Dread Knight (reworked hexblade) WIP

[Eladrinblade]

Dread Knights are spellcasters born with the magical spark in them - but in a dark and twisted form. Some embrace it, becoming merciless killers. Others try to turn their powers towards good, becoming dark avengers of sorts. The thing all Dread Knights have in common is that when one shows up, things are about to go horribly wrong for someone.

Alignment: Any nongood

Hit Die: d10

Class skills: The Dread Knight’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Disguise (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Hide (Dex) Knowledge (Arcana) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Knowledge (planar) (Int), Move Silently (Dex), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).
Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Int modifier) × 4.
Skill Points at each additional Level: 4 + Int
modifier.

Class Features
All the following are class features of the Dread
Knight.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Dread Knights are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with light and medium armor, and with light shields/bucklers.

Dread Knight's Curse (Su): 1 + cha mod per day, as a swift action, a dread knight can unleash a curse upon a foe. The dread knight indicates the target with a free hand and makes a gesture. The target must be visible to the dread knight and within 60 feet. The target of a dread knight's curse takes a —2 penalty on attacks, saves, ability checks, skill checks, and weapon damage rolls for 1 hour thereafter. At 4th and 8th, the penalty increases by 1. A successful Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 dread knight's class level + dread knight's Cha modifier) negates the effect. The curse does not count as used if the target makes their saving throw. Any effect that removes or dispels a curse eliminates the effect of a dread knight's curse.

Dark Grace: (Su) A Dread Knight gains a bonus on all saving throws equal to his Charisma modifier or his Dread Knight level, whichever is lower. This is a Supernatural ability that functions continuously, requiring no activation.

Bonus Feat: At 4th, 8th, and 12th level, a dread knight gains a bonus feat, which must be selected from the following list: Concentration Focus, Greater Spell Focus (enchantment, necromancy, or transmutation only), Greater Spell Penetration, Spell Focus (enchantment, necromancy, or transmutation only), Spell Penetration.

Dark Power: At 2rd, 5th, 8th, and 11th level, a dread knight gains a new power of his choosing.

Spoiler: Dark Powers

Show

Aura of Unluck (Su): 1 + cha mod per day, a dread knight can create a baleful aura of misfortune. Any melee or ranged attack made against the dread knight while this aura of unluck is active has a 20% miss chance (similar to the effect of concealment). Activating the aura is a free action, and the aura lasts for a number of rounds equal to 3 + the dread knight's Charisma bonus (if any).

Bastard’s Strike (Su): You can automatically confirm all critical threats you roll against Cursed creatures. This is a supernatural ability that requires no special activation.

Bleeding Edge (Su): You can inflict a wound cursed to bleed incessantly. Whenever you make a successful weapon attack (including natural attacks and ranged attacks, but not spells, spell-like abilities, or supernatural abilities) against a Cursed creature, it must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 your HD + your Charisma modifier). On a failed save, the target takes one point of Constitution damage from bleeding. If it starts bleeding, the save must be repeated once per round thereafter (with the appropriate penalties on failure) until the target receives magical healing that restores hit point damage or ceases to be Cursed. Striking a creature that is already bleeding immediately enforces a new save.

Fiendish Tongue (Ex): You gain a +2 profane bonus on Bluff, Diplomacy and Intimidate checks. At 5th and 10th level these bonuses increase by 1. Against evil outsiders, these bonuses are doubled. You also gain knowledge of the languages Abyssal and Infernal.

Spells: Beginning at 4th level, a dread knight gains the ability to cast a small number of arcane spells, which are drawn from the dread knight spell list (see Chapter 3). He can cast any spell he knows without preparing it ahead of time, just as a sorcerer can (see page 54 of the Player's Handbook). To learn or cast a spell, a dread knight must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level (Cha 11 for 1st-level spells, Cha 12 for 2nd-level spells, and so forth). The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a dread knight's spell is 10 + the spell level + the dread knight's Cha modifier.

Like other spellcasters, a dread knight can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on Table 1—1. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Charisma score (see Table 1—1: Ability Modifiers and Bonus Spells, page 8 of the Player's Handbook). When Table 1—1 indicates that the dread knight gets 0 spells per day of a given spell level (for instance, 1st-level spells for a 4th-level dread knight), he gains only the bonus spells he would be entitled to based on his Charisma score for that spell level.

The dread knight's selection of spells is extremely limited. A dread knight begins play knowing no spells, but gains one or more new spells at certain levels, as indicated on Table 1—2. (Unlike spells per day, his Charisma score does not affect the number of spells a dread knight knows; the numbers on Table 1—2 are fixed.)

Upon reaching 12th level, a dread knight can choose to learn a new spell in place of one he already knows. In effect, the dread knight "loses" the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell's level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged, and it must be at least two levels lower than the highest-level dread knight spell the dread knight can cast. For instance, upon reaching 12th level, a dread knight could trade in a single 1st level spell (two spell levels below the highest-level dread knight spell he can cast, which is 3rd) for a different 1st-level spell. At 15th level, he could trade in a single 1st-level or 2nd-level spell (since he now can cast 4th-level dread knight spells) for a different spell of the same level. A dread knight may swap only a single spell at any given level, and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time that he gains new spells known for the level.

Through 3rd level, a dread knight has no caster level. At 4th level and higher, his caster level is one-half his dread knight level.

Aura of Dread (Su): For a number of rounds equal to your charisma modifier, any time you curse an opponent, all enemies within 30ft are cursed at a -2 penalty. The aura emanates from you. This does not stack with itself; the duration merely starts over.

Level	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Special	1st	2nd	3rd
1st	+1	+2	+0	+0	Dread Knight's Curse -2, Dark Grace	-	-	-
2nd	+2	+3	+0	+0	Dark Power	-	-	-
3rd	+3	+3	+1	+1		-	-	-
4th	+4	+4	+1	+1	Bonus Feat, Dread Knight's Curse -3	0	-	-
5th	+5	+4	+1	+1	Dark Power	0	-	-
6th	+6	+5	+2	+2		1	-	-
7th	+7	+5	+2	+2		1	-	-
8th	+8	+6	+2	+2	Bonus Feat, Dark Power, Dread Knight's Curse -4	1	0	-
9th	+9	+6	+3	+3		1	0	-
10th	+10	+7	+3	+3		1	1	-
11th	+11	+7	+3	+3	Dark Power	1	1	0
12th	+12	+8	+4	+4	Aura of Dread, Bonus Feat	1	1	1