Scarred Knight (3.5e Class)
As the knight's last friend fell in battle, he was overcome by a sudden clarity amidst the overwhelming grief. Fear was the great unifier. Death, the absolute truth. Corpse flies the only friends that would ever remain by his side. And then began the madness.
Scarred Knights were once magic-sensitive stalwart defenders of their brothers in arms. Their purpose always remains to keep others from harm. But when ally after ally falls under their protection, the Scarred Knight begins to see only death. Their beliefs, along with their mind, become shaken and brittle in the wake of great inevitability. They begin to tend towards nihilistic tendencies, seeing life as nothing but an automaton of endless death fueled by constant fear. They continue striving to protect others, but occasionally become overwhelmed and succumb to the insanity.
Abilities: Constitution, Strength, and Charisma. The Scarred Knight is first and foremost a front line melee combatant, but requires Charisma to fully take advantage of his ability to cause fear.
Races: Any race, but Humans, Dwarves, and Half-Orcs are the most common.
Alignment: Any non-Chaotic.
Starting Gold: 3d4 × 10 gp (80 gp).
Starting Age: Simple
| Level | Base Attack Bonus |
Saving Throws | Special | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort | Ref | Will | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1st | +0 | +2 | +0 | +0 | Madness 1/day, Inspire 1/witness, Minor Reinforce 1/witness | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2nd | +1 | +3 | +0 | +0 | Harness Death, Blood for Blood 1/witness | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3rd | +1 | +3 | +1 | +0 | Carrion Swarm Xd4 1/witness, Slaughter | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4th | +2 | +4 | +1 | +0 | Lifeline 1/witness | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5th | +3 | +4 | +2 | +0 | What Doesn't Kill Me | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6th | +4 | +5 | +2 | +0 | Reinforce 1/witness | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7th | +5 | +5 | +2 | +0 | Final Visage, Madness 2/day | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8th | +6/+1 | +6 | +3 | +0 | Command Swarm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 9th | +6/+2 | +6 | +3 | +0 | Blood for Blood 2/witness | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 10th | +7/+3 | +7 | +3 | +0 | Deathly Carrion Swarm Xd6 1/witness | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 11th | +8/+4 | +7 | +4 | +0 | What Doesn't Kill My Friends | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 12th | +9/+5 | +8 | +4 | +0 | Command Swarm II | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 13th | +10/+6/+1 | +8 | +4 | +0 | Harness Death II | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 14th | +11/+7/+2 | +9 | +5 | +0 | Unstoppable Madness 2/day | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 15th | +12/+8/+3 | + 9 | +5 | +0 | Last Act of a Madman 1/witness | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 16th | +12/+9/+4 | +10 | +5 | +0 | Deathly Carrion Swarm Xd8 1/witness | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 17th | +13/+10/+5 | +10 | +6 | +0 | Unthinkable Madness 2/day. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 18th | +14/+11/+6/+1 | +11 | +6 | +0 | Mad Blink | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 19th | +15/+12/+7/+2 | +11 | +6 | +0 | Epic Reinforce | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 20th | +16/+13/+8/+3 | +12 | +7 | +0 | The True Face of Madness | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Class Features[edit]
All of the following are class features of the Scarred Knight.
Surrounded by Death: A Scarred Knight doesn't regain the use of his skills by resting, but rather by witnessing death. This can include visually or audibly witnessing the death, but it must be clearly distinguishable. The creature whose death is being witnessed must have an Intelligence of 4 or greater. In addition, constant nightmares result in a Scarred Knight regaining half the amount of health they normally would while resting.
If a Scarred Knight is the last conscious member - or sole survivor in some way - of his party of three or more members, he must make a DC 13 will save to avoid attempting suicide and dropping his hit points to 0.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Scarred Knight is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with all armor (heavy, medium, and light) and shields (including tower shields).
Madness: A Scarred Knight can succumb to madness a certain number of times per day, which takes one turn of concentration to activate. During madness, a Scarred Knight temporarily gains a +4 bonus to Constitution, a +2 morale bonus on all rolls except will saves, and their alignment is changed temporarily to chaotic. The increase in Constitution increases the Scarred Knight’s hit points by 2 points per level, but these hit points go away at the end of the madness when his Constitution score drops back to normal. The Scarred Knight has certain abilities that can only be activated during madness. At 1st level, a Scarred Knight can succumb to madness only once per day but will automatically activate it if a party member falls unconscious or dies. If they enter madness this way, the Scarred Knight does not receive the usual morale bonus. When an opponent dies or moves out of the Scarred Knight's line of sight, the Scarred Knight must make a DC 10 will save to avoid losing control and randomly focusing their attack on anything nearby for 1d4 turns. Out of combat his save must be taken every hour or whenever the DM decides. A swarm of carnivorous flies follows a Scarred Knight during madness.
Every turn of combat the Scarred Knight must make a DC 6 will save or spend their turn randomly casting a spell of the highest available from an equal level Sorcerer from the Sorcerer/Wizard spell list (Sorcerer/Wizard Spell List) ignoring all prior restrictions. This is done by rolling a d8 to determine the school of magic and rolling another die equal to the number of options available in that school at that level. If a natural 1 is rolled for the will save, the spell is miscast. Roll a d12 on the following table for the result.
| d12 | Result |
|---|---|
| 1 | Blast of uncontrolled magic. You and anything within two squares takes Xd4 damage, where X is your total level. |
| 2 | Table 10: Totally Whimsical of Miscast Spells |
| 3 | Random ability decreases by 1d4. |
| 4 | DM decides upon an effect for a "new" spell that sounds like one you would have cast. Table 11 of Miscast Spells for examples. |
| 5-8 | The spell fails completely. |
| 9-11 | Halve the effect of the spell. |
| 12 | Double the effect of the spell |
Out of combat the bonuses granted by madness go away but the Scarred Knight is left with partial madness. During partial madness the Scarred Knight must make a will save every time they witness and ally take damage to avoid losing control and attacking randomly for 1d4 turns. Their alignment also remains chaotic and the swarm of flies remain. In social situations the Scarred Knight always steers the conversation towards death and takes a -5 on Diplomacy checks. Only sleeping or falling unconscious in some way removes madness.
At level 9 he is able to enter madness twice a day. At level 15 his madness becomes so unreal that he bends reality, granting DR equal to 1/2 level, immunity to fear and sleep, and the Scarred Knight will not fall unconscious at 0 and will not die until -20. At level 17, he may now choose which spell from the random school to cast when the will check to do so fails.
Inspire: At 1st level, a Scarred Knight can inspire his allies to perform their skills more effectively. The ally gains +1d6 temporary skill points to a selected skill for 10 minutes.
Reinforce: At 1st level, a Scarred Knight may spend the turn reinforcing an adjacent ally, granting them +3 to AC and their hit die in additional temporary hit points. At 6th level, a Scarred Knight also grants damage reduction equal to the Scarred Knight's Constitution modifier. At 19th level, a Scarred Knight grants +6 AC and damage reduction equal to the Scarred Knight's Constitution modifier to all allies within 30 ft for 1d4 rounds.
Harness Death: Starting at 2nd level, a Scarred Knight can make use of death on and off the battlefield. Any discovered corpse of a creature that had an Intelligence of 4 or greater can be absorbed in a 5 minute ritual that grants +1 AC and +1 Strength for the day, hit points equal to the creature's hit die are healed. Any corpse dead under 15 minutes can be harnessed without a ritual as a free action for the same benefits. This effect stacks up to the Scarred Knight's level and lasts for 1 hour per level. At 13th level, a Scarred Knight may permanently gain access to one spell, ability, skill, or feat from a corpse after performing the ritual. The spell/ability/skill/feat must be of the Scarred Knight's level or lower.
Blood for Blood: At 2nd level, once per witnessing a death, a Scarred Knight can heal an ally or himself by a dealing weapon damage. If a standard weapon attack deals damage, double that damage is healed to a target within 30ft.
Carrion Swarm: A Scarred Knight at 3rd level is able to control the swarm of flies surrounding his madness. The swarm attacks a target, causing Xd4 damage (where X is the Scarred Knight's level) and the target must make a will save (DC 10 + Charisma modifier + Scarred Knight's level) to avoid being shaken for as long as the swarm lasts (1d4 turns). At level 10 the damage is increased to Xd6 and each d6 can be split among any number of foes and causes the target to become frightened. At level 16 the damage increases to Xd8 and causes the target to become panicked.
Slaughter: At 3rd level, a Scarred Knight's fatal blow is a terrifying sight. Landing the killing blow on a creature during madness requires any other non-allied creature who witnessed the kill to make a will save or be shaken (DC 10 + Charisma modifier + Scarred Knight's level) for an amount of turns equal to the Scarred Knight's level.
Lifeline: At 4th level, a Scarred Knight may summon a magical 30 ft rope tied to a living target. This rope immediately shortens into the Scarred Knight's hand, pulling the ally with with it too fast for an attack of opportunity. Whiplash may apply 1d6 nonlethal damage if the target was moving quickly in the opposite direction. If desired, the target may make a strength check to avoid being pulled.
What Doesn't Kill Me: Beginning at 5th level, the Scarred Knight temporarily gains their level in Strength while below 1/4 (rounded down) of their normal maximum health. At 10th level, this effect activates if any allies within 60 feet have their health drop below 1/4.
Final Visage: At 7th level, a Scarred Knight may attempt to execute a fearful opponent. If the target has remained shaken, frightened, or panicked for three turns, the Scarred Knight may attempt a death attack (DC 10 + Scarred Knight level + Strength modifier) to kill the target instantly.
Command Swarm: At 8th level, a mad Scarred Knight may command his swarm of flies to perform some action up to 60ft away. The flies have a combined force of 5 lbs and can communicate basic visual, tactile, and audible senses to the Scarred Knight. At level 11, they have a combined force of 20 lbs and may move up to 120ft away.
Last Act of a Madman: When a level 15 Scarred Knight would be knocked unconscious or killed, he may make one full action. For this action only, all known abilities are available even if they were previously unavailable.
Mad Blink: At level 18, a Scarred Knight during madness bends reality to such a degree that he may freely blink 10 feet in any direction. He is no longer open to attacks of opportunity when he moves.
The True Face of Madness: At level 20, the Scarred Knight epitomizes insanity. After one turn of concentration he opens his eyes and mouth, unleashing all the horror and anguish across all known planes. Anything facing him within 60 ft makes three will saves (DC 10 + Scarred Knight level + Charisma modifier) with the following results: Succeeding all three saves results in 6d8 damage. Succeeding two saves results in 6d8 damage and 2d4 level drain. Succeeding only one save results in 6d8 damage, 2d4 level drain, insanity manifesting in a babbling incoherent mess and suicidal tendencies. Failing all three saves results in immediate death. Does not affect non-living beings such as constructs.
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