GREY KNIGHT

The Grey Knight Chapter of the Legiones Astartes serves as the fighting arm of the Ordo Malleus, the secret Daemon-hunting elite of the Inquisition.

 

Alone of all the Marine Chapters, the Grey Knights possess full knowledge of the terror of Chaos. Designated Chapter 666, they are the Chamber Militant of the Ordo Malleus, and the Grand Master of the Grey Knights is traditionally a member of the Inquisition. The Knights are among the most faithful of the Emperor's servants, fully the match of the Inquisition in their zeal to defeat those who would overthrow the Imperium and steal the souls of Mankind. Their bodies are rigorously trained to withstand great pain and fear. Their minds are disciplined by the thousand rituals of detestation to face the worst horrors of the warp without flinching. And their hearts are strengthened by the Emperor’s faith.

 

Many Grey Knight Marines are selected from amongst Imperial sanctioned psykers who have already proven themselves as being capable combatants as well as psyker. They are specially screened to exclude all but the strongest and most resilient psykers. Some Knights have little psychic ability at all, and thus are relatively safe from daemonic possession. Some, however, are extremely potent psykers, judged strong and pure enough to pit their powers against creatures from the warp. All have enough psyker power however to be equipped with Nemesis Force Weapons and protected by Tactical Dreadnought Armour, these elite warriors can hope to oppose even the Greater Daemons of Chaos.

 

The Grey Knight psykers are trained to work in small, extremely mobile strike forces, typically in squads of five men each. These squads, and the necessary support and transport units, are deployed at strategic locations throughout the Imperium, ready to move rapidly to any planet facing daemonic invasion.

 

Grey Knight Terminator Squads may be stationed in the field for decades at a time. And though to many the Chapter’s homeworld is but a distant memory, it is every Knight’s most cherished wish is to be buried in the chapel beneath the beloved fortress-monastery.

 

The fastest way to the Grey Knight prestige class is through a combination of the Bounty Hunter or Tracker and Sanctioned Psyker or Inquisitor prestige classes.

 

Requirements

Skills: Knowledge (warp) 15 ranks, Knowledge (imperial) 15 ranks

Class Ability: Favoured Enemy (daemon)

Powers: Ability to cast 1st level Arcane Psyker Powers.

Feats: Heavy Armour Proficiency

 

CLASS INFORMATION

The following information pertains to the Grey Knight prestige class.

 

Hit Die

Gains 1d10 hit points per level. The character’s Constitution modifier applies.

 

Action Points

Grey Knights gain a number of action points equal to 7 plus one-half their character level, rounded down, every time they advance a level in this class.

 

Class Skills

Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Hide (Dex), Investigate (Int), Jump (Str), Knowledge (tactics, Chaos, Imperium, warp) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Search (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), Treat Injury (Wis).

 

Skill Points for each Level: 5 + Int modifier

 

Table: The Grey Knight
Level	Base Attack	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Defense	Leadership
1	+1	+1	+0	+2	Armour, Arcane Powers	+1	+1
2	+2	+2	+0	+3	Libra Daemonicus	+1	+1
3	+3	+2	+1	+3	Nemesis, Arcane Powers	+2	+1
4	+4	+2	+1	+4	Psy-Storage	+2	+2
5	+5	+3	+1	+4	Psy-Blast, Arcane Powers	+3	+2

 

CLASS FEATURES

The following class features pertain to the Grey Knight prestige class.

 

Arcane Powers

Every other level of Grey Knight increases the characters Arcane Caster level. This will combine with his caster level for

 

Grey Knight Terminator Armour

The Grey Knights’ Terminator suits are highly ornamented. They are heavily embossed, in an almost baroque style, with the standard Terminator symbol on the left shoulder and right knee, and the Grey Knights’ distinctive badge (a sword through a tome) on the right shoulder and left knee. The first thing the knight’s are given when they are inducted is this mastercraft set of Terminator armour. It is statistically the same as Tactical Dreadnought Armour (see Armour Sectio) but only has an armour penalty of -2. Each Suit is also equipped with a psychic hood, similar to those on the Aegis suits worn by Librarian Marines. The hoods offer the Knights excellent protection against psychic attack. The hood offers a +5 bonus to saving throws against psychic attacks. The knight is treated as having Improved Evasion for the purpose of psychic attacks only.

 

The armour of grey knight is very precious to him, like a second skin. If a knight loses his armour, he also loses all class abilities and talents until he regains the armour.

 

Libra Daemonicus

Starting at second level each Knight goes into combat with a copy of the Chapter’s sacred book of battle rituals, the Libra Daemonicus, in a special ceramite case on his breastplate. Purity seals are prominently displayed on his legs and thighs, signs that he is uncontaminated by the slightest taint of Chaos. The Libra Daemonicus has the effect of increasing the Knight’s favoured enemy (daemon) bonus from +2 on all effects to +5.

 

The Nemesis Weapon

The Nemesis Force Weapon is the standard armament of third level or higher Grey Knight Terminator Squads. This halberd-like weapon is a more sophisticated and powerful version of the force sword. Each Nemesis is uniquely built to match the psychic field of its bearer, enhancing his hand-to-hand combat abilities far beyond those of an ordinary Marine. In addition, the Nemesis contains a compact bolter, cunningly built into the haft of the weapon. The Nemesis therefore counts as a boltgun as well as a force weapon. As a force weapon it 3d10 damage with a DRP of 5. Additionally, like other force weapons, it targets the mind as well as the body slowing the target down to make him easier to hit. For this reason foes being attack by a Force Weapon add their Wisdom modifier as a bonus to defense not their Dexterity modifier.

 

Psy-Storage

At fourth level the Grey Knight learns how to store his psychic power in his weapon to grant him more flexibility. A Grey Knight can impart up to half his powers (half at each power level rounded down) into the weapon. By re-studying his psychic tome the Grey Knight can regain all his powers. Since the powers remain in the weapon he effectively can cast one and a half times as many powers. For instance, a Caster Level 6 Grey Knight with an Intelligence of 18 can cast 4 level 1 powers, 4 level 2 powers, 3 level 3 powers, and 1 level 4 power. He can store up to 2 level 1 powers, 2 level 2 powers and 1 level 3 power into his Nemesis weapon. He can call upon these at any time, even if he has already regained the slots due to a day’s rest and re-studying the book.

 

Psychic Blast

The Nemesis can be used by a fifth level Grey Knight as a focus for a Psychic Blast. Though exceedingly powerful, the Psychic Blast is a weapon of last resort. Often there is a mental strain associated with launching the Blast that is tremendous, and afflicts the Knight with severe mental agony. The psychic blast uses up all of the powers stored on the weapon and saps the Knight of the same number of powers. Add up the total level of all the powers sucked in this way (doubled because they are sapped from the weapon and the wielder). For instance the Grey Knight above had 2 level 1 powers, 2 level 2 powers and 1 level 3 power on his Nemesis weapon. Together that is 2 x 1 + 2 x 2 + 1 x 3 = 9, doubled because the same number was sapped from the knight himself is 18. A psychic blast from this weapon will deal 18d10 points of DRP 5 damage if the grey knight hits on a ranged touch attack. The attack will deal half that damage in backlash on the knight. If the knight does not have enough powers left to equal the number on his weapon then all his powers are removed the damage remains the same (double) but he takes identical damage on the backlash as the damage he dealt.