Shadow Knight

A heart of ice and a devotion stronger than steel—these are at the core of the Shadow Knight. Though of an
evil nature, shadow knights command a respect and dignity from all they pass. Corruption and chaos are the
bane of the shadow knight.
Adventures: Shadow Knights treat everything seriously and have a tendency to go about their adventures
as if they were personal tests of ability. They, like paladins, often refer to their adventures as “quests.”
Generally a shadow knight tries to support his deity’s causes in the same way a cleric might.
Characteristics: Evil divine power flows around a shadow knight giving him dark powers. It renders him
immune to diseases, poisons, and fears. He can manipulate this energy to harm his enemies and heighten
his skills. The most powerful among shadow knights ride terrifying creatures and summon ghastly undead
to do their bidding.
Alignment: Shadow Knights must be lawful evil, and they lose their divine powers if they deviate from
that alignment. Additionally, shadow knights swear to follow a code of conduct that is in line with
lawfulness and devoutness.
Religion: Shadow Knights follow evil gods usually associated with war, valor, death, strength, or the
undead. Shadow Knights are scrupulous in observing religious duties and are honored guests in every
associated temple.
Background: No one can choose to be a shadow knight. Only a person’s deity can bestow the honor and
the power that being a shadow knight provides. Usually a shadow knight is chosen at birth and then raised
by clerics of a evil god. Sometimes shadow knights are ordered to take on apprentices and train them
properly. Shadow Knights respect other shadow knights for their honor in much the same way they respect
paladins; unless the they follow the same deity, in which case they consider themselves brothers.
Races: In general shadow knights are usually human. The versatility of the human soul usually creates a
few with hearts cold enough to be shadow knights. Sometimes elves are shadow knights, but these twisted
souls are considered outcasts from elven society (exception Drow; where shadow knights are
commonplace). There are rumors of Dwares who follow this dark path, but you will likely never see one.
Members of the other common races rarely get chosen to be shadow knights. Among the savage
humanoids, none has the discipline necessary to follow the path of a shadow knight.
Other Classes: Shadow Knights are outsiders and wanderers; however, they see the values inherent in the
skills of other classes. They work best with clerics of their own deity and also work well with evil rangers
and evil monks. Conflict arises with those of good alignment but a shadow knight can work with anyone to
achieve a goal. Some of the most interesting relationships are between rogues and shadow knights. The
skills of a rogue are viewed as extremely practical and useful but often rogues do things that a shadow
knight would see as being “without honor.”

Game rule information

Shadow Knights have the following statistics.
Abilities: Charisma increases a shadow knight’s self-protective capabilities, offensive abilities, and undead
rebuking. Strength is important for a shadow knight because of its role in combat. A Wisdom score of 15 or
higher is required to get access to the most powerful paladin spells, and a score of 11 or higher is required
to cast any shadow knight spells at all.
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Hit Die: d10.

Class Skills
The shadow knight’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int),
Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Move
Silently (Dex), and Ride (Dex).

Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) x 4.

Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the shadow knight.
 Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Shadow Knights are proficient with all simple and martial
weapons, with all types of armor (heavy, medium, and light), and with shields.
Detect Good and Evil: At will, the shadow knight can detect good and evil as a spell-like ability.
This ability duplicates the effects of the spell detect good and the spell detect evil at the same time. The
auras of good and evil are distinguishable from each other.
Dark Grace: A shadow knight applies his Charisma modifier (positive or negative. Note: this
differs from a paladin) to all saving throws.
Harm Touch: A shadow knight can cause injury by mere touch. Each day he can deal a total
number of damage equal to his Charisma bonus (if any) times his level. For example, a 7th level shadow
knight with 16 Charisma (+3 bonus) may deal up to 21 points of damage. He may choose to divide the
damage among multiple recipients, and he doesn’t have to use it all at once. A shadow knight must succeed
at a touch attack and the target may make a Fortitude save DC 10 + Shadow Knight level for half damage.
Harm touch is a spell like ability whose use is a standard attack action.
Tainted Body: A shadow knight is immune to all diseases and poisons, including magical
diseases. At 9th level a shadow knight can choose to become infected by magical evil diseases (such as
mummy rot or lycanthropy) and can rid himself of the disease at will. He retains full control of his own
actions while under the disease and gains his Charisma modifier in all rolls regarding the disease.
Living Fear: Beginning at 2nd level, a shadow knight is immune to fear (magical or otherwise).
All non-allies within 10 feet of the shadow knight gain a –2 morale penalty on saving throws against fear
effects unless they succeed at a Will saving throw DC 10 + Shadow Knight level. Dealing this morale
penalty is a supernatural ability.
Rebuke Undead: When a shadow knight reaches 3rd level, he gains the supernatural ability to
rebuke/command undead. He may use this ability a number of times per day equal to three plus his
Charisma modifier. He rebukes/commands as an evil cleric of two levels lower would (see Turn and
Rebuke Undead, page 139).
Spells: Beginning at 4th level, a shadow knight gains the ability to cast a small number of divine
spells. To cast a spell, the shadow knight must have a Wisdom score of at least 10 + the spell’s level, so a
shadow knight with a Wisdom of 10 or lower cannot cast these spells. Shadow Knight bonus spells are
based on Wisdom, and saving throws against these spells have a Difficulty Class of 10 + spell level +
Wisdom modifier. When the shadow knight gets 0 spells of a given level, such as 0 1st-level spells at 4th
level, the shadow knight only gets bonus spells. A shadow knight without a bonus spell for that level
cannot yet cast a spell of that level. A shadow knight prepares spells as a cleric. Though 3rd level, a shadow
knight has no caster level. Starting at 4th level, a shadow knight’s caster level is one-half his class level.
Clad in Shadows: Beginning at 5th level, all clothing and armor (including shield) worn by a
shadow knight permanently turns black over the period of 3 days. For example, a white shirt would be a
mid-tone gray during the middle of the second day. The black color of the armor grants a +2 circumstance
bonus to Hide at night or in dark areas. The armor twists to fit the shadow knight who wears it and loses the
maximum dexterity bonus restriction. Additionally, armor (including shield) changed in this way does not
inflict an armor check penalty on the skills Hide and Move Silently. Armor changed in this way is evil and
is considered to have a Dim aura for purposes of spells like detect evil. Except for the +2 circumstance
bonus to Hide, this armor grants no bonuses to anyone but the shadow knight who changed it.
To resist this change, magical armor makes a saving throw of DC 10 + shadow knight level. If
successful it must make another saving throw every 3 days until it is changed. Intelligent armor may choose
to allow the change. If intelligent armor chooses to resist the change and fails a saving throw, it may make
force the shadow knight to make a will save versus the ego of the intelligent armor. If the shadow knight
fails, the armor has resisted the change but must still roll a save every 3 days. Good magical armor changed
by this ability could be radically changed in function.
Special Mount: Upon or after reaching 12th level, a shadow knight can call an unusually
intelligent, strong, and loyal steed to serve him in his duties to his deity. This mount is granted to him by
his deity and is usually a black warhorse or nightmare (or other such evil mount, DM’s discretion). (see
The Paladin’s Mount sidebar. A shadow knight mount has abilities, bonus HD, and str adjustment as listed,
however armor and Int may vary depending on creature used.)
Code of Conduct: A shadow knight must be of lawful evil alignment and loses all special class
abilities if he ever willingly violates his code of conduct or disobeys his deity. A shadow knight’s code
requires that he respect legitimate authority, act with honor (not lying, not cheating, not using poison, etc.),
and displays the mighty power of his deity. Shadow Knights have been known to help those in need as a
show of power and shadow knights of some gods have been known to bring dark justice down upon those
who act without honor, such shadow knights are often titled “Punisher”.
Associates: A shadow knight may adventure with characters of any alignment but does not get
along well with characters of good alignment. A paladin will never knowingly associate with a shadow
knight, however a shadow knight respects the honor of a paladin and treats them as if they were any other
lawful good characters.

Ex-Shadow Knights
A shadow knight who ceases to be lawful evil, who willfully disobeys his deity, or who grossly
violates the code of conduct loses all special abilities and spells. He also may not progress in levels as a
shadow knight. He regains his abilities if he atones for his violations, as appropriate.
Like a member of any other class, a shadow knight may be a multiclass character, but shadow
knights face the same restrictions as paladins. A shadow knight who gains a new class or (if already
multiclass) raises another class by a level may never again raise his shadow knight level, though he retains
all his abilities.
Base Attack Fort Ref Will
Level Bonus Save Save Save Special 1 2 3 4 5
Detect Good and Evil, Dark Grace, Harm
1 +1 +2 +0 +0 Touch, Tainted Body - - - - -
2 +2 +3 +0 +0 Living Fear - - - - -
3 +3 +3 +1 +1 Rebuke Undead - - - - -
4 +4 +4 +1 +1 0- - - -
5 +5 +4 +1 +1 Clad in Shadows 0- - - -
6 +6/+1 +5 +2 +2 1- - - -
7 +7/+2 +5 +2 +2 1- - - -
8 +8/+3 +6 +2 +2 1 0 - - -
9 +9/+4 +6 +3 +3 Tainted Body (control disease) 1 0 - - -
10 +10/+5 +7 +3 +3 1 1 - - -
11 +11/+6/+1 +7 +3 +3 1 1 0- -
12 +12/+7/+2 +8 +4 +4 Special Mount 1 1 1- -
13 +13/+8/+3 +8 +4 +4 1 1 1- -
14 +14/+9/+4 +9 +4 +4 2 1 1 0 -
15 +15/+10/+5 +9 +5 +5 2 1 1 1 -
16 +16/+11/+6 +10 +5 +5 2 2 1 1 -
17 +17/+12/+7 +10 +5 +5 2 2 2 1 -
18 +18/+13/+8 +11 +6 +6 3 2 2 1 0
19 +19/+14/+9 +11 +6 +6 3 3 3 2 1
20 +20/+15/+10 +12 +6 +6 3 3 3 3 1

1st-LEVEL SHADOW KNIGHT SPELLS

Bane. Enemies suffer –1 attack, -1 on saves against fear.
Cause Fear. One creature flees for 1d4 rounds.
Darkness. 20-ft radius of supernatural darkness.
Detect Undead. Reveals undead within 60 ft.
Divine Favor. You gain attack, damage bonus, +1/three levels.
Endure Elements. Ignores 5 damage/round from one energy type.
Inflict Light Wounds. Touch, 1d8+1/level damage (max +5)
Magic Weapon. Weapon gains +1 bonus.
Read Magic. Read scrolls and spellbooks.
Resistance. Subject gains +1 on saving throws.
Virtue. Subject gains 1 temporary hp.
2nd-LEVEL SHADOW KNIGHT SPELLS
Animate Dead. Creates undead skeletons and zombies.
Desecrate. Fills area with negative energy, making undead stronger.
Inflict Moderate Wounds. Touch, 2d8+1/level damage (max +10)
Resist Elements. Ignores 12 damage/round from one energy type.
Scare. Panics creatures up to 5 HD (15-ft. radius)
Shield Other. You take half of subject’s damage.
Undetectable Alignment. Conceals alignment for 24 hours.

3rd-LEVEL SHADOW KNIGHT SPELLS

Blindness/Deafness. Makes subject blind or deaf.
Death Knell. Kills dying creature; you gain 1d8 temporary hp, +2 Str and +1 caster level.
Discern Lies. Reveals deliberate falsehoods.
Dispel Magic. Cancels magical spells and effects.
Greater Magic Weapon. +1 bonus/three levels (max +5)
Inflict Serious Wounds. Touch, 3d8+1/level damage (max +15*)
Repulsion. Creatures can’t approach you.
Vampiric Touch. Touch deals 1d6/two caster levels; caster gains damage as hp.

4th-LEVEL SHADOW KNIGHT SPELLS

Create Undead. Ghouls, shadows, ghasts, wights, or wraiths.
Contagion. Infects subject with chosen disease.
Death Ward. Grants immunity to death spells and effects.
Fear. Subjects within cone flee for 1 round/level.
Freedom of Movement. Subject moves normally despite impediments.
Inflict Critical Wounds. Touch, 4d8+1/level damage (max +20*)

5th-LEVEL SHADOW KNIGHT SPELLS

Bestow Curse. –6 to an ability; -4 on attacks, saves, and checks; or 50% chance of losing each action.
Create Greater Undead. Mummies, spectres, vampires, or ghosts.
Harm. Subject loses all but 1d4 hp.
Unhallow. Designates location as unholy.

*
Shadow Knights maximum effective caster level is 10.