Author Topic: Sword and Shield: The Knight Handbook-- Discussion  (Read 3545 times)

Offline Balmas

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Sword and Shield: The Knight Handbook-- Discussion
« on: February 24, 2012, 03:21:15 PM »
This is the place to discuss my Knight Handbook.  Please tell me if I've made any errors, or if there are any tricks/feats/classes I've missed.

This is my first handbook, so any critiques are appreciated.
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Offline Garryl

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Re: Sword and Shield: The Knight Handbook-- Discussion
« Reply #1 on: February 24, 2012, 04:45:58 PM »
Dragonborn Water Orc is always bandied about as a good combat race (Water Orc is from Unearthed Arcana and can also be found in the SRD). +4 Str/Con, -2 to everything else. As orcs, they also qualify for Heedless Charge, which doubles damage on a charge at the cost of provoking an AoO from your target. If you're a mounted charger with a lance, your reach means you're less likely to be at risk of provoking that AoO at all (if your opponent can't reach you back), and it's more charging goodness.

Small characters may have a harder time going for the walking BFC route. It's harder for them to get long reach to control a large area (since it's easiest to get it from size), and their ability to trip (one of the main methods of stopping enemy movement) is dramatically impaired (lower Str, -4 size penalty, and you flat-out can't trip anything more than 1 size larger than you).

Under ability scores, Constitution says "Make this your secondary stat, after either Strength or Constitution."

War Mind is a good option for Knights (if you can get the Know(psionics) ranks). 5 levels and the Practiced Manifester feat gives you Sweeping Strike (attack two enemies for the price of one), the Expansion power (with the ML and PP to augment it to +2 sizes and long-term duration), +2 to Str/Con 3/day, +2 AC 3/day, DR 1/-, and a 2nd level power. I'd strongly consider taking the 6th level, too, for a 3rd level power and an extra +1 to all saves, if you don't have anything better to take. The 2nd-level power can even be Prowess (extra AoO as an immediate action), letting you spare some points of Dex to use for Wis to manifest it all.

Offline Balmas

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Re: Sword and Shield: The Knight Handbook-- Discussion
« Reply #2 on: February 25, 2012, 01:13:03 AM »
Thanks!  I'm still working on most of this, so any bit helps.
"Now hold on a second!  Eternal chaos comes with chocolate rain, you guys! Chocolate rain!" ~Pinkie Pie

My Monster Manual lies to me:  it states that a pegasus is white or occasionally brown when everyone knows that pegasi ought to be blue with rainbow stripes.

Offline Balmas

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Re: Sword and Shield: The Knight Handbook-- Discussion
« Reply #3 on: March 23, 2012, 02:19:20 AM »
I've added the Feat Section.  Any spelling errors?  Suggestions for things I might have missed?
"Now hold on a second!  Eternal chaos comes with chocolate rain, you guys! Chocolate rain!" ~Pinkie Pie

My Monster Manual lies to me:  it states that a pegasus is white or occasionally brown when everyone knows that pegasi ought to be blue with rainbow stripes.

Offline Ryu Hayabusa

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Re: Sword and Shield: The Knight Handbook-- Discussion
« Reply #4 on: March 27, 2012, 07:22:37 PM »
I've added the Feat Section.  Any spelling errors?  Suggestions for things I might have missed?

You have a stray [/size] tag above the text. I'd also recommend adding Law Devotion to feats. While you need a dip into a turning class to get the most value out of this feat, if you're stuck being lawful anyway, you may as well take it.

Offline Balmas

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Re: Sword and Shield: The Knight Handbook-- Discussion
« Reply #5 on: May 26, 2012, 01:44:18 AM »
Added classes section
"Now hold on a second!  Eternal chaos comes with chocolate rain, you guys! Chocolate rain!" ~Pinkie Pie

My Monster Manual lies to me:  it states that a pegasus is white or occasionally brown when everyone knows that pegasi ought to be blue with rainbow stripes.

Offline Endarire

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Re: Sword and Shield: The Knight Handbook-- Discussion
« Reply #6 on: June 08, 2012, 04:12:21 AM »
Assuming you can't use Tome of Battle, why even play a Knight?  They have 2 good saves, but Fighters get feats, Barbarians get rage, and Clerics and Druids get similar or better defenses in general.

(I'm really curious about this!)

Offline Jackinthegreen

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Re: Sword and Shield: The Knight Handbook-- Discussion
« Reply #7 on: June 08, 2012, 05:12:56 AM »
Assuming you can't use Tome of Battle, why even play a Knight?  They have 2 good saves, but Fighters get feats, Barbarians get rage, and Clerics and Druids get similar or better defenses in general.

(I'm really curious about this!)

Knights only have Will as their good save, though I can see plenty of DMs saying Fort should also be good for them too.

As for why it would be played, it's kind of flavor. The Knight's Challenge abilities are a cool concept but could have been refined better, especially on what they affect and how powerful the DC is for the save.  Getting Mounted Combat support helps but other classes do it better, including fighters.

Then there's lockdown builds.  Three levels is fantastic here.  Five can help with the Tumblers, but increasing the DC by class level actually doesn't help much.  It starts at 5 and at 5th level is relevant, but as opponents get tougher the tumble check gets easier since an opponent actively increasing that skill will be able to do more than just +1 each level.

If you're really asking why it would be played though, there's probably little that will convince you that it's a good idea to in most games you'd likely play in.  You know it's T5 and thus will likely fall behind in a high-powered game.
« Last Edit: June 08, 2012, 05:17:19 AM by Jackinthegreen »