Blackguard Doom Knight

[RedGiant]

I think this is widely noted, but for an Epic Summons, Doom Knight needs a little love.

While thematically its perfection, the stats just don't back it up, and I find it dying even faster than my trusty old voidwraith (DmKngt has a lower base AC and no Concealment).

The artificially low Attacks Per Round issue seems to top this list of ills. however. What knight gets two attacks per round? While this seems to be a general theme of the undead update, BGs only ever get one summons, so there is no swarming potential of the Pale Master to make up for this.

[Seekeepeek]

http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Blackguard
Used by: Those who have made peaceful contact with an evil outsider.
ability gained by training:
Command Undead
When a blackguard becomes a bit more experienced, he gains the supernatural ability to command and rebuke undead.

conclusion:
The outsider contract is the main component in a blackguard and is supported by nwn's epic feat called Epic Fiendish Servant. i see no reason for the undead to be anything but a placeholder to you can resummon the outsider. A job it does fairly well, if you ask me.

as a side note, the undead isn't a epic summon as it don't get epic spell caster bonus like the outsider does.

[Baron Saturday]

I feel the frustration on this. The Doom Knight, on paper at least (as I haven't tried it yet) looks super disappointing. It is worse, in almost all ways, than the tier 5 fiend summon that a blackguard can get as early as level 15. That's 6 levels earlier than the Doom Knight can be acquired. Even worse is the fact that there's nothing you can really invest to make it better, aside from SF/GSF Necromancy if you cross-class to bard or something? And even then you'd be better off with SF/GSF Conjuration.

Honestly, I just find the summon progression strange. Blackguards get their first (T3) fiend at 5, T4 at 7, and T5 at 9. Compare the T3 summon to the T5 - that is a huge jump in power in just 4 levels. Meanwhile you're getting the T1 undead at 3, T2 at 7, and T3 at 11.

Undead at 3/6/9 and fiends at 4/8/12 seems like a much smoother power progression.

[RedGiant]

Doom Knight isn't all bad...it has...for a summons...good AB and borderline great STR/base damage. The lesser fear aura is also very occasionally useful against low-will foes (of which there are few at epic lvls). If it had anything near the attacks per round a warrior should, I think it would fill its niche well. I wouldn't mind seeing an improved crit feat in there as well.

To Seekee's concerns, by epic summons I did not mean subject to the epic caster bonus, only that you physically do not get the summons until lvl 21. There is no way the BG undead stream ever really competes with the fiends, even if you did boost the DmKnght as proposed.

Unadjusted, I would also concur with the Baron's recommendation. The Glabrezu/Nycaloth/Gelugon so ridiculously out class the DmKngt, the progression just seems off.

[Peppermint]

I might give the doom knight a bit of love at some point, but it's not supposed to compete with the fiendish summons. Not even close.

It's a placeholder. Fiends are the brunt of the BG's power.

[Iceborn]

I can see the doom knight being used as a substitute when the fiends are down.

Why not make it like the shadow illusions? Annoying swarm of crippling copies that are extremely hard to actually kill.

[Cortex]

BGs are pretty good right now. Anything added to their kit is needless power creep.

[RedGiant]

I agree BGs are in a good place. I only brought this up because the Doom Knight literally dies faster than the void wraith. I don't think making the top-tier undead summons "not suck" will greatly affect their status, since as all have noted, their strengths lie elsewhere.

[Dragonovith]

What if you could spawn 2 Doom Knights instead of just 1? Or, if this raises balance issues, perhaps you could unlock the second spawn later, maybe two levels later after unlocking it (doom knights unlock at lvl 11, the second one would unlock at lvl 13)?

[Baron Saturday]

BGs are pretty good right now. Anything added to their kit is needless power creep.

They just have this really strange, rapid jump in power between levels 5 and 9 that feels like it could be spread out a bit? If the fiend tiers were gained at 4/8/12, and then epic at 16, that makes a nice linear progression. And given the weaker nature of the undead summons, it feels appropriate to get them a little earlier to compensate for the slower improvement of the fiend summons.