Theoretically, as death knights are fallen paladins, can they weild holy avenger blades? without homebrew
Any creature that can wield a weapon can wield a Holy Avenger. Death Knights have no level or levels in any classes, so they can't qualify to enlarge a holy avenger's aura no matter what. As to whether or not a Death Knight can attune to a Holy Avenger: no, they can't, as they aren't paladins. They lack any rule that would make them paladins, and the text about them you appear to be referring to is clear that a Death Knight is simply an undead creature made from a paladin in the same way you can make a zombie from a dead paladin. Neither Death Knights nor zombies have any rule indicating that when made from a paladin, the creature is itself a paladin, so neither is.
Possibly related: because a Death Knight's longsword deals non-magical slashing damage in addition to necrotic damage, it can't be a magical longsword, which means the Death Knight is adding the damage to its wielded weapon. Exactly which weapons it can add this necrotic damage to is entirely up to your DM - e.g. we can't give you a RAW answer what exactly happens if you hand a Death Knight a +1 longsword in terms of that necrotic damage, although we can tell you other things, like that the DK is presumably proficient in all longswords.
I’d say no, since, as a fallen paladin, they are no longer paladins.
Plus, death knights already have advantage against saves and magical effects, so basically it would just be a +3 sword. That’s not nothing, but it makes one of the big effects of the holy avenger redundant.
without homebrew, a death knight can't wield anything other than the weapons and items mentioned in it statblock. Adding any other weapon, magical or mundane, is technically homebrew.
That said, I agree with the others that by basic requirements of the item, a Death Knight would not be able to attune to a Holy Avenger...however that doesn't mean a DM shouldn't do it though. DMs create situations like this all the time.
iconarising is correct that it is homebrew, so probably better off in that forum. Since this is the rules subforum, I will say that the DMG does give guidance on the process for this, including using a weapon other than what the creature would normally have, so take a look at those rules.
Yes, a death knight can attune to a holy avenger RAW. Monsters are considered to have levels in a class for the purpose of attunement if they have a spellcasting trait that allows them to cast spells as a member of that class (DMG page 136). The Death Knight's statblock says that the death knight:
"Is a 19th-level spellcaster... It has the following paladin spells prepared." (MM page 47, emphasis mine).
Therefore, not only does the death knight qualify for attunement to the holy avenger, but it is considered to have 17 or more paladin levels for the sake of the weapon's properties. However, whether the legendary magic item of good accepts an evil attuner anyway, or if the item is corrupted by its attuner, is a question for you, as the DM, to answer.
Panda-wat (I hate my username) is somehow convinced that he is objectively right about everything D&D related even though he obviously is not. Considering that, he'd probably make a great D&D youtuber.
"If I die, I can live with that." ~Luke Hart, the DM lair
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Theoretically, as death knights are fallen paladins, can they weild holy avenger blades? without homebrew
Any creature that can wield a weapon can wield a Holy Avenger. Death Knights have no level or levels in any classes, so they can't qualify to enlarge a holy avenger's aura no matter what. As to whether or not a Death Knight can attune to a Holy Avenger: no, they can't, as they aren't paladins. They lack any rule that would make them paladins, and the text about them you appear to be referring to is clear that a Death Knight is simply an undead creature made from a paladin in the same way you can make a zombie from a dead paladin. Neither Death Knights nor zombies have any rule indicating that when made from a paladin, the creature is itself a paladin, so neither is.
Possibly related: because a Death Knight's longsword deals non-magical slashing damage in addition to necrotic damage, it can't be a magical longsword, which means the Death Knight is adding the damage to its wielded weapon. Exactly which weapons it can add this necrotic damage to is entirely up to your DM - e.g. we can't give you a RAW answer what exactly happens if you hand a Death Knight a +1 longsword in terms of that necrotic damage, although we can tell you other things, like that the DK is presumably proficient in all longswords.
I’d say no, since, as a fallen paladin, they are no longer paladins.
Plus, death knights already have advantage against saves and magical effects, so basically it would just be a +3 sword. That’s not nothing, but it makes one of the big effects of the holy avenger redundant.
without homebrew, a death knight can't wield anything other than the weapons and items mentioned in it statblock. Adding any other weapon, magical or mundane, is technically homebrew.
That said, I agree with the others that by basic requirements of the item, a Death Knight would not be able to attune to a Holy Avenger...however that doesn't mean a DM shouldn't do it though. DMs create situations like this all the time.
iconarising is correct that it is homebrew, so probably better off in that forum. Since this is the rules subforum, I will say that the DMG does give guidance on the process for this, including using a weapon other than what the creature would normally have, so take a look at those rules.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
Yes, a death knight can attune to a holy avenger RAW. Monsters are considered to have levels in a class for the purpose of attunement if they have a spellcasting trait that allows them to cast spells as a member of that class (DMG page 136). The Death Knight's statblock says that the death knight:
"Is a 19th-level spellcaster... It has the following paladin spells prepared." (MM page 47, emphasis mine).
Therefore, not only does the death knight qualify for attunement to the holy avenger, but it is considered to have 17 or more paladin levels for the sake of the weapon's properties. However, whether the legendary magic item of good accepts an evil attuner anyway, or if the item is corrupted by its attuner, is a question for you, as the DM, to answer.
Panda-wat (I hate my username) is somehow convinced that he is objectively right about everything D&D related even though he obviously is not. Considering that, he'd probably make a great D&D youtuber.
"If I die, I can live with that." ~Luke Hart, the DM lair