Scourge Knight

A scourge knight has studied magic in the same sense as an eldritch knight, but they favor the school of necromancy. They master these skills in order to rebuke the dead, not for a want to control the dead but to use them as tools of war. Many knights of valor and justice frown upon tactics that use the dead in such a fashion, believing that the fallen should be granted rest. But scourge knights do not fight for ideals such as honor, they believe that every aspect of war should be addressed, changing the tide of a battle field as both foe and ally fall around them. They have little regard for the dead if it allows them to obtain their goals, earning them titles such as death knights, reapers, and cursed hands.

Spellcasting

When you reach 3rd level, you augment your martial prowess with the ability to cast spells. See Spells Rules for the general rules of spellcasting and the Spells Listing for the wizard spell list.

Cantrips

You learn two cantrips of your choice from the wizard spell list. You learn an additional wizard cantrip of your choice at 10th level.

Spell Slots

The Scourge Knight Spellcasting table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your wizard spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these spells, you must expend a slot of the spell’s level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.

For example, if you know the 1st-level spell shield and have a 1st-level and a 2nd-level spell slot available, you can cast shield using either slot.

Spells Known of 1st-Level and Higher

You know three 1st-level wizard spells of your choice, two of which you must choose from the necromancy and evocation spells on the wizard spell list.

The Spells Known column of the Scourge Knight Spellcasting table shows when you learn more wizard spells of 1st level or higher. Each of these spells must be an necromancy or evocation spell of your choice, and must be of a level for which you have spell slots. For instance, when you reach 7th level in this class, you can learn one new spell of 1st or 2nd level.

The spells you learn at 8th, 14th, and 20th level can come from any school of magic.

Whenever you gain a level in this class, you can replace one of the wizard spells you know with another spell of your choice from the wizard spell list. The new spell must be of a level for which you have spell slots, and it must be an necromancy or evocation spell, unless you’re replacing the spell you gained at 3rd, 8th, 14th, or 20th level from any school of magic.

Spellcasting Ability

Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for your wizard spells, since you learn your spells through study and memorization. You use your Intelligence whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Intelligence modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a wizard spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.

Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier

Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier

Scourge Knight Spellcasting

Fighter Level	Cantrips Known	Spells Known	— Spell Slots per Spell Level —
			1st	2nd	3rd	4th
3rd	2	3	2	—	—	—
4th	2	4	3	—	—	—
5th	2	4	3	—	—	—
6th	2	4	3	—	—	—
7th	2	5	4	2	—	—
8th	2	6	4	2	—	—
9th	2	6	4	2	—	—
10th	3	7	4	3	—	—
11th	3	8	4	3	—	—
12th	3	8	4	3	—	—
13th	3	9	4	3	2	—
14th	3	10	4	3	2	—
15th	3	10	4	3	2	—
16th	3	11	4	3	3	—
17th	3	11	4	3	3	—
18th	3	11	4	3	3	—
19th	3	12	4	3	3	1
20th	3	13	4	3	3	1

Employ Death

3rd-level Scourge Knight feature

You learn to magically alter those who fall in battle around you, using the dead as tools of war. You can target one creature of large size or smaller that has died within the last hour, choosing from one of the options below. If an option requires a saving throw, the save DC is equal to your spell save DC.

Corpse Bomb. As a bonus action, you choose a corpse of a creature that you can see within 60-feet and cause it's body to explode with necrotic energy in a 10-foot sphere, destroying the body. Each creature caught in the blast must succeed a Constitution saving throw or take 1d10 + your intelligence modifier necrotic damage, or half as much on a success. This ability fails if there is no body to target, such as those that were destroyed as a result of being burnt to ash or destroyed by this feature. 

Bone Armor. As a bonus action, you choose a corpse of a creature that you can see within 60-feet to rip the bones out of the body and command them to protect you from harm. They do so by spinning around you, floating within a 5 foot space centered on you, granting you a +1 bonus to your AC. This effect lasts for 1 minute or until you are hit by an attack. Oozes, constructs, and creatures with no bone structure are immune to this effect. 

Death's Embrace. As an action, you choose a corpse of a creature that you can see within 60-feet to command it to leap out and grapple a target creature within 20-feet of it. The target makes a Strength saving throw or becomes grappled by the corpse. It can repeat the save as an action on each of it's turns. 

Rancid Cloud. As a bonus action, you choose a corpse of a creature that you can see within 60-feet and create a 15-foot radius cloud of blood and spoils centered on the corpse, destroying the body. Creatures that start their turn in the cloud must make a Constitution saving throw or become poisoned. The area inside the cloud is heavily obscured.

Raise Dead

7th-level Scourge Knight feature

You can cast animate dead as a 3rd-level spell once per long rest. When you reach 13th level, the spell is added to your spell list. You always have prepared, and it doesn’t count against the number of spells you know. 

Reaper

10th-level Scourge Knight feature

You learn to harness the fleeting lifeforce of those that die around you to empower your attacks. When a creatures hit points becomes 0 that you can see within 60 feet of you, as a reaction you steal the remaining lifeforce of that creature. The next time you hit with a melee attack before the end of your next turn, you deal an additional d4 equal to your intelligence modifier as necrotic damage. This damage ignores resistances and temporary hit points. 

You can use this feature twice, refreshing on a long rest. 

Skeletal Wall

15th-level Scourge Knight feature

Your mastery of death allows you to magically conjure a wall of the dead, pulling them from the earth. As an action, you can create a Skeletal Wall up to 30 feet long, 10 feet high, and 5 feet thick within 60 feet of you. The wall must stay connected in a straight line, and it blocks line of sight. If a hostile creature comes within 5 feet of the wall, it must succeed a Dexterity saving throw against your spell save DC or become restrained by the wall. A creature restrained in this way can make a Strength saving throw at the end of each of their turns to escape. 

If the wall cuts through a creature's space when it appears, the creature must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw to avoid being restrained by the wall. On a successful save it is pushed to one side of the wall 5 feet away, you choose which side the creature is pushed to. 

The wall stays up for 1 hour, has AC 15 and 140 hit points. Reducing the wall to 0 hit points destroys it, returning the skeletons to the earth. Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you must finish a long rest. 

Death Knight

18th-level Scourge Knight feature

Your control over the lifeforce that fades around you strengthen, you gain the following features.

• You can target up to two bodies at once when you use your Employ Dead feature. If you target two bodies with Bone Armor, you instead gain a +2 to your AC.
• Your Corpse Bomb now deals 3d10 + your Intelligence modifier necrotic damage.
• When you target a creature with your Reaper feature, the creature also rises as a zombie or skeleton under your control. The undead dies after 1 minute, it successfully hits a target with an attack, or it's hit points are reduced to 0. 
• Each time you cast a necromancy spell you gain temporary hit points equal to 5 + your intelligence modifier. This replaces temporary hit points that you would instead gain from necromancy spells, such as false life.