Ghost Knight (Apath)

Unofficial rules compendium

The ghost knight is a cavalier who have forged a bond with a spirit mount, a ghostly supernatural creature. The ghost knight has a secret destiny, and when destiny calls, he answers. Until then, he is content to be a drifter and companion to others. To everyone but his closest friends and companions, he is but a nameless, lonesome traveler. The ghost knight is a martial artist of the way of force.

Class Information

This is a force armor archetype.

Publisher: Purple Duck Games.

Starting Money: 2d6 × 10 gp (average 70 gp)

Class: Cavalier.

Hit Die: d10.

Class Skills

Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (Arcana) (Int), Knowledge (Religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Swim (Str), and Magic Device (Cha).

Class Features

The ghost knight has all the cavaliers class features, except as follows

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

Ghost knights are proficient with all simple and martial weapons. They are not proficient in any armor or shields.

Destiny

The ghost knight has a special destiny. What destiny is need not be clear at first, but it should always be relevant to the campaign. It is generally something to do with the dead, making the ghost knight an agent for spooks and revenants. Player and game master should work together to create a destiny that appeals to the player and works as an adventure hook to the adventures the game master is running. A ghost knight that blatantly ignores his destiny loses his supernatural and spell-like class abilities until he decides to pursue it again.

Ghost Armor (Su)

A character with this ability can project a powerful protective aura that functions as armor and becomes an expert at using bracers of armor. This aura is force armor, and protects against incorporeal touch attacks. It can be activated at will as a swift action, and the protection stays up until deactivated or as long as the user is conscious. At class level 4, this armor can be used alongside bracers of armor, with stacking benefits. It does not otherwise stack with armor, either normal or force. It can be affected by armor-enhancing effects like magic vestment, but such enhancements do not stack with braces or armor. This counts as heavy armor to abilities that require or work with armor and suffers a 25% chance of arcane spell failure.It provides an armor bonus of +7.

The armor created by ghost knights looks like a veil of ghostly shadows. It can hide appearance, granting a +10 bonus on Disguise checks to conceal identity.

This replaces order.

Ghost Knight Block (Su)

While under ghost armor, the ghost knight adds a +2 shield bonus to armor class. This is considered force armor, and improves by +1 for every 4 levels (+2 at levels up to 3, +3 at levels 4-7, +4 at levels 8-11 and so on). The ghost knight must have one hand free, and he cannot carry a shield or two weapons when using this ability, not can he use a weapon in two hands. He may momentarily use the off hand for things like somatic components or drawing and throwing a weapon in the same round. This ability counts as a shield to abilities that require a shield.

This replaces order.

Ghost Touch (Su)

At 2nd level, any weapon the ghost knight wields gains the ghost touch property while wielded. Weapons fired, thrown, or dropped lose the property at the end of the ghost knight’s turn. The ghost knight can also choose to inflict nonlethal damage without taking the usual -4 attack penalty to do so.

He can also use mage armor as a spell-like ability once per day as a sorcerer of his class level, but only to affect his mount. He can use this ability an additional time per day for every 5 class levels after level 5.

This ability replaces the order ability normally gained at level 2.

Phantom Steed (Sp)

At third level, he gains the ability to cast phantom steed once per day as a sorcerer of his cavalier level. When cast, the steed appears in the cavalier's space (squeezing as required if there is not enough space) and the ghost knight is immediately mounted. The mount disappears if the cavalier dismounts, but can otherwise carry other riders along with the ghost knight, as it's carrying capacity allows. The ghost rider and anything the cavalier wears or carries does not count against the weight limit of the phantom steed. The phantom steed has the Improved Evasion and Share Spells ability of an animal companion. The phantom steed is considered combat trained. At 6th level, the ghost knight can cast phantom steed at will. At 9th level, he can cast phantom steed as a swift action. At 12th level, he can cast phantom steed as an immediate action, replacing a killed steed before hitting the ground. At 15th level, the phantom steed becomes incorporeal, but is still able to carry the ghost rider and any additional load.

This replaces the Mount ability.

Weapon Cache (Su)

At 4th level, the ghost knight gains access to a personal extra-dimensional space. This space can hold weapons and personal gear with a total weight of 10 lbs. per level of the ghost knight. Weight carried in the weapon cache does not count against the ghost knight's encumbrance. Drawing an item from the weapon cache is a free action, and it can be done outside the ghost knight's turn as an immediate action. It is possible for others to reach into this extra-dimensional space to steal what is in there, this is about as hard as stealing something out of a backpack.

This ability replaces the Expert Trainer ability normally gained at level 4.

Ghost Run (Sp)

At 8th level, once per day the ghost knight can cast ethereal jaunt as a sorcerer of his cavalier level. He can end this effect as a free action. This affects the ghost knight herself and his phantom steed if he is mounted. The ghost knight can use this ability one additional time per day for every 4 levels after level 8.

This ability replaces the order ability normally gained at level 8.

Ghost Army (Su)

At 15th level, any weapon or armor used by an ally within 60 ft. of the ghost knight gains the ghost touch property while wielded. Missile weapons imbue this ability on their ammunition Items fired, thrown, or dropped lose the property at the end of the wielder's turn.

This ability replaces the order ability normally gained at level 15.

Table: Ghost Knight

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special
1st	+1	+2	+0	+0	Challenge 1/day, destiny, ghost armor, ghost knight block, tactician
2nd	+2	+3	+0	+0	Ghost touch
3rd	+3	+3	+1	+1	Cavalier's charge, phantom steed
4th	+4	+4	+1	+1	Challenge 2/day, weapon cache
5th	+5	+4	+1	+1	Banner
6th	+6/+1	+5	+2	+2	Bonus feat, phantom steed (at will)
7th	+7/+2	+5	+2	+2	Challenge 3/day
8th	+8/+3	+6	+2	+2	Ghost run (1/day)
9th	+9/+4	+6	+3	+3	Greater tactician, phantom steed (swift)
10th	+10/+5	+7	+3	+3	Challenge 4/day
11th	+11/+6/+1	+7	+3	+3	Mighty charge
12th	+12/+7/+2	+8	+4	+4	Bonus feat, demanding challenge, ghost run (w/day), phantom steed (immediate)
13th	+13/+8/+3	+8	+4	+4	Challenge 5/day
14th	+14/+9/+4	+9	+4	+4	Greater banner
15th	+15/+10/+5	+9	+5	+5	Ghost army, phantom steed (incorporeal)
16th	+16/+11/+6/+1	+10	+5	+5	Challenge 6/day, ghost run (3/day)
17th	+17/+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+5	Master tactician
18th	+18/+13/+8/+3	+11	+6	+6	Bonus feat
19th	+19/+14/+9/+4	+11	+6	+6	Challenge 7/day
20th	+20/+15/+10/+5	+12	+6	+6	Ghost run (4/day), supreme charge

Summary of Changed Class Abilities

These abilities of the original class are lost or modified in this archetype:

• Class Skills
• Weapon and Armor Proficiency
• Mount
• Tactician
• Expert Trainer
• Banner
• Greater Tactician
• Greater Banner
• Master Tactician

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