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In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Blackguard is a base character class in older versions of the game, and a prestige class as of edition 3.5. A blackguard is the antonym of a paladin, and is an evil warrior who receives a variety of magical powers from binding pacts with Fiends or Evil Gods.
Like the paladin, the blackguard's abilities are tied to his charisma and wisdom scores.
Abilities
Most of a Blackguard's abilities are reversals of Paladin abilities, such as:
- Cause Disease instead of Cure Disease
- Cause Light Wounds instead of Lay on Hands
Undead
He gains the ability to rebuke undead like an evil cleric, rather than turning undead like a paladin. A rebuked undead will be stunned in awe of the blackguard, while a commanded undead will become the Blackguard's servant.
A Blackguard can also make a bolster check to give the undead more strength against a good cleric's turning attempt
Paladins
Blackguards and Paladins are dramatically opposed, but not complete opposites. Many of the abilities of a Blackguard mimic or replace abilities of a Paladin (such as the Fiendish Servant ability, which replaces the Paladin's Special Mount ability), and all Blackguards are required to be any Evil alignment, while Paladin are Lawful Good.
Those Paladins that have turned evil or otherwise broken the Paladin Code of Honor, which includes honesty, fairness (refraining from poison-use), and protection of the weak, are Fallen Paladins and gain bonus abilities if they take the Blackguard prestige class. The more levels a character has as Paladin, the better and higher the bonuses become if they take Blackguard levels. If a lvl 11 Paladin or higher becomes a Blackguard, they may even exchange any Paladin levels for the same amount of Blackguard levels.
D&D Miniatures
The Human Blackguard is a Lawful Evil commander in the Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures Game.
Source of the term
"Blackguard" (usually pronounced "blaggerd", IPA /'blægard/) is a somewhat archaic term for a scoundrel.
"Blackguard"