Weeping Knight (3.5e Prestige Class)

Weeping Knight

"We fight so that others do not." - Erion of the Hammer, Weeping Knight

The Weeping Knight is a warrior, the defender of the weak and helpless. Vowing to abstain from violence, she uses her skills to guard others and to subdue enemies. A Weeping Knight is loath to cause suffering, but she can use her martial skills to avoid greater suffering. She embodies the great dichotomy of Goodness--to fight can be to cause suffering. It is this that gives the Weeping Knights their name- they are racked by guilt when they fight, but this guilt can fuel a holy fury within them. Woe betide the foe that rejects a Weeping Knight's offer of grace...

A Weeping Knight in battle will be a strange sight. Tears streaming down her face, she swings mighty blows at her foes, yet every blow is carefully placed to do no permanent damage. Even when enraged, this control does not slip, and even then the Weeping Knight is disgusted by the suffering she and others must cause. They accept that not all share their code, and that casualties are inevitable in most conflicts, but no Weeping Knight will tolerate harm to prisoners. There are two ways they can deal with their prisoners--either themselves, extracting an oath of repentance and possibly laying the Mark of Justice on them, or by taking them to the nearest settlement to face the law.

Most Weeping Knights are Paladins or Fighter/Clerics, who benefit from the divine casting abilities and the advancement of many class features. There are occasional Druid Weeping Knights, although they are not common; they tend to believe in the balance of Nature and the right of all to life. Rogues rarely become Weeping Knights, but those who do are usually a different style of vigilante, hunting down criminals and delivering them, unconscious but unharmed to the police. Barbarians rarely become Weeping Knights, as they lack the self-control the class requires.

Weeping Knights can be encountered alone in the wilderness, protecting travelers or tracking a sinner to deliver them to justice. There are also formal orders of Weeping Knights, often found in cities as a supplement to the state guards--they are often instrumental in quelling riots by peaceful means. Weeping Knights will rarely work with others apart from members of their Orders, since few people will share the ethical code they bear. When in a group, it is often with others sworn to nonviolence--indeed, they can play an important role for these, defending them in hand-to-hand combat.

Prerequisites

Alignment: Any good

Base Attack Bonus: +5

Feats: Vow of Nonviolence, Subduing Strike

Table: The Weeping Knight

Hit Die: d10

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Spells per Day/Spells Known
1st	+1	+0	+0	+2	Aura of Good, Turn Undead, Merciful Strike, Smite	-
2nd	+2	+0	+0	+3	Mark of Justice 1/week, Lay on Hands	+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
3rd	+3	+1	+1	+3	Holy Subdual, Shield Ally	-
4th	+4	+1	+1	+4	Mark of Repentance	+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
5th	+5	+1	+1	+4	Peaceful Mind	-
6th	+6	+2	+2	+5	Mark of Justice 2/week	+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
7th	+7	+2	+2	+5	Righteous Anger	-
8th	+8	+2	+2	+6	Improved Shield Ally	+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
9th	+9	+3	+3	+6	Repentant Bond	-
10th	+10	+3	+3	+7	Rage of the Heavens, Mark of Justice 3/week	+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
Class Skills (2 + Int modifier per level) Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (nobility and royalty) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis).

Class Features

All the following are class features of the Weeping Knight:

Aura of Good (Ex): The power of a Weeping Knight's aura of good is equal to her class level (see the detect good spell).

Turn Undead (Su): A Weeping Knight gains the Turn Undead ability, exactly as a Cleric of his class level. This ability stacks with Turn Undead granted from other sources.

Merciful Strike (Su): All unarmed, natural and manufactured weapon attacks made by a Weeping Knight count as having the Merciful property as long as the Weeping Knight is dealing non-lethal damage, and therefore deal an extra D6 damage.

Smite: Levels of Weeping Knight stack with Paladin and Cleric levels to determine the damage of Smite attacks (but not the number available per day).

Mark of Justice (Sp): At second level, the Weeping Knight gains the ability to use Mark of Justice (as the spell) once per week as a spell-like ability (caster level equals class level). This ability can be used one more time per week every four levels after second (2/week at 6th and 3/week at 10th).

Lay on Hands (Su): Beginning at 2nd level, a Weeping Knight with a Charisma score of 12 or higher can heal wounds (his own or those of others) by touch. Each day he can heal a total number of hit points of damage equal to his Weeping Knight level × his Charisma bonus. A Weeping Knight may choose to divide his healing among multiple recipients, and he doesn’t have to use it all at once. Using lay on hands is a standard action.

Alternatively, a Weeping Knight can use any or all of this healing power to deal damage to undead creatures. Using lay on hands in this way requires a successful melee touch attack and doesn’t provoke an attack of opportunity. The Weeping Knight decides how many of her daily allotment of points to use as damage after successfully touching an undead creature.

Holy Subdual: At 3rd level, the Weeping Knight gains Holy Subdual as a bonus feat.

Shield Ally (Ex): as an immediate action you can opt to absorb part of the damage dealt to an adjacent ally. Each time this ally takes damage from a physical attack before your next turn, you can take half this damage on yourself. The target takes the other half as normal. You can only absorb damage from physical melee attacks and ranged attacks, such as an incoming arrow or a blow from a sword, not from spells and other effects.

Mark of Repentance (Su): A character who willingly receives a Mark of Justice from the Weeping Knight instead gains a Mark of Repentance. This gives them a +2 Sacred bonus to Will saves to resist compulsion effects. However, the penalty for breaking the Mark of Justice becomes that of two Bestow Curse effects, and the Weeping Knight is immediately notified if they are on the same plane (if they are not, they will be notified as soon as both characters are on the same plane).

Peaceful Mind (Su): At 5th level, the Weeping Knight becomes immune to the effects of Rage and may take an extra Will save (DC as the original casting of the spell or effect) whenever compelled to attack another creature. If they pass this save, they will still attack but will deal only non-lethal damage.

Righteous Anger (Su): At 7th level, the Weeping Knight gains the ability to enter a state of Righteous Anger whenever confronted by a creature that has broken a Mark of Repentance laid on them by the Weeping Knight or immediately upon witnessing an act of extreme evil (DM's discretion, for example the murder of innocents or the summoning of a powerful fiend). When in a state of Righteous Anger, the Weeping Knight gains a +2 Morale bonus to hit the character that caused the Anger, a +2 morale bonus on damage. Righteous Anger lasts for one round per class level, and when it ends, the Weeping Knight becomes fatigued.

Improved Shield Ally (Ex): At 8th level, your ability to absorb damage increases. Once per round you can absorb all the damage from a single attack directed against an adjacent ally. In addition, you continue to absorb half the damage from other physical attacks on an adjacent ally, if you so choose. You must decide whether to use this ability after the attacker determines that an attack has succeeded but before he rolls damage.

Repentant Bond (Sp): Once per day, you may use discern location (as the spell) on one character who has received a Mark of Repentance from you (even if they have broken the Mark or had it removed). This bond cannot be broken by anything short of a carefully-worded Wish spell, although mind blank will block the Divination effect as normal.

Rage of the Heavens (Ex): At 10th level, the Weeping Knight's Righteous Anger becomes a terrible sight. Whenever the Weeping Knight enters a state of Righteous Anger, this ability affects all creatures within 100 feet of them. Targets must be able to hear you and have an Intelligence score of 5 or more. All targets who meet these conditions must make Will saves (DC 10 + your class level + your Cha modifier) or become shaken. (Note that the +4 DC bonus for Vow of Nonviolence will count against humanoid and monstrous humanoid creatures).

Whether a creature fails or succeeds on its save against your Rage of the Heavens, it can only be targeted by this effect once per day.

Spellcasting: At every even numbered level, the Weeping Knight gains new spells per day and spells known as if he had just gained a level in a divine spellcasting class he belonged to before he added the prestige class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. This essentially means that he adds half the level of Weeping Knight to the level of whatever other spellcasting class the character has, then determines spells per day and caster level accordingly.

If a character had more than one divine spellcasting class before he became a Weeping Knight, he must decide to which class he adds each level of Weeping Knight for the purpose of determining spells per day.

Ex-Weeping Knights

A Weeping Knight who ceases to be Good-aligned or loses the Vow of Nonviolence feat loses all class features (including spellcasting, but not base attack and save bonuses). He may not progress any further in the Weeping Knight class. He regains his advancement potential and class features if he atones (see the atonement spell description), as appropriate.

The Epic Weeping Knight

Table: The Epic Weeping Knight

Hit Die: d10

Level	Special
11th	Turn Undead, Smite
12th	+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
13th	Bonus feat
14th	Mark of Justice 4/week, +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
15th
16th	+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class, Bonus feat
17th
18th	Mark of Justice 5/week, +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
19th	Bonus feat
20th	+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
Skill Points Per Level 2 + Int modifier per level).

Class Features

All the following are class features of the Epic Weeping Knight

Turn Undead and Smite: The Weeping Knight's levels continue to increase his Turn Undead and Smite abilities.

Mark of Justice: Every 4 levels after 10th, the Epic Weeping Knight gains an additional weekly use of Mark of Justice

Spellcasting: Epic Weeping Knight levels continue to improve existing divine spellcasting as normal.

Epic Weeping Knight bonus feat list: Armor Skin, Devastating Critical, Epic Leadership, Epic Prowess, Epic Reputation, Epic Toughness, Epic Weapon Focus, Great Smiting, Holy Strike, Improved Combat Casting, Improved Spell Capacity, Legendary Commander, Overwhelming Critical, Perfect Health, Permanent Emanation, Planar Turning, Positive Energy Aura, Spectral Strike, Spontaneous Spell.

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