General Prestige Class : Eldritch Knight
Studying the martial and arcane arts to equal degree, the eldritch knight is a versatile combatant who can cast a fireball on her foes or charge them with sword drawn. The eldritch knight takes pride in her ability to use the right technique for the job: spells against physically tough foes and force of arms against spellcasting enemies.
Eldritch knights split their time between physical training to become better soldiers and arcane study to learn more powerful spells. They tend to be driven individuals, because simultaneously perfecting their spellcasting and combat prowess requires immense time and effort. Eldritch knights are never truly at home among arcane spellcasters or elite soldiers, so many drift from wizard school to mercenary unit to band of adventurers.
Every would-be eldritch knight must demonstrate both skill with a broad array of weapons and mastery of the basics of arcane spellcasting. Thus, almost all eldritch knights are multiclass characters already, with fighter/wizard the most common combination. A few eldritch knights were once bards, and even paladin/sorcerers aren't unheard of.
Eldritch knights can be found wherever there's a good fight or the promise of arcane lore. They find higher level fighters and wizards particularly interesting, and some eldritch knights apprentice themselves for a time to learn the finer points of arcane technique or weapons prowess.
Requirements
To qualify to become an Eldritch Knight, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Weapon Proficiency: Must be proficient with all martial weapons.
- Spells: Able to cast 3rd-level arcane spells.
Class Skills
The eldritch knight's class skills are Concentration, Craft, Decipher Script, Jump, Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (nobility and royalty), Ride, Sense Motive, Spellcraft, and Swim.
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All of the following are features of the eldritch knight prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Eldritch knights gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.
Bonus Feat: At 1st level, an eldritch knight may choose a bonus feat from the list of feats available to fighters. This is in addition to the feats that a character of any class normally gets every three levels. The character must still meet any prerequisites for these bonus feats, including four levels of fighter for the Weapon Specialization feat.
Spells per Day: From 2nd level on, when a new eldritch knight level is gained, the character gains new spells per day as if she had also gained a level in whatever arcane spellcasting class she belonged to before she added the prestige class. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (bonus metamagic or item creation feats, bard or assassin abilities, and so on). This essentially means that she adds the level of eldritch knight to the level of whatever other arcane spellcasting class the character has, then determines spells per day and caster level accordingly.
If a character had more than one arcane spellcasting class before she became an eldritch knight, she must decide to which class she adds each level of eldritch knight for the purpose of determining spells per day.
| Eldritch Knight | Hit Die: d6 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special |
| 1st | +1 | +2 | +0 | +0 | Bonus feat |
| 2nd | +2 | +3 | +0 | +0 | +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class |
| 3rd | +3 | +3 | +1 | +1 | +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class |
| 4th | +4 | +4 | +1 | +1 | +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class |
| 5th | +5 | +4 | +1 | +1 | +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class |
| 6th | +6 | +5 | +2 | +2 | +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class |
| 7th | +7 | +5 | +2 | +2 | +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class |
| 8th | +8 | +6 | +2 | +2 | +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class |
| 9th | +9 | +6 | +3 | +3 | +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class |
| 10th | +10 | +7 | +3 | +3 | +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class |
Source: Dungeon Master's Guide v.3.5