Knight (Dungeons & Dragons)
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In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the Knight is a character class introduced in the Player's Handbook II supplement. Like a Fighter, the knight is a dedicated melee combatant that is based around protecting other characters, taking damage, and distracting enemies.
The knight is also bound to a specific code of conduct, much like the Paladin. They must remain lawful and ever aware of how their actions reflect on their code.
Knights make use of a number of ability scores that are thought to be essential for the proper application of a knight class. These are:
- Strength: Important as the knight is a melee character only.
- Constitution: Knights should have a high constitution because they are often in the thick of battle.
- Charisma: A high charisma score helps benefit certain abilities that the knight has.
No published race currently uses the knight as a favored class.
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[edit] Features of the Class
The knight class enjoys a number of features that help it dominate the battlefield. It is a melee-only class and can focus all of its energies into protecting allies while denying enemies tactical advantages. To accomplish this, the primary class ability gained by the knight is the Knight's Challenge. This feature allows the knight to perform a number of special tasks, from boosting the morale of the knight's allies to striking fear into the hearts of weak opponents. As knights gains in experience, they can issue more challenges of this type per day. The Knight's Challenge ability is the subject of a certain amount of controversy, as it seems to mimic MMORPGs in the ability to directly force an enemy to fight them, as an alternative to the standard attack of opportunity rules.
Knights also gains mastery over the armor that they don. While most armors are cumbersome and limit the mobility of the character wearing them, those knights of suitable experience have learned to shrug off the penalty and can move around at their full speed. This, coupled with the ability to stand strong against their enemies and taking blows for their allies give the knight a commanding presence across the field.
Similar to the fighter, the knight gains bonus feats although the rate of their gain is negligible compared to the fighter. The knight also must choose these feats from a list and still must meet all the prerequisites for the feat chosen.
[edit] The Code of the Knight
Much like the paladin, the knight has a type of code of conduct. Known as the Knight's Code, this code ensures that the knight rigidly adheres to the code, fighting not only to defeat the knight's foes but to focus on fair play. This notion has caused some derision by players because it prevents the knight from partaking in such standard battlefield tactics as flanking, taking advantage of a flat-footed opponent, or attacking helpless foes with the intention to kill them.
Knights who perform any of these actions loses the opportunity to use one of their knight's challenge attempts for that day. If they had already used their allotment of challenges, the knight instead takes penalties for the day on such things as attacking and saving themselves from harm.
[edit] Ex Knights
When knights move from a lawful alignment to a neutral or chaotic one, they loses the ability to use their knight's challenge and, thusly, all the features that require an expenditure of this ability. However, the knight no longer takes penalties for using barred tactics.
