Death knight The hero has died but not even death could break the will of the hero. A Death Knight is born when his journey is ended early and resists death whether it be through a dark bargain or sheer willpower. A Death Knight draws its power from the lingering touch of what lies beyond life. Resurected to finish what they started the Death Knight armors up to push foward now wielding necrotic forces to aid their martial skills. Undead Juggernauts After being resurected from the dead the Death Knight ceases to have a heartbeat and has a new found endurance for pain. Using their necrotic abilities these former soldiers, mercenaries, or brawlers can greatly enhance their attacks and bolster their pain tolerance. Death Knights aim to be the front line on the battle field using their grave auras and taking advantage of their death fueled strikes. Death Knights are often heavily armored using two-handed weapons or a shield and versatile weapon. Most Death Knights can take shrug off hits for a prolonged amount of time and put the enemy on a timer as mortal strikes quickly finish off near death enemies. Creating a Death Knight When thinking about the origin to your Death Knight you want to know three primary things. What are you fighting for that you were able to best death itself? What led you to your first death? And how do you know the martial skills you have post resurection. Perhaps you have a burning vengence for a certain someone or you made a promise to someone and you intend to see it out no matter what. Before your resurection were you killed in the midst of battle, in your sleep by an assassin, or maybe in a tragic freak accident. In your first life were you a soldier fighting for your people? A mercenary doing what he had to do to provide for a family? What was your character doing to give them familiarity with martial weapons and armor. Quick build You can quickly make a Death Knight by following these suggestions. First make Constitution and Strength your highest scores with a little love towards Dexterity. Second choose the soldier background. To finish it off take the skills Athletics and Intimidation Class Features As a archivist, you gain the following class features Hit Points Hit Dice: 1d10 per Death Knight level

1d10 per Death Knight level Hit Points at 1st Level: 10 + your Constitution modifier

10 + your Constitution modifier Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d10 (or 7) + your Constitution modifier per Death Knight level after 1st Proficiencies Armor: All armor, Shields

All armor, Shields Weapons: Martial Weapons, Simple weapons

Martial Weapons, Simple weapons Tools: None . The Death Knight Level Proficiency Bonus Features 1st +2 Death Dominion 2nd +2 Fighting style 3rd +2 Mortal Strikes 4th +2 Ability Score Improvement 5th +3 Extra Attack 6th +3 Death Dominion Feature 7th +3 Unholy Knight 8th +3 Ability Score Improvement 9th +4 Mark of the Damned 10th +4 Death Domain feature 11th +4 Mortal Anihilation 12th +4 Ability Score Improvement 13th +5 Death's Champion 14th +5 Death Dominion Feature 15th +5 Defiance 16th +5 Ability Score Improvement 17th +6 Anti-Magic Field 18th +6 Avatar of Death 19th +6 Ability Score Improvement 20th +6 Army of the Dead Saving Throws: Strength, Constitution

Strength, Constitution Skills: Choose two from Acrobatics, Athletics, Deception, Insight, Intimidation, Survival Equipment You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background: (a) leather armor, scale mail, or chain mail

(a) a martial weapon and a shield or (b) two martial weapons

(a) five javelins or (b) any simple melee weapon

A Dunegoneer's Pack or an Explorer's Pack Ability save DC = 8 + Your proficiency Bonus + Your constitution modifier Death Domains At 1sd level your Death Knights connection to what came back with their corpse from the afterlife strengthens, you can choose between the Blood, Frost, or Plague Dominions

Fighting Style At 2nd level choose one of the Fighting Styles listed in the fighter chapter of the Player's Handbook. Mortal Strikes Starting at 3rd level Death Knights can sense when a creature is below half health. While below half health the creature is marked as "Near death". Melee attacks against "Near death" targets deal additional necrotic damage equal to your Constitution modifier. Ability Score improvement When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature. Using the optional feats rule, you can forgo taking this feature to take a feat of your choice instead. Extra Attack Begining at 5th level, you can attack twice instead of once, whenever you take the attack option on your turn* Unholy Knight At 7th level, necrotic damage dealt by you ignores resistance to Necrotic damage and treats immunity as resistance by drawing energy from creatures rather than directly damaging them. Mark of the Damned At 9th level Death Knights brand their enemies with a symbol of doom upon damaging them. Whenever you hit an enemy with an attack they become marked with your runes, until the start of your next turn, Whenever they are hit by an ally and marked they take an additional 1d10 necrotic damage. Only one enemy may be marked at a time. Mortal Anihilation At 11th level you become more in tune with death itself and all living creatures reek of mortality. All mortal creatures are considered "near death", your mortal strikes no longer are affected by the health of a creature and are active at all time Death's Champion At 13th level you become a chosen champion of the undead, you gain the following benefits, you are resistant to necrotic damage and when you would take damage you can use your reaction to become resistant to the triggering damage type, you may use this once per short rest. Defiance At 15th level dying is not the obstacle it once was, once per long rest when you would become incapacitated you can choose to expend an amount of hit die equal to half your death knight level and heal after taking the triggering damage. Anti-Magic Field At 17th level youre able to help others resist death with the same magic that ressurected you, once per long rest, as an action, you create a stationary 10ft radius circle centered on yourself that lasts 1 hour. All allies within the zone can use their reaction to reduce incoming damage by 3d10 unless the damage type is piercing, bludgeoning, or slashing damage. Avatar of Death At 18th level your presence strikes fear into any enemy, All enemies must make a wisdom saving throw at the start of combat, on a failed save an enemy has disadvantage on attacks rolls against you until they have dealt damage to you once in any way Army of the Dead At 20th level you can summon 3 "Undying soldiers" (see pg 311. of Eberon: Rising from the Last War) at the start of initiative or as an action. These soldiers all roll intiative and follow your direct commands. Undying Soldiers last 1 hour or until destroyed. You can use this once per long rest. Death Dominions Death Knights channel their necrotic ofrce differently allowing them to abuse their power is different ways. Blood A Death Knight who has a connection to the blood of those around him allowing them to manipulate it to sustain themselves in combat Death and Decay When you choose this subclass at 1st level you gain the ability to unleash your blood churning aura. Once per long rest, you can activate this ability using your action, for the next 1 minute you attempt to siphon the blood from enemies within 5 feet. As a bonus action you can deal 1d6 necrotic damage increasing by an additional d6 at levels 6(2d6), 12(3d6), and 18(4d6) to all creatures within 5 feet and heal for that half that amount rounded up, at level 10 the reach extends to 10ft, at level 15 any resistances are ignored for this ability Heart Strike At 6th level your mortal strike is improved granting the following bonus: when you deal damage with your mortal strike you can heal for the amount of damage dealt by your mortal strike once per round. Bone Shield At 10th level when you are hit with an attack you can use your reaction to gain temporary health equal to two times the damage before the damage is taken, but you are stunned until the end of your next turn, you can do this once per short rest.