NO Hell knight is a Prestige class and you cannot play one at 1st level. You can create a character that is striving to and will eventually become a full-fledged hell knight.
Start off with the regional trait: Aspiring Hellknight and/or Hell Knight Ancestry to give you some RP flavor (they overlap in abilities somewhat).
To eventually gain the prestige class you must be at least 5th level.
These are the PrC requirements:
Base Attack Bonus: +5.
Skills: Intimidate 5 ranks, Knowledge (planes) 2 ranks.
Armor Proficiency: Must be proficient with heavy armor.
Alignment: Any lawful.
Special: You must slay a devil with HD greater than your own. This victory must be witnessed by a Hellknight.
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Hi, Nathan.
The lowest ranking amongst the Hellknights, armigers, are not full members, and have yet to pass The Test. So it is quite simple for a character to start out in the order. The Hellknight/Hellknight Signifier PrCs are for those that have passed The Test.
I thought you could start as a hellknight, but it has to be in name only until/unless you get something that makes you a hell knight(such as the PrC, cheliax title, trait, etc.) Of course, all that is optional. You just need to have something that gives a mechanical benefit before you actually have the mechanical benefit of being a hellknight.
I thought you could start as a hellknight, but it has to be in name only until/unless you get something that makes you a hell knight(such as the PrC, cheliax title, trait, etc.) Of course, all that is optional. You just need to have something that gives a mechanical benefit before you actually have the mechanical benefit of being a hellknight.
Since there are traits, vanities and classes that grant you status within the Hellknight order you can't claim those benefits without first buying the appropriate options.
I thought you could start as a hellknight, but it has to be in name only until/unless you get something that makes you a hell knight(such as the PrC, cheliax title, trait, etc.) Of course, all that is optional. You just need to have something that gives a mechanical benefit before you actually have the mechanical benefit of being a hellknight.Since there are traits, vanities and classes that grant you status within the Hellknight order you can't claim those benefits without first buying the appropriate options.
That's exactly what I said! I think... Just said differently so it isn't exactly as I said.
When a mommy hellknight and a daddy hellknight love each other very much, they give each other a special hug (being VERY careful of those spikes in the armor...)
Armiger (Fame 20, 2 PP) Though still a loyal
Pathfinder, your service to Cheliax grants you admission
into a Hellknight order of your choice with the rank of
armiger. You gain a +3 bonus on Diplomacy checks made
against Hellknights of any order or rank.
(So 4th or 5th level for this)
Hellknight (Fame 40, 2 PP, Armiger) Your continued
loyalty to Cheliax and your Hellknight order earn you
the honorary rank of Hellknight (or signifer if you are
a spellcaster), granting you a +3 bonus on Intimidate
checks when wearing heavy armor. This rank is granted
independently of levels in the Hellknight prestige class
(~9th level for this.)
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When a mommy hellknight and a daddy hellknight love each other very much, they give each other a special hug (being VERY careful of those spikes in the armor...)
Armiger (Fame 20, 2 PP) Though still a loyal
Pathfinder, your service to Cheliax grants you admission
into a Hellknight order of your choice with the rank of
armiger. You gain a +3 bonus on Diplomacy checks made
against Hellknights of any order or rank.(So 4th or 5th level for this)
Hellknight (Fame 40, 2 PP, Armiger) Your continued
loyalty to Cheliax and your Hellknight order earn you
the honorary rank of Hellknight (or signifer if you are
a spellcaster), granting you a +3 bonus on Intimidate
checks when wearing heavy armor. This rank is granted
independently of levels in the Hellknight prestige class(~9th level for this.)
Dude, perfect! Where did you find that material?
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Dude, perfect! Where did you find that material?
The Pathfinder society field Guide
Not to be confused with the guide to organized play.
The peoples front of judea
Or the judean peoples front.
Add the traits above and the prestige vanities and you have some nice bonuses to those skills. Lots of RP flavor and mechanical benefits.
Eh, some of them are pretty specific though. Not everyday you deal with hellknights and not everyone wears heavy armor. The best armor is usually mithral and/or celestial too. There's a lot of RP flavor you can just make yourself too.
Eh, some of them are pretty specific though. Not everyday you deal with hellknights and not everyone wears heavy armor. The best armor is usually mithral and/or celestial too. There's a lot of RP flavor you can just make yourself too.
Hey not everyone tries to squeeze every drop of power like we do Mr. Sin.
Eh, some of them are pretty specific though. Not everyday you deal with hellknights and not everyone wears heavy armor. The best armor is usually mithral and/or celestial too. There's a lot of RP flavor you can just make yourself too.Hey not everyone tries to squeeze every drop of power like we do Mr. Sin.
Ahh, just the way I respond to people saying mechanics are great. I'm pretty judgmental about whether a game mechanic is good or bad. I still choose subpar ones now and again for one reason or another.
That's exactly what I said! I think... Just said differently so it isn't exactly as I said.I thought you could start as a hellknight, but it has to be in name only until/unless you get something that makes you a hell knight(such as the PrC, cheliax title, trait, etc.) Of course, all that is optional. You just need to have something that gives a mechanical benefit before you actually have the mechanical benefit of being a hellknight.Since there are traits, vanities and classes that grant you status within the Hellknight order you can't claim those benefits without first buying the appropriate options.
I was clarifying that you could not call yourself a hellknight until you have a mechanical feature that allows you to. If you're a level 1 character with no traits you can't call yourself a hellknight, but you could roleplay that you are looking to apply.
I was clarifying that you could not call yourself a hellknight until you have a mechanical feature that allows you to.
Woah, no, that's absolutely wrong. You can definitely call yourself a hellknight, but you might have trouble being an actual hellknight or having any mechanical benefit of being a hellknight. Trouble being that you get none. Just like you can call yourself a druid as a cleric, or the son of a god, or a deity yourself... You can do it, doesn't mean you are or you get any benefit.
At level 1 you might try something like "HellKnight initiate" or "Squire to HellKnight (make up hellknight here)" which doesn't have any (AFAIK) corresponding mechanics or implications other than someone in training to be a hellknight. Then move up to arminger and hellknight as you advance.
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Warm welcomes this day, my friends. As we are all colleagues here and wait for no formality, I offer you my hand and introduce myself as Gennadiy, warrior of Torag, Hellknight.
Do you remember that incident last year, over in the High District, where a couple of jovial fighter types had some spiked plate armor made, and tried to pass themselves off as hellknights, so that they might borrow the reputation of the Order for their own ends? If I recall correctly, the Order of the Pyre not only took them to task, but also made sure to teach the armorsmith a costly lesson. I am given to understand that there are no such costumes available this year.
It is true that agents of Cheliax operating abroad may receive a Hellknight courtesy title, as a measure of their favor in House Thrune. Although such a gentle is indeed allowed to style himself or herself a Hellknight, he or she would be mistaken to imagine that the officers of the Orders would think much of anyone bandying that rank about as if he or she had, well, earned it.
I would say, Nathan, that a Pathfinder such as yourself, intending to petition the Hellknights for membership, might well seek to have a genuine suit of hellknight plate made, in anticipation of accepting service in the Orders. I would advise against buying any with markings or styling which would give others the false impression that you were already acting in the name of the hellknights, but those are simple enough to add afterwards.
In joy and service to you, my friend. May your duties in the lodge be pleasant, and may your excursions always lead you safely back to them.
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You know, this thread has brought up something I had been considering asking. The hellknight vanity titles cost prestige and whatnot, and do give a mechanical benefit. How do they interact with the two hellknight prestige classes? Thus far I have had heard of (and seen) more than a few instances of people claiming these vanities entitle them to boss actual hellknights around. For example, let us assume a character is fighter 5, hellknight commander 7. Seems to me that ought to be a pretty dang high ranking hellknight. ... Plus it has the word "commander" in the name of the class. This problem actually arose involving my own hellknight. He took their constant attempts to boss him around, empty threats of punitive action each time he ignored their (usually poor) judgment, and continual badgering as severe insubordination. Even the player got angry that my character refused to acquiesce to their demands; the whole thing was rather silly. Luckily they were the only angry person at the table.
To the OP: Keep in mind that you don't actually have to be a hellknight in order to equip hellknight plate. It might be worth your time to delay slightly on purchasing your fullplate (assuming you intend to actually take the PrC as opposed to the vanities, though the two are not mutually exclusive) so as to simply purchase the hellknight plate. It'll save you some goldz in the long run, and saving goldz is a good thing. Vanities aside, there are a handful of very nice traits already mentioned in this thread that'll help provide both flavor and mechanical effects, minor though they may be.
Thus far I have had heard of (and seen) more than a few instances of people claiming these vanities entitle them to boss actual hellknights around.
The first vanity doesn't do much else. Its a diplomacy bonus, so no matter how the player (who probably doesn't have a +30 diplomacy) is putting it you're not actually "ordering them around" but rather asking for something. There's probably some complicated by "Enforce,report, exterminate" laws about having to provide aid to a fellow hellknight without a good reason.
Even a private has a better chance of asking the general to take the tank for a spin than a civilian.
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Thank you all for the replies. It seems to me that there is a great deal of love for the Hellknight within the community. So, let me put another question forward- in you're own words how would you make a Paladin/Hellknight work?
My interpretation is that the Hellknight Paladin's mindset would be of the persuasion that he indeed views himself an his fellow citizens as superior to all devils and would use them like tools for the greater good and peace of Cheliax. He'd consider himself a true patriot of the nation and the fiends as enslaved living weapons to insure order and safety for the citizens of his beloved country. He wouldn't ever consider befriending them and view them as less than insects. Just another weapon/tool that the mighty nation of Cheliax has bent to its will and uses for the betterment of the world; something that which in the end will be crushed and discarded like everything else that is tainted.