Knight Vigilant (Pathfinder Second Edition Archetype)
(art by BillCreative on DeviantArt)
So remember how I mentioned last entry that the Knight Reclaimants were also a splinter group from the rest of the Knights of Lastwall? Well, it’s time to meet the main group now, and like the reclaimants, they are a complementary archetype for Lastwall Sentry!
However, while the reclaimants focus on scouting, survival, and channeling a mysterious power on the offense against the forces of the Whispering Tyrant, the Knight Vigilants instead stand guard over the living, stay vigilant for and destroy undead incursions, and plan for the time when they will march as an army. As a group, they are known as the Shining Sentinels.
This isn’t to say they sit on their haunches, but they’re definitely the more cautious and long-game-oriented, of the two factions, which naturally leads to some conflicts here and there.
As we’ll soon see, these knights can potentially take plenty of leaves of the champion’s playbook, at least in terms of theme, but they also boast plenty of their own tricks.
Just as yesterday, this archetype counts as part of the Lastwall Sentry and can be taken even if you haven’t fulfilled the dedication to it yet.
The base dedication comes with education in religious matters, as well as training to use one’s own body to help better cover one’s allies.
Even those sentinels that are not true champions sometimes manifest a small amount of healing ability, closing wounds with a touch.
A defender that allows foes to slip past them to the back lines is one that lives in shame, so many among their number learn how to arrest the motion of foes that attempt to move away from them, keeping them right where they want them. Later on, they can take an additional bit of training to do so quickly, freeing them up for other reactions.
Many are also trained to fight in a phalanx of shieldwall, letting their allies weapons slip past them with ease while providing an impenetrable wall against those coming from their foes.
That phalanx training also means that those that use shields use them to protect their allies as well as themselves.
Courage in the face of death and fear is the core value of these knights, and as such, they are naturally more resistant against fear, and even when it would take them, they can choose to freeze in place rather than run, hindering their actions for a moment rather than abandon the fight.
Many of these knights value peace above all else, and they understand that even though they must sometimes face living foes, they do not forget to offer mercy, for all must stand together against the horrors of evil, after all.
Given the foes they fight, many also receive training on how to better turn aside and endure the strikes of the undead, becoming more resistant to their blows and the taint of unlife that comes with them.
A knight must be ready for combat anywhere, and so some with a knack for ritual magic learn how to perform a ritual that stores their armor in an extradimensional space, one that allows them to summon it forth onto their person when needed.
Defense is one thing, but when it comes time to push, many knight vigilants know how to lead the charge, covering the advance of those beside and behind them.
Those that also have training as cavaliers often inspire a righteous fury against those that would harm the innocent as well as becoming resistant various combat maneuvers, their banners evoking this drive.
With a command, some can direct close allies to all raise their shields as one, readying to face a threat as one.
Speaking of their shields, a few of them learn some of the arts of the warrior Arnisant, and become able to use their shields to dissipate magical assaults, though at the cost of the shield itself.
Sometimes a slow advance with raised shield is better than marching forward, and many learn to keep their shields raised while moving slowly.
Those that do not already master heavy armor often do so later, matching their more martial companions.
With surprising skill, these warriors can use their shields to return a poorly-cast spell back on their enemy, punishing them with their own hostile magic.
Not to be outdone by their Crimson Reclaimer kin, the Shining Sentinels often petition the local gods, both major and minor, for aid, granting them the ability to cast a single spell, typically one that wards or heals them or others. As they grown in mastery, they can learn to invoke up to two other deities as well.
The will of some of these knights is legendary, allowing them to occasionally withstand a felling blow with some small dredges of vitality left, able to continue fighting for a while longer.
Some of the most powerful of these knights have become a paragon of righteousness, so much so that the wicked balk in their presence, slowed by the aura they give off.
Others at the zenith learn to master their tower shields, fluidly taking full advantage of their defensive benefits in seconds.
This archetype is much more heavily geared towards direct combatants and tanky builds than the stealth and survival aspects of the Knight Reclaimants, but there’s a little bit for every class if you look closely enough. Their more defensive abilities are useful if you wanna make a tank out of other classes, or an even better tank out of an already defensive class. Again, look up the Lastwall Sentry to see what other feats you might pick up as well.
The fact that the most devout of these warriors can tap into a tiny measure of divine power is interesting, and helps drive home the point that the different traditions of magic are not just limited to a few based on class. Of course, coming up with alternate divine magic for your own setting if you use the archetype there is also fun.
Firmly believing he was built to be a protector, Tranquility-8 joined the Holy Guard to put her skills to work against the undead hoards of the Starblight. Despite being an android and therefore a product of the fallen star that brought the blight, they have been accepted by their fellow knights as one of their own.
They say that the shield wall of the Skyshield Legion is impenetrable from every direction, able to withstand assault from the forces of evil from all sides. However, the Dark Lord seeks to test how literal those claims are with a new force of burrowing undead that attack from below.
They say that the vault builders, the greatest of the insectile elementals known as xiomorns, gifted the Fortress of Glass to it’s guardians in a joint effort to keep the relics safeguarded there secure. Whatever the truth of it, the guardians who watch over it’s diamond-hard crystalline walls do so with the same dedication as their forebears centuries ago, but even a mountain of diamond can crack if enough force is applied in just the right spot.
