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Pathfinder Tales: Hellknight

4.90/5 (based on 9 ratings)
Pathfinder Tales: Hellknight

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Devils in Her Blood

The Hellknights are a brutal organization of warriors and spellcasters dedicated to maintaining law and order at any cost. For devil-blooded Jheraal, a veteran Hellknight investigator, even the harshest methods are justified if it means building a better world for her daughter. Yet things get personal when a serial killer starts targeting hellspawn like Jheraal and her child, somehow magically removing their hearts and trapping the victims in a state halfway between life and death. With other Hellknights implicated in the crime, Jheraal has no choice but to join forces with a noble paladin and a dangerously cunning diabolist to defeat an ancient enemy for whom even death is no deterrent.

From celebrated dark fantasy author Liane Merciel comes an adventure of love, murder, and grudges from beyond the grave, set in the award-winning world of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

432-page trade paperback
ISBN-13: 978-0-76537-548-3

Hellknight is also available as a digital edition on the following sites:

Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Sanctioned Content
Hellknight is sanctioned for use in Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild.

Download the Chronicle sheet — (410 kb zip/PDF)

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PZO8532

See Also:

<< Pathfinder Tales: Pirate's Prophecy
Pathfinder Tales: Liar's Bargain >>
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4.90/5 (based on 9 ratings)

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One of my favorites

5/5 —

Of the four Pathfinder Tales books that I have read, this is my favorite. I wanted to read it as soon as I learned the premise and was delighted by its execution. I liked that it actually centered on the party of them, too, not just on one character.

When I discovered that the diabolist was Valenne from Nightglass and the paladin the lover she still carries a torch for? I actually squealed. Valenne was one of several characters fron Nightglass that I wanted more of, and her presence throughout made me oh so happy, even if she never got to be a viewpoint character like Ederras, Jheraal, and Sechel.

Jheraal, the titular hellknight, anchors the story with her complex dedication to her mission, to her companions, to her order, to her daughter. Stoic and guarded to protect herself and those she cares about, Merciel treats us to her tenderness and care, too. So much of Jheraal's arc finds her negotiating the tensions between all of that as the villains threats become increasingly personal. The way in which she and the assassin Sechel's conflicted feelings about their tiefling heritage served as narrative foils to each other gave the story added emotional depth and complexity.

Paladins can be hit or miss for me, but I took a liking to Ederras almost immediately. It is fun to watch he and Jheraal come to appreciate and eventually trust each other over the course of the novel. His struggle to make sense of his feelings for Valenne, and her feelings for him, define much of his arc. The centrality of consensual pain to Valenne's and Ederras's growing relationship ends up being remarkably wholesome; what a pleasant change fo pace!

The way in which those feelings intersect with the social demands of Ederras refurbishing his family name and securing its future makes for compelling story; it also gives Merciel an opportunity to show off the complexities of Cheliax's political situation.

Throughout, Cheliax's tyranny is a pervasive presence. While the ethical quandaries of living within an evil nation are lightly treated, we see each of our heroes (even Valenne) hemmed in by it but trying to ameliorate some of its inherent cruelty and inhumanity. The compromises they must make to it often bite, but it makes the goodness they carve out from those compromises compelling.

Content-wise: Sexual content doesn't get much past PG-13, and sex is never the focus of the narrative. I guess a number of people engaged in sexual activities do feature in one scene, but the whole thing is described lightly with only the faint hint of lurid detail. The violence is (unsurprisingly) more frequent, though little is graphic about it. Sechel's murder victims are mutilated, do include children, but the mutilation is clean, magically precise and quick. No dwelling upon torture, though there are some harrowing moments. A minor chord of body horror (especially the loss of bodily autonomy) winds through the book. Mentions of slavery in Cheliax, but no slaveholding characters that I can recall.

Hellknights from the inside, and all the internecine politics

5/5 —

I fought the law, and, the law won!

5/5 —

What do you get when you forge a party comprising a LG paladin, a LN Hellknight, and a LE diabolist? Three different interpretations of the power of Law. More importantly, you get a rollicking good time w/ great characters, villains, dialogue, and a strong vote for best supporting character (that would be the diabolist's companion, Vhaeros) in a PF book.

Kudos on making us believe a star-crossed romance between the paladin and the diabolist could, maybe, possibly, work out. Some of the best dialogue in the book came from Velenne, in fact.

Editing was very good; not a lot of noticeable errors at all.

I would love a sequel to this book, w/ all 3 characters working together again (and Vhaeros makes 4). Also, a shout out to those in the acknowledgments who contributed towards the final product; thank you as well!

5/5 —

A real page turner

4/5 —

I thought the action in this one was excellent. The character interactions between the paladin and his companions were interesting - but sometimes over the top. Some of the Hellknight principles and the eventual final setting were a bit Dragonlance-ish, but didn't detract from the flow of the book.

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Community & Digital Content Director
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Announced for April! Cover image and description are final.

This sounds fantastic. :)

I presume it's set in Cheliax, somewhere?
Silver Crusade Contributor
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Awesome!

Looking forward to this. ^_^
Dark Archive
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Yes please!
Don't know how recent, but I'm glad to see nook support.
Contributor
3 people marked this as a favorite.
Steve Geddes wrote:
I presume it's set in Cheliax, somewhere?

Yes indeed. Most of the story is set in Westcrown.

2 people marked this as a favorite.

Cool, thanks. I really enjoyed your previous PF Tales novels - can't wait for this one. :)

Sounds interesting.

Oooh. Shiny!

Yet another Paizo purchase I must make :)
Silver Crusade
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

With a single word title of such an iconic part of the Pathfinder Canon, and such a great writer on deck, my expectations are Sky High.
Pathfinder LO Special Edition, Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber

A hellknight, a diabolist, and a paladin. Quite a team, that. Looking forward to it.
Contributor
9 people marked this as a favorite.
Ed Reppert wrote:
A hellknight, a diabolist, and a paladin. Quite a team, that.

One of the things I wanted to do in this book was pose one possible answer to the age-old question of "can a paladin team up with a known evildoer?" Like, forget about the conceal alignment or lie-to-the-paladin tricks. What happens if the evildoer is just straight-up "pleased to meet you, hope you guessed my name"?

Posing the question made me laugh, anyway, which is 99.5% of what makes these stories fun for me. ;)

Ah, I love Westcrown! The story is intriguing as well.

Just saw this. Dotting for later but I'm interested.
Sovereign Court

Soon.
Dark Archive

No Print/PDF bundle?
1 person marked this as a favorite.
DragoDorn wrote:
No Print/PDF bundle?

Haven't been since ~June 2015 when distribution shifted to Tor books. Digital versions are available through most e-book channels.

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Liane Merciel wrote:
Ed Reppert wrote:
A hellknight, a diabolist, and a paladin. Quite a team, that.

One of the things I wanted to do in this book was pose one possible answer to the age-old question of "can a paladin team up with a known evildoer?" Like, forget about the conceal alignment or lie-to-the-paladin tricks. What happens if the evildoer is just straight-up "pleased to meet you, hope you guessed my name"?

Posing the question made me laugh, anyway, which is 99.5% of what makes these stories fun for me. ;)

Will we also learn what happens when the hellknight, diabolist, and paladin walk into a bar?

Silver Crusade
5 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

The paladin falls, duh.
Contributor
6 people marked this as a favorite.
Kajehase wrote:
Liane Merciel wrote:
Ed Reppert wrote:
A hellknight, a diabolist, and a paladin. Quite a team, that.

One of the things I wanted to do in this book was pose one possible answer to the age-old question of "can a paladin team up with a known evildoer?" Like, forget about the conceal alignment or lie-to-the-paladin tricks. What happens if the evildoer is just straight-up "pleased to meet you, hope you guessed my name"?

Posing the question made me laugh, anyway, which is 99.5% of what makes these stories fun for me. ;)

Will we also learn what happens when the hellknight, diabolist, and paladin walk into a bar?

Two out of the three, anyway.

The diabolist doesn't really do bars. Unless they're the kind of bars that have $15 cocktails with no fewer than three unpronounceable ingredients per drink. Because that right there, that is a Lawful Evil kind of bar.
2 people marked this as a favorite.
AJCarrington wrote:
DragoDorn wrote:
No Print/PDF bundle?
Haven't been since ~June 2015 when distribution shifted to Tor books. Digital versions are available through most e-book channels.

Also don't like how Tor upped the price on the books by 50%

RPG Superstar 2015 Top 8

A great and captivating story!

My only quibble is the prologue. In my opinion, it gave away too much information, spoiling the whole murder mystery plot.

If you enjoy a little mystery and haven't started reading yet, I would recommend skipping the prologue.
Dark Archive

I'm wondering, what is the time frame of this book? Like, how long from start to finish in story line? One month, one year or another amount of time?
Contributor
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Chris Ballard wrote:
I'm wondering, what is the time frame of this book? Like, how long from start to finish in story line? One month, one year or another amount of time?

It's a single summer, iirc about ten weeks from start to finish, not counting the epilogue.

There are, or should be, enough context clues to figure out the exact number of weeks, but it's been a couple of years since I wrote the thing so I wouldn't want to try blind guessing it now.

Anyway, one summer. :)
Dark Archive

I e only recently started reading the book, so there's plenty more to enjoy in the book. So far, so good.

Wow, just read this today and loved it. I had one question, though, about the very cool "dog", Vhaeros.

Was that a unique fiend created for the book, or is he (?) an actual, canon-blessed (heh heh) fiend? I couldn't figure out what type of devil Vhaeros was supposed to be. Regardless, there are some great scenes w/ him. Trying to get the children to pet him in Westcrown...twisted fun! And then his last scene (no spoilers)...
BenS wrote:

Wow, just read this today and loved it. I had one question, though, about the very cool "dog", Vhaeros.

Was that a unique fiend created for the book, or is he (?) an actual, canon-blessed (heh heh) fiend? I couldn't figure out what type of devil Vhaeros was supposed to be. Regardless, there are some great scenes w/ him. Trying to get the children to pet him in Westcrown...twisted fun! And then his last scene (no spoilers)...

I think he's an Eidolon.

Scarab Sages

Yeah, an infernal eidolon seems likely, but only Liane Merciel knows for sure.

I appreciate the feedback, but his master is not a summoner, but a diabolist. I admit I haven't looked at that class lately, but I don't believe they have access to eidolons.

I'm starting to lean towards "unique fiend created by the author for plot purposes". Regardless, he was a cool addition to a great book.
BenS wrote:

I appreciate the feedback, but his master is not a summoner, but a diabolist. I admit I haven't looked at that class lately, but I don't believe they have access to eidolons.

I'm starting to lean towards "unique fiend created by the author for plot purposes". Regardless, he was a cool addition to a great book.

The diabolist in the book might not have taken levels in the Diabolist PrC.

Fabius Maximus wrote:
BenS wrote:

I appreciate the feedback, but his master is not a summoner, but a diabolist. I admit I haven't looked at that class lately, but I don't believe they have access to eidolons.

I'm starting to lean towards "unique fiend created by the author for plot purposes". Regardless, he was a cool addition to a great book.

The diabolist in the book might not have taken levels in the Diabolist PrC.

I really don't think he can be an eidolon. There are large swathes of the book in which he's in a completely different part of the city on his own and acting independently from his "master". I'm no expert, but I believe eidolons can't be too far away from their masters.

There's nothing to suggest that a summoner COULDN'T take Diabolist. At least according to my reading...
Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
BenS wrote:
Fabius Maximus wrote:
BenS wrote:

I appreciate the feedback, but his master is not a summoner, but a diabolist. I admit I haven't looked at that class lately, but I don't believe they have access to eidolons.

I'm starting to lean towards "unique fiend created by the author for plot purposes". Regardless, he was a cool addition to a great book.

The diabolist in the book might not have taken levels in the Diabolist PrC.
I really don't think he can be an eidolon. There are large swathes of the book in which he's in a completely different part of the city on his own and acting independently from his "master". I'm no expert, but I believe eidolons can't be too far away from their masters.

The Unfetter spell would let an eidolon operate at any distance away from its summoner, but the master in this case has access to powerful sorcerer/wizard spells that are not on the summoner spell list. She is definitely a sorcerer or wizard and not a summoner.

Silver Crusade
David knott 242 wrote:
BenS wrote:
Fabius Maximus wrote:
BenS wrote:

I appreciate the feedback, but his master is not a summoner, but a diabolist. I admit I haven't looked at that class lately, but I don't believe they have access to eidolons.

I'm starting to lean towards "unique fiend created by the author for plot purposes". Regardless, he was a cool addition to a great book.

The diabolist in the book might not have taken levels in the Diabolist PrC.
I really don't think he can be an eidolon. There are large swathes of the book in which he's in a completely different part of the city on his own and acting independently from his "master". I'm no expert, but I believe eidolons can't be too far away from their masters.

The Unfetter spell would let an eidolon operate at any distance away from its summoner, but the master in this case has access to powerful sorcerer/wizard spells that are not on the summoner spell list. She is definitely a sorcerer or wizard and not a summoner.

Don't forget that Summoners and their Eidolons have that matching rune on their foreheads.

Silver Crusade
2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Aaaand since fiction can't use the OGL material and are therefore not bound by it, looking for close representation of game rules in fiction is somewhat futile.
Silver Crusade
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Gorbacz wrote:
Aaaand since fiction can't use the OGL material and are therefore not bound by it, looking for close representation of game rules in fiction is somewhat futile.

*nods*

Until it's recursive which is why we have stats for House Drakes :3
Silver Crusade

FINALLY GOT TO READ THIS!

Y'all should too, it's very awesome. Liane never disappoints.
Dark Archive
Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

I need help with this: on page 204, what does word "adel" mean in this context? I'm pretty proud of my understanding of English language, but this book has couple words I've never heard before and this one I don't fully get even with googling what its supposed to mean x'D
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
CorvusMask wrote:
I need help with this: on page 204, what does word "adel" mean in this context? I'm pretty proud of my understanding of English language, but this book has couple words I've never heard before and this one I don't fully get even with googling what its supposed to mean x'D

It's a type of flat boat with fabric sides and top where you can open and close the sides to provide privacy or allow wind in. Think pleasure cruise boat, with cloth windows that can be raised or lowered.

Dark Archive
Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Googling "adel boat" makes me think its less of brand than common dictionary word :O but yeah thanks for clarifying that for me
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