Knights of the Pure Heart: Leading the Sinful to Redemption

The knight knelt down beside the murderous thief who sat on the ground bound with manacles in the gaol for his crimes. After the knight had captured him, the young man had been convicted of killing and robbing a merchant; he was going to be executed in the morning. “Be calm, my son,” he said softly to the criminal, “I mean you know harm. Just tell me, why did you do it? You don’t need to lie, you can tell me anything. I will never tell anyone, I am not here to condemn, just offer you a chance at peace.” The scurrilous cur spat at the knight and struggled against his chains. The knight did not flinch, just wiped away the spittle and smiled benignly and said softly “That’s okay, my son, I know you must be angry. Tell me, what makes you so wrathful?”

The callow thief snarled, “Wrathful? Hah! That’s a pretty word for it. Suren, yes I am sodding torqued, why the sod shouldn’t I be? I grew up alone on the sodding streets of this slimy hole of a city eating scraps stolen from other berks’ trash. I had to fight for every bloody crumb I ever stuffed in me pie-hole from the time me mum kicked me out of her house so she could turn more tricks…” The thief rambled on under the knight-confessor’s gentle prodding, confessing to an endless litany of crimes, from horse-stealing to murder, and grew more remorseful with each new revelation. Finally, he was sobbing, pleading from the heart to be forgiven for his sins.

In the morning, when the guards came to take the young rogue to the gallows for his crimes, he got up calmly, sighed, and went willingly. Like a lamb to the slaughter, he followed the guards up the scaffold, bowed his head as the executioner put the noose around his neck, and smiled serenely as the trapdoor beneath his feet gave way. The knight watched with tears in his eyes as the crowd cheered the hated criminal’s death. A guard saw the sorrowful knight’s tears and asked “Good sir, he was a murderer and a thief, why do you weep for his justly deserved end? Are you not the one who proved his guilt?” The knight-confessor wiped away his tears and looked at the guard thoughtfully before replying, “Because today a good man has been killed…”

The Knights of the Pure Heart are holy warriors dedicated to redeeming the souls of the wicked and helping criminals turn a new leaf. This is a daunting task, and many times the villain’s crimes have become too many to repent for and the best they can hope for is to die with a clean conscience, having confessed at last and felt some remorse. The members of this class, knight-confessors, hold out hope for even the most evil of fiends, believing any soul can find redemption and forgiveness if they are led toward the light. They constantly seek to capture evil-doers and bring them to justice, endeavour to get their prisoners to confess and make penance for the deeds they have done. To the knight-confessors it is always better to die with a clean conscience than live with a stained heart.

Abilities: Charisma enhances a knight-confessor’s ability to smite, self-protective abilities, and ability to channel energy. Strength is important for its important role in combat, something that all knight-confessors must face without fear or hesitation. A Wisdom score of 14 or higher is required to get access to the most powerful knight-confessor spells, and a score of 11 or higher is required to cast any divine spells at all.

Advancement Table

Level Special Abilities

1 Aura of good, detect lies, smite evil 1/day

2 Divine grace

3 Aura of Truth

4 Smite evil 2/day

5 Special Mount

6 Atonement 1/week

7

8

9 Smite evil 3/day, Atonement 2/week

10

11

12 Atonement 3/week

13

14 Smite evil 4/day,

15 Atonement 4/week

16

17

18 Atonement 5/week

19 Smite evil 5/day

20

Alignment: Fair and compassionate, Knight-confessors must be Lawful Good in alignment.

Hit Dice: 1d10

Class Skills: climb, concentration, craft, intimidate, jump, knowledge (religion), ride, diplomacy, profession, search, sense motive, use rope, swim.

Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int. modifier) x 4.

Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int. modifier.

Weapon & Armour Proficiency: Knight-confessors are proficient in all simple and martial weapons, armour, and shields.

Aura of Good: The power of a knight-confessor’s aura of good (see the spell detect good) is equal to his class level.

Smite Evil (Su): Once per day, a knight-confessor may attempt to smite evil with one normal melee attack. The knight-confessor adds any Charisma bonus to the attack roll and deals 1 extra point of damage per class level. If the knight-confessor accidentally smites a creature that is not evil, the smite attempt has no effect, but the ability is still used up for that day.

Detect Lies (Sp): At will, a knight-confessor can discern lies as the spell.

Divine Grace (Su): At 2nd level, a knight-confessor gains a bonus equal to his or her Charisma bonus (if any) on all saving throws.

Aura of Truth (Su): The honesty and discernment of these warriors is inspiring to others. At 3rd level, a knight-confessor becomes immune to illusions (magical or otherwise). Each ally within 10 feet of a knight-confessor gains a +4 morale bonus on saving throws against illusion effects and bluff attempts. In addition, anyone in the area attempting to make a Bluff attempt suffers a -4 penalty. This ability functions while the knight-confessor is conscious, but not while the knight-confessor is unconscious or dead.

Special Mount (Sp): Upon reaching 5th level, a knight-confessor gains the service of an unusually intelligent, strong, and loyal steed to serve her in her crusade against evil. This mount is usually a heavy warhorse (for a Medium knight-confessor) or a war pony (for a Small knight-confessor).

Once per day, as a full-round action, a knight-confessor may magically call her mount from the celestial realms in which it resides. This ability is the equivalent of a spell of a level equal to one-third the knight-confessor’s level. The mount immediately appears adjacent to the knight-confessor and remains for 2 hours per knight-confessor level; it may be dismissed at any time as a free action. The mount is the same creature each time it is summoned, though the knight-confessor may release a particular mount from service.

Each time the mount is called, it appears in full health, regardless of any damage it may have taken previously. The mount also appears wearing or carrying any gear it had when it was last dismissed. Calling a mount is a conjuration (calling) effect.

Should the knight-confessor’s mount die, it immediately disappears, leaving behind any equipment it was carrying. The knight-confessor may not summon another mount for thirty days or until she gains a knight-confessor level, whichever comes first, even if the mount is somehow returned from the dead. During this thirty-day period, the knight-confessor takes a -1 penalty on attack and weapon damage rolls.

Atonement (Sp): At 6th level the knight-confessor may cast the spell Atonement once per week. This ability may be used an additional time each week every additional 3 levels, to a maximum of 5 times a week at 18th level. Caster level is equal to the knight-confessor’s class level. The knight-confessor cannot use this ability on himself.

Code of Conduct: A knight-confessor must be of lawful good alignment and loses all class abilities if he or she ever willingly commits an evil act.

Additionally, a knight-confessor’s code requires that members of the class attempt to help others to confess their sins, to help those who are in need (provided they do not use the help for evil ends), to punish those who harm or threaten innocents, and to lead those who sin to repentance whenever possible. A knight-confessor may never reveal anything told to him during confession, as doing so would break the sacred trust he has with those he helps atone.

Associates: While a knight-confessor may adventure with characters of good or neutral alignment, the knight will never knowingly associate with evil characters, nor will any association with someone who consistently offends the knight-confessor’s moral code be continued. A knight-confessor may not accept henchmen, followers, or cohorts who are evil.

Ex-Knight-confessors

A knight-confessor who ceases to be lawful good, who willingly commits an evil act, or who grossly violates the code of conduct, loses all knight-confessor spells and abilities (but not weapon, armour, and shield proficiencies). The warrior may not progress any further in levels as a knight-confessor. All class abilities and advancement potential may be regained if the violations are atoned for (see the atonement spell description), as appropriate.

Like any member of any other class, a knight-confessor may be a multiclass character, but multiclass knight-confessors face a special restriction. A knight-confessor who gains a level in any other class may never again rise in knight-confessor level, though all knight-confessor abilities are retained.