The Lantern at the Edge of the Blade
A sworn blade who distrusts easy purity carries measured magic into the dark, determined to defend the innocent without becoming the thing they fight.
Spellbook · Dark Knight · Level 20
The Lantern at the Edge of the Blade
A sworn blade who distrusts easy purity carries measured magic into the dark, determined to defend the innocent without becoming the thing they fight.
Ex librisSer Kael VeyrDark Knight spellcasting, a disciplined half-caster tradition
At a glance
Level
20
Dark Knight
Spells
12
3 cantrips, 4 signature
At the table
A margin note
Plot hook
Spells
12 spellsCantrips
3- Make a melee spell attack using the spellcasting ability with a weapon used in the spell’s casting; on a hit, the attack deals the weapon’s normal damage and Radiant damage instead of its normal damage type, and gains extra Radiant damage as the cantrip scales.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- One creature within the weapon’s reach
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- Melee spell attack
- Damage
- Radiant
- Higher levels
- Damage increases at character levels 5, 11, and 17.
- Source
- Player’s Handbook (2024)
- You ward yourself against harm; until the start of your next turn, bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage dealt to you by attack rolls is reduced by .
- Duration
- Until the start of your next turn
- Target
- Self
- Components
- V, S
- Higher levels
- No scaling.
- Source
- Player’s Handbook (2024)
- Touch one willing creature. Once before the spell ends, it can roll and add the number to one ability check of its choice. The spell then ends.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- One willing creature
- Components
- V, S
- Higher levels
- The die increases when you reach character levels 5, 11, and 17.
- Source
- Player’s Handbook (2024)
1st level
3- Until the spell ends, your attacks with weapons deal an extra Radiant damage on a hit.
- Duration
- Concentration, up to 1 minute
- Target
- Self
- Components
- V, S
- Damage
- Radiant per weapon hit
- Higher levels
- No higher-level effect.
- Source
- Player’s Handbook (2024)
- The next time you hit a creature with a melee weapon or an Unarmed Strike during the spell’s duration, the attack deals extra Psychic damage and the target makes a Wisdom saving throw or has the Frightened condition until the spell ends.
- Duration
- Concentration, up to 1 minute
- Target
- The creature hit by your next melee weapon attack or Unarmed Strike
- Components
- V
- Save or attack
- The target makes a Wisdom saving throw after the triggering hit.
- Damage
- Psychic, plus the triggering attack’s normal damage
- Higher levels
- The extra Psychic damage increases by for each slot level above 1st.
- Conditions
- Frightened
- Source
- Player’s Handbook (2024)
- Speak a one-word command to a creature you can see within range. On a failed save, it follows the command on its next turn; the spell has no effect if the target is Undead, doesn’t understand your language, or the command is directly harmful to it.
- Duration
- 1 round
- Target
- One creature you can see within range
- Components
- V
- Save or attack
- Wisdom saving throw
- Higher levels
- You can target one additional creature for each slot level above 1st.
- Conditions
- Deafened
- Source
- Player’s Handbook (2024)
2nd level
1- Choose up to three creatures within range. Each target’s Hit Point maximum and current Hit Points increase by 5 for the duration.
- Duration
- 8 hours
- Target
- Up to three creatures within range
- Components
- V, S, M (a tiny strip of white cloth)
- Higher levels
- Each slot level above 2nd increases the current and maximum Hit Points of each target by 5.
- Source
- Player’s Handbook (2024)
3rd level
1- Touch a creature that has died within the last minute. It returns to life with 1 Hit Point; the spell can’t restore missing body parts.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- One dead creature touched
- Components
- V, S, M (diamonds worth 300+ GP, which the spell consumes)
- Higher levels
- No higher-level effect.
- Source
- Player’s Handbook (2024)
4th level
2- Touch a creature and grant it protection against death. The first time during the duration that the target would drop to 0 Hit Points without being killed outright, it instead drops to 1 Hit Point, and the spell ends. The spell also ends if the target is subjected to an effect that would kill it instantly without dealing damage.
- Duration
- 8 hours
- Target
- One creature touched
- Components
- V, S
- Higher levels
- No higher-level effect.
- Source
- Player’s Handbook (2024)
- The next time you hit a creature with a melee weapon or an Unarmed Strike during the spell’s duration, the attack deals extra Psychic damage and the target makes a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, it has the Incapacitated condition until the end of its next turn.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- The creature hit by your next melee weapon attack or Unarmed Strike
- Components
- V
- Save or attack
- The target makes a Wisdom saving throw after the triggering hit.
- Damage
- Psychic, plus the triggering attack’s normal damage
- Higher levels
- The extra Psychic damage increases by for each slot level above 4th.
- Conditions
- Incapacitated
- Source
- Player’s Handbook (2024)
5th level
2- You strike the ground, unleashing a wave of destructive energy. Each creature of your choice within 30 feet takes Thunder damage and either Radiant or Necrotic damage, and falls Prone on a failed save. On a successful save, it takes half damage only.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- Each creature of your choice within 30 feet
- Components
- V
- Save or attack
- Each creature of your choice within 30 feet makes a Constitution saving throw; half damage on a success.
- Damage
- Thunder and Radiant or Necrotic
- Higher levels
- No higher-level effect.
- Conditions
- Prone
- Source
- Player’s Handbook (2024)
- The next time you hit a creature with a weapon attack during the spell’s duration, the attack deals extra Force damage. If the attack leaves the target with 50 Hit Points or fewer, it makes a Charisma saving throw; on a failure, it is banished to a harmless demiplane for the spell’s duration, returning when the spell ends or if the spell ends early.
- Duration
- Concentration, up to 1 minute
- Target
- The creature hit by your next weapon attack
- Components
- V
- Save or attack
- The target makes a Charisma saving throw after the triggering hit if the attack reduces it to 50 Hit Points or fewer.
- Damage
- Force, plus the triggering attack’s normal damage
- Higher levels
- The extra Force damage increases by for each slot level above 5th.
- Conditions
- Banished
- Source
- Player’s Handbook (2024)
In the margins
3 notes
DiaryDo not mistake restraint for hesitation. The blade is sheathed because I choose the moment.
WarningMark the threatened ally first; a perfect strike cannot mend a broken line.
FormulaThe lantern’s shadow points toward the next danger, not away from it.
The book itself
A disciplined blade at the edge of the light.
Silver ink marks the line between necessary force and cruelty.
The crossed-lantern mark is both a personal emblem and the knight’s spellcasting focus.
The caster
Dark Knight spellcasting, a disciplined half-caster traditionSer Kael Veyr
Studies: Measured warding and close-combat smitesManner: Quiet, formal, and watchful; offers mercy plainly, but does not confuse mercy with surrender.Focus: A weapon, shield, or emblem bearing the knight’s crossed-lantern personal mark; this codex records the rites but is not itself a substitute focus.Quirk: Before drawing steel, he touches two fingers to the lantern mark and counts one silent breath.Wants: Find the source of a spreading shadow-blight before it reaches the settlements he once failed to protect.Once a patrol captain on the frontier, Ser Kael Veyr survived the fall of his company and rebuilt his vows around the people left undefended. He learned to use disciplined, limited magic as an extension of the guard rather than a replacement for it.
The book
A blackened steel-bound field codex, its charcoal pages ruled in silver and stitched with a strip of the owner’s old white cloak. A narrow blade-shaped clasp bears a personal mark: a lantern crossed by a sword. The edges are worn smooth where a gauntleted thumb turns to the next spell.
Its wards · GM only
About the book
FormatSteel-clasped field codex
ThemeA disciplined blade at the edge of the light.
Written by aDark Knight
Caster level20
SystemDungeons & Dragons 5th Edition (2024)
Plot hooks
1The crossed-lantern emblem is recognized by a ruined order whose last surviving members accuse the knight of abandoning them.
2A page bearing the original oath has been cut from the codex; its return could expose whether the knight’s vows were freely made.
3A village protected by the knight’s old patrol route is now haunted by a presence that answers only to the codex’s wards.
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