Knight of the Death Angel

“By sword, lance and spell, the order of the Death Angel shall strike.”

The Knights of the Death Angel are a legendary order of mercenary sorcerer-knights, often hired or driven of their own volition to track down and dispose of or capture dangerous targets. Their heraldry is a winged sword and skull on a gray field. Though the original order is said to have descended from knights who sought to emulate the death angel Archaenon, today the order has split into factions that are often in conflict with each other. Some say this is because the order is secretly headed by a council of lords who have their own hidden agendas, some of whom may have fallen to evil.

Hit Die: d8

Requirements

To qualify to become a Knight of the Death Angel, a character must fulfill all of the following criteria:

  • Level: Sorcerer 3, and fighter 3
  • Tithe: The Knight of the Death Angel must tithe 10% of all his monetary gains each month to the order. In return, the order gives him gifts, provides training and an information network. If the character fails to tithe, he risks confiscation of his helm and expulsion from the order. An expelled character loses all his Knight of the Death Angel abilities and cannot advance any further in the prestige class.
  • Alignment: any non-chaotic
  • Ability Scores: Cha 15, Str or Con 16
  • Skills: Diplomacy 2 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 2 ranks, Ride 2 ranks, Survival 2 ranks.
  • Feats: Arcane Armor Training, Weapon Focus in one of the following: longsword, greatsword, bastard sword, battle axe, greataxe, mace, morning star, lance, or flail.
  • Special: Must be accepted into the order of the Knights of the Death Angel.

Class Skills

The class skills for this class (and the key ability for each skill) are Acrobatics (Dex), Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Fly (Dex), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), Stealth (Dex), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

Skill Ranks at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier

Table: The Knight of the Death Angel
Class Level BAB Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Special Spells per Day
1st +0 +1 +0 +0 Tithe, Death Angel Spell (1st level) +1 level of existing class
2nd +1 +1 +1 +1 Death Angel Helm, Death Angel Spies  
3rd +2 +2 +1 +1 Bonus Combat Feat, Death Angel Spell (2 nd level) +1 level of existing class
4th +3 +2 +1 +1 Arcane Armor Mastery  
5th +4 +3 +2 +2 Death Angel Spell (3 rd level) +1 level of existing class
6th +5 +3 +2 +2 Bonus Combat Feat, Spectral Knight  
7th +6 +4 +2 +2 Death Angel Spell (4 th level) +1 level of existing class
8th +7 +4 +3 +3 Phantom Warhorse  
9th +8 +5 +3 +3 Bonus Combat Feat, Death Angel Spell (5 th level) +1 level of existing class
10th +9 +5 +3 +3 Might of the Death Angel  

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Knight of the Death Angel prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

A Knight of the Death Angel gains no additional proficiencies in any weapon or armor.

Death Angel Spell (Sp)

At every odd level, the knight gains the spell-like ability to cast a specific Death Angel spell, once per day. The spell must be chosen from the Death Angel spell list. For example, a 3rd level Knight of the Death Angel would be able to select one 1st level Death Angel spell and one 2nd level Death Angel spell, each usable once per day as a spell-like ability. When using this ability, he uses his own caster level or the minimum sorcerer level required to cast the spell, whichever is higher. Upon reaching 3rd level, and at every odd-numbered level after that (5th, 7th, and so on), a Knight of the Death Angel can choose to learn a new spell-like ability in place of one he already knows. In effect, the Knight of the Death Angel loses the old ability in 58 exchange for the new one. The new spell-like abilities’ level must be the same as that of the ability being exchanged. A Knight of the Death Angel may swap only a single spell-like ability at any given level, and must choose whether or not to swap the ability at the same time that he gains a new ability.

Death Angel Helm

At 2nd level, the order of the Death Angel gifts the knight with a menacing, magical great helm. The helm provides a +3 enhancement bonus to Intimidate and Diplomacy skills and his caster level counts as one level higher when casting spells from the Death Angel spell list. The helm does not interfere with spellcasting. The helm will work for no one else. If the knight ever loses the helm, he risks expulsion from the order and loses all his prestige class abilities until he regains the helm or atones.

Death Angel Spies

At 2nd level, the knight of the Death Angel is indoctrinated into the order’s secret spy network. When in any city with a population of 1,000 or more, there is a 20% chance the knight is contacted by one of the order’s spies, who may be able to provide information about the city and the surrounding area, and possibly about any targets the knight is tracking. If such a spy exists, he may make a single Knowledge (local, geography, history, nobility or religion) skill check with a +5 bonus on behalf of the knight. In addition, if the Knowledge check is successful and reveals any useful information about a target the knight is tracking or pursuing, the knight gains a+2 circumstance bonus on his Survival skill check when tracking the target, for the next twenty-four hours.

Arcane Armor Mastery

At 4th level, the Knight of the Death Angel gains Arcane Armor Mastery as a bonus feat, even if he doesn’t meet the prerequisites.

Spectral Knight (Su)

At 6th level, the order teaches the knight one of its most potent arcane secrets. Once per day, for a duration of one hour, the knight can surround himself in flickering protective force that works like a mage armor spell, but provides a +8 armor bonus. While this ability is active, the knight appears to be a dark, spectral knight wearing a suit of ghostly plate mail with the Death Angel winged sword and skull insignia on the breast plate.

Bonus Combat Feat

At 3rd, 6th, and 9th level, the Knight of the Death Angel gains a bonus combat feat of his choice, provided he meets the prerequisites.

Phantom Warhorse (Su)

At 8th level, once per day, for a duration of one hour, the knight can cast phantom warhorse*. He uses his own caster level +3 to determine the statistics and abilities of the steed.

Might of the Death Angel (Sp)

At 10th level, the order teaches the knight its most powerful arcane secrets. Once per day, the knight may cast one spell from the following list as a spell-like ability: finger of death, greater dispel magic, or transformation. The knight’s character level counts as his caster level when using this ability.

Spellcasting

At every other Knight of the Death Angel level, the character gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a sorcerer level. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained, except for an increased effective level of spellcasting. The Knight of the Death Angel must choose at least one spell from the Knight of the Death Angel spell list whenever he learns a new spell as a result of gaining a new spellcasting level (0-level spells do not count). All other spells can be taken from the sorcerer/wizard spell list.

Knight of the Death Angel Spell List
Level Spell(s)
0 level all 0-level sorcerer spells
1st animate rope, chill touch, feather fall, hold portal, identify, mage armor, magic missile, magic weapon, mount, obscuring mist, protection from chaos/evil/good/law, ray of enfeeblement, shield, true strike, unseen servant
2nd bear’s endurance, blindness/deafness, blur, bull’s strength, cat’s grace, darkvision, death knell, detect thoughts, false life, ghoul touch, ice blade*, invisibility, knock, levitate, locate object, mirror image, scorching ray, see invisibility, shield of arcane imperviousness*, spectral hand, trident of the helldukes*
3rd chariot of the warlord*, clairaudience/clairvoyance, dispel magic, displacement, gaseous form, greater magic weapon, haste, heroism, hold person, keen edge, magic circle against chaos/evil/good/law, nondetection, phantom steed, ray of exhaustion, ray of ice*, sleet storm, slow, thunderclap*, water breathing
4th arcane eye, black swords*, deadly nightshade*, dimension door, enervation, fear, fire shield, flaming weapon*, greater invisibility, hallucinatory terrain, lesser globe of invulnerability, locate creature, phantasmal killer, phantom warhorse*, resilient sphere, scrying, stoneskin, vampire sword*, wall of fire, wall of ice
5th break enchantment, cloudkill, dismissal, feeblemind, hold monster, interposing hand, mage’s faithful hound, passwall, permanency, prying eyes, telepathic bond, teleport, wall of force, wall of stone, waves of fatigue
6th antimagic field, circle of death, forceful hand, freezing sphere, greater dispel magic, greater heroism, mislead, shadow walk, transformation, true seeing, veil, wall of crashing waves*, wall of iron, wall of living fire*
7th banishment, finger of death, forcecage, instant summons, grasping hand, greater arcane sight, greater scrying, greater teleport, mage’s sword, mass hold person, mass invisibility, power word blind, spell turning, wall of hurricane winds*, waves of exhaustion
8th binding, clenched fist, dimensional lock, discern location, incendiary cloud, iron body, mind blank, moment of prescience, polar ray, power word stun, prismatic wall, protection from spells, symbol of death, temporal stasis
9th crushing hand, foresight, mage’s disjunction, imprisonment, mass hold monster, power word kill, prismatic sphere, refuge, shades, teleportation circle
Section 15: Copyright Notice

Grimoire Viperian: A Tome of Exotic Lore Copyright 2021 Magic Skull Games Author: Steven F. Johnson

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