When death knights were introduced into the annals of the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dungeons and Dragons first edition manuals, the game's designers experienced difficulty differentiating these potent melee opponents from liches. It's not hard to see why.Both have access to powerful spellcasting. Both are skeletons who have unnaturally extended their lives. Just about the only obvious difference is that one wields a sword and wears heavy armor while the other carries a staff and wears tattered robes. Thankfully, death knights have been fleshed out quite a bit since their introduction to the game and are now brimming with important, unique differences that make them a great villainous addition to any game.Updated September 19, 2021 by Amanda Hurych: It's never too late to include a death knight in your D&D campaign. So before you terrify your players by adding one of these intimidating undead into a combat encounter, it helps to know everything you can about them. From how they work in fifth edition to a bit of information regarding their lore, there is no shortage of trivia regarding death knights. Read on if you want to know more about this challenging foe. Whether you're a DM seeking a TPK or a D&D player prepping for an eventual encounter with the campaign's BBEG, you can't go wrong with some extra reading.
12 They Speak Abyssal 🐓
Abyssal is an Exotic Language that most average D&D characters do not speak (unless they have one very interesting backstory). The most common speakers of Abyssal are demons, and the script⛎ for it is Inferna𝕴l.
Seeing as how death knights are undead paladins that have been twisted by theꦛir fall from grace, it makes sense that Abyssal is one of the languages they can speak. If you're planning on including a death knight in a campaign, it's good to know which of your players' characters could attempt to communicate with it. (Not that it would do them much good.)
11 They Are Immune To N𒊎ecrotic And Poison Damage
Before wasting a spell that deals necrotic or poison damage on a death knight, remember that they are immune to the𓄧se types of damage. Obviously, as an undead creature, death knights probably see necrotic damage like a feather that is being used to chop a block of wood; it's practically useless.
In addition to that, death knights are also immune to being exhausted, frightened, or poisoned. If one of your D&D characters relies solely on those types of damage and conditions when fighting, they'll be out of luck during a combat encounter with a death knig𓃲ht in the mix.
10 They Wield ෴The 20d6 Fireball 🌸
The one part of the death knight stat block that's impossible to miss is their hellfire orb ability. Once per day, a death knight can use this ability𒐪 to hurl a fireball that deals 10d6 fire damage and 10d6 necrotic damage to any opponent unfortunate enough to draw his ire.
The coolest part about this ability, besides its campaign-shaking destructive power, is that it's a throwback to the very 1st edition of the game. While many of the death knight's other destructive 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:magical powers have been lost to time in order to widen♊ the gap between death knights and liches, this unequaled fireball remains as the last vestige of their once-expansive spellcasting꧟.
9 They Are Paladins Bereft Of Their God ಞ
Death knights are created when a devoted and accomplished paladin betrays his oaths to his god and dies without ever seeking repentance or atonement. As punishment for his or her betrayal, the paladin's god returns their soul to the world of the living, animates their dece﷽ased body, and forces them to roam the land.
While it may seem like such a monster has forever lost its way, the punishment of becoming a death knight is truly a trial issued from a paladin's god. It's the paladin's last chance to red🤡eem his soul by righting whatever he wronged in life. Sadly, most death knights fall into despair, curse and forever renounce their god, and journey down a path of darknes🐬s.
8 🌠 They Have Committed A🎃 Vile Deed
Artist does the abhorrent nature of death knights justice. The betrayal a paladin must commit in order to receive the death knight punishment is no small thing; skipping out🌳 on church✱ for a couple of weeks isn't quite going to cut it.
The action a paladin must take in order to become a death knight is downright despicable. Some examples include things like murdering someone the paladin loved, destroying one of their god's🎶 holy 🔯sites, or abandoning a duty the paladin promised to fulfill.
7 💛 Their Weapons Hold Their Soul
A paladin's weapon works in much the same way that a lich's phﷺylactery does. However, there is one big difference. While a lich's phylactery is its ultimate weakness, a death knight's weapon is its greatest strength.
It's kind of counterintuitive, but there are a couple of reasons for this. Firstly,🌺 the death knight's weapon attacks are empowered by his or her own soul, adding an additional 4d8 necrotic damage to every successful strike. Second, while a lich's phylactery is its ultimate weakness because it can be broken.
6 Death Knights' Weapons Cannot Be Destroyed ൩
Consequently, the knowledge that a death knight's soul is stored in its weapon isn't really too helpful. Technically, its weapon can be broken. It's just that the 🐠death knight can form the weapon whole again with a touch. In other words, the only vulnerable part of the death knight's existence is impossible to dismantle. That being said, a death knight's weapon can be stolen.
A death knight without its soul-bonded weapon is filled with deep despair and will stop at nothing to reclaim it. Anyone other than 𒆙the death knight who wields the weapon is infected by the same feeling. Consequently, a 𝓰death knight's weapon doesn't often remain stolen for long. At the end of the day, there's only one true way to kill a death knight.
5 Only Redempti൲on Lays Them To Rest
No matter how many times it is beaten down, incinerated, or otherwise demolished, a death knight's body will ♏coalesce into the world once again. The one wa🌳y to be certain that a death knight is extinguished forever is through the redemption of its soul.
In other words, one must discover the nature of a death knight's original crime in order to help the long-deceased💜 paladin make amends. The death knight does not need to be aware that his actions redeem his crime; he simply needs to carry them out. To put it another way, a death knight that isn't actively seeking redemption can still be coerced or deceive𝄹d into finding it.
4 🧔 They Sometimes Ser♉ve Fiends
As mentioned previously, most death knights see their cursed return to the world as the final stroke of their god🌺's malfeasance. Instead of seeking redemption, they set out to hound the living.
Powerful fiends such as Orcus, the demon prince of undeath, are happy to take death knights in as servants that act to the fiend's ends. In a terri🍸ble twist of fate, death knights who accept these fiendish offers forsake the redemption of their soul to gi🌞ve purpose to their seemingly infinite undead state.
3 🤡 🐈 They Take Joy In Their Mounts
No matter how he or she acted in life, a death knight is stricken of all worldly joys and pleasures save for one: 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the companionship of a mount. Ho🍬wever, not just any ordinary ho♉rse will allow an undead abomination to ride it.
Death knights often find a companion in evil-aligned creatures instead, such as the famous nightmare. The catoblepas from Volo's Guide To Monsters or an especially large hellhound represent some other options. Whatever terrible beast it chooses as a companion, the deployment of coordinated assault tactics alongside this monster is the one thing that might provide a death knight with a feel�▨�ing close to pleasure.