Blackguard (Dungeons & Dragons)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| D&D character class | |
|---|---|
| Blackguard | |
| Alignment | Any evil |
| Image | Wizards.com image |
| Stats | OGL stats |
In Dungeons & Dragons, Blackguard (IPA pronunciation: 'blæ gɚd) is a base character class in older versions of the game, and a prestige class as of edition 3.5. A blackguard is the antithesis of a paladin and is an evil warrior who receives a variety of magical powers from binding pacts with fiends or evil gods.
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[edit] Abilities
Like paladins, the abilities of blackguards are tied to their charisma and wisdom scores. Most of a blackguard's abilities are reversals of paladin abilities, such as:
- cause disease instead of cure disease
- cause light wounds instead of lay on hands
They also have other abilities, such as cause fear or summon fiendish ally.
Their Hit die is d10, and their base attack bonus accumulates on a 1/1 basis.
[edit] Power over the undead
A blackguard gains the ability to rebuke undead like an evil cleric, rather than turning undead like a paladin. A rebuked undead will be stunned in awe of the blackguard, while a commanded undead will become the Blackguard's servant.
A Blackguard can also make a bolster check to give the undead more strength against a good cleric's turning attempts.
[edit] Similarity to paladins
Blackguards and paladins are dramatically opposed, but not complete opposites. Many of the abilities of a blackguard mimic or replace abilities of a paladin (such as the fiendish servant ability, which replaces the paladin's special mount ability). Blackguards are required to be of any evil alignment (lawful evil, neutral evil, or chaotic evil), while paladins are required to be lawful good.
While uncommon to rare (depending on the campaign's Dungeon Master), some paladins have turned evil or otherwise broken the paladin code of honor lose their original abilities but gain bonus abilities if they take the blackguard prestige class. The more levels a character has as a "fallen paladin", the more and greater those bonuses become to the point where if a paladin of 10th level or higher becomes a blackguard, they may even convert any paladin levels for the same number of blackguard levels. Though they lose any bonus abilities they would have gained from the levels of fallen paladin levels.
[edit] In Dungeons and Dragons miniatures
The human blackguard is a lawful evil commander in Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures.
[edit] Source of the term
Blackguard (usually pronounced "blaggerd", IPA: ['blægard]) is a somewhat archaic term for a scoundrel. This can be disputed as it was also a common profession name for shoeshines, as they would polish boots - hence guarding the black colour of the boot.
[edit] See also
| Dungeons & Dragons character classes | ||
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Base classes from the Player's Handbook: Barbarian • Bard • Cleric • Druid • Fighter • Monk • Paladin • Ranger • Rogue • Sorcerer • Wizard |
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Additional/Alternative base classes: Archivist • Ardent • Artificer • Beguiler • Binder • Crusader • Divine Mind • Dragon Shaman • Dragonfire Adept • Dread Necromancer • Duskblade • Erudite • Factotum • Favored Soul • Healer • Hexblade • Knight • Lurk • Incarnate • Marshal • Mystic • Ninja • Noble • Psion • Psychic Warrior • Samurai • Scout • Shadowcaster • Shaman • Sha' ir • Shugenja • Sohei • Soulborn • Soulknife • Spellthief • Spirit Shaman • Swashbuckler • Swordsage • Totemist • Truenamer • Warblade • Warlock • Warmage • Wilder • Wu Jen |
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NPC Classes: Adept • Aristocrat • Commoner • Expert • Warrior |
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Unearthed Arcana generic classes: Expert • Spellcaster • Warrior |
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