Knight of the Holy Scale v2

	I’ve corrected some of the flaws present on the version I placed in the newsgroups, like the mount stuff which I copy pasted from the paladin and forgot to find & replace that word. I also added some comments based on my experience with this character.

DM Dorkster

dm_dorkster@hotmail.com

Some dream about a world free from pain and tyranny, where good hearted men rule supreme and thus dedicate their lives to annihilate those who’s existence they believe to be in the way of its fulfilment. Others selfishly believe in a world whose inhabitants exist solely to serve their dark whims, living their entire existence in a struggle to make so true. Between this two positions lies a secret brotherhood, formed by a group of men that see a balance between good and evil as the only way for so many different beings to coexist in a far from perfect world. Known only by it’s own Knights, the Order of the Holy Scale stands for all those who simply want to live free, free from the tyranny of ill intended shadow lords, free from the tight bounds of self-righteous will imposing lawful goodies. 

Fighters are the most likely to be approached by the Order to become members, although fallen paladins and repented blackguards are also known to have joined. However this is not a class restricted club, and all those willing to commit to the Order’s directives are welcome to join (some of the founding fathers of the Order were high priests of St. Cuthbert).

	Knights of the Holy Scale are everywhere, ranging from mighty kings and generals to simple party adventurers. They are forbidden by their oath to reveal their true nature and different members recognize each other by a psychic bound imbued into their minds during the oath taking ceremony (they can feel the presence of one another in a mile radius and can pinpoint the other’s exact location). Knights of the Holy Scale must always be ready to help each other in any way possible (not by lending goods or money but rather by acting somehow) and are forbidden to willingly harm their brothers without a powerful enough reason. Failing to do so results in suspension from the Order until some sort of reparation is done (usually by undertaking a quest without any reward expectancy).

* abilities with an “or” mean that the player must choose between one of them, not that he gets both. 

Class		Base		Fort		Ref		Will		Special
Level		Attack		Save		Save		Save

1st		+1		+1		+1		+1		Detect Good or Detect Evil
2nd		+2		+1		+1		+1		Smite Good or Smite Evil
3rd		+3		+2		+2		+2		Holy Blessing
4th		+4		+2		+2		+2		Aura of Courage or Aura of Despair
5th		+5		+3		+3		+3		Greater Mount
6th		+6		+3		+3		+3		Sneak Attack +1d6
7th		+7		+4		+4		+4		Lay on Hands or Death Touch
8th		+8		+4		+4		+4		Sneak Attack +2d6
9th		+9		+5		+5           	+5		Body of Steel
10th		+10		+5		+5		+5		Sneak Attack +3d6

Class	  ————      Spells per Day    ————
Level	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
-----	---	---	---	---
1st	0	—	—	—
2nd	1	—	—	—
3rd	1	0	—	—
4th	1	1	—	—
5th	1	1	0	—
6th	1	1	1	—
7th	2	1	1	0
8th	2	1	1	1
9th	2	2	1	1
10th	2	2	2	1

Hit Dice: d10

Requirements
To become a Knight of the Holy Scale a character must fulfil the following requirements:
Race: Human
Alignment: Any Neutral
Base Attack Bonus: +6
Hide: 5 ranks
Move Silently: 5 ranks
Ride: 5 ranks
Feats: Weapon Proficiency (any sword), Weapon Focus (any sword), Dodge, Mounted Combat.

Class Skills
Class Skills: The Knight of the Holy Scale’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Profession (Wis), and Ride (Dex). 

Skill Points: 2 + Int modifier.

Class Features

Weapon and Armour Proficiency: A Knight of the Holy Scale is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and all armour types. 

Detect Good or Detect Evil: At level 1 the Knight of the Holy Scale can choose to gain the ability to cast Detect Good or the ability Detect Evil at will. This choice cannot be altered later in the game.

Smite Good or Smite Evil: At level 2 the Knight of the Holy Scale can choose between the ability to Smite Good and Smite Evil once per day. By doing this he adds his Charisma modifier (if positive) to his attack roll and deals 1 extra point of damage per class level. Smite Good on an evil being or Smite Evil on a good being as no effect whatsoever and the smite ability for that day is spent. This choice cannot be changed later in the game.

Holy Blessing: At level 3 a Knight of the Holy Scale begins to apply his Charisma modifier (if positive) as a bonus to all saving throws.

Aura of Courage or Aura of Despair: At level 4 the Knight of the Holy Scale can choose between an Aura of Despair and an Aura of Courage. If the first one is chosen, the Knight of the Holy Scale makes all enemies in a 10-foot radius to suffer a –2 penalty on all saving throws. If the second one is chosen the Knight of the Holy Scale is immune to fear effects and all those within 10 feet of him gain +4 on their saving throws against it. This choice cannot be altered later in the game.

Greater Mount: At level 5 the Knight of the Holy Scale may summon a mount to aid him in his quest. The mount can be any horse-like beast (normally a war-horse though some prefer to call upon a nightmare or a unicorn) and no matter what it is considered a magical beast and has the same alignment as the Knight of the Holy Scale. Should the mount decease, it can be recalled the day after.

NOTE: The PC who played this character choose to call upon a Nightmare, and that was a great advantage considering everyone else had a war-horse. What did I do? When the guy reached the mount level, I hid THE treasure in a pit guarded by a nightmare. The nightmare had been cursed by his former master and his ability to fly, cast etherealness and astral projection were taken away so that he couldn’t leave the pit and he was left there to guard it throughout eternity. I arranged for the party to loose their powerful items (a magnetic field prevented metal object from entering the treasure room) and then made the Knight of the Holy Scale fall down to a trap door and into the pit. The trap door close promptly and he was left to face the nightmare alone. He pulled out his mighty sap (the only non-metallic weapon he dad) and fought the beast. When the mount was just about to fall unconscious (and so was the player), he told the guy about his curse and how he was expecting him for a long, long time. He agreed to become his mount and in exchange he made the player promise to aid him lifting his curse when he got strong enough. And so it was.

Character     Bonus    Natural         Str
Level            HD        Armour          Adj.    Int     Special
-------           -----        -------            ----      ---     -------
10-12           +2            4                +1       6        Improved evasion, share  
                                                                            spells, empathic link, share 
                                                                            saving throws
13-15           +4            6                +2      7         Speak with Knight of the Holy Scale
16-18           +6            8                +3      8         Blood Bond
19-20           +8            10              +4      9         Spell resistance

Character Level: The level of the PC.

Bonus HD: These are extra Hit Dice (d8), each of which gains a Constitution modifier, as normal. Remember that extra Hit Dice improve the mount's base attack and base save bonuses. 

Natural Armour: The number listed here is an improvement to the mount's AC. It represents the preternatural toughness of a Knight of the Holy Scale’s mount. 

Str Adj.: Add this figure to the mount's Strength score. 

Int: The mount's Intelligence score. 

Improved Evasion: If the mount is subjected to an attack that normally allows a Reflex saving throw for half damage, it takes no damage if it makes a successful saving throw and half damage even if the saving throw fails. Improved evasion is an extraordinary ability. 

Share Spells: At the Knight of the Holy Scale’s option, the character may have any spell cast on him or herself also affect her mount. The mount must be within 5 feet. If the spell has a duration other than instantaneous, the spell stops affecting the mount if it moves farther than 5 feet away and will not affect the mount again even if the mount returns to the Knight of the Holy Scale before the duration expires. Additionally, the player may cast a spell with a target of "You" on the mount (as a touch range spell) instead of on herself. The Knight of the Holy Scale and the mount can share spells even if the spells normally do not affect creatures of the mount's type. 

Empathic Link: The Knight of the Holy Scale has an empathic link with the mount out to a distance of up to one mile. The Knight of the Holy Scale cannot see through the mount's eyes, but they can communicate telepathically. Even intelligent mounts see the world differently from humans, so misunderstandings are always possible. This is a supernatural ability. 
Because of the empathic link between the mount and the Knight of the Holy Scale, the player has the same connection to an item or place that the mount does, just as a master and his familiar. 

Share Saving Throws: The mount uses its own base save or the Knight of the Holy Scale's, whichever is higher. 

Speak with Knight of the Holy Scale: The Knight of the Holy Scale and mount can communicate verbally as if they were using a common language. Other creatures do not understand the communication without magical help.

Blood Bond: The servant gains a +2 bonus to all attacks, checks, and saves if it witnesses the Knight of the Holy Scale threatened or harmed. This bonus lasts as long as the threat is immediate and apparent.

Spell Resistance: The mount's spell resistance equals the Knight of the Holy Scale’s level + 5. 

Sneak Attack: If a Knight of the Holy Scale can catch an opponent when she is unable to defend herself effectively from his attack, he can strike a vital spot for extra damage. Basically, any time the Knight of the Holy Scale’s target would be denied her Dexterity bonus to AC (whether she actually has a Dexterity bonus or not), the Knight of the Holy Scale’s attack deals +1d6 points of damage at 6th level and an additional +1d6 points for every two levels thereafter (+2d6 at 8th level, +3d6 at 10th level, and so on). Should the Knight of the Holy Scale score a critical hit with a sneak attack, this extra damage is not multiplied.

Lay on Hands or Death Touch: At level 7 the Knight of the Holy Scale can choose either to gain Lay on Hands or Death Touch. The first is as per the Paladin’s ability with the same name and the second as per the Cleric’s Death Domain ability. This choice cannot be altered later in the game.

Body of Steel: At level 9 the Knight of the Holy Scale gains damage reduction equal to half his constitution score (a player with a constitution of 16 (+3 bonus) gains damage reduction of 1/-).

Spells: Beginning at 1st level, a Knight of the Holy Scale gains the ability to cast a small number of divine spells. To cast a spell, the Knight of the Holy Scale must have a Wisdom score of at least 10 + the spell’s level, so a player with a Wisdom of 10 or lower cannot cast these spells. Knight of the Holy Scale bonus spells are based on Wisdom, and saving throws against these spells have a DC of 10 + spell level + the player’s Wisdom modifier. When the Knight of the Holy Scale gets 0 spells of a given level, such as 0 1st-level spells at 1st level, he gets only bonus spells. (A Knight of the Holy Scale without a bonus spell for that level cannot yet cast a spell of that level.) The Knight of the Holy Scale’s spell list appears below. A Knight of the Holy Scale has access to any spell on the list and can freely choose which to prepare, just like a cleric. A Knight of the Holy Scale prepares and casts spells just as a cleric does (though the character cannot spontaneously cast cure or inflict spells).

Knights of the Holy Scale choose their spells from the following list:

1st level—cause fear, cure light wounds, doom, endure elements, inflict light wounds, magic weapon.
2nd level—bull’s strength, cure moderate wounds, darkness, inflict moderate wounds, resist elements, shatter, shield other.
3rd level—contagion, cure serious wounds, deeper darkness, heal mount, inflict serious wounds, protection from elements.
4th level—cure critical wounds, freedom of movement, inflict critical wounds, poison, remove disease.

Fallen Heroes: Should a paladin or a blackguard become a Knight of the Holy Scale he can trade up to 10 levels of his former class by Knight of the Holy Scale levels.

NOTE: This class is great for a PC to have if you play your cards right. The guy who played it in my campaign had to deliver weekly reports to the order (which was great for I got to know how his character regarded others as well as himself) and he once made the rest of the party fight another party to aid his comrades. He knew the had to hide his identity from others or I would prevent him to progress in this class (and the guy really, really wanted the nightmare) which created some amusing situations between him and the other PCs, such as when the Cleric discovered he could cast spells and demanded to know how could that be.