Monster: Horned Knight
Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 8:51 pm
One day, I was looking up information about the Teutonic Knights. My first thought was, "Are these guys from some kind of fantasy novel?" But no, they were real, and they really wore helmets with horns on them. I've decided to play the telephone game a bit with the Teutonics, also mixing in lies that were spread about other knightly orders, and present:
HORNED KNIGHT
NO. ENCOUNTERED: 1-4, 10-100
SIZE: Medium
HD: 12 (d10)
MOVE: 30 ft.
AC: 20
ATTACKS: Weapon (varies)
SPECIAL: Control mount, ego blast, knightly abilities, self destruction
SAVES: P
INT: Average
ALIGNMENT: Lawful Evil
TYPE: Fiend
TREASURE: 12
XP: 3000+10
Horned Knights have given up their humanity and soul to extraplanar forces in exchange for power. They are so named because of the fanciful twin horns that adorn their helmets. The horns grow and become increasingly elaborate according to the horned knight's career. Killing a horned knight and removing its armor shall reveal a body so terribly twisted and demented that it would have been better not to see it. On the rare occasion when the horned knights decide to speak languages which are understandable by mortals, they call each other "rider-brother."
The first Horned Knights originally came from a dark knightly order that worshipped evil spirits from other planes. They subjugated several cities by force and sieged the surrounding peoples with great ferocity, only stopped by sheer numbers. Just as they were about to be defeated, they made the pact of transformation, binding their armor permanently to their bodies and becoming what they are today. The dark knightly order persists in the present and continues to recruit others for its dark cause.
Control Mount: A horned knight may cast an evil spell upon any mount animal in order to force it to serve him. The spell takes about ten minutes to cast and may be resisted by a successful charisma save. If the spell is successful, the animal falls under the knight's control. It grows steel horns on its head, and if it lives for a particularly long amount of time under the knight's control, will grow other steel protrusions as well.
Ego Blast: A horned knight may speak an evil incantation to a single target. The incantation seems to make absolutely no sense whatsoever, except to the target, who feels the pure anger and chaos represented by the words - if they can even be called "words" or "speech." The victim must make a charisma saving throw to resist the ego blast. On a failed saving throw, the victim's intelligence, wisdom and charisma are reduced to totally nonfunctional levels for an hour. If a creature successfully saves against an ego blast, it becomes immune to the technique for the rest of its life.
Knightly Abilities: Horned knights have all of the abilities of 12th-level knights.
Self Destruction: A horned knight may cause his body to implode into a vile wreck of flesh and steel. An HD 1 Barghest emerges from the knight's remains after one round. The horned knight must have at least eight hit points in order to perform self destruction.
HORNED KNIGHT
NO. ENCOUNTERED: 1-4, 10-100
SIZE: Medium
HD: 12 (d10)
MOVE: 30 ft.
AC: 20
ATTACKS: Weapon (varies)
SPECIAL: Control mount, ego blast, knightly abilities, self destruction
SAVES: P
INT: Average
ALIGNMENT: Lawful Evil
TYPE: Fiend
TREASURE: 12
XP: 3000+10
Horned Knights have given up their humanity and soul to extraplanar forces in exchange for power. They are so named because of the fanciful twin horns that adorn their helmets. The horns grow and become increasingly elaborate according to the horned knight's career. Killing a horned knight and removing its armor shall reveal a body so terribly twisted and demented that it would have been better not to see it. On the rare occasion when the horned knights decide to speak languages which are understandable by mortals, they call each other "rider-brother."
The first Horned Knights originally came from a dark knightly order that worshipped evil spirits from other planes. They subjugated several cities by force and sieged the surrounding peoples with great ferocity, only stopped by sheer numbers. Just as they were about to be defeated, they made the pact of transformation, binding their armor permanently to their bodies and becoming what they are today. The dark knightly order persists in the present and continues to recruit others for its dark cause.
Control Mount: A horned knight may cast an evil spell upon any mount animal in order to force it to serve him. The spell takes about ten minutes to cast and may be resisted by a successful charisma save. If the spell is successful, the animal falls under the knight's control. It grows steel horns on its head, and if it lives for a particularly long amount of time under the knight's control, will grow other steel protrusions as well.
Ego Blast: A horned knight may speak an evil incantation to a single target. The incantation seems to make absolutely no sense whatsoever, except to the target, who feels the pure anger and chaos represented by the words - if they can even be called "words" or "speech." The victim must make a charisma saving throw to resist the ego blast. On a failed saving throw, the victim's intelligence, wisdom and charisma are reduced to totally nonfunctional levels for an hour. If a creature successfully saves against an ego blast, it becomes immune to the technique for the rest of its life.
Knightly Abilities: Horned knights have all of the abilities of 12th-level knights.
Self Destruction: A horned knight may cause his body to implode into a vile wreck of flesh and steel. An HD 1 Barghest emerges from the knight's remains after one round. The horned knight must have at least eight hit points in order to perform self destruction.