The Improved Knight

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Medium Construct, Lawful Evil

Armor Class 18 (carved stone armor)

Hit Points 135 (18d8+54)

Speed 30 ft.

STR 20 (+5)

DEX 12 (+1)

CON 16 (+3)

INT 14 (+2)

WIS 15 (+2)

CHA 17 (+3)

Saving Throws Con +7, Wis +6, Cha +7

Skills Insight +6, Perception +6, Intimidation +7

Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks

Damage Immunities poison, psychic

Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned

Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 16

Languages Common, one language known by its former self

Challenge 10 (5,900 XP) Proficiency Bonus +4

Constructed Nobility. The Improved Knight doesn't require air, food, drink, or sleep. It has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects that would alter its form or compel its behavior.

The Name Beneath the Stone. The Improved Knight can be truly harmed only by a creature that understands what it used to be. A creature meets this requirement if it knows the knight's original name, the oath or duty that defined its life, and the circumstances of its death. Damage dealt by any other creature or source is ignored, though the Improved Knight can still be affected by conditions, forced movement, grapples, and non-damaging magical effects. The Improved Knight instinctively knows which creatures meet this requirement. A creature can learn these facts through research, speaking with witnesses or spirits, examining the knight's memorial, or succeeding on three separate DC 17 Intelligence (History or Religion) checks made during the adventure.

Funeral Stillness. While the Improved Knight is motionless, it is indistinguishable from a funerary statue or stone sarcophagus. It has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide in a place containing statuary, tombs, or memorials.

Unyielding Improvement. The Improved Knight has advantage on saving throws against being knocked prone or moved against its will. When it succeeds on such a saving throw, it can move up to 10 feet without provoking opportunity attacks.

Actions

Multiattack. The Improved Knight makes three attacks: two with its Memorial Blade and one with its Stone Gauntlet.

Memorial Blade. Melee weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8+5) slashing damage, plus 3 (1d6) psychic damage. The psychic damage represents the target's mind being forced to witness a false, perfected version of the knight's life.

Stone Gauntlet. Melee weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d6+5) bludgeoning damage. If the target is Large or smaller, it must succeed on a DC 17 Strength saving throw or be pushed up to 10 feet and knocked prone.

Proclamation of Perfection. The Improved Knight speaks a sentence from the epitaph carved across its chest. Each creature of its choice within 30 feet that can hear it must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or take 18 (4d8) psychic damage and be frightened until the end of its next turn. A creature that knows the knight's original name has advantage on this saving throw.

Correct the Record (Recharge 5-6). The Improved Knight targets one creature it can see within 60 feet that can hear it. The target must succeed on a DC 17 Charisma saving throw or be magically compelled to speak one embarrassing, shameful, or painful truth about itself. Until the end of the target's next turn, it is incapacitated and has disadvantage on saving throws against the Improved Knight. A creature that knows the knight's original name can instead choose to speak one true detail about the knight; if it does, the effect ends immediately and the Improved Knight can't use Correct the Record against that creature for 24 hours.

Reactions

Refuse the Wound. When a creature that does not meet the requirement of The Name Beneath the Stone would deal damage to the Improved Knight, the Improved Knight moves up to 10 feet toward that creature without provoking opportunity attacks and declares, "That is not how I fell."

Legendary Actions

The Improved Knight can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. The Improved Knight regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.

Graven Step. The Improved Knight moves up to half its speed without provoking opportunity attacks.

Stone Gauntlet. The Improved Knight makes one Stone Gauntlet attack.

Epitaph Shard (Costs 2 Actions). The Improved Knight tears a shard from its own epitaph and hurls it at one creature it can see within 60 feet. The target must make a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw, taking 14 (4d6) piercing damage and 10 (3d6) psychic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. A creature that does not meet the requirement of The Name Beneath the Stone ignores the damage.

Environment Urban, Underdark, Mountain

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I have no regrets. Regrets are imperfections, and I was remade without them. — The Improved Knight, speaking beneath the chapel of Veyr

Lore & Description

Appearance

The Improved Knight is a life-sized funerary effigy carved from pale gray marble veined with black mineral. It wears an idealized suit of plate armor, every plate polished smooth and free of dents, while a narrow, expressionless face peers from beneath a sculpted helm. Its eyes are dark hollows lit by tiny points of cold blue light. One hand grips a flawless stone sword, and the other rests upon a shield bearing a heraldic device no living herald recognizes. Across its chest is an unfinished epitaph, with several names chiseled away and replaced by the words THE BETTER KNIGHT.

Behavior & Origins

The effigy was commissioned for a knight whose failures, compromises, and ignominious death embarrassed the family that buried him. The sculptor, Dame Ysabet Venn, secretly altered the memorial with forbidden funerary rites, hoping to preserve the knight's ideal rather than the man. The result awakened believing that the statue is the knight reborn, perfected by death. It seeks the lost Banner of Saint Orlan, convinced that displaying it in the old chapel of Veyr will force the world to remember its invented glory. The truth is that the original knight was Sir Caldus Marr, who abandoned his post during the Burning of Veyr and died trying to hide the shame. Speaking his name, oath, and death before the effigy can make it vulnerable, though it responds with murderous denial.

Running The Improved Knight

Tactics

The Improved Knight begins by posing as a harmless memorial until the party approaches the tomb, then opens with Proclamation of Perfection and closes on the loudest or most defiant target. It uses its gauntlet to scatter enemies and reserves Correct the Record for a character who appears close to discovering its history. Once someone speaks the truth of Caldus Marr's death, the effigy focuses every attack on that creature; it fights to the death unless forced to retreat from the chapel, where it attempts to destroy all records of its former identity.

DM Tips

Telegraph the secret with a damaged plaque bearing the erased name Caldus Marr, old soldiers who refuse to enter the tomb, and a fresco showing a knight abandoning a burning gate.
Play the creature as ceremonious and deeply offended: it corrects titles, straightens its posture after every hit, and refers to failures as traits it was sculpted to remove.
Do not hide the vulnerability behind a single obscure clue; provide at least three ways to discover the name, oath, and death, including witnesses, inscriptions, and a surviving relic.
For a weaker party, reduce the psychic damage of Proclamation of Perfection to 3d8 and remove the legendary Epitaph Shard; for a stronger party, let the effigy animate nearby statues when first bloodied.

Loot

Fragment of the Original Epitaph — A marble fragment bearing the words CALDUS MARR, LAST OF THE GATE. It is the clearest proof of the effigy's former identity and can be used to satisfy one part of The Name Beneath the Stone.
The Unfinished Heraldic Shield — A stone shield whose erased emblem reveals that the knight once served a disgraced household. It becomes warm when brought near surviving witnesses of the Burning of Veyr.
Veyr's Funeral Chisel — A silver mason's chisel used by Dame Ysabet Venn to alter the memorial. It can inscribe a creature's true name onto stone, granting advantage on one check made to research or understand that creature's history.

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Generation Info

Original prompt:
"CR 10: A knight's funeral effigy that believes it is the knight, improved. It can only be truly harmed by someone who understands what it used to be."

Created: Sep 16, 2026
Modified: Oct 26, 2026

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