Anointed Knight

The anointed knight is a holy soldier who has taken great pains to learn the intricacies of alchemy in order to become a more capable combatant. Armed with an ancestral weapon, she searches for obscure lore, consults with alchemists and sages, and communes with the powers of good. Her unquenchable thirst for knowledge is matched only by her extraordinary combat prowess.

An anointed knight crafts and draws power from magically created oils. By anointing herself with these oils, she unlocks new supernatural powers within her being. She also coats her ancestral weapon with special oils that bestow additional qualities upon the weapon.

Anointed knights are typically paladins or fighters with one or more wizard or cleric levels. Occasionally, an anointed knight emerges from the ranks of single-class wizards, sorcerers, clerics, or bards.

Regardless of their backgrounds, anointed knights often form bonds of friendship with knowledgeable arcane spellcasters who might benefit from their combat puissance. Anointed knights also ally themselves with angels, eladrins, and other forces of good. They believe in crusades against evil and enjoy taking the fight to evildoers wherever they may reside. They oppose the warriors of darkness (as described in the *Book of Vile Darkness*), and the one trait they share with their evil counterparts is a lack of subtlety. An anointed knight would much rather go head-to-head with her enemies than work behind the scenes or try to organize any form of passive resistance.

#### Requirements

**Base Attack Bonus:** +5

**Alignment:** Any good.

**Skills:** Craft (alchemy) 2 ranks , Knowledge (arcana) 1 ranks , Spellcraft 1 ranks

**Feats:** Ancestral Relic

#### Class Features

**Weapon and Armor Proficiency:** An anointed knight is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, all types of armor, and shields.

**Anoint Self (Su):** An anointed knight concocts a magic oil with which to anoint herself, at a cost of 100 gp (for alchemical components). She can make only one dose of the oil each time this class feature is gained (at 1st, 4th, 7th, and 10th level). Creating the oil takes 1 hour.

Applying the oil is a ceremony that takes 8 hours. Once the oil is applied, the anointed knight permanently gains a new supernatural ability chosen from the accompanying list. Her level plus Charisma modifier determines the choices available to her (the highest-numbered choice possible, or any lower one). An anointed knight cannot choose an ability more than once, nor can she replace one ability with another once the choice is made.

 3 – 4
 5 – 6
 7 – 8
 9
 10
 11+

**Anoint Ancestral Weapon (Su)**: An anointed knight concocts a magic oil with which to coat her ancestral weapon, at a cost of 100 gp (for alchemical components). She can make only one dose of the oil each time this class feature is gained (at 2nd, 5th, and 8th level). If the oil is applied to a weapon other than the anointed knight's ancestral weapon, nothing happens and the oil is wasted. Creating the oil takes 1 hour.

Applying the oil is a ceremony that takes 8 hours. Once the oil is applied, the ancestral weapon permanently gains a new supernatural ability chosen from the accompanying list. The knight's level plus Charisma modifier determines the choices available to her (the highest-numbered choice possible, or any lower one). An anointed knight cannot choose an ability more than once, nor can she replace one ability with another once the choice is made.

 4 – 6
 7 – 8
 10+
 2 The weapon gains the following mental ability scores (assigned as the knight sees fit): 14, 14, 10. The weapon also gains the power of speech, 120-ft. vision and hearing, and two lesser powers (rolled randomly). See Intelligent Items in the *Dungeon Master's Guide*.

**Bonus Feat**: At 3rd level, and again at 6th and 9th level, the anointed knight gains a bonus feat. This feat must be drawn from the following feats, and the knight must meet all the prerequisites for it: Blind-Fight, Cleave, Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Diehard, Dodge, Endurance, Exalted Smite\*, Great Cleave, Holy Subdual\*, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Disarm, Improved Feint, Improved Overrun, Improved Sunder, Improved Trip, Mobility, Power Attack, Sanctify Martial Strike\*, Sanctify Weapon\*, Spring Attack, Subduing Strike\*, Whirlwind Attack.

\*New feat described in Chapter 4 of this book.