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Judging__Eagle
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### The Death Knight

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Post by Judging__Eagle » Sat Dec 20, 2008 1:28 pm

All material here is based on the actual inspiration for the class, and thus uses the descriptions of actual class abilities, or their approximates.
(Azerothian) Death Knight
Let's get one thing straight, Death Knights are not pleasant people. In fact, most of them are probably assholes and you'd never want to sit and have a drink with them, let alone want to be friends with them. They are the girl who spilled beer on the nachos at every party and the guy that whispers "copscopscopscopscopscops" for their own amusement at every illegal venue. They may be your asshole when they work with you, but that doesn't mean that they stopped being an asshole all of a sudden.
"The life I had before was meaningless. The life you have left is gone."
These are more highlight quotes of Death Knights.
"Suffer well."
"Patience is a virtue. One I no longer posses."
"You lost me, at 'hello'."
"Ugh... yes?"
Most importantly.
"Wuhaaattt?!"
Death Knights are those who have felt the cold chill of death, and their souls were twisted, marred and cracked in their ressurection. The rest are unconciable monsters that enjoy causing the deaths of everyone that they can possibly kill. Death Knights wish others to feel their suffering, and they suffer well.
Playing a Death Knight: Say it with me now. You. Like. To. Scare. People.
Scared people are easier to kill, and that's the easiest thing to say about it. DKs eventually get a really awesome mount, (a skelepony that flies?! Can you say zoom-zoom? Yeah, you probably can) and are encouraged to go around hitting people while on their mount and scaring them.
Each of the Presences are good for different things. Blood is good for in-between fights, so you'll want to end every fight with Blood Presence to gain the fast healing. Undeath and Chilling Presense are good for tanking or whatever, but each is good for different types of tanking. Undeath is good versus smart mages that would cast Save or Dies or against Rogues, since you now remove their damage. Chilling Presence is good versus most melee fights for the DR, and the Spell Resistance is good to reduce the effectiveness of an enemy blaster mage.
Prerequisites
Special: Must have died and been resurrected or killed a defenseless creature for no reason other than you wanted to kill them.
Skills: Intimidate 8 ranks
Proficiencies: Must be proficient in heavy armour, must be proficient with at least one lethal weapon.
HD: 1d12
Skills: Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Arcana, Religion, The Planes) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis) and Survival (Wis)
Skills per level: 4 + Int.
BAB: Good
Saves: Good fortitude, Poor reflex, Good will.

Level | Base Attack Bonus | Fortitude Save | Reflex Save | Will Save | Special:
01 | +1 | +2 | +0 | +2 | Deadly Focus, Bloody Strike, Chillling Breath, Unholy Bolts, Forceful Deflection, Runed Weapons
02 | +2 | +3 | +0 | +3 | Minion, Deathcharger, Improved Intimidate
03 | +3 | +3 | +1 | +3 | Blood Presence, Freezing Presence, Unholy Presence
04 | +4 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Death and Decay, Runescriber
05 | +5 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Army of the Dead, Anti-Magic Shell, Improved Intimidate

[b]Deadly Focus (Ex):[/b][i] Death Knights are dead. Well, not really. In any case, they don't give a shit about things that would normally bother other people. Like having your arm blown off, or having to charge a [url=http://thottbot.com/c26170]lich's ziggaraut[/url] with only [url=http://thottbot.com/q12088]11 normal human soldiers[/url]. A Death Knight can keep their mind focused where others would soon falter.[/i] As a swift action, the Death Knight may gain Deadly Focus. This Deadly Focus allows the Death Knight to re-roll one dice after the roll has been made, but before the result is known. The re-roll must be accepted as the new result. Deadly Focus lasts a number of rounds equal to the Death Knight's character level. [b]Bloody Strike (Su):[/b] [i]Blood Knights love blood. Especially the sight other other people's blood. Their training in bloodletting teaches them how to find vital parts on an enemy to help satiate their desire to see blood spilled.[/i] As an immediate action a Death Knight may expend their Deadly Focus to deal Bloody Strikes. This ability enchants the Death Knight's wielded weapon with the [i]Wounding[/i] weapon property, and deals an additional 1 strength damage per Death Knight class level. This effect lasts for one round per Class level. [b]Cold Breath(Su):[/b] [i]Death Knights have frozen souls. When their mouths open, cold mist falls from their lips. When they roar in battle, they freeze their foes.[/i] As an immediate action a Death Knight may expend their Deadly Focus to breath freezing cold air at their enemies. As an Attack Action, the Death Knight can deal 1d6 of Cold damage per Character Levels to a creature within Close Range, the target is also [i]Slowed[/i], as per the [i]Slow[/i] spell. This ability allows no saving throw. These effects lasts for one round per Class level. [b]Unholy Bolts(Su):[/b] [i]Death Knights are fueled by raw entropy as much as they are powered by anything else. While not undead, they can channel the Negative Energy Plane in a terrible manner.[/i] As an attack action a Death Knight may expend their Deadly Focus to deal Unholy Bolts. These effects lasts for one round per Class level. [b]Forceful Deflection (Ex)[/b]: [i]Death Knights are filled with unholy potence and strength. They hardly need a shield , as they can simply swat aside enemy attacks with their own weapons.[/i] A Death Knight may use their strength modifier, and weapon enchancement bonus, as an enchancement bonus to their shield armour class. This ability is lost if the Death Knight equips a shield. [b]Runed Weapons (Sp):[/b] [i]Death Knights know about runic magic, and how to inscribe these runes onto their possesions. Really, only their weapons.[/i] A Death Knight's wielded weapons can be made into a special magical weapon, called a Runed Weapons, with a full round action. This Runed Weapon counts as if [i]Greater Magic Weapon[/i] had been cast on the weapon with a caster level equal to [i]twice[/i] the Death Knight's character level with no maximum on Caster level or total enhancement modifier. The total Enhancement bonus cannot exceed +5; and the Death Knight may instead have special properties (Such as Icey, or Thundering) instead of having their total enhancement bonus. A total of +10 in Enhancement, and special properties is the maximum that any weapon can have. A Death Knight may only create as many Runed Weapons as they can wield at any one time and the effect does not end until the Greater Magic Weapon spell duration on the weapon wears off. If the Death Knight no longer has their Rune Blade in their possesion the effect is lost on an affected item a number of rounds equal to the Death Knight's character levels, unless the Death Knight creates a new Rune Blade, in which case the previous one loses its enhancement. [b]Minion(Ex):[/b] [i]Not only do Death Knights enjoy killing helpless creatures, but they also enjoy raising up the freshly dead and having them fight their former comrades. It's like a two-for-one combo deal of enemy-scarer, plus fighting-ally.[/i] A Death Knight is accompanied by an unintelligent undead creature whose CR is 2 less than the Death Knights. If this minion is a skeleton or zombie, the regular restrictions on maximum number of hit dice are removed. The Death Knight may choose to attack their minion, doing so is an attack action and can be performed as an attack of opportunity if the minion performs an action to provoke one. The Death Knight heals a number of hit points equal to their minion's maximum hit points upon doing so. The minion is reduced to 0 hit points and is killed. This minion may be replaced so long as the corpse of a once alive creature is present, or if the Death Knight has a spell component pouch. Doing so is a 1 minute ritual. If a Minion is in melee combat with creatures that knew it when the Minion was alive, the Minion makes an intimidate check using the Death Knight's Intimidate check modifier every time that they make a move or attack action towards a former ally. [b]Deathcharger[/b]: [i]A Death Knight has gutted and deboned a living horse or pony. They did this not to stave of starvation, or to keep warm in an icey wasteland. They did this because they like to watch creatures suffer and die. Now this horse or pony's tortured soul is eternally damned, and it must serve the Death Knight forever as its Deathcharger.[/i] A Death Knight may cast [url=http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/phantomSteed.htm]Phantom Steed[/url] at will with a caster level equal to their character level, but only one steed may ever be summoned at a time, and only the Death Knight may use the summoned steed. [b]Improved Intimidation (Ex):[/b] [i]The right word, gesture, posture or facial expression can bring terror, so long as it is used[/i] As long as the Death Knight is visible, and can also be heard by the targets of their Intimidate skill checks, they gain their class levels +2 to said Intimidate checks. If the Death Knight's face is also visibile, this changes to class levels +5. [b]Bloody Presence (Ex):[/b] [i]The blood-splattered Death Knight roars the sound that we all know. The roar of our own heartbeats in our ears. The roar the dying hear in their last moments. The sound that the Death Knight's enemies hear. Now.[/i] A Death Knight whose last Strike was a Bloody Strike is driven to new heights of bloodlust and rage, their all-consuming blood fury is inimical to the life of others. The Death Knight gains fast healing equal to their character level. The Death Knight also recieves 1/2 of all melee damage that it deals as temporary hitpoints; they may not have more than twice their base hit points in temporary hitpoints, and these temporary hitpoints last 1 hour. Any enemies within reach of the Death Knight also take 1d6 Fire damage per two character levels of the Death Knight, as their blood begins to boil. The Death Knight also gains resistance to Fire damage equal to their character level. These benefits are lost if either Chilling Strike or Unholy Strike are used. The Death Knight can make a single Intimidate check against all creatures that took fire damage this round, as a non-action. [b]Freezing Presence (Ex):[/b] [i]Hoary frost creeps across the eyebrows and facial features of the Death Knight, their hair goes white with frost; their armour becomes covered by a sheening layer of ice[/b] A Death Knight whose last Strike was a Chilling Strike has the ice in their soul affect their flesh and armour, covering them entirely in a protective icy rime. The Death Knight also gains one additional attack at their highest attack bonus. As well as gaining DR X+10/- where X equals their character level. They also gain Spell Resistance equal to 17 + Character level. The Death Knight also gains Resistance to Elemental damage equal to their character level +5. These benefits are lost if either Bloody Strike or Unholy Strike are used. The Death Knight may make Intimiation checks against all creatures whose spells are resisted by the Death Knight's spell resistance or whose damage is reduced by half or more by the Death Knight's damage reduction; these intimidation checks do not take an action. [b]Unholy Presence (Ex):[/b] [i]The Death Knight's skin goes pale as their blood seems to stop flowing. Their eyes become clouded over and milk-white. Their voice becomes jagged and hoarse. They have become living death.[/i] A Death Knight whose last Strike was a Unholy Strike becomes an avatar of death incarnate and is full with an Unholy Presence. The Death Knight gains immunity to: All Mind-Affecting effects, Poison, Sleep Effects, Paralysis, Stunning, Disease, Death effects; critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability drain, or energy drain. As well as gaining immunity to damage to its physical ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution), as well as to fatigue and exhaustion. They are immune to any effect requireing a Fortitude save, unless it affects objects as well, and are immune to death by massive damage. The Death Knight also gains an increase to their speed of 5 feet per two character levels. The Death Knight also gains resistance to Divine damage equal to their character level. The Death Knight may make Intimiation checks against all creatures within 30 feet once per round after being targeted by an effect that they are currently immune to, this intimidate check is a a non-action. These benefits are lost if either Blood Strike or Chilling Strike are used. [b]Death and Decay[/b]: [i]A Death Knight hates all living things, and seeks to destroy them whenever they blight the Death Knight's sight with their presence. [/i] A Death Knight may cast a modified version of [url=http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/unholyBlight.htm]Unholy Blight[/url], with a caster level equal to their character levels. The modififications to the spell make it so that it treats living creatures as if they were good outsiders (1d6 damage per caster level) and treats other creatures as if they neutral, and does not affect Undead or the Death Knight that cast the spell. [b]Runescriber[/b]: [i]As they grow in power, so does their runecrafting. A Death Knight's Runic practices do not stop growing in power, instead it even begins to spread it's Runic power to other things.[/i] A Death Knight may count their total character level + 3, and may count as being able to craft any magic item, whose caster level they qualify for. They do not need to meet any other character requirements when making magical items. [b]Army of the dead (Su)[/b]: [i]A death knight calls upon the negative energy plane to help them spread entropy upon the planes. The Death Knight's minion is destroyed, and replaced with a swarm of dark and shadowy undead creatures of the same type as the Death Knight's minion.[/i] As a swift action, the Death Knight's minion is destroyed, and an area 5' per two caster levels is filled with shadowy copies of the now destroyed minion. This lasts 1 round per two Character levels. All Enemies within this radius count as flanked, and it counts as difficult terrain for enemies as well. When this ability is activated, and every round afterwards, the Death Knight may make an attack roll and damage roll, using their former minion's statistics, that is applied against all enemy creatures that are within this radius. [b]Anti-Magic Shell (Ex):[/b] [i]Death Knights regularly have to fight and kill enemy spell casters, as such powerful runes are inscribed into their skin to suppress magic coming from an outside source. [/i] A Death Knight can expend their Deathly focus to create an [i]Anti-Magic Field[/i] that does not affect themselves or their equipment, and only extends in a 5 foot radius from the Death Knight's location. This ability lasts for one round per Class level. [b]Utter Intimidation (Ex):[/b] [i]The Death Knight knows that death isn't the worst thing that can happen. Utter destruction with no hope for return in any form [/i]is[i]. The Death Knight knows exactly what to do or say to cause fear in even the normally unfearful.[/i] The Death Knight may use the Intimidate skill on any creature, and no creature is automatically immune to the effects of the Death Knight's Intimidate checks from such things as Racial Type, Subtypes etc.. Only things such as spells, class abilities, feats, items, and other things not intrinsic to a specific Creature's native abilities allow them to be unaffected by the Death Knight's Intimidate checks. ============== Since this player probably wants to just duplicate their character, feats will be needed for the Blood, Frost and Unholy talent trees. Feats with minimum character level requirements, or scaling to ranks in intimidate.

Last edited by Judging__Eagle on Sat Oct 03, 2009 7:49 pm, edited 14 times in total.
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ZER0
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Post by ZER0 » Sat Dec 20, 2008 6:26 pm

That fits quite nicely. I'm glad that someone plays WoW and knows what these things are supposed to do. Thanks.

> Absentminded_Wizard wrote:

> > 4e PHB, p. 57 under "Target" (bolding mine) wrote:When a power’s target entry specifies that it affects you and one or more of your allies, then you can take advantage of the power’s effect along with your team-mates. Otherwise, “ally” or “allies” does not include you, and both terms assume willing targets. “Enemy” or “enemies” means a creature or creatures that aren’t your allies (whether those creatures are hostile toward you or not). “Creature” or “creatures” means allies and enemies both, as well as you.

> Yes, according to 4e RAW, you are your own enemy.

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Judging__Eagle
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Post by Judging__Eagle » Mon Dec 22, 2008 9:49 am

Made some changes.
Any input guys/girls/trap-marines?
I know that it's a gallon of powers shoved into a pint-sized glass, but a lot of those powers you can't use concurrently, so I'm not so worried about over-poweredness. Unless someone can point out a broken combo that I didn't realize.
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Aktariel
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Post by Aktariel » Tue Dec 23, 2008 7:22 pm

Good lord. Candy candy candy every every level.
Um. Looks fine. Just a lot of options for five levels.
I'd play it... but I wonder what class might be the best lead in.
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Post by Surgo » Tue Dec 23, 2008 9:50 pm

Deadly Focus: Does making the reroll expend it (so you need to swift action turn-on again)?
Bloody Strike: How long does it last?
Unholy Strike: How many times can you cast it? Also, this is worded really badly, as casting Enervation would be another (second) standard action.
Minion: Intimidate check for what, exactly?
Bloody Presence: How long does it last for?
Freezing Presence: Same.
Unholy Presence: Same. Also, is the additional attack really necessary? Seems like a bit too much (it's already the great defensive stance -- must we give it offense too?)
Death and Decay: Is it (Sp)? How many times can it be used?
Army of the Dead: Does the attack/damage roll last for the entire duration, or just the difficult terrain and flanking?
Anti-magic Shell: Again, duration.
Honestly, I think the class has way too much in terms of abilities. None are too good, but it's seriously Christmas-tree-ish. Why not make some of them into feats instead (and thus give them tree-like ability structure)?
Last edited by Surgo on Tue Dec 23, 2008 9:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Judging__Eagle
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Post by Judging__Eagle » Tue Dec 23, 2008 11:31 pm

That's the beauty of it. Any melee class benefits.
Samurai get the option to get some ranged power, as well as being able to beef up their ancestral weapon.
Barbarians get benefits for high str and using no sheild, as well as some immunities that they would have lost from just taking Barbarian levels.
Fighters get more options.
Knights get to be able to change their former mount from leadership into something else while still being able to do mounted combat stuff.
In theory, the Death Knight can just have a Necropolitan spellcaster as their Minion, or a giant multi-headed Hydra. With no HD cap. Which isn't a massive deal, I mean, an 80 HD zombie at lvl 20 isn't that big of a deal, it's just big and tough.
The DK can also heal their minion with their Unholy Strike ability, since Enervation does that out of the box (The actual WoW DK ability is the same, it deals damage, or heals friendly undead, aka, your or an allied DK's auto-scaling Ghoul minion).
The thing is, a lot of the abilities mean that you can't use other abilities, like say, make attack actions if you've used Unholy Strike, since casting a spell takes a Standard action.
The presences mean that you can't go around using different attack options if you want to maintain one of the presences specifically active at all times. Making the PC use only 1/3 of it's strikes/presences options at any one time.
The Phantom Steed isn't a big deal at all to me, you have a mount, and can eventually fly. At level 14, before (lvl 10) you only have Air Walk (still good, but a bit limited).
[Edit]:
Surgo, yeah, I've noticed some things as well. I'll fix them.
Last edited by Judging__Eagle on Tue Dec 23, 2008 11:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Judging__Eagle
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Post by Judging__Eagle » Sat Dec 27, 2008 7:04 am

I "finished" it, but now that I'm playing the inspiration for the class in-game, I'm changing my mind on how the abilities work; mostly b/c the Death Knight class in WoW is very different from every other class in terms of what it's mechanics are like; it's a very "spell-casting" heavy type class, in that it doesn't rely on the same limitations as most spell-casting classes have.
This class doesn't so much burn through a pool of resources (mana) in a fight.
Instead, the DK has the following as resources:
6 different "runes" of 3 different types (2 of each, Blood, Frost, Undeath).
You expend one "rune" to power a Blood, Frost, Undeath or combo power. They recharge on a set timer, and if all of your Runes of a specific type are on cool-down, then you can't use related powers.
Most "basic" Rune-expending attacks have a chance of applying a related De-Buff. These are called "Diseases"
Now, each time that you use a Rune, you get "X" amount of Runic Power (think of it like mana, but you can only get 100, or 130 if you picked up a talent that let you increase your pool for this resource). And that resource is used to power other abilities.
Additionally, several Runic Power and Rune Expending abilities deal extra damage if one or more "Diseases" are affecting a target.
DK's are a pretty complex class in WoW in terms of how you have to juggle your actions, but once you've got the learning curved figured out, then you're going to have a bit of an easier time playing one.
I'm thinking that the 3 Presences are simply "modes", and you switch between them, and stay in them as long as you feel like. Since that's pretty much how the game has it set up.
So, every ability needs to apply 1 type of debuff, and if you use other abilities, the Debuff is removed, but you got to: 1) use the special ability and/or 2) did bonus damage.
Bloody Strikes.... sigh, I'm not sure. The Debuff is a -X penalty to Str, X equals character level.
Icy Blast needs changing, it has to be a Scorching Ray effect that deals cold damage instead of fire damage. The Debuff is -X to movement, where X equals 5 feet per character level, a creature can't have its speed reduced below 10 feet, unless its speed was less than 10 feet beforehand.
The Unholy Strike needs to simply say, you can cast Enervation as a standard action at-will, the Negative levels cannot actually kill a target (but they damn well won't help you live, if you know what I mean). The Debuff is all the negative levels gained -1.
Yes, those debuffs are huge, but to use other powers they have to be lifted.
The trouble is squeezing 80 levels of character into 5, that's 16 levels worth of abilities per level; I think that maybe 7 to 10 levels are needed for this class.
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Post by Surgo » Sat Dec 27, 2008 4:41 pm

> The trouble is squeezing 80 levels of character into 5, that's 16 levels worth of abilities per level; I think that maybe 7 to 10 levels are needed for this class.

Use feats.
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Post by IGTN » Sat Dec 27, 2008 7:07 pm

Also, the class doesn't have to be a straight port of the WoW class.
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Judging__Eagle
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Post by Judging__Eagle » Sat Dec 27, 2008 8:25 pm

True on both counts. However, I'm liking the challenge of trying to make a class that is similar to what it is based on. Of course I know that I can't make a perfect copy, but that's because the mechanics for the two systems are very different.
I'm also finding out more about the class as time passes. Like, the difference between a Presense (affects the DK only) versus an Aura (an invested in ability that affects the group).
I should make the "Auras" feats; and the related abilities don't consume a de-buff when used. So, a Frost DK will obviously use more frost abilities, but that doesn't mean that they can't use Blood or Unholy abilities.
Last edited by Judging__Eagle on Sat Dec 27, 2008 8:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Aktariel » Tue May 12, 2009 9:53 am

Bump for updates?
Ok, I admit it. I've been playing WoW again, and I'm curious to see the end result of your vision, J_E.
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Post by Judging__Eagle » Wed May 20, 2009 5:29 am

Hmm, good timing. I've been gone for the last two weeks, and I haven't thought about this class in a while.
I'm re-reading it, and comparing it to my memory of having actually played the class a bit after playing more than the "introductory" missions for the class, that all DKs have to complete before they can join the "actual" game world where other players that aren't DKs are.
One of the interesting things is that DK's are to melee, what Hunters are to ranged.
The easy button.
Playing a DK in any DK expected role (melee DPS or tank) is remarkabley easy. A Good DK tank is the norm for the class. It's only when you see amazing performance compared to an other class do you see the DK class ability chassis being put through it's paces.
A DK tank is seriously a tank that might need no healing; even on a final boss fight in a 5-man instance. I should know, I was the healer on a few of the Northrend dungeons, and everytime I had a DK tank I seriously had to do even less than what I normally have to do in an instance.
This also means that the class is a bit overpowered. However, it's not meant for new players to play, and only someone with a lvl 55 character on a server was able to play a DK on said server.
Also, flexibility. Blood, Ice and Undeath are all equally good for Tanking or Melee DPS. So I tried to make all 3 usable in the class for different types of attacking or defense.
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Post by Judging__Eagle » Thu May 21, 2009 6:39 pm

Death Knight Feats:
Death Knights have all sorts of weird specializations and special training that they can engage in. Some focus on only a few parts of their Death Knight training, making them blood-soaked death-bringers, ice-blooded murderers or death-fueled juggernauts. Others learn how to use all of their powers and bring them to bear on their enemies.
Blood Knight [Death Knight]
You ask me why I kill. Do you ask the storm why it rains, or a fire why it burns? Don't ask me why I kill
Everything about you reeks of blood, it is caked into the rims of your fingernails, it stains your skin and gives your body a sickly iron-filled smell.
This is a feat that scales to your current CR:
1 When using weapons that deal Piercing or Slashing damage, you may add your Challenge Rating as bonus damage that is added after all other effects that modify damage are taken into account (such as Critical Hits, or spells or effects that double damage on a charge etc.).
5 Anyone who is affected by your intimidate checks from your Bloody Presence ability is affected for two rounds instead of one.
10 Any time that an enemy is injured within 30 feet of you by a physical attack, they take 2 points of Constitution damage.
15 If you succeed at intimidating an enemy, you may elect to not have them be intimidated in exchange for the enemy taking a penalty to their strength equal to 1/2 your ranks in Intimidate. This lasts as long as they would have been intimidated for.
Frozen Knight [Death Knight]
I will put true ice in your heart.
Your skin is cold as marble, and probably as hard too. Your every breath is a cloud of frost-fog, and ice and frost coat everything you wear and hold.
This is a feat that scales to your current CR:
1 All of your weapon attacks deal an amount of Hoarfrost damage equal to your challenge rating. Hoarfrost is exactly like Cold damage, except that it bypasses Cold Resistance, much in the same way that Hellfire does against Fire Resistance.
5 Anyone who is affected by your intimidate checks from your Icey Presence ability is affected for two rounds instead of one.
10 Any time that an enemy is injured within 30 feet of you by a physical attack, their speed is reduced by 5'. This speed damage takes 1 minute of uninterrupted rest to fully recover from.
15 If you succeed at intimidating an enemy, you may elect to not have them be intimidated in exchange for the enemy taking a penalty to their caster level equal to 1/2 your ranks in Intimidate. This lasts as long as they would have been intimidated for.
Undying Knight [Death Knight]
After a lifetime of battle, one only sees death.
Your bones are visible through your skin, even if you are covered in slabs of muscle. Your skull's silhouette is visible even through the muscle, fat and skin, and the veins of your body are a network of black spidery tree branches.
This is a feat that scales to your current CR:
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5
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15
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Aktariel
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Post by Aktariel » Sat May 23, 2009 4:03 am

Yeah, I've been playing it and the class is slightly overpowered, but it's gravy. Blood is such a nice spec for PvE and leveling, that you're basically a self-healing tank.
Feats look good; only question is, can you take more than one?
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Judging__Eagle
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Post by Judging__Eagle » Sun May 24, 2009 5:28 am

yep, if changing spec is seriously a trivial thing in WoW, I don't see why someone wouldn't be able to grab more than one feat.
.. there should be a corollary, where a DK can change their DK feat to any of the other three DK feats with a single day-long ritual. so a low lvl DK can change their spec as they want to, but they can also have all three specs at once if they pick up the feat 3 times; getting it twice makes the most sense though.
I'm not sure what to do with the undead feat; and the other two still don't sit well with me.
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Aktariel
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Post by Aktariel » Sun May 24, 2009 8:07 am

Well, the problem is, they're very similar to each other. The feats, I mean. And differently specced DK's have very different feels, inasmuch as they're still all tanks, which taking both of these feats... wouldn't give you.
A blood knight is about hitting people or dropping AoE's on them and getting health back and tanking that way, by not needing healing/having continuous regeneration/etc.
A frost DK is about having a higher defense, more HP, and hitting people harder. Also, potentially slowing them, etc. Your classic "tank."
Unholy... I have no idea, sorry. Have not yet played an unholy specced DK.
However, after playing with the builds on this page, it seems like unholy is about being.. anti-magic, but also dealing more spell damage, and dealing craptons of shadow damage and raising the dead? and disease. we can't forget the disease. I really have no ideas how this might turn into a feat.
Also, I like the idea of having a ritual to change your focus.
EDIT: How long do Bloody Strikes last? You expend Deadly Focus to deal one Chilling or Unholy strike, but the way it's written Bloody Strikes last forever (there's no duration and it seems that you can use it more than once.)
MORE EDITS: What does "only one can ever be summoned" in reference to the Phantom Steed mean? You can only ever use this ability once, period?
Bloody/Chilling/Unholy Strike/Presence - why can't you use other strikes in other presences? I can, for example, be in Blood Presence and be making mostly Unholy Strikes in actual WoW; indeed, it is this synergy that makes some things truly great. Why not make them Auras like the Kantian Paladin, and only have one be able to be activated at a time?
Last edited by Aktariel on Sun May 24, 2009 8:20 am, edited 5 times in total.
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Judging__Eagle
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Post by Judging__Eagle » Sun May 24, 2009 3:51 pm

Yeah, I could do that.
I should probably seperate presences, attacks and talent granted abilities from each other.
With Phantom Steed, that part should be "...at a time"; since its the equivalent of summoning your death charger in WoW.
Bloody strikes... I'll have to look at it, it's probably a mistake on my part.
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Aktariel
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Post by Aktariel » Tue Jul 07, 2009 8:04 am

Bump for moar updates. Also, Anti-Magic Field still has no duration.
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Judging__Eagle
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Post by Judging__Eagle » Sat Jul 25, 2009 6:09 am

Ok, did some updates, fixed some things. I beefed up the two weaker presences. Blood is good for tanking now, and related directly to your HP. Spells will bone a pure Blood character though.
I'll probably put Ice as damage reduction, spell resistance, and elemental resistance.
Unholy is speed, undead traits; your attacks should fire off unholy damage in a radius, or something. Maybe they are able to capture spells and that their total spell level is equal to their character level; then they shoot the spell out; or it dissipates.
So, Frost is more about blocking spells; and Unholy is more about absorbing, and firing spells. Blood is for pure DPS builds, and keeps them alive against large mobs, as they get Temp HP while dealing damage; and fast heal a lot more.
I think that I've fixed all the the mistakes that were left.
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Avoraciopoctules
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Post by Avoraciopoctules » Sun Aug 16, 2009 6:30 am

I'm trying out a Fighter/Conduit/Death Knight: http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.p ... tid=146781 (Working on a minion for next level as well: http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.p ... tid=147126 )
Some custom minor magical items (using mostly Book of Gears rules), including one rod that lets you fire rays of lightning as an attack action. I think I provided links to all the feats that weren't in the Tome PDF. Currently, the party consists of 4 level 4 Fighters, one Sorcerer unknown level, one level 6 Sohei that spends all of his combat time casting summon or buff spells from scrolls he makes in his downtime, 1 advanced Summoning Ooze, and Xophtial. Two of these were befriended after being horribly beaten up in classic adventurer diplomacy.
I'm aiming for someone that stays at range hitting enemies with debuffs, battlefield control, and elemental damage before closing to melee and hitting them repeatedly. My only significantly challenging encounter so far has been with a Bar'lgura demon, which was immune to my lightning blasts and resisted all my unholy strikes. I used Earth Glide to retreat into the side of a nearby pit, then came partway out of the wall to snipe at it from below. The demon dispelled my spell, shunting me into open air, but I dug my sword into the wall long enough to spread my Portable hole against it and swing in. The Bar'lgura then teleported into the hole ahead of me, and since I had failed to inflict any significant harm despite throwing several enervation bolts into it, I decided to step back out of the hole and refold it. I plan to open the hole again when I need a big, teleporting gorilla monster for something.
As written, Unholy Strike is a Supernatural ability which lets you cast a shorter-ranged Enervation spell. This means Spell Resistance works against it. Is this intended?
Last edited by Avoraciopoctules on Sun Aug 16, 2009 6:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Akula
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Post by Akula » Mon Aug 17, 2009 7:46 am

No intelligence score means that the minion cannot have class levels.
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Avoraciopoctules
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Post by Avoraciopoctules » Mon Aug 17, 2009 4:48 pm

> Akula wrote:No intelligence score means that the minion cannot have class levels.

It certainly cannot have its old class levels, but I've seen at least one precedent for skeletons and other unintelligent creatures to be given new levels unrelated to their old ones:
https://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp ... g20020710x
If not, I'll just write 14 new undead monsters that just happen to be almost exactly identical to skeletons with a number of Barbarian levels equal to their CR.
Last edited by Avoraciopoctules on Mon Aug 17, 2009 4:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Akula
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Post by Akula » Mon Aug 17, 2009 6:09 pm

> Avoraciopoctules wrote:It certainly cannot have its old class levels, but I've seen at least one precedent for skeletons and other unintelligent creatures to be given new levels unrelated to their old ones:
> https://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp ... g20020710x

Setting specific 3.0 DM resource isn't a good source to make your point from.

> Zombie Template wrote:Skills
> A zombie has no skills.
> Feats
> A zombie loses all feats of the base creature and gains Toughness.
> ...
> Advancement
> As base creature, but double Hit Dice (maximum 20), or — if the base creature advances by character class.

So zombies cannot have class levels. Let's look at skeletons.

> Skeleton Template wrote:Skills
> A skeleton has no skills.
> Feats
> A skeleton loses all feats of the base creature and gains Improved Initiative.
> ...
> Advancement
> As base creature (or — if the base creature advances by character class)

Nope. That doesn't work either.

> If not, I'll just write 14 new undead monsters that just happen to be almost exactly identical to skeletons with a number of Barbarian levels equal to their CR.

Then you couldn't use them. But I'm sure the DM would be grateful. To quote the class ability:

> Judging__Eagle wrote:Minion(Ex): Not only do Death Knights enjoy killing helpless creatures, but they also enjoy raising up the freshly dead and having them fight their former comrades. It's like a two-for-one combo deal of enemy-scarer, plus fighting-ally.
> A Death Knight is accompanied by an unintelligent undead creature whose CR is 2 less than the Death Knights. If this minion is a skeleton or zombie, the regular restrictions on maximum number of hit dice are removed.

Skeletons and Zombies only.
Last edited by Akula on Mon Aug 17, 2009 6:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Avoraciopoctules
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Post by Avoraciopoctules » Mon Aug 17, 2009 6:40 pm

> Skeletons and Zombies only.

O RLY?
No Wrackspawn? No Hulking Corpse? No Evolved Mummified giant spiders?
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Akula
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Post by Akula » Mon Aug 17, 2009 6:49 pm

My mistake. I missed an if. Go ahead and write up your monsters. A sane DM will probably make you use non-custom material, but that is really my opinion.
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