Dark Knight by

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<div class='cover-header' style="top:150px;font-size:350%;">Dark Knight</div>

<div class='cover-header' style="top:297px;font-size:250%;">5e class</div>

<div class='cover-footer' style="font-size:200% ">A conversion of FFXIV's Dark Knight job, for the world's greatest roleplaying game. </div>

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## Dark Knight
A swordsman clad in black armor cleaves his way through the cathedral with a hulking slab of iron, an aura of darkness radiating from him. His blows are brutal and unrelenting, sundering the armor of the depraved High Theogonist's templars with ease. The now fearful priest turns and runs, claiming he is no man, but an accursed demon.

Standing before a wounded villager, a woman veiled in shadow holds out her hand towards a hateful, superstitious mob. She alone stands between the delirious crowd and the innocent soul. She slices the soft flesh of her palm and traces a sigil in the air before her, barely containing her animosity as the frenzied horde is engulfed in a flood of darkness.

Battered and bloodied, a warrior drags himself to his feet after suffering a mortal wound. His robes and steel armor are stained black with his own blood, and he intuitively braces as a wave of supernatural energy bursts forth from his body. Using pain as a font of strength, he strikes down the abhorrent beast before him with a savage sweep and collapses to his knees, victorious.

It is a dark knights freedom from the bounds of the law which make these profane avengers so effective...and terrifying to their enemies. Paying no heed what is lawful, a dark knight is concerned solely with what is ethical and just in their view. Those who spread tyranny and injustice, or abuse the weak and the defenseless, best prepare, lest they find themselves on the receiving end of a dark knights blade.

### Protecting the Meek

A dark knight is a warrior who has taken up arms to serve the downtrodden. They serve no lords or institutions, believing no one is exempt from justice, no matter their position in society. They protect the commonfolk from not only banditry and dreadful monsters, but from corrupt men and women who seek to oppress them. In return, dark knights are often fed and housed by those they protect, or rely upon bounty hunting and raiding their victims to support themselves.

### Inner Darkness

When an adventurer chooses the path of a dark knight they understand that they are renouncing their rights to be a regular member of society. They belong to no society, acting as paragons of justice who see no allegiance. To assist them in their quest, dark knights are able to sacrifice their own life force to power Dark Arts, drawn from a well of darkness within themselves. They cause themselves great pain and exhaustion in order to allow dark entropy to course through their body, which they harness in a variety of ways.

### A Lonely Path

Dark Knights are natural adventurers, living outside the law to see their goals to fruition. They can be found within remote villages protecting the inhabitants from predation while the land's knights turn a blind eye to their plight, or they may travel the world seeking out institutionalized injustice and smiting it with lurid violence. These dark retributors act on behalf of the common folk without expecting praise nor admiration, and are keenly aware that they will not be celebrated like an esteemed knight or righteous paladin would be. Instead, they understand they will be demonized by history, and impassively accept such facts.

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##### Dark Knight Table
| Level | Profiency Bonus  | Features| Dark<br>Arts<br>Points<br> | Darkness<br>Damage<br>Die | 1st | Dark<br>2nd | Arts<br>3rd | Spells<br>4th | Known<br>5th |
|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|
| 1st | +2 | Dark Arts, Darkside | 1 | 1d4 | — | — |— |— |— |
| 2nd | +2 | Blood Price | 1 | 1d4 | — | — |— |— |—|
| 3rd | +2 | Stalwart Soul, Flame in the Abyss Feature  | 2 | 1d4 | 3 | — |— |— |—|
| 4th | +2 | Ability Score Improvement | 2 | 1d4 | 3 | — |— |— |—|
| 5th | +3 | Extra Attack, Oblation | 3 | 1d6 | 4 | 2 |— |— |—|
| 6th | +3 | Flame in the Abyss Feature | 3 | 1d6  | 4 | 2 |— |— |—|
| 7th | +3 | Shadowskin  |4 | 1d6 | 4 | 3 |— |— |—|
| 8th | +3 | Ability Score Improvement | 4 | 1d6 | 4 | 3 |— |— |—|
| 9th | +4 | Reprisal | 5 | 1d8 | 4 | 3 | 2 |— |—|
| 10th | +4 | Flame in the Abyss Feature | 5 | 1d8 | 4 | 3 | 2 |— |—
| 11th | +4 | Blackblood | 6 |  1d8 | 4 | 3 | 3 |— |—|
| 12th | +4 | Ability Score Improvement | 6 |1d8 | 4 | 3 | 3 |— |—|
| 13th | +5 | Mired Empathy| 7 |1d10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 |—|
| 14th | +5 | Flame in the Abyss Feature | 7 | 1d10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 |—|
| 15th | +5 | Dark Mind | 8 | 1d10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 |—|
| 16th | +6 | Ability Score Improvement | 8 | 1d10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 |—|
| 17th | +6 | Improved Shadowskin| 9 | 1d12 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 |1 |
| 18th | +6 | Salted Earth | 9 | 1d12 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 |1 |
| 19th | +6 | Ability Score Improvement | 10 | 1d12 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 20th | +6 | Living Dead | 10 | 1d12 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
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*Multiclass Prerequisites: Strength 13 and Charisma 13*

## Class Features
As a dark knight you gain the following class features.

#### Hit Points
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- **Hit Dice:** 1d10 per dark knight level
- **Hit Points at 1st Level:** 10 + your Constitution modifier 
- **Hit Points at Higher Levels:** 1d10 (or 6) + your Constitution modifier per dark knight level after 1st

#### Proficiencies
___
- **Armor:** All armor, shields
- **Weapons:** Simple weapons, martial weapons
- **Tools:** None
- **Saving Throws:** Constitution, Charisma 
- **Skills:** Choose two from Athletics, Arcana, History, Insight, Intimidation, Perception, and Survival

#### Equipment
You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

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- *(a)* a martial weapon and two daggers or *(b)* two martial weapons
- *(a)* five javelins or *(b)* a short bow and quiver of 20 arrows
- *(a)* an explorer's pack or *(b)* a dungeoneer's pack
- chain mail and a horror trinket *(chosen from the Horror Trinket table on pages 13-14)*

### Dark Arts

A well of darkness lurks in your heart, which you can draw from to gain power. You have 1 point of Dark Arts, and you gain more as you reach higher levels, as shown in the Dark Arts Points column of the Dark Knight table. You can never have more Dark Arts points than shown on the table for your level. You regain all spent Dark Arts points when you finish a long rest.

Certain features make use of your Dark Arts and require your target to make a saving throw, the saving throw is calculated as follows:

**Dark Knight Spell DC** = 8 + your proficiency modifier + your Charisma modifier.

When using spells which require you to make a ranged spell attack, your spell attack modifier is calculated as follows:

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**Dark Knight Spell Attack Modifier** = your proficiency modifier + your Charisma modifier.

Additionally, starting at 3rd level, you can draw from the well of darkness within yourself to cast spells. See chapter 10 for the general rules of spellcasting and the *Dark Arts* section at the end of the class description for the Dark Knight Spell List and a detailed explanation on how to cast spells using Dark Arts.

### Darkside

In times of peril, you can allow yourself to succumb to the lurid temptations of your inner hatred, pain, and regrets to gain strength. As a bonus action, you may expend 1 Dark Arts point to gain the effect of *Darkside* for 1 minute. While succumbing to your Darkside, you gain the following benefits:

* Your weapon attacks score a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20.
* When you make a melee weapon attack using Strength, you deal bonus necrotic damage that increases as you gain levels as a dark knight, as shown in the Darkside Damage Die column of the Dark Knight table.
* You regain hit points equal to half of the bonus necrotic damage done (rounded down) by Darkside, or all on a critical hit.

### Fighting Style

At 2nd level, you adopt a style of fighting as your specialty. Choose one of the following options. You can’t take a Fighting Style option more than once, even if you later get to choose again.

#### Defense

While you are wearing armor, you gain a +1 bonus to AC.

#### Eldritch Warrior

You learn two cantrips of your choice from the wizard spell list. They count as dark knight spells for you, and Charisma is your spellcasting ability for them. Whenever you gain a level in this class, you can replace one of these cantrips with another from the wizard spell list.

#### Great Weapon Fighting

When you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an attack you make with a melee weapon that you are wielding with two hands, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll. The weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for you to gain this benefit.

#### Interception

When a creature you can see hits a target, other than you, within 5 feet of you with an attack, you can use your reaction to reduce the damage the target takes by 1d10 + your proficiency bonus (to a minimum of 0 damage). You must be wielding a shield or a simple or martial weapon to use this reaction.

### Blood Price

Starting at 2nd level, you can sacrifice your life force to replenish the well of darkness within you. As an action, you can expend one of your hit dice and roll it. You take necrotic damage equal to the amount rolled and recover Dark Arts points equal to half of the damage taken (rounded down).

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This damage cannot be reduced or mitigated by any means, and any excess Dark Arts points over your maximum are lost. If the necrotic damage from this feature would incapacitate you, you suffer an entropic backlash; you are left with 1 hit point, gain 1 point of exhaustion, made prone, and any remaining Dark Arts points are lost.

### Stalwart Soul

By 3rd level, your familiarity with profane corruption and the grim, uncompromising principles of impartial justice have reinforced your resolve. You can no longer be frightened.

### Flame in the Abyss

When you reach 3rd level, you confront the darkness that has tormented your soul, receiving absolution and renewed sense of conviction. Up to this time you have struggled to find your purpose, and have wondered if the lonely path of the dark knight was truly your heart's desire. Now fully committed, you choose a path which best reflects your intent as a dark knight, which are all covered in more detail at the end of the class description.

Your choice grants you grants you features at 3rd level and again at 6th, 10th, and 14th level.

### 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.

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### Extra Attack

Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the *Attack* action on your turn.

### Oblation

Starting at 5th level, you can use your reaction to expend and roll one of your hit dice to ward yourself, or a creature of your choosing within 30 feet of you, in a protective barrier whenever they are hit by an attack or damaged as a result of a magical effect or spell. The target gains temporary hit points equal to the die result + your Charisma modifier.

### Shadowskin

By 7th level, the time you've spent wielding negative energy has become a permanent part of you. You have darkvision out to a range of 60 feet and you gain resistance to necrotic damage. If you already have darkvision from your race, its range increases by 30 feet.

### Reprisal

Beginning at the 9th level, you can deliver an inexorable reprisal against those who seek to harm you or your allies. Whenever a hostile creature within 5 feet of you targets you or a friendly creature with an attack and misses, you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against your attacker. On a hit, you can choose to expend 1 Dark Arts point to force the creature to make a Strength saving throw if it is no more than one size larger than you. The DC for this save is equal to the damage done. On a failed save, the target is knocked prone.

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### Blackblood

By 11th level,  you have learned how to channel your suffering into vehement weapon strikes and baleful wards. While succumbing to your Darkside, you gain use of the following abilities:

##### Bloodspiller

Whenever you take the *Attack* action on your turn, you can choose to expend 10 hit points and 1 Dark Arts point to gain the effect of Bloodspiller until the start of your next turn. While under the effect of Bloodspiller, you gain advantage on weapon attack rolls using Strength and your melee weapon attacks deal an extra 10 damage.

##### Quietus

As an action, you can choose to expend 5 hit points and 1 Dark Arts point to make a melee weapon attack against any number of creatures within 5 feet of you, with a separate attack roll for each target. You can increase the radius of Quietus by 5 feet by sacrificing an additional 5 hit points, to a maximum of 10 feet.

##### The Blackest Night

As an action, you can choose to expend and roll 2 hit dice to wreathe yourself, or a creature of your choosing within 30 feet of you, in a barrier of writhing, vein-like shadows for a number of rounds equal to your Charisma modifier, or until you lose your concentration (as if you were concentrating on a spell). The target gains temporary hit points equal to the dice result + your Charisma modifier + your proficiency bonus.

While a target has these hit points, they become heavily obscured to others. In addition, whenever a creature within 10 feet of the target hits them with an attack, the shadows lash out at the attacker, dealing it 2d8 necrotic damage.

### Mired Empathy

Starting at 13th level, your intimate understanding of personal darkness and suffering allows you to recognize and empathize with fellow troubled souls. You are aware of any humanoid creature that is in severe emotional duress, tormented by feelings of guilt, or burdened with unfathomable grief within 60 feet of you. When you are in range of a creature afflicted by such sorrows, you are alerted to their presence by faint tendrils of intangible darkness that appear to gather and seep from their chest.

As an action, you can touch a distraught creature and expend 1 Dark Arts point to attempt to emotionally commune with them, potentially gaining insight into their afflictions. When you do so, the creature must make a Charisma saving throw against your Dark Knight Spell DC. A creature can choose to willingly fail their saving throw. On a fail, you can feel the emotions that are causing the creature distress, and become aware of any unresolved trauma that lies in their psyche (such as the loss of a loved one, a visceral hatred for another, or anguish over an outcome they were powerless to prevent).

Once you've communed, or attempted a communion, with a creature in this way, they become immune to the effects of your Mired Empathy feature for the next 24 hours.

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### Dark Mind

Beginning at 15 level, you've learned to quell the invasive whispers that claw at your mind. This persistent mental discipline is a natural bulwark against the deceptions of outside trickery and manipulation, granting you proficiency with Wisdom saving throws.

Additionally, whenever you are subject to an effect that would cause you to become charmed, you can use your reaction to expend 1 Dark Arts point to remove the condition from yourself. You can only use this reaction on the same turn that the condition was applied.

### Improved Shadowskin

At 17th level, your prolonged exposure to death and the voracious entropy of your Dark Arts have forever tainted you; you involuntarily exude a dreadful aura that makes others uncomfortable in your presence, the color drains from your eyes, and your skin  deteriorates to a pallid, sickly gray. This unsettling nature imposes disadvantage on both performance and persuasion (Charisma) ability checks whenever you interact with a creature of a non-evil alignment.

While your gruesome appearance and unholy disposition can be viewed as detriments, you have inherited beneficial traits and characteristics typically associated with the living dead. You are permanently under the following effects:

* You are immune to the effects of poison and the poisoned condition.
* Your Constitution score increases by 2, with your maximum for the score becoming 22.
* You regain hit points equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1) whenever you start your turn with no more than half your hit points remaining and you are not incapacitated.

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### Salted Earth
Starting at 18th level, you can expend 1 Dark Arts point to cast the *circle of death* spell without requiring any components. Once you cast a spell this way, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest or until you expend 6 Dark Arts points to use it again.

### Living Dead
Beginning at the 20th level, you can completely surrender yourself to the lurking darkness and tempestuous emotions swirling within your heart, instilling within you an unholy tenacity to continue fighting, regardless of the severity of your wounds. When you are reduced to 0 hit points without being killed outright, you can choose to expend 1 Dark Arts point to activate Living Dead using a special reaction. You can use this reaction if you have already used a reaction this round, but not if you used a reaction this turn.

When you do so, you regain 1 hit point and you cannot fall below 1 hit point for a number of rounds equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1). Immediately after the effect of Living Dead ends, make a Death Saving Throw. You take 1 level of exhaustion on a success. On a fail, you take 2 levels of exhaustion and your speed is reduced to 0 until the start of your next turn.

Once you benefit from this feature, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest or until you expend 4 Dark Arts points to use it again.

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## A Path Shrouded in Sorrow

A dark knight lives and dies by sword with an understanding that the path they have chosen for themselves is a sad, lonely existence mired in suffering. These dark warriors are fully prepared to give the ultimate sacrifice to safeguard the weak and the oppressed, knowing that those they seek to defend will view them as nothing less than a villain or a monster. Yet no matter how bleak existence may seem, or how cruel and ignominious mortals can be to one another, dark knights can find solace in the simple fact their endless struggle has brought hope to the hopeless — no matter how trivial or small the deed, it was done because it was the right thing to do, and nothing more.

This understanding helps a dark knight navigate the oppressive, suffocating darkness of the world around them, kindling a gentle, flickering flame in the abyss. This sole spark is the seed of hope in a dark knight's heart, a benevolent guidestone that keeps them from straying from the path into damnation...or simply provides a remorseful dark knight a means to channel their unavoidable grief and sorrow.

## Original Sins

One seeking to become a dark knight must be introduced to it through some means, be it an ancient tome inscribed with their rituals  or a mentor searching for an apprentice to impart their knowledge. However, equally as important as the means to become a dark knight are the fledgling's reasons for pursuing dark vigilantism — Do they lack power to defend their loved ones and see the dark arts as a means to an end? Did they make a mistake that cost them greatly, and they wish to make amends for their folly? Or are they bent on vengeance for some past wound or loss that drove them to choose this dark warrior’s path?

An aspiring dark knight must eventually face the darkness that lurks in their heart and overcome their greatest fears and regrets, which is seen as the culmination of all the dark knight’s training. Once they have done so, they select a path that best represents their dedication to the greater good.

## A Voice in the Abyss

Each path available to a dark knight is an unending journey of pain, misery, and endless death. But these stalwart warriors shoulder their burdens with quiet stoicism, taking small comfort in knowing the suffering they endure keeps evil at bay, if only for a brief moment. At 3rd level, you must choose one of the below options for your death knight:

A *Deathbringer* walks the path of the unyielding executioner, embracing their vengeful Darkside to deliver vehement blows capable of rending the armor of even the most heavily-armored knight in order to reach their victims. The *Shadowbinder* peers inwards, taking note of the darkness swelling within their breast and channeling its ruinous entropy into powerful, advanced forms of Dark Arts. And lastly, *Bloodthirsters* are voracious martyrs who sneer in the face of suffering, weaponizing sacrifice in the form of soul-devouring strikes and maniac states of bloodthirsty delirium.

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## Deathbringer

The path of the Deathbringer is a solemn commitment to punish those who have committed a grievous sin. When a lord orders the wanton slaughter helpless villagers, when an entire people turn to genocide in blind worship of a god, when a cutthroat merchant's guild grows too violent and abusive, when warring armies pillage and terrorize the countryside – at times like these, dark knights arise and swear an oath of retribution to set right that which has gone wrong. To these merciless executioners, their own purity is not as important as delivering uncompromising justice.

#### Death's Design

When you choose this subclass at 3rd level, you can unleash unholy vengeance against the target of your ire. When you use your bonus action to gain the effect of *Darkside*, you can cast the *hex* spell as part of the same action. Moreover, you don't have to concentrate on the spell once you cast it; it lasts for the duration of your Darkside, until you use a bonus action to dismiss it, or until you are incapacitated.

#### Dark Passenger

At 6th level, you gain the ability to slip into the shadows to deliver inescapable death to the wicked. When you are in dim light or darkness, you can expend 1 Dark Arts point as an action to teleport up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space you can see that is also in dim light or darkness and make a melee weapon attack against a creature within range, dealing an extra 2d6 damage on a hit. If this attack reduces the creature to 0 hit points, you gain an additional use of this feature as part of the same action.

The extra damage granted by Dark Passenger increases to 3d6 at 10th level, and 4d6 at 14th level.

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#### Weight of Sin

Beginning at 10th level, you can burden your enemies with the weight of their sins. As an action, you can expend 1 Dark Arts point to exude an aura of oppressive gloom for a number of rounds equal to your Charisma modifier. The aura has a radius of 30 feet and reduces any bright light within its area to dim light.

Whenever a creature of your choosing enters the aura for the first time on a turn, or starts its turn there, they must make a Wisdom saving throw against your Spell Save DC. On a failed save, the target takes psychic damage equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1) and they become frightened of you until the start of their next turn.

#### Mercykiller

At 14th level, you take it upon yourself to punish the guilty at any cost, and show no mercy when doing so. While succumbing to your Darkside, your weapon attacks score a critical hit on a roll of 18-20 and you add your Charisma modifier to the necrotic damage dealt by your Darkside Damage Die.

## Shadowbinder

A great darkness lurks in the heart of every man and woman, an abhorrent and wicked monster capable of performing acts of cruelty so inhumane to make even the most resolute cleric or stalwart paladin question their faith; a fact all dark knights are intimately familiar with. But where other dark knights are content to harness the darkness as nothing more than a destructive tool of death, Shadowbinders peer deep into the abyss to glimpse hidden truths – to find understanding and purpose in the tempestuous currents of the stygian void.

To a Shadowbinder, darkness is not something to be feared, but a misunderstood force of nature that, while certainly malefic, can also be equally as soothing as the brightest ray of light.

#### Abyssal Communion

At 3rd level, you have gleaned esoteric knowledge from your introspective reflections and meditations within the void of the abyss. You gain shadowbinder spells at the levels listed.

##### Shadowbinder Spells
| Dark Knight Level | Spell |
|:---:|:-----------:|
| 3rd | *dissonant whispers*, *sleep* |
| 5th | *crown of madness*, *silence* |
| 9th | *life transference*, *summon shadowspawn* |
| 13th | *death ward*, *phantasmal killer* |
| 17th | *antilife shell*, *cone of cold* |

Shadowbinder spells cost Dark Arts points to cast and follow the same rules as any other spell cast using your Dark Arts spellcasting feature. See the *Dark Arts* section at the end of the class description for a detailed explanation on how to cast spells using Dark Arts. If you gain a shadowbinder spell that doesn't appear on the dark knight spell list, the spell is nonetheless a dark knight spell for you.

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Additionally, you gain the ability to cast Dark Knight Spells using higher level spell slots. When you do so, you must meet the minimum level requirements to cast a spell of the desired level and the spell's level increases by 1 for each additional Dark Arts point expended. You cannot use this feature to cast a spell of 6th level or higher.

For example, you can cast a 1st level Dark Knight spell as a 2nd level spell for 2 Dark Art points, or a 3rd level Dark Knight spell as a 4th level spell for 4 Dark Arts points.

#### Syphon Strike

When you reach 6th level, you've learned how to replenish the well of darkness within you by syphoning the life force of dying creatures. Whenever you reduce a living creature with a CR greater than 0 to 0 hit points with the necrotic damage from your Darkside feature, or with the necrotic damage from a 1st level spell or higher for the first time on a turn, you recover expended Dark Arts points.

You recover an amount of Dark Arts points based on the Syphon Strike table below. You can only recover Dark Arts points from a creature this way once per turn, with any excess Dark Arts over your maximum being lost. Constructs and undead creatures are immune to the effects of your Syphon Strike feature.

##### Syphon Strike Table
| Creature Size | Dark Arts Points  |
|:---:|:-----------:|
| Tiny-Medium | 1 |
| Large | 2 |
| Huge | 3 |
| Gargantuan | 4 |

#### Dark Missionary

Beginning at 10th level, your knowledge of sacrifice and occult rituals allows you to convert the suffering of yourself and your allies into a font of restorative, eldritch power. As an action, you can touch an ally within range over the course of 1 minute and expend one of your hit dice, taking necrotic damage equal to 10 + your Constitution modifier. When you do so, you harvest a *Dark Missionary Die* from your offering, an opaque orb of darkness that seeps into the body of the the touched ally. This special die is a d10 and lasts for a number of hours equal to your Charisma modifier.

While the Dark Missionary Die is in their possession, a creature can choose to take an action on their turn to expend and roll the die. The creature recovers expended Spell Slots equal to the amount rolled and immediately takes necrotic damage equal to 3 times the initial dice roll. This damage cannot be reduced or mitigated by any means, and none of the Spell Slots recovered can be 6th level or higher. If the necrotic damage from the Dark Missionary Die would incapacitate the creature, it suffers an entropic backlash; it is left with 1 hit point, gains 1 point of exhaustion, made prone, and any Spell Slots gained using the die are lost.

Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.

#### Living Shadow

At 14th level, you can draw on the well of darkness within you to summon tendrils of writhing, living shadow. As an action, you can expend 6 Dark Arts points to cast the spell *investiture of shadow*.

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#### Investiture of Shadow
*6th-level transmutation*
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- **Casting Time:** 1 action
- **Range:** Self
- **Components:** V, S
- **Duration:**  Concentration, 10 minutes
- **Classes:** Dark Knight
___

Until the spell ends, swirling shadows wreathe your body, and you gain the following benefits:

* You become heavily obscured to others.
* You can see normally in darkness, both magical and nonmagical, to a distance of 120 feet.
* You can use your action to create a 15-foot radius sphere of magical darkness centered on a point you can see within 60 feet of you. This darkness lasts for the duration of this spell, or until you activate this ability again. Only one instance of darkness created by this spell can exist at any time. 
* Whenever a creature enters the sphere of darkness for the first time on a turn, or starts its turn there, it must make a Constitution saving throw. A creature takes 2d10 necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

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## Bloodthirster

For some dark knights, their pact with darkness is one of penance, not vengeance. Perhaps they are rectifying a terrible mistake of their past, or take sole blame for an event that lead to a great, personal tragedy. Regardless of intent, a dark knight who walks the path of the Bloodthirster will gladly spill every drop of blood in their body defending the weak from suffering even the most minute of injuries. These martyrs revel in their sacrifice, and unsettle their allies equally as much as their enemies with displays of bloodthirsty euphoria.

These crimson-soaked knights bend the very rules of mortality to control the front-lines of the battlefield, and those who follow this path must be mindful to not lose sight of their own humanity during their voracious crusades.

#### Souleater

When you choose this subclass at 3rd level, your Darkside yearns to feast on the soul of your enemies. Whenever you regain hit points as a result of your Darkness Damage Die, you can choose to expend 1 Dark Arts point as a bonus action to gain temporary hit points equal to twice the amount healed + your Charisma modifier.

#### Sacrificial Pact

At 6th level, your reverence of pain has rewarded you with the ability to transfer an ally's suffering onto yourself. As an action, you can expend one Dark Arts point and ward a willing creature you touch, forming a sacrificial, eldritch bond with them for 1 hour.

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Whenever the target is hit by an attack or spell while it is within 60 feet of you, you can use your reaction to transfer all damage the target takes to yourself, reducing the damage taken by an amount equal to your Charisma modifier, until the start of its next turn. You must remain within line of sight of the target to use this reaction.

The Sacrificial Pact ends if you drop to 0 hit points or if you and the target become separated by more than 60 feet. It also ends if it is cast again on either of the connected creatures, or if you take a bonus action to dismiss it.

#### Blood Weapon

Beginning at 10th level, your weapon strikes are empowered by the suffering you endure in battle. For every 20 hit points you are missing, you gain a +1 bonus to melee weapon attack and damage rolls, to a maximum equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1).

#### Scarlet Delirium

By 14th level, your maimed body is wracked with the scars of battle and sacrificial wounds derived from your Dark Arts. To endure the punishment of pushing your body beyond mortal limits, you've learned to harness the darkness within you to ward your flesh and grant it a facsimile  of life.

As a bonus action, you can choose to expend 2 Dark Arts points to gain the effect of Scarlet Delirium for 1 hour. While under the effect of Scarlet Delirium, you gain the following benefits:

* You have advantage on Constitution checks and Constitution saving throws.
* You gain additional temporary hit points equal to your Constitution modifier whenever a spell, feature, or effect would cause you to gain any.
* Damage from all sources is reduced by your current Blood Weapon bonus.
* You suppress the effects of exhaustion and magical sleep as long as you are not incapacitated. If you already have levels of exhaustion when you enter your Scarlet Delirium, its effects are suspended for the duration.

> ##### Dark Knights and One D&D 
> This homebrew class was intended for use with the core rulesets of D&D 5th Edition, though it borrows elements of One D&D (such as allowing more classes to receive a new feature, improvement, or ASI at every new level!) and can be easily converted to the new edition. If you would like to play a Dark Knight in One D&D, replace the 18th level Dark Knight feature *Salted Earth* with the 20th level *Living Dead* feature. Your new 20th level feature is the *Epic Boon* feature introduced in One D&D.

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# Dark Arts
Dark Knights draw upon the darkness that resides within every living creature to manipulate and channel the raw magic of the weave. Unconcerned with the origin of the dark powers they wield, dark knight's focus solely on exerting their own force of will through strong emotions – hatred, loathing, sorrow, fear, regret, and even compassion or  love – as conduits to bring forth their ruinous Dark Arts against the corrupt and the profane.

Some scholars speculate that the source of a dark knight's power seeps from planar fissures connecting to the dreadful wastes of the Shadowfell, or from otherworldly deities such as the estoeric Raven Queen or the loathsome Orcus. Even more outlandish theories claim their abyssal magics are the fading echoes of Shar's lamentable Shadow Weave. However, dark knight's are pariahs within society, shunned as exiles and wanted fugitives – unfortunate circumstances that make it increasingly unlikely that the realms will ever truly know the veracity surrounding their occult arts.

## Casting Spells

Beginning at 3rd level, you can expend Dark Arts points to cast spells. See chapter 10 for the general rules of spellcasting.

The Dark Knight table shows how many spells of each level you can know and cast using Dark Arts points. Unlike typical spellcasters, you do not rely on spell slots to determine the amount of spells you can cast between long rests. Instead, you rely on expending both your hit points and your hit dice to replenish your small pool of Dark Arts points. Most dark knight features and abilities require the use of Dark Arts points or hit dice to activate, so carelessly expending Dark Arts points to cast spells can deprive you of a critical resource, to potentially disastrous consequences.

To cast a Dark Knight spell using Dark Arts points, you must expend 1 Dark Arts point of the spell's level or higher. For example, you can expend 1 Dark Arts point to cast a 1st level Dark Knight spell, 2 points to cast a 2nd level Dark Knight spell, and so on. When casting spells using Dark Arts points, you use the spell's casting time and rules, but you do not need to provide material components for it. Additionally, the spell is cast at its lowest level, unless a feature or ability states otherwise.

You prepare the list of dark knight spells that are available for you to cast, choosing from the dark knight spell list. The spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots. You can change your list of prepared spells when you finish a long rest. Preparing a new list of dark knight spells requires time spent in deep introspection and meditation: at least 1 minute per spell level for each spell on your list.

### Spellcasting Ability

Charisma is your spellcasting ability for your dark knight spells, since their power derives from the strength of your convictions. You use your Charisma whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Charisma modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a dark knight spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.

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**Dark Knight Spell DC** = 8 + your proficiency modifier + your Charisma modifier.

**Dark Knight Spell Attack Modifier** = your proficiency modifier + your Charisma modifier.

### Spellcasting Focus

The source of your occult magic is gleaned from tapping into the well of darkness within yourself, but many fledgling dark knights find comfort in channeling their dark arts through a trinket – an object or beloved memento that serves as a reminder for why they have chosen a path of sorrow, or as a grounding totem to prevent themselves from fully slipping into the abyss.

You can choose to use a horror trinket from the table below (or one of your own design with your DM's approval) as a spellcasting focus for your dark knight spells if you wish.

## Dark Knight Spell List

##### 1st Level
- Absorb Elements *(XGtE)*
- Arms of Hadar *(PHB)*
- Bane
- Cause Fear *(XGtE)*
- Compelled Duel *(PHB)*
- False Life 
- Hellish Rebuke
- Hex *(XGtE)*
- Inflict Wounds
- Mage Armor
- Ray of Sickness *(PHB)*
- Wrathful Smite *(PHB)*

##### 2nd Level
- Blindness/Deafness
- Blur 
- Darkness
- Darkvision 
- Hold Person
- Magic Weapon 
- Mind Spike *(XGtE)*
- Misty Step
- Pass Without Trace
- Ray of Enfeeblement 
- Shadow Blade *(XGtE)*
- Wither and Bloom *(SCoC)*

##### 3rd Level
- Bestow Curse
- Blink 
- Counterspell
- Dispel Magic
- Enemies Abound *(XGtE)*
- Fear 
- Feign Death *(PHB)*
- Hunger of Hadar *(PHB)*
- Protection from Energy
- Spirit Shroud *(XGtE)* 
- Vampiric Touch

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##### 4th Level
- Blight
- Confusion  
- Elemental Bane
- Evard's Black Tentacles *(PHB)*
- Locate Creature
- Shadow of Moil 
- Staggering Smite *(PHB)*

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##### 5th Level
- Banishing Smite *(PHB)*
- Circle of Power
- Contagion 
- Destructve Wave* *(PHB)* **using the necrotic option*
- Enervation *(XGtE)* 
- Hold Monster
- Scrying 
- Wall of Force

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##### Horror Trinket Table
| d100 |Trinket | d100 | Trinket
|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|
| 01  | A picture you drew as a child of your imaginary friend. | 26 | Pallid leather gloves crafted with ivory fingernails. | 
| 02  | A lock that opens when blood is dripped in its keyhole. | 27  | Dice made from the knuckles of a notorious charlatan. | 
| 03  | Clothes stolen from a scarecrow. |  28  | A ring of keys for forgotten locks. | 
| 04  | A spinning top carved with four faces: happy, sad, wrathful and dead. |  29  | Nails from the coffin of a murderer. | 
| 05  | The necklace of a sibling who died on the day you were born. | 30 | A key to the family crypt. |
| 06 | A wig from someone executed by beheading. |  31 | A bouquet of funerary flowers that always looks and smells fresh. |
| 07 | The unopened letter to you from your dying father. | 32 | A switch used to discipline you as a child. | 
| 08 | A pocket watch that runs backward for an hour every midnight. | 33 | A music box that plays by itself whenever someone holding it dances. |
| 09 | A winter coat stolen from a dying soldier. | 34 | A walking cane with an iron ferule that strikes sparks on stone. | 
| 10 | A bottle of invisible ink that can only be read at sunset. | 35 | A flag from a ship lost at sea. |  
| 11 | A wineskin that refills when interred with a dead person for a night. | 36 | Porcelain doll's head that always seems to be looking at you. |    
| 12 | A set of silverware used by a king for his last meal. |  37 | A wolf's head wrought in silver that is also a whistle. |   
| 13 | A spyglass that always shows the world suffering a terrible storm. | 38 | A small mirror that shows a much older version of the viewer. | 
|14 | A cameo with the profile's face scratched away. | 39 | Small, worn book of children's nursery rhymes. |   
|15 | A lantern with a black candle that never runs out and that burns with green flame. | 40 | A mummified raven's claw. |   
|16 | A teacup from a child's tea set, stained with blood. | 41 | A broken pendent of a silver dragon that's always cold to the touch. |  
|17 | A little black book that records your dreams, and yours alone, when you sleep. |  42 | A small locked box that quietly hums a lovely melody at night but you always forget it in the morning. |
| 18  | A necklace formed of the interlinked holy symbols of a dozen deities. | 43 | An inkwell that makes one a little nauseous when staring at it. | 
| 19  | A noose that feels heavier than it should. | 44 | An old little doll made from a dark, dense wood and missing a hand and a foot. | 
| 20  | A birdcage into which small birds fly, but once inside, never eat or leave. | 45  | A black executioner's hood.
| 21  | A lepidopterist's box filled dead moths with skull-like patterns on their wings. | 46 | A pouch made of flesh, with a sinew drawstring. |
| 22  | A jar of pickled ghouls' tongues. | 47 | A tiny spool of black thread that never runs out. |
| 23  | The wooden hand of a notorious pirate. | 48 | A tiny clockwork figuring of a dancer that's missing a gear and doesn't work. |
| 24  | An urn with the ashes of a dead relative. | 49 | A black wooden pipe that creates puffs of smoke that look like skulls. |
| 25  | A hand mirror backed with a bronze depiction of a medusa. | 50 | A vial of perfume, the scene of which only certain creatures can detect.. |

</div>

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##### Horror Trinket Table
| d100 |Trinket | d100 | Trinket
|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|
| 51  | A stone that emits a single endless sigh. | 76 | A candle made from a severed hand. | 
| 52  | A rag doll with two red dots on its neck. | 77  | A clockwork device that beats like a heart. | 
| 53  | A spring-loaded toy with a missing crank. |  78  | A blank masquerade mask. | 
| 54  | A jar containing a harmless but agitated, animate ooze. |  79  | A glass eye with a live worm inside. | 
| 55  | A black wooden die with 1's on all the faces. | 80 | A sheet with two eyeholes cut in it. |
| 56 | A child's portrait with the word "born" written on the back, along with next year's date. |  81 | The deed to a place called Tergeron Manor. |
| 57 | A dagger-sized shak tooth. | 82 | An ornate, wax-sealed crimson envelope that resists all attempts to open it. | 
| 58 | A finger thats taken root in a small pot. | 83 | A mourning veil trimmed in black lace. |
| 59 | A toolbox containing the remains of a dangerous but broken clockwork arachnid. | 84 | A straightjacket covered in charcoal runes. | 
| 60 | A pitcher-sized, opalescent snail shell that occasionally, inexplicably shudders or tips over. | 85 | A tattered, burlap mask with a crooked smile painted on it. |  
| 61 | The logbook of an ice-breaking ship called the Haifisch. | 86 | A green ribbon designed to be worn as a choker. |    
| 62 | A small portrait of you as a child, alongside your identically dressed twin. |  87 | Dentures with mismatched, sharpened teeth. |   
| 63 | A silver pocket watch with thirteen hours marked on the face. | 88 | A warm, fist-sized egg case. | 
|64 | A woodcut of a wolf devouring its own hind leg. | 89 | A copper ring with "mine" engraved on the inside. |   
|65 | A planchette etched with raven skulls. | 90 | A glass ampoule with containing a neon green fluid. |   
|66 | A moist coral figurine of a lamprey with arms, legs, and a bipedal stance. | 91 | An eye patch embroidered with a holy symbol. |  
|67 | A broken fingertrap sculpted with roaring tigers. |  92 | A severed big toe with a nail that continues to grow. |
| 68  | A pearl necklace that turns red under the full moon. | 93 | A journal that responds with short answers to queries written into its blank pages. | 
| 69  | A fossil of a fish with humanoid features. | 94 | A glove with a mouth-like design stitched on the palm. | 
| 70  | A plague doctor's mask. | 95 | An ornate but empty reliquary made of silver and fractured glass. |
| 71  | A smudged talisman with smudged, shifting ink. | 96 | A ceramic figure of a cat with too many eyes. |
| 72  | A locket containing the smeared image of an eyeless figure. | 97 | A crumpled paper ticket bearing the words "admit none". |
| 73  | A canopic jar with a lid sculpted like a goat. | 98 | A silver coin with your face on one side.. |
| 74  | A jack-o'-lantern made from a small, pale gourd. | 99 | A shrunken gremishka head that twitches when anyone casts magic nearby. |
| 75  | A single high-heeled, iron shoe. | 100 | A sunburst amulet with a red stone at the center. |

</div>

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This is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the material used here are property of Wizards of the Coast.
___
©Wizards of the Coast LLC.

##### Credits
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