Celestial Knight (Apath)

Unofficial rules compendium

Guardians of a sacred trust, the celestial knights are a chivalrous order dedicated to guarding against the schemes of undead creatures and any plots to increase the power of undeath. The order is deeply religious, composed of devoted worshipers.

Class Information

This is a prestige archetype.

Prestige Class: Celestial knight from Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Paths of Prestige.

Build Class: Cavalier.

The celestial knight is a holy warrior using shields to fight undead.

Role: A celestial knight is the champion of his faith and and incarnation of his domain. More aggressive than a normal cleric, the celestial knight often faces his chosen enemies head-on.

Alignment: A celestial knight must have a patron deity with a focus on fighting against undead or evil, and his alignment must be within one step of her deity's, along either the law/chaos axis or the good/evil axis.

Hit Die: d10.

Class Skills

The celestial knight's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), and Swim (Str).

Skill Ranks at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Class Features

The following are class features of the celestial knight prestige archetype.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

A celestial knight is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with all kinds of armor and shields.

Favored Enemy (Ex)

This is the same as the ranger ability, except the celestial knight must choose undead as his favored enemy at first level, and that no other favored enemy can have a higher bonus than the bonus against undead at any point of the celestial knight's career.

Tactician (Ex)

At 1st level, a celestial knight receives a teamwork feat as a bonus feat. He must meet the prerequisites for this feat. As a standard action, the celestial knight can grant this feat to all allies within 30 feet who can see and hear him. Allies retain the use of this bonus feat for 3 rounds plus 1 round for every two levels the celestial knight possesses. Allies do not need to meet the prerequisites of these bonus feats. The celestial knight can use this ability once per day at 1st level, plus one additional time per day at 5th level and for every 5 levels thereafter. At level 11 using this ability is a move action. At level 19, it can be used as a swift action.

Aegis Feat (Ex)

At 2nd level, and every four levels thereafter, a celestial knight gains a bonus feat from the following list: Bashing Finish, Covering Defense, Following Step, Greater Shield Focus, Greater Shield Specialization, Improved Shield Bash, Missile Shield, Ray Shield, Saving Shield, Shield Focus, Shield Master, Shield Slam, Shield Specialization, Step Up, and Step Up And Strike.

A celestial knight must meet the prerequisites for these feats, but his class levels count as fighter levels for the purposes of meeting these prerequisites.

Blessed Conviction (Su)

At 2nd level, a celestial knight gains a bonus on saving throws against spells and effects created by favored enemies. This is half the favored enemy bonus.

Sentinel Against Undeath (Ex)

At third level celestial knight gains a bonus equal to 1/3 his class level as a dodge bonus to his AC and CMD against attacks made by undead.

Teamwork Feat (Ex)

At 4th level, and every four levels thereafter, a celestial knight gains a bonus feat in addition to those gained from normal advancement. These bonus feats must be selected from those listed as teamwork feats. The celestial knight must meet the prerequisites of the selected bonus feat.

In addition, at these levels, a celestial knight may choose to learn a new teamwork feat in place of a teamwork feat he has already learned. In effect, he loses the old teamwork feat in exchange for the new one. The old feat cannot be one that was used as a prerequisite for another feat, prestige class, or other ability, and he can change only one teamwork feat at any given level.

Bulwark Against Undead (Ex)

At 7th level, attacks of opportunity the celestial knight makes against undead and against spellcasters casting spells of the necromancy school or with the evil descriptor do not count against the limit of opportunity attacks per round; he can make an unlimited number of attacks of opportunity against such foes.

Thwart Foul Magic (Ex)

At 9th level, whenever a celestial knight threatens an undead spellcaster, he gains the benefits of the Disruptive and Spellbreaker feats. He counts as having these feats for the purposes of qualifying for feats or other abilities. If he already possesses the Disruptive and/or Spellbreaker feats, the effects do not stack. When he threatens any spellcaster (not just an undead spellcaster), the concentration check DC increases by 2 if the spell being cast is from the necromancy school, has the death descriptor, or has the evil descriptor. For the purpose of this ability, the celestial knight counts as having automatically identified the effect as if he had made a Spellcraft check. This increase only applies if the celestial knight is aware of the spellcaster's location and is capable of making an attack of opportunity.

Purge Malevolence (Su)

At 13 level, a celestial knight can attempt to dispel an ongoing spell effect from the necromancy school or one with the death or evil descriptor as part of a melee attack against a creature or object. The celestial knight must declare the attempt before making the attack, and if he misses, the attempt is wasted. If the attack hits, eligible effects on the target are subject to a targeted dispel magic effect (caster level equal to the celestial knight's total character level). The celestial knight can choose to make this a touch attack, in which case it deals no damage. He can use this ability on any melee attack, but only once per round.

Foil Deathcaster (Ex)

At 17th level, a celestial knight can force an undead spellcaster he threatens to reroll a concentration check made to cast defensively. The spellcaster must take the lower result.

Raiment of Righteousness (Su)

At 20th level, once per day as a swift action, a celestial knight can transfigure his gear into an embodiment of virtuous valor. His armor (if metallic) turns silver-gray, gaining the material properties of adamantine in addition to any other material properties it may have. His shield (if he wears one) glows like a torch and gains the blinding special ability in addition to any other special abilities it has. The shield's blinding ability has a saving throw DC of 19 (21 vs. undead). His cloak (if he wears one) turns bright red, becoming a cloak of resistance +5 in addition to any other properties it has. His sword (if he wields one) acts as if it has a holy sword spell cast upon it with caster level equal to his class level. These effects last for 1 minute, and only function while the celestial knight wields or wears these items. A dropped or removed item ceases granting its abilities, but resumes if returned before the duration expires. The appearance of the transfigured items may be different depending on the celestial knight's faith.

Table: Celestial Knight

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special
1st	+1	+2	+0	+0	Favored enemy (undead), tactician
2nd	+2	+3	+0	+0	Aegis feat, blessed conviction
3rd	+3	+3	+1	+1	Sentinel against undeath
4th	+4	+4	+1	+1	Teamwork feat
5th	+5	+4	+1	+1	2nd favored enemy
6th	+6/+1	+5	+2	+2	Aegis feat
7th	+7/+2	+5	+2	+2	Bulwark against undead
8th	+8/+3	+6	+2	+2	Teamwork feat
9th	+9/+4	+6	+3	+3	Thwart foul magic
10th	+10/+5	+7	+3	+3	3rd favored enemy
11th	+11/+6/+1	+7	+3	+3	Tactician (move)
12th	+12/+7/+2	+8	+4	+4	Teamwork feat
13th	+13/+8/+3	+8	+4	+4	Purge malevolence
14th	+14/+9/+4	+9	+4	+4	Aegis feat
15th	+15/+10/+5	+9	+5	+5	4th favored enemy
16th	+16/+11/+6/+1	+10	+5	+5	Teamwork feat
17th	+17/+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+5	Foil deathcaster
18th	+18/+13/+8/+3	+11	+6	+6	Aegis feat
19th	+19/+14/+9/+4	+11	+6	+6	Tactician (swift)
20th	+20/+15/+10/+5	+12	+6	+6	5th favored enemy, raiment of righteousness, teamwork feat

Ex-Celestial Knights

A celestial knight who grossly violates the code of conduct required by her god loses all spells and supernatural class features. She cannot thereafter gain levels as a celestial knight until he atones for his deeds (see the atonement spell description).

Alternate Celestial Knights

Different knightly orders can focus on other monsters and magic schools, as appropriate to each game world. Simply replace "undead" with another creature type, and "necromancy" with another school of magic. Orders might also be focused on subtypes of creatures or subschools of magic, depending on what fits your game world. Here are some examples:

Creature Type	School of Magic
Fey	Enchantment or Illusion
Magical Beast or Monstrous humanoid	Transmutation
Outsider	Conjuration