General Prestige Class : Knight of the Scale
by Keith Strohm with Dragon Staff, Dragon #296
Bolstered by the divine power of their god and driven by the force of their sacred duty, knights of the scale travel throughout the world raising sword and shield against the threat of dragonkind. Undaunted by the primal fury of formidable breath weapons and razor-edged claws, these stalwart heroes do battle wherever the taint of draconic evil gains a foothold.
Unlike their more traditional noble counterparts, knights of the scale (also referred to as scale knights) are called from every social rank and caste, causing some hidebound folk to cast a disdainful glance whenever they make an appearance. Despite the vagaries of their breeding, these fierce warriors embody a nobility of spirit and purity of purpose that shines forth when confronted by a draconic adversary. Knights of the scale do not throw caution to the wind and foolishly charge into battle with a dragon, preferring instead to plan as carefully as possible. However, bravery, courage and strength are paramount for these characters. Scale knights seek to face and defeat dragons through force of arms, faith, and intellect while remaining true to the strict dictates of their honor and sense of duty. Sneaking in to a black dragon's cavern and dropping the ceiling upon its head would be anathema to them for example.
Paladins, fighters and clerics make excellent knights of the scale. Some barbarians also find themselves called to this pursuit while rogues and arcane spellcasters rarely don the armor and shield of a scale knight.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Knight of the Scale, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Alignment: Any good
- Skills: Knowledge (arcana) 4 ranks, Ride 9 ranks
- Feats: Mounted Combat, Weapon Focus (Lance, heavy),
- Base Attack Bonus: +6
- Special: A character seeking to become a knight of the scale must have killed a dragon (either singly or as part of a group) of young adult age or older and commissioned a suit of armor constructed from its scales.
Class Skills
The knight of the Scale's class skills are Climb, Concentration, Diplomacy, Handle Animal, Heal, Jump, Knowledge (all skills taken individually), Ride, and Swim.
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the knight of the scale prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Knights of the scale gain proficiency with all simple and martial weapons, with all types of armor, and with shields.
Blood of Heroes (Su): Bathed in the radiance of their deity's power, knights of the scale are immune to a dragon's frightful presence. In addition, all allies within no feet of the knight receive a +4 morale bonus to their Will saves versus this fear-generating effect. If the knight of the scale also possesses a paladin's aura of courage, her protective emanation improves, extending immunity to the frightful presence ability to all allies within no feet. Any protected companion who moves beyond the range of this protective field must immediately make a Will save to resist the effects of the dragons frightful presence
Detect Dragon (Sp): At will, the knight of the scale can detect the presence of dragons as a spell-like ability. This ability is identical to the detect evil spell except that it detects only creatures with the dragon type (regardless of alignment) and there is no chance for the knight to become stunned.
Dragonslaying (Su): Energized by the might of her deity, a scale knight receives a +1 morale bonus to her attack rolls starting at 2nd level when combating dragons and other draconic creatures. On a successful attack roll, she inflicts an additional 1d6 points of holy damage. At 8th level, the bonus increases to +2 and +2d6 holy damage.
Sacred Shield (Su): Knights of the scale receive a +2 sacred bonus to all saves against a dragon's spells and supernatural abilities, as the hand of their god protects them from harm. This bonus increases to +4 at 7th level.
Shatter Scale (Su): Once per (Jay, a scale knight can summon the wrath of her deity and focus it in one melee attack against a creature with the dragon type. When doing so, she receives a +4 bonus on her melee attack roll and a damage bonus equal to her knight of the scale class level.
Mount (Su): At 5th-level. the knight of the scale can call a special winged mount to carry her into the air. The knight of the scale can choose either celestial griffon, a celestial pegasus (advanced to 6 hit dice), a celestial giant eagle (advanced to 6 hit dice), or a celestial giant owl (advanced to 6 hit dice).
Should a knight of the scale's mount fall, she can call for another one after year and a day.
A knight of the scale with paladin levels does not gain the mount ability. Instead, her knight of the scale levels stack with her paladin levels to determine the power of her special mount.
Ride-By Attack: At 6th level, the knight of the scale gains the Ride-By Attack feat.
Heal Mount (Sp): Once per day, the knight of the scale can cast the heal mount spell as a paladin with a level equal to the knight's character level.
Righteous Charge (Su): Once per day after attaining 10th level, a knight of the scale can open her being to the pure power of her deity and use the divine energy to make a devastating charge attack. When mounted and using the charge action against a creature with the dragon type, a knight of the scale deals double damage with a melee weapon (or triple damage a lance). If the knight already has the Spirited charge feat, the damage from a change attack is tripled against a draconic foe (or quadrupled when using a lance.)
| Knight of the Scale | Hit Die: d10 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special |
| 1st | +1 | +2 | +0 | +0 | Blood of heroes, detect dragon |
| 2nd | +2 | +2 | +0 | +0 | Sacred Shield +2 |
| 3rd | +3 | +3 | +1 | +1 | Dragonslaying +1/1d6 |
| 4th | +4 | +3 | +1 | +1 | Shatter scale |
| 5th | +5 | +4 | +1 | +1 | Mount |
| 6th | +6 | +4 | +2 | +2 | Ride-by Attack |
| 7th | +7 | +5 | +2 | +2 | Sacred shield +4 |
| 8th | +8 | +5 | +2 | +2 | Dragonslaying +2/2d6 |
| 9th | +9 | +6 | +3 | +3 | Heal Mount |
| 10th | +10 | +6 | +3 | +3 | Righteous charge |
Source: Dragon #296