Knight Inexorable

“Nothing shall keep me from my appointed task.”

The Knight Inexorable is the quintessential questing knight and a member of a knightly order obsessed with accomplishing deeds of valor and making a name for themselves. They roam the world in search of ever greater challenges and recognition, seeking rewards and honor. Once they pledge themselves to accomplish a task, they cannot abandon it without great loss of honor. They are attracted to war and often seek positions of command within an army. Their prowess and intimidating presence bolsters their allies, while their sheer will and stubbornness lends them great staying power, making them inexorable juggernauts on the battlefield. Heraldry, medals, and insignia are extremely important to a knight inexorable, who proudly displays them at every opportunity and draws strength and confidence from them. Both great, honorable men and dastardly but charismatic villains have been known to be knight inexorables.

Hit Die: d10

Requirements

To qualify to become a knight inexorable, a character must fulfill all of the following criteria.

• Base Attack Bonus: +5
• Alignment: Any
• Ability Scores: Wis or Cha 13
• Skills: Diplomacy 2 ranks, Handle Animal 2 ranks, Intimidate 2 ranks, Knowledge (nobility) 2 ranks, Ride 4 ranks
• Feats: Heavy Armor Proficiency, Iron Will, Martial Weapon Proficiency, Mounted Combat, Weapon Focus (lance) and Weapon Focus in one of the following weapons: bastard sword, longsword, morning star, mace, battle axe, warhammer, or flail.
• Special: member of an order of knights with a code of honor that binds them to uphold personal honor and follow through with any quest they vow to undertake.

Class Skills

The class skills for this class (and the key ability for each skill) are Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcane, dungeoneering, engineering, geography, local, nobility) (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str).

Skill Ranks at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier

Table: The Knight Inexorable

Class Level	BAB	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special
1st	+1	+1	+0	+1	Aura of Courage, Spur Mount
2nd	+2	+2	+1	+1	Heroic Willpower, Insignia of Valor
3rd	+3	+2	+1	+1	Bonus Feat
4th	+4	+3	+1	+2	Inexorable Lance 1/day, Insignia of Valor
5th	+5	+3	+2	+2	Doomwarding
6th	+6	+4	+2	+3	Bonus Feat, Insignia of Valor
7th	+7	+4	+2	+3	Legendary Willpower
8th	+8	+5	+3	+4	Inexorable Lance 2/day, Insignia of Valor
9th	+9	+5	+3	+4	Bonus Feat
10th	+10	+6	+3	+5	Insignia of Valor

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the knight inexorable prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

A knight inexorable gains no additional proficiencies in any weapon or armor.

Aura of Courage (Su)

At 1st level, a knight inexorable radiates an aura of courage, identical to a paladin’s. If he already has the Aura of Courage ability, the aura’s range increases to 15 ft.

Spur Mount (Ex)

At 1st level, a knight inexorable’s mount only suffers one point of damage when he uses the Ride skill to spur his mount, and the duration of fatigue it suffers from doing so is halved. Heroic Willpower (Ex)

At 2nd level, the knight inexorable’s willpower becomes so strong that he becomes immune to magic sleep and charm effects. The knight inexorable also gains a +1 enhancement bonus on all Will saves. Any mount he is riding also receives these benefits.

Insignia of Valor

Upon achieving certain levels of this prestige class, the knight’s deeds and skills become famous, and his knightly order awards him with an insignia of valor. These insignias are magical and provide a number of benefits as long as he is wearing, carrying or holding the equipment bearing the insignia. These powers only work for the knight inexorable. They 51 do not work if someone else uses his equipment. A knight who loses an insignia suffers a loss of honor within his order and cannot replace the insignia until he completes a particularly dangerous quest or gains another level in the prestige class.

Each insignia takes on the form of an object that can be affixed to the knight’s helm, breastplate, shield, shoulder guard, or weapon. The knight chooses the form of the insignia from one of the following:

• A brightly colored plume, crest, gleaming eagle or dragon wings for his helm
• A heraldic symbol such as a cross, chevron, fleur-de-lis, rampant lion, bear, eagle, griffon, dragon, etc. that can be affixed to his breastplate or shield or attached to his weapon (typically on the sword hilt or pommel or the shaft or head of a lance, mace, polearm, etc.)
• A large golden medal with royal red or blue ribbons that is affixed to his breastplate
• An elaborate golden symbol that is affixed to his shoulder guards, such as a winged sword, skull, crown, a symbol of personal heraldry, or any other symbol the knight deems fitting

Each insignia can be removed at any time and transferred to a different piece of equipment of the appropriate type, but this requires a full minute. The knight can only attach a maximum of two insignias to the same piece of equipment. Each time the knight receives an insignia, he may choose one from the list below. Each insignia can be taken only once.

• Insignia of Knightly Prowess: +1 to damage with a specific melee weapon chosen from the following list: bastard sword, battle axe, flail, lance, longsword, morning star, mace, or warhammer. Once the weapon is selected, it cannot be changed.
• Insignia of Invulnerability: The insignia grants the knight a +1 deflection bonus to his armor class and light fortification, as the magic armor of the same name.
• Insignia of Commanding Presence: This insignia grants the knight a +2 enhancement bonus on all Charisma-based skill checks, and the knight may now cast command once per day as a supernatural ability. The knight uses his character level as his caster level for this ability. For example, a fighter 5/knight inexorable 2 would count as a 7th level caster. The Will DC to resist this ability is equal to 14 + the knight’s Wisdom or Charisma bonus, whichever is higher. Insignia of Inexorable Might: The duration of paralysis effects and hold person/hold monster spells used on the knight are reduced by half (to a minimum of 1 round). The knight also learns to be more maneuverable while wearing armor. Whenever he is wearing armor, he reduces the armor check penalty by 2 (to a minimum of 0) and increases the maximum Dexterity bonus allowed by his armor by 1. If the knight has armor training from levels of fighter, the penalty reduction and maximum Dexterity bonuses stack (to a minimum of 0).
• Insignia of Arcane Imperviousness: This insignia grants a +1 bonus on saves vs. spells of 3rd level and lower from a single school of the knight’s choice (such as abjuration, enchantment, etc.), and the ability to cast dispel magic once per day as a supernatural ability. He uses his character level -3 as his caster level when using dispel magic. For example, a fighter 5/knight inexorable 2 would count as a 4th level caster when casting dispel magic.
• Insignia of Valorous Determination: This insignia allows the knight to move through 10 feet of difficult terrain each round as if it 52 were normal terrain, and allows him to take a 5-foot step into difficult terrain. This ability does not stack with the Acrobatic Steps or Nimble Moves feats. Also, the knight gains a +1 competence bonus on his CMB and CMD when attempting or resisting grapple, bull rush, disarm, overrun, and sunder maneuvers.

Bonus Feat

At 3rd, 6th and 9th level, the knight inexorable gains a bonus feat, chosen from the following list, provided he meets the prerequisites: alertness, combat expertise, die hard, endurance, lightning reflexes, great fortitude, greater shield focus, improved bull rush, improved disarm, improved initiative, improve overrun, improved shield bash, improved sunder, shield focus, step up.

Inexorable Lance (Ex)

At 4th level, when using a lance, the knight inexorable may apply a +5 competence bonus to his attack roll when making a full attack or charge with a lance. Additionally, when using this ability he is not affected by the miss chance that applies to attackers trying to strike a concealed target. He may use this ability once per day. At 8th level, he may use it twice per day.

Doomwarding (Ex)

At 5th level, a knight inexorable may re-roll any single die roll, once per day, as an immediate or swift action. He must accept the result of the new roll, even if it is worse than the original.

Legendary Willpower (Ex)

At 7th level, a knight inexorable’s heroic willpower Will save bonus increases to +2. The duration of all stun effects on him are reduced by half (to a minimum of 1 round), and he gains spell resistance 18 vs. enchantment spells.