Knight of the High Tower (3.5e Prestige Class)

Knight of the High Tower

“	It's not a door, it's a shield, but I understand your confusion.	”
—Sir Agrivail, human knight of the High Tower

Men and women throughout the land often aspire to knighthood, but not all knights are alike. House Hightower train their knights to be expert users of the tower shield. Nobles of Hightower are known to place an item of great value inside a crenellated tower with no windows, and a knight of the High Tower in front of the door.

A knight of the High Tower carries their shield with an air of what could be casual arrogance. A practiced eye will tell you that hours of fighting with a shield have toned that knight into someone more comfortable with a five foot spate of wood attached to their arm than someone without. Not only are knights of the High Tower agile behind a tower shield, they are also adept at striking from behind it. Knights of the High Tower are taught to hinder or incapacitate their foes, by knocking them to the ground or plucking their weapon from their hand with a well-timed beat of their own. Nothing stops an enemy advance like a platoon of knights from Hightower.

Becoming a Knight of the High Tower

Characters looking to protect their allies seek the durability provided by Hightower doctrine. Knights are the most likely candidates for the training, although fighters, paladins and even samurai are fit to walk the Hightower path.

Entry Requirements

Alignment:	Lawful neutral or lawful good.
Base Attack Bonus:	+7.
Skills:	Intimidate 5 ranks, Diplomacy 5 ranks, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) 5 ranks.
Feats:	Armour Proficiency (Heavy), Combat Expertise, Improved Combat Expertise.

Table: The Knight of the High Tower

Hit Die: d12

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+1	+0	+0	+2	Knight's heart, tower shield mastery 1
2nd	+2	+0	+0	+3	Tower shield specialisation
3rd	+3	+1	+1	+3	Tower shield mastery 2
4th	+4	+1	+1	+4	Shield Ward
5th	+5	+1	+1	+4	Tower shield mastery 3
6th	+6	+2	+2	+5	Damage reduction 3/-, no mercy 1
7th	+7	+2	+2	+5	Tower shield mastery 4
8th	+8	+2	+2	+6	No mercy 2
9th	+9	+3	+3	+6	Tower shield mastery 5
10th	+10	+3	+3	+7	Damage reduction 6/-
Class Skills (2 + Int modifier per level) Intimidate (Cha), Diplomacy (Cha), Knowledge (nobility and royalty) (Int), Ride (Dex), and Spot (Wis).

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the knight of the High Tower.

Weapon and Armour Proficiency: Knights of the High Tower gain proficiency with tower shields.

Knight's Heart (Ex): A knight of the High Tower's class levels stack with any knight levels the character may have for determining the characteristics of his knight's challenge and vigilant defender class features.

Tower Shield Mastery (Ex): A knight of the High Tower develops an uncanny affinity with the tower shield. A knight of the high tower ignores 2 points of armour check penalty normally imposed by the tower shield. At 5th level, this amount increases to 4. At 9th level, this amount increases to 6. At 3rd level, a knight of the High Tower also ignores 1 point of the penalty imposed on all attack rolls by the tower shield. At 7th level, he ignores the penalty entirely.

Tower Shield Specialisation (Ex): At 2nd level, a knight of the High Tower increases their shield bonus to AC by 1 when using a tower shield. A knight of the High Tower can treat this class feature as Shield Specialisation for the purposes of qualifying for feats.

Shield Ward (Ex): At 4th level, a knight of the High Tower gains Shield Ward as a bonus feat.

Damage Reduction (Ex): At 6th level, a knight of the High Tower gains the ability to shrug off some amount of injury from each blow or attack. Subtract 3 points from the damage the knight of the High Tower takes each time he is dealt damage. At 10th level, this damage reduction rises to 6/–. Damage reduction can reduce damage to 0 but not below 0. (That is, the knight cannot actually gain hit points in this manner.)

No Mercy (Ex): At 6th level, a knight of the High Tower gains the ability to make one extra attack of opportunity per round (as if he had the Combat Reflexes feat and a Dexterity modifier of +1). At 8th level and higher, the knight can make as many as two extra attacks of opportunity per round. This benefit stacks with the benefit of the Combat Reflexes feat.

Multiclass Note: A paladin or samurai who becomes a knight of the High Tower may continue advancing in his original class.

Ex-Knights of the High Tower

Playing a Knight of the High Tower

Combat:

Advancement:

Resources:

Knight of the High Tower in the World

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NPC Reactions:

Knight of the High Tower Lore

Characters with ranks in can research to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including information from lower DCs.

DC	Result
11	.
16	.
21	.
26	.

Knights of the High Tower in the Game

Adaptation:

Sample Encounter:

EL whatever:

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