Blackguard 6 (18)

Godforsaken

Blackguards are evil knights who serve dark entities or their own corrupt agendas. Some were once honorable knights who fell to temptation and have abandoned their original principles, but many were raised under evil circumstances and have never known anything but hatred and conflict.

Motive: Power, domination of others, slaughter

Environment: Almost anywhere, either alone or as part of a cult or evil organization

Health: 30

Damage Inflicted: Moderate wound (7 points)

Armor: 2 or 3

Movement: Short; long when mounted

Modifications: Perception and Intellect defense as level 7

Combat: Blackguards use high-quality armor and weapons (usually decorated with symbols depicting death, demons, or evil gods). Many wear heavy armor and prefer weapons that inflict bleeding wounds, but some take a more subtle approach and act more like assassins than knights. A blackguard typically has two or three of the following abilities:

• Fiendish Beast: The blackguard has a companion creature such as a dog, horse, or raven with an eerie, unnatural look (in the case of small animals, the creature may also be an exceptionally large specimen of its kind). The creature is actually a semi-intelligent fiend in animal shape (and therefore immune to abilities that affect only normal animals) that can understand the blackguard’s commands, and may even be able to speak. If the beast is a horse or similar creature, the blackguard might ride it as a mount.
  • Fiendish beast: level 4, stealth as level 5, Might and Intellect defense as level 5
• Necromancy: The blackguard uses a ten-minute ritual to animate a human-sized corpse as a zombie under their control. The zombie becomes a corpse again after a day.
• Poison: The blackguard coats their weapons with a level 6 poison; a foe who fails a Might defense roll moves one step down the damage track.
• Spells: The blackguard knows several spells granted by an evil entity, typically spells that cause a foe to flee in fear for one minute, restore 10 health, create an eerie darkness or fog in long range, or grant +5 Armor against energy and magical attacks for an hour.
• Surprise Attack: When the blackguard attacks from a hidden vantage, with surprise, or before their opponent has acted in combat, they get an asset on the attack and inflict +4 points of damage. Unholy
• Aura: Defense rolls by foes within immediate distance of the blackguard are hindered.
• Unholy Blessing: The blackguard’s defense rolls are eased.

Interaction: Blackguards enjoy killing righteous paragons of good and are often cruel for the sake of cruelty itself.

Use: A blackguard has united various groups of bandits into a small army. An evil wizard sends her blackguard lieutenant to kill the people interfering with her plans.

Loot: Blackguards usually have treasures equivalent to three or four expensive items, a few useful manifest cyphers, and an artifact weapon or armor.

GM Intrusions The blackguard’s weaponflares with unholy power ,inflicting an additiona l6 points of damage (ignores Armor). A slain blackguard rises as an undead or is possessed by a demonand continues to fight