I don't have a 1E or 2E version of the death knight about (I think the only book with an old version of a death knight I own is in my parents' attic in Australia
). However, I do have the new Dragonlance book, and it has a nice, shiny, new version of the death knight with all the nice power words and symbols and so forth.
So this is version 2.0 of Cloron Shattersoul. You still need to add in fire immunity, and change the abyssal blast to fireball, but it should be much closer to the way you remember 1E and 2E death knights.
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Cloron Shattersoul, orog death knight Bard 2/Fighter 6/Blackguard 7
Medium Undead (augmented humanoid, orc)
Hit Dice: 15d12 (103 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 20 ft.
AC: 33 (+2 Dex, +13 armour, +5 natural, +3 deflection), touch 14, flatfooted 31
Base Attack/Grapple: +14/+24
Attack: Shattersoul's wrath +28 melee (2d6+20/19 and 2d6 unholy); or touch +23 melee touch (1d8+5 negative energy and 1 Con)
Full Attack: Shattersoul's wrath +28/+23/+18 melee (2d6+20/19 and 2d6 unholy); or touch +23 melee touch (1d8+7 negative energy and 1 Con)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Abyssal blast, aura of despair, bard spells, blackguard spells, command undead, create skeletal warrior, power word, fear aura, smite good 2/day, sneak attack +2d6, spell-like abilities, symbol
Special Qualities: Bardic knowledge +2, bardic music, damage reduction 10/magic, dark blessing, darkvision 120 ft., fiendish servant, fire resistance 5, immune to cold, electricty and polymorph, light blindness, orc blood, see invisibility, spell resistance 25, turn immunity, undead followers, undead traits
Saves: Fort +17, Ref +16, Will +17
Abilities: Str 30, Dex 14, Con --, Int 10, Wis 17, Cha 24.
Skills: Bluff +12 [5 ranks, +7 Cha], Diplomacy +18 [7 ranks, +7 Cha, +4 synergy], Gather Information +12 [5 ranks, +7 Cha], Hide +4 [5 ranks, +2 Dex, -3 armour], Intimidate +17 [8 ranks, +7 Cha, +2 synergy], Knowledge (religion) +5 [5 ranks, +0 Int], Listen +8 [5 ranks, +3 Wis], Perform (oratory) +10 [3 ranks, +7 Cha], Ride +15 [13 ranks, +2 Dex], Sense Motive +8 [5 ranks, +3 Wis]
Feats: Cleave, Daylight Adaptation, Divine Vigor, Improved Sunder, Leadership, Mounted Combat, Power Attack, Ride-by Attack, Weapon Focus (greatsword), Weapon Specialization (greatsword)
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 19
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Possessions: Shattersoul's wrath (see below),
+5 mithral full plate,
ring of protection +3,
gauntlets of ogre power +2,
periapt of wisdom +2,
cloak of charisma +4
Cloron Shattersoul was once a great orcish general, famed and feared for his ability to inspire and lead his troops.
Cloron speaks orcish and common.
COMBAT
Before combat, or during the first round, Cloron invokes his Divine Vigor, which increases his speed by 10 ft. and gives him an additional 30 hp for 7 minutes at the cost of one command undead use. Given the opportunity, he will also cast
protection from elements against fire, acid or sonic energy, as he feels is most appropriate for the opponents he faces.
In melee combat, Cloron enjoys sundering his opponents weapons:
Shattersoul's wrath and his Improved Sunder feat mean that he does not take an attack of opportunity when sundering, has a total +37 bonus on his sunder attempts, does 2d6+22 points of damage, and ignores the hardness of his opponent's weapon unless it is more than 20. This is more than enough to shatter most normal weapons. Once his opponent is disarmed, Cloron attacks freely, often using power attack against lightly armoured foes.
Bardic Music: Cloron can use his oratory twice per day to countersong,
fascinate, or inspire courage.
Detect Good (Sp): At will, Cloron can use
detect good as a spell-like ability, duplicating the effect of the detect good spell.
Poison Use: Cloron is skilled in the use of poison and never risks accidentally poisoning themselves when applying poison to a blade.
Dark Blessing (Su): Cloron applies his Charisma modifier (if positive) as a bonus on all saving throws.
Smite Good (Su): Twice a day, Cloron may attempt to smite good with one normal melee attack.
He adds his Charisma modifier (+7) to his attack roll and deals 7 extra points. If Cloron accidentally smites a creature that is not good, the smite has no effect but it is still used up for that day.
Aura of Despair (Su): Beginning at 3rd level, the blackguard radiates a malign aura that causes enemies within 10 feet of him to take a -2 penalty on all saving throws.
Command Undead (Su): Cloron can command and rebuke undead. He commands undead as would a 5th level cleric. Cloron has a +2 synergy bonus on command check because of his ranks in Knowledge (religion).
Touch Attack: A Will save DC 24 halves the damage of the touch attack, and negates the Con damage.
Abyssal Blast (Su): 1/day---20 ft. spread of eldritch fire, range 1000 ft, 15d6 damage, half fire, half divine (as
flame strike), Reflex DC 24 for half.
Fear Aura (Su): creatures of 5 HD or less within 15 ft. are affected as if by a
fear spell, Will DC 24 negates.
Power Word (Sp): 1/day---
power word stun (DC 26) or
power word blind (DC 25). Caster level 15th.
Symbol (Sp): 1/day---
symbol of pain (DC 22) or
symbol of fear (DC 23). Caster level 15th.
Spell-like Abilities: 1/day---
detect magic,
dispel magic, and
wall of ice (DC 21). Caster level 15th.
Create Skeletal Warrior (Su): Cloron can transform a dead humanoid into a skeletal warrior. This process takes 1 hour, and the creature's HD count against his total undead followers.
Undead Followers (Su): Cloron attracts up to 30 HD of undead followers as a death knight, in addition to any undead he can command as a blackguard. These undead are usually ghouls, ghasts, skeletons, wights or zombies, and new undead are attracted every week to replace any losses.
See Invisibility (Su): Cloron can see invisible and ethereal creatures constantly as if under the effect of a
see invisiblity spell.
Summon Mount (Su): Cloron can summon a special mount, similar to a paladin's summon mount ability, but typically an evil mount is summoned. The mount may have up to 7 HD.
Immunities (Ex): immune to cold, death effects, disease, electricity, mind-affecting effects, necromantic effects, paralysis, poison, polymorph,
sleep, stunning and anything which requires a Fort save unless it also works on objects.
Turn Immunity (Ex): cannot be turned, but a
holy word banishes him to the depths of the Abyssal Planes.
Bard Spells Known (3/2 per day, save DC 17 + spell level, spell failure 25%): 0-
detect magic,
know direction,
message,
read magic,
resistance; 1st-
charm person,
feather fall.
Blackguard Spells (3/2/2 per day, save DC 13 + spell level): 1st-
cause fear,
corrupt weapon,
doom; 2nd-
darkness,
inflict moderate wounds; 3rd-
inflict serious wounds,
protection from elements.
ITEM
Shattersoul's wrath is a minor artifact. It is a
+3 unholy adamantine greatsword which, on a critical hit, bestows a negative level on the target and gives the wielder 1d6 temporary hit points for 24 hours, as a
sword of life-stealing. In addition, when wielded by a blackguard, it gives a +5 bonus on sunder attempts (including the normal +3 enhancement bonus to hit), a +5 bonus on damage when sundering (including the normal +3 enhancement bonus to damage) and can damage weapons with up to a +5 bonus. Since it is made of adamantine, it ignores hardness of up to 20 when sundering or damaging objects.
Notes:
- orogs are deep orcs taken from the Races of Faerun; the template used in this version is the death knight of Krynn from the 3.5 Dragonlance book.
- Used a super-elite array of 17, 16, 15, 14, 12, 10 for base ability scores.
- this is pretty much by-the-book: you will want to replace the death knight's abyssal blast with fireball, increase the effect of the fear ability, and add fire immunity.
- I have him using Charisma for all save DCs of spell-like abilities: by the book it should be Int (ie. as a Wizard). Cha just seems more appropriate to me.
- I haven't statted out his fiendish familiar/mount.
- I fixed a few typos/omissions in the original.
