Death Knights according to Veldmere. (WIP)
Nov 11, 2014 18:15:34 GMT -6
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Post by Veldmere on Nov 11, 2014 18:15:34 GMT -6
Death Knights according to Veldmere.
If you've any questions, or conflicting opinions, please pm me in-game on Veldmere or Rijien.
Now to start off, I won’t be going into full detail about every aspect of Death Knights. We all know what they are; Undead melee fighters that wield powerful vampiric or runeforged weapons, complimented by an array of dark magic. I will however go into specifics that I find are often (In my opinion) misunderstood, such as how their weapons work, how much of a personality they can have, what magic they can wield and how they react to pain and/or other sources of damage.
Generations of Death Knights.
There are three generations of Death Knights, un-surprisingly named the First, Second and Third Generation Death Knights.
First Generation.
Notable first generation death Knights:
Teron Gorefiend
Ragnok Bloodreaver
Gaz Soulripper
Second Generation.
Second generation Death Knights are, in my mind, the real predecessor to the Death Knights of Acherus (Third Generation). Unlike the First Generation, they closer resembled actual Knights. They wore armour, wielded weapons and rode upon shadowy steeds.
Second Generation Death Knights, were not raised from the dead however. Almost all Second Generation Death Knights were once Paladins, who for one reason or another, accepted the Lich King’s promise of untold power in return for their unwavering service and loyalty. This is of course a generalization, and some exceptions exist.
The method used to fully corrupt the ‘Paladins’, and the source of this promised power were their blades. All Second Generation Death Knights wielded Vampiric Runeblades; powerful, insidious weapons that slowly corrupted the user by breaking, tearing and draining half of their soul and free will, in return, the blade would ‘drink’ the souls of the slain to bolster the Death Knights power. I’ll touch more on the subject of these weapons later on.
Notable second generation Death Knights:
Arthas Menethil
Baron Rivendare
Lord Alexei Barov
Thessarian
Alexandros Mograine
Third Generation.
Mass produced shock troopers designed for a single purpose; Destroy the Scarlet Enclave at Tyr's Hand and the Argent Dawn at Lights Hope Chapel. After this, the Lich King had no further plans for them, fully expecting them to charge to their true deaths at the hands of the Argent Dawn.
These Death Knights are the ones we play in game, notable by their glowing blue eyes, and runic weaponry. Due to the fact that this generation is a class, it’s restricted by game mechanics and in turn creates a few grey areas as to their lore and abilities etc.
Notable third generation Death Knights:
Deathbringer Saurfang
Trag Highmountain
Death Knights of separate races.
What race you play often denotes a majority of how your Death Knight will react to being what they are and how they would cope. For example, a Human may very well embrace this curse; sure it’s a bummer never being able to truely live again, but hey, power. While a Night Elf would truly despise what they have become, many of the Night Elves of the third generation having met their true deaths after the Lich King’s fall by their own hands.Draenei
Draenei are devout followers of the Light, and embrace life. So becoming a weapon of undeath, something they
abhor with such passion; Draenei have a special kind of self-loathing to contend with. From my understanding,
Draenei would come to three main decisions; Kill themselves outright at the first opportunity, aid in the fight
against the Lich King and then kill themselves, or ‘live’ a ‘life’ of self-loathing in an attempt to somehow better themselves.
Dwarves
Dwarves are one of the easier alliance races to roleplay a Death Knight, as their goals and personal morals are not
quite as singular or narrow as other races. You could of course be a former paladin, or priest and hate what you have
become just like the Night Elves and Draenei, or you could have been a power hungry, blood thirsty beserking warrior
who has embraced his new ‘gift’. There really is very little you could do with a Dwarf Death Knight as far as this is concerned.
Gnomes
Gnomes are a fun one, and honestly one of my favourites. They’re a very logical people, and it’s in their nature to embrace
any advance or advantage opened up to them. This creates a veritable vat of creativity for you to use. Here’s a couple of examples:
You could create a cowardly former engineer who prefers to raise the dead to take hits in battle while he throws bombs and infects
his foes with diseases cackling just out of reach.
Or you could make a hot headed Gnome who’d always wanted to be a warrior but lacked the height and strength in life, but now
in undeath he has an advantage; bolstered with dark magic, he blazes through the battlefield with his runeblade coated in a
sheen or razor ice, on a personal mission to bring his foes down to his height by cleaving through every enemy leg his can find.
Humans
The easiest and most flexible race to roleplay a Death Knight, thanks to their wide, varying personalities and morals.
Again.. the Paladins and Priests would have a problem, they’re always going to have a problem with being awesome.
But Warlocks, or any other class with ambiguous morals would more than likely accept what they become, if not embrace
it fully. Humans are ambitious, so being given another chance; another chance with the added benefit of power thrown
in to be exact, would probably be appreciated.
Night Elves
Night Elves, they’re a tricky lot but not without potential. The vast majority, like Draenei would abhor becoming a
Death Knight and fall into a state of depression. They are after all, all about dat nature. But let’s not forget what
some are willing to do, they are not immune to being morally corrupt or ambiguous, take.. *Cringe* Demon Hunters
for example, or the High Born mages; they were willing to do what they felt was needed for power. I’d go as far as
to say, that some Night Elves, given the chance, would willingly accept becoming a Death Knight if they knew
they would face off against the Scourge; fighting fire with fire, just as the Demon Hunters with the Burning Legion.
However, that situation would have never arose, and that opportunity never given. It does however give you an
insight into how a Night Elf may act once their free will was returned.
Worgen
Worgen Death Knights; an oxymoron in of itself. The truth is, Worgen are only able to be Death Knights because of
Mechanics, in lore they’re immune to all forms of necromancy and plague thanks to their own curse, not to mention
the conflicting timelines. Blizzzard’s official explanation, is that all Worgen Death Knights are infact former servants
of Arugal, and not Gilnean; while this explains the timeline problem, it still fails to bypass the Worgen immunity.
The only way I could explain a Worgen Death Knight is that maybe they are not wholly immune, but just highly
resistant and that the Lich King deemed them with the extra effort the raise.
As for how they would take becoming a Death Knight? I’d guess they’d take it fairly well, having been under
Arugal’s thumb for so long; tortured and experimented on, being someone else’s ‘more’ powerful servant and then
later becoming free would be somewhat preferable, no?
Pandaren
No. The Timeline doesn’t allow it, and neither do the Mechanics. Don’t even try.. please.
Death Knight capabilities.
Death Knights, as we know, are OP; both in lore and in game. They're incredibly powerful and nigh impossible to kill. But, and I can't stress this enough, there are restrictions to what they can do. As a third generation, you'd have command over Blood, Frost and Unholy magic runes.
Blood runes also offer the wielder a limited form of control over blood (Or Ichor) itself, an example would be the ability to boil the blood in their opponents veins during combat, or to stop a wound from bleeding out (Though this would be sorely limited on anyone but themselves).
Death Knights that specialize in frost runes and magic tend to be more offensive than defensive, despite their armour enhancing abilities. You'd do well to avoid facing one in combat, but in a pinch; a few (and by few, I mean many) firm well placed hits could incapacitate them.
An Unholy Death Knight would be more akin to a Necromancer; standing behind a wall of raised corpses to protect and fight for, or alongside them, all while inflicting debilitating diseases ,summoning plagues and infecting wounds. A truly horrifying adversary.
Blood.
My personal favourite, and Veldmere's too. Blood runes allow the wielder to convert their opponents pain into both a weapon and a form of self healing, making them a veritable tank of pain; needing to either dish out the same amount of punishment they receive or preferably exceed it to keep fighting. This allows them to become an unstoppable force if they manage it. Blood runes also offer the wielder a limited form of control over blood (Or Ichor) itself, an example would be the ability to boil the blood in their opponents veins during combat, or to stop a wound from bleeding out (Though this would be sorely limited on anyone but themselves).
Frost.
Frost runes are primarily used to enhance the Death Knight's weapon or armour, slow down opponents or simply used as an additional offence. Forexample, a Death Knight could cover his or her blade in a thin coating of razor ice to give it an unnaturally sharp cutting edge.Unholy.
Unholy's where most people make mistakes. -All- unholy magic requires the presence of death. Weaker spells such as a death coil can be fueled by the Death Knight's presence alone, but to heal their wounds a Death Knight would need to be among the freshly dead corpses of allies or foes. Unholy magic also allows the Death Knight to raise the dead, using the targeted corpse as it's own fuel source.An Unholy Death Knight would be more akin to a Necromancer; standing behind a wall of raised corpses to protect and fight for, or alongside them, all while inflicting debilitating diseases ,summoning plagues and infecting wounds. A truly horrifying adversary.
Healing Magic and You.
A common query when playing a Death Knight; "If I'm undead, how does healing magic work on me, if at all?". The short answer is Yes, all healing magic can and do work on Death Knights, but not free of cost.
Holy magic is by far the most problematic, the bane of all things undead. Picture if you will a scene;
A group of five heroes stepping into dungeon. Three DPS, a Death Knight Tank and a Priest Healer. Each and every time the Death Knight requires the aid of the Priest, and the Priest casts a healing spell on said Death Knight. The spell will work, but by attempting to bring dead flesh to life; fusing and 'stitching' wounds together. Unfortunately, the Death Knight itself, being what he is; involuntarily resists, rejects and fends off any and all holy magic. The result is a painful but effective one. Bathed in holy fire, your wounds effectively being cauterized, sealed and burned by a searing bright heat in the midst of battle.
The same goes for the natural healing magic of the Druids, the spiritual healing magic of the Shamans, and the Chi healing magic of the Monks; all go against what a Death Knight is. Dead.
So next time you stand behind a Death Knight, offering him nothing but snarls of bitter disdain and hate while he's tanking for you. Just remember their sacrifice, the immense pain; 10 fold that of whatever the enemy can dish out, just to keep your scrawny, breathing arse alive.
Holy magic is by far the most problematic, the bane of all things undead. Picture if you will a scene;
A group of five heroes stepping into dungeon. Three DPS, a Death Knight Tank and a Priest Healer. Each and every time the Death Knight requires the aid of the Priest, and the Priest casts a healing spell on said Death Knight. The spell will work, but by attempting to bring dead flesh to life; fusing and 'stitching' wounds together. Unfortunately, the Death Knight itself, being what he is; involuntarily resists, rejects and fends off any and all holy magic. The result is a painful but effective one. Bathed in holy fire, your wounds effectively being cauterized, sealed and burned by a searing bright heat in the midst of battle.
The same goes for the natural healing magic of the Druids, the spiritual healing magic of the Shamans, and the Chi healing magic of the Monks; all go against what a Death Knight is. Dead.
So next time you stand behind a Death Knight, offering him nothing but snarls of bitter disdain and hate while he's tanking for you. Just remember their sacrifice, the immense pain; 10 fold that of whatever the enemy can dish out, just to keep your scrawny, breathing arse alive.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Your weapon.
There are two types of iconic Death Knight weapon, the Runeblade and the Vampiric Runeblade. While the vast majority of third Generation Death Knights wield Runeblades, a Vampiric Runeblade among their ranks is not unheared of.
First of all, Runeblades. These deadly blades can come from the most humble of beginnings, or the most impressive of forges. It isn't until the Deathknight brands the blade with runes, that it becomes what it was destined to be. In theory, a Death Knight can take any functional weapon and turn it into a Runeblade; using only a runeforge and their own innate abilities.
A Runeblade; while not the source of a Death Knights power, is directly needed for them to channel it. Without one, a Death Knight would simply be a 'Zombie Warrior', and let's be honest.. that doesn't quite have the same ring to it.
Now onto the Vampiric Runeblades (My favourite). These blades are empathetic and arguably sentient, capable of granting power in return for a portion of the wielder's soul. They are either given to a willing host who is in turn, corrupted by the blade and turned into a Death Knight, or more frighteningly they can use their empathetic powers to manipulate it's next owner into wielding it or simply manipulating anyone into taking it somewhere a more willing, worthy soul resides.
Once in the hands of their new master, the blade promotes feelings of hate, anger and possession, while discouraging feelings of love, kindness and selflessness.
There are two types of iconic Death Knight weapon, the Runeblade and the Vampiric Runeblade. While the vast majority of third Generation Death Knights wield Runeblades, a Vampiric Runeblade among their ranks is not unheared of.
First of all, Runeblades. These deadly blades can come from the most humble of beginnings, or the most impressive of forges. It isn't until the Deathknight brands the blade with runes, that it becomes what it was destined to be. In theory, a Death Knight can take any functional weapon and turn it into a Runeblade; using only a runeforge and their own innate abilities.
A Runeblade; while not the source of a Death Knights power, is directly needed for them to channel it. Without one, a Death Knight would simply be a 'Zombie Warrior', and let's be honest.. that doesn't quite have the same ring to it.
Now onto the Vampiric Runeblades (My favourite). These blades are empathetic and arguably sentient, capable of granting power in return for a portion of the wielder's soul. They are either given to a willing host who is in turn, corrupted by the blade and turned into a Death Knight, or more frighteningly they can use their empathetic powers to manipulate it's next owner into wielding it or simply manipulating anyone into taking it somewhere a more willing, worthy soul resides.
Once in the hands of their new master, the blade promotes feelings of hate, anger and possession, while discouraging feelings of love, kindness and selflessness.