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Knave
The Knave is a variant on the Rogue class, with some characteristics in common with the Bard. Rather than thieves, burglars, and spies like Rogues, the Knave is a con-man, charlatan, grifter, and general-purpose ne'er-do-well. Knaves may be smugglers, cheats at gambling, or simply people with a penchant for less than upstanding behavior and a talent for getting into, and out of, trouble.
Adventures:
Characteristics:
Like Rogues, Knaves are skilled and flexible. In combat, their tendency is to be swift, surprising, and deceptive, as in any other endeavor to which they apply themselves. Much of their skill at combat lies in the ability to mislead others and make startling moves that catch an opponent off-guard.
Alignment:
Like Rogues, Knaves follow opportunities rather than ideals. Unlike Rogues, however, a Lawful Knave is essentially unheard-of, and an exception to the rule that Knaves are not Lawful should be exceedingly well justified before it is allowed.
Religion:
A Knave is almost by definition without faith and devotion. As such, reverence for any deities is extremely rare, but not impossible. In cases where a Knave happens to be one of the faithful, he or she should choose a deity suited to his or her proclivities, such as Greyhawk's Olidammara or Midian's Aphasia.
Background:
Races:
While any common race can produce Knaves, they are most common among humans and hybrids between human and another race. Pure-blooded elves and dwarves are among the races least likely to produce members of this class.
Other Classes:
Role:
As with the Rogue, Knaves' roles in their adventuring parties can vary greatly from one example to the next. They sometimes shoulder the duties of an infiltrator or spy, and in many cases adopt the role of a group's negotiator because of their finely honed skills at manipulation, bluffing, and other abilities suited to getting something for nothing (or for very little, at least).
In combat, their talents are most suited to avoiding taking damage and to aiding others who engage an enemy directly, harrying such opponents and providing additional damage to help wear the enemy down -- hopefully without drawing quite enough attention to actually become the target of attacks. Knaves tend to excel at hit-and-run tactics, and are well-suited to performing tasks not directly related to combat when such are needed in the midst of a battle. Going toe-to-toe with a formidable enemy is definitely not on the menu, if it can be avoided.
GAME RULE INFORMATION
Knaves have the following game statistics.
Level Advancement Chart
This chart is incomplete / in progress.
Level Base Attack Saves Special
1 +0 +0/+2/+0 Sneak Attack +1D6, Distract
2 +1 +0/+3/+0 Evasion
3 +2 +1/+3/+1 Misdirect
4 +3 +1/+4/+1 Sneak Attack +2D6
5 +3 +1/+4/+1 Silver Tongue, Uncanny Dodge
6 +4 +2/+5/+2 Suggestion
7 +5 +2/+5/+2 Sneak Attack +3D6, Redirect
8 +6/+1 +2/+6/+2 Improved Uncanny Dodge
9 +6/+1 +3/+6/+3 Slippery Mind
10 +7/+2 +3/+7/+3 Sneak Attack +4D6, Demagoguery
11 +8/+3 +3/+7/+3 Displace
12 +9/+4 +4/+8/+4 Spell-like Ability: Misdirection
13 +9/+4 +4/+8/+4 Sneak Attack +5D6
14 +10/+5 +4/+9/+4
15 +11/+6/+1 +5/+9/+5
16 +12/+7/+2 +5/+10/+5 Sneak Attack +6D6
17 +12/+7/+2 +5/+10/+5
18 +13/+8/+3 +6/+11/+6
19 +14/+9/+4 +6/+11/+6 Sneak Attack +7D6
20 +15/+10/+5 +6/+12/+6
Abilities:
Dexterity provides protection for the lightly armored Knave, as well as the adroitness demanded by some of the Kave's tricks of misidrection. Intelligence enhances the Knave's skills and abilities. Charisma is key to the Kave's ability to interact with others, swaying opinions and leading them astray.
Alignment:
Any non-Lawful.
Hit Dice:
d6
Class Skills
The Knave's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise [INT], Balance [DEX], Bluff [CHA], Craft (any) [INT], Diplomacy [CHA], Disguise [CHA], Escape Artist [DEX], Forgery [INT], Gather Information [CHA], Hide [DEX], Intimidate [CHA], Knowledge (any) [INT], Listen [INT], Move Silently [DEX], Perform [CHA], Profession [VAR], Search [INT], Sense Motive [WIS], Sleight of Hand [DEX], Speak Language [n/a], Spot [WIS], Swim [STR], Tumble [DEX], Use Magic Device [INT], and Use Rope [DEX].
Skill Points at 1st Level:
( 8 + INT mod ) x 4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level:
8 + INT mod
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Knave.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency:
Knaves are proficient with all simple weapons, plus the rapier, short sword, and one concealable exotic weapon of choice. They are proficient with all armored clothing and non-metallic light armor. The only shields with which Knaves are proficient are bucklers.
Sneak Attack:
The Sneak Attack ability for Knaves is as for Rogues, but increases only every three levels rather than every two.
Distract:
A Knave with three or more ranks in the Bluff skill can use his silver tongue and other interactive talents to attract and absorb the attention of others, or to direct it where the Knave wishes. This ability can only be employed on one target at a time, and only under conditions where conversation (or similar means of communication) is possible. Once combat is engaged, or other dangers make themselves unavoidable, the Distract ability cannot be used because the subject's attention is already devoted to matters of life and death.
While distracted, the subject suffers a -4 penalty on skill checks made as reactions, such as Listen and Spot checks. Potential threats such as one of the Knave's allies approaching grants an additional save attempt, and obvious threats such as the Knave openly drawing a weapon to attack immediately break the distraction.
To use this ability, the Knave must succeed at a Bluff or otherwise appropriate social skill check. The result of this check is the DC against which the target must make a Will save to to avoid the above penalties to notice something from which the Knave wishes to distract him or her -- including the passage of time, if the Knave's intent is to stall or delay the subject. If the save succeeds, the Knave cannot attempt to Distract that subject again for 24 hours. If it fails, the Knave has captured or diverted the subject's attention, and as long as the Knave focuses on doing so (and other circumstances do not intervene, such as combat), that subject remains distracted, up to a number of rounds equal to the Knave's experience level, or until the Knave ceases using the ability.
This ability can be used to set up a Sneak Attack, but the distracted party receives a +5 bonus to his or her spot and listen checks in this case (which, cumulative to the -4 for being distracted, amounts to a total +1 bonus). Whether or not the Sneak Attack succeeds, and whether or not the Distract attempt succeeds, the subject cannot be targeted successfully by this ability again for 24 hours, as though a normal Distract attempt was made and the subject's Will save had succeeded.
Evasion:
At second level, as with Rogues, Knaves receive the Evasion ability.
Misdirect:
At third level, a Knave gains the ability to perform an action in combat that can Misdirect an opponent, providing the benefits of a Distract action taken to set the target up for a Sneak Attack. This action can be taken as a Move action, but if the subject's Will save succeeds the Knave then receives a -3 penalty on the attack and does not receive Sneak Attack bonuses to damage. In all other ways, Misdirect should be treated as a Distract action.
Sneak Attack:
At fourth level, Knaves receive an additional +1d6 damage on a successful Sneak Attack. This results in a total of +2d6 on a successful Sneak Attack.
Silver Tongue:
At fifth level, the Knave becomes more adept at manipulating others with his words. When the Knave uses either the Bluff or Perform: Seduction skill under circumstances where he can take 10, he may choose instead to roll d20 as normal -- and based on the result of that roll, may choose to take 10 and ignore the roll anyway.
Uncanny Dodge:
At fifth level, as the Rogue ability, Knaves gain the Uncanny Dodge ability.
Suggestion:
At sixth level, the Knave gains the ability to make a Suggestion (as the spell), if he or she possesses at least nine ranks in the Bluff skill. Using this ability does not interfere with the effect of a Knave's Distract ability, nor does it grant an additional save against the Distract effect. A Will save by the subject (DC 10 + 1/2 the Knave's level + the Knave's CHA mod) negates the effect of the Suggestion. Like Distract, this ability can only be used against a single target. It can only be used on a target that is currently subject to the Distract ability, and the Suggestion must be made directly.
Sneak Attack:
At seventh level, Knaves receive an additional +1d6 damage on a successful Sneak Attack. This results in a total of +3d6 on a successful Sneak Attack.
Redirect:
At seventh level, as a Move action, a Knave may make a Sleight of Hand roll with a DC of 10 + target's DEX mod + target's INT mod to attempt to Redirect the subject's attention. A successful attempt grants the Knave a +2 bonus on the next attack against that target, as though flanking, for melee attacks. The Knave's Move action Redirects the target's perception of the Knave's location and direction of movement through some misdirecting motion, such as a wave of a hand, a deceptive shift of body weight, or a wave of a cloak.
Unlike Misdirect and Distract, there is no limit on how many times a Knave can use this effect against an opponent.
Improved Uncanny Dodge:
At eighth level, as the Rogue ability of the same name, Knaves gain the Improved Uncanny Dodge ability.
Slippery Mind
At ninth level, Knaves gain the Slippery Mind ability, as the Shadowdancer ability of the same name [DMG195].
Sneak Attack:
At tenth level, Knaves receive an additional +1d6 damage on a successful Sneak Attack. This results in a total of +4d6 on a successful Sneak Attack.
Demagoguery:
Also at tenth level, a Knave may apply the Distract ability to one hit die worth of people per two levels of the Knave. A mass save is attempted every minute, applicable to the crowd as a whole. During this time, the amount by which the mass save is failed represents an additional number of hit dice worth of people that may be added to the effects of the Demagoguery ability; the amount by which a save is made represents a number of hit dice worth of people for whom the effect wears off, and individuals starting with those who have the highest save modifier are excluded from the effect until the number of affected hit dice is equal to or less than the number that may be affected at that time.
The save modifier used for the mass save is equal to the highest save modifier of the group. Any effect that grants a save to one individual for the Distract ability provides an additional mass save for Demagoguery. This special ability relies on the Bluff skill, as it is dependent upon the Knave's ability to maintain a steady stream of plausible-sounding BS that might interest a crowd.
Displace:
At eleventh level, the Knave gains the ability to Displace a target's perception of the Knave's location and direction of travel for defensive purposes. The mechanism is the same as for Redirect, but the effect is that the Knave's AC gains a +3 bonus against a single attack before the Knave's next Move action. For every two Knave levels beyond eleventh, this effect applies to one additional attack before the Knave's next Move action.
Spell-like Ability: Misdirection
At twelfth level, the Knave gainst an ability identical to the second level Sor/Wiz spell Misdirection, but the only valid target of the ability is himself. Thus, if a Paladin attempts a Detect Evil targeting an evil Knave, and the Paladin is within range of the Misdirection effect, the Knave can cause the Paladin's Detect Evil to fail to reveal the Knave's alignment as it returns a result as though the Paladin had used his ability on himself. Caster level for this ability is based on the number of levels in the Knave class.
Sneak Attack:
At thirteenth level, Knaves receive an additional +1d6 damage on a successful Sneak Attack. This results in a total of +5d6 on a successful Sneak Attack.
Sneak Attack:
At fourteenth level, Knaves receive an additional +1d6 damage on a successful Sneak Attack. This results in a total of +6d6 on a successful Sneak Attack.
Sneak Attack:
At tenth level, Knaves receive an additional +1d6 damage on a successful Sneak Attack. This results in a total of +7d6 on a successful Sneak Attack.