The Knight of Demise (Undead-focused frontline fighter, PEACH)

[Alabenson]

The Knight of Demise

Twisted necromancers and clerics of evil gods may be some of the most infamous masters of the undead, but they’re not the only ones capable of commanding the unliving. One group of warriors, the knights of demise, are particularly known for their dark mastery over the power of death. With wicked reputations that could rival all but the foulest blackguards, these fearsome swordsmen strike fear into the hearts of all but the very bravest.

Adventures: For most knights of demise, adventuring is the most straightforward way to acquire whatever it is that they want, be it wealth, power, or simply corpses to animate and command. Many knights of demise take particular satisfaction in missions that pit them against necromancers and undead and allow them to demonstrate the superiority of their methods.

Characteristics: In addition to their conventional combat training, knights of demise wield dark powers that allow them to deal wounds festering with necromantic energy. In addition, knights of demise are able to cast a small number of divine spells, though they don’t have anywhere near the magical might of true clerics.

Alignment: Knights of demise have infamous reputations are undead-leading warlords, and most knights of demise are every bit as evil as their reputations would indicate. There are some, however, who are less wicked than their abilities would suggest, turning their dark powers against even fouler evils. No matter how noble a knight of demise’s goals might be, no pure-hearted individual would ever use their methods.

Religion: Unsurprisingly, most knights of demise tend to venerate gods of death and the undead, though a significant minority worship more martial deities instead.

Background: Most knights of demise start off learning swordsmanship normally. At some point, however, they start delving into forbidden lore, some seeking alternate sources of strength, others out of morbid curiosity. Eventually, they stumble upon the foul rites that grant them the power they sought and start down the path of the knight of demise.

Races: Of the common races, humans and half-orcs are the most inclined to become knights of demise, being more inclined towards embracing the dark arts as a source of power. While knights of demise are uncommon among the more savage races, those that do arise often become particularly fearsome, leading warbands comprised of both living soldiers and the undead.

Other Classes: Knights of demise tend to work particularly well with arcane spellcasters, such as wizards and sorcerers, who appreciate the number of unliving bodies the knight can place between them and danger. They tend to clash with clerics particularly opposed to the undead, and druids and paladins utterly despise them.

Role: First and foremost, knights of demise are frontline warriors, their heavy armor, combat training and special abilities making them lethal opponents in close quarters. Furthermore, knights of demise are able to bolster their party’s numbers with undead, and are especially effective at leading undead in battle.

GAME RULE INFORMATION
Knights of Demise have the following game statistics
Abilities: Charisma is the most important ability for a knight of demise, as it provides them with hit points and fuels many of their special abilities, with Strength being a close second as knights of demise tend to focus on melee combat. Finally, Wisdom governs a knight of demise’s spellcasting, so they will generally want an above average score there as well.
Alignment: Any nongood
Hit Die: D12
Starting Age: As bard
Starting Gold: As fighter

Class Skills:
Bluff, Climb, Concentration, Craft, Decipher Script, Diplomacy, Disguise, Handle Animal, Hide, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (nobility and royalty), Knowledge (religion), Knowledge (the planes), Move Silently, Profession, Ride, Sense Motive, Spellcraft, Swim
Skill Points at 1st level: (4 + Intelligence Modifier) x4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Intelligence Modifier

Level	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Special	0th	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
1st	+1	+2	+0	+2	Cursed Blade (1d6), Unholy Resilience	3	2	--	--	--	--
2nd	+2	+3	+0	+3	Unliving Body +2	4	2	--	--	--	--
3rd	+3	+3	+1	+3	Spell-Linked Curse	4	3	--	--	--	--
4th	+4	+4	+1	+4	Rebuke Undead	5	3	--	--	--	--
5th	+5	+4	+1	+4	Cursed Blade (2d6)	5	4	2	--	--	--
6th	+6	+5	+2	+5	Desecration Aura	6	4	3	--	--	--
7th	+7	+5	+2	+5	Vampiric Curse	6	5	3	--	--	--
8th	+8	+6	+2	+6	Unliving Body +4	6	5	4	--	--	--
9th	+9	+6	+3	+6	Cursed Blade (3d6)	6	6	4	2	--	--
10th	+10	+7	+3	+7	Animating Blade	6	6	5	3	--	--
11th	+11	+7	+3	+7	Partial Fortification (25%)	6	6	5	3	--	--
12th	+12	+8	+4	+8	Unholy Servant	6	6	6	4	--	--
13th	+13	+8	+4	+8	Cursed Blade (4d6), Greater Spell-Linked Curse	6	6	6	4	2	--
14th	+14	+9	+4	+9	Unliving Body +6	6	6	6	5	3	--
15th	+15	+9	+5	+9	Tomb-Cursed Soul	6	6	6	5	3	--
16th	+16	+10	+5	+10	Soul-Burning Curse	6	6	6	6	4	--
17th	+17	+10	+5	+10	Cursed Blade (5d6)	6	6	6	6	4	2
18th	+18	+11	+6	+11	Partial Fortification (50%)	6	6	6	6	5	3
19th	+19	+11	+6	+11	Blade of Death	6	6	6	6	5	4
20th	+20	+12	+6	+12	Unholy Transformation	6	6	6	6	6	5

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A knight of demise is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, all armors, and all shields except tower shields.

Spells: A knight of demise casts divine spells, which are drawn from the knight of demise spell list given below. A knight of demise must choose and prepare their spells in advance (see below).
To prepare or cast a knight of demise spell, a knight of demise must have a Wisdom score of 10 + the spell’s level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a dragon priest spell is 10 + the spell’s level + the knight of demise’s Wis modifier.
A knight of demise can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. The knight of demise’s base daily spell allotment is given on the Table. In addition, a knight of demise receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Wisdom score.
Knights of demise prepare and cast their spells the way a cleric does, though they cannot lose a prepared spell to cast a cure in its place. A knight of demise may prepare and cast any spell on the knight of demise spell list, provided they can cast spells of that level, but must choose which spells to prepare during their daily meditation.

Cursed Blade (Su): The wounds left by a knight of demise’s weapons fester with necromantic energy, slowly eating away at their victim’s lifeforce. Whenever a knight of demise damages a living opponent in melee, they may choose to leave a cursed wound that deals an additional 1d6 points of negative energy damage each round for a number of rounds equal to the knight of demise’s class level. This damage can be ended early if the target is provided with healing through any magical, positive energy-based effect, or by targeting the wound with a turning attempt strong enough to turn an undead with HD equal to or greater than the knight of demise’s class level. The knight of demise cannot apply this effect to an opponent more than once at the same time; if the knight of demise strikes an opponent already suffering from their cursed blade ability, the duration of the effect resets.
The damage dealt by the knight of demise’s cursed blade ability increases to 2d6 per round at level 5, and it increases by an additional d6 every four class levels beyond that (3d6 at 9th level, 4d6 at 13th level, and 5d6 at 17th level).

Unholy Resilience (Ex): A knight of demise’s devotion to their dark arts lends them an unnatural level of resilience. Any time a character takes a knight of demise level or a prestige class that advances their knight of demise spellcasting, they may use their Charisma modifier in place of their Constitution modifier when determining their hit points gained for that level. This ability does not allow the knight of demise to use their Charisma for when determining hit points gained from hit dice from other sources.

Unliving Body (Ex): Starting at 2nd level, a knight of demise’s body starts to become more like one of the undead, granting them a +2 bonus on saving throws made to resist sleep, stunning, paralysis, poison, and disease. This bonus increases to +4 at 8th level and +6 at 14th level.

Spell-Linked Curse (Su): A knight of demise of 3rd level or higher gains the ability to use the unholy wounds dealt by their cursed blade ability to forge a temporary magical connection between themselves and their victims. Any individual under the effect of the knight of demise’s cursed blade ability now takes a -1 penalty on all saving throws against the knight of demise’ spells. Furthermore, the knight of demise may affect an individual under the effect of their cursed blade ability with touch range knight of demise spells without an attack roll, provided the target is within 15 feet of the knight of demise.

Rebuke Undead (Su): A knight of demise of at least 4th level can rebuke or command undead creatures by channeling negative energy through their body. See the cleric class feature described on page 33 of the PHB.

Desecration Aura (Su): Starting a 6th level, a knight of demise begins to emanate an aura of negative energy out to a range of 20 feet that acts as a desecrate spell with the knight of demise as a permanent fixture of their higher power.

Vampiric Curse (Su): At 7th level, a knight of demise gains the ability to use the dark magic of their cursed blade ability to siphon off bits of their foe’s lifeforce. Any time an opponent takes damage from the knight of demise’s cursed blade ability, the knight of demise is healed by an amount equal to the damage dealt.

Animating Blade (Su): Upon reaching 10th level, the knight of demise can cause a creature slain while under the effect of the knight of demise’s curse blade ability to reanimate 1d4 rounds later as a skeleton or zombie (the knight of demise’s choice). Undead created in this manner are automatically under the control of the knight of demise. If this would cause the knight of demise to exceed the number of HD of undead that he could control, then random undead already under the knight of demise’s control are released until the amount of HD under the knight of demise’s control drops below their maximum. This ability cannot reanimate creatures whose HD exceeds the knight of demise’s class level.

Partial Fortification (Ex): At 11th level, a knight of demise continues their transformation into an undead, gain a 25% resistance to critical hits. At 18th level, this resistance increases to 50%.

Unholy Servant (Sp): Beginning at 12th level, a knight of demise gains the ability to call a fiendish servant to do their bidding. Once per day, the knight of demise can perform a 10-minute ritual to call a single evil outsider with a total number of hit dice no greater than 1/2 the knight of demise’s class level. The fiend summoned cannot use any ability it may have to summon other fiends, but otherwise serves the knight of demise to the best of its ability until it is either dismissed or slain. A knight of demise cannot have more than one unholy servant at any time. If the knight of demise conjures a new servant, the previous servant is automatically freed and sent back to the Lower Planes.

Greater Spell-Linked Curse (Su): At 13th level, the potency of the knight of demise’s spell-liked curse ability increases. The penalty on saving throws it imposes increases to -2, and the knight of demise is able to use touch range spells on them without an attack roll at a range of 60 feet.

Tomb-Cursed Soul (Ex): A knight of demise of 15th level deepens their connection to the undead further. They gain an immunity to energy drain and death effects, and are now healed by negative energy as if they were undead. However, the beneficial effects of any positive energy effects are now halved for the knight of demise.

Soul-Burning Curse (Su): Beginning at level 16, a knight of demise is able to cause the necromantic energy of their cursed blade ability to intensify to the point that it sears the very soul of its victim. Once per round as a swift action, the knight of demise can force an individual under the effect of their cursed blade ability within 30 feet to make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 the knight of demise’s class level + their Charisma modifier). On a failed save, the target takes 1d4 negative levels, and on a successful save they take 5d8 negative energy damage instead. Regardless of success or failure, using this ability immediately ends the cursed blade effect for that target.
A knight of demise can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + their Charisma modifier.

Blade of Death (Su): At 19th level, a knight of demise is able to exploit the link created by his cursed blade ability to slay his opponents outright. As a standard action, the knight of demise can force an individual under the effect of their cursed blade ability within 60 feet to make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 the knight of demise’s class level + their Charisma modifier). On a success, the target takes 10d8 points of negative energy damage as necromantic energy rips through their body. On a failure, the target typically is immediately slain as their body rots to pieces. If the knight of demise wishes, however, they can elect to delay the death effect on a target who fails their save. In this case, the knight of demise can choose to activate the effect as a free action at any time as long as the knight of demise and the target are on the same plane, instantly slaying the target. If the knight of demise delays using the effect longer than 1 day per class level, however, the use of this ability is wasted.
The knight of demise can use this ability 3 times per day.

Unholy Transformation (Ex): When a knight of demise reaches 20th level, they undergo a horrific transformation, fully an unliving monster. The knight of demise’s type changes to undead, and they gain all the trains of the undead (see page 317 of the MM). The knight of demise no longer has a Constitution score, all their existing Hit Dice become d12s, and they must reroll their hit points for any Hit Dice aside from their knight of demise levels.
Furthermore, in addition to gaining the undead type, the knight of demise gains the following qualities:
- Damage Reduction 10/magic
- Turn Resistance +4
- Fear Aura (Su): The knight of demise becomes shrouded in an aura of death and terror. Creatures of less than 5 HD within 30 feet of the knight of demise must succeed at a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 the knight of demise’s Charisma modifier) or be affected as though by a fear spell with a caster level equal to the knight of demise’s class level.

Spoiler: Knight of Demise Spell List

Show

0: create water, detect magic, guidance, inflict minor wounds, light, mending, read magic, resistance

1: align weapon, bane, cause fear, curse water, death knell, deathwatch, detect undead, disguise self, divine favor, doom, entropic shield, hide from undead, inflict light wounds, magic weapon, obscuring mist, shield of faith, summon undead I

2: animate dead, bestow curse, blindness/deafness, bull’s strength, contagion, darkness, desecrate, eagle’s splendor, gentle repose, inflict moderate wounds, invisibility purge, owl’s wisdom, shatter, silence, speak with dead, summon swarm, summon undead II, undetectable alignment, zone of truth

3: air walk, crushing despair, deeper darkness, dispel magic, fear, freedom of movement, giant vermin, greater magic weapon, inflict serious wounds, magic vestment, poison, scrying, summon undead III, tongues

4: break enchantment, create undead, dimensional anchor, dismissal, inflict critical wounds, insect plague, mass inflict light wounds, sending, summon undead IV

5: banishment, create greater undead, greater bestow curse, greater dispel magic, harm, mass inflict moderate wounds, slay living, summon undead V, unhallow

[RandomPeasant]

A knight of demise can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. The knight of demise’s base daily spell allotment is given on the Table. In addition, a knight of demise receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Wisdom score.

Please don't add another spell progression to the game. If you need 5/9 casting, just use the Duskblade progression so that people have a chance of remembering how many spells the Knight gets each day.

Knights of demise prepare and cast their spells the way a cleric does, though they cannot lose a prepared spell to cast a cure in its place.

Is there some aspect of Cleric spell preparation you are trying to get here? Because otherwise I would just say "prepares spells" rather than saying "like the Cleric" only to immediately say "but not like the Cleric".

Whenever a knight of demise damages a living opponent in melee, they may choose to leave a cursed wound that deals an additional 1d6 points of negative energy damage each round for a number of rounds equal to the knight of demise’s class level.

Do you intend this to turn into infinite self-healing for someone with Tomb-Tainted Soul?

This ability does not allow the knight of demise to use their Charisma for when determining hit points gained from hit dice from other sources.

I do not think the balance gain is worth enough for the complexity hit here. What's the worst-case we're worried about, exactly? Someone dips a level of Knight on a Sorcerer build to improve their HP as a back-line character at the cost of setting their casting back forever?

Unliving Body (Ex): Starting at 2nd level, a knight of demise’s body starts to become more like one of the undead, granting them a +2 bonus on saving throws made to resist sleep, stunning, paralysis, poison, and disease. This bonus increases to +4 at 8th level and +6 at 14th level.

I don't think it's out of line for this to turn into immunity at some point.

Any individual under the effect of the knight of demise’s cursed blade ability now takes a -1 penalty on all saving throws against the knight of demise’ spells.

I think a -1 is too fiddly. It's there, so you have to track it, but it's almost never going to matter, so tracking it feels annoying rather than worthwhile.

Rebuke Undead (Su): A knight of demise of at least 4th level can rebuke or command undead creatures by channeling negative energy through their body. See the cleric class feature described on page 33 of the PHB.

Is the intention that you get full-level rebuking? It doesn't say you don't, but generally the versions that come online after 1st level involve some kind of penalty.

If this would cause the knight of demise to exceed the number of HD of undead that he could control, then random undead already under the knight of demise’s control are released until the amount of HD under the knight of demise’s control drops below their maximum.

Making this random when the corresponding effect of animate dead is controlled feels both confusing and punitive.

Once per day, the knight of demise can perform a 10-minute ritual to call a single evil outsider with a total number of hit dice no greater than 1/2 the knight of demise’s class level.

I think this should track CR rather than HD. Otherwise you're basically telling people to go find some random outsider with a lopsided HD/CR ratio and break the game. IMO it's also better to have this be "level - X" rather than "1/2 level", as otherwise you end up with the ability becoming less relatively powerful over time. But that is a pretty direct powerup.