Death Knight

D&D 2024 monster: Death Knight. Source: Monster Manual (2014). challenge rating 17, creature type Undead, Medium size, speed 30 ft. When a paladin that falls from grace dies without seeking atonement, dark powers can transform the once-mortal knight into a hateful undead creature. A death knight is a skeletal warrior clad in fearsome plate armor. Beneath its helmet, one can see the knight's skull with malevolent pinpoints of light burning in its eye sockets. Eldritch Power The death knight retains the ability to cast divine spells. However, no death knight can use its magic to heal. A death knight also attracts and commands lesser undead, although death knights that serve powerful fiends might have fiendish followers instead. Death knights often use warhorse skeletons and nightmares as mounts. Immortal Until Redeemed A death knight can arise anew even after it has been destroyed. Only when it atones for a life of wickedness or finds redemption can it finally escape its undead purgatory and truly perish. Undead Nature A death knight doesn't require air, food, drink, or sleep. Lord Soth Lord Soth began his fall from grace with an act of heroism, saving an elf named Isolde from an ogre. Soth and Isolde fell in love, but Soth was already married. He had a servant dispose of his wife and was charged with murder, but fled with Isolde. When his castle fell under siege, he prayed for guidance and was told that he must atone for his misdeeds by completing a quest, but growing fears about Isolde's fidelity caused him to abandon his quest. Because his mission was not accomplished, a great cataclysm swept the land. When Isolde gave birth to a son, Soth refused to believe that the child was his and slew them both. All were incinerated in a fire that swept through the castle, yet Soth would find no rest in death, becoming a death knight. Undead Medium 30 ft.