Silverhair Knight, Unchained

The faithful of Eilistraee are known throughout the Realms for their devotion to the arts of dancing and song, to the moonlit hunt, and to various graceful styles of sword fighting. Yet one aspect of the Dark Maiden’s faith that is often overlooked by outsiders is her stance against the unsaved drow of the Underdark. Whereas the worshipers of Lolth, Vhaeraun, and the other drow deities view the clergy of Eilistraee as bitter enemies and hated rivals, the faithful of the Dark Maiden are taught not to hate their deep-dwelling kin but to pity them and offer them mercy and sanctuary when they are encountered.

One sect of worshipers have taken this dogma a step further. These are the silverhair knights, selfless and merciful priests who seek out evil drow and use their sins against them in an attempt to show them the errors of their ways. Most silverhair knights fight these drow only with nonlethal attacks, offering them mercy even when none is sought. The most powerful silverhair knights are capable of pulling a drow’s sins from his body and absorbing them with her own strength of faith. This is a dangerous ritual, but its effects cannot be dismissed. The silverhair knights might just be the redemption of the drow race, if they can only withstand the terrible despair of the sins they release from their tortured hosts.

Silverhair knights, also known as “sin eaters,” train to aid in the conversion and subsequent protection of drow who have come to the surface of Faerûn. The silverhair knights are most active in regions where drow attempt to establish a foothold on the surface; at this point, most of the knights in this relatively new order are based in Cormanthor. Silverhair knights avoid killing drow if at all possible. Their theory is that if other drow see that silverhair knights do not advocate the slaughter of their enemies, they themselves can feel safer about abandoning the teachings of Lolth and her kin. Only when the death of a drow would directly result in saving the life of others is lethal force permitted, and even then, the silverhair knight must seek atonement for her dreadful deed.

Multiclass clerics with some levels of fighter, ranger, bard, or even barbarian have the greatest ease becoming silverhair knights. Although most silverhair knights are female drow or half-drow, any worshiper of Eilistraee that can meet the requirements, regardless of race or gender, is welcome to join the order. When a silverhair knight finds an encampment of drow, she is expected to observe the group from hiding for some time, learning their ways and personalities from afar, so that she can identify members of the group who might wish to convert. Eventually, she is expected to infiltrate the group, identify and approach possible converts, and organize their escape to a safe location.

Silverhair knights dwell in out-of-the-way areas and generally avoid cities or other large metropolitan areas unless they are guiding a reformed drow to some sanctuary within. NPC silverhair knights are thus most often encountered in the wilds, especially in areas with heavy drow activity.

Requirements

To qualify to become a Silverhair Knight, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:

• Alignment: Chaotic good.
• Skills: Bluff 5 ranks, Diplomacy 5 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 5 ranks, Sense Motive 5 ranks.
• Feats: Persuasive, Weapon Focus (any sword).
• Patron: Eilistraee.
• Special: A character who wishes to become a silverhair knight cannot have slain or caused the death of a drow of any alignment. If the character cannot meet this requirement, she must receive atonement from a cleric of Eilistraee before being accepted into the order: payment for this atonement usually requires going on a quest for the church.

Class Skills

The silverhair knight’s class skills are Bluff, Diplomacy, Disguise, Heal, Intimidate, Knowledge (history), Knowledge (local), Knowledge (religion), Perception, Perform, Sense Motive, and Stealth.

Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Hit Die

d10

Advancement

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Silverhair Knights gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.

Awaken Sins (Sp): Once per day, a Silverhair Knight may show evil individuals (particularly drow) the errors of their ways. To resist this, the target creature must make a Will save against a DC of (10 + the silverhair knight’s level + her primary casting ability modifier). Failure indicates that the various acts of cruelty and hatred the target has inflicted throughout his life suddenly weigh down upon its mind, causing it to suffer the pains and torments of all those it has tormented and wounded. The target immediately takes 1d6 points of nonlethal damage per the silverhair knight’s caster level (maximum 10d6) and is sickened for a number of rounds equal to the silverhair knight’s primary casting modifier. If this nonlethal damage makes the target unconscious, it further takes 1d6 points of wisdom damage. Even if the target manages to make its Will save, the sudden upwelling of sinful memories cause a momentary distraction that imparts a -1 penalty on skill checks, saves and attack rolls for 1 round. At third level, the silverhair knight may use this ability twice per day, and at fifth level she may do so three times a day.

Drow are particularly susceptible to this supernatural ability and suffer a -2 penalty on saving throws made to resist its effects.

Merciful Edge (Ex): Any sword wielded one handed by a Silverhair Knight, so long as she has one open hand, doesn’t suffer the -4 penalty for striking to subdue with a lethal weapon.

Aligned Class (Ex): Silverhair Knights come from many different backgrounds, and they show an eclectic range of diversity. At 2nd level, the Silverhair Knight must choose a class she belonged to before adding the prestige class to be her aligned class. She gains all the class features for this class, and the spellcasting progression (if applicable), essentially adding every silverhair knight level beyond 1st to her aligned class to determine what class features she gains. She still retains the Hit Dice, base attack bonus, saving throw bonuses, and skill ranks of the prestige class, but gains all other class features of her aligned class as well as those of the prestige class.

Blade of Compassion (Ex): When the Silverhair Knight is fighting one handed with her bastard sword and chooses to fight dealing nonlethal damage, she adds +1d6 nonlethal damage to the damage dealt. This counts as precision damage and is not multiplied on a critical hit. If she is wielding a Merciful weapon, this damage bonus stacks with the damage bonus of the weapon, at level 4, this damage increases another +1d6.

Voice of Serenity (Su): At 3rd level, a Silverhair Knight’s voice takes on a strangely trustworthy and friendly lilt that soothes the suspicions and doubts of those with whom she interacts. She gains a +2 sacred bonus on Bluff and Diplomacy checks. Additionally, all enchantment spells she casts that have a verbal component gain a +1 sacred bonus to their save DC. If the Silverhair Knight possesses bardic performance or a similar ability, then her levels in Silverhair Knight now stack to determine the rounds of performance, and performances gained with her performance ability, as well as her effective bard level for their effects.

Redeemer (Su or Sp): A 5th-level Silverhair Knight adds her class level to all Diplomacy checks to make a conversion attempt upon an evil fey, humanoid or monstrous humanoid, and can make this attempt even if the NPC reaction of the targeted creature is unfriendly (Pathfinder Player Companion: Companions and Cohorts, page 24). The Silverhair Knight can also cast atonement as a spell-like ability at will, though she can only cast this upon the same creature once in a one-month period.