Gnome Badger Knight

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Many large gnome communities employ units of dire badger riders to defend their borders. Gnome badger knights are the elite of such orders, trained with lightning ferocity fitting for their volatile steeds. Their mounts are second to none, carefully bred from the finest of dire badger stock. The knight's training incorporates burrowing tactics to launch stunning ambushes from beneath the earth.
Hit Die: d10

Requirements

To qualify to become a gnome badger knight, a character must fulfill all of the following criteria:
Race: Gnome
Skills: Ride 5 ranks, Handle Animal 5 ranks
Base Attack Bonus +5
Feats: Mounted Combat, Skill Focus (Handle Animal)

Class Skills: The gnome badger knight's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (dungeoneering) (Int), Listen(Wis), Ride (Dex), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str).
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Table: Gnome Badger Knight Class
Level Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Special
1st +1 +2 +0 +0 Warbadger, speak with animals +2/day
2nd +2 +3 +0 +0 Barreling charge 1/day, tunnel riding adept, discipline mount
3rd +3 +3 +1 +1 Ground sense, share rage
4th +4 +4 +1 +1 Barreling charge 2/day, control mount +2
5th +5 +4 +1 +1 Spur mount 3/day
6th +6 +5 +2 +2 Death from below, barreling charge 3/day
7th +7 +5 +2 +2 Speak with animals at will, control mount +4
8th +8 +6 +2 +2 Barreling charge 4/day
9th +9 +6 +3 +3 Spur mount 5/day
10th +10 +7 +3 +3 Pounce, control mount +6, barreling charge 5/day

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the gnome badger knight prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Gnome badger knights are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all types of armor, and with shields.
Warbadger (Ex): At 1st level a gnome badger knight gains an elite warbadger, usually a gift from the gnome community. This steadfast dire badger is carefully bred and trained for combat. It is treated as a warbeast (see p. 219 Monster Manual II) dire badger. As the character progresses the warbadger gains abilities similar to those of a paladin’s mount. This badger forms a close bond with its master and is highly protective. Whenever its master is wounded in combat it flies into a rage just as though it had been wounded itself.
Speak with Animals (Sp): At 1st level the gnome badger knight gains two extra uses of her racial speak with animals ability; at 7th level this ability can be used at will.
Tunnel Riding Adept (Ex): At 2nd level careful practice allows the gnome badger knight to vastly streamline her use of a burrowing saddle. She may strap into the saddle with a single full round action and unstrap with a single move action. Neither use provokes attacks of opportunity.
Discipline Mount (Ex): at 2nd level a gnome badger knight gains the ability to make a DC 20 Handle Animal check to end the rage of its badger.
Ground Sense (Su): At 3rd level a gnome badger knight, while riding her tunneling warbadger, gains the ability to sense the general location of any creature touching the ground within 30 ft. This ability does not pinpoint the location or nature of such creatures; it merely reveals which squares they occupy.
Share Rage (Ex): At 3rd level the gnome badger knight begins to adopt her mount’s mentality. If the badger enters rage while she is riding, the knight may also fly into a rage as a free action, taking the same bonuses and penalties as her mount. This rage lasts until the badger’s rage ends. This ability may be used once per day.
Control Mount (Ex): At 4th level the gnome badger knight gains a +2 competence bonus to Handle Animal and Ride checks made while riding. This bonus increases to +4 at 8th level and +6 at 10th.
Barreling Charge: At 2nd level a gnome badger knight can declare a charge to be a “barreling charge”. Both she and her warbadger deal double damage at the conclusion of the charge. This ability stacks with the Spirited Charge feat (rules for doubled doublings apply as normal). This ability is usable once per day at 2nd level and one additional time per day for every even-numbered class level thereafter.
Spur Mount: At 5th level, three times per day as a free action, the gnome badger knight may push her mount to greater speeds adding +10 to its speed for one round. This bonus to movement may apply to burrow speed as well as normal ground movement speed. At 9th level the gnome badger knight may use this ability five times per day.
Death from Below: At 6th level a gnome badger knight may burst out of the ground, setting her mount upon a chosen foe. The warbadger may make a charge action while burrowing, with all normal charging bonuses. The knight may only attack if she succeeds at a DC 20 Ride check and suffers all normal penalties for her burrowing saddle.
Pounce: At 10th level, when guiding her charging warbadger, the badger knight may grant her mount the ability to employ a full attack action. This may be employed as part of a death from below attack. This ability is not shared by the badger knight.

Table: Warbadger Advancement
Gnome Badger Knight Level Bonus Hit Dice Natural Armor Adjustment Strength Adjustment Intelligence Special
1st-2nd +2 +4 +1 3 Share saving throws, improved evasion
3rd-4th +4 +6 +2 4 Share spells
5th-6th +6 +8 +3 5 Large size
7th-8th +8 +10 +4 6 Improved speed
9th-10th +10 +12 +5 7 Empathic link

Rules for mount special abilities; improved evasion, share saving throws, share spells, and empathic link are found on page 45 of the PHB 3.5.
Improved Speed: The warbadger gains a +10 bonus to its normal speed and gains a +5 bonus to burrow speed, which brings it to base 50 and burrow 15.
Large Size: Large warbadgers receive the following bonuses and penalties: +8 str, -2 dex, +4 con, +2 Natural Armor, -1 AC / to hit, Space/Reach: 10/5. All of the listed modifiers are size modifiers and stack with regular advancement bonuses. Large warbadgers leave a usable hole 10 feet in diameter after burrowing.

Sample Warbadger
Name: Warbadger Mount at level 1, Race & Class: Warbeast Dire Badger, CR: 3, HD: 6d8+36, Hp: average 63, Init: +3, Spd: 40, burrow 10, AC: 20, touch 13, flatfooted 17); Base Atk: +4 Grp: +8, Atk: +8 melee (1d6+4 claw), Full Atk: +8 melee (1d6+4, 2 claws) & +3 melee (1d6+2 bite), Space/Reach: 5 ft./ 5 ft., SA: Rage, SQ: combative mount, low-light vision, improved evasion, share saving throws, scent, AL: N, SV Fort: +11, Ref: +8, Will: +7, Ability Scores: Str 18, Dex 17, Con 22, Int 3, Wis 14, Chr 10, Skills & Feats: Perception +11, Alertness, Toughness, Track, Improved Natural Attack (claws).

Combative Mount: A rider on a trained warbeast mount gets a +2 circumstance bonus on all Ride checks. A trained warbeast is proficient with light, medium, and heavy armor.

Notes

Lvl 15 character
Name: Warbadger Mount at level 10, Race & Class: Warbeast Dire Badger, large creature, HD: 14d8+#, Hp: average 160, Init: +3, Spd: 50, burrow 15, AC: 26, touch 11, flatfooted 24; Base Atk: +10 Grp: +24, Atk: +19 melee (1d8+10 claw), Full Atk: +19 melee (1d8+10, 2 claws) & +17 melee (1d8+5 bite), Space/Reach: 10 ft./ 5 ft., SA: Rage, SQ: combative mount, low-light vision, improved evasion, share saving throws, scent, AL: N, SV Fort: +11, Ref: +8, Will: +7, Ability Scores: Str 30, Dex 15, Con 26, Int 7, Wis 14, Chr 10, Skills & Feats: Perception +19 Alertness, Toughness, Track, Improved Natural Attack (claws), Multiattack.

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