Dungeons and Dragons lore : Death knight

A death knight's physical form is that of its decayed body. The face is a blackened skull with patches of rotting flesh with two pinpoints of orange light in the eye sockets. The voice of a death knight is chilling, seeming to echo from deep within. Death knights were powerful people in life, and so they often wear expensive or magic clothing and armor. They are fond of wearing flowing capes to mark them as figures of importance. While they are recreated by powerful beings of evil, the Death Knight is largely independent of their control, the service they give is offered up willingly. Those doomed to become Death Knights through a curse or by the will of the deity they serve, may sometimes cure themselves and find release in death.. perhaps even rise again in a life of service to good once more.
Join the Discord community:
discordapp.com...
Become a patron:
/ themightygluestick
Friend us on Facebook:
/ themightygluestick
Email me:
[e-mail]
Get Daily Discounts on Games (and support this channel)
www.chrono.gg/AJ

[@SlothinAintEasy]

5:06 press repeatedly

[@jakeholland5288]

This time stamp is criminally under rated

[@FEARSWTOR]

DM: "Alright, you are surrounded by multiple skeletons and two Skeletal Champions. What are you doing?" Paladin: "I Turn Evil!" DM: "Sounds good. They accept your offer. You are now a 15th level Death Knight." Paladin: "What? No I meant I use the..." But it was no use.

[@justnoob8141]

There’s a reason why it call “Turn The Unholy”

[@julierose689]

My paladin better be careful then. She is going down the path of vengence but that's a slippery slope.

[@Bluecho4]

Any Paladin is vulnerable to falling, if they aren't careful. Indeed, belief in one's total nobility is often the catalyst for a Paladin's Fall.

[@Zarkarin]

I'm playing a Oath of Vengeance Paladin in a campaign I'm in, but his reasoning for being an OoV Paladin is trying to atone for a life of greed and senseless violence, his "moment of realization" was a near-death experience after attempting a quest beyond the skill of him and his group of mercenaries (Because of the high reward), which resulted in their deaths, so I doubt he will fall, especially since he has a Cleric with him to keep him in line. (And they both follow Tyr, the God of Justice.)

[@zacharymcmillan2788]

"Revenge is never a straight line. It's a forest. And like a forest,it's easy to lose your way...to get lost...to forget where you came in." - Hattori Hanzo - 'Kill Bill Vol. 1'

[@duncanshaw1256]

@@zacharymcmillan2788 Most likely it is because can't see the forest through the trees. The trees limit and obscure you from seeing the forest as a whole, thus your perspective is compromised entirely!

[@kmasterswalkthroughs]

In my story I have an evil paladin as the BBEG, which the party has actually killed, but because of his service to the God of Vengeance he was resurrected as a death knight because he didn't complete the mission of his oath.

[@myownmusic8182]

I don't feel like 11 minutes does this justice.

[@jspenny]

Interesting that you said it would command a Lich. I run a campaign that the Death Knight is the Darth Vader to a Lich's Emperor. So the Knight is in command of the Lich's army.

[@AJPickett]

That also works.. in the end, lets not forget who went tumbling down into the core of the Death Star II (spoilers, it was not Darth Vader) :)

[@michaelporter5105]

Spencer Toons working on a campaign ATM and I'm doing a similar thing. Death knight is the champion of the lich's army.

[@elbentos7803]

Of course, everything depends on relative powers of both. I imagine that some over-powerful lichs such as Vecna (while mortal) or Acererak may have had several death knights in their service, just as st. Kargoth may have hired mercenary minded lich, as Kargoth himself already commanded 13 "regular" death knights.

[@andrewbay8891]

Spencer Toons exactly the same for my campaign, though my paladin PC completely crushed the Death Knight

[@alexandersvideopicks8735]

Sounds similar to the legend of Venca and Lord Kas, from the relics The Hand and Eye of Venca and the Sword of Kas.

[@chakatBombshell]

Lord Soth is best death knight, so awesome even Ravenloft couldn't hold him.

[@YaGirlChar1986]

Also TSR did that without permission

[@snuggiethegoblin7101]

chakatBombshell SO TRUE!

[@professorsponge1554]

Took a meteor to kill him. literal 'rocks fall, everyone dies.'

[@Bane422]

You’re wrong. The cumulative curse by the gods of Krynn ultimately could not be denied.

[@rizuopal8153]

I think a cool idea would be a death knight that rides a dracolich into battle like a necromanctic verson of eragon

[@AngelicalSebastian]

I plan on having an optional "Secret Boss" to be an obsidian, full-plate Death Knight riding a Shadow Dragon

[@jeremymount795]

Jared Lilley I can just imagine the looks you got that day.

[@TheHornedKing]

You got something like that in Dragonfable. The main villain is a guy named Sepulchure, who is Doom Knight, which is basically a death knight on steroids, who rides a dracolich (more like just a skeletal dragon, but he calls it a dracolich), and he also got a gigantic skeletal dragon that carries his castle on it's back.

[@Defeateddragon]

@@TheHornedKing that’s so damn cool

[@TheHornedKing]

@@Defeateddragon Ikr?

[@aaronbarringer4913]

6:45 Forsaken Death Knight. Almost the worst luck in all of World of Warcraft. First, they die and become scourge, then they get their will back (debatable, some think the Banshee Queen is just the same influence as the Lich King) and then they die again but get resurrected by the Lich King (again) to serve him. He then betrays them as basic fodder to draw out Highlord Tirion Fordring.

[@cheese4746]

It’s extremely tragic really. I’d like to see a book with a POV of a Forsaken DK

[@lucianosgonzalez3561]

That overlord thumbnail pic though! What a good game,

[@MisterTutor2010]

They kind of remind me of the Nazgul.

[@AJPickett]

Yeah, it always bothered me that those things were called Wraiths.. they were Death Knights with no hell fire, necrotic poisoning added, and the ability to see beings in the Ethereal border.

[@baconking9139]

No....L.O.T.Rs came out LONG before DnD....

[@MrKlotzi123]

It predated D&D by quite a few Yeat, Tolkien likley had no Concept of what a "Death Knight" is, he invetned most of those Concepts we us to this Day. It is said but not confirmed that Soldiers on Horseback with Gasmask inspierd the Nazgûl.

[@xenoblad]

Weren't the first death knights created by the orcish warlock Gul'dan? ....oops! Wrong universe :P

[@DyrgeAfterDark]

Dalym Lord Soth is the progenitor in this universe

[@justnoob8141]

Eh, they are basically the same when they're first introduced

[@claytonwhitacre1752]

Also, at least in my campaigns, a paladin could very well be turned into a death knight as a test of devotion. You're now an immortal undead, will you hold to the ideals of your deity, or succumb to the darkness that you've been turned into?

[@jacobfreeman5444]

That is a hideous thing to do. Any god that would do or allow that needs to be purged from existance.

[@docbaker3333]

Imagine if a Good aligned god got the idea to turn one of their paladins into basically a Baelnorn version of the Death Knight given eternal life as the ultimate reward to spend the rest of their existence fighting evil and protecting goodness across the multiverse with no reward what so ever.

[@drunkenskeleton299]

One of my favorite campaign ideas involved a powerful death knight who was a former paladin who was resurrected by a powerful demon. The death managed to regain his former conscious, and summoned the party to hell. The party would help the death knight and lead an unholy crusade against the demon, of with the help of the death knight and his undead army. I never did it cause it was gonna be a pain in the ass to manage all of the NPC’s and undead in combat.

[@youtmeme]

seems silly. a good and pius paladin should never become a pawn for evil simply bc they are dead. the whole purpose of their being is to be a symbol of good as per the afterlife powers that be. they are assumed to be protected in life and death. of course, they can be perverted, etc during life, but they, like good clerics, if buried, cannot simply be made to be used by evil with their passing. they died holy instruments. they are not mere ppl who died with no particular faith, alignment or piety!

[@tree_alone]

@@youtmeme didn't prevent Kain from resurrecting the Seraphim as his vampire generals

[@pennyumbra8818]

Weird. There was an advert for pushchairs halfway through the video starring a little cartoon baby, then back to the undead. Not sure which was more horrifying really. Now I'm going to dream of Death Knights robed in pink comfort blankets. Oh, the horror!

[@Sgt-Wolf]

*sees thumbnail* Ahhh the all mighty overlord.

[@RantingRagingRelks]

And once again your videos are revolutionizing my campaign world. Thank you, AJ. Hope your muscle strain is healing well

[@That80sGuy1972]

Since I was 14 (1986), I always role-played Death Knights as Paladins that fell to sophistry. They are evil narcissuses that see themselves as forces of good and justify their evil acts as being pragmatic acts for the greater good. You can chat a Death Knight to no end if you can if they let you, but you will always be the bad guy in their personal narrative if you oppose them. Some accept that they are agents of evil after a long, long time. They will still say they are a force of good but needed to sacrifice their soul, honor, and goodness for the sake of the world for a higher purpose and compromising everything is worth it now because they are close to the root of evil and will do the most good. As I said, sophistry is the bread & butter of Death Knight former Paladins. The intrigue is delicious. I almost had to force my players to have a dialog with my Death Knights because I am a role-play guy and they rarely did more than find how awesome and how virtuous a Death Knight was as a Paladin. One was Blackthorn, ruler of Brittania. I adopted the Ultima IV (maybe Ultima V?) computer game into an AD&D campaign. Blackthorn was a Death Knight that tyrannically enforced the Virtues. Don't judge. At the time, I was running an AD&D game every week... I did not have enough creativity to keep my content completely original. I kept creating hours worth of gaming every week. That was not as easy as it seemed. Another was Romance of the Soulless Overlords. It was a campaign based upon Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Lich King, Nosferatu, and Lycans (yes, they were equal). Only the Lycans didn't have a Death Knight a general that commanded Death Night lt. generals. There were multiple levels of intrigue and the island (not mainland China, a land of the dead scenario)) had a powerful resist-anything rebellion of Mountain Dwarves. They would eventually become an enemy because they were ironically led by a Dwarven Death Knight. The wild card was a "werepire", a necromancer was able to create a werewolf-vampire super hybrid. The party was my veteran players, so they found that one, handled its problems, and got its leverage. The last is one I often use. When a PC Paladin loses his Paladin status, I offer the death-guaranteed option of the Paladin quick reinstating option. He must fight and defeat a Death Knight version of himself with all the same gear he is carrying applied to that Death Knight applied to positive in how it is positive to him to negative to how it is applied negatively to him. Defeat him, you are a Paladin again. Lose to him, become a Death Knight and forfeit your soul (and player character status, become an NPC Death Knight).

[@krispalermo8133]

Nah, my game shop lets players run Death Knight characters as PCs.

[@KorporateKotoo]

@@krispalermo8133 evil campaigns can be fun

[@fistimusmaximus6576]

quite enjoyed the fact that soth was cursed to still follow the law of chivaly, i.e dismount if opponent has/nomount or face them in single combat.

[@Michael-cf9cj]

I liked that about him too.

[@wingnut1917]

The ultimate badass bad guy

[@That80sGuy1972]

I have used Death Knights as "boss monsters" in my campaigns, my veteran players learned to focus on taking the Death Knight down ASAP when known. That being said, I haven't gamed in a long LONG time. From what you covered here, the elite super Death Knight Lord Soth is now almost a default Death Night? God help our players... at least they cannot Shadowalk by default, but they can if they pick the spell... ouchie. Yep, lich level scary on the fighter side.

[@krispalermo8133]

Lord Soth in Dragon Lance was great, Lord Soth in Ravenloft was wonderful. After nearly 30 years seeing what 3.5e was trying to do and after WoW. They just ruin the Death Knight character with the video game fantasy art. Bright metal skull cover armor ? Ok, if the knight in question Was already evil, then yes go with the skull like armor. If the knight was a Fallen warrior, then they should always look like a burnt walking dead as a Mark of Shame. AD&D2e Ravenloft Van Richten guilds, I would call Soth a rank5 ghost.

[@tysondennis1016]

My homebrew tip for death knights is make them lv 20 oathbreakers, complete with all their abilities.

[@cazador7131]

My game has 4 level 16 characters. One of which is a life cleric. My DM is starting to run out of things to throw at us that are a challenge without being an instant TPK. The death knights are now impromptu mini bosses.

[@garysmith3037]

I always found it funny, the idea of a Good Deity punishing a Paladin/Knight by making him even more powerful which he then uses to spread even more Evil in the world. If he was imprisoned in one specific area to guard an important/dangerous artifact, then that would make more sense, but to be able to roam freely across the land to do as he pleases, that does not. Now a Good Paladin/Knight entering into a bargain with a Demon, and cursed with powers and servitude, would make more sense for that.

[@rfc1526]

Love Death Knights.

[@AJPickett]

Yeah, so much personality with these bad guys!

[@johanneshaukanes4531]

After the story of Warcraft 3 this is very interesting. Didn't know D&D had Deathknights. I think I heard the mention of Dreadlords in an other D&D deathknight video. They have them in Warcraft also but don't known how similar they are.

[@DaDunge]

Can't find any info on a dread lord in DnD. sure it wasn't a dark lord of a domain of dread? They're a fundamental concept to the Ravenloft setting but they have nothing in common with Dreadlords as in warcraft. Dark Lords are being sho committed terrible sins and so they and the land around them were ripped out of the its original world and becomes a domain of dread in a place known as the mists. The domain is essentially a prison or purgatory for the dark lord who is trapped there for all eternity. They're not a type of create bit more of a status dark lords come in many forms vampires, liches, people.

[@nightingaleseraph]

The first time I ever fought a death knight I got lucky because I rolled a nat 20 with a vorpal sword. I wound up pushing my luck fighting his friend.

[@DaDunge]

Funny enough I had a wandering death knight on my random encounter table. He was the leader of a knightly order in direct service of a king who was murdered and later raised as an undead. The would be death knight fell protecting his kings body and when the king rose as an undead being he raised his former knights as undead. When the undead king was later slain the death knight was slain alongside him. Then the world ended and some servants took the body of the desthknight to the world to which people fled. There the deathknight rose (As death knights do) and was horrified that he had been removed from the world of his master and now he wanders alone seeking to return so he can stand guard over the tomb of his fallen master for all eternity.

[@michaelkelligan7931]

On the world of Krynn a famous Death Knight,Lord Soth murdered his wife to continue an affair with an elf maiden. Interestingly I also heard that they are exeptional singers as well

[@Hektols]

And then he was given the chance to stop the Cataclysm to redeem himself but his jealously prevent got in his way.

[@michaelkelligan7931]

Hektols yeah!

[@YaGirlChar1986]

In Ravenloft the song the Banshees sang were never sung right, like Soth knew it was wrong and it pissed him off all the time

[@Michael-cf9cj]

I don't remember Soth singing. He brooded every night while elven women sang to him, reminding him of his curse. They were the ones who, in life, convinced him that his new wife was being unfaithful to him and so he turned his back on his mission to prevent the Catacalysm. He accused his wife and struck her and then the Catacalysm hit. When she was being devoured by the fire, she held out their child for him to save, and he turned his back. The silouette of her body is burned into the stones of his keep.

[@davidfletcher6703]

I see Death Knights being more of a Frost Caster, like drawing on the cold of Stygia

[@JanusHoW]

There's also a death knight in _Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus_ - but this one wants nothing more than to pass on to the afterlife, except his boss, Zariel, won't let him.

[@snuggiethegoblin7101]

Lord south was using “Power word kill” before it was cool 🤓

[@florenmage]

Okay so here is an idea.Lets say there was this young warrior who everyone thinks of as a beloved hero.There are statues of him and songs are still sung about how he slew the black dragon of the marsh and it's evil minions all scattered in fear when he did so.But he died in the process.At least that's what people think.But what if he was corrupted.What if the evil coven of hags that once served the dragon now use that knight as their muscle to enforce their will in the night.What if their leader is a powerful necromancer.

[@RantingRagingRelks]

Sounds like the lore of Artorias the Abysswalker in Dark Souls

[@thereeldeelsteel]

Wasn't there a Death Knight featured in the D&D cartoon from the 80s? Two in fact as I seem to remember. Warduke and a skeleton warrior who was turned into one who had a legendary sword and could cast...

[@Mr_Maiq_The_Liar]

So how do druids monks bards and sorcerers get their immortality? It’d be cool if there’s an evil immortality undead for every class

[@AJPickett]

I'm certainly open to that idea.

[@stevenpeterson8582]

In earlier editions of the game, the druid stopped physically aging at 16th level (though was still subject to racial lifespan), and gained the ability to hibernate for unlimited time periods at 17th level, giving him or her effective immortality. If I recall correctly, monks had something similar. Bards gain immortality through their fame - their name lives on. Sorcerers should be able to become a lich if they seek it, since they are basically just instinctive wizards.

[@joshuabevins8244]

Sorcerers and bards could also become liches.

[@Deltamedic68w]

Could homebrew a Druid circle of death. They could command undead animals, veer towards evil, and possibly embrace Undeath themselves.

[@bigmonkey1254]

​@stevenpeterson8582 Druids in 5e have a trait at higher level that causes their lifespan to be multiplied. So they get pretty up in years.

[@seeker4it]

I've always seen Death Knights more as a "class" than an actual undead being, tbh. Mostly due to me being exposed to them via Warcraft but even then, I see them as being able to be a class for living beings but are much more rare and far weaker than undead beings who are trained in the ways of the death knight, in many ways I'd see "living death knights" to be fake/false death knights tbh.

[@DetectiveBarricade]

Living death knights would probably be closer to the Oathbreaker paladin. Possibly a few slippery steps away from becoming true death knights.

[@theatagamer90]

@@DetectiveBarricade Just an idea- if an Oathbreaker Paladin dies then they can become a Death Knight

[@iksarguards]

Even in WoW death knights are all UNDEAD regardless of what race you choose. Listen to the intro dialog and do pay attention to where you first spawn in.... It’s a wagon full of corpses. A wagon your own corpse was presumably on..You’re welcome to imagine what you like in DnD but in WoW death knights are canonically undead

[@TravisSelassieSimbawafedha]

So i would totally write you a deep dive of the god Murlynd.

[@davidfletcher6703]

You'd think that the first Death Knight would have been created by Orcus being that he is Demon Lord of the Undead, and because he hates everything

[@danielbishop6743]

Follow up: The Deathknights of the Forgotten Realms. I think there were a half dozen or so.

[@jasonhelquist7743]

I always wanted to turn my father Bart Into one of those a dead Knight But I was gonna make him be once a king who died and came back as a Knight

[@lordmoldybutt6361]

Hell yeah.

[@MeGawOOt99]

Immune to death magic!

[@lordsubziro2824]

Awesome video!!! I like your D&D creature lores because, now that I've retired from playing/DMing the game, I still love knowledge of its creatures. One of my favorite PCs was my death knight, Darth Iguantus. He's a four-armed swamp zard (aka, lizardfolk) who rose through the ranks of paladinhood, only to "fall from grace" by betrayal from the royal family he was serving out of fear of his mutation. Having four arms served him well (being stronger and dealing four attacks per round). But it struck fear and jealousy among his peers and those he serve to protect. After becoming fatally wounded in battle and demoralizing his pride (a lose of his lower right arm will do that), he was betrayed by his second-in-command and was abandoned in the middle of a battle against a powerful human arny by the zard lord in order to escape. In the aftermath, Sir Iguantus was left for dead among the other corpses from the battle. As he was dying, a powerful Demon Lord (another PC) named Legend, witness Iguantus' fate at the hands of his own people, and resurrected him as an undead death knight to serve him. As a challenge (Legend loves to powerhouse his "allies" from time to time), he forced Iguantus into servitude until he became powerful to retain his lost limb from Legend's grasp and be promoted to Death Lord status. Years later, Iguantus reached that goal, became a Death Lord on his own and titled himself as Darth Iguantus and successfully regained his lost arm. Iguantus and Legend went on their separate ways, reuniting from time to time on extra-planar missions to save their world from very powerful entities like Unlife (my DM's version of Galactus) or defeating the Norse gods to gain more power. Darth Iguantus became a legend in the D&D world I played in and even created offspring in an undead ritual as an experiment in creating a superzard warrior to pass on his undead legacy. He achieved demigod status when he became too powerful for me to play and "retired" as a NPC by my DM. To this day, Death Iguantus was my second most favorite PC. Watching this video reminded me of some of the best times in my life and why I loved playing D&D with my friends. Thank you for the sweet memories and keep up with the great work you always do!!!!

[@linguisticallyoversight8685]

I thought the first death knight was Lord Soth ? If used the death knight that inhabits the realm of dread he comes from the dragonlance setting

[@jeremymount795]

I was hoping you were going to go into the lore behind Lord Soth and the creation of Ravenloft.

[@krispalermo8133]

AD&D2e Van Richten guilds to monsters. When it came to Lord Soth, other than his Fire Balls and Wall of Ice, he came across as a Roaming Ghost of rank 5 in strength. Do to his Shadow Walk and ethereal form. After Soth I didn't care how they reimaging D.K. over the years. In bright metal skull face armor. They should look like the armor was burnt in divine or infernal fire, grim reminders to those of the same religious orders knowing the sight of their own knights armor.

[@TheRedneckGamer1979]

I once used one a deathknigt against a low level party of good characters. Sucker showed up at their home turf and basically told them "your gonna do this thing for me or me and my undead army are going to wipe your town and all the surounding country side out and add them to my army" got the idea from another D&D channel on youtube, they make a great villian and are masters of manipulation.

[@humbertocobian4740]

You should make vids about characters. Like aoth fezim or bareris anskuld. Maybe even brimstone the vampire smoke drake that saved dragons during the dracorage brought on by sammaster.

[@jacobnoelle8428]

Paladin doesn't get their power from gods, they get their power from their Will power directed by their oath

[@derskalde4973]

I planned to place a whole order of Death Knights in Waterdeep, albeit a small order, all of them having barely survived the attack of an ancient Green Dragon. The entire Order, bare about 100 of them, were killed in the attack, and they failed in protecting the city. So, on the verge of dying, with the shame of their failure in their mind, those few remaining chose undeath as their way of attonement, turning into Death Knights as eternal Guardians of the City. "For even in Death I shall serve"

[@trentonmaloney3280]

nice! another deadly enemy to throw at em.

[@AJPickett]

The old saying "You and what army?" well, the Death Knight will most likely have one right behind your characters.. and, thanks to the flayed face under that helmet.. they are already smiling.

[@robert2063]

Okay I am running CoS I have a palidin of Tyr in the game. The PC is not coming back to the game. I want to kill him off. I want to have make him death knight of Strahd.

[@gwyndolin1536]

When I grow up, I wanna be a Death Kinght!

[@_Carlos]

Is Pride and ego the only emotion to turn a paladin into a Death Knight? I'm a big fan of guilt as a motivator. It's the torturer that never sleeps.

[@michaelcook2141]

I dont understand how they can wield hellfire yet originate from the Abyss? Why would demogorgan create death knights and not Orcus?

[@brightglory5734]

Slaying dragons with a word.

[@professorsponge1554]

I've been toying with a Death Knight empowered by Juiblex. replacing much of his negative energy attacks with acid, have his full plate armor sloshing because its full of ooze, can command oozes instead of undead, and mixed up his spells a bit. A death knight who can use Rusting Grasp and radiates an aura of hopelessness? Oof. Only problem is: why would Juiblex care enough to make a creature like this?

[@CJVS995]

Maybe have it be a complete accident and Juiblex rolling with it because he doesn't care either way and the Death Knight's just nuts.

[@professorsponge1554]

@@CJVS995 Created by accident is a common theme with Juiblex.

[@michaelpartlow455]

4:47 fire 5:17 supreme 6:57 Lightning

[@lancebalthis9190]

Lord Soth ravenloft grate books awesome character.

[@krispalermo8133]

Knight of the Black Rose , Lord Soth cleared out Castle Ravenloft all by himself.

[@skylance25]

All hale lord sloth

[@dfuller1391]

He may be slow, but he isn't easily defeated.⌛

[@taurvanath]

How do Death Knight's interact with a Lich? Is there a pecking order? Can they come into conflict or are they much more likely to come to a mutual agreement on a certain goal.

[@AJPickett]

As Intelligent undead, it simply comes down to the NPC personality of each, there is no way to generalize their interactions.

[@taurvanath]

@@AJPickett Ah okay. I was asking because I was considering the possibility of two friends fighting side by side both in life and death. Maybe as a tag team BBEG.

[@andyjkal]

11:20 "You're never really gonna run across a random wandering Death Knight..." Funny you should say that. It's on the random encounter table for the deepest part of the woods in 5e Ghosts of Saltmarsh. It's not explained, but one might expect that they serve the extremely powerful Night Hag who reigns over that forest.

[@stevenpeterson8582]

There's a random encounter that actually leads to a whole campaign as the characters recover from the death knight's attack and then go trying to track it down and learn where it came from and why it chose to attack them.

[@plantguy9]

I play the Neverwinter MMO wonder if they will eventually add this monster as a boss in a future update.

[@kingstewy]

Could you give a Deathnight ice powers instead to make it like Arthas from Warcraft? He is called the Lich King. Or, make one an Archer like Sylvanas?

[@AJPickett]

Yes, certainly!

[@zenonx1]

The thumb nail is the 3rd overlord. Nice!

[@bigmonkey1254]

Small question: why do death knights not have legendary actions or lair effects and actions?

[@AJPickett]

They don't need them, but hey, you can always add them.

[@kishinasura1989]

I was made into a death knight by asmodeus and still have my body character classes and race abilities. My question is can I heal unlike other Death Knights I was given was given the power by Primordial God that turned me into one?

[@AJPickett]

*points at your locally sanctioned Dungeon Master* ask them.

[@kishinasura1989]

@@AJPickett yeah I switched to the oathbreaker Paladin and fallen asmar is my race

[@JanusHoW]

The 5e version of Undermountain has not one, but TWO death knights lurking on the next-to-lowest level. The scary part about this particular pair is that they became death knights due to working with the Far Realm - and the book explicitly says they are too corrupted by the Far Realm to be redeemed...and since the only way to destroy a death knight forever is to make it redeem itself, they're more immortal that Halaster himself...

[@markcarlisle7677]

Just wondering if giants can become death knights, just wanted to add some flavor.

[@AJPickett]

Yes, they can.

[@monsieurdorgat6864]

Death knights could have much cooler flavor than "duped by a bigger evil dude". If you really wanted the Death Knight to take on the same magnitude as a lich, then perhaps where the lich mentally and magically cast off the "shackles" of the gods, the death knight boldly refutes divine law through willpower and battle prowess (a little like Guts from Berserk). As Vivec from the Elder Scrolls series would put it, their final goal is to "reach heaven through violence" - rip the gods down from their perch and claim their thrones both physically and metaphysically, leaving them as broken bodies and forgotten ideas. And honestly the easiest way to do that in game would be to add legendary actions, regional effects, and lair actions. Even a single legendary action sword attack on this thing would cause its CR to skyrocket. This dude is already a beast.

[@Michael-cf9cj]

Honestly, death knights are the kind of mob that should never be used as filler material for a campaign. If it's not a legendary creature, with a name and a backstory and a cool evil personality, don't use a death knight.

[@bohjackd.4959]

Deffknights will always be green truncheon sporting undead human knights wielding the power of slain necrolytes or a prestige class of fallen princes and peeps slain at the world tree.... :3 i remembe when death n decay sounded like eggs cooking on a skillet XD

[@JointheRompingClub]

Could you make a ecology video for the winter wolves

[@AJPickett]

added to the list!

[@Scream_Lord]

Man, Overlord was a good series wish Overlord 3 would be announced

[@thecarterbrothers3315]

in other words dont fight em !! lol great vid keep it up my friend !

[@chabreed3714]

AJ in the undead hierarchy what ranks higher a death knight or a lich? Thanks AJ you make the best videos

[@embodying8moth82]

Probably a little late but I think the Lich would be higher than the Death Knight. Spellcasters tend to be stronger in general but the Death Knight is much cooler I find

[@davidfletcher6703]

Is it possible for a vampire to become a death knight, say a paladin is infected with vampirism and ended up being cast out of his order and decided to take revenge on them by making a pact with dark powers?

[@AJPickett]

The soul of the knight is in the afterlife while the vampire spirit possesses their corpse, the vampire spirit has no reason to make a pact with dark powers.. it is a dark power and it will kill and feed on anyone it can get away with.

[@davidfletcher6703]

@@AJPickett, what about something like that one vampire general who served Vecna, a vampire who is recruited and granted additional power, kinda like Prince Arthis serving The Lich King Nar'zül from Warcraft, even though Arthis wasn't a vampire

[@venkelos6996]

I really do wish that Death Knights had Legendary and Lair Actions; they are on the level of Liches, but I sometimes feel that they come up short being "just martial". And I know they aren't; theyvDO havecsome spells, and I'm just not as up to date on Paladin spells as others, but other than just dumping in undead hordes, I feel like once they have to close with the party; being primarily melee, they will simply get crushed by the action economy, like every other single, tough enemy encounter, in 5e. This is why I've often considered making sure that one I'd use is riding a nightmare, so it can spend parts of rounds in a location most players can't blast them in. Still, whine though I might, I can imagine a cool, staggered undead brawl, with this at the top. Maybe a banshee, and a skeletal mage, or an arcanaloth, and some other troops who died prior.

[@robertmcdonald3736]

I am currently running a Teifling Paladin of Conquest who is leaning fully into her Infernal blood by (quietly) serving Asmodeus. She is a social/political manipulator who is taking mental notes on what drives the other party members. She would definitely take the offer of becoming a Death Knight because her driving belief is this: "The world is messed up, torn apart by chaos . . . so I need to rule it."

[@Vladimyrful]

It's interesting that they only get 3 attacks per round, being a high level martial class and all.

[@AJPickett]

They are intended to be a bolstering high-level member of a group of undead who attack together, the additional speed and prowess of the Death Knight is represented by the Parry feature, also, they are pretty effective Eldritch knights.

[@chronosschiron]

1st one written was written in dragonlance that other one came later

[@craptastiko6513]

so he's sorta an undead Thor.

[@theguileraven7014]

The way I would handle lore, is to just have Death Knights be warriors who were turned into a Lich by another being. So like, a powerful Wizard turns a warrior into a Lich and keeps the Phylactery to gain control over them. Maybe even turn themselves into the phylactery. Why a warrior? Well if you do it to another mage, they might find a way to take back control.

[@markpeiffer3856]

Death comes to all and cruel vengeance will be exacted on those who waste their lives on the petty concerns of this existence. True power comes only from the unquestioning servitude of the once-dead, mastery over death, and the eventual earned stature of one of the ever-living in death. Hunt, slay and animate those who scorn the Revenancer's power, and answer any slight a thousandfold, so that all may know the coming power of Kiaransalee.

[@connorphipps8377]

Equemortis sinisterii

[@zweihander7825]

Do Death Knights Rejuvenate, or do they need to be re-raised by that patron of theirs, hence the lengths the latter goes for them?

[@AJPickett]

Well, essentially they get healed by negative energy, so Cause Serious Wounds type of spells will fix them up. In theory, murdering people will also release negative energy and they soak that up as well.

[@kurtoogle4576]

Great video AJ. Given the nature of the Death Knight before it's transformation, how do you feel about giving it class abilities? ie: A former fighter could have action surge, archetype champion improved critical, etc.

[@kurtoogle4576]

Also, how do you feel about humanoid monster death knights (eg. high-level Orc Barbarian gets transformed). Do you feel that the transition from good to evil mythos is necessary for the creation of a Death Knight? WIth the understanding that you can slap creature stats on anything.

[@AJPickett]

Absolutely, traditionally, the Death Knight Paladin even retained the ability to lay on hands and heal people. So, for sure, give them class abilities.

[@AJPickett]

Giants can become Death Knights, Kobolds can, even a particularly exceptional Pixie could ride an undead raven into battle, hurling fire and corruption! Basically the idea is that a creature is empowered by the forces of evil.. this places no restriction on the creature to be evil, or the origin or species of that creature.. as long as it has a strong force of will, is a suitable vessel and the forces of evil have the opportunity, you are good to go.

[@kyleswanson6615]

Becoming a death knight is less of a fall from good to evil and more of a result of putting power (for one reason or another) above the preservation of life, not just one's own life, but life in general. A death knight would do anything for its goals with 0 regards given to who it affects. They are remorseless; thus, getting them to admit their misdeeds and truly atone is how they are destroyed. At that point, they cease to be what made them a death knight.

[@ruhalajn]

They're basically just a bunch of darth vaders

[@somekindofdude1130]

My paladin will start worshipping orkus

[@youtmeme]

there's a reason why they are not common...the dead paladin cannot simply be turned into a death knight. like a cleric, they are symbols of good used by the powers of good. sure, some fail, die early, or convert to non good but the number that actually become evil should be fairly low in a regular campaign. to even become a paladin or cleric one is assumed to be virtuous and its not an easy thing! to be a death knight one needs to be fractured from the beginning bc they need to reach a certain level of piety before they turn. that means they were almost destined from the get go. one in dnd always seems to think that falling to evil is a common or simple thing..well maybe, but then again I believe in the yin and yang. if that is true, there must also be soo many evil creatures becoming good. and of course, there are not many tales of that happening. someone who murders and rapes and tortures innocent beings being suddenly revered for not eating live babies?! I doubt it. would your good god in dnd allow someone from like, the august underground movies to suddenly become a priest who condemns those who perform evil and gets access to your healing powers without a long and arduous and possibly impossible set of tasks before them b4 they are even allowed in a place of worship? so, in essence, they are powerful and few exist, but in a campaign they should not be so numerous that they are well known, documented or even grouped together in armies bc it seems a bit silly to me, but for each their own...

[@rickfox4068]

Why is a death knight chaotic evil? Shouldn't they be lawful evil?

[@AJPickett]

No, they have forsaken law for their own twisted desires, that's kind of the core idea of what motivates them, its the cause of their downfall and curse.

[@danielstellmon5330]

Would a paladin of an evil god have a shot at becoming a death knight, or does it need to be a good paladin that has fallen?

[@CJVS995]

I think it depends on the god in question. Orcus definitely, Bane probably, Talos probably not.

[@robertroman1314]

HELMED HORRER AT 5:05!

[@terryhonea6052]

could you possibly do a video about the shades?

[@tonyraffetto931]

Love your videos but theres way too many ads

[@seanwarren9357]

I got 0 ads on this, no adblocker...

[@robinmcgee9277]

I'm glad i looked into this. I was wanting to make up a necropolis in my madness game and i was wanting to play this in that a d even have one that is trying to find redemption. Have you got anything on something like a hell touched? I think that is what it was called. One of my buddies played it in 3rd ed. And i was wanting something like that helping my party along the way.

[@Retrowaveresearch]

they are like jedi and sith ahah

[@novaiscool1]

I'm working on a death knight druid. I hadn't expected to do a death knight, but I was revived by a chaos god and carry the undead effect with me. I don't know how to do what I'm doing any suggestions?

[@somekindofdude1130]

Thedoctor133 pledge yourself to orkus and take the fireball spell and raise dead if your dm allows it.

[@krispalermo8133]

Just add the Ghost Template to your druid

[@shawnhowe7311]

Have you done Rune Priest?

[@TheStrayHALOMAN]

You can play as one in Quake

[@chabreed3714]

If a death knight came up against a lich in the same area of effect would he be able to take the liches zombies and stuff from him or would it be the reverse that the Lich would be able to affect the death Knights Army of Undead?

[@timgrier3317]

I'd judge it as a constant battle of charisma aka the ability to assert their personal will. Every round, they make opposing charisma checks. whoever wins gains control of the undead on the field equal to the surplus of the opposing rolls

[@Treftz]

Can you do a shadow knight?

[@TheLoyalOfficer]

What about the Death Knight's song?