Mcdt2
2014-08-25, 11:51 PM
I'll just admit it straight up: This class "borrows" (read: outright steals) from T.G. Oskar's Retooled Samurai. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?143018-The-Retooled-Samurai-My-heart-it-burns-Such-force-of-will-Such-fighting-spirit!) I absolutely love T.G.'s work, and after some thought I realized the ki class chassis would work rather well for the Knight class.
I've always been sad that the Knight just wasn't really that effective. Admittedly, it's not as though most martial classes (pre-ToB at least) were any good, but the knight looked like it had so much potential.
Besides, I've already found good homebrew fixes for those other classes. :smallredface:
What follows is my humble attempt at cleaning up the Knight, in the style of one of my favorite homebrewers. I hope it doesn't disappoint. And of course, please PEACH in the comments below.
A note: This current version still incorporates a couple houserules from my game. I'll explain them in the spoiler blocks, along with explanations of why I did what I did. Eventually I'll edit out my houserule bits, I just want to get this up quickly right now.
http://wisevishvesh.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/knight-in-shining-armour.jpg
“Knighthood lies above eternity; it doesn’t live off fame, but rather deeds.”
- Dejan Stojanovic, The Sun Watches the Sun
Level
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Reflex Save
Will Save
Special
1st
+1
+2
+0
+2
Honor's Hand, Knight's Resolve, Path of Glory
2nd
+2
+3
+0
+3
Fighting Challenge +1 (single target)
3rd
+3
+3
+1
+3
Bulwark of Defense, Knight’s Loyalty (DR/-)
4th
+4
+4
+1
+4
Armor Mastery (Medium), Fighting Challenge (Multiple Targets)
5th
+5
+4
+1
+4
Bonus Feat, Fighting Challenge +2
6th
+6/+1
+5
+2
+5
Path of Honor
7th
+7/+2
+5
+2
+5
Mettle, Knight’s Loyalty (temp hp)
8th
+8/+3
+6
+2
+6
Daunting Presence (single target), Fighting Challenge +3
9th
+9/+4
+6
+3
+6
Armor Mastery (Heavy)
10th
+10/+5
+7
+3
+7
Bonus Feat, Call to Battle (Conditions)
11th
+11/+6/+1
+7
+3
+7
Path of Heroes, Fighting Challenge +4, Knight’s Loyalty (Cha to saves)
12th
+12/+7/+2
+8
+4
+8
Daunting Presence (Multiple Targets)
13th
+13/+8/+3
+8
+4
+8
Inspiring Presence
14th
+14/+9/+4
+9
+4
+9
Fighting Challenge +5, Improved Mettle
15th
+15/+10/+5
+9
+5
+9
Bonus feat, Call to Battle (hit points), Knight’s Loyalty (freedom of movement)
16th
+16/+11/+6/+1
+10
+5
+10
Path of Legends
17th
+17/+12/+7/+2
+10
+5
+10
Fighting Challenge +6, Impetuous Endurance
18th
+18/+13/+8/+3
+11
+6
+11
Stance of Denial
19th
+19/+14/+9/+4
+11
+6
+11
Knight’s Loyalty (negate attack)
20th
+20/+15/+10/+5
+12
+6
+12
Loyal Beyond Death, Bonus feat, Fighting Challenge +7
Hit Die: d12
Class Skills: Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (architecture and engineering) (Int), Jump (Str), Knowledge (history) (Int), Knowledge (nobility and royalty) (Int), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Swim (Str)
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier. (x4 at first level)
So anyway, why these skills? Well, mostly because TG's Samurai had them. Not much to it. Knowledge skills that a noble knight should know (engineering is abit more of a stretch, it's more of a legacy from Samurai. Nobility is because knights often were the nobility, and History for similar reasons. Social Skills (minus Bluff added back in because why not) to allow our Knight to hold his own in Courtly functions, Ride for mounted combat of course, Craft and Profession because everyone has those, and Perform because why not, Samurai has it, I didn't feel like removing it.
Some people may balk at the d12 HD. I think it deserves it; after all this is meant to be a tanky class, no? Besides, it’s not much of an improvement over a d10 anyhow, so there’s hardly any need to worry.
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the knight.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Knights are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all kinds of armor (heavy, medium and light), and with all shields (including tower shields).
No reason to deny them the tower shields, so there ya go. Not much else to say.
Honor's Hand (Ex): At 1st level, a knight may use his Strength or Charisma modifier for her attack and damage rolls with any weapon he is proficient, whichever is the highest.
Samurai's Kiai except based on Charisma. Simple, effective.
Knight's Resolve (Su): A true knight never falters in battle, and by drawing upon reserves of inner strength, a knight can find himself performing feats impossible to his fellow man. He has a special pool of resolve, which has a number resolve points equal to half his class level plus his Charisma bonus (if any). As long as the knight's resolve pool is not empty, he may use any of his supernatural abilities. These powers are described below.
A blatant rip-off of the ki mechanic, right here. I chose "resolve" as the name mostly on a whim, mostly because ki is too "Eastern" for such a Western concept of a class, and anything else I could think of reminded me too much of PF's Gunslinger and their Grit mechanic
Path of Glory (Ex): Although knights learn the use of several fighting styles and know several methods of combat, more important is how they choose to utilize their ability. As such, there are several paths that knights may follow, each differing in strategy and methods.
At first level, you may choose one of the following paths. Each path grants a set of benefits related to the weapons or tactics used, as well as a method to regain resolve:
Slayer: Some knights dedicate themselves to ridding this world of wickedness, and the favored tool of such a quest is the blade, be it sword or axe. A knight following the Path of the Slayer gain Power Attack as a bonus feat at first level. You regain 1 resolve whenever you kill a creature with a CR equal or above your level minus three.
Protector: It is not coincidence that many a young lass has has dreams of being saved from a terrible fate by a knight in shining armor, for the Knight-Protectors seek out those threats to the people and put themselves in harm's way to save them. To aid him thusly, a knight following this Path gains Shield and Pike Style (see below) as a bonus feat at first level. You regain 1 resolve whenever you answer a cry for help or aid.
Benefit: You may use any two-handed polearm one handed as long as you hold any shield other than a buckler in the other hand. You're still considered to be wielding it two-handed for the purposes of damage rolls, Power Attack, and similar. Whenever you take the full defense action with a polearm in one hand and a shield in the other, you can still make attacks of opportunity, and you're automatically considered to be readied and set against charges, if your weapon is capable of being used as such.
Cavalier: The shining knight, astride a white charger, rushes into battle, fighting for his lord and his land. The Path of the Cavalier is a path of war, of little use crawling through dungeons, where horses rarely fit. A knight who follows this Path gains Mounted Combat as a bonus feat at first level. You regain 1 resolve whenever you lead a charge into battle with no pretense of stealth (either while mounted or on foot).
Houserule note: Shield Focus is a homebrew feat in my games, and is part of the weapon fix I'm using. It's not really applicable to standard rules either, so I don't know what would make a good substitute here. Perhaps Shield Specialization? A tad weak though.
So I’ve replaced the above with instead a different homebrew feat of mine, what is essentially a combination of the Shield and Pike style feat with the Phalanx Fighting feat, except without those pesky limitations on allowed weapons/shields (beyond “polearm” that is). Speaking of, for this feat, the list of polearms include: Lance, longspear, spear, glaive, guisarme, halberd, lance, and ranseur. Feel free to expand this list with non-Core options.
EDIT: I do so love striking out text, don’t I? Anyway, took out the shield wall function of the feat, now it’s just Shield and Pike Style (A Retooled Dragon FeatTM). Hopefully this makes Protector not as powerful compared to the others so early on.
So here we have a Combat Style-esque mechanic, once again shamelessly lifted from Samurai. I feel like there should be a 4th Path, but I can't for the life of me decide what it would be, although I could always go with archery I suppose (feels wrong to me for some reason though).
As with Samurai, these will start out giving out simple bonus feats and give better abilities as they go higher.
EDIT 2, ELECTRIC BOOGALOO: Now with a way to regain points of resolve! I tried to style them after the general modus operandi of each path while keeping them mostly balanced with each other. Protector and to a lesser extent Cavalier are rather dependent on the DM providing a suitable situation, but "save these people" is hardly an uncommon plot hook. Cavaliers are likely to emulate a certain Mr. Jenkins in an attempt to gain more resolve, but hopefully that won't cause too much party friction.
Fighting Challenge (Ex): At 2nd level, a knight may call out a foe to stand and fight by spending a point of resolve as a swift action. The chosen foe must make a Will save, DC 10 + 1/2 your knight level + your Charisma modifier (A creature with less than 3 Int gets a +4 to this save, while mindless creatures are immune). If they fail the save, they must attack the knight by any means available, be it blade, bow or spell. Any attacks made must include the knight as a target, but area of effect and multi-target effects can still target other creatures in addition to the knight, as usual.
If the challenged foe passes the save, they are not compelled to attack, but the shame of ignoring such a blatant challenge hurts. Attacks made and spells cast against foes other than the knight take a -1 penalty to attack, as does any damage rolls made, and Concentration checks made to cast defensively. This penalty increase by 1 for each three levels of knight you possess, to maximum of -7 at level 20.
In either case, the knight gains +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made against the challenged foe, and gains a +1 bonus on Will saves against mind-affecting and fear effects. These bonuses increase by 1 for every three knight levels you possess, to a maximum of +7 at level 20. This effect lasts for a number of rounds equal 5 + your Charisma modifier.
At 4th level, you can use this ability against all foes within 60 ft, instead of just one foe.
The iconic ability, now powered by Resolve, so as to unify all abilities and get away from awkward language for later abilities.
As you can see, it's more of a combination of the Fighting Challenge ability and the later Test of Mettle ability, with a larger range of affected foes. Even if they make the save, you still get a benefit, so instead of a "save or suck" it's more of a "save or suck even more".
Bulwark of Defense (Ex): When you reach 3rd level, an opponent that begins its turn in your threatened area treats all the squares that you threaten as difficult terrain. Your strict vigilance and active defensive maneuvers force your opponents to move with care.
Legacy ability. Thus far entirely unchanged.
Knight’s Loyalty (Ex or Su): Whatever path they may choose, the knight’s bonds, be they oaths, friendships or even the bonds of True Love, are unbreakable. They give the Knight the resolve to survive, a resolve which is stronger than any blade or claw.
At 3rd level, the Knight gains DR/- equal to their Fighting Challenge bonus.
By spending a point of resolve as an immediate action, the knight can increase their DR to twice the usual amount for 1 round. This ability is (Ex).
At 7th level, by spending a point of resolve as a standard action, you gain Temporary HP equal to your knight level, which lasts for 1 minute. This ability is (Su).
Furthermore, if your health drops below one half the maximum (rounded down), you gain 2 temporary points of resolve, which disappear when used or when your health increases above half the maximum.
At 11th level, you may add your Charisma bonus to all saves.
At 15th level, Whenever you are affected by a spell or other effect that impedes your movement, you may spend 1 point of resolve as a free action (even if it’s not your turn) to delay its effects for 1 round. You may continue to use this ability as long as you possess Resolve, delaying all effects of the impediment until you stop using this ability. This ability is (Su).
At 19th level, you can shrug off even the mightiest of attacks. By spending 2 points of resolve as an immediate action, you can negate all effects of any one harmful attack or spell that would affect you. It does not affect you, nor does it affect any other targets it may have had, and neither does it affect any other squares in its area. This ability may only be used once per encounter.
In order to add some much needed tank-iness, I present “Knight’s Loyalty”. It starts off simply, giving you some DR and a way to increase it, and a way to gain some Temp HP and gain resolve. Next, we buff the saves and do a Paladin impression with our very own Divine Grace type ability.
Then, we kick it into high gear. Ignore movement impediments, such as webs, black tentacles, slow spells? Heck yes. But we’re not done yet: At 19th level, you have the ability to completely say “NO!” to any one effect. This is what Iron Heart Surge wishes it could be. For power’s sake, I’ve limited it to 1/encounter, for now at least.
Armor Mastery (Ex): Starting at 4th level, you are able to wear your armor like a second skin and ignore the standard speed reduction for wearing medium armor. Starting at 9th level, you ignore the speed reduction imposed by heavy armor as well.
Again, legacy ability.
Bonus Feat: At 5th level and every 5 levels thereafter, a knight gains a bonus feat. The knight may choose from the list of fighter bonus feats. A knight is considered as a fighter of his class level minus four for feats that have a fighter level prerequisite.
Everyone needs more bonus feats. Everyone. Funnily enough the knight already had some here, I just expanded the list to all fighter feats. Of course, that leaves out Animal Affinity (and possibly others, I forget, as I made some massive additions to the list of [fighter] feats in my game). Still, not like those feats were much good anyhow. In T.G. Oskar fashion, they gain an effective fighter level for feats, in case they want to pick up Weapon Specialization or something (or more importantly, for use with T.G.'s revise combat rules. But that's neither here nor there).
Path of Honour (Ex): At 6th level, a knight's devotion to his chosen path grants him new power.
Slayer: When you successfully hit an enemy with a melee attack, they gain 1 Mark of Slaying. A single creature may be affected by a number of Marks equal to your Charisma modifier at any one time, though you may affect any amount of separate creatures with this ability. At the end of any turn you successfully hit a marked foe in melee (including the turn you add the Mark), you deal damage to them equal to your knight level for each mark upon them. This damage is also dealt when the Mark is removed by another ability from this path (see below). A mark lasts for 24 hours or until the target is dead, whichever comes first.
Protector: As an immediate action you can opt to absorb part of the damage dealt to an adjacent ally. Each time this ally takes damage before your next turn, you can take half this damage. This even absorbs damage from spells and other effects without attack rolls, but it only absorbs the damage, not any other effect the attack or spell had.
Cavalier: You’ve grown so accustomed to fighting on horseback that you know how to guide the horse to do things it otherwise wouldn’t. When fighting on amount trained for battle, you do not need to make Ride checks to control them. Furthermore, you and your mount take no penalties for your mount squeezing into a smaller space, allowing a Medium rider (with a large mount) to fight in a 5x5 area, as well as indoors.
The Path abilities continue to improve. The Protector ability is pretty much exactly Shield Ally, and later Path abilities will improve this. I'm still working on abilities to give the Slayer and Cavalier paths, so I'd appreciate suggestions for those.
And there we go, abilities for other paths. Cavaliers now get around one of the large issues plaguing mounted characters, namely small spaces. They also get better control over non-war-trained mounts, but that’s more of a fringe benefit. Slayers now get a stun effect, although only on criticals. Slayers are now totally revamped, adding stacks of "Mark of Slaying" to their foes, adding a lot of extra damage to foes if they keep attacking them. It should be fairly balanced around just the attacks they get from BAB, but it is potentially worrisome if they get extra attacks via TWF or haste. May revise in the future.
Mettle (Ex): At 7th level, whenever a Knight makes a successful Fortitude or Will saving throw against an attack that normally deals partial effect or half damage on a successful save, he instead does not suffer from the effect or takes no damage. A helpless knight does not gain the benefit of mettle.
Knights are tanky. Tanks should have Mettle. 'Nuff said.
Daunting Presence (Ex): At 8th level, the presence of a knight on the field is impossible to ignore, and he strikes terror into the hearts of evildoers. As a swift action, a knight can spend a point of resolve, causing one within 60 ft to be struck with fear. The chosen foe must make a Will save, DC 10 + 1/2 your knight level + your Charisma modifier (A creature with less than 3 Int gets a +4 to this save, while mindless creatures are immune). Creatures with less HD than the knight are frightened for a number of rounds equal to 5 + your Charisma modifier, while creatures with the same or greater HD as the knight are shaken instead. A successful save reduces the fear effect by 1 stage (frightened to shaken, shaken to no fear). This ability is a mind-affecting fear effect.
At 12th level, this ability affects every enemy within range.
Another legacy ability, another round of buffs. In addition to being affected by the changes to targeting as per Challenge, you get this ability earlier (at least vs one target, hitting multiple at the same level, though ultimately at shorter range). Further, you can impose greater fear effects to weaker enemies, and can now affect stronger enemies than you could before.
I'm still uncertain whether I should make these scale based on the enemy's HD or go with CR as the PHB2 version did. On one hand, some creature types scale way too quickly with regards to HD/CR ratios. On the other, most of those creatures are mindless anyway, and besides CR is way too wonky for my tastes to use for anything.
Call to Battle (Su): At 10th level, by spending a point of resolve as a swift action, you may grant any ally within 60 feet a new saving throw against an ongoing condition, spell, or other effect that originally allowed a save. They make a new save against the original DC; if they are successful they are freed from the condition as though they had save originally, although this may cause them to become afflicted with a new and/or lesser condition as part of a "Save for Partial" effect.
At 15th level, you may spend a resolve point as a swift action in order heal all allies, including yourself, for an amount of HP equal to Xd6+ your knight level, where X is your fighting challenge bonus. This ability may be used as part of the same action as the above (in other words, it requires 1 swift action and 2 resolve to grant new saves and restore hit points simultaneously).
Comes in 2 levels later than the original ability, but in exchange it now affects any ongoing effect, not merely [Fear] effects. On top of that, it later gains the ability to restore HP to yourself and allies as well. Not a very large amount, but it's a swift action and doesn't compete for actions with condition removal either
Path of Heroes (Ex or Su): At 11th level, the knight's Path abilities may be increased by spending resolve points.
Slayer: When you successfully score a critical hit against a foe with one or more Marks of Slaying, you may choose to remove all of the marks upon that target. If you do so, the target must make a Fort save (DC 10 + 1/2 your knight level + twice the number of removed marks) or be stunned for 1 round.
If you spend 2 points of resolve when the above happens, the attack explodes with holy energy. The original target is instead stunned for 1d3 rounds on a failed save. Further, any other creatures within 30 feet with a Mark of Slaying removes all such marks, and they must make a Fort save (DC 10 + 1/2 your knight level + the number of removed marks) or be stunned for 1 round.
Protector: Once per round you can absorb all the damage from a single attack directed against an adjacent ally. In addition, you continue to absorb half the damage from other physical attacks on an adjacent ally, if you so choose. You must decide whether to use this ability after the attacker determines that an attack has succeeded but before he rolls damage.
By spending 1 resolve, you may choose to redirect any harmful spell targeting the protected ally to yourself, suffering all effects of the spell. You make all the relevant saves for the spell, as well. This use of this ability is (Su).
Cavalier: By now, you and your mount have practically become one. Any mount you ride gains bonus HD, natural armor, and Str/Con as though you were a druid. Furthermore, you can attempt to attract advanced mounts as an animal companion, but your effective druid level takes penalties, as per the animal companion ability.
By spending 1 resolve as a free action, you can cause any one attack targeting your mount to miss entirely. This ability may be used once per round, and is (Ex).
The Third tier of Path abilities. The Protector ability is basically Improved Shield Ally 4 levels earlier, plus you can spend Resolve to totally take the effect of any targeted spell as well.
Cavaliers now can get around one of the other biggest issues with mounted combat: namely, mounts dying under you. I feel like this may be too little, too late, though.
Slayers now have their stun ability bumped up 5 levels. The save scales off of the number of removed marks, so they can potentially add twice their Cha to this save, though the fight would have to be quite lengthy for such a thing to occur. Note that the removed Marks deal damage as they otherwise would at the end of your turn, so they don't lose too much DPS from using this ability. The resolve enhancement is probably a tad insane: remove the marks from nearby foes as well and stun them too. Do note that the Fort save scales much more slowly for secondary targets, however. It may be a tad strong, but I do intend for this thing to keep up with T2-3 casters, especially ones packing black tentacles, for example.
Inspiring Presence (Ex or Su): A Knight on the field is a sight to behold, striking awe into the hearts of all around. A knight of 13th level grants allies within 60 feet a bonus on Will saves vs mind-affecting and fear effects, equal to his Fighting Challenge bonus. This ability is (Ex).
By spending a point of resolve as a swift action, a Knight grants all allies within 60 ft a morale bonus to attack and damage rolls equal to his Fighting Challenge bonus. This ability lasts for a number of rounds equal to your Charisma modifier. This ability is (Su).
A continuous aura providing half of a Bard's Inspire Courage, and you can spend Resolve to get the other half too.
I'll admit, compared to the Core, unoptimized Bard, this is a fair bit better than Inspire Courage, thanks to swift action activation and lack of a need to concentrate on it. Honestly, I don't have much of a rebuttal to that argument, other than to say that I use a homebrewed Bard that accomplishes this exactly, from level 1, which is what this is balanced against.
Improved Mettle (Ex): At 14th level, a knight’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.
It's like Mettle, but even better! Again, not much to say here, T.G. likes to give this out to martials, I agree with him.
Path of Legends (Su): At 16th level, a knight that devotes to his chosen path acquires abilities that defy explanation.
Slayer: By spending 3 resolve points as a standard action, you may condemn a chosen foe to damnation. One marked target of your choice within 30 instantly dies unless they succeed on a Fort save (DC 10 + 1/2 your knight level + your Charisma modifier). On a passed save, all the Marks on the target are removed, dealing damage as normal.
Protector: By spending 2 resolve points, you create an aura of 30 feet around which protects all allies within it. Any time an ally would affected by a harmful spell or attack, you may redirect it yourself. The original target suffers no ill effect and need roll no saves. You must choose whether to redirect the attack or spell before you know what it does.
Cavalier: By spending 1 point of resolve, your mount gains the benefits of Fly, Water Breathing, Expeditious Retreat, and Freedom of Movement for 1 hour.
Cavaliers now have the ability to grant their mounts a whole slew of buffs to allow their mount to go just about anywhere. I feel, once again, this may be too little, too late, however. Still, it’s something.
Protectors gain the ability to project an aura that basically allows them to tank everything that affects their allies. If you have a Knight dedicated enough to protect you to the very end, you'll not be harmed until they go down. Which, of course, is likely to take quite a while.
Slayers now have a potent Save or Die, though it takes at least 1 turn to charge it up. If you managed to hit with multiple attacks and/or spent several actions attacking, it also deals a large amount of damage even if they pass the save.
Impetuous Endurance (Ex): Starting at 17th level, your fighting spirit enables you to push your body beyond the normal limits of endurance. You no longer automatically fail a saving throw on a roll of 1. You might still fail the save if your result fails to equal or beat the DC.
Legacy ability. Honestly, I feel this could be placed earlier in the class. Will consider that.
Stance of Denial (Su): At 18th level, a knight’s ability to react improves to inhuman levels. Any free or immediate action done by a creature in response of a knight’s action is delayed until the end of the knight's action.
Taken word for word from Samurai. Not much else to say, really.
Loyal Beyond Death (Ex): At 20th level, if you are reduced to 0 or fewer hit points by an effect that otherwise leaves your body intact, you can expend one point of resolve to remain conscious and continue to act for 1 more round before dying. You can use this ability even if your hit point total is -10 or lower. If your body is somehow destroyed before your next action (such as by disintegrate), then you cannot act. You can continue to expend resolve points to survive from round to round until you run out of resolve points. If you receive healing that leaves you with more than -10 hit points, you survive (or fall unconscious, as appropriate to your new hit point total) when you stop using this ability. Otherwise, death overtakes you when you run out of resolve.
Legacy Ability, unchanged except to reference Resolve instead of uses of Challenge. I kinda want to replace this with something else, but I can't think of what to put in its place.
I've always been sad that the Knight just wasn't really that effective. Admittedly, it's not as though most martial classes (pre-ToB at least) were any good, but the knight looked like it had so much potential.
Besides, I've already found good homebrew fixes for those other classes. :smallredface:
What follows is my humble attempt at cleaning up the Knight, in the style of one of my favorite homebrewers. I hope it doesn't disappoint. And of course, please PEACH in the comments below.
A note: This current version still incorporates a couple houserules from my game. I'll explain them in the spoiler blocks, along with explanations of why I did what I did. Eventually I'll edit out my houserule bits, I just want to get this up quickly right now.
http://wisevishvesh.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/knight-in-shining-armour.jpg
“Knighthood lies above eternity; it doesn’t live off fame, but rather deeds.”
- Dejan Stojanovic, The Sun Watches the Sun
Level
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Reflex Save
Will Save
Special
1st
+1
+2
+0
+2
Honor's Hand, Knight's Resolve, Path of Glory
2nd
+2
+3
+0
+3
Fighting Challenge +1 (single target)
3rd
+3
+3
+1
+3
Bulwark of Defense, Knight’s Loyalty (DR/-)
4th
+4
+4
+1
+4
Armor Mastery (Medium), Fighting Challenge (Multiple Targets)
5th
+5
+4
+1
+4
Bonus Feat, Fighting Challenge +2
6th
+6/+1
+5
+2
+5
Path of Honor
7th
+7/+2
+5
+2
+5
Mettle, Knight’s Loyalty (temp hp)
8th
+8/+3
+6
+2
+6
Daunting Presence (single target), Fighting Challenge +3
9th
+9/+4
+6
+3
+6
Armor Mastery (Heavy)
10th
+10/+5
+7
+3
+7
Bonus Feat, Call to Battle (Conditions)
11th
+11/+6/+1
+7
+3
+7
Path of Heroes, Fighting Challenge +4, Knight’s Loyalty (Cha to saves)
12th
+12/+7/+2
+8
+4
+8
Daunting Presence (Multiple Targets)
13th
+13/+8/+3
+8
+4
+8
Inspiring Presence
14th
+14/+9/+4
+9
+4
+9
Fighting Challenge +5, Improved Mettle
15th
+15/+10/+5
+9
+5
+9
Bonus feat, Call to Battle (hit points), Knight’s Loyalty (freedom of movement)
16th
+16/+11/+6/+1
+10
+5
+10
Path of Legends
17th
+17/+12/+7/+2
+10
+5
+10
Fighting Challenge +6, Impetuous Endurance
18th
+18/+13/+8/+3
+11
+6
+11
Stance of Denial
19th
+19/+14/+9/+4
+11
+6
+11
Knight’s Loyalty (negate attack)
20th
+20/+15/+10/+5
+12
+6
+12
Loyal Beyond Death, Bonus feat, Fighting Challenge +7
Hit Die: d12
Class Skills: Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (architecture and engineering) (Int), Jump (Str), Knowledge (history) (Int), Knowledge (nobility and royalty) (Int), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Swim (Str)
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier. (x4 at first level)
So anyway, why these skills? Well, mostly because TG's Samurai had them. Not much to it. Knowledge skills that a noble knight should know (engineering is abit more of a stretch, it's more of a legacy from Samurai. Nobility is because knights often were the nobility, and History for similar reasons. Social Skills (minus Bluff added back in because why not) to allow our Knight to hold his own in Courtly functions, Ride for mounted combat of course, Craft and Profession because everyone has those, and Perform because why not, Samurai has it, I didn't feel like removing it.
Some people may balk at the d12 HD. I think it deserves it; after all this is meant to be a tanky class, no? Besides, it’s not much of an improvement over a d10 anyhow, so there’s hardly any need to worry.
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the knight.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Knights are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all kinds of armor (heavy, medium and light), and with all shields (including tower shields).
No reason to deny them the tower shields, so there ya go. Not much else to say.
Honor's Hand (Ex): At 1st level, a knight may use his Strength or Charisma modifier for her attack and damage rolls with any weapon he is proficient, whichever is the highest.
Samurai's Kiai except based on Charisma. Simple, effective.
Knight's Resolve (Su): A true knight never falters in battle, and by drawing upon reserves of inner strength, a knight can find himself performing feats impossible to his fellow man. He has a special pool of resolve, which has a number resolve points equal to half his class level plus his Charisma bonus (if any). As long as the knight's resolve pool is not empty, he may use any of his supernatural abilities. These powers are described below.
A blatant rip-off of the ki mechanic, right here. I chose "resolve" as the name mostly on a whim, mostly because ki is too "Eastern" for such a Western concept of a class, and anything else I could think of reminded me too much of PF's Gunslinger and their Grit mechanic
Path of Glory (Ex): Although knights learn the use of several fighting styles and know several methods of combat, more important is how they choose to utilize their ability. As such, there are several paths that knights may follow, each differing in strategy and methods.
At first level, you may choose one of the following paths. Each path grants a set of benefits related to the weapons or tactics used, as well as a method to regain resolve:
Slayer: Some knights dedicate themselves to ridding this world of wickedness, and the favored tool of such a quest is the blade, be it sword or axe. A knight following the Path of the Slayer gain Power Attack as a bonus feat at first level. You regain 1 resolve whenever you kill a creature with a CR equal or above your level minus three.
Protector: It is not coincidence that many a young lass has has dreams of being saved from a terrible fate by a knight in shining armor, for the Knight-Protectors seek out those threats to the people and put themselves in harm's way to save them. To aid him thusly, a knight following this Path gains Shield and Pike Style (see below) as a bonus feat at first level. You regain 1 resolve whenever you answer a cry for help or aid.
Benefit: You may use any two-handed polearm one handed as long as you hold any shield other than a buckler in the other hand. You're still considered to be wielding it two-handed for the purposes of damage rolls, Power Attack, and similar. Whenever you take the full defense action with a polearm in one hand and a shield in the other, you can still make attacks of opportunity, and you're automatically considered to be readied and set against charges, if your weapon is capable of being used as such.
Cavalier: The shining knight, astride a white charger, rushes into battle, fighting for his lord and his land. The Path of the Cavalier is a path of war, of little use crawling through dungeons, where horses rarely fit. A knight who follows this Path gains Mounted Combat as a bonus feat at first level. You regain 1 resolve whenever you lead a charge into battle with no pretense of stealth (either while mounted or on foot).
Houserule note: Shield Focus is a homebrew feat in my games, and is part of the weapon fix I'm using. It's not really applicable to standard rules either, so I don't know what would make a good substitute here. Perhaps Shield Specialization? A tad weak though.
So I’ve replaced the above with instead a different homebrew feat of mine, what is essentially a combination of the Shield and Pike style feat with the Phalanx Fighting feat, except without those pesky limitations on allowed weapons/shields (beyond “polearm” that is). Speaking of, for this feat, the list of polearms include: Lance, longspear, spear, glaive, guisarme, halberd, lance, and ranseur. Feel free to expand this list with non-Core options.
EDIT: I do so love striking out text, don’t I? Anyway, took out the shield wall function of the feat, now it’s just Shield and Pike Style (A Retooled Dragon FeatTM). Hopefully this makes Protector not as powerful compared to the others so early on.
So here we have a Combat Style-esque mechanic, once again shamelessly lifted from Samurai. I feel like there should be a 4th Path, but I can't for the life of me decide what it would be, although I could always go with archery I suppose (feels wrong to me for some reason though).
As with Samurai, these will start out giving out simple bonus feats and give better abilities as they go higher.
EDIT 2, ELECTRIC BOOGALOO: Now with a way to regain points of resolve! I tried to style them after the general modus operandi of each path while keeping them mostly balanced with each other. Protector and to a lesser extent Cavalier are rather dependent on the DM providing a suitable situation, but "save these people" is hardly an uncommon plot hook. Cavaliers are likely to emulate a certain Mr. Jenkins in an attempt to gain more resolve, but hopefully that won't cause too much party friction.
Fighting Challenge (Ex): At 2nd level, a knight may call out a foe to stand and fight by spending a point of resolve as a swift action. The chosen foe must make a Will save, DC 10 + 1/2 your knight level + your Charisma modifier (A creature with less than 3 Int gets a +4 to this save, while mindless creatures are immune). If they fail the save, they must attack the knight by any means available, be it blade, bow or spell. Any attacks made must include the knight as a target, but area of effect and multi-target effects can still target other creatures in addition to the knight, as usual.
If the challenged foe passes the save, they are not compelled to attack, but the shame of ignoring such a blatant challenge hurts. Attacks made and spells cast against foes other than the knight take a -1 penalty to attack, as does any damage rolls made, and Concentration checks made to cast defensively. This penalty increase by 1 for each three levels of knight you possess, to maximum of -7 at level 20.
In either case, the knight gains +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made against the challenged foe, and gains a +1 bonus on Will saves against mind-affecting and fear effects. These bonuses increase by 1 for every three knight levels you possess, to a maximum of +7 at level 20. This effect lasts for a number of rounds equal 5 + your Charisma modifier.
At 4th level, you can use this ability against all foes within 60 ft, instead of just one foe.
The iconic ability, now powered by Resolve, so as to unify all abilities and get away from awkward language for later abilities.
As you can see, it's more of a combination of the Fighting Challenge ability and the later Test of Mettle ability, with a larger range of affected foes. Even if they make the save, you still get a benefit, so instead of a "save or suck" it's more of a "save or suck even more".
Bulwark of Defense (Ex): When you reach 3rd level, an opponent that begins its turn in your threatened area treats all the squares that you threaten as difficult terrain. Your strict vigilance and active defensive maneuvers force your opponents to move with care.
Legacy ability. Thus far entirely unchanged.
Knight’s Loyalty (Ex or Su): Whatever path they may choose, the knight’s bonds, be they oaths, friendships or even the bonds of True Love, are unbreakable. They give the Knight the resolve to survive, a resolve which is stronger than any blade or claw.
At 3rd level, the Knight gains DR/- equal to their Fighting Challenge bonus.
By spending a point of resolve as an immediate action, the knight can increase their DR to twice the usual amount for 1 round. This ability is (Ex).
At 7th level, by spending a point of resolve as a standard action, you gain Temporary HP equal to your knight level, which lasts for 1 minute. This ability is (Su).
Furthermore, if your health drops below one half the maximum (rounded down), you gain 2 temporary points of resolve, which disappear when used or when your health increases above half the maximum.
At 11th level, you may add your Charisma bonus to all saves.
At 15th level, Whenever you are affected by a spell or other effect that impedes your movement, you may spend 1 point of resolve as a free action (even if it’s not your turn) to delay its effects for 1 round. You may continue to use this ability as long as you possess Resolve, delaying all effects of the impediment until you stop using this ability. This ability is (Su).
At 19th level, you can shrug off even the mightiest of attacks. By spending 2 points of resolve as an immediate action, you can negate all effects of any one harmful attack or spell that would affect you. It does not affect you, nor does it affect any other targets it may have had, and neither does it affect any other squares in its area. This ability may only be used once per encounter.
In order to add some much needed tank-iness, I present “Knight’s Loyalty”. It starts off simply, giving you some DR and a way to increase it, and a way to gain some Temp HP and gain resolve. Next, we buff the saves and do a Paladin impression with our very own Divine Grace type ability.
Then, we kick it into high gear. Ignore movement impediments, such as webs, black tentacles, slow spells? Heck yes. But we’re not done yet: At 19th level, you have the ability to completely say “NO!” to any one effect. This is what Iron Heart Surge wishes it could be. For power’s sake, I’ve limited it to 1/encounter, for now at least.
Armor Mastery (Ex): Starting at 4th level, you are able to wear your armor like a second skin and ignore the standard speed reduction for wearing medium armor. Starting at 9th level, you ignore the speed reduction imposed by heavy armor as well.
Again, legacy ability.
Bonus Feat: At 5th level and every 5 levels thereafter, a knight gains a bonus feat. The knight may choose from the list of fighter bonus feats. A knight is considered as a fighter of his class level minus four for feats that have a fighter level prerequisite.
Everyone needs more bonus feats. Everyone. Funnily enough the knight already had some here, I just expanded the list to all fighter feats. Of course, that leaves out Animal Affinity (and possibly others, I forget, as I made some massive additions to the list of [fighter] feats in my game). Still, not like those feats were much good anyhow. In T.G. Oskar fashion, they gain an effective fighter level for feats, in case they want to pick up Weapon Specialization or something (or more importantly, for use with T.G.'s revise combat rules. But that's neither here nor there).
Path of Honour (Ex): At 6th level, a knight's devotion to his chosen path grants him new power.
Slayer: When you successfully hit an enemy with a melee attack, they gain 1 Mark of Slaying. A single creature may be affected by a number of Marks equal to your Charisma modifier at any one time, though you may affect any amount of separate creatures with this ability. At the end of any turn you successfully hit a marked foe in melee (including the turn you add the Mark), you deal damage to them equal to your knight level for each mark upon them. This damage is also dealt when the Mark is removed by another ability from this path (see below). A mark lasts for 24 hours or until the target is dead, whichever comes first.
Protector: As an immediate action you can opt to absorb part of the damage dealt to an adjacent ally. Each time this ally takes damage before your next turn, you can take half this damage. This even absorbs damage from spells and other effects without attack rolls, but it only absorbs the damage, not any other effect the attack or spell had.
Cavalier: You’ve grown so accustomed to fighting on horseback that you know how to guide the horse to do things it otherwise wouldn’t. When fighting on amount trained for battle, you do not need to make Ride checks to control them. Furthermore, you and your mount take no penalties for your mount squeezing into a smaller space, allowing a Medium rider (with a large mount) to fight in a 5x5 area, as well as indoors.
The Path abilities continue to improve. The Protector ability is pretty much exactly Shield Ally, and later Path abilities will improve this. I'm still working on abilities to give the Slayer and Cavalier paths, so I'd appreciate suggestions for those.
And there we go, abilities for other paths. Cavaliers now get around one of the large issues plaguing mounted characters, namely small spaces. They also get better control over non-war-trained mounts, but that’s more of a fringe benefit. Slayers now get a stun effect, although only on criticals. Slayers are now totally revamped, adding stacks of "Mark of Slaying" to their foes, adding a lot of extra damage to foes if they keep attacking them. It should be fairly balanced around just the attacks they get from BAB, but it is potentially worrisome if they get extra attacks via TWF or haste. May revise in the future.
Mettle (Ex): At 7th level, whenever a Knight makes a successful Fortitude or Will saving throw against an attack that normally deals partial effect or half damage on a successful save, he instead does not suffer from the effect or takes no damage. A helpless knight does not gain the benefit of mettle.
Knights are tanky. Tanks should have Mettle. 'Nuff said.
Daunting Presence (Ex): At 8th level, the presence of a knight on the field is impossible to ignore, and he strikes terror into the hearts of evildoers. As a swift action, a knight can spend a point of resolve, causing one within 60 ft to be struck with fear. The chosen foe must make a Will save, DC 10 + 1/2 your knight level + your Charisma modifier (A creature with less than 3 Int gets a +4 to this save, while mindless creatures are immune). Creatures with less HD than the knight are frightened for a number of rounds equal to 5 + your Charisma modifier, while creatures with the same or greater HD as the knight are shaken instead. A successful save reduces the fear effect by 1 stage (frightened to shaken, shaken to no fear). This ability is a mind-affecting fear effect.
At 12th level, this ability affects every enemy within range.
Another legacy ability, another round of buffs. In addition to being affected by the changes to targeting as per Challenge, you get this ability earlier (at least vs one target, hitting multiple at the same level, though ultimately at shorter range). Further, you can impose greater fear effects to weaker enemies, and can now affect stronger enemies than you could before.
I'm still uncertain whether I should make these scale based on the enemy's HD or go with CR as the PHB2 version did. On one hand, some creature types scale way too quickly with regards to HD/CR ratios. On the other, most of those creatures are mindless anyway, and besides CR is way too wonky for my tastes to use for anything.
Call to Battle (Su): At 10th level, by spending a point of resolve as a swift action, you may grant any ally within 60 feet a new saving throw against an ongoing condition, spell, or other effect that originally allowed a save. They make a new save against the original DC; if they are successful they are freed from the condition as though they had save originally, although this may cause them to become afflicted with a new and/or lesser condition as part of a "Save for Partial" effect.
At 15th level, you may spend a resolve point as a swift action in order heal all allies, including yourself, for an amount of HP equal to Xd6+ your knight level, where X is your fighting challenge bonus. This ability may be used as part of the same action as the above (in other words, it requires 1 swift action and 2 resolve to grant new saves and restore hit points simultaneously).
Comes in 2 levels later than the original ability, but in exchange it now affects any ongoing effect, not merely [Fear] effects. On top of that, it later gains the ability to restore HP to yourself and allies as well. Not a very large amount, but it's a swift action and doesn't compete for actions with condition removal either
Path of Heroes (Ex or Su): At 11th level, the knight's Path abilities may be increased by spending resolve points.
Slayer: When you successfully score a critical hit against a foe with one or more Marks of Slaying, you may choose to remove all of the marks upon that target. If you do so, the target must make a Fort save (DC 10 + 1/2 your knight level + twice the number of removed marks) or be stunned for 1 round.
If you spend 2 points of resolve when the above happens, the attack explodes with holy energy. The original target is instead stunned for 1d3 rounds on a failed save. Further, any other creatures within 30 feet with a Mark of Slaying removes all such marks, and they must make a Fort save (DC 10 + 1/2 your knight level + the number of removed marks) or be stunned for 1 round.
Protector: Once per round you can absorb all the damage from a single attack directed against an adjacent ally. In addition, you continue to absorb half the damage from other physical attacks on an adjacent ally, if you so choose. You must decide whether to use this ability after the attacker determines that an attack has succeeded but before he rolls damage.
By spending 1 resolve, you may choose to redirect any harmful spell targeting the protected ally to yourself, suffering all effects of the spell. You make all the relevant saves for the spell, as well. This use of this ability is (Su).
Cavalier: By now, you and your mount have practically become one. Any mount you ride gains bonus HD, natural armor, and Str/Con as though you were a druid. Furthermore, you can attempt to attract advanced mounts as an animal companion, but your effective druid level takes penalties, as per the animal companion ability.
By spending 1 resolve as a free action, you can cause any one attack targeting your mount to miss entirely. This ability may be used once per round, and is (Ex).
The Third tier of Path abilities. The Protector ability is basically Improved Shield Ally 4 levels earlier, plus you can spend Resolve to totally take the effect of any targeted spell as well.
Cavaliers now can get around one of the other biggest issues with mounted combat: namely, mounts dying under you. I feel like this may be too little, too late, though.
Slayers now have their stun ability bumped up 5 levels. The save scales off of the number of removed marks, so they can potentially add twice their Cha to this save, though the fight would have to be quite lengthy for such a thing to occur. Note that the removed Marks deal damage as they otherwise would at the end of your turn, so they don't lose too much DPS from using this ability. The resolve enhancement is probably a tad insane: remove the marks from nearby foes as well and stun them too. Do note that the Fort save scales much more slowly for secondary targets, however. It may be a tad strong, but I do intend for this thing to keep up with T2-3 casters, especially ones packing black tentacles, for example.
Inspiring Presence (Ex or Su): A Knight on the field is a sight to behold, striking awe into the hearts of all around. A knight of 13th level grants allies within 60 feet a bonus on Will saves vs mind-affecting and fear effects, equal to his Fighting Challenge bonus. This ability is (Ex).
By spending a point of resolve as a swift action, a Knight grants all allies within 60 ft a morale bonus to attack and damage rolls equal to his Fighting Challenge bonus. This ability lasts for a number of rounds equal to your Charisma modifier. This ability is (Su).
A continuous aura providing half of a Bard's Inspire Courage, and you can spend Resolve to get the other half too.
I'll admit, compared to the Core, unoptimized Bard, this is a fair bit better than Inspire Courage, thanks to swift action activation and lack of a need to concentrate on it. Honestly, I don't have much of a rebuttal to that argument, other than to say that I use a homebrewed Bard that accomplishes this exactly, from level 1, which is what this is balanced against.
Improved Mettle (Ex): At 14th level, a knight’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.
It's like Mettle, but even better! Again, not much to say here, T.G. likes to give this out to martials, I agree with him.
Path of Legends (Su): At 16th level, a knight that devotes to his chosen path acquires abilities that defy explanation.
Slayer: By spending 3 resolve points as a standard action, you may condemn a chosen foe to damnation. One marked target of your choice within 30 instantly dies unless they succeed on a Fort save (DC 10 + 1/2 your knight level + your Charisma modifier). On a passed save, all the Marks on the target are removed, dealing damage as normal.
Protector: By spending 2 resolve points, you create an aura of 30 feet around which protects all allies within it. Any time an ally would affected by a harmful spell or attack, you may redirect it yourself. The original target suffers no ill effect and need roll no saves. You must choose whether to redirect the attack or spell before you know what it does.
Cavalier: By spending 1 point of resolve, your mount gains the benefits of Fly, Water Breathing, Expeditious Retreat, and Freedom of Movement for 1 hour.
Cavaliers now have the ability to grant their mounts a whole slew of buffs to allow their mount to go just about anywhere. I feel, once again, this may be too little, too late, however. Still, it’s something.
Protectors gain the ability to project an aura that basically allows them to tank everything that affects their allies. If you have a Knight dedicated enough to protect you to the very end, you'll not be harmed until they go down. Which, of course, is likely to take quite a while.
Slayers now have a potent Save or Die, though it takes at least 1 turn to charge it up. If you managed to hit with multiple attacks and/or spent several actions attacking, it also deals a large amount of damage even if they pass the save.
Impetuous Endurance (Ex): Starting at 17th level, your fighting spirit enables you to push your body beyond the normal limits of endurance. You no longer automatically fail a saving throw on a roll of 1. You might still fail the save if your result fails to equal or beat the DC.
Legacy ability. Honestly, I feel this could be placed earlier in the class. Will consider that.
Stance of Denial (Su): At 18th level, a knight’s ability to react improves to inhuman levels. Any free or immediate action done by a creature in response of a knight’s action is delayed until the end of the knight's action.
Taken word for word from Samurai. Not much else to say, really.
Loyal Beyond Death (Ex): At 20th level, if you are reduced to 0 or fewer hit points by an effect that otherwise leaves your body intact, you can expend one point of resolve to remain conscious and continue to act for 1 more round before dying. You can use this ability even if your hit point total is -10 or lower. If your body is somehow destroyed before your next action (such as by disintegrate), then you cannot act. You can continue to expend resolve points to survive from round to round until you run out of resolve points. If you receive healing that leaves you with more than -10 hit points, you survive (or fall unconscious, as appropriate to your new hit point total) when you stop using this ability. Otherwise, death overtakes you when you run out of resolve.
Legacy Ability, unchanged except to reference Resolve instead of uses of Challenge. I kinda want to replace this with something else, but I can't think of what to put in its place.