Avalanche Knight (3.5e Class)

Author: LenKagetsu (talk) Date Created: 31st January 2015 Status: Requires Testing Editing: Some parts may be unclear in their wording. If something is unclear, I'll try to clarify it.

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Avalanche Knight

Charging head-first into battle and wiping out entire scores of foes in seconds much like an avalanche, the Avalanche Knight is the go-to for when a weakling dares enter the fray against master adventurers. Not only does he slay two, three, or four Goblins in a mere second, he can even strike down ogres, treants, and dragons in a single blow as his might reaches the realms of truly epic heroes.

I made this class to allow DMs to increase the scale of fights without causing excess increase to their length. If they know that every lesser enemy has 12HP and the Avalanche Knight does 36 damage, he can simply remove three minis off the map for that attack. It's similar to how 4th Edition and 13th Age handle minions. I would like to note that some abilities dictate a "hostile" target to prevent loopholes like "Whirlwind a bag of rats for infinite bonus damage".

This class is geared towards a certain type of campaign, and thus may not be for all groups and DMs. If you run a low-power game with low-power enemies, this can be a good addition. If you utilize weaker enemies while using this class, I highly recommend boosting their overall combat ability so they remain a consistent threat.

Making an Avalanche Knight

The Avalanche Knight's most important ability is not a stat, but his damage modifier. Whenever this is brought about by strength or dexterity is irrelevant, as long as he can strike hard enough for his blows to continue onwards through the unlucky fools in his wake.

Abilities: The Avalanche Knight should focus on his Strength if he has no means to apply other bonuses to his damage modifier.

Races: Though any race can apply, the ones with great strength who fight against great numbers like Orcs and Dwarves are greatly suited for this class.

Alignment: Any.

Starting Gold: 6d4x10. (150 gp)

Starting Age: As Fighter

Saving Throws: An Avalanche Knight has good Fortitude, but poor Reflex and Will.

Table: The Avalanche Knight

Hit Die: d10

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special
		Fortitude	Reflex	Will
1st	+1	+2	+0	+0	Cascading Blow
2nd	+2	+3	+0	+0	Bonus Feat
3rd	+3	+3	+1	+1	Execution
4th	+4	+4	+1	+1	Bonus Feat
5th	+5	+4	+1	+1	Champion's Strike

Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level)
The Avalanche Knight's skills are Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Ride (Dex), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str).

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Avalanche Knight.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The Avalanche Knight is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, light armor, medium armor, and shields (except tower shields).

Cascading Blow (Ex): When an Avalanche Knight's melee attack brings an opponent to -1 hitpoints (or 0 for undead and constructs), he may apply the excess damage to the opponent's nearest ally without an attack roll (damage reduction and miss-chance still applies. If there is a tie, the monster with the lowest HP is targeted), following through until he has run out of targets or damage. The Avalanche Knight must have a line of effect to the target. He may damage enemies outside of his melee range, but common sense should be exercised by the DM in extreme cases. Should the Avalanche Knight use feats such as Cleave or Whirlwind Attack, the extra attack rolls are resolved after all of his damage has been expended.

Example: Cypren the Avalanche Knight lashes out against a Fighter (10 hitpoints) with his greataxe, doing 22 damage. He can choose whenever to apply all 22 damage to the knight, or 11 damage (enough to render him unconscious) and another 11 to his friend.

Bonus Feat: The Avalanche Knight may take any Fighter Bonus Feat he qualifies for. He may add his Avalanche Knight levels to his Fighter levels for the purposes of qualifying for Feats.

Execution (Ex): When an Avalanche Knight brings a hostile target to 0 hitpoints, he instantly kills it (Or knocks it out if using a nonlethal attack) and adds +2 to his excess damage.

Champion's Strike (Ex): The bravery and sheer strength of the Avalanche Knight reaches a point where he can mow down an entire band of what he deems as lesser foes in a single strike. When invoking this ability against a hostile target, the Avalanche Knight applies only the damage modifier of his successful melee attack to an enemy that has two less hitdice than him. Should his damage meet or exceed the target's total hitdice, it is instantly slain or knocked out as appropriate. The Avalanche Knight can apply Champion's Strike to any eligible enemy in the resulting Cascade. Should his damage fail to exceed the target's hitdie or he chooses an invalid target (including one that is not hostile), the attack automatically misses and the cascade ends. Fractional hitdie count as 1 hitdie.

Epic Avalanche Knights

Avalanche Knights have no need to take epic levels.

Campaign Information

Playing an Avalanche Knight

Religion: Avalanche Knights tend towards Gods who have domains of War, or even portfolios around patriotism, strength, or protection.

Other Classes: An Avalanche Knight works best when his spellcasting friends can soften up his targets for the incoming carnage.

Combat: Getting into that horde of goblins and wiping them out effortlessly is what you do best. By clearing away the trash, you have a clear line to their leader.

Advancement: Frenzied Berserker and Barbarian go well with the Avalanche Knight, as the additional attacks and stronger Power Attack or extra strength and speed allow for even larger scales of sheer destruction.

Avalanche Knights in the World

“	"It doesn't matter if it's one or one thousand. Send them all to me, I'll cut them down in droves!"	”
—Amducias Cypren, Half-Giant Avalanche Knight

Daily Life: An army's trump card, a powerful force against riots, an orc chief who wields a massive sword that even the strongest of men would struggle to lift

Organizations: The Fighter's Guild is likely to have a beast of a man who is known to walk into a den of goblins and send the survivors running a mere five seconds later.

NPC Reactions: Nobody will be impressed at your ability to kill ten men in a single strike... until they see first hand that you can do just that.

Avalanche Knight Lore

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (Local) can research Avalanche Knights to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including information from lower DCs.

Knowledge (Local)

DC	Result
5	Wielding a large sword or a mighty axe, an Avalanche Knight has devoted his entire combat style to crushing those who are beneath his might.
10	The idea of slicing down multiple foes comes naturally to those of great strength, as does cleaving into their weakest point.
15	After bulking up muscles to where ten men die in five seconds, an Avalanche Knight's potency grows to where his blade will crash through flesh and bone of even veteran warriors.
20	The sheer love of battle and carnage drives an Avalanche Knight on harder than any taskmaster or goal.

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Avalanche Knights in the Game

Adaptation: A world overrun by scores of monsters who rely on sheer numbers will likely have plenty of these army-slaying specialists at hand for when the going gets rough.

Sample Encounter: A grizzled warrior tied up in an enemy camp thanks you for freeing him, and asks if he can borrow your axe for "exactly one minute".

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