A major villain in my campaign that is going to make an appearance soon is an Antipaladin Graveknight who has an intelligent suit of full plate. The graveknight himself has cold as his particular focus, as well as using undead as shock troops/cannon fodder. The problem is, I want the intelligent armor to be unique and I'm at a loss. Any help would be appreciated!
Extra Info: the Antipaladin is the follower of an Undead Demonic White Dragon that grants spellcasting through its mythic ranks. The dragon itself is locked away in a demiplane of ice and negative energy, and mostly acts through agents to orchestrate it's release. This graveknight is its chosen champion, and the armor was a gift from its hoard.
I was leaning more towards the advisor/ally angle, as the armor's intelligence comes from the Dragon's first champion who fell in combat when it was originally banished to its demiplane.
the powers that the armor has is what I'm struggling with. I'm trying to avoid the typical +x fortification full plate route, and as an intelligent item it has quite a few special abilities it could have. No idea what it would have though.
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If the dragon was trapped in a demiplane, it would have had a hard time getting the armour to its champion. Perhaps the armour is intelligent so it could get to the living Antipaladin, whether by animated movement, or by dominating weak-willed looters. 'Gift from the hoard' is atypical dragon behaviour, especially for such a distinctly evil dragon. Maybe 'Gift from the hoard' is just how the Graveknight and the Dragon now think of it, rather than the reality - that while alive the looter put on the armour, corrupted by it, linked to the dragon, molded into a suitable Antipaladin, and instructed (by a free-willed undead with a deity complex) as to how to become the perfect undying champion.
The armour is the integral part of any Graveknight, and how the living host bonds so strongly with his armour that it becomes the receptacle of his spirit in death should always be a question.
An armour that actively encourages such a bond to form, that instructs its wearer on the path to undeath, is more plausible than the simple 'it was the armour he wore when he died. It also helps iron out the 'why this particular guy' question when the circumstances of Graveknight creation are so singular.
Since Graveknights are Cold-Immune anyway (and white dragons), so your Cold-based Graveknight passed on Fire or Acid immunity, having the armour convey very good fire resistance would seem appropriate. Having it beef up his Undead Controlling (which is already damn powerful) would also seem like something that would work.
If the dragon was trapped in a demiplane, it would have had a hard time getting the armour to its champion. Perhaps the armour is intelligent so it could get to the living Antipaladin, whether by animated movement, or by dominating weak-willed looters. 'Gift from the hoard' is atypical dragon behaviour, especially for such a distinctly evil dragon. Maybe 'Gift from the hoard' is just how the Graveknight and the Dragon now think of it, rather than the reality - that while alive the looter put on the armour, corrupted by it, linked to the dragon, molded into a suitable Antipaladin, and instructed (by a free-willed undead with a deity complex) as to how to become the perfect undying champion.
The armour is the integral part of any Graveknight, and how the living host bonds so strongly with his armour that it becomes the receptacle of his spirit in death should always be a question.
An armour that actively encourages such a bond to form, that instructs its wearer on the path to undeath, is more plausible than the simple 'it was the armour he wore when he died. It also helps iron out the 'why this particular guy' question when the circumstances of Graveknight creation are so singular.Since Graveknights are Cold-Immune anyway (and white dragons), so your Cold-based Graveknight passed on Fire or Acid immunity, having the armour convey very good fire resistance would seem appropriate. Having it beef up his Undead Controlling (which is already damn powerful) would also seem like something that would work.
That... Is freaking awesome!
I hadn't really thought about the possibility of the armor corrupting someone, much less being subtle enough about it to slowly convince him to become an Antipaladin and seek undeath willingly.Giving the wearer flame protection is a really great idea, and maybe it could give him the ability to animate dead a couple times per day.
That's really awesome!
Uniqueness can come from material as well as abilities.
Since this armor is linked to the dragon himself, who is undead. (A Ravener maybe?) would it be plausible that the armor itself is made of dragonhide? Other materials to look into are the Skymetals for something exotic.
For the armor itself, Undead Controlling and Dastard are obvious choices.
Additional cool powers would be something like a frightful presence ability, breath weapon, flight wings, or natural weapons of a dragon.
You could look at the Eldritch Heritage feat chain, and give it the entire line of abilities from the Draconic bloodline for white dragons.
It's a little outdated now, but I did write a guide for the class.
This all sounds like an amazing idea, and I'm definitely going to tuck all of this away somewhere to use myself at some point.
Perhaps the armor is functionally adamantine, but has the appearance of being made solid ice. The armor itself would be cold immune and fire resistant -- the ice itself is so cold that it chills even flame.
Maybe the armor can cast the chill version of Fire Shield on the Graveknight a few times a day. Possibly with a permanent Elemental Aura (cold) effect
Alright everyone, thanks for the ideas. I've settled on a solid idea now, and I'll update it later in case anyone wants to use the armor for their own game.