a negative penalty for as long as the dreadlord is alive. A dreadlord may summon his dreadsoul weapon to his hand as a swift action for up to 100 ft. per class level. If the dreadsoul weapon is destroyed, a dreadlord may make a new one after a month it was destroyed.
If the dreadlord is slain while wielding this weapon (or within 30 feet of it), the dreadlord may then choose to enter the soul receptacle of his dreadsoul weapon and inhabit it for as long as necessary. While inhabiting his dreadsoul weapon, the dreadlord grants it the unholy weapon property (if it doesn't has it already), an enhancement bonus equal to 1 for every 5 character levels (including racial Hit Dice, unless the weapon has a higher enhancement bonus) and imbues it with his own intellect. The weapon has an Ego score equal 12 plus to your character level plus your Charisma modifier (instead of the usual Ego score), and the dreadlord may use his dread touch and abyssal blast as part of the weapon's powers. While inhabiting his dreadsoul weapon, the dreadlord may allow the wielder to use it without imposing a negative level (even if the creature is good-aligned, in which case it also allows it to ignore the negative level penalty from the unholy special quality).
At any moment while inhabiting the dreadsoul weapon, the dreadlord may choose to inhabit any nearby corpse. The corpse may be of any humanoid, monstrous humanoid, giant, or the dreadlord's own race type (such as dragon for a dragon-type dreadlord), but the creature may not have more racial Hit Dice than the dreadlord. The corpse may not have been slain for more than one hour per dreadlord class level or a day, whichever is lower. Once the dreadlord decides to inhabit the body, it is treated as if it had received a resurrection spell and the dreadlord gains full control of the body; at that moment, the dreadlord's dreadsoul weapon loses all properties granted by it and imposes the negative level penalty, as usual. A dreadsoul weapon which has the dreadlord's soul inside that gets destroyed automatically sends the dreadlord's soul to the Lower Planes, effectively killing it.
A dreadlord may use this ability once per month. At 20th level, the dreadlord may use this ability at any moment it perishes.
Fun fact: the lich, as you may know, encases its soul on a phylactery, effectively binding its soul to the item and thus anchoring it to the world of the living. Thus, what would be the death knight's equivalent?
Those who know will say "none, because the god that empowers it returns it to life whenever necessary!" But, as you may know, not all dreadlords have to worship a deity, and not all are actually evil. Thus, dreadlords (and only dreadlords) gain the ability to anchor their soul to their weapon, much like a lich can bind its soul to a phylactery, and remain alive despite having no gods sponsoring them. It also explains why they're so different (and also why they're more powerful) than your typical death knight.
The Dreadsoul Weapon is less of a MacGuffin that all liches must protect and instead becomes a tool the dreadlord will use very often. For once, they can summon it at-will, so they're effectively never unarmed. As well, they can modify it as they desire (it doesn't have to be a sword, and no two dreadsoul weapons are the same), as they get the benefit of a Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat for it (and since they can cast some spells, they can enchant them a bit further; else, they can get assistance from a friendly caster).
One key difference, though, is that the Dreadlord gets to cheat death two levels earlier than the Dread Necromancer. If they get killed, they can inhabit the weapon, thus passing as loot (and which self-respected adventurer, save for a devout of the good gods, would pass the opportunity of holding a really awesome weapon?). Then, when least expected, you can simply let your new "owner" kill a suitable body, possess it, and finish the job. As far as DM tricks go, this one is pretty nasty. As far as player tricks go, this one is pretty hilarious. I'd like to see Dread Necromancers pull THIS off...
Of course, it requires a month for this ability to recharge (up until 20th level, when you become an actual death knight), so make sure this second chance actually counts...
Dread Transformation: At 20th level, the dreadlord abandons his mortal coil, eternally becoming one of the undead. The dreadlord forevermore becomes undead, and gains all the attributes of a death knight (see Monster Manual II, page 207) except as follows:
A dreadlord retains all hit points it currently has, but loses his Constitution score. Thus, he gains bonus hit points equal to his former Constitution score (if any). A dreadlord does not need to reroll hit points.
A dreadlord gains a bonus to all Fortitude saves equal to his dread resilience class feature.
A dreadlord does not gain undead followers unless it has the Leadership feat (or the Undead Leadership feat; see Libris Mortis page 31 for more details).
A dreadlord's negative energy touch, abyssal blast and fear aura are based on his class, not the template. If any one of these features depends on his class level, it instead depends on his character level (including racial Hit Dice).
A dreadlord may choose to assume his former humanoid form or his undead form; when assuming his base form, he is treated as if under the effect of a disguise self spell and thus gains a +10 circumstance bonus to all Disguise checks. When first assuming his death knight form, the dreadlord may choose to assume a zombie-like appearance or a skeletal appearance; this does not affect his abilities. If he changes his body by means of his dreadsoul weapon class feature, he may choose between the form of his new body, his original form or his undead form, and he may switch his undead appearance at the moment he acquires the new body. When acquiring a new body by means of his dreadsoul weapon, the body is no longer resurrected, but instead reanimated by necromantic energy, immediately gaining the benefits of the death knight template (as presented here).
Unlike other classes, a non-humanoid dreadlord may gain the death knight template (this is an exception to the norm) except for undead creatures (which retain their traits). If a dreadlord becomes a death knight (or lich, or a similar undead template) before his 20th level of dreadlord, he may ignore his level adjustment but otherwise retain his features.
Unlike other such templates, a dreadlord retains his own alignment, although he may choose to become evil if he so desires.
And here's the capstone you were waiting for: you become a Death Knight, but with a few exceptions.
The sudden loss of Constitution and the defined bonus hit points smell of exploit, so let's make it clear: the amount of hit points you get as a bonus becomes equal to 20 times your former base Constitution bonus. Therefore, if you had a base Constitution score of 20, you get 100 bonus hit points, permanently. For this purpose, "base" implies the Constitution score you started with, plus any advances by means of level-ups, plus any inherent bonus you may have had. Thus, let's say you had a 18 Con, a +5 inherent bonus to Constitution and you spent all your level-based ability score increases in Con; your base Constitution score would be 28, and thus you'd get 140 bonus hit points when you reach level 20 (20 levels x a Constitution modifier of +7). If you, for some reason, had a negative Constitution modifier, you don't suddenly lose HP.
Also, the loss of Con means a loss of Fortitude, but here's where Dread Resilience becomes relevant again; it replaces your lost Con-based Foritude save. Remember I told you Dread Resilience would become relevant?
A final thing to notice is that Death Knights, by definition, are always evil humanoids. This breaks the restriction; thus, you can have a Dragonborn Death Knight, or even a Warforged Death Knight. Let that sink in a bit. Warforged. Death Knight. You know, just like a Dread Necromancer can make Liches out of Warforged. Thus, while humanoids may get to be Death Knights before, only Dreadlords can make Death Knights out of virtually anyone (even Necropolitans, though that's an oxymoron if I've ever seen one).
About that last bit...what it means is that, if you already get the Death Knight template, or somehow get the Lich template, before 20th level, once you reach 20th level IN the class you drop off the the LA. Thus, a ECL 25th Lich Dreadlord will eventually become a ECL 20 Lich Dreadlord upon reaching class level 20. Simple enough?