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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next Blackguard as a Martial Archetype



Ninja_Prawn
2015-05-05, 04:56 PM
I'm a long time lurker, first time poster, so... hello, Playground!

So I just had an idea pop into my head for making Blackguards / Antipaladins without spellcasting... What I'm going for here is a terrifying black knight that crushes its foes through force of arms, rather than someone who 'channels divinity' and smites things left and right like a Vengeance or Oathbreaker Paladin. Thus I decided to build on the Fighter chassis, and offer to you this archetype:


Nothing short of mortal fiends, Blackguards are quintessential black knights, carrying a reputation of the foulest sort. Consorting with demons and devils while serving dark deities, blackguards are hated and feared by all.

FIENDISH INFLUENCE
At 3rd level, your fiendish masters imbue you with their dark power, granting you the ability to see in the dark and a supernatural resistance to mind-altering effects. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened, and can see normally in darkness, both magical and non-magical, to a distance of 60 feet.

CRUEL BEYOND MEASURE
Also at 3rd level, you begin to revel in death and destruction. Whenever you reduce a creature to 0 hit points, you gain advantage on your next attack roll. This advantage is lost if it is not used within 1 minute.

FOUL REPUTATION
By 7th level, your deeds have become infamous and your name is whispered in darkened alleys and dingy taverns across the land. Your appearance heralds pain and misery – and your enemies know this. You gain proficiency in the Intimidate skill. Furthermore, you may apply double your proficiency bonus and never have disadvantage whenever you attempt to intimidate a humanoid.

IMPROVED CRITICAL
By 10th level, you have learned to exploit your foes’ weaknesses to deliver savage blows. Your weapons attacks now score a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20.

WITHERING SMITE
Starting at 15th level, when you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can draw upon your masters’ power to deal necrotic damage to the target, in addition to the weapon’s damage. The extra damage is 2d8, which increases to 3d8 if the target is a celestial. You may not use this ability again until you finish a long rest.

LIFEDRINKER
At 18th level, you gain the ability to draw vigour from the suffering of your enemies. Whenever you reduce a creature to 0 hit points, you regain hit points equal to 5 + your Charisma modifier. This ability does not work against undead or constructs.


My questions to you are: a) is this balanced and b) does it look like it would be fun to play? All suggestions are welcome!

SonsOfSauron
2015-05-05, 05:19 PM
Interesting concept. I don't think there's enough incentive at the front end of the archetype to entice me to play. I like the devil's sight (possibly just 60 feet, or +60 feet if you already have darkvision). Maybe at 3rd level you have a feature something along these lines (as an example, not necessarily a suggestion):


Fiendish Qualities
Starting at 3rd level, your proclivity for cruelty has begun to taint your body and spirit. If you do not have darkvision, you gain darkvision out to 60 feet, and magical darkness no longer impedes your darkvision. Additionally, you have advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened.

Cruel Beyond Measure
You revel in the suffering of others. Whenever you reduce a creature to 0 hit points, you gain advantage on melee weapon attack rolls until the end of your next turn.

At 7th level, I think you should get expertise in Intimidation regardless if you've already had it trained or not. Maybe some sort of action to attempt to frighten a creature as you attack them (bonus action probably)? Maybe a feature that lets you do more awful things to frightened creatures as well (advantage? who knows).

Ninja_Prawn
2015-05-05, 05:40 PM
You may be right about the lack of enticement at level 3... And I really like the 'cruel beyond measure' solution. It captures the feel perfectly.

I'll have to sleep on the level 7 feature. The other archetypes only get ribbons there so I don't want to overdo the combat stuff. On the other hand, I was wondering about some kind of 'taunt' ability so maybe there's a way to work that in somehow.

SonsOfSauron
2015-05-05, 05:45 PM
Maybe the Intimidation expertise at 7th level, and you don't have disadvantage against Hostile creatures? Your'e such a jerk that even people that hate you are easily intimidated by you.

Ninja_Prawn
2015-05-06, 04:35 AM
Hmm I wasn't aware that you had disadvantage to intimidate a hostile creature. How about a blanket "you never have disadvantage while attempting to intimidate a humanoid"? that's fairly unambiguous.

SonsOfSauron
2015-05-06, 05:35 AM
Hmm I wasn't aware that you had disadvantage to intimidate a hostile creature. How about a blanket "you never have disadvantage while attempting to intimidate a humanoid"? that's fairly unambiguous.

I might have made that rule up actually lmao, I can't find it in the PHB/DMG. So I'm not sure if it's even necessary, R.I.P.