Class Details:

Hit Die: d12 Type: Hybrid

Class Features

The following are class features of the grim knight.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

Grim Knights are proficient with all simple weapons and simple armor.

If this is the character’s first level in a class he gains proficiency with the Scythe and all martial armor.

Casting

A grim knight may combine spells and talents to create magical effects, and uses his choice of Intelligence or Psyche as his Casting Ability Modifier.

If this is the character’s first level in a casting class he gains a single discipline feat he qualifies for, may choose his Casting Type (See Casting Types on the Magic page), and may increase the casting time of a spell by 2 steps to ignore the spell failure caused by casting in light armor; if the grim knight possesses the armored caster feat he may instead use this ability to ignore the spell failure caused by casting in heavy armor.  

Mystic Pool

A grim knight learns to push their natural energies to create both the magical and extraordinary. This pool contains a number of points equal to his levels in grim knight. A mystic pool may be used as a stamina or a spell point pool, though it does not stack with either when determining the size of either pool. Similar to a stamina and spell point pool, a mystic pool restores itself after a long rest.

At 3rd level and every 3 levels thereafter the mystic pool’s size increases by an additional 1. If he obtains a mystic pool from another class or source he may combine the pools and their levels to determine the total capacity of the mystic pool. If this is the character’s first level in a class their mystic pool’s capacity increases by an additional 2.

Classes with a mystic pool count as both Martial and Casting classes for the purposes of determining MPB and SPB, and if this is their first level in a martial or magic class.

Implements

A grim knight may choose a grimoire, sickle, or scythe as an implement.

Magic Talents

A grim knight gains 1 magic talent at every time he gains 1 BCB from his grim knight level, each magic talent may be used to learn a new talent or new spell the grim knight qualifies for. In addition, he gains a bonus spell (but not talent) for every 3 BCB he gains from this class.

Death Affinity (Su)

The grim knight is magically attuned to the ways of death. If this is the grim knight’s first level in a magic class he gains his choice of Decay (Nature-Anima) affinity as a bonus affinity talent.

The Grim Knight uses his levels in Grim Knight in place of his Grim Knight BCB for the purposes of casting spells of Necromancy keyword and chooses one of the following specializations granting him a single spell and bonus stance feat. The Grim Knight does not gain the bonus stance feat if this is not his first level in a martial class, and cannot use any class feature that relies on the granted stance until he gains the granted stance:

• Vampire: The Grim Knight gains Life Thief as a Bonus Spell and Power Stance as a bonus feat.
• Litch: The Grim Knight gains Disruptive Touch as a Bonus Spell and his choice of Skirmisher Stance or Power Stance as a bonus feat.
• Necromancer: The Grim Knight gains Animate Dead as a Bonus Spell and Skirmisher Stance as a bonus feat.
• Plague Doctor: The Grim Knight gains Blight Touch and Blade and Brew Stance as a bonus feat. The Grim Knight treats Blight Touch as a Necromancy Keyword Spell for the purposes of any class features he possesses that require the Necromancy Keyword.

Grim Touch (Su)

At 2nd level, the grim knight may spend 2 points of his ki pool as a 3 AP action to deal decay damage to a touched living creature. The grim knight deals 1d6 damage plus an additional 1d6 at for every 3 levels of grim knight he possesses after 1st. The grim knight may instead use this ability as a 2 AP action if targeting an undead creature, and heals them instead of harming them. If the grim knight targets himself with this ability he may instead cast it as a 1 AP action; but it harms him unless he is undead, treated as undead for the purposes of healing, or would be otherwise healed by decay damage.

This ability may be treated as a spell to be used with spellstrike or any ability that would allow the Grim Knight to cast the Disruptive Touch spell.

Dark Gift (Ex/Su)

At 2nd level and every 2 levels thereafter the Grim Knight gains a dark gift that he qualifies for. If a dark gift calls for a save attack it is made at 1d20 + ½ SPB + casting ability modifier, adding any enhancement bonuses from his implement to the save attack. Abilities that call for ki may be instead utilized by spending 1 point from his mystic pool if he does not yet possess a ki pool. Additional Darf Gifts can be taken using the Extra Talent feat.

For a complete listing of dark gifts, see List of Dark Gifts

Ki Pool (Su)

At 3rd level, a Grim Knight gains access to a pool of internal energies called ki, which allow him to perform supernatural feats that go beyond the limits of his physical body. This pool contains a number of ki points equal 1 + his casting ability modifier (minimum 2) and refreshes once per day when the Grim Knight regains his Mystic Pool. A Grim Knight may spend a stamina or a mystic pool point as a free action on his turn to regain 2 points of his ki pool.

As long as the Grim Knight has at least 1 point in his ki pool, he gains an enhancement bonus on athletics checks to jump equal to his class level, and his unarmed strikes and natural attacks are treated as magic weapons. At 8th level, his unarmed strikes and natural attacks are treated as silver for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

In addition at 3rd level a Grim Knight expands his repertoire of his Ki Pool allowing him to spend his ki points in additional ways:

• Ki Reflexes: Spend a ki point in place of a reaction.
• Ki Dodge: Once per round, spend a ki point as a reaction to gain a +4 dodge bonus to AC for 1 round.
• Ki Leap: Once per round, spend a ki point as a reaction to gain a +20 enhancement bonus to athletics checks made to jump for 1 round, and to be considered as having a running start when making such a check.
• Chill of Death: A grim knight may spend 1 point from his ki pool pool as a reaction to empower a sickle or scythe he is wielding with the chill of death, causing it to deal 1d4 additional cold or decay damage (their choice when this ability is activated) for 1 minute. At 5th level this damage improves to 1d6, 2d4 at 10th; 2d6 at 15th, and gains an additional 1d6 every 5 levels thereafter.

If a Grim Knight gains a ki pool from another source, he does not combine the pools for the purposes of determining capacity, nor does he gain an additional ki pool, but may spend points from his ki pool to pay for abilities from either source that require ki points. If each pool requires different ability scores (such as Psyche and Focus) the Grim Knight may use the higher of the two ability scores when determining the capacity of his ki pool. The Grim Knight may add together his levels in all classes that grant a ki pool to determine the abilities of his ki pool class feature.

Grim Tactics (Su)

At 3rd level, the Grim knight expands his tactics, gaining additional prowess based on his specialization chosen at first level. The Grim Knight selects one Grim Tactics ability from the following list:

• Vampiric Hunger (Vampire): The Grim Kight gains Vampiric Touch as a bonus talent even if you do not meet the prerequisites. While in power stance, he may spend a ki point when making a focused attack with your sickle or scythe. If the attack hits he gains temporary hit points equal to half the damage caused by the attack. These temporary hit points expire after 1 round, and do not stack with the temporary hit points granted by the vampiric touch talent. When using this ability he may spend a mystic pool point to cast the life thief spell on the target creature without provoking an attack of opportunity; if the attack hits they are treated as having been successfully touched for the purpose of this spell.
• Close Quarters Casting (Litch): Once per round after successfully hitting a creature in melee with a sickle or scythe the Grim Knight may spend a reaction to cast Disruptive Touch spell and make a melee touch attack at a -2 penalty on the struck creature; this casting does not provoke attacks of opportunity. Attacks made with spellstrike may not trigger this ability.
• Necromatic Tactician (Necromancer): You gain Skirmisher’s patrol as a bonus feat if you don’t already possess it. Once per round as an reaction when a creature provokes an attack of opportunity from his Skirmisher’s patrol he may spend a mystic pool point to cause his controlled undead from Animate Dead to leap up to 30 feet towards the target and make a single attack against the creature if this leap puts them within range.
• Blight Bomb(Plague Doctor): The plague doctor learns to imbue Alchemical bombs with some of the Blight by spending 2 ki points. Alchemical bombs modified in this way have their damage and affinity changed to Decay and creatures damaged by it are treated as if they were struck by the Grim Knight’s Blight Touch spell, making a save attack as normal against affected creatures. This modification lasts for 24 hours until the effect dissipates and the Alchemical Bomb returns to its normal state. In addition, once per round when making a Focused Attack as part of Blade and Brew stance the Grim Knight may throw a single Alchemical Bomb as a bonus attack.

Grim Reaper’s Swing (Su)

At 5th level, the Grim Knight gains additional proficiency with Sickles and Scythes. When wielding a Sickle or Scythe appropriately sized for him these weapons deal damage as if they were one size category larger, and are treated as having the keen masterwork modification; this ability does not stack with keen or other abilities that increase the critical threat range of a weapon. In addition the Grim Knight gains a +1 Profane bonus on attack and damage rolls with a Scythe or Sickle; this bonus improves by +1 for every 4 levels after 5th.

Misfortune Aura (Su)

At 7th level, the grim knight learns that misfortune and death go hand in hand gaining an aura of misfortune. Once per round whenever a living creature attempts to roll a d20 within 20 feet of a grim knight, he may spend 2 ki pool points as a reaction. The targeted creature must roll two d20s and take the lowest roll before applying any modifiers. The area of this misfortune aura is 5 feet plus 5 feet for every 5 levels of Grim Knight he possesses..

Umbral Empowerment (Su)

At 9th level, the grim knight further empowers his ki pool allowing him an additional benefit based on his specialization chosen from the list:

• Hungering Blade(Vampire): The Grim Knight may spend 2 points from his ki pool as a reaction to treat his currently wielded Scythe or Sickle as if it possessed Greater Vampiric special weapon ability for 1 minute. This may be in addition to any special abilities the weapon already possesses.
• False Life(Litch): The Grim Knight may spend 2 points from his ki pool as a 3 AP action to grant himself 1d10 + his casting ability modifier + ½ his level in Grim Knight as temporary hit points. These temporary hit points last 1 hour. At 15th level this ability improves to 2d10+casting ability modifier + ½ his level in Grim Knight.
• Empower Dead (Necromancer): When the Grim Knight may spend a 2 AP action to touch one of his undead to grant them a +4 profane bonus to a single ability score of his choice for 10 minutes per Grim Knight level. The Grim Knight may use this ability as part of his Grim Touch ability; if used as part of the Grim Channeling Dark Gift he must spend an additional ki pool point for each of his undead he wishes to enhance. For every 4 levels after 9th the Grim Knight may enhance an additional ability score of his animated dead with this ability.
• Plague Scent (Plague Doctor): The Grim Knight may spend a ki point as a 1 AP action to grant himself the scent universal ability, but only for the purposes of determining the presence or absence of creatures infected with disease. Once within 5 feet of the creature/source the Grim Knight may make a medic check against the infection DC of the disease to determine the type of disease.

Unlife Transformation (Su)

At 11th level, the grim knight learns to focus his energies of death, partially transforming himself into one of the unliving for a short time. As a 1 AP action the grim knight may undergo unlife transformation, treating himself as undead for the duration of the ability, allowing abilities such as his Grim Touch to heal him, as well as determining what spells may affect him (such as those that require a living creature). In addition while this ability is active the grim knight gains immunity to decay damage and vulnerability to nature damage. This ability may be used for a number of rounds per day equal to half his levels in grim knight level plus his casting ability modifier though these rounds do not need to be consecutive. The grim knight may end this ability as a free action. Once the unlife transformation has ended the grim knight is fatigued for twice the number of rounds he spent in unlife transformation.

Dark Form (Su)

At 13th level, when entering an unlife transformation the grim knight may choose to treat it as the transformation spell for the purposes of adding traits. The grim knight may add 2 traits + 1 per 5 levels of grim knight he possesses and cannot grant the same trait more than once. This causes the Dark Form to be treated as a polymorph spell. If using this ability the Unlife Transformation now exhausts the grim knight for 1 minute when it ends.

In addition the grim knight gains access to the following list of special traits that he may apply to only his dark form:

• Undead Will: The grim knight gains immunity to fear effects, unless those fear effects would bypass the immunities of undead.
• Undead Vitality: You gain fast healing 1.
• Shadow Veil: You emit an area of darkness around you reducing the light level by 1 step within 30 feet.
• Fear Aura: You may activate a fear aura as a reaction, causing creatures within 30 feet to be subject to a Mental save attack (1d20 + ½ SPB + casting ability modifier), adding any implement enhancement bonuses you possess. A successful save attack causes creatures to become shaken while within the fear aura and an additional 1d4+1 rounds after leaving it. For each degree of success the fear effect is increased by 1 step. You may end the fear aura as a reaction.
• Blood Drain (requires Vampire specialization): You gain the Blood Drain universal ability.
• Grim Ray (requires Litch specialization): You may use your Grim Touch ability on creatures up to 30 feet away as a ranged touch attack.
• Undead Mutations (requires Necromancer specialization): You may grant a single trait to each of your undead from animate dead for the duration of the Unlife Transformation.

Greater Misfortune Aura (Su)

At 15th level, the grim knight’s aura of misfortune becomes more powerful. Any living foe that enters the area of the grim knight’s aura of misfortune are subject to a Resilience save attack; 1d20 + ½ SPB + casting ability modifier, adding any enhancement bonuses from his implement to the save attack. A successful save attack causes the creature for the next minute to have a 20% chance upon rolling a natural 1 on an attack roll, saving throw, or AC roll to suffer a dreadful mishap causing one of the following events to occur, randomly chosen:

• The creature slips and falls prone.
• The creature hurts themself attempting their task, taking 1d4+1 nonlethal damage, bypassing any DR they might possess.
• The creature becomes sickened for 1 round.
• The creature gains the disoriented condition for 1 round.

Once a creature has been affected by the grim knight’s greater aura of misfortune it becomes immune to additional save attacks from it for the next 24 hours. The grim knight may not use his misfortune aura ability to affect the d20 roll against the save attack of this ability.

Unholy Might (Su)

At 17th level, while within his unlife transformation the grim knight may gain a +6 enhancement bonus to a single ability score of his choice

Greater Death Affinity (Su)

At 19th level, the grim knight gains an additional benefit based on his specialization. He may select one benefit from the list based on his specialization:

• Mist Form (Vampire): The grim knight learns to utilize one of the methods of escape available to vampires. Once per day, when the grim knight would be reduced to 0 or fewer hit points he may as a reaction instead automatically set himself to 1 hit point, and become an incorporeal body of mist. While in this mist form he gains the immunities of an incorporeal creature, and gains a fly speed equal to twice his land speed with perfect maneuverability, and is otherwise immune to all combat maneuvers; but otherwise may still be harmed while in this form. While in this form the grim knight may not take any other actions besides moving, and may immediately move up to his speed as part of activating this ability. This ability lasts for 5 minutes and the grim knight may choose to end it early as a 2 AP action.
• Lesser Phylactery (Litch): The grim knight learns to make a lesser phylactery, allowing him to retain a portion of himself to assist in rebuilding his form. As long as the grim knight has his lesser phylactery on his person and not stored in an extradimensional space he may once per day activate his lesser phylactery as a reaction granting himself regeneration 5 for 1 minute. The grim knight may use this in response to an attack that would kill him. If the grim knight’s body is completely destroyed, the phylactery is destroyed or removed from his person, or his body is within an anti-magic zone this regeneration is immediately removed and cannot restore the grim knight.
• Dark Sacrifice (Necromancer): You’ve learned to tie your soul to your undead minions allowing them to receive damage in your stead. Twice per day if the Grim Knight would be reduced to 0 or fewer hit points he may instead as a reaction action split the incoming damage between himself and his undead minions. A single animated dead cannot take more than their maximum hit points in damage, but otherwise the grim knight may choose to distribute the damage as he wishes between himself and his undead minions.
• Blight Rebirth(Plague Doctor): The Grim Knight becomes a carrier of a special form of the Zombie Plague; but is now immune to the Zombie Plague himself. The Grim Knight can cause creatures he has successfully affected with Blight Touch to also become infected with the Zombie Plague; even if they aren’t human. When slain the Grim Knight may return from one of his victims of the Zombie Plague. For a number of days from his death equal to half his levels in Grim Knight any creature who dies from, or is slain while infected with the Zombie Plague transforms into the Grim Knight rather than a Zombie upon their death. The Grim Knight is afflicted with a number of negative levels upon this rebirth equals to the difference in hit dice between him and the target that died of or with his Zombie Plague if the creature has less hit dice than the Grim Knight.

Master of Death (Su)

At 20th level, the grim knight becomes an avatar of death, becoming an instrument of the reaper’s will. Creatures slain by the grim knight cannot be brought back to life by any means short of divine intervention. In addition the grim knight gains lifesense 60.