A death knight was a mighty undead warrior created by gods of death or other malevolent forces. They were most commonly created from evil humanoids who in life had been blackguards, fighters, rangers, barbarians, and even paladins fallen from grace.[3]
Description[]
A death knight appeared similar to how it appeared in life, but it had a decayed body with rotting flesh and pinpoints of light in place of eyes. A death knight often wore fine clothing and armor, especially capes, as a mark of importance. A death knight struck fear into the hearts of weaker creatures.[3]
Society[]
A death knight often rode a nightmare into battle and had a variety of undead servants, such as skeletons, wights, and zombies. More powerful death knights had more servants.[3]
Notable Death Knights[]
- Hekaton, the storm giant king that was transformed into a death giant by the Red Wizards of Thay.[6][7]
- Imbrar I, the fallen paladin-king of Impiltur.[8]
- Miltiades of Phlan, once punished with the undead existence by Tyr, the paladin redeemed himself and was returned to life after being a death knight for a thousand years. As a human, he retained some of death knight's formidable magical powers and resistances.[9][10]
- Olanthius, a warrior of Elturel who served his commander Zariel in life and undeath.[11]
- Vanrak Moonstar, a devout worshiper of Shar, and the twin brother and long-time enemy of the archlich, Alathene Moonstar.
Appendix[]
See Also[]
Appearances[]
- Adventures
- Undermountain: Maddgoth's Castle • Expedition to Undermountain • Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage • Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus
- Novels
- Elminster Must Die • Bury Elminster Deep
- Referenced only
- The Paladins
- Video games
- Dungeon Hack • Eye of the Beholder III: Assault on Myth Drannor • Neverwinter Nights 2 • Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir • Baldur's Gate III
- Board Games
- Tyrants of the Underdark: Aberrations and Undead
- Card Games
- AD&D Trading Cards
- Organized Play & Licensed Adventures
- Unusual Opposition • Pools of Cerulean • Moving Day • Honors Unforeseen • The Harrowing of Hell
Gallery[]
Promotional wallpaper of a death knight leading an undead army.
A depiction of a death knight.
That Which Guards, a Bhaalist death knight.
Further Reading[]
- Matthew Sernett (October 2007). “The Ecology of the Death Knight”. In Chris Youngs ed. Dragon #360 (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 34–38.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford, Christopher Perkins (2014-09-30). Monster Manual 5th edition. Edited by Scott Fitzgerald Gray. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 47. ISBN 978-0786965614.
- ↑ Mike Mearls, Stephen Schubert, James Wyatt (June 2008). Monster Manual 4th edition. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 50. ISBN 978-0-7869-4852-9.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Ed Bonny, Jeff Grubb, Rich Redman, Skip Williams, and Steve Winter (September 2002). Monster Manual II 3rd edition. (TSR, Inc), pp. 207–209. ISBN 07-8692-873-5.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Doug Stewart (June 1993). Monstrous Manual. (TSR, Inc), p. 52. ISBN 1-5607-6619-0.
- ↑ Don Turnbull (1981). Fiend Folio. (TSR Hobbies), p. 23. ISBN 0-9356-9621-0.
- ↑ Greg Marks, Ben Heisler (October 2020). Uncertain Scrutiny (DDAL-DRW05) (PDF). D&D Adventurers League: Dreams of the Red Wizards (Wizards of the Coast), p. 2.
- ↑ Greg Marks, Carl Sibley (March 2021). The Harrowing of Hell (DDAL-DRW08) (PDF). D&D Adventurers League: Dreams of the Red Wizards (Wizards of the Coast), p. 48.
- ↑ George Krashos (August 2006). “Impiltur: The Forgotten Kingdom”. In Erik Mona ed. Dragon #346 (Paizo Publishing, LLC), p. 70.
- ↑ James M. Ward and David Wise (February 1998). The Paladins. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 7. ISBN 0-7869-0865-3.
- ↑ Richard Baker (June 1998). Easy Betrayals. (Wizards of the Coast), chap. 4, pp. 44–45. ISBN 0-7869-0871-8.
- ↑ Adam Lee, et al. (September 2019). Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus. Edited by Michele Carter, et al. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 4. ISBN 978-0-7869-6687-5.