Paladin of Hell (+ Monstrome v5)

Work continues of the Monstrome. I'm now on v5. You can read it

HERE

Feel free to comment on any typos or confusing parts.

I've added Crafting sections (on top of the Cooking and Alchemy from v4).  Monsters:

• Eternal Paladin (new)
• Golem
• Hell Knight (new)
• Tooth Fairy
• Sprite (new)  

Thank you Zirchona, Isaac, Jeff R (!), Josh, Anti Time, Jackson, Sinusoidal, Ezra, Dan, and Anon for proof-reading v4. Your suggestions have been gratefully incorporated!

PALADIN OF HELL

Hell was conquered in 788 TFM, at the end of the Last Crusade.  Asmodeus was destroyed, the gates of Hell were sundered, and all of Centerra celebrated the Year of Eternal Triumph--the day when humanity finally triumphed over the Unholy Land.

They are also called Hellknights, Infernal Paladins, or Warriors of the Pit.  They rule over Hell in the name of the Church, and ensure that demons do not distort the justice of salvation.  

They rarely leave Hell, except when they are called.  They may be called to the surface world in much the same fashion that a demon is.

Lvl 5  Def plate  Sword 1d6+2  Crossbow 1d6+2

Move fast  Str high  Dis vengeance

Immune - Fear.

Until It Is Done - Anyone can raise a dead hellknight.  Just sacrifice something over their dead body, and tell them that the job isn’t finished yet.  Acceptable sacrifices include undead and demons.  Functional-but-unacceptable sacrifices include innocent people (unless you can convince the hell knight that they were evil cultists).

Bloodlust - Whenever they bring a creature to 0 HP, they immediately heal an amount of HP equal to the damage that they just did to them on that round.

Reckless Attack - The hellknight can make two melee attacks simultaneously against an adjacent target.  If they do, the target may make a free melee attack against them with whatever they are holding.  All three attacks resolve simultaneously.

by Kentaro Miura

Common Knowledge

Everyone has heard that hell is ruled by paladins after they conquered it.  They’re supposedly very scary dudes.

It’s less commonly known that hell knights can be summoned, or how similar their summoning is to demon summoning.  Priests are very reluctant to summon hell knights (even in the rare cases when they’re able to), because they’re hyperviolent murder fanatics from hell who seem to have abandoned all other morals except “kill demons”.

Tactics

Hell Knights just wade into combat and kill stuff.  They don’t want to die–they want to kill demons–but if they die it’s only a setback.

They target the weakest opponents first, hoping to score some kills so that they can use their Bloodlust ability to heal.

They are immensely dangerous to opponents who don’t have a punishing melee attack, since the Hell Knight is able to abuse their Reckless Attack and plate armor to essentially make two attacks per round.  If they’re fighting a wizard with a dagger, there’s barely any downside.  They’ll use Reckless Attack every round if possible.

Encounters

I don’t recommend hell knights as a random encounter, since they work better if the players know what they are, and what their motivations are.  (Hell knights are perfectly able to talk, but they rarely choose to.)

Some options:

1 - Let the Players Summon the Hell Knight

The party finds the tomb of a dead hell knight.  On the sarcophagus are clear instructions: “If the demons come back, sacrifice a demon to me and I’ll return from Hell to send them back.”  Let the party decide whether they want to summon her.

The hellknight is a challenging ally.  She’ll want to immediately pursue the demons, although you could slow her down if you have a good plan for killing demons.  (She’s vengeful, not stupid.)  If the party shows any signs of weakness (reading cursed tomes instead of burning them, trying to negotiate with demons, asking cultists to surrender), she’ll demand that they leave the dungeon or she’ll kill them.  The party gets one warning–which is more than she normally gives.

Afterwards, she’ll want to burn as much weird demon loot as she can.  (She’s smart enough to watch the party closely through this.  She knows that she might have been summoned by people who want demonic power for themselves.)  Afterwards, she’ll climb back in her sarcophagus and slit her own throat.  “Wake me when you need me.”

If the players were stupid enough to summon the hell knight by sacrificing an innocent person, they’ll be the first objects of the hell knight’s wrath.

Perhaps the hell knight was even the quest that sent them into the dungeon in the first place.  “There are demons afoot.  Go summon the hell knight.”

2 - Let Someone Else Summon the Hell Knight

Another dungeon faction threatens the party.  There is a hell knight tomb nearby.  If the party doesn’t do what is demanded of them, the dungeon faction will summon the hell knight.

If the party is up to some evil (or evil-seeming) shenanigans, it should be pretty easy to sic the hell knight on them.  If the other dungeon faction is kinda sketchy themselves, then it should be easy to turn this into a 3-way battle where the hell knight seeks to purge everyone.  They don’t make compromises.

3 - The Hell Knight Has Already Been Summoned

The hell knight is running around killing everyone and you need to help.  Maybe the people asking you for help are innocent apprentices, maybe they’re evil cultists.  Maybe they’re demons who really didn’t ask for this.

An even more fun scenario might be peaceful undead, who were happily sitting in their tombs waiting for Judgement Day, when the hell knight kicks down the door and starts sending them all to hell.

Encounter Design

Depending on your players and what type of challenge you want to present, there’s a few different ways to create an encounter.

Hell knights don’t have to arrive alone.  They could show up as a duo, or they might manifest with a loyal hellhound at their side.

If another faction has summoned them, then they may be accompanied by members of that faction.  It’s actually pretty reasonable to assume that the hell knight is being taken advantage of by some other group.

Hell knights prefer to ally with other paladins (or clerics), so it’s possible that your hell knight might ditch you.

Psychology

Hell knights hate everything, but they hate demons the most.  Weakness is a close second.

They prefer action over talking.  The best way to earn some respect from a hellknight is to be useful.  Anyone who matches their ardor for demonslaying might even earn a nod of approval.

Most of the stuff on the surface world is trivial.  Demonic invasions must be prevented, of course, since Centerra is what we’re fighting to protect, but most of the important fights are still being fought in hell.  There are still armies of demons in the fringes, led by the 7th Satan.  Once the work on the surface is done, it’s time to go back to Hell.

Culture

Hell was conquered generations ago.  The hell knights of today are the descendents of those original paladins who conquered hell.

It is an exaggeration to say that Hell is only full of eternal war, but not much of an exaggeration.  Hell knights are taught to detect and slay demons from childhood.  There is so much murder and assassination in Hell that anything less would be fatal.

They know that their job is important.  They fight for the justice of the afterlife, ensuring that wicked souls are punished in Hell, and good souls are sent to Heaven.  (This second part is essential, since many good souls end up in hell without a psychopomp, and must be guided back up.)

Hell knights aren’t interested in many things that aren’t weapons useful for killing demons.  Still, if you impress one, you’re likely to be invited back to Hell to join them.

However, the “badass warrior who knows only eternal war” is a pretty fun trope, so DMs can have fun subverting it.  A hell knight might be suddenly struck with the desire to take a cat back to hell (because there are no cats in hell), or could even get an awkward crush on a character (mostly manifesting as protectiveness).

Loot

Sword of Massacre - +3 vs demons and unded.  Allows you to make a Vicious Attack (see above).  When you draw it from its sheath, you must get the killing blow on a creature in this combat.  If you don’t you must immediately run and seek out the next combat.  If you don’t kill someone in honest combat within the next 10 minutes, you die.

Demonslayer - +3 vs demons and undead.  Requires you to kill all the demons and undead you encounter.  If you see an ally summoning demons or raising the dead, you attack them, too.  Lasts until someone disarms you.

Demon Blood - A bite-size disc of red jelly that you can consume as a free action. Gives you +2 to hit and damage for 2 rounds.  After that, you get -2 to hit and damage until you rest.  You can cancel out the negative effects by taking a second dose of demon blood, which brings you back up to +2 to hit and damage, but 2 rounds after that you fall unconscious.

Potion of Invulnerability - Makes you immune to damage for 1d2+1 rounds.

Scroll of Summon Dretch - A dretch is a demon bred by hell knights as a weapon against other demons.  The dretch appears in a random safe location within 20’.  Lvl 3, Def none, Claw 1d6.  Whenever the dretch takes damage, that damage is echoed onto all demons/undead within 50’.  The dretch is hostile and will attempt to ally with any demon/undead nearby.

Alchemy & Gastrology

Upon dying, they crumble into dust and brown bones

Discussion

If you’re looking for RP inspiration, consider Doomguy.  Or maybe a really angry Master Chief.

Like paladins, hell knights sit on the cusp between “someone to fight” and “someone to talk to”, and they can jump between those two areas pretty quickly.

Variants

Leader - Whenever they kill a demon, everyone heals 1d4 HP.

Battle Brothers - A pair of paladins, who are able to resurrect each other once one of them dies.  Would be a good boss.

Berserk Mode - Each time they enter combat, they have a 1-in-6 chance of going permanently berserk.