In Cheliax, among the ranks of the Hellknights are those that have sought even greater power. In generations past, the foolish and fearless entered into contracts with their patron, damning themselves and their heirs for power beyond their kin. But the labyrinthine paths of infernal pacts are never fully understood by mortals, and the price is ever higher than expected. So was formed the Black Parade; a small contingent of Hellknights bound and empowered by the essence of the devils of Hell.
Hit Die: d8.
To qualify to become a Knight of the Black Parade, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
Base Attack Bonus: +3.
Skills: Diplomacy 5 ranks, Intimidate 5 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 5 ranks.
Alignment: Cannot be Chaotic Good
Special: Channel Energy or any Smite class feature. Must be the designated heir of a Knight of the Black Parade
The knight's class skills are Bluff (Cha), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (nobility) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis).
Skill Ranks per Level: 2 + Int modifier.Class Skills
BAB: Medium
Good Saves: Fort, Will
Poor Save: Ref
Level / Special
1st / Devil's Pact, Hell’s Aura, See in Darkness, Summon Imp Familiar
2nd / Hellfire Breath, Minor Teleportation 1/day
3rd / Smite Foe 1/day
4th / Otherworldly Resilience
5th / Infernal Will
6th / Smite Foe 2/day, Minor Teleportation 2/day
7th / Improved Otherworldly Resilience
8th / Wings of Ash and Fire
9th / Smite Foe 3/day
10th / Minor Teleportation 3/day, Greater Otherworldly Resilience
The following are class features of the knight of the black parade prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A knight gains proficiency with all simple and martial weapons, with all types of armor (heavy, medium, and light), and with shields (except tower shields).
Devil's Pact (Su): In accordance with the original contract, a knight must bind an heir to herself. A knight is continuously subjected to a Geas/Quest effect to maintain her heir. The heir needs not be related to the knight, but must enter into the contract willingly.
Hell’s Aura (Su): Regardless of her actual alignment, the knight gains the lawful and evil subtypes and is surrounded by auras of law and evil. The power of the auras (see the detect evil spell) is equal to twice her knight level. Additionally, the knight gains resistance to Acid, Cold, and Fire equal to her class level.
See in Darkness (Su): Knights of the Black Parade can see perfectly in darkness of any kind, even that created by a deeper darkness spell.
Summon Imp Familiar (Su): At 1st level, a knight can call an imp familiar, just as a wizard with the Improved Familiar feat can using the arcane bond ability. For calculating familiar abilities, a knight treats her level as 5 + her class level or the sum of her class levels that bestow familiars, whichever is higher.
Hellfire Breath (Su): The knight gains a devastating breath weapon that it can use once every 1d4 rounds. This breath weapon is a 30-foot cone of fire (1d10 fire damage and 1d10 unholy damage for every 2 class level to a maximum of 5d10 fire and 5d10 unholy damage, successful Reflex save [DC 10 + class level + the knight's Constitution modifier] half).
Minor Teleportation (Sp): Beginning at 2nd level, a knight gains the ability to teleport short distances. This ability is usable once per day and functions as the spell Dimension Door, though a knight’s actions after using it are not restricted, and she may only ever transport herself and up to 50 lbs of objects. The caster level of this ability is equivalent to twice the knight’s class level. At 6th and 10th levels, she gains an additional use per day of this ability.
Smite Foe (Su): Once per day, a knight can call out to Asmodeus to aid her in her struggles. As a swift action, the knight chooses one target within sight to smite. The knight adds her Charisma bonus (if any) to her attack rolls and adds her knight level to all damage rolls made against the target of her smite. If the target of her smite possesses the good subtype, the bonus to damage on her attacks increases to 2 points of damage per level the knight possesses. Regardless of the target, smite foe attacks automatically bypass any DR the creature might possess.
In addition, while this ability is in effect, the knight gains a deflection bonus equal to her Charisma modifier (if any) to her AC against attacks made by the target of the smite. If this target is a devotee of Asmodeus or a devil, the smite is wasted with no effect.
The smite effect remains until the target of the smite is dead or the next time the knight rests and regains her uses of this ability. At 6th and 9th levels the knight may smite one additional time per day, as indicated on Table.
Otherworldly Resilience (Su): At 4th level the knight gains a +1 enhancement bonus to her Natural Armor, Regeneration 1/Good or Silver, and a +2 bonus on saves to resist poison. At 6th and 9th levels the Natural Armor bonus and Regeneration rate increase by 1 and the bonus against poisons increases by 2.
Infernal Will (Ex): The knight has learned to harness the whispered promises and damnations that haunt her mind. Once per day, the first time a knight fails a Will save against a mind-affecting effect, she can immediately re-roll the save with a +4 bonus.
Wings of Ash and Fire (Su): At 8th level, a knight can summon wings formed of burning black clouds that allow her to move with a fly speed equal to twice her normal speed. Additionally, this ability grants her two wing buffet attacks. These attacks are secondary attacks that deal 2d6 points of fire damage (2d6 if Small, 2d8 if Large) and are resolved as melee touch attacks. A knight can use this ability for 1 minute per class level each day. The duration need not be continuous, but it must be used in 1-minute increments.
To qualify to become a Knight of the Black Parade, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.Base Attack Bonus: +3.
Skills: Diplomacy 5 ranks, Intimidate 5 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 5 ranks.
Alignment: Cannot be Chaotic Good
Special: Channel Energy or any Smite class feature. Must be the designated heir of a Knight of the Black Parade
No Hellknight rank requisite? No Armiger/Hellknight/Signifier/Maralictor/Paralictor/Vicarious/Lictor requisite for this? This class allows you to be a PALADIN?! You can be Chaotic at -all-?!
I think any lawful non-good might be appropriate, if not a Lawful Evil outright requisite. Dealing with devils is at least as evil as raising the dead for your puppeted negative-energy-infused plaything.
Council of Thieves #3 has an 'Any Lawful' requirement and:
Special: Before a character can become a Hellknight, he
must slay a devil with a number of Hit Dice equal to or
greater than his own. This victory must be witnessed by
a Hellknight.
The knight's class skills are Bluff (Cha), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (nobility) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis).
I would have gone high BAB, high Will, and only Craft, Handle Animal, Intimidate, Know: Local, Know: Nobility, Profession, Ride, and Sense Motive as class skills; left in all armors, but no weapons or shields.
Why teleportation? That's not very thematic with the heavy-armored spike-enshrouded sociopathic law-enforcers that the Hellknights represent, is it? Why not 'implacable stride' or 'inevitable charge'? What made you go with teleportation?
Otherworldly Resilience is too powerful and too unbalancing. How about DR 2/G&S rather than Regen?
PEAR... >.>
WHEN I WAS....
Sorry, I'm having trouble getting past the name...