WoW inspired Death Knight Tempalte
Check out the above post for citations. This Death Knight is pretty much a cut, paste, and edit of the grave knight. The skeletal mount is almost verbatim with some minor changes (I used about half of the advanced simple template).
Comments? Questions? To Much? To Little? Meh?
The "Death Knight" is an acquired template that can be added to any humanoid creature that has died and had 5 or more Hit Dice (referred to hereafter as the base creature). Most death knights were once humanoids. A death knight uses the base creature's statistics and abilities except as noted here. Becoming a Death Knight is a form of reincarnation and some of the base creature’s class and racial abilities are lost or rewritten. Most death knights were warriors, fighters, and barbarians. Any special class ability that is constitution dependent uses the base creature’s charisma modifier.
The process of creating a death knight is not without its flaws, however. One particularly willful humanoid managed to resist the nearly overpowering negative energy when he was reanimated. His freewill was intact and he managed to break free of his creator’s grasp and in the process freeing many of the beings that were reanimated with him. He also began making raids to capture and free other death knights, many of which owe him a debt of gratitude despite their former (and current) allegiances.
CR: Same as base creature +2. (or +2 Level Adjustment)
Alignment: starts with any evil, a ‘free’ Death Knight can be of any alignment
Type: The death knight's type changes to undead (augmented). Do not recalculate class Hit Dice, BAB, or saves.
Senses: A death knight gains darkvision 60 ft.
Aura (Su): Undeath – A Death Knight is a being caught between being a reanimated undead creature and living breathing warrior. Any allied undead creatures, including the death knight, receive a +4 Channel Resistance. The Death Knight must also receives a -4 penalty to any diplomacy and handle animal checks due to the unease their aura creates, in contrast that same penalty is a +4 bonus when dealing with undead creatures.
AC: +2 Natural Armor
Hit Dice: Change all racial Hit Dice to d8s. Class Hit Dice are unaffected. As an undead, a death knight uses its Charisma modifier to determine bonus hit points.
Channel Destruction (Su): Any weapon a death knight wields seethes with energy, and deals an additional 1d6 points of negative energy damage for every 4 Hit Dice the death knight has.
Devastating Blast (Su): 3/day, the death knight may unleash a 30-foot cone of energy as a standard action. This blast deals 2d6 points of negative energy damage for every 3 Hit Dice a death knight has (Reflex for half). Save DCs are equal to 10 + 1/2 the death knight's HD + Charisma modifier
Undead Mastery (Su): As a standard action, a death knight can attempt to bend any undead creature within 50 feet to its will. The targeted undead must succeed at a Will save or fall under the death knight's control. This control is permanent for unintelligent undead; an undead with an Intelligence score is allowed an additional save every day to break free from the death knight's control. A creature that successfully saves cannot be affected again by the same death knight's undead mastery for 24 hours. A death knight can control 5 Hit Dice of undead creatures for every Hit Die it has. If the death knight exceeds this number, the excess from earlier uses of the ability becomes uncontrolled, as per animate dead.
Ability Scores: Str +6, Cha +4. As an undead creature, a death knight has no Constitution score.
Skills: death knights gain a +4 racial bonus on Intimidate, Perception, and Ride.
Feats: Death Knights feats are rewritten during their reanimation; Mounted Combat, Ride-By Attack, and Toughness are the death knights first 3 standard feats. During reanimation other feats can be completely erased and others put in, depending on the creator’s desire.
Gear: Death Knights are typically given a suit of MW heavy armor and a two-handed MW weapon.
Death Knights are given an Intelligent Skeletal Steed
Code:
NE Large undead horse [augmented]
Init +9; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +7
AC 19, touch 14, flat-footed 14 (+3 armor, +5 Dex, +2 natural, –1 size)
HD 2d8+3+2 (14 hp)
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +5, Will +5
Special Qual: DR 5/bludgeoning; Immune cold, undead traits. Charisma used for Consitution.
Speed 50 ft.
Melee bite +5 (1d4+5), 2 hooves +0 (1d6+2)
Space 10 ft/ 5 ft
Abilities Str 21 (+5), Dex 21 (+5), Con —, Int 4 (-3), Wis 14 (+2), Cha 14 (+2)
Base Atk +1; CMB +7; CMD 22 (26 vs. trip)
Feats Improved Initiative (b), Toughness
Skills Perception 2/7
Gear Studded Leather Barding
Skeletal mounts of death knights that regain their free will
change alignment to that of their death knight.
Skeletal mounts are normal skeletons made from combat-trained heavy horses.
They often serve as mounts for necromancers or skeletal champions.
Skeletal mounts can carry 459 lbs as a light load.
Skeletal mounts for large humanoids lose their bonus feat,
but can carry large riders.
(if Mighty Stead feat from Dragonlance bestiary is available, use that)
