Sublime Knight (3.5e Class)

Author: Eiji-kun (talk) Date Created: 6-2-11 Status: Complete Editing: Mechanical changes on Talk please.

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Sublime Knight

Bravery and self sacrifice are rare and noble traits, born out of love of the people and duty to their nation. These are the knights, brave and true, whose job is to defend the defenseless and take down the opponent in honorable combat. But one cannot protect others simply by donning heavy armor and grabbing a sword, and so the sublime knight was created to achieve that goal, using maneuvers to augment their powers.

Making a Sublime Knight

Abilities: Sublime knights often wear heavy armor and much engage the enemy in melee combat, and so a high Strength is paramount. With melee comes Constitution to absorb blows. Charisma powers many of the knight's secondary abilities, and grants them a social grace and poise above others. Dexterity is not important when one is clad in steel, and while Wisdom and Intelligence are useful, they need not be better than the average man.

Races: Any.

Alignment: Any lawful.

Starting Gold: 5d4×10 gp (125 gp).

Starting Age: As fighter.

Table: The Knight

Hit Die: d12

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special	ManeuversToB
		Fort	Ref	Will		Maneuvers Known	Maneuvers Readied	Stances Known
1st	+1	+2	+0	+2	Banner, Defy Death, Knight's Challenge 1/day, Knight's Code	3	3	1
2nd	+2	+3	+0	+3	Determined Spirit, Diehard	4	3	1
3rd	+3	+3	+1	+3	Talent	5	3	1
4th	+4	+4	+1	+4	Armor Mastery (Medium), Knight's Challenge 2/day	5	4	2
5th	+5	+4	+1	+4	Comeback 1	6	4	2
6th	+6/+1	+5	+2	+5	Talent	6	4	2
7th	+7/+2	+5	+2	+5	Armor Mastery (Heavy), Knight's Challenge 3/day	7	4	2
8th	+8/+3	+6	+2	+6	Shield Ally	7	4	2
9th	+9/+4	+6	+3	+6	Talent	8	4	2
10th	+10/+5	+7	+3	+7	Knight's Challenge 4/day	8	5	3
11th	+11/+6/+1	+7	+3	+7	Comeback 2	9	5	3
12th	+12/+7/+2	+8	+4	+8	Talent	9	5	3
13th	+13/+8/+3	+8	+4	+8	Knight's Challenge 5/day	10	5	3
14th	+14/+9/+4	+9	+4	+9	Improved Shield Ally	10	5	3
15th	+15/+10/+5	+9	+5	+9	Talent	11	6	3
16th	+16/+11/+6/+1	+10	+5	+10	Knight's Challenge 6/day	11	6	4
17th	+17/+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+10	Comeback 3	12	6	4
18th	+18/+13/+8/+3	+11	+6	+11	Talent	12	6	4
19th	+19/+14/+9/+4	+11	+6	+11	Knight's Challenge 7/day	13	6	4
20th	+20/+15/+10/+5	+12	+6	+12	Even In Death I Serve	13	7	4
Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level.) Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (local) (Int), Knowledge (nobility) (Int), Listen (Wis), Martial Lore (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Speak Language (None), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str).

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Sublime Knight.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Knights are proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with all armor (heavy, medium, and light) and all shields (except tower shields).

Maneuvers: You begin your career with knowledge of three martial maneuvers. The disciplines available to you are Devoted Spirit, Iron Heart, Stone Dragon, and White Raven.

Once you know a maneuver, you must ready it before you can use it (see Maneuvers Readied, below). A maneuver usable by sublime knights is considered an extraordinary ability unless otherwise noted in its description. Your maneuvers are not affected by spell resistance, and you do not provoke attacks of opportunity when you initiate one.

You learn additional maneuvers at higher levels, as shown on Table 1-3. You must meet a maneuver's prerequisites to learn it. See Table 3-1, page 39, to determine the highest-level maneuvers you can learn.

Upon reaching 4th level, and at every even-numbered sublime knight level after that (6th, 8th, 10th, and so on), you can choose to learn a new maneuver in place of one you already know. In effect, you lose the old maneuver in exchange for the new one. You can choose a new maneuver of any level you like, as long as you observe your restriction on the highest-level maneuvers you know; you need not replace the old maneuver with a maneuver of the same level. For example, upon reaching 10th level, you could trade in a single 1st-, 2nd-, 3rd- or 4th-level maneuver for a maneuver of 5th level or lower, as long as you meet the prerequisites of the new maneuver. You can swap only a single maneuver at any given level.

Maneuvers Readied: You can ready all three of the maneuvers you know at 1st level, but as you advance in level and learn more maneuvers, you must choose which maneuvers to ready. You ready your maneuvers by exercising for 5 minutes. The maneuvers you choose remain readied until you decide to exercise again and change them. You need not sleep or rest for any long period of time to ready your maneuvers; any time you spend 5 minutes in practice, you can change your readied maneuvers.

Sublime knights prepare and refresh their maneuvers like warblades^ToB. You begin an encounter with all your readied maneuvers unexpended, regardless of how many times you might have already used them since you chose them. When you initiate a maneuver, you expend it for the current encounter, so each of your readied maneuvers can be used once per encounter (until you recover them, as described below).

You can recover all expended maneuvers with a single swift action, which must be immediately followed in the same round with a melee attack or using a standard action to do nothing else in the round (such as executing a quick, harmless flourish with your weapon). You cannot initiate a maneuver or change your stance while you are recovering your expended maneuvers, but you can remain in a stance in which you began your turn.

Stances Known: You begin play with knowledge of one 1st-level stance from any discipline open to sublime knights. At 4th, 10th, and 16th level, you can choose additional stances. Unlike maneuvers, stances are not expended, and you do not have to ready them. All the stances you know are available to you at all times, and you can change the stance you are currently using as a swift action. A stance is an extraordinary ability unless otherwise stated in the stance description.

Unlike with maneuvers, you cannot learn a new stance at higher levels in place of one you already know.

Banner: Sublime knights champion a cause or ideal, and in doing so learn the unique fighting styles of their band of brothers. Their banner is the symbol of their unity, and a mark of their combat training. Select a banner from the choices below. Each banner offers various combat options and bonuses unique to each style.

Order of the Guardian (Ex): Orders of the Guardian value protecting the innocent from harm above all else. Whenever next to an ally, their ally gains a +2 bonus to AC. This bonus stacks with their Shield Ally class ability. In addition. when they gain the Shield Ally ability, allies also gain the sublime knight's Charisma modifier as a bonus to saving throws for as long as they are in range.

Order of the Horse (Ex): Orders of the Horse ride mighty steeds into battle, valuing their mobility to be able to protect many people over the land. They gain an animal companion equal to a druid ½ their class level (minimum 1), gaining any creature suitable for a mount. They gain 1+¼th of their class level as bonus damage (minimum 1) whenever attacking while mounted.

Order of the Judge (Ex): Orders of the Judge are champions of law and justice, be it for good, evil, or just law itself. They may select to detect chaos, detect good, and detect evil at will. They gain 1+¼th of their class level as bonus damage (minimum 1) whenever attacking their selected opposed alignment.

Order of the Shield (Ex): Orders of the Shield value fighting in the classic sword and shield style, employing tactics and abilities to maximize their defensive and offensive abilities. They gain tower shield proficiency, and do not take the –2 penalty on attack rolls for using a tower shield. They gain 1+¼th of their class level as a enhancement bonus to shields they use (minimum 1).

Order of the Sun (Ex): Orders of the Sun fight the monsters which lurk in the darkness, to protect those who live in the light. They gain the ability to use dancing lights and light as spell-like abilities at will. They gain 1+¼th of their class level as bonus damage (minimum 1) whenever attacking undead or creatures vulnerable to bright light. Against undead vulnerable to bright light, they deal ½ their class level in damage.

Order of the Sword (Ex): Orders of the Sword are a militant order of knight which prefer offense to defense. They gain a fighter bonus feat they qualify for at 1st, 6th, and 12th level and count their sublime knight level as fighter level for the purpose of meeting prerequisites.

Defy Death (Ex): Sublime knights must be tough in order to defend others, and so he must have the strength to endure through things which would kill normal men. A knight no longer dies at –10 hp; he subtracts his class level and Charisma modifier from the total. For example, a 1st level knight with a +3 Charisma modifier dies at –14. In addition, if he must make a save against massive damage, he does not fail the roll automatically on a natural 1.

Knight's Challenge (Ex): The knight protects the lives of others by challenging his opponents to battle. As a free action on his turn, he can single out an opponent and challenge them to face him in combat using words of power to enforce his will. If the knight does not speak a language the target understands, he can still make his challenge, but must succeed on a DC 15 Charisma check to pantomime his intent; if he fails, the attempt is wasted. If a challenged creature attacks anyone other than the knight, the knight gains their Charisma to attack rolls, their class level to damage, and +2 to the DC of any special abilities for 1 round against their challenged target. A creature which employs an area effect to attack the knight and other creatures provokes the bonuses from the knight's challenge as if they did not attack the knight. Challenged creatures are aware of this consequence.

The knight's challenge remains in effect until the end of the encounter, the creature drops, or the sublime knight falls unconcious. He may use his knight's challenge 1/day at 1st level and gains an additional time per day at 4th and every three levels beyond. Creatures without an intelligence score are immune to a knight's challenge.

Knight's Code: Sublime knights are not paladins, yet they must still follow a code of conduct in order to maintain their abilities and status. Sublime knights fight not only to defeat their foes, but to prove their honor, demonstrate their fighting ability, and win renown across the land. The stories that arise from your deeds can be just as important as the deeds themselves, spreading hope, upholding the cause of law, or acquiring fame for personal gain. Whatever the motives, a knight must always follow the following:

• A sublime knight may not gain the +2 bonus for flanking an opponent. His allies may benefit from flanking with him as normal.
• A sublime knight never employs poisons.
• A sublime knight may not attack a foe who is not aware of his presence. He may hit them if they are flat-footed, though.
• A sublime knight never deals lethal damage against a helpless foe, except in the event of a formal and legal execution.

If a sublime knight violates his code, he loses one use of his knight's challenge ability for the day. If no knight's challenges remain and the code is violated, the sublime knight takes a −2 penalty on attack and saves for the rest of the day and loses his Determined Spirit class ability.

Determined Spirit (Ex): At 2nd level, out of sheer determination, a sublime knight adds his Charisma modifier to his saving throws. This is identical to the similar paladin ability and does not stack.

Diehard: At 2nd level, a sublime knight gains the Diehard feat for free.

Talent: At 3rd level and every three levels beyond, sublime knights unlock unique talents and abilities in their fighting style. Select from the choices below.

Absorb Blow (Ex): If you are within your normal reach of an ally, you may choose to take blows meant for them as an immediate action. This applies to any attack with an attack roll, but not effects such as charm person or a dragon's breath weapon. The attack is aimed at you, using your armor class or saves as normal.

Adamant Fortitude (Ex): The sublime knight gains the mettle ability, but only with fortitude saves. When subject to a fortitude save which allows a partial effect on a successful save, you instead take no effect. You must be at least 9th level to select this ability.

Adamant Will (Ex): The sublime knight gains the mettle ability, but only with will saves. When subject to a will save which allows a partial effect on a successful save, you instead take no effect. You must be at least 9th level to select this ability.

Armorborn (Ex): You are very comfortable in your armor. The armor check penalty is reduced by 2 points (minimum 0), and you can sleep in your armor even if it is medium or heavy armor. While in your armor, you are treated as being under the effect of endure elements.

Aura of Courage (Su): Your Fearless ability extends out in an aura out to 10 feet. All allies in the aura are immune to fear. Allies outside of this range who can see you, regardless of distance, gain a +4 morale bonus to saves against fear. Requires the Fearless ability.

Bear Thy Pain (Su): With a touch, you can heal others, at your own expense. Make a touch attack. For every 2 points of damage you inflict on yourself, the touched ally gains 1 hit point. You cannot deal more damage to yourself then you have hit points remaining. You can transfer up to 20 points per initiator level per day.

Bonus Feat (Ex): You may select a fighter bonus feat. You must still meet the prerequisites as normal.

Bulwark of Defense (Ex): Your defensive tactics make it difficult for enemies to pass around you. The area you threaten is considered difficult terrain. You must be at least 6th level to select this.

Damage Absorption (Ex): You gain DR 1/— whenever you are wearing medium or heavy armor, plus an additional +1 point of DR at 6th and every three levels beyond. This DR stacks with the damage reduction granted by adamantium armor and that inherent of race or class (such as DR/— granted by barbarian levels), but not other sources.

Extra Challenge (Ex): You gain an additional knight's challenge per day.

Fearless (Su): You are completely unflappable. You are immune to all fear effects.

Imposing Glance (Ex): You know how to frighten people without even saying a word, though it taxes your concentration on other things. By expending any readied maneuver, you may make an intimidate check as a swift action.

Imposing Presence (Ex): Your mere presence is enough to let others know you mean business. You may intimidate all opponents in 30 feet.

Last to Fall (Ex): Even after being shot, stabbed, burned, and electrocuted, you somehow manage to stand and fight as if you just woke up. When in negative hit points, you are no longer disabled and may continue acting normally. However, you still die once you reach your maximum amount of negative hit points.

Noble Bearing (Ex): You are well-known and recognized, either because of your deeds or your upbringing. It grants you a +2 bonus on Bluff, Diplomacy, and Intimidate checks. If you have the Leadership feat, you gain a +2 bonus to your effective leadership score. The fame has a downside of giving a –4 penalty on any Disguise attempts.

Reality Check (Ex): Your voice can snap others into reality. If an ally is under any compulsion effect, such as dominate person, the sublime knight can expend one use of his knight's challenge as a standard action to allow an ally in 60 feet to reroll their save against the compulsion, with a +4 morale bonus.

Relic Keeper (Su): You take good care of your armor, shield, and weapons. You may enhance your weapons and armor by spending gold equal to its market value and meditating for 24 hours. You do not need any crafting feats or spells to complete this; however, your enhancements only function for you. If picked up by another, any enhancements you have added vanish until you wear your items again.

Revenant (Su): If you die while using a knight's challenge, the challenge does not end and you do not die. The round after you drop, you may get back up and continue to fight. You gain the Undead type, gaining the appropriate immunities, and temporary 5 hit points per HD. You cannot be turned or rebuked, and cannot be healed or harmed by positive or negative energy. After 3 rounds, your body collapses again and you die as normal. Revenant does not come into play if your body has been completely destroyed, such as by destruction. You must be at least 9th level to select this.

Runica (Su): As a standard action, you can pose yourself to absorb and redirect magical attacks in 30 feet harmlessly away. Until the beginning of your next turn, any magical attacks or spells which go off in your area are absorbed harmlessly away. It does not differentiate between harmful and helpful spells. At 9th level, the sublime knight can do this as an immediate action by expending a maneuver.

Shieldbearer (Ex): Sublime knights often employ shields and have learned to work with them easier than most. They do not take the penalty to attack for using a tower shield, and they may used two-handed weapons with bucklers and light shields. They may also use it with heavy shields, but take a –2 penalty to attack rolls. They cannot fight with another weapon in their shield hand, they can only support their two-handed weapons with their shield hands.

Strong Arm (Ex): When equipped with a shield, the sublime knight may treat light weapons as one-handed and one-handed weapons as two-handed for the purposes of their strength to damage and for Power Attack.

Threatening (Ex): A sublime knight no longer needs to make a charisma check to make a knight's challenge to creatures who do not speak his language. He may affect mindless creatures with his knight's challenge, but must succeed on a DC 15 charisma check to pantomime his threat. If the check fails, the knight's challenge is wasted.

Vigilant Defender (Ex): Those attempting to tumble by the sublime knight have difficulty due to his defensive tactics. The tumble DC to move past a sublime knight is equal to 15 + the sublime knight's class level.

Armor Mastery (Ex): At 4th level, a sublime knight may move in medium armor at his full speed. At 7th level, he may move in heavy armor at full speed as well.

Comeback (Ex): At 5th level, a sublime knight's undefeatable spirit keeps him running through sheer morale, even when he should have collapsed. Once per day as an immediate action, a sublime knight is affected by a cure serious wounds with a caster level equal to his initiator level. He may do this if he's been taken under 0 hp, which may save him.

At 11th level, the sublime knight is instead subject to a heal spell.

At 17th level, the sublime knight is subject to a heal spell, and all allies benefit from a mass cure critical wounds spell.

Shield Ally (Ex): At 8th level, a sublime knight can protect allies standing nearby. Allies benefit from a +2 bonus to AC when next to the sublime knight.

Improved Shield Ally (Ex): At 14th level, a sublime knight's ability to protect others increases, granting a +4 bonus to AC. In addition, the protection extends out to twice his normal reach. For example, a Large sublime paladin (normal reach of 10 feet) can protect allies up to 20 feet away.

Even In Death I Serve (Ex): At 20th level, not even a little problem like death can stop a sublime knight. If a sublime knight is slain, he may expend a knight's challenge attempt as a free action to ignore its effects for 1 round. Hit point damage does not stop him, and other effects which would kill him go ignored. He may continue burning through knight's challenge attempts until he runs out or chooses to stop. Once it ends, he takes normal penalties for status problems, dying if he has not been healed or if his death was the result of non-hit point or ability damage. Knights which died using this ability or using a knight's challenge cost half the gold and experience to revive.

Ex-Sublime Knights

A sublime knight who is no longer lawful loses the benefits of his knight's challenge ability. As a result, he cannot use class features that require her to expend uses of the knight's challenge ability. He no longer takes penalties for violating his code of conduct. A sublime knight can regain his status by returning to a lawful alignment.

Epic Sublime Knight

Table: The Epic Sublime Knight

Hit Die: d12

Level	Special
21st	Talent, +1 maneuver known
22nd	Knight's Challenge 8/day, +1 stance known
23rd	+1 maneuver known
24th	Talent, +1 maneuver readied
25th	Knight's Challenge 9/day, +1 maneuver known
26th
27th	Talent, +1 maneuver known
28th	Knight's Challenge 10/day, +1 stance known
29th	+1 maneuver readied, +1 maneuver known
30th	Talent
4 + Int modifier skill points per level.

Knight's Challenge: The epic sublime knight continues to get knight challenges per day at 22nd and every three levels beyond.

Talent: The epic sublime knight continues to get talents at 21st and every three levels beyond.

Human Sublime Knight Starting Package

Weapons: Longsword.

Skill Selection: Pick a number of skills equal to 5 + Int modifier.

Skill	Ranks	Ability	Armor Check Penalty
Diplomacy	4	Cha	—
Intimidate	4	Cha	—
Martial Lore	4	Int	—
Listen	4	Wis	—
Spot	4	Wis	—

Feat: Power Attack.

Bonus Feats: Improved Initiative

Gear: Chain Shirt, Heavy Wooden Shield.

Gold: 3gp.

Campaign Information

Playing a Sublime Knight

Religion: Knights need not be religious at all, but knighthood and paladinhood often cross and many find devotion somewhere, to gods of valor and justice.

Other Classes: A sublime knight seeks to protect its allies, for its allies are also its strength. They stay nearby providing bonuses to armor, striking with maneuvers, and forcing the enemy to focus on them, or suffer the painful consequences. For those reasons they often find allies with squishy front liners like many rogues.

Combat: A sublime knight should not be afraid to be mobile. With improved movement in heavy armor and maneuvers to privide effective things to do with his standard actions, he should make for a fine melee unit. He focuses less on tying the enmy down and instead compelling them to move to him through his knight's challenge.

Advancement: Classes suitable for crusaders, or melee in general may help augment the sublime knight.

Sublime Knights in the World

“	I am your opponent now.	”
—Kenpa, Half-Orc Sublime Knight

Daily Life: Knights strive to be heroes, either out of honest goodness or simply a desire for glory and fear. As such, they are often seen in public doing what needs to be done. They're never a stranger to anybody.

Notables: A legendary half-orc named Kenpa is said to travel round the land, rooting out evil, and seeking to empower half-orcs to be viewed as more than brutish barbarians.

Organizations: Knights are almost always part of an organization, often sponsered by royalty. Rarely may you find a knight errant, who may be viewed with suspicion on why he travels alone.

NPC Reactions: For the common man, knights symbolize the link between commoners and noblemen, acting as their swords, but also vowed to protect the people. A knight is often seen in romantic fanciful light, and their tales often turn into legends, true or not.

Sublime Knight Lore

Characters with ranks in Knowledge Nobility can research sublime knights to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including information from lower DCs.

Knowledge Nobility

DC	Result
10	Sublime knights are champions of law, and often belong to various schools which focus on different styles. However all are trained to defend others through their ability to challenge others.
15	Sublime knights use maneuvers in conjunction with talents which might let them use shields and two-handed weapons, protect against magic, or scare the pants off their foes.
20	Powerful sublime knights are hard to put down, they just keep coming back for more punishment. Some don't die, even when you kill them.
30	Those that reach this level of success can research specific sublime knights, their motives, legends, and whereabouts.

Sublime Knights in the Game

Adaptation: Sublime knights could easily be paladins under a different name, changing their alligence from a king or a cause, to a god.

Sample Encounter: The black knight Gaston is keeping a nearby town under a cruel protection racket, secretly scheduling enemy attacks to bolster his own fame by "defeating" them and to line his pockets with the stolen goods from the attacks.

EL 10: PENDING

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