Witch-Eyed Knight

Armed with unnatural willpower, the witch-eyed knight paralyses others with a malevolent gaze. Rather than relying on the raw power of evil, he masters an array of supernatural talents to shatter their hope and their strength. Many witch-eyed knights become masters or enforcers of an evil regime, using their talents to instil obedience and uncover the plans of anyone who might pose a threat to the reign of darkness.

Table: Witch-Eyed Knight

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Spells per day
						1st	2nd	3rd	4th
1st	+1	+2	+0	+2	Aura of evil, detect good, hex, ominous stare	–	–	–	–
2nd	+2	+3	+0	+3	Touch of corruption, unholy resilience	–	–	–	–
3rd	+3	+3	+1	+3	Bold stare, gaze of cowardice, hex	–	–	–	–
4th	+4	+4	+1	+4	Smite good 1/day	0	–	–	–
5th	+5	+4	+1	+4	Hex	1	–	–	–
6th	+6/+1	+5	+2	+5	Cruelty	1	–	–	–
7th	+7/+2	+5	+2	+5	Hex, smite good 2/day	1	0	–	–
8th	+8/+3	+6	+2	+6	Gaze of despair, stare -3	1	1	–	–
9th	+9/+4	+6	+3	+6	Cruelty, hex	2	1	–	–
10th	+10/+5	+7	+3	+7	Smite good 3/day	2	1	0	–
11th	+11/+6/+1	+7	+3	+7	Hex	2	1	1	–
12th	+12/+7/+2	+8	+4	+8	Cruelty	2	2	1	–
13th	+13/+8/+3	+8	+4	+8	Hex, smite good 4/day	3	2	1	0
14th	+14/+9/+4	+9	+4	+9	Aura of sin	3	2	1	1
15th	+15/+10/+5	+9	+5	+9	Cruelty, hex	3	2	2	1
16th	+16/+11/+6/+1	+10	+5	+10	Smite good 5/day	3	3	2	1
17th	+17/+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+10	Major hex	4	3	2	1
18th	+18/+13/+8/+3	+11	+6	+11	Cruelty	4	3	2	2
19th	+19/+14/+9/+4	+11	+6	+11	Major hex, smite good 6/day	4	3	3	2
20th	+20/+15/+10/+5	+12	+6	+12	Unholy champion	4	4	3	3

Class Features

Ominous Stare (Su)

A witch-eyed knight can focus his stare on one creature within 30 feet as a swift action. That creature takes a –2 penalty on Will saving throws. This penalty changes to –3 at 8th level. A witch-eyed knight can maintain his stare against only one opponent at a time; it remains in effect until the witch-eyed knight stares at a new target, the opponent dies, the opponent moves farther than 30 feet away, or the witch-eyed knight falls unconscious or dies. Unlike a mesmerist, the witch-eyed knight can’t remove the memory of his stare from his target.

The ominous stare is a psychic effect, and relies more on the witch-eyed knight’s focus than the target’s perception of his stare. It can’t be avoided in the same ways a gaze attack can. The witch-eyed knight can use this ability even while blinded, but must succeed at a DC 20 concentration check to do so. Staring at a creature requires the witch-eyed knight’s focus, so if he uses a gaze attack or similar ability, he must target the subject of his ominous stare or voluntarily end the stare. The penalties from multiple witch-eyed knights’ stares don’t stack, nor do they stack with penalties from mesmerist stares or evil eye hexes. This is a mind-affecting effect.

As a move action, the witch-eyed knight can intensify his ominous stare, increasing the duration of certain hexes affecting the target of his stare as though he had used the cackle or chant hex.

This replaces the use of smite good gained at 1st level.

Bold Stare (Su)

At 3rd level, the witch-eyed knight can select a bold stare improvement from the list available to the mesmerist. From 6th level, whenever he could select a cruelty, he can choose to gain a new bold stare improvement instead.

This replaces the cruelty gained at 3rd level.

Gaze of Cowardice (Su)

At 3rd level, a creature subject to the witch-eyed knight’s ominous stare takes a –4 penalty on saving throws against fear effects. Creatures that are normally immune to fear lose that immunity while subject to the ominous stare.

This replaces aura of cowardice.

Gaze of Despair (Su)

At 8th level, a creature subject to the witch-eyed knight’s ominous stare suffers his stare penalty on all saving throws, not only Will saving throws.

This replaces aura of despair.

Hex (Su)

A witch-eyed knight learns to use a number of powerful hexes. He gains one hex at 1st level, and every odd-numbered level thereafter. He uses his Charisma modifier to determine the effects of his hexes. The hexes must be selected from the list below:

• Witch Hexes: charm, combat hypnosis, disrupt connection, distraction, enemy ground, murksight, peacebond, sink, summer’s heat, swamp’s grasp, unnerve beasts.
• Shaman Hexes: biting frost, curse of isolation, gaze of flames, pierce the veil, sluggish.

This replaces plague bringer, channel negative energy, fiendish boon, aura of vengeance and aura of depravity.

Major Hex (Su)

At 17th and 19th level, a witch-eyed knight can select one of the following major hexes: agony, hoarfrost, nightmares, pariah, retribution, withering.

Bold Stares

A witch-eyed knight can select from the following unique bold stare improvements.

Transfixion: The ominous stare penalty also applies to the target’s Acrobatics checks to avoid provoking attacks of opportunity. This penalty is doubled for the purpose of checks made against the witch-eyed knight.

Inquisition: The ominous stare penalty also applies to the target’s Diplomacy checks, Bluff checks to lie, and the DC of any magical effect cast by or currently affecting the target that disguises them or deceives other creatures.

Capitulation: The ominous stare penalty also applies to the target’s Escape Artist checks and any combat manoeuvre checks made to escape a grapple, the entangled condition or similar confinement.

Hexes

A witch-eyed knight can select from the following unique hexes.

Witch Steed (Su)

The witch-eyed knight can bestow an animal aspect upon his current mount, as the hunter ability. He can use this ability for a number of minutes each day equal to his class level. These hours do not need to be consecutive, but they must be spent in 1-minute increments. While subject to this hex, a mount manifests glowing eyes, smoking breath and hoofprints, and similar signs of diabolical influence.

Brand of Evil (Su)

The target must succeed at a Fortitude saving throw or be subject to the effects of a brand spell. Whether or not the save is successful, a creature cannot be the target of this hex again for 1 day. At 5th level, the witch-eyed knight gains the track class feature with respect to his branded targets. At 15th level, the brand is treated as a brand of tracking.

Uncanny Sight (Su)

The witch-eyed knight gains the benefits of uncanny dodge and improved uncanny dodge against the target for a number of rounds equal to his Charisma modifier. This hex can be extended for 1 round with the cackle hex.

Interrogate (Su)

The witch-eyed knight can question the target, backed up by the threat of magical pain. He may ask one question per two class levels. The target can either answer the question or take 1d4 points of damage plus the witch-eyed knight’s Charisma bonus. The target is not compelled to answer truthfully, but the threat of pain gives it a -4 penalty on Bluff checks to convince him when it is lying. A successful Will saving throw negates this effect. Whether or not the save is successful, a creature cannot be the target of this hex again for 1 day.

Additional Spells

A witch-eyed knight adds the following spells to his class spell list:

1st: beguiling gift, lock gaze, pierce façade

2nd: burning gaze, confess, enchantment sight, haunting reminder

3rd: accursed glare, arcane sight, medusa’s bane, see beyond, see invisibility

4th: true seeing