Prestige Class for this?

[fikoantunes]

There’s a powerful kingdom whose greatest representation of it’s ideals are the shinny knights of their court. This kingdom is ruthless; it attempts to seize everything and everyone who would not agreed with its politics or stand against its expansionism. Was warriors, those knights don’t take prisoners and are 100% the martial type (no divine/arcane stuff on their features). In RP, they sell chivalry ideals but in fact distort it to best achieve their kingdom’s goals. To sum up, those knights would be like an elite-nazi troop of the World War II, one of Hitler’s proudest army.

What PrC would be nice for them?

Consider the base class as some straight martial class. They would be either Lawful/Neutral or Lawful/Evil.
From what I can tell, they would be something between the Knight Protector (Complete Warrior) and Vengeance Knight (Champions of Ruin variant).

[Andezzar]

Why would that organization need a PrC? While there are several club like PrCs, they usually give its members some unique abilities, that reflect the organization's modus operandi. When all that ties the knights together is the allegiance to a court (and possibly an ideology), I don't think they would be as homogenous. The PrCs you mention do fit the stereotype of a (black) knight, but I think making them more diverse is more interesting. If you remove the alignment requirement, Purple Dragon Knight (CW) would also fit. If you do not mind some fiendish connection blackguard (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/prestigeClasses/blackguard.htm) could also work.

But the question remains, do you want a group that has an approved style or do you simply want effective (and possibly diverse) martial characters. If it's the latter you cannot go much wrong with warblades and/or crusaders.

[fikoantunes]

I understand what you mean by why an organization would be tied to a specific PrC. It would be more diverse to have different members/PrC indeed. But I’m assuming these knight-types are already a section of that power source (the kingdom). That ruthless kingdom has other factions (PrC) to do other jobs. The knights are just their most public-known force. The kingdom might have an arcane organization plotting behind the scenes (maybe in fact being the mastermind of the knights). They also have a criminal, spy-like organization that they public deny it, but they use it when the code of the knights hampers them on taking care of problems.

Here’s one example of two of those forces working for its kingdom:

A half-elf criminal group has taken some gray elves as hostage. Those gray elves were going to do political business with the kingdom. Now they are asking for a ransom. Here’s what the kingdom did: they couldn’t send their knights as it would be bad propaganda sending those supposedly honored knights to do such a lower job. So the kingdom sends another group of PrC (the spy-based one, composed of shadowdancers and assassins). These intentionally kill the hostage. Now the kingdom has public approval to massacre the half-elf criminals (as the public assumes the half-elves murdered the hostages). So the knights go there and slaughters everyone of them. Moral of the story: the gray elves were important, but more import was to show the kingdom’s ruthless to the world. That’s an example of how this kingdom subverts the knight ideals to fit its own purpose (and there’s no Lawful/good among them, just L/N and L/E ones).

That being said, I liked the Purple Dragon Knight you mentioned. Some of its abilites are a bit too heroic though. Maybe if a mix it’s cooperative abilities with the dirtier ones of the Vengeance Knight I could ended up with what I need?...

And I forget to mention, I’m not using ToB to those buildings. (Yes, it would be more optimized, but my current players are not optimizing and are getting used to 3.5 rules yet).

EDIT: forget to give feedback on the Blackguard ideia... I think this PrC is too tied to the "good vs. evil" matter (smite good, command undead, etc.). What I need for those knights is more about honor/chivalry stuff, with the twist of a Nazi-army, subverted-code of honor flavor.

[Andezzar]

I get that there are several different organizations working for the kingdom, but still within the "honorable melee combatant" archetype, you can have various styles.
Do you want them to focus on mounted combat (possibly with improved mounts)?

Do you want them to be good at protecting other combatants?

Do you want them to control the battlefield?

Do you want them to demoralize the enemies?

Do yo want them to buff their allies?

Do you want them to deal lots of damage to one opponent? (that one is a bit problematic if you require lawful alignment)

Do you want them to focus on something else?

So their outlook of (perverted) chivalrous ideals and loyalty to the government is largely independent from what they do to get the job done. It would make it easier, if you gave everyone the same style, but that would make them much more predictable and less effective. No if you organize them into small groups that supplement each other well (one buff, another debuffs, a third takes out high value targets) you will have a much better fighting force.

[fikoantunes]

Hello again, Andezzar, and thanks for helping me out. Using your questions as a starting point, here are my thoughts:

Do you want them to be good at protecting other combatants? - Not important. They are honored, yes, but not very protective, not much more than a full plated fighter (they don't' have to rely on mandatory sword-and-board). That's why I said I would remove the protective features of the Purple Knight if I were to mix this PrC with the Vengeance Knight one. The features of this second one somehow better translated the feel of a twisted knight

Do you want them to control the battlefield? - That would be good. It would help their fame of being formidable opponents, but in a honored/martial way of fighting

Do you want them to demoralize the enemies? - It would be good too. It could combo with the previous one, perhaps (at least it would be the "moral" equivalent of controlling).

Do you want them to deal lots of damage to one opponent? (that one is a bit problematic if you require lawful alignment) - Not required.To regular people, the do good damage, but that's because "regular" people are low-level, and these guys are at least mid-level.

Do you want them to focus on something else? - You mean related to game-mechanics? Not necessarily. Let's say they ended up with a PrC equivalent do the Fighter class: despite being a martial class, it has some degree of diversity (an ranged one, a mounted combatant one, etc.)

So their outlook of (perverted) chivalrous ideals and loyalty to the government is largely independent from what they do to get the job done. It would make it easier, if you only give them one style, but that would make them much more predictable and less effective. Bear in mind their perverted code is something that rival kingdoms/NPCs think. People of the knight's kingdom praise them was honorable soldiers (much as h append to Germans and Italians related to the Nazi troops and Gestapo at WWII, for instance).

[Troacctid]

This is the sort of situation where you would normally create a custom prestige class.

[Andezzar]

If you want all of the above, you will probably have to create your own PrC.

Battlefield control: Look at the Horizopn Tripper (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?80415-The-Horizon-Tripper-(Core-Melee-Build)) for inspiration.

Debuff: Look here (http://www.brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=3809.0) for some ideas on how to use demoralization effectively.

Other focus: yes I meant game mechanics.

I think you still miss my point I am trying to make about their ideology. A character or a group of people can be (seen as) honorable soldiers no matter whether there preferred method of operation is a massed lance charge, clever maneuvering and devastating strikes or a volley of arrows. Very few tactics make it impossible so see them as such. So their tactics are pretty much whatever you like best. Unless you want to make them a very small part of a larger military force, I think it unlikely that everyone would use the same tactics.

[fikoantunes]

Thanks once again! I will read and try to absorb those fonts the better I can.


I think you still miss my point I am trying to make about their ideology. A character or a group of people can be (seen as) honorable soldiers no matter whether there preferred method of operation is a massed lance charge, clever maneuvering and devastating strikes or a volley of arrows. Very few tactics make it impossible so see them as such. So their tactics are pretty much whatever you like best. Unless you want to make them a very small part of a larger military force, I think it unlikely that everyone would use the same tactics.

No, I do understand your point of view. In fact, I completely agree with it. These guys are indeed just a part of a large force. Let's say this kingdom's Nazi-stylish army comprises 20 different styles of classes/PrC. Theses knights are one of the top of these forces, and they are known for all I mentioned (regarding RP) plus an unique knight-ish way of fighting.

Now that contribution from you have been made, I realize I will need to go for a custom PrC.

[torrasque666]

Cut the links in the OP. They beg for trouble.

[Jeff the Green]

Here's a different approach:

I've been working on these feats for a little while, and am writing up fluff for some knightly orders.

What is a knightly class?
A knightly class is one that has a martial focus and demands of its members a particular code of conduct or alignment. Few have spells, and arcane or psionic abilities are exceedingly rare. The knightly base classes are:
CrusaderToB
KnightPHBII
MarshalMH
Paladin
SamuraiOA or CW
SoheiOA
SoulbornMoI

Similar prestige classes, such as Fist of RazielBoED, CavalierCW, or Holy LiberatorCD, or prestige classes that progress unique features of a knightly class, such as Ruby Knight VindicatorToB, Argent FistFoE, or Bone Knight5N are also considered knightly classes.

Knight Initiate
description
Prerequisites: Must be qualified to join a knightly order and sponsored by an existing member or patron of the order, BAB +1
Benefits: You gain a +2 bonus on Diplomacy and Intimidate and the membership benefits of your knightly order.
Special: You lose the benefit of this feat if you ever violate your knightly order's code of conduct or if you lose the class features of a knightly class due to to violating its code of conduct or shifting to an incompatible alignment until you receive an atonement spell. If you join a different knightly order, you lose the membership benefits of your original order and gain the membership benefits of the new one.

Knight Despotic
The code you follow is strict, demanding obedience of you and those you command.
Prerequisites: Knight Initiate, membership in an order of knights despotic, BAB +2
Benefits: You gain a bonus to Intimidate equal to half your levels in knightly classes, and a target you successfully intimidate suffers lasting effects. Instead of ending when the you leave, as is normal for the Intimidate skill, the intimidation effect lasts for 24 hours after your departure. Thereafter, the target’s attitude toward you shifts to unfriendly. If you have the Never Outnumbered Skill Trick, you can use it at will.
Special: You must demand obedience from your lessers and give it to your superiors. You must punish anyone who disobeys commands given to them by you or by their legitimate superior, and you must obey commands given by your legitimate superiors. Any punishment you mete out can be proportionate to the offense, but should be public or otherwise able to serve as a warning to others. Because of this obligation, knights despotic are typically careful to give commands only when they are actually justified and to distinguish between commands and requests.

If you tolerate disobedience in violation of this code, you take a -2 penalty to Intimidate checks until you receive an atonement. Each additional time you violate this restriction the penalty increases, and if you violate it even after the penalty has reached -10 you immediately lose the benefit of this feat until you receive an atonement. You also immediately lose the benefit of this feat if you disobey a a command given to you by a legitimate superior.

Knight Errant
You are a member of a wandering order, who searches out quests to be taken up and honorable deeds to be done across the land.
Prerequisites: Knight Initiate, membership in an order of knights errant, BAB +2
Benefits: Your land speed increases by 10 ft., and by an additional 10 ft. for each level you have in a knightly class and you can travel for an additional eight hours a day before needing to make Constitution checks for making a forced march. If you have a special mount, animal cohort, or similar bonded creature, their land speed also gains this benefit while you ride it.

In addition, any magical item, spell, feat, or other effect that grants you a new movement speed or increases an existing one has a doubled duration and the speed granted or the movement speed that is improved is increased by 20 ft. If you have a special mount, animal cohort, or similar bonded creature, they gain the benefit of any such magical item, spell, feat, or effect affecting you while you ride it, including the enhanced movement speed.
Special: You must never remain in one place for long. In any round that you do not move at least 5 ft. you take a -2 penalty to attack rolls. You must also travel at least fifteen miles each day, and can never sleep closer than five miles to where you slept the previous night. Teleportation does not fulfill this obligation. If you fail to meet this obligation you lose the benefit of this feat until you receive an atonement.

Knight Hospitaller
You have joined an order of knights that offers mercy and healing to all who desire it.
Prerequisites: Membership in an order of knights hospitaller, BAB +2
Benefits: You gain a +2 bonus on Heal checks. If you have the ability to lay on hands the number of hit points of damage you can heal each day is doubled. When you have ten levels in knightly classes it is instead trippled, when you have 15 levels in knightly classes it is instead multiplied by four, and when you have 20 levels in knightly classes it is instead multiplied by five. If you have the ability to use Devoted Spirit maneuvers any time you could heal yourself or an ally with a maneuver (including stances) you add half the number of levels you have in knightly classes to the damage healed.
Special: You must accept any surrender offered, even if you suspect or know that it is insincere, though you may demand that the surrendering creature disarm themselves and accept appropriate restraints such as manacles or bindings to prevent escape or a gag to prevent a spellcaster from casting. You can never perform a coup de grace, nor deal lethal damage to a helpless creature. You must share any food or shelter to any needy creature who requests it and, if you have the ability to cure diseases or poisons or to remove other ailments you must help any creature you come across that suffers from such an ailment.

If you refuse to share food or shelter or to remove a sufferer's ailments, you take a -2 penalty to Heal checks and a -1 penalty to your AC until you receive an atonement. Each additional time you violate this restriction theses penalties increase, and if you violate it even after the penalty to Heal checks has reached -10 you immediately lose the benefit of this feat until you receive an atonement. You also immediately lose the benefit of this feat if you refuse a surrender, harm anyone who has surrendered themselves to you unless they attempt escape or attack someone who does not first attack them, or perform a coup de grace until you receive an atonement.

Knight Mendicant
Your knightly order demands that you forswear ever owning your own property, but in exchange you gain spiritual power you can channel into your weapons and armor.
Prerequisites: Knight Initiate, membership in an order of knights mendicant, BAB +2

Benefits: Any non=magical masterwork armor or shield you wear and any non-magical masterwork weapon you wield gain an enhancement bonus of +1 per four levels you have in knightly classes. In addition, by meditating with your equipment for eight hours you can give your equipment special abilities. These abilities must have a market price of no more than shown in the table.



Level in knightly classes
Armor abilities
Shield abilities
Weapon abilities


3–5
+1 or 1000 GP
+1 or 1000 GP
–


6–8
+2 or as level 3–5 plus 3000 GP
+1 or 1000 GP
+1 or 2,000 GP


9–11
+4 or as level 6–8 plus 12,000 GP
+2 or as level 6–8 plus 3000 GP
+2 or as level 6–8 plus 6000 GP


12–14
+6 or as level 9–11 plus 20,000 GP
+3 or as level 9–11 plus 5000 GP
+4 or as level 9–11 plus 24,000 GP


15–17
+8 or as level 12–14 plus 28,000 GP
+4 or as level 12–14 plus 7000 GP
+8 or as level 12–14 plus 48,000 GP


18+
+10 or as level 15–17 plus 36,000 GP
+5 or as level 15–17 plus 9000 GP
+10 or as level 15–17 plus 72,000 GP



If you have Two Weapon Fighting you can give two melee weapons (including a shield) each the same set of weapon special abilities. If you have Agile Shield Fighter you can give a melee weapon and a shield each the same set of weapon special abilities.

Special: The items you are allowed to possess is highly restricted. You may own only property that directly increases your effectiveness as a knight. In general, this refers only to mounts, worn items that increase combat prowess, wands and scrolls typically used in battle, armor, shields, weapons, and items that heal, though it may include such items as a Circlet of Persuasion if your knightly order values avoiding war, for example. It never includes items that primarily provide comfort or convenience (such as a Travel Cloak) or land. You may carry with you enough simple food such as grains, vegetables, and fruit to sustain you (and your mount or other companion creature, if any) for the duration of a quest, trip, or expedition, but must otherwise rely on the charity of others. (In almost any community larger than a village you can find a church, chapter house, or lord's estate willing to feed you with a DC 10 Gather Information, Knowledge (local), or Knowledge (nobility and royalty) check.) In addition, you must donate 50% of any treasure you acquire to your knightly order. (Technically, you are donating all treasure to your knightly order and your order is allowing you to requisition a certain number of items as you see fit.)

You can use items you have foresworn that belong to another. However, you may not carry them for more than three minutes a day, wear them, or otherwise act as though they belong to you. You must claim an equal (or otherwise fair) proportion of treasure you acquire as member of a team in order to donate it to your order.

If a character starts the game with this feat (i.e. by starting at level 2 or higher), they start with only half as much wealth as they normally would.

If you violate this restriction you lose the benefit of this feat until you receive an atonement.

Knight Valiant
Your order demands that you be the first into battle and the last to leave.
Prerequisites: Knight Initiate, membership in an order of knights valiant, BAB +2
Benefits: You gain a +2 bonus to Initiative and a +2 morale bonus to attack and damage rolls against enemies who have struck you or an ally with a weapon or natural attack during the current combat. Any allies adjacent to you also gain a bonus to their armor class equal to ⅓ of your base attack bonus, or 1/2 of your base attack bonus if you wear a shield.
Special: You can never leave the reach of an enemy that threatens both you and an ally except to move closer to it or another enemy that threatens both you and an ally. You must never flee from combat unless all of your allies (and their corpses, if one has fallen) escape with you. You must also never back down from a challenge offered you (unless accepting it would otherwise violate the code of conduct of one of your knightly classes or your knightly order) nor allow an insult to you, your allies, your order, or any country or lord to whcih you pledge allegiance to go unanswered. You need not necessarily respond with violence; a verbal rebuke is typically enough to satisfy your honor.

If you violate this restriction, you take a -1 penalty to attack and damage rolls until you receive an atonement. Each additional time you violate this restriction the penalty increases, and if you violate it even after the penalty has reached -5 you immediately lose the benefit of this feat until you receive an atonement.

Paragon Despotic
description
Prerequisites: Knight Despotic, Concentration 5, Intimidate 10, base attack bonus +10
Benefits: You become immune to charms, compulsions, and all other effects that would alter your behavior.

Paragon Errant
Your devotion to your knightly order has given you extraordinary mobility in combat.
Prerequisites: Knight Errant, Jump 5, Tumble 5, base attack bonus +10
Benefits: You or any creature you ride can move up to your speed as a swift action.

Paragon Hospitaller
As the sincerest of healers and greatest of knights, you can
Prerequisites: Knight Hospitaller, Heal +10, base attack bonus +10
Benefits: You can use create food and water, neutralize poison, remove disease, and restoration as spell-like abilities a combined number of times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier and heroes feast and revivifyas spell-like abilities each once per week. Your caster level is equal to your levels in knightly classes.

Paragon Mendicant
The inner power granted by your devotion
Prerequisites: Knight Mendicant, Ride 10, base attack bonus +10, must have a cohort, animal companion, special mount, or similar companion creature.
Benefits: As long as you ride it, any barding your special mount (or similar companion creature) wears gains the same special abilities granted to your armor by the Knight Mendicant feat and its primary natural attack gains the same special abilities granted to your weapon by the Knight Mendicant feat. (if it has the Multiattack feat, its secondary natural weapons gain the special abilities as well.)

Paragon Valiant
You are a brilliant example of knightdom and your sheer prowess with weaponry makes your enemies quail
Prerequisites: Knight Valiant, Intimidate 5, Perform (weapon drill) 5, base attack bonus +10
Benefits: When you make a full attack and deal damage to at least one enemy you may attempt to demoralize one enemy you dealt damage to as a free action. Instead of an Intimidate check you make a Perform (weapon drill) check opposed by the opponent's modified level check, and if you beat your opponent's check you gain a +2 morale bonus to attack and damage rolls for one round. If you made a successful critical hit against the enemy in your full attack you gain a +5 bonus on your Perform (weapon drill) check. Regardless of who wins the opposed check you cannot use this ability against the same creature again for 24 hours.

This group would be Knights Despotic and Valiant. Its membership benefits would probably include bonuses to social skills with loyal members of the empire and, at higher levels, bonuses to attack/damage against enemies of the empire, the ability to obtain hirelings from the group, and access to their intelligence apparatus (bonuses to Know: Local).

This route allows diversity in classes and strategies, but gives them a unifying mechanical signature.

[nedz]

I used to think that custom PrCs were the way to go here, but they can be quite hard to get right. It's a better idea to create a standard build, or several perhaps, which they all progress along. There are lots of options here which depend upon the desired flavour but I'd be temped to just use either Crusader or Warblade as the basis.

[fikoantunes]

Here's a different approach:

I've been working on these feats for a little while, and am writing up fluff for some knightly orders.

What is a knightly class?
A knightly class is one that has a martial focus and demands of its members a particular code of conduct or alignment. Few have spells, and arcane or psionic abilities are exceedingly rare. The knightly base classes are:
CrusaderToB
KnightPHBII
MarshalMH
Paladin
SamuraiOA or CW
SoheiOA
SoulbornMoI

Similar prestige classes, such as Fist of RazielBoED, CavalierCW, or Holy LiberatorCD, or prestige classes that progress unique features of a knightly class, such as Ruby Knight VindicatorToB, Argent FistFoE, or Bone Knight5N are also considered knightly classes.

Knight Initiate
description
Prerequisites: Must be qualified to join a knightly order and sponsored by an existing member or patron of the order, BAB +1
Benefits: You gain a +2 bonus on Diplomacy and Intimidate and the membership benefits of your knightly order.
Special: You lose the benefit of this feat if you ever violate your knightly order's code of conduct or if you lose the class features of a knightly class due to to violating its code of conduct or shifting to an incompatible alignment until you receive an atonement spell. If you join a different knightly order, you lose the membership benefits of your original order and gain the membership benefits of the new one.

Knight Despotic
The code you follow is strict, demanding obedience of you and those you command.
Prerequisites: Knight Initiate, membership in an order of knights despotic, BAB +2
Benefits: You gain a bonus to Intimidate equal to half your levels in knightly classes, and a target you successfully intimidate suffers lasting effects. Instead of ending when the you leave, as is normal for the Intimidate skill, the intimidation effect lasts for 24 hours after your departure. Thereafter, the target’s attitude toward you shifts to unfriendly. If you have the Never Outnumbered Skill Trick, you can use it at will.
Special: You must demand obedience from your lessers and give it to your superiors. You must punish anyone who disobeys commands given to them by you or by their legitimate superior, and you must obey commands given by your legitimate superiors. Any punishment you mete out can be proportionate to the offense, but should be public or otherwise able to serve as a warning to others. Because of this obligation, knights despotic are typically careful to give commands only when they are actually justified and to distinguish between commands and requests.

If you tolerate disobedience in violation of this code, you take a -2 penalty to Intimidate checks until you receive an atonement. Each additional time you violate this restriction the penalty increases, and if you violate it even after the penalty has reached -10 you immediately lose the benefit of this feat until you receive an atonement. You also immediately lose the benefit of this feat if you disobey a a command given to you by a legitimate superior.

Knight Errant
You are a member of a wandering order, who searches out quests to be taken up and honorable deeds to be done across the land.
Prerequisites: Knight Initiate, membership in an order of knights errant, BAB +2
Benefits: Your land speed increases by 10 ft., and by an additional 10 ft. for each level you have in a knightly class and you can travel for an additional eight hours a day before needing to make Constitution checks for making a forced march. If you have a special mount, animal cohort, or similar bonded creature, their land speed also gains this benefit while you ride it.

In addition, any magical item, spell, feat, or other effect that grants you a new movement speed or increases an existing one has a doubled duration and the speed granted or the movement speed that is improved is increased by 20 ft. If you have a special mount, animal cohort, or similar bonded creature, they gain the benefit of any such magical item, spell, feat, or effect affecting you while you ride it, including the enhanced movement speed.
Special: You must never remain in one place for long. In any round that you do not move at least 5 ft. you take a -2 penalty to attack rolls. You must also travel at least fifteen miles each day, and can never sleep closer than five miles to where you slept the previous night. Teleportation does not fulfill this obligation. If you fail to meet this obligation you lose the benefit of this feat until you receive an atonement.

Knight Hospitaller
You have joined an order of knights that offers mercy and healing to all who desire it.
Prerequisites: Membership in an order of knights hospitaller, BAB +2
Benefits: You gain a +2 bonus on Heal checks. If you have the ability to lay on hands the number of hit points of damage you can heal each day is doubled. When you have ten levels in knightly classes it is instead trippled, when you have 15 levels in knightly classes it is instead multiplied by four, and when you have 20 levels in knightly classes it is instead multiplied by five. If you have the ability to use Devoted Spirit maneuvers any time you could heal yourself or an ally with a maneuver (including stances) you add half the number of levels you have in knightly classes to the damage healed.
Special: You must accept any surrender offered, even if you suspect or know that it is insincere, though you may demand that the surrendering creature disarm themselves and accept appropriate restraints such as manacles or bindings to prevent escape or a gag to prevent a spellcaster from casting. You can never perform a coup de grace, nor deal lethal damage to a helpless creature. You must share any food or shelter to any needy creature who requests it and, if you have the ability to cure diseases or poisons or to remove other ailments you must help any creature you come across that suffers from such an ailment.

If you refuse to share food or shelter or to remove a sufferer's ailments, you take a -2 penalty to Heal checks and a -1 penalty to your AC until you receive an atonement. Each additional time you violate this restriction theses penalties increase, and if you violate it even after the penalty to Heal checks has reached -10 you immediately lose the benefit of this feat until you receive an atonement. You also immediately lose the benefit of this feat if you refuse a surrender, harm anyone who has surrendered themselves to you unless they attempt escape or attack someone who does not first attack them, or perform a coup de grace until you receive an atonement.

Knight Mendicant
Your knightly order demands that you forswear ever owning your own property, but in exchange you gain spiritual power you can channel into your weapons and armor.
Prerequisites: Knight Initiate, membership in an order of knights mendicant, BAB +2

Benefits: Any non=magical masterwork armor or shield you wear and any non-magical masterwork weapon you wield gain an enhancement bonus of +1 per four levels you have in knightly classes. In addition, by meditating with your equipment for eight hours you can give your equipment special abilities. These abilities must have a market price of no more than shown in the table.



Level in knightly classes
Armor abilities
Shield abilities
Weapon abilities


3–5
+1 or 1000 GP
+1 or 1000 GP
–


6–8
+2 or as level 3–5 plus 3000 GP
+1 or 1000 GP
+1 or 2,000 GP


9–11
+4 or as level 6–8 plus 12,000 GP
+2 or as level 6–8 plus 3000 GP
+2 or as level 6–8 plus 6000 GP


12–14
+6 or as level 9–11 plus 20,000 GP
+3 or as level 9–11 plus 5000 GP
+4 or as level 9–11 plus 24,000 GP


15–17
+8 or as level 12–14 plus 28,000 GP
+4 or as level 12–14 plus 7000 GP
+8 or as level 12–14 plus 48,000 GP


18+
+10 or as level 15–17 plus 36,000 GP
+5 or as level 15–17 plus 9000 GP
+10 or as level 15–17 plus 72,000 GP



If you have Two Weapon Fighting you can give two melee weapons (including a shield) each the same set of weapon special abilities. If you have Agile Shield Fighter you can give a melee weapon and a shield each the same set of weapon special abilities.

Special: The items you are allowed to possess is highly restricted. You may own only property that directly increases your effectiveness as a knight. In general, this refers only to mounts, worn items that increase combat prowess, wands and scrolls typically used in battle, armor, shields, weapons, and items that heal, though it may include such items as a Circlet of Persuasion if your knightly order values avoiding war, for example. It never includes items that primarily provide comfort or convenience (such as a Travel Cloak) or land. You may carry with you enough simple food such as grains, vegetables, and fruit to sustain you (and your mount or other companion creature, if any) for the duration of a quest, trip, or expedition, but must otherwise rely on the charity of others. (In almost any community larger than a village you can find a church, chapter house, or lord's estate willing to feed you with a DC 10 Gather Information, Knowledge (local), or Knowledge (nobility and royalty) check.) In addition, you must donate 50% of any treasure you acquire to your knightly order. (Technically, you are donating all treasure to your knightly order and your order is allowing you to requisition a certain number of items as you see fit.)

You can use items you have foresworn that belong to another. However, you may not carry them for more than three minutes a day, wear them, or otherwise act as though they belong to you. You must claim an equal (or otherwise fair) proportion of treasure you acquire as member of a team in order to donate it to your order.

If a character starts the game with this feat (i.e. by starting at level 2 or higher), they start with only half as much wealth as they normally would.

If you violate this restriction you lose the benefit of this feat until you receive an atonement.

Knight Valiant
Your order demands that you be the first into battle and the last to leave.
Prerequisites: Knight Initiate, membership in an order of knights valiant, BAB +2
Benefits: You gain a +2 bonus to Initiative and a +2 morale bonus to attack and damage rolls against enemies who have struck you or an ally with a weapon or natural attack during the current combat. Any allies adjacent to you also gain a bonus to their armor class equal to ⅓ of your base attack bonus, or 1/2 of your base attack bonus if you wear a shield.
Special: You can never leave the reach of an enemy that threatens both you and an ally except to move closer to it or another enemy that threatens both you and an ally. You must never flee from combat unless all of your allies (and their corpses, if one has fallen) escape with you. You must also never back down from a challenge offered you (unless accepting it would otherwise violate the code of conduct of one of your knightly classes or your knightly order) nor allow an insult to you, your allies, your order, or any country or lord to whcih you pledge allegiance to go unanswered. You need not necessarily respond with violence; a verbal rebuke is typically enough to satisfy your honor.

If you violate this restriction, you take a -1 penalty to attack and damage rolls until you receive an atonement. Each additional time you violate this restriction the penalty increases, and if you violate it even after the penalty has reached -5 you immediately lose the benefit of this feat until you receive an atonement.

Paragon Despotic
description
Prerequisites: Knight Despotic, Concentration 5, Intimidate 10, base attack bonus +10
Benefits: You become immune to charms, compulsions, and all other effects that would alter your behavior.

Paragon Errant
Your devotion to your knightly order has given you extraordinary mobility in combat.
Prerequisites: Knight Errant, Jump 5, Tumble 5, base attack bonus +10
Benefits: You or any creature you ride can move up to your speed as a swift action.

Paragon Hospitaller
As the sincerest of healers and greatest of knights, you can
Prerequisites: Knight Hospitaller, Heal +10, base attack bonus +10
Benefits: You can use create food and water, neutralize poison, remove disease, and restoration as spell-like abilities a combined number of times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier and heroes feast and revivifyas spell-like abilities each once per week. Your caster level is equal to your levels in knightly classes.

Paragon Mendicant
The inner power granted by your devotion
Prerequisites: Knight Mendicant, Ride 10, base attack bonus +10, must have a cohort, animal companion, special mount, or similar companion creature.
Benefits: As long as you ride it, any barding your special mount (or similar companion creature) wears gains the same special abilities granted to your armor by the Knight Mendicant feat and its primary natural attack gains the same special abilities granted to your weapon by the Knight Mendicant feat. (if it has the Multiattack feat, its secondary natural weapons gain the special abilities as well.)

Paragon Valiant
You are a brilliant example of knightdom and your sheer prowess with weaponry makes your enemies quail
Prerequisites: Knight Valiant, Intimidate 5, Perform (weapon drill) 5, base attack bonus +10
Benefits: When you make a full attack and deal damage to at least one enemy you may attempt to demoralize one enemy you dealt damage to as a free action. Instead of an Intimidate check you make a Perform (weapon drill) check opposed by the opponent's modified level check, and if you beat your opponent's check you gain a +2 morale bonus to attack and damage rolls for one round. If you made a successful critical hit against the enemy in your full attack you gain a +5 bonus on your Perform (weapon drill) check. Regardless of who wins the opposed check you cannot use this ability against the same creature again for 24 hours.

This group would be Knights Despotic and Valiant. Its membership benefits would probably include bonuses to social skills with loyal members of the empire and, at higher levels, bonuses to attack/damage against enemies of the empire, the ability to obtain hirelings from the group, and access to their intelligence apparatus (bonuses to Know: Local).

This route allows diversity in classes and strategies, but gives them a unifying mechanical signature.

Wow! It was a good thing I posted here, as it made me stumbled in your work... That's great! Indeed it offers flavor with a degree of flexibility game wise. It reminds me of the Combat Focus feat chain, which is also great btw, but yours have even more flavor.

That just confirms what Nedz said... Giving birth to (good) homebrew stuff is a hard job!
I will definitely try to incorporate these feasts to my campaign :smallsmile:

[ATHATH]

You could try to make them Paladins of Tyrrany (which are a LE variant of Paladins) or one of the variant Paladins in Dragon 312 and 313 (I think). They added a Paladin for every alignment except LG, and the LE one (different from the other Paladin of Tyrrany) gets Leadership as a bonus feat, signifying their rarity among the troops of this army.

You might want to take a look at the A-Game Paladin, and have some of the elite soldiers be misguided zealots.

[Ger. Bessa]

When I started reading the OP, I thought of Code Geass and Britannia. Then I saw the suggestions calling for 'black knights'... naah.

I'm seeing things.

Defluff what you can find in Champions of Valor and Champions of Ruin. Mix and match. Those classes aren't that powerful anyway, doubling the bonus feats won't make them better than tier 3.

I also like the 'Champion of Corellon Larethian' in Races of the Wild for its mix of abilities and bonus feats, with no dead level.

[Firest Kathon]

They are from Pathfinder, but it sounds like Hell Knights (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/other-paizo/e-h/hellknight) are just what you are looking for. In Golarion (the Pathfinder campaign world) they come from the Empire of Cheliax (http://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Cheliax), known for making literal deals with the devil.

[Andezzar]

Isn't the Hell Knight very similar to the Blackguard?

[The Viscount]

I'm being reminded of things like Vengeance Knight and Thayan Knight. Does that sound up your alley?

[fikoantunes]

Thanks for all the feedback. Seems custom PrC is the way to go.

I figured out that there's LOTS of official knightly-PrC – specially campaign-specific ones. It justifies even more making one to fit my needs. :smallsmile:

Champions of Valor, Champions of Ruin, splatbooks; Champion of Corellon Larethian, Vengeance Knight and Thayan Knight PrCs... All seem great sources for fluffing to me (and confirm my sentence above). Pathfinder's Hellknight is a nice class, but is more paladin-ish and less knightly with all those sort of divine/Su features. I agreed with Jeff the Green definition: knightly classes more martial focused; few have spells/arcane/divine/psionic abilities.


Those classes aren't that powerful anyway, doubling the bonus feats won't make them better than tier 3.

And this makes even less guilty throwing a custom melee, spell-less PrC into a campaign fearing game-balance issues heh.

[illyahr]

Isn't the Hell Knight very similar to the Blackguard?

Blackguards turn against all that is pure, wanting nothing more than power for vengeance over perceived slights. Hellknights are about Law and what they need to do to maintain it. They don't care what methods they use, as long as those they control stay in line. The only requirement is that you are Lawful, the other axis isn't important to them.

Actually, they function very much like what the OP had in mind. They can be brutal, but to those that obey they are the elite that protect them from the chaos that the world provides. They even have different factions that focus on different aspects, such as the Order of the Godclaw, that spreads the word of the Lawful deities, and the Order of the Chain, who are basically government-employed bounty hunters.

[fikoantunes]

Blackguards turn against all that is pure, wanting nothing more than power for vengeance over perceived slights. Hellknights are about Law and what they need to do to maintain it. They don't care what methods they use, as long as those they control stay in line.

This fits perfect the request. But a closer look at the Hellkinight reveals paladin-ish abilities (Smite, aura, detect-opposite-alignament) and lots of (Su) effects. The fact the class itself is tied to demon/hell issues inclines that PrC to focus on that kinda of matter.

I was looking for something away from good/evil, law/chaos, celestial/hell issues... A PrC breed to cope with human/civilization matters. The ones suggested so far in this thread (most of them coincidentally being campaign-specif) are a better source to mix/match a custom PrC.

What Pathfinder has that is way cooler then 3.5 is the "Order" mechanics of knightly classes. This even makes the samurai – one of the laziest-designed classes of the entire 3.5 – actually enjoyable on that system.