Merciless, black-armored enforcers, Hellknights care nothing for good or evil, only their absolute, unflinching vision of law. In Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Path of the Hellknight, you'll join the ranks of Golarion's harshest champions of order—knights with ironclad discipline forged in the flames of Hell. Learn the ways of all the Hellknight orders, their true relationship with the legions of Hell, and how to tie your characters to one of Pathfinder's most fearsome organizations. Players and Game Masters can also lay claim to the complete Hellknight arsenal, from terrifying battle arts and grim equipment to the secrets of masked signifers' frontline magic. The Hellknights' unstoppable might is yours to command as you impose unshakable order—whatever the cost.
Among the grim secrets within you'll find:
Details about joining a Hellknight order, as well as a timeline of the orders' histories and a comprehensive look at the Measure and the Chain, the philosophies that guide these knights.
In-depth descriptions of the seven major Hellknight orders, including the brutal physical reckonings from which they draw great power.
An arsenal of feats, spells, and equipment these lawful crusaders typically use, plus class options such as the order of the Ennead Star cavalier order and new disciplines for the Hellknight prestige class.
Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Path of the Hellknight is intended for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the Pathfinder campaign setting, but can easily be used in any fantasy game.
ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-843-4
Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:
So, my first attempt at writing a review when I got my copy got eaten by my computer.
My second attempt at a review got eaten by one of those pre-GenCon days when the Paizo site was acting a little odd.
With all the excitement of Gen Con and even getting to talk with Wes at the Paizo booth and geek out over this book and everything Hellknight...I guess I forgot to redo my super long review? I shall have to perform a pretty serious Reckoning for that kind of an offense, but gladly!
When the Inner Sea World Guide came out, I swore that no other Golarion-centric book would ever top that one as my favorite...well...apparently I need to do another Reckoning for blasphemy! Path of the Hellknight is just dripping with plot hooks and deep cuts of Golarion's unique bastions of law.
In my opinion, Hellknights are one of the things that makes the Golarion setting so unique compared to any other out there. Sure there are Paladins and Antipaladins upholding the extreme ends of the spectrum, but no other setting has a bulwark of law-above-all-else, and this book peels back the curtain on them to help the players and GMs of the Pathfinder Campaign Setting understand and experience them like never before.
This is my absolute #1 favorite book to have ever come out of Paizo, and I do not see that changing for a very, very long time!
Hellknights are probably the Golarion-specific organization I've been most looking forward to reading about, and so I was really looking forward to release when this book was announced.
Happily, it doesn't disappoint. The overviews of the Hellknight orders are all interesting, and while it is true that they are all meant to be ultimately lawful, the different philosophies of each order are broad and varied enough that making heroes or villains belonging to the Hellknights doesn't require jumping through mental hoops to justify their alignments. Each order also comes with a smattering of options to add to a variety of classes, and serves to broaden the possible character builds that can call themselves Hellknights without necessarily having to take either of the Hellknight-centric prestige classes. My personal favorites are the Godclaw Mystery for oracles and the Faceless Enforcer archetype for the vigilante.
If this book does have a weakness it is the relative poverty of its items section. While there are a few items, and they are interesting and serve to help broaden options for Hellknights who don't feel like being heavily armored wrecking machines, the almost utter lack of any magic items, particularly weapons or armor, is noticeable and slightly disappointing. The magic spells, feats, and traits serve to soothe the sting slightly, but still.
Overall, if you are looking for adventure seeds, encounter ideas, or just background on one of the more iconic organizations in the Inner Sea, then this book is a must-have. If you are looking specifically for ways to be a Hellknight without having to play the armored tank, this book is a must-have. If you are searching for a treasure trove of Hell-themed and Hellknight-themed items this book may not be your first pick, but all in all is still definitely worth getting.
I'm really impressed with how much content this book included - I expected solid flavor (and got it), but the book is also full of amazing game content and written with an in-depth knowledge of the various options available across all of the product lines. The art is amazing - the lictor of the Pyre is one of my favorite Paizo pieces, and the art for the Godclaw's lictor is brilliant.
There's a lot of stuff I could see being great for any campaign, like Caster's Champion and Gate Breaker. Then there's the great Hellknight-specific options, like the Godclaw oracle mystery and the new Hellknight prestige class disciplines.
There are some minor disappointments. I wish the obedience boons had a method of early access, similar to that of the Inner Sea Gods prestige classes. I'd been hoping for unique content for the minor orders, especially the Scar and Coil.
All in all, though, an excellent book - well worth the price of admission. ^_^
Hellknight Aegis: Break your Hellknight armor to cast a cleric spell on yourself to remove harmful conditions.
Here's a slightly odd one... the PRD/glossary states:
PRD wrote:
Items that have taken damage in excess of half their total hit points gain the broken condition.
But Hellknight Aegis just states that you can "give your Hellknight armor the broken condition" to enact the feat's effect.
RAW - Your armor is simply "broken" and a single casting of "Mending" would fix it.
RAI - Your armor is supposed to be at half hp until repaired?
The latter, that's what the broken condition means. Granted a casting of mending would bring it up to or above 1/2 HP and therefore remove the broken condition.
Broken wrote:
Items that have taken damage in excess of half their total hit points gain the broken condition, meaning they are less effective at their designated task. The broken condition has the following effects, depending upon the item.
•If the item is a weapon, any attacks made with the item suffer a –2 penalty on attack and damage rolls. Such weapons only score a critical hit on a natural 20 and only deal ×2 damage on a confirmed critical hit.
•If the item is a suit of armor or a shield, the bonus it grants to AC is halved, rounding down. Broken armor doubles its armor check penalty on skills.
•If the item is a tool needed for a skill, any skill check made with the item takes a –2 penalty.
•If the item is a wand or staff, it uses up twice as many charges when used.
•If the item does not fit into any of these categories, the broken condition has no effect on its use. Items with the broken condition, regardless of type, are worth 75% of their normal value. If the item is magical, it can only be repaired with a mending or make whole spell cast by a character with a caster level equal to or higher than the item's. Items lose the broken condition if the spell restores the object to half its original hit points or higher. Non-magical items can be repaired in a similar fashion, or through the Craft skill used to create it. Generally speaking, this requires a DC 20 Craft check and 1 hour of work per point of damage to be repaired. Most craftsmen charge one-tenth the item's total cost to repair such damage (more if the item is badly damaged or ruined).
Mending wrote:
This spell repairs damaged objects, restoring 1d4 hit points to the object. If the object has the broken condition, this condition is removed if the object is restored to at least half its original hit points. All of the pieces of an object must be present for this spell to function. Magic items can be repaired by this spell, but you must have a caster level equal to or higher than that of the object. Magic items that are destroyed (at 0 hit points or less) can be repaired with this spell, but this spell does not restore their magic abilities. This spell does not affect creatures (including constructs). This spell has no effect on objects that have been warped or otherwise transmuted, but it can still repair damage done to such items.
The art on the fortresses of the specific orders is very impressive indeed. And the story behind the birth of hellknights and Citadel Dinyar's name are great. Really makes the hellknight order seem more humane.
I have a question about the monster-hunting Order of the Pike -- why is their analogous order the Scourge? Wouldn't it make more sense for them to have ties with the Order of the Nail instead? They seem to have a lot in common. Both exist on the fringes of civilized lands, both confront monsters regularly to defend innocents, while the Scourge works to oppose what might be called the 'internal enemies' of local crime.
Nearing the end of her life and concerned about her followers’ future, the group’s leader, Irei Remsaine, petitioned the Order of the Nail to accept the monster hunters into their ranks. The Hellknights refused, but impressed with their work and skillful fighting tactics, sponsored them as a lesser order. In 4677 ar, the Order of the Pike rose as Hellknights once more. Soon after, Irei passed, and command of the order fell to her remarkably deadly daughter, Lesheir.
It might actually be a mistake, as the printed history clearly states it was the Order of the Nail who sponsored them, not the Scourge.
Nearing the end of her life and concerned about her followers’ future, the group’s leader, Irei Remsaine, petitioned the Order of the Nail to accept the monster hunters into their ranks. The Hellknights refused, but impressed with their work and skillful fighting tactics, sponsored them as a lesser order. In 4677 ar, the Order of the Pike rose as Hellknights once more. Soon after, Irei passed, and command of the order fell to her remarkably deadly daughter, Lesheir.
It might actually be a mistake, as the printed history clearly states it was the Order of the Nail who sponsored them, not the Scourge.
I noticed that the Vicarius of the Order of the Gate has levels in Hellknight rather than Signifer. Is this an error or does he actually have levels in the martial class?
The description of Citadel Demain mentions a "Galless Wall". Can anybody explain what that is supposed to mean? I doubt it has anything to do with Wales or with the galeass type of galley.
Anyone know whether they've ruled on what if anything out of this book is PFS legal, or when we might expect such a ruling? Censoring Critical seems like one of those things no 15th level martial-focused Seeker playing the All For Immortality series should be without!
Anyone know whether they've ruled on what if anything out of this book is PFS legal, or when we might expect such a ruling? Censoring Critical seems like one of those things no 15th level martial-focused Seeker playing the All For Immortality series should be without!
Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Path of the Hellknight
All material in this book is legal for play with the following exceptions. Conquering brands and branding iron are not legal for play. A PC may only benefit from either the Hellknight Obedience or a similar obedience character option (e.g. Deific Obedience) at a time, except as allowed by the Might of the Godclaw revelation. In order to swear allegiance to a Hellknight order for the purpose of qualifying for character options in this book, a PC must be lawful-aligned. The shackle spell uses either the fetters or frontal restraint rules on page 15. The Order of the Crux is not legal for play.
Reading the Hellknight novel, and am getting stoked about playing one.
Anyone have any advice on which class to take early? Fighter, Paladin and Cavalier seems the obvious choices. Any cool archetypes that work well? How about specific orders?
