Oathbound Knife (3.5e Prestige Class)

Oathbound Knife

“

My weapon and I are one.

”

An Oathbound Knife has sworn dedication to one weapon, and one weapon only: the dagger. The Oathbound Knife has created a dagger that is an extension of themselves, and they swear to wield solely this weapon, lest they lose their Oathbound abilities

Big weapons are dumb. They are too heavy, too stereotypical, too blasé. Shields are for pansies. One handed weapons aren't much better, and the fancy-schmancy stuff that other light weapons can do is superfluous. No. You need to fight with civilization's first tool; the creation that changed the world. By swearing to use a personalized dagger, an Oathbound Knife gains extraordinary abilities that quickly turn those show-off greatsword users into aweing at the massive pain inflicted upon an enemy when the Oathbound Knife strikes but once. They'll see. They will all see...

Becoming an Oathbound Knife

Those who become Oathbound Knives typically are underprivileged and outcasts in society. They grow up while the big, strong people look down on them because they do not like to swing those fancy greatswords. By swearing a binding oath that can be found through basic knowledge of history, a character gives up proficiency with all weapons (including unarmed strikes) except their own personal dagger.

Entry Requirements

Base Attack Bonus:	+6
Skills:	Craft (weapons) 8 ranks, Knowledge (history) 1 rank or a racial bonus to Knowledge (history)
Feats:	Improved Critical - dagger, Weapon Focus - dagger, Weapon Specialization - dagger
Special:	Must have crafted a personalized masterwork dagger (DC: 20 weaponsmithing) and swear a divine oath to use that dagger only. This oath causes the character to swear to use no other weapon or shield, except their personalized dagger.

Table: The Oathbound Knife

Hit Die: d10

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+1	+0	+2	+2	Oathbound Dagger, Extreme Finesse, Dagger Damage +1d6,
2nd	+2	+0	+3	+3	Material Type 1, Dagger Specialist, Dagger Style 1
3rd	+3	+1	+3	+3	Dagger Damage +2d6, Oathbound Throw
4th	+4	+1	+4	+4	Oathbound Mastery 1, Blunt Blade
5th	+5	+1	+4	+4	Dagger Damage +3d6, Material Type 2
6th	+6	+2	+5	+5	Dagger Supremacist, Dagger Style 2
7th	+7	+2	+5	+5	Dagger Damage +4d6, Oathbound Mastery 2
8th	+8	+2	+6	+6	Material Type 3, Dagger Burst
9th	+9	+3	+6	+6	Dagger Damage +5d6, Critical Blade
10th	+10	+3	+7	+7	Beheading Blade, Dagger Style 3
Class Skills (2 + Int modifier per level) Appraise (Int), Craft (Weaponsmithing) (Int), Disguise (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (History) (Int), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Tumble (Dex)

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Oathbound Knife.

Oathbound Dagger: Upon becoming an Oathbound Knife, a character gains their own personalized dagger. They are strictly bound to use this weapon only in combat, and thus lose proficiency with all weapons except this dagger. The Oathbound Knife is proficient with no other dagger, and may not use shields or spikes. In addition, this dagger cannot be enchanted with magical effects.

However, no other character is proficient with this dagger. Should they attempt to wield it, they are considered non proficient and improperly sized for it. Thus they take a -6 penalty to all attack rolls made with it. In addition, a character who wields an Oathbound's dagger takes this same penalty on their AC, Will and Reflex Saves, and all skill checks.

An Oathbound Knife may create a new Oathbound Dagger with a craft (weaponsmith) check of 20. Doing so requires the old dagger to be destroyed in the process (or prior to the process, should it have been destroyed otherwise).

Extreme Finesse(Ex): A 1st level Oathbound Knife may add her strength and dexterity modifiers to her damage rolls with her Oathbound Dagger.

Dagger Damage (Ex): At level 1, an Oathbound Knife gains an extra 1d6 on all damage rolls made with her Oathbound Dagger. This increases to 2d6 at level 3, 3d6 at level 5, and so on. This damage is not magical, and does not multiply on critical hits. However, the dagger is treated as if it has an enhancement bonus equal to the number of d6's added by this bonus (+1 enhancement at level 1, +2 at level 3, and so on.) These enhancement bonuses are treated as magical for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction, despite being non-magical.

Material Type (Ex): At level 2, an Oathbound Knife may treat her Oathbound Dagger as one of the following materials for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction: silver, adamantine, cold iron. She chooses the material at level 2, and may select an additional material at levels 5 and 8. These effects stack. (The Oathbound Knife does not take the standard -1 to damage rolls when she selects silver.)

Dagger Specialist (Ex): A 2nd level Oathbound Knife gains the feats Greater Weapon Focus and Greater Weapon Specialization with her dagger as bonus feats. She need not select them.

Dagger Style (Ex): At level 2, an Oathbound Knife selects one of the following as a style:

Blitz Style: The Oathbound Knife takes a -2 penalty to all attack rolls, but may make an extra attack at her highest base attack bonus. She also gains +10ft to her move speed when fighting in this style.

Brutish Style: The Oathbound Knife wields her dagger in both hands. She may treat it as if it were a two-handed weapon by taking a -2 penalty to her AC. In addition, she also gains +2d8 on all damage rolls with the dagger.

Cautious Style: The Oathbound Knife takes a -4 penalty to their attack rolls and may only move at half speed in this style. She gains a +4 dodge bonus to AC and saving throws, and gains blindsense out to 30ft.

Entering or leaving a style is a swift action and does not provoke attacks of oppurtunity. At level 6, the Oathbound Knife selects an additional style, and a third at level 10. She may only be in one style at once.

Oathbound Throw (Ex): A 3rd level Oathbound Knife may throw her dagger at any opponent within 30ft and treat the attack as if it were a melee attack. The dagger is treated as if it has the returning property on this attack.

Oathbound Mastery (Ex): A 4th level Oathbound Knife can chose to be immune to being disarmed or her dagger immune to sundering. She may only select one of these effects at level 4, and she gains the other at level 7.

Blunt Blade (Ex): At level 4, the Oathbound Knife may choose to deal bludgeoning damage with her Oathbound Dagger. In addition, she may make her strikes non-lethal at no penalty.

Dagger Supremacist: At 6th level, an Oathbound Knife fighting with her Oathbound Dagger gains a number of additional advantages. She can wield her weapon against a foe who grapples her without penalty and without first making a grapple check. In this situation, she can take a standard action or a full attack action as normal. When she takes a full attack action, she can apply a +5 bonus to any single attack after her first strike. Once per round before making an attack roll, she can instead choose to treat her d20 result as a 10. She also gains a +1 bonus to AC.

Dagger Burst (Ex): At level 8, an Oathbound Knife's Oathbound Dagger deals an extra 1d10 damage on a critical hit. If the multiplier is x3, the damage is 2d10, and if the multiplier is x4, the damage is 3d10 (see below). This damage is non magical.

Critical Blade (Ex): A level 9 Oathbound Knife's dagger has a critical multiplier of x2 on a roll of 17, x3 on a roll of 18, and a x4 on a roll of 19 or 20.

Beheading Blade (Ex): A 10th level Oathbound Knife's Oathbound Dagger is treated as if it had the vorpal enchantment, despite being non-magical. This, like all other damage bonuses granted by this class, functions inside an anti-magic field.

Ex-Oathbound Knife

Should the Oathbound Knife use any other weapon in combat than her Oathbound Dagger, including other daggers, she loses all her oathbound abilities. Only an atonement spell may restore the Oathbound Knife.

Campaign Information

Playing a Oathbound Knife

Combat: Oathbound Knives can be offensive or defensive, depending on what style they enter. They are excellent at both combat types, absorbing damage or dealing it across the battlefield.

Advancement: Oathbound Knives need at least four levels of fighter (or six levels of warblade) to meet the prerequisites. They often stay fighters, however they may become rogues due to the styles and increased damage with the dagger.

Resources: Oathbound Knives may expect to be scorned by veterans of large weapons, due to their bond with their blades. However, they may expect a certain amount of respect from Paladins due to their divine oath with their knife.

Oathbound Knives in the World

Oathbound Knives tend to be seasoned weaponsmiths or historians, due to their need to craft their weapon, and their need to learn the history of the Oathbound.

NPC Reactions: Higher members of society tend to look down on the historian weaponsmiths known as the Oathbound, due to their lower standing in society. Oathbound may be vengeful due to this, and tend to seek acceptance in a party of adventurers. Nonetheless, Oathbound Knives are generally just an average member of society with both friends and enemies.

Oathbound Knife Lore

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (History) can research Oathbound Knives to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including information from lower DCs.

Knowledge (History)

DC	Result
11	Oathbound Knives are masters of the dagger.
16	Oathbound Knives can enter martial styles to increase their combat prowess.
21	Powerful Oathbound Knives can decapitate a foe with one strike.
26	Oathbound Knives were originally an order of combat assassins who fought those who scorn them. A few modern Oathbound Knives hold true to this tradition.

Oathbound Knives in the Game

Adaptation: Oathbound Knives are easy to adapt to a game. They tend to hold a stereotypical adventurer archetype: a character who simply wants to be accepted and who holds a special place in any party as either a thief, striker, or tank.

Sample Encounter: Sheriok Svaal: Level 6 Fighter, Level 10 Oathbound Knife: Human

EL whatever:

Sample

CR 16

Init/Senses	/Listen , Spot
AC	30 (+3 Chain shirt), touch 14, flat-footed 26
hp	196 ( HD)
Fort/Ref/Will	//
Speed
Melee	Oathbound Dagger +25 (1d4+5d6+19 17-20 crit)
Base Atk/Grp	+16/+11/+6/+1/+22
Special Actions	Extreme Finesse, Material Types: Silver, Cold Iron, Adamantine, Oathbound Throw, Dagger Styles: Blitz Style, Brutish Style, Cautious Style, Immunity to Disarming and Sundering, Blunt Blade, Dagger Supremacist, Dagger Burst, Critical Blade, Beheading Blade
Abilities	Str 23, Dex 18, Con 20, Int 15, Wis 15, Cha 11
Feats	Improved Critical - Dagger, Weapon focus - Dagger, Weapon Specialization, Greater Weapon focus - Dagger, Greater Weapon Specialization, Combat Expertise, Improved Combat Expertise, Power Attack, Cleave, Improved Trip, Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack
Advancement	—

---

Back to Main Page → 3.5e Homebrew → Classes → Prestige Classes