Knight of the High Tower (5e Subclass)
Knight of the High Tower[edit]
| “ | It's not a door, it's a shield, but I understand your confusion. | ” |
| —Sir Agrivail, human knight of the High Tower | ||
Men and women throughout the land often aspire to knighthood, but not all knights are alike. House Hightower train their knights to be expert users of the tower shield. Nobles of Hightower are known to place an item of great value inside a crenelated tower with no windows, and a knight of the High Tower in front of the door.
A knight of the High Tower carries their shield with an air of what could be casual arrogance. A practiced eye will tell you that hours of fighting with a shield have toned that knight into someone more comfortable with a five foot spate of wood attached to their arm than someone without. Not only are knights of the High Tower agile behind a tower shield, they are also adept at striking from behind it. Knights of the High Tower are taught to hinder or incapacitate their foes, by knocking them to the ground or plucking their weapon from their hand with a well-timed beat of their own. Nothing stops an enemy advance like a platoon of knights from Hightower.
Becoming a Knight of the High Tower[edit]
Characters looking to protect their allies seek the durability provided by Hightower doctrine. Knights are the most likely candidates for the training, although fighters, paladins and even samurai are fit to walk the Hightower path.
- Tower Shield Mastery
A knight of the High Tower develops an uncanny affinity with the tower shield. Starting at 3rd level, you gain the following benefits:
- You don't have disadvantage on attack rolls you make with melee weapons that have the light property when wielding or one handed simple weapons when wielding a tower shield.
- You must spend only 5 feet in order to gain the three quarters cover from your shield.
- As a reaction when you are forced to make a Dexterity saving throw, choose any number of creatures within 5 feet of you. Each chosen creature is considered to have half-cover against any harmful attacks or effects while within 5 feet of you until the start of your next turn.
- Tower Shield Specialization
At 7th level, you can use your bonus action to give to a creature of your choice within 5 feet the same benefits you have gained from the shield until the start of your next turn, or until the creature is no longer within 5 feet.
- Shield Ward
At 10th level, you use your shield like a wall of steel and wood. When an opponent attempts to draw in close to you, your shield forces him away or ruins his attacks.
You apply your shield bonus to your Dexterity saving throws, and on checks or rolls to resist attempts to shove, disarm, grapple, knock you prone or otherwise try to move you against your will trough physical force.
- Damage Reduction
At 15th level, a knight of the High Tower gains the ability to shrug off some amount of injury from each blow or attack. Whenever you or a creature within 5 feet take damage (except psychic damage), you can use your reaction to reduce that damage to half, as long as you are wielding the tower shield.
- No Mercy
Starting at 18th level, you respond to danger with extraordinary vigilance. In combat, you get a special reaction that you can take once on every creature's turn, except your turn. You can't use it on the same turn that you take your normal reaction.
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