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I just purchased Green Ronin’s The Unholy Warrior’s Handbook and it seemed to me that the Order’s Tyrant Prestige Class would make a good base for a Hellknight Exemplar of Order Prestige Class, so I worked one out. Tell me what you think. I tried to make it Pathfinder compatible as opposed to 3.5 compatible.
Hellknight Exemplar of Order
REQUIREMENTS
Alignment: Lawful Neutral or Lawful Evil
Base Attack Bonus: +5
Skills: Diplomacy 4 ranks, Knowledge (Law) 3 ranks, Knowledge (Religion) 2 Ranks.
Feats: Iron Will, Leadership
Special: Must be a Hellknight in good standing with the order.
Level...BAB...Fort/Ref/Will....Special
1........+1....+2/+0/+2......Law Domain (Touch of Law); spells
2........+2....+3/+0/+3......Smite Chaos, Law Domain (Protection from Chaos)
3........+3....+3/+1/+3.....Fire Resistance (5)
4........+4....+4/+1/+4.....See in Darkness, Law Domain (Align Weapon)
5........+5....+4/+1/+4..... Fire Resistance (10)
6........+6....+5/+2/+5..... Touch of Hell
7........+7....+5/+2/+5..... Fire Resistance (15)
8........+8....+6/+2/+6..... Tongues, Law Domain (Staff of Order)
9........+9....+6/+3/+6..... Fire Resistance (20)
10......+10....+7/+3/+7..... Order’s Fearful Visage, Hellfire
Spells
Level 1/2/3/4
1 ...0/././.
2 ...1/././.
3 ...1/0/./.
4 ...1/1/./.
5 ...1/1/0/.
6 ...1/1/1/.
7 ...2/1/1/0
8 ...2/1/1/1
9 ...2/2/1/1
10...2/2/2/1
Law Domain: An Exemplar of Order gains the Law Domain, as a Cleric. If the Knight already has access to the Law Domain, he adds his Exemplar levels to his prior levels to determine abilities.
Spells: The Exemplar of Order can cast spells as a divine spellcaster. To cast spells, the knight must have a Wisdom of at least 10+ the spell level. Wisdom is used to determine a spells DC and bonus spells available to the Exemplar. Spells must be chosen from the following list:
1st Level – command, detect chaos, divine favor, protection from chaos, ray of frost, resistance.
2nd Level – darkness, death knell, hold person, undetectable alignment.
3rd Level – dispel magic, magic circle against chaos, magic vestment, wind wall.
4th Level – discern lies, dispel chaos, divine power, mark of justice.
Smite Chaos (su): Once per day, the Exemplar may attempt to smite chaos with one normal melee attack. He adds his charisma bonus (if any) to her attack roll and deals 1 extra point of damage per level. If the smite is used against a creature that is not chaotic, the smite has no effect and is still used for the day.
Fire Resistance (ex): The Exemplar of Order gains a resistance to fire. This ability improves at levels 5, 7 and 9.
See in Darkness (su): The Exemplar of Order, when she gains 4th level, gains the supernatural ability to see perfectly in total darkness, even that which is caused or created by magic, such as the darkness spell.
Touch of Hell (su): Upon gaining 6th level, the Exemplar of Order can begin channeling the fires of Hell. Once per day per level of Exemplar of Order, the knight may add 1d6 of bonus fire damage to any attack. The decision to use this ability must be made before any rolls to hit are made. If the attack strikes a chaotic or a good aligned individual, the fire damage is 3d6 instead.
Tongues (su): The Exemplar of Order, at 8th level, gains the ability to communicate with any creature.
Order’s Fearful Visage (su): Any chaotically aligned creature within 30 feet of the Exemplar of Order must make a Willpower save (DC 15+ charisma bonus) or become shaken. The creature affected must be able to see the knight for the power to be effective.
Hellfire: The Exemplar’s weapons burn with hellfire continually in combat. They always deal an additional 1d6 points of fire damage (3d6 vs. chaotic or good aligned creatures). This stacks with the touch of Hell ability.
Sweeeet! I like! I just got that book, and was thinking that a Knight of Bedlam would be intriguing for a more disciplined follower of Rovagug. :)
Hey! That's a great choice. I stumbled across that prestige class a few months ago and thought it would make a great Hellknight substitute until we eventually get around to doing one (we WILL eventually get around to doing one). Personally I think the group warrants two classes, a Hellknight base class (or paladin variant) and a signifer prestige class. What you've got here, in my mind, kind of combines the two. While my ideal Hellknight would be a badass paladin/blackguard type with some smite choas and cool iron-discipline and man-hunting abilities, the signifier would be all about summoning devils and hellfire, using or directing their powers, and personally resisting diabolical abilities.
Don't take this as a criticism, what you've got here is totally AWESOME! I'm just rattling off what's been bumping around in my head (and it's super close that what you've got here is so close to that!).
A Hellknight base class would be interesting. I was assuming the raw recruits were just fighters.
It's true, but I would also assume the same about paladins, so there's weirdly evidence in favor of both a prestige class and base class. Honestly, though, I'm pretty fed up with prestige classes.
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It's true, but I would also assume the same about paladins, so there's weirdly evidence in favor of both a prestige class and base class. Honestly, though, I'm pretty fed up with prestige classes.
I think they have their uses but I like to see more professions like the Hellknights or Pathfinders become actual classes.
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A Hellknight base class would be interesting. I was assuming the raw recruits were just fighters.It's true, but I would also assume the same about paladins, so there's weirdly evidence in favor of both a prestige class and base class. Honestly, though, I'm pretty fed up with prestige classes.
Working it up as a Class Variant off of a base class, with various Substition Level-like dealies, could be neat.
'Fighter level 2, lose Bonus Fighter Feat, add Smite Chaotic foos.'
'Fighter level 4, lose Bonus Fighter Feat, add Weapon Specialization (kewl Hellknight favored Spiked evil-looking Pokey-Smashy-Thing-of-DEATH!).'
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It's true, but I would also assume the same about paladins, so there's weirdly evidence in favor of both a prestige class and base class. Honestly, though, I'm pretty fed up with prestige classes.
I think Prestige Classes work better if there is an organization involved. Otherwise, I admit that I tend to like classes better that work as a Base Class.
Working it up as a Class Variant off of a base class, with various Substition Level-like dealies, could be neat.
'Fighter level 2, lose Bonus Fighter Feat, add Smite Chaotic foos.'
'Fighter level 4, lose Bonus Fighter Feat, add Weapon Specialization (kewl Hellknight favored Spiked evil-looking Pokey-Smashy-Thing-of-DEATH!).'
While I do hold a special part in my heart for some PrCs, Set's idea is actually something me and my group have been testing out. It's a good way to flavour a "regular" character without having to hunt through 50 splat books to find what you're looking for, and it keeps the PrCs more relegated to Organizations.
I think Prestige Classes work better if there is an organization involved. Otherwise, I admit that I tend to like classes better that work as a Base Class.
I agree with that about 98% of the time. Like the Red Mantis Assassin in Pathfinder #9 as a prestige class, I think that's a perfect fit. It makes sense too, you join an organization/guild/training school later in your adventuring career, you pick up your prestige class later in your adventuring career.
My thoughts for Hellknights stem from my thoughts on paladins though: Why the heck do you only get special paladin abilities if you're a paragon of lawful good?
Out of Game Answer: Because the paladin is meant to recreate the feel of crusaders, templar, Charlemagne’s knights, the Knights of the Round Table, and similar knight in shining armor tropes. Neutral, chaotic, and evil characters (arguably) don't fit that so well. And it's been done this way for about 34 years.
In Game Answer: Ummm... it's been done this way for about 34 years? Really, aside from lawful good churches’ tendencies toward organization, I see no reason why LG deities should be the only ones to have paladin-like groups. I mean, clerics could be considered martial orders in their own right, but let’s face it, the paladins are the big guns with the big armor and flaming weapons, and the clerics have lighter armor and maces—if you need an army of one or the other, you pick paladins. Actually, the onus to be lawful good is not even on the deity, it's on the paladin, so you could have paladins of Abadar (and do) just as easily as you have paladins of Shelyn (maybe not so much). And if you're going to make the argument that a paladin of Iomedae (with silver armor, a big sword, and a Duddly DoRight attitude) merely has a different outlook and religious trappings than a paladin of Shelyn (with silver armor, a big glavie, and a pony she ran through the spin-art machine), then—acknowledging such potential for variations—why have the alignment restriction at all?
To make a long story longer. I think the paladin could be fun to play with a number of different alignments and deities. You want to hunt for the Grail? Grab your white horse and your holy sword and join the church of Iomedae. You want to cut a path of hellfire through the weak and pitiful? Get on your 4708 Dis Hellsteed and grab your spiked ruby mace, the church of Asmodeus wants you! Heck, wanta throw boulders at stuff all day! Walk yourself on over to the church of Gorum. Or even, want to bring law to a chaotic world? Find out how you fit into Abadar's plan... or the Hellknights'.
Overall I think it'd be cool if paladin orders were more based off the martial-mindedness of specific deities, and since you don't want to make one god better than another by giving him an army of holy warriors, there should probably be room for paladins/holy warriors of every alignment. And then if you've got the basis for a warrior who receives benefits based upon the alignment he's dedicated to (like the paladin already sort of does for LG; and since making a holy warrior for each alignment is easier to handle then making one for every imaginable god), then you've got a pretty good setup for warriors like Hellknights (in the LN arena).
All this being said. Does it probably make better sense that a character should have to advance a few levels as a fighter/cleric before he can become a paragon of his deity’s church. Yeah, probably. But I'm really not interested in seeing the paladin distilled into just another prestige class. That's not how things have been done for 34 years, and if there's going to be changes made, I'd much rather see additions then subtractions.
It gets trickier with paladins because none of their class features scream 'Law'. It's all Good and killing Evil.
My policy at this point is that Lawful paladin-types (Paladins, Hellknights, LE-Blackguards) make sense as a base class, because you can join their order as a raw recruit at the same time a Fighter is joining the army or attending dueling school.
Ont he other hand, Chaotic paladin types (Holy Liberators, CE Blackguards) need to be prestige classes because there is no membership proper, and the powers of Chaos don't accept pledges, you have to prove your worth first.
As a side note, I'm normally opposed to new base classes. I feel the eleven base classes are generally flexible enough to cover most outcomes, at least for the first few levels before prestiging. The exception to this is Paladin variants, because there at 8 alignments that might need warriors (I'll leave true neutral to the druids.), but just class feature substitution can only go so far. For instance, LE 'Paladins' make sense with mounts, they're still knights. CE blackguards, not so much.
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The idea of a Divine Warrior class is one that really should, at some point, replace the paladin, so long as it is able to incorporate the base Paladin class into its fold. Said class should have as a requirement the absolute devotion of its members to their particular Deity and dogma. This would allow/require Paladins to have their LG code but would also ensure that others had to strive to put certain ideals into practice as well.
Truth be told, if the PFRPG rules broadened the Paladin class to that of a more generic Divine Warrior, it wouldn't bother me in the least, so long as the new class allowed the old Paladin to exist as written.
I think a 2 or 3 level Hellknight PClass that is relatively easy to get into would be great. That could provide the most fundamental baseline of what it means to be a Hellknight.
That leaves a ton of room for Hellknights who are still fundamentally fighters. Or Hellknight Blackguards. Or Hellknight Rangers. Or.. Or.. Or...
And of course it also leaves a ton a design space free for the Order of the XYZ Hellknight PClass and the Order of the ABC Hellkight Pclass. And the Champion of the ABC Pclass.. And the Black Sword of the ABC Pclass.
The concept really offers itself to a huge array of diversity. I think a big PClass that set to much in place could confine the idea. Like I said, a 2 or 3 level class that simply defines the bare bones common thread of what all Hellknights are about. That would be sweet.
Right now I guess I have trouble really seeing a L1 Hellknight. But, I haven't read the book yet either. That could change.