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A platinum knight
CHAPTER 3:
The platinum knight protects good-aligned dragonkind from their natural enemies, the chromatic dragons, as well as any others who would prey upon these noble creatures. Bahamut, Lord of the Good Dragons, is his patron, while the minions of Tiamat are his mortal foes. Paladins, clerics, and fighters are the most common platinum knights. Of course, any good-aligned character who counts himself an ally of dragonkind can pursue this class, and has much to gain from it. NPC platinum knights often work with other goodaligned beings, including dragons, celestials, paladins, and, of course, characters of other classes who share their outlook. They do not hesitate to recruit assistance when facing powerful evil dragons, but voluntarily associate only with other good characters. Hit Die: d8.
Class Features All of the following are class features of the platinum knight prestige class. Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A platinum knight is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all types of armor, and with shields. Smite Evil Dragon (Su): Once per day, a platinum knight may attempt to smite an evil dragon with one normal melee attack. He adds his Charisma modifier (if positive) to his attack roll and deals 2 extra points of damage per level. If a platinum knight accidentally smites a creature that is not an evil dragon, the smite has no effect but it is still used up for that day. The bonuses from this ability don’t stack with other smite abilities, such as the paladin’s smite evil. Every three levels beyond 1st, the platinum knight gains one additional daily use of this ability. Immune to Frightful Presence (Ex): Platinum knights are treated as dragons for the
Illus. by S. Tappin
PLATINUM KNIGHT
Class Skills The platinum knight’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Ride (Dex), and Sense Motive (Wis). See Chapter 4: Skills in the Player’s Handbook for skill descriptions. Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
THE PLAYER’S PERSPECTIVE
remains immune to that initiate’s frightful presence for 24 hours. On a failure, creatures with 4 or fewer HD become panicked for 2d6 rounds and those with 5 or more HD become shaken for 2d6 rounds. Improved Evasion (Ex): At 6th level, an initiate’s evasion ability improves. She still takes no damage on a successful Reflex saving throw against attacks such as a dragon’s breath weapon or a fireball, but henceforth she only takes half damage on a failed save. Spell Resistance (Su): Beginning at 7th level, an initiate of the draconic mysteries gains spell resistance equal to 15 + her class level. Deadly Strike (Su): A 9th-level initiate deals triple damage on a critical hit inflicted by her unarmed strike, regardless of whether it dealt bludgeoning or slashing damage. Timeless Body (Ex): After attaining 9th level, an initiate no longer takes ability score penalties for aging (see Table 6–5: Aging Effects, page 109 of the Player’s Handbook) and cannot be magically aged. Any penalties she may have already taken, however, remain in place. Bonuses still accrue, and the initiate still dies of old age when her time is up. Dragon Shape (Su): At 10th level, an initiate of the draconic mysteries gains the ability to use a shapechange ability once per day to take the form of a dragon, from Tiny to Huge size, for 1 hour. Once a form is assumed, it cannot be changed except to return to normal (which dismisses the effect). The effect is otherwise identical to the shapechange spell, including the HD limitation of the new form and the abilities of the form gained.
Requirements To qualify to become a platinum knight, a character must fulfill all the following criteria. Alignment: Any good. Base Attack Bonus: +5. Feats: Dragonfriend. Skills: Diplomacy 4 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 4 ranks. Languages: Draconic.
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