Knight Haunt

A knight haunt is an empty, hovering suit of armor from an honor-bound knightly order, always holding a weapon. If more than 100 knights of the order died in the battle where it fell, it also rides a floating suit of horse barding. Armor and weapon are always polished and flawless, and a faint golden haze inside traces the shape of the knight who once wore them.

The knight's fighting spirit survives intact. It judges every clash by its order's code and chooses to fight or pull back just as a living knight would. It senses its foes' alignments and always strikes evil and chaotic enemies first; it never attacks members of its own order, though it defends itself against them and retires in good order. Sleep, charm, hold, paralyzation, cold and every kind of mind-control spell fail against it.

It can feel magic within 50 feet, which lets it gather enchanted weapons from the battlefield for its own use and, when choosing between two evil foes, go after the one carrying more magic.

Anyone meeting a knight haunt must make a horror check on first sight: roll 1d20, and a result equal to or under the character's Wisdom plus experience level means no effect. On a failure the character takes -4 on every die roll until the battle ends. Every character checks again each time the haunt kills someone.

To end it for good, destroy the haunt and then douse the empty armor with holy water. Otherwise it returns, fully restored, at the silver moon's next full phase.

When an exceptionally lawful good knight of the order with Wisdom 17 or more dies in battle, there is a 5% chance a knight haunt forms, rising at the next full phase of the silver moon. If its armor has been carried off, its spirit can teleport it home to the battlefield; if the armor was destroyed, the same power makes an exact copy. Several haunts on one battlefield band into military units and guard one another.

Each full silver moon the haunt rises and patrols several miles around the battlefield looking for a fight, attacking any intelligent creature it meets. It will not fight the defenseless, the unarmed, or people protecting their homes, and it avoids fighting women when other foes are available. Young knights of the order often hunt these spirits; quietly, laying one to rest and then wearing its armor is considered very lucky.