I have an idea for a Lawful Evil elven Magus that will take the Hellknight class and wanted to get a little feedback.
Brief Backstory:
My character is from the much rumored hidden elvish settlement in the Barrowood in western Cheliax. While out gathering/hunting with his family and a contingent of other elves, they are set upon by an Erinyes that escaped the open hellgate in the Whispering Woods. His family is killed, as are most of the elves, except for the children which are slowly tortured and fed on by the Erinyes and her summoned devils over the course of a handful of days.
The timely arrival of a Hellknight patrol finds him as the only survivor, although the ordeal leaves him permanently albino (think along the lines of Prince Nuada). The commander of the patrol is one Giordano Torchia, who then goes on to become the leader of the Order of the Gate, and as the elves were operating "illegally" within sovereign territory, Giordano takes the young elf as a slave. What follows are many years of trial and hardship under a cruel master, but eventually the elf learns to survive and adopts many of the infernal principles of strength and order. Upon coming of age, he earns a place as an armiger in the Order of the Gate, joining the signifer corps under Vicarius Torchia.
15 point buy, but its a straight 1:1 purchase of stats, with all stats starting at 10 and can be set to a minimum of 7 for additional points. I'm thinking this for a distribution:
Str 13
Dex 18 (16 before elf mod)
Con 10 (12 before elf mod)
Wis 8
Int 16 (14 before elf mod)
Cha 12
This is if I can possibly get a houserule where two-handed slashing weapons are allowed with Spell Combat, but at a -3 instead of the standard -2, so that I can use an elven curved blade. There is also a feat in the Might of the Magus 3rd party guide that does this, but requires a 15 strength so I might take the points out of Charisma for that. If none of that works out, then I'm going the Dervish route. I also intend on taking the Blackblade archetype.
Yes, I know most folks dump Charisma, but I might do some "face" work, and so the bonus to Intimidate (and/or Diplomacy) is welcome. Anyone want to venture any ideas on a possible build with the Hellknight PrC? I'm thinking Magus 7 / Hellknight x, picking up the Heavy Armor proficiency feat along the way somewhere so that I could where the Hellknight armor.
Major question? Why use Magus as a leadin to Hellknight? The latter doesn't synergise well with the former.
Mostly because I want to play a Magus. :-P
I think it can syngerize somewhat well, and more importantly Magus doesn't directly hinder Hellknight, and vice-versa, so it seems like a nifty idea to me. Hellknight opens the floor for a non-good Paladin type, more interested in the letter of the law than the purpose, and that appeals to me a bit more for this concept.
Major question? Why use Magus as a leadin to Hellknight? The latter doesn't synergise well with the former.
Mostly because I want to play a Magus. :-P
I think it can syngerize somewhat well, and more importantly Magus doesn't directly hinder Hellknight, and vice-versa, so it seems like a nifty idea to me. Hellknight opens the floor for a non-good Paladin type, more interested in the letter of the law than the purpose, and that appeals to me a bit more for this concept.
The Hellknight closes off some of the really nice advanced features of the Magus, especially spell recall. also keep in mind that if you don't advance far enough in Magus you're looking at risking arcane spell failure while you're wearing that heavy armor.
Major question? Why use Magus as a leadin to Hellknight? The latter doesn't synergise well with the former.
Mostly because I want to play a Magus. :-P
I think it can syngerize somewhat well, and more importantly Magus doesn't directly hinder Hellknight, and vice-versa, so it seems like a nifty idea to me. Hellknight opens the floor for a non-good Paladin type, more interested in the letter of the law than the purpose, and that appeals to me a bit more for this concept.
The Hellknight closes off some of the really nice advanced features of the Magus, especially spell recall. also keep in mind that if you don't advance far enough in Magus you're looking at risking arcane spell failure while you're wearing that heavy armor.
Understood. I also understand that I can likely just fully progress in the Magus class and be deemed a Hellknight without the need to enter the class itself, but I was interested to see if anyone else would like to apply a build or has any ideas. One of the things I greatly enjoy about the Advice portion of the boards is seeing ideas and concepts that I would never have thought of.
As long as you understand the caveats, I think you're good.
One build I haven't seen which would be interesting would be a Ranger/Hellknight... but then you'd have to give up the armor or your combat style feats. :)
As long as you understand the caveats, I think you're good.
One build I haven't seen which would be interesting would be a Ranger/Hellknight... but then you'd have to give up the armor or your combat style feats. :)
If you can get your Hellknight armor made of mithril, you can have both.
