AMIA ARCHIVE • View topic

If i ever get the chance i was considering making a knight character. Male or female and human (Form atleast). Not to be confused with a paladin, but a knight. I was wondering what builds would be more suitable. Weapons and armour? (I prefer bastard swords myself). And how a knight should/would act. Also if there are any lords for such a knight to follow, or knightly orders.

Last edited by Pony on Tue, Nov 05 2019, 14:27 PM, edited 1 time in total.

Its weird how there are no actual knights whom follow a lord as they would. No man of power who decides he wants knights, a small order. etc. But if thats the way it is then i'd rather not play a knight. The having to stick to a religion and other aspects take away from knighthood really.

Not to mention you have Ba(k)ni(gh)t(e)s who are knights that plunder, pillage, slaughter AND still charge their commoners taxes.

Brighti wrote:

Its weird how there are no actual knights whom follow a lord as they would.

What about Eisnaard?

Brighti wrote:

Its weird how there are no actual knights whom follow a lord as they would. No man of power who decides he wants knights, a small order. etc. But if thats the way it is then i'd rather not play a knight. The having to stick to a religion and other aspects take away from knighthood really.

It all boils down to: Cordor is not Feudal and no one plays a local noble.

Don't forget the Defenders, which I am working to rejuvenate which are becoming less faith based and more serving the city of Kohlingen in its Defense and interests. Closely entwined with the Triadic Knights for the most part too, yet as the latest plot with the Black Caravan demonstrated to some degree, still separate factions

Three words: Purple Dragon Knight.

I don't think a prestige class answers his original question

That said, Purple Dragon Knight, although in my opinion not being very good, is good for the knightly feel

Actually, I think it answers the question exactly. The OP wasn't asking "Are there any Knightly Orders on Amia?"

I'll make the noble if you make the knight.

555444333 wrote:

I'll make the noble if you make the knight.

Sounds good to me. PM any details

There's actually not that many classes who qualify well for a Knight. Paladin is already niched because you are bound to be a goody-two-shoes with little to no deviations from that path. Otherwise you get punched. A Weaponmaster? Booring class for a Knight. The class itself can be roleplayed in interesting ways, but do you want the defining quality of your feudal lord or servant to be that he can hit hard?

From what I've seen, if you want a nice Knightly type without all the stigma and obligations of a Paladin, make a CoT or a Blackguard.

A Blackguard is much more flexible. While it is suggested that you should be in service of an evil deity or an evil outsider, no one says that the Blackguard has to consciously follow the evil path. Take a Knight of a holy order, a Tyrran for example, make him be a hardass with a bit of odd ideas when interrogation and the greater good are involved... make him lay out his utter lawfulness in a way that he will justify questionable actions with a bit of mind-bending, and you're already steering towards a good Blackguard.

Brighti wrote:

Its weird how there are no actual knights whom follow a lord as they would. No man of power who decides he wants knights, a small order. etc. But if thats the way it is then i'd rather not play a knight. The having to stick to a religion and other aspects take away from knighthood really.

Lord Wiltun has knighted a PC who showed exemplary service to him and his interests. The only NPCs I can think of who would make someone in name, at least, a "knight" are Lord Wiltun and Justicar Marinsbane in Kohlingen.

Once upon a time, the Duke might have knighted folks, but Cordor is now a Commonwealth and the title of knight is wrapped up so wholly in gentrification and cruel nobility (rather than the service mentality) that a populist government won't necessary make someone a knight. An industry secretary, perhaps, who exist nominally as servants to the public commonwealth. But not a knight who will go around proclaiming to be better than everyone else for the same reason the fat, rich nobles of West Cordor did: because the person/people in charge like them more than the poor people.

Yossarin said what I was thinking, only in more words. There aren't many feudal communities in the module, or ex-feudal societies who still uphold the institution. Wiltun and Kohlingen, and maybe Ultrinnan, though the flavor and terminology would be different.

I might see it happening in Bendir, though only after some reforms. Winya, too, if monarchy was ever restored.

So what remains is to play foreign lords and knights, either in exile or on a special mission.

Lets keep in mind that there is no definition of what a knight is. Maybe so in Fearun lore, though as amia shows and as mentioned on this forum, there are many knight groups in various forms and for various reasons.

This is very much in keeping with the real life historical view. Medieval knights came in all forms, poor dressed in nothing more then scrap harness and home made protection, to knights of high title with the best of shiny full plate (though more often then not they where painted or oil treated in some way to keep off rust). In some countries being of noble blood was required for the title, in others just being a soulless butcher was good enough as long as the kings command was followed, and in yet others it was possible to get the title by serving as a knights squire for some years and then surviving one or two turns on the battle field, front row. It's different for every culture and every group within that culture.

The only commen theme is that knifes are mainly men at arms in service of someone. Though rogue groups of knights where also commen.

The fighter class qualifies as a knight provided you take a lawful alignment. Knight follow chivalric virtues yes but many knights also abuse their position by heavily taxing the commoners and forcing conscription because they can. Not only do they get their higher lord's quota, they get some profit on the side too.

That being said, knights tend to stick in the rules of their oaths or the laws of their superior Lord. Any other alignment other then lawful won't fit the description.

I think the only alignment odd for a knite would be neutral. They all serve some cause be it at times a vile or selfish one.

Lawful suits more then chaotic. A knight may ride off to war against an enemy city to give freedom to the oppressed but in the end they're still bound by their oaths or the laws of their superior.

Knights take orders, very rarely will you see a knight who doesn't.

Trust me on the following tale. In my real life I'm very much engaged in medieval re-enactment.

European countries where in medieval times often at war. Now it would often happen that one would invade the other and after a while a cease fire would be agreed or the goal of that perticular assault acompliced, which was more often then not just to annoy the hell out of each other for some hurt to some royalties honour.

Now there where many cases that a part of the attacking army would not want to return to it's home country and continued on fighting under the leadership of a ranagade general or so. These knights and soldiers would capture a piece of ground and defend it, asking taxes and such. Often the king of that country in which they had captured some land would make a deal with them. They could lord over it as long as some of the taxes where passed to the crown. Often when the next war started those knights and soldiers would be found this time fighting on the other side.

There also is a well known medieval sayings that go: "Leave honour for the tournament." and "dulce bellum inexpertis" war is only beautiful for the unexperienced, and of course "rather lazy then tired". These are good indications to the mind set. War was war and it was dirty and won and fought in any way possible. The most a knight would really swear and oath to was to obay his commaner/king for as long as the current situation made that most desirable. Knights where by no means stupid and above all very much human.

Rules of honour where mostly left for at the courts and tournament where good display of honour codes could win a knight a sponsor (better gear and a better chance of living on the battle field and more comfy life outside it), or a bride (before mentioned but only better)

One last example I shall give will be the honerable rules of combat upon the battle field as I've learned them from my instructors, who are well versed in medieval history. 1 attack first, don't give you enemy a change to attack. 2 keep on attacking using only master moves (attack defence and attacked roled into one). 3 always keep him on the defensive. 4 kill him quickly and in anyway possible. 4 honerable is the one that survives. (they might vary a bit depending on the source but they all have this commen view in mind)

I know this is Fearun and such and not historical medieval sociaty, but this post would conclude any relevant information I have on knighthood.

Knights were mostly nobles.
But as far as the Law/Chaos debate goes, 'dismount' before a battle was a fairly common order for knights, since a lot of the time they would recklessly charge ahead. And then of course there are knights who have burned down entire towns ....

But all in all in the world of D&D I think they're more of the Lawful bent, since they still needed to be under a lord to actually be a proper 'knight'.

"Knight" as a class in DnD is "any Lawful", I believe. >.>

Which book is that in?
I gave a brief look through mine and could only find different knightly orders, one of which was any nonchaotic and good, another was LG.

Do you have to put in a request for Nobility to the DM team in order to be considered officially as having a "Knighthood" and hence be a "Knight"?

That is one way to do it. The other way to do it is to earn it somehow and be recognized for the service. And the DM is the one who determines whether that has been accomplished or not, not the player.

Yurell wrote:

Which book is that in?
I gave a brief look through mine and could only find different knightly orders, one of which was any nonchaotic and good, another was LG.

Complete Warrior has the Knight Base Class. Pretty cool class, actually.

PHB 2 has the Knight base class I believe, and complete warrior has knight protector, both require lawful alignment, but both are kind of irrelevant on amia.

I say just play a fighter, CoT, blackguard or WM and try and earn the respect of one of the knightly factions already mentioned until you recieve a high title. Most of them have heirarchies similar to knightly orders so you will get your 'knightly' rp fix that way.

Creating a character with some kind of authority or serving some made-up lord off the bat isnt allowed on amia, I believe

.

Well, you could always make a request.

Knight

Who is online