Black Knight Invented by Søren Surlykke
CLIMATE/TERRAIN Any non-water or non-avariel
FREQUENCY Uncommon (20%)
ORGANIZATION Squad
ACTIVITY CYCLE Any
DIET Nil
INTELLIGENCE Average (8-10)
TREASURE P, U
ALIGNMENT Chaotic Evil
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NO. APPEARING 2d6+2
ARMOR CLASS 1
MOVEMENT 12
HIT DICE 5+3
THAC0 15
NO. OF ATTACKS 2
DAMAGE/ATTACKS By weapon +2 (specialization)
SPECIAL ATTACKS Possible spells, missile weapons, fear
SPECIAL DEFENSES +1 or better to hit, regeneration
MAGIC RESISTANCE Nil
SIZE L (12 feet)
MORALE Fearless (19)
XP VALUE 2000
Tall (12 feet) warriors in Full Plate, these undeads are to Liches what normal knights are for mortals.
COMBAT
All Black Knights have bows and one melee weapon, mostly a huge two-handed sword, but it could also be an axe or a morning star.
I addition, a few are also mages of up to 3rd level (1d4-1), these mages also use weapons.
Chance of weapons:
Weapon: Chance: Damage:
Bow all 1d8
Sword 50 % 3d6
Axe 30 % 1d12
Morning Star 15 % 1d10
Mage 5 % by spell
As all other undeads, they are immune to hold, sleep and charm spells, but they are also furthermore immune to fear spells, and they regenerate 1 hp pr. hour, unless they, when reduced to 0 hp, are sprinkled all over the body with holy water.
Holy water does 1d10+1 points of damage on a black knight with a successful hit.
HABITAT/SOCIETY
These monsters have no society, at least no one on any of the known planes, but they are never found alone.
Usually, they are hired as killers to eliminate a special target. If one wants to hire Black Knights he must be evil of alignment and must be able to cast Monster Summoning V. It doesn't necessarily has to be himself, it can also be another wizard of evil alignment. It starts with prayers to the evil gods, perhaps the god of undead, and after that, the wizard casts Monster Summoning V, this gives it a 35 % chance that the outcome will be a Black Knight. If it is a Black Knight, the caster tells the name of the victim, and gives the Black Knight 1.000-10.000 (1d10 x 1.000) gp, based on the victim and the difficulty of the task.
Black Knights can also be created. This method demands exotic materials worth at least 10.000 gp, a black full plate armor, a liquefied scroll with the spell Fear inscribed which has to be poured all over the armor. When all this is done, the wizard sits down and casts the following spells : Raise Dead, Limited Wish and Monster Summoning V.
It takes a wizard of at least 18 level to create a Black Knight, but then it will be 100% loyal to its creator.
ECOLOGY
Black knights are undead, and have no effect on the ecology in an area, only as potential destructive forces.
One could use the plate armors of the Black Knight, but this free full plate comes with a price, a -4 reaction adjustment on encounter reactions. The only good thing abut the armor is that it is a good disguise among undeads, as any unintelligent, and most intelligent undead ignore one as they think the wearer is an undead ! But if he starts to attack one, all undead in the area attacks him.