The Soul Knight draws mechanical influence from the Fighter, Paladin, and Warlock classes to create a more classic dark knight type of feeling. The Unliving Abomination feature borrows from vampirism and warforged mechanics to represent the character as an unstable undead life form.

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The Vampiric Strike feature fills the place of the Fighter’s “Second Wind” and the Paladin’s “Smite” abilities in the Soul Knight’s design. On average, the combined damage/healing provided by the ability should be about equal to the advantage provided by the former skills to their respective classes.

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Fighting Styles and the Extra Attack feature come standard for all martial primary classes (Barbarians, Bards, Fighters, Monks, Paladins, and Rangers). The Fighting Style example presented in my class provides no more additional AC than the Armored fighting style that already exists, but also allows 2 handed weapon users to make use of shield related feats and features. This benefit is appropriately narrow enough to avoid fully displacing the armored style while supporting a specific build type using existing material.