Unseelie Knight (5A)

Starfox's 5th Edition Fan Page

This is a work in progress.

This is a Fighter subclass for 5A

The Unseelie Knights’ origins are shrouded by the haze of rumor and half-truths. Some believe they are the offspring of hags and humans. Others believe that the influence of the Unseelie Queen and her Winter Court have transformed otherwise elegant fey into monstrous enforcers. The little-known truth is that Unseelie Knights are mortals who have sworn their lives to the service of the Winter Court. They enforce the will of the Queen of Air and Darkness on the Material Plane and beyond. Allegiance to the Unseelie Queen transforms these mortals into deformed monsters who hide their horrid countenance behind a pleasant mask. The Unseelie Queen— whose titles are too numerous and overblown to list—is jealous patron who keeps a close eye on her servants. Her soft whispers play on their vices and break their will … or their minds. For the Queen of Endless Winter, the broken are far greater servants than the willful.

Player character Unseelie Knights are doomed individuals constantly struggling with their doom and enthrallment to the will of the Queen of Air and Darkness.

Greyhawk The reach of the winter court is limited to wilderness areas and to the beliefs of the Flan people and some elves and halflings. But even in in areas ostensibly dominated by other peoples, the Flan bloodline and superstitions are often prolific in the hinterland. Unseelie Knights from such regions often begin as bandits, but may move on to be come revolutionaries.

Subclass Abilities

Guile

Starting at 3rd level, you gain guile equal to your Proficency Bonus + your Charisma modifier. Unseelie Knights use guile to enhance their battle prowess, confound their enemies, and strike with unparalleled ferocity. You regain all spent guile when you finish a long rest.

Fey Grace

Beginning when you take this archetype, your Unseelie tutelage has granted you a variety of special techniques and magic.

Armor of Eternal Winter. The icy grasp of the Winter Court envelops your body, hardening your defenses. As a reaction, you may spend 1 guile to add your Charisma modifier to your AC. This effect lasts until the beginning of your next turn. Attacks that deal fire damage ignore this bonus to your AC.

Icy Roots. You may spend 2 guile to cast entangle with a spell save DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier. This manifests as icicles freezing the target in place.

Face of the Hag’s Child

Starting at 7th level, you may spend 2 guile as an action to reveal your true appearance to your foes. Creatures in a 30 feet cone that can see you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw with a DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier or become frightened for 1 minute. The creature may repeat this saving throw at the end of each of its turns to end this condition.

Mark of the Unseelie Queen

At 10th level you grow a pair of elk’s antlers from your forehead. You gain proficiency with these antlers and the ability to make a goring melee attack. This attack does piercing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier. You can use these antlers with two-weapon fighting as if they were an off-hand weapon, even if you have both hands full.

By spending 1 guile and taking an action, you may make a charge. Move up to your speed. If you move at least 20 feet straight toward a target and then hit it with a gore attack on the same turn, the target takes an additional 2d6 piercing damage. If the target is a creature that is the same size or smaller than you, it must succeed on a Strength saving throw with a DC equal to 8 + your Strength modifier + your proficiency bonus or be knocked prone.

Allies of Frozen Groves

Starting at 15th level, you may spend 3 guile to cast conjure fey, requiring no spell slots or material components. At 18th level, you may spend 3 additional guile to cast conjure fey as a 7th-level spell.

Fury of the Corpsefens

At 15th level, you may spend 1 guile as a bonus action to invest any weapon that you are using with the wrath of the Unseelie. Your melee attacks with this weapon cause it to do an additional 1d6 necrotic damage. You may expend additional guile; for each additional guile that you spend, you may increase the damage done by an additional 1d6 up to 3d6.

Grasp of Eternal Winter

Beginning at 18th level, you may spend 5 guile as an action to target one frightened creature that you can see within 30 feet of you. The creature must succeed on a Constitution saving throw equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier. On a failure, the target takes 18d10 necrotic damage, or half on a successful save. Once you use this ability you must complete a long rest before you can use it again.

Editor's Comments

Guile is a long rest resource, and advanced abilities expend a huge amount of guile. I feel this is untenable, but I have not dug sufficiently deep to attack the issue. An easy solution is to make guile a short rest resource, but the game seems to be moving away from short rest resources.