Arkhandus
First Post
Dragon Knight Prestige Class
The Dragon Knight
On rare occasions, a dragon takes a skilled and agreeable mortal warrior into his or her service as a guardian or an agent of the dragon's will, forging a mystical bond with the mortal through an ancient rite known as the Dragonbond. These mortal warriors are known as dragon knights, and serve their patron dragon in much the same way a human knight would serve his feudal lord, though many are sneakier and less honorable than a royal knight, as befitting the servants of black, brass, copper, red, or white dragons. Dragon knights are extremely durable warriors of significant skill. They receive some draconic powers and physical traits over time, such as scales, energy resistance, and greater strength. Some even gain draconic breath weapons, wings, or teeth and claws.
In exchange the mortal is expected to protect the dragon and its interests, though for some dragon knights, this is a loose duty that can be served by just acting as the dragon would while out adventuring. The Dragonbond was established long ago by the dragon gods for reasons not known to most mortals, allowing true dragons (not their lesser kin, such as wyverns) to reward mortal allies without giving up any of their own power or wealth, instead simply sharing a portion of their power. The Dragonbond cannot be forced upon a creature; the individual must willingly accept it, though the dragon can certainly threaten or torture the mortal into accepting (only evil dragons will do so). Though most dragon knights are mortals, the Dragonbond may be made with a few other creatures as well.
A dragon knight either embraces their bond with a dragon, or tries to hide it. Most come to accept it and try to use it to their advantage, displaying signs of their draconic alliance and draconic boons, boldly stating their affiliation with the dragon when trying to get what they want from others, gloating about the fact that they have a dragon on their side (even though it's more like the dragon has them at its beck and call), or simply bearing a draconic helm or shield design. They might leave some of their colorful scales exposed, display their claws and fangs briefly to scare folks, or display how torches or the like cannot burn them (or vials of acid, or individual shocker lizards, or similar things, as appropriate).
Often, a dragon knight wears the colors of their patron dragon due to its insistence or just out of pride, while some dragon knights wear lots of gold or silver ornamentation just because their patron dragon prefers the sight of precious metals whenever it has to hold an audience with the dragon knight. Those dragon knights who try to hide their Dragonbond tend to wear concealing clothes, gauntlets, and closed-face helms, explaining away their occasional supernatural power or minor transformation as a bit of sorcery or psionics that they had a talent for, though many scholars, mages, and psionicists will know this to be false. A few dragons insist that their dragon knights hide the affiliation, for the sake of the dragon's agenda or personal security.
Dragon knights are more likely than not to be lawfully-aligned, simply because lawful dragons are more likely to make deals with mortals and share a portion of their power with mortals. Still, nonlawful dragons occasionally accept mortal aid or force the Dragonbond upon a mortal they wish to control the talents of, on threat of death if they do not serve. The Dragonbond just serves to make the demand less of a burden by empowering the mortal somewhat.
Dragon knights sometimes reflect the personality of their patron dragon, since it may have been those qualities that made them agreeable allies to begin with. Most, however, just share a simple agreement with the patron dragon and a vaguely similar outlook; many a Neutral Good or Neutral Evil mortal has made the deal purely for the sake of personal gain or protecting their communty, despite the onus of serving a more chaotic or more orderly dragon. Most dragon knights are given some amount of freedom, although a few are forced to stay near their patron dragon and serve in its defense.
The majority of dragon knights are barbarians, fighters, or rangers that have impressed a dragon with their fighting skills and attitude, at least for a mortal, making them fit for service. Dragon knight abilities mesh well with the fighting skills and styles of these warriors. Occasionally a samurai, sohei, rogue, monk, or bard becomes a dragon knight, but these are much less common. Monks may respect a lawful dragon enough to join forces with them. Samurai and sohei are often too devoted to a particular person or place, and will not divide their loyalties, but some find the Dragonbond to be in the best interests of their lord or temple, while some just accept a dragon as their new master after losing their previous master.
Rogues and bards are less trustworthy in general, but quite agreeable with some dragons, such as copper dragons, who may offer to share some adventures and power with the mortal in exchange for some treasure. Paladins and psychic warriors are only rarely dragon knights, though both are reasonably well suited to it. Paladins are strongly devoted to their patron deities or justice in general, but a few find themselves in agreement with a gold or silver dragon as to how best to serve the greater good, particularly those few paladins who venerate a draconic patron deity. Psychic warriors tend to be more enterprising and personally focused, but on rare occasions find their interests to be best served by working with a dragon.
Few other individuals become dragon knights because of the difficulty in meeting the martial demands of a dragon knight, and because it interferes with the advancement of their own abilities, such as spellcasting. The shortest path into this prestige class is with 6 levels of fighter or paladin, for whom the basic requirements are easily attained. Barbarians, rangers, and samurai may also qualify that early if they use a feat or multiclassing to gain heavy armor proficiency, and rangers also need to acquire Intimidate as a class skill or else wait until after 8th-level. Swashbuckler bards, zealot clerics, avenger druids, and similar individuals may also qualify by 6th-level with a bit of effort, though of those, only the swashbuckler variant bard is reasonably well-suited to becoming a dragon knight.
Hit Die: d12.
Requirements
To qualify to become a dragon knight, a character must meet all the following criteria.
Creature Type: Aberration, Beast, Fey, Giant, Humanoid, Magical Beast, Monstrous Humanoid, Outsider, Plant, or Shapechanger.
Alignment: Any within one step of the patron dragon's.
Base Attack Bonus: +6.
Diplomacy: 2 ranks.
Intimidate: 5 ranks.
Knowledge (war): 2 ranks.
Feats: Endurance, Iron Will, Remain Conscious.
Special: Proficiency in all simple and martial weapons, proficiency in all armors, must pledge loyal service to an individual true dragon, must donate an item worth at least 1,000 gold pieces per age category of that patron dragon that it accepts into its hoard, must complete an uninterrupted daylong ritual with their patron dragon to form a magical bond.
Class Skills
The dragon knight’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Diplomacy (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Gather Information (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (dragon lore) (Int), Knowledge (war) (Int), Listen (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Wilderness Lore (Wis).
Skill Points Per Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the dragon knight prestige class.
[sblock]Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A dragon knight gains no extra proficiencies.
Free Language: All dragon knights learn to speak the Draconic language if they did not already know it beforehand.
Dauntless (Ex): Dragon knights quickly develop a perseverance and resilience akin to that of their patron dragons, thanks to their special bond. Starting at 1st-level in this prestige class, the dragon knight becomes immune to sleep effects, paralysis, and the Frightful Presence of any creatures with the Dragon type. In addition, the dragon knight receives a +4 morale bonus on saving throws against fear effects. As normal, this bonus against fear also applies to the difficulty of Intimidate checks made against the dragon knight. Lastly, the dragon knight has no need for sleep, so he can remain ever vigilant. He or she merely spends an equal amount of time undertaking light activity in order to heal or recover anything normally reliant on sleep; in other words, light activity provides them with all the benefits of sleep. If the dragon knight belongs to a race that does not sleep but instead relies on a similar rest period, such as an Elf's trance, then he or she may substitute light activity instead of that rest period.
Dragonbond: The dragon knight shares a powerful bond with his or her patron dragon, and it is this bond which allows the knight to develop draconic traits. The ritual magic woven to create this bond is too primal, and too tightly wrapped around the dragon knight's essence, for anything short of divine intervention to break it (by a deity with divine rank 6 or higher, using Wish, Miracle, or Alter Reality; no mere demigod can break the bond). The bond cannot be suppressed. Each patron dragon may only form such a bond with up to one dragon knight per three age categories of the dragon, rounded up, to a maximum of three dragon knights. Undead dragons cannot have dragon knights. The Dragonbond does not detect as magical, except to Analyze Dweomer, which only determines that it is a powerful magical effect.
As long as the bond remains, the dragon knight can sense the general distance and direction between himself or herself and their patron dragon; in terms of distance, this provides a rough estimate for how many miles distant they are, rounded up. For example, if the dragon is north by northwest, at a higher elevation, and half a mile away, the dragon knight would sense that his or her patron dragon is higher up somewhere northwest and roughly one mile away. The patron dragon may likewise sense the dragon knight's general location in the same manner, and can distinguish which dragon knight it is. This sense ignores planar boundaries, and both the dragon knight and his or her patron dragon can sense when the other is on a different plane of existence, though not which one (of course, across planes that are not coexistent, the sense won't indicate any particular direction or distance).
If the bond is ever broken, the dragon knight loses his or her Draconic Gifts and Dauntless class features, and is incapable of ever advancing further in this class. The dragon knight also suffers 1d6 damage per character level when the bond is broken; as backlash damage this is not subject to any form of damage reduction, conversion, or redirection (such as the Shield Other spell or the Regeneration special quality). The patron dragon who formed the bond may break it with an uninterrupted, hourlong ritual, which does not require the dragon knight's presence, and works even across planar boundaries. Regardless, the bond is broken automatically if the patron dragon dies; however, unlike other scenarios, the patron dragon can restore this bond (as though never broken, except that any damage remains until healed otherwise) if it returns to true life (not undeath) and performs the daylong ritual again.
Natural Armor: A dragon knight starts to grow scales on some parts of his or her body, of the same hue as his or her patron dragon's. As they advance further in this class, the scales become slightly larger, thicker, and more numerous, though there are always at least a few, large patches of normal flesh across the dragon knight's body. At 1st-level in this class, the dragon knight receives a +1 natural armor bonus to Armor Class. This natural armor bonus improves by +1 for every three additional levels gained in the prestige class, so the total is +2 at 4th-level, +3 at 7th-level, and +4 at 10th-level. If the dragon knight already had natural armor, this just increases the bonus of that natural armor.[/sblock]
The remainder of the Dragon Knight's details is in the next post, due to size limits.
The Dragon Knight
On rare occasions, a dragon takes a skilled and agreeable mortal warrior into his or her service as a guardian or an agent of the dragon's will, forging a mystical bond with the mortal through an ancient rite known as the Dragonbond. These mortal warriors are known as dragon knights, and serve their patron dragon in much the same way a human knight would serve his feudal lord, though many are sneakier and less honorable than a royal knight, as befitting the servants of black, brass, copper, red, or white dragons. Dragon knights are extremely durable warriors of significant skill. They receive some draconic powers and physical traits over time, such as scales, energy resistance, and greater strength. Some even gain draconic breath weapons, wings, or teeth and claws.
In exchange the mortal is expected to protect the dragon and its interests, though for some dragon knights, this is a loose duty that can be served by just acting as the dragon would while out adventuring. The Dragonbond was established long ago by the dragon gods for reasons not known to most mortals, allowing true dragons (not their lesser kin, such as wyverns) to reward mortal allies without giving up any of their own power or wealth, instead simply sharing a portion of their power. The Dragonbond cannot be forced upon a creature; the individual must willingly accept it, though the dragon can certainly threaten or torture the mortal into accepting (only evil dragons will do so). Though most dragon knights are mortals, the Dragonbond may be made with a few other creatures as well.
A dragon knight either embraces their bond with a dragon, or tries to hide it. Most come to accept it and try to use it to their advantage, displaying signs of their draconic alliance and draconic boons, boldly stating their affiliation with the dragon when trying to get what they want from others, gloating about the fact that they have a dragon on their side (even though it's more like the dragon has them at its beck and call), or simply bearing a draconic helm or shield design. They might leave some of their colorful scales exposed, display their claws and fangs briefly to scare folks, or display how torches or the like cannot burn them (or vials of acid, or individual shocker lizards, or similar things, as appropriate).
Often, a dragon knight wears the colors of their patron dragon due to its insistence or just out of pride, while some dragon knights wear lots of gold or silver ornamentation just because their patron dragon prefers the sight of precious metals whenever it has to hold an audience with the dragon knight. Those dragon knights who try to hide their Dragonbond tend to wear concealing clothes, gauntlets, and closed-face helms, explaining away their occasional supernatural power or minor transformation as a bit of sorcery or psionics that they had a talent for, though many scholars, mages, and psionicists will know this to be false. A few dragons insist that their dragon knights hide the affiliation, for the sake of the dragon's agenda or personal security.
Dragon knights are more likely than not to be lawfully-aligned, simply because lawful dragons are more likely to make deals with mortals and share a portion of their power with mortals. Still, nonlawful dragons occasionally accept mortal aid or force the Dragonbond upon a mortal they wish to control the talents of, on threat of death if they do not serve. The Dragonbond just serves to make the demand less of a burden by empowering the mortal somewhat.
Dragon knights sometimes reflect the personality of their patron dragon, since it may have been those qualities that made them agreeable allies to begin with. Most, however, just share a simple agreement with the patron dragon and a vaguely similar outlook; many a Neutral Good or Neutral Evil mortal has made the deal purely for the sake of personal gain or protecting their communty, despite the onus of serving a more chaotic or more orderly dragon. Most dragon knights are given some amount of freedom, although a few are forced to stay near their patron dragon and serve in its defense.
The majority of dragon knights are barbarians, fighters, or rangers that have impressed a dragon with their fighting skills and attitude, at least for a mortal, making them fit for service. Dragon knight abilities mesh well with the fighting skills and styles of these warriors. Occasionally a samurai, sohei, rogue, monk, or bard becomes a dragon knight, but these are much less common. Monks may respect a lawful dragon enough to join forces with them. Samurai and sohei are often too devoted to a particular person or place, and will not divide their loyalties, but some find the Dragonbond to be in the best interests of their lord or temple, while some just accept a dragon as their new master after losing their previous master.
Rogues and bards are less trustworthy in general, but quite agreeable with some dragons, such as copper dragons, who may offer to share some adventures and power with the mortal in exchange for some treasure. Paladins and psychic warriors are only rarely dragon knights, though both are reasonably well suited to it. Paladins are strongly devoted to their patron deities or justice in general, but a few find themselves in agreement with a gold or silver dragon as to how best to serve the greater good, particularly those few paladins who venerate a draconic patron deity. Psychic warriors tend to be more enterprising and personally focused, but on rare occasions find their interests to be best served by working with a dragon.
Few other individuals become dragon knights because of the difficulty in meeting the martial demands of a dragon knight, and because it interferes with the advancement of their own abilities, such as spellcasting. The shortest path into this prestige class is with 6 levels of fighter or paladin, for whom the basic requirements are easily attained. Barbarians, rangers, and samurai may also qualify that early if they use a feat or multiclassing to gain heavy armor proficiency, and rangers also need to acquire Intimidate as a class skill or else wait until after 8th-level. Swashbuckler bards, zealot clerics, avenger druids, and similar individuals may also qualify by 6th-level with a bit of effort, though of those, only the swashbuckler variant bard is reasonably well-suited to becoming a dragon knight.
Hit Die: d12.
Requirements
To qualify to become a dragon knight, a character must meet all the following criteria.
Creature Type: Aberration, Beast, Fey, Giant, Humanoid, Magical Beast, Monstrous Humanoid, Outsider, Plant, or Shapechanger.
Alignment: Any within one step of the patron dragon's.
Base Attack Bonus: +6.
Diplomacy: 2 ranks.
Intimidate: 5 ranks.
Knowledge (war): 2 ranks.
Feats: Endurance, Iron Will, Remain Conscious.
Special: Proficiency in all simple and martial weapons, proficiency in all armors, must pledge loyal service to an individual true dragon, must donate an item worth at least 1,000 gold pieces per age category of that patron dragon that it accepts into its hoard, must complete an uninterrupted daylong ritual with their patron dragon to form a magical bond.
Class Skills
The dragon knight’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Diplomacy (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Gather Information (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (dragon lore) (Int), Knowledge (war) (Int), Listen (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Wilderness Lore (Wis).
Skill Points Per Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the dragon knight prestige class.
[sblock]Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A dragon knight gains no extra proficiencies.
Free Language: All dragon knights learn to speak the Draconic language if they did not already know it beforehand.
Dauntless (Ex): Dragon knights quickly develop a perseverance and resilience akin to that of their patron dragons, thanks to their special bond. Starting at 1st-level in this prestige class, the dragon knight becomes immune to sleep effects, paralysis, and the Frightful Presence of any creatures with the Dragon type. In addition, the dragon knight receives a +4 morale bonus on saving throws against fear effects. As normal, this bonus against fear also applies to the difficulty of Intimidate checks made against the dragon knight. Lastly, the dragon knight has no need for sleep, so he can remain ever vigilant. He or she merely spends an equal amount of time undertaking light activity in order to heal or recover anything normally reliant on sleep; in other words, light activity provides them with all the benefits of sleep. If the dragon knight belongs to a race that does not sleep but instead relies on a similar rest period, such as an Elf's trance, then he or she may substitute light activity instead of that rest period.
Dragonbond: The dragon knight shares a powerful bond with his or her patron dragon, and it is this bond which allows the knight to develop draconic traits. The ritual magic woven to create this bond is too primal, and too tightly wrapped around the dragon knight's essence, for anything short of divine intervention to break it (by a deity with divine rank 6 or higher, using Wish, Miracle, or Alter Reality; no mere demigod can break the bond). The bond cannot be suppressed. Each patron dragon may only form such a bond with up to one dragon knight per three age categories of the dragon, rounded up, to a maximum of three dragon knights. Undead dragons cannot have dragon knights. The Dragonbond does not detect as magical, except to Analyze Dweomer, which only determines that it is a powerful magical effect.
As long as the bond remains, the dragon knight can sense the general distance and direction between himself or herself and their patron dragon; in terms of distance, this provides a rough estimate for how many miles distant they are, rounded up. For example, if the dragon is north by northwest, at a higher elevation, and half a mile away, the dragon knight would sense that his or her patron dragon is higher up somewhere northwest and roughly one mile away. The patron dragon may likewise sense the dragon knight's general location in the same manner, and can distinguish which dragon knight it is. This sense ignores planar boundaries, and both the dragon knight and his or her patron dragon can sense when the other is on a different plane of existence, though not which one (of course, across planes that are not coexistent, the sense won't indicate any particular direction or distance).
If the bond is ever broken, the dragon knight loses his or her Draconic Gifts and Dauntless class features, and is incapable of ever advancing further in this class. The dragon knight also suffers 1d6 damage per character level when the bond is broken; as backlash damage this is not subject to any form of damage reduction, conversion, or redirection (such as the Shield Other spell or the Regeneration special quality). The patron dragon who formed the bond may break it with an uninterrupted, hourlong ritual, which does not require the dragon knight's presence, and works even across planar boundaries. Regardless, the bond is broken automatically if the patron dragon dies; however, unlike other scenarios, the patron dragon can restore this bond (as though never broken, except that any damage remains until healed otherwise) if it returns to true life (not undeath) and performs the daylong ritual again.
Natural Armor: A dragon knight starts to grow scales on some parts of his or her body, of the same hue as his or her patron dragon's. As they advance further in this class, the scales become slightly larger, thicker, and more numerous, though there are always at least a few, large patches of normal flesh across the dragon knight's body. At 1st-level in this class, the dragon knight receives a +1 natural armor bonus to Armor Class. This natural armor bonus improves by +1 for every three additional levels gained in the prestige class, so the total is +2 at 4th-level, +3 at 7th-level, and +4 at 10th-level. If the dragon knight already had natural armor, this just increases the bonus of that natural armor.[/sblock]
The remainder of the Dragon Knight's details is in the next post, due to size limits.
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