Cavalier's Handbook

[JoeGKushner]

Between mega-adventures like the World’s Largest Dungeon and massive campaign settings like the Player’s Guide to Arcanis, it’s nice to break into an all purpose smaller sourcebook like the Cavalier’s Handbook. Written by Robert J. Schwalb, this book updates an old classic that was first introduced in the 1st edition Unearthed Arcana, the Cavalier.

Like the old version, this one is a strong contestant on the field of battle with a robust 1d12 hit die, two good saving throws (Fort and Will), and special abilities that tie into their martial supremacy. For example, they gain bonus feats, as well as weapon excellent. The bonus feats are similar to a monk or rangers in that they come from a narrow field and provide for either a mounted warrior or a dangerous footman. Weapon excellence gives the character a +1 bonus to use one weapon when mounted. They gain weapon excellence several times and may stack it on the same weapon or select another weapon. If they have a +2 or higher bonus, they gain a bonus on foot equal to their bonus –1. So if they had a +3 with the long sword, on foot it would be +2.

They also have something of the noble in them. They gain a lot of starting wealth, have a eye for identifying the worth of weapons and armor, and the leadership feat as a bonus at 6th level. Add this to their bonus to Diplomacy and Sense Motive rolls and you have a warrior who’s at home either on the battlefield or the courtyard.

Rules for Epic characters are provided, in addition to a starting package and several sample NPC cavaliers for low, mid and high level including the warhorse and squire appropriate to that level. Another nice little touch was the cavalier as a class for d20 Modern. Seeing as how you could get into it at about 6th level, this is probably an advanced class as opposed to a PrC.

Now one thing I noticed as I read were references to other Green Ronin books. These weren’t demands that you have the book, for instance providing a PrC that can only use a certain type of mount not found in this book, but rather, ideas on how to combine this with other books in your library.

Now unlike some other Masterclass books where there were either no PrCs or very limited ones (I’m looking at you Avatar and Assassin’s Handbook), this one has a nice selection including Holy Crusader, Knight of Charity, Knight of Infamy, Knight of Quality, Knight of Renown, and Sister of the Sidhe. For those who want it, many of them include rules for epic advancement. Included were mid and high level versions of the PrCs, which I found a little wasteful. I don’t think one example character is pushing it, but two certainly is.

As a DM, of course one of my favorites is the Knight of Infamy, a strange combination of rogue-knight who has Hide and Move Silently as Class Skills and can use Poison. It looks like the table has an error though as it looks like the Holy Crusader’s Table so read the abilities as opposed to trying to follow the table. The bad news though, is that does that include the BAB or just special abilities? Seeing as how the BAB and saves are different, I’d imagine it’s just the special abilities. Another good one is the Knight of Quality as they are the ‘quintessential knight’, a PrC that gains chivalry points that can be pooled and spent to gain bonuses for the various tenets of chivalry.

For those looking for more crunch, there are forty new feats here. Some of these are perfect for the mounted warrior like Agile Rider where you get a +2 dodge bonus against a single enemy. For those worried about their mount, you can divide the bonus between yourself and the mount. Some might be out of place like Heirloom. This is an item that increases as you gain levels. I don’t have a problem with that by it, but as we have products dedicated to showing how weapons can advance and classes needed to do that via Artifacts of the Ancients, I don’t think that a single feat should allow up to a +5 weapon. Several of the feats tie into rules that come into play further down the road like Knightly Order where your order’s strength gains a bonus to its rating.

For those who miss the old social class, once again I think from 1st edition Unearthed Arcana, rejoice for it has returned. The list here includes all the core classes and races, plus the Green Ronin Master Classes and the Psion and Psychic Warrior. Classes can be broken up from Destitute to Royalty and have a few tiers in them. This includes an effect on your starting funds, as well as rolls on history tables.

Another blast from the past is the rules for novice classes. It breaks down the various classes in the core rulebook and provides different stages, A-C, with 1st level as the end result. This allows your cavalier to have retainers who aren’t as powerful as standard classes, but I can’t help but imagine a starting campaign with new fledgling characters not even 1st level.

Another useful tool are the templates for retainers. See, the book doesn’t really like having PC class levels for the characters and relies on the NPC classes. The templates help customize the retainers without making them full-fledged PC classes.

Now part of being a mounted warrior is well, the mount. The section on steeds covers various classes of steed from poor to superior and includes new creatures like the lion like Belleo or the dangerous Lich Steed. It’s a nice section and can provide mounts not only for the cavalier, but also for those rare and exotic parts of the campaign. The Belleo for example, would fit perfect in a Nyambe campaign.

For those looking for something a little more martial, Chapter Five, the Armory has you covered. This includes new armor and arms and new properties for both as well as specific weapons. Take the Armor of the Green Knight, +3 full plate with DR 5/magic that leaves no footprints or scent or the dreaded Deeprazor, a +3 vorpal wounding longsword that deals Constitution damage on a critical hit if the target isn’t decapitated as a result of a confirmed critical roll of 20.

More supplemental rules cover other aspects of the knight like the various aspects ranging from Chastity to Justice with rules for Tournaments like Jousting. Those looking to be part of something larger can join or form an order. Orders are often broken down into Military, Religious, or Secular Orders and have different types of Loyalty and Organization. Those looking to build their own are provided with rules and two examples are included.

The art and layout are up to Green Ronin’s usual standards while editing is fair and could’ve used another round to catch a few things like the missing special abilities of the Knight of Infamy. The interior artists reads like a who’s who of skilled artists in the RPG field including Britt Martin, Steve Lawton, and two of my favorites, Kent Burles and Toren Atkinson. Kent really outdoes himself with a full page spread on page 4 and a little under a half page illustration of a massive citadel on a three pronged plateau on page 46.

The Cavalier’s Handbook sets out to restore the Cavalier as a master of mounted combat and in doing so, restores several other old favorite mechanics as the same time and in that, it succeeds admirably. Players looking for a knightly character now have a wide range of options with Love and War by Atlas, Relics and Rituals Excalibur from Sword and Sorcery, Legends of Excaliber from RPG Objects and now the Cavalier’s Handbook.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

Master Class Book

 

[Nikosandros]

Hi, thanks for the review!

This book really looks interesting to me... I've always been fond of cavaliers.

One question: how do you feel the class is balanced relative to the fighter?

 

[Nikosandros]

[No message]

 

[Messageboard Golem]

By John Grigsby, Staff Reviewer d20 Magazine Rack

Initiative Round
The Cavalier’s Handbook is a Dungeons & Dragons supplement from Green Ronin Publishing. This 96-page perfect-bound black & white softcover by Robert J. Schwalb has cover art by Britt Martin depicting a cavalier leading his company into danger. Martin, Kent Burles, Steve Lawton, and Toren “Macbin” Atkinson contribute to the interior art. The Cavalier’s Handbook retails for $19.95.

For those not aware, the cavalier is a throwback to the days of 1st edition. With the debut of Unearthed Arcana (the original one, by Gary Gygax), the cavalier was introduced as a new core class, with the paladin being moved to the stature of a subclass beneath this new position. The cavalier was the quintessential horseman, standing tall in the saddle astride his mighty steed. An excellent fighter by any means, his real strength came when he was in the saddle, attacking from horseback. The Cavalier’s Handbook harkens back to those glory days.

I’ll confess now that I never really liked the cavalier. They struck me as being self-righteous jerks. They were relatively useless in a dungeon environment, and in many ways, they were worse than any paladin ever was in terms of pompous attitude.

The cavalier, as it appears here, shares a few similarities with the original class. The cavalier still represents the pinnacle of knighthood. They are armed with a d12 hit dice, the attack bonuses of a fighter, and the saving throw acquisition of a druid. On top of that, a special ability is gained at every level, the most common of which is Weapon Excellence, with grants them a +1 on attack rolls while mounted when using their weapon of choice. This bonus can be increased with each acquisition of the Weapon Excellence ability, and upon reaching +3, the cavalier may choose to select a special technique in place of another +1 attack bonus. Special techniques include Deflect Attack, Devastating Strike, Fearsome Charge, or Telling Blow; any one of which is more than equal to the Weapon Specialization option open to fighters. The other abilities gained are mostly minor in the grand scheme, but when coupled with the already powerful array indicated here, it makes the cavalier seem a little unbalanced. The modern cavalier (for d20 Modern) is a little bit differently portrayed, and works well as an advanced class option for a “road warrior” who lives by a personal code of honor.

The Cavalier’s Handbook presents six prestige classes that build on the cavalier base class (though are not unique to it). The holy crusader is a pious warrior called to battle on behalf of his faith. The knight of charity champions the downtrodden and defenseless, whereas the knight of infamy sows evil and discord across the land. The knight of quality exemplifies all that is expected of the knighthood; bravery, honor, charity, and virtue, while the knight of renown builds on that base, the ultimate extension of the ideals of knighthood. Finally, the Sisterhood of the Sidhe describes an order of female elven cavaliers. Even so, of these six prestige classes, only the knight of quality (and, by extension, the knight of renown) requires levels as a cavalier (in the form of Weapons Excellence). Any of the other classes could be attained by a fighter or paladin just as easily.

There are 40 new feats described in this book, again, many of which are just as appropriate to fighters and other warriors as they are to cavaliers. In fact, warriors of every stripe will be clamoring to take advantage of feats such as Parry (allowing them to deflect melee attacks) and Shield Focus (increasing a shield’s defensive potential), while Heirloom (by which a character inherits a masterwork or possibly minor magical item) will be on everyone’s list. These are fine feats that will really increase a warrior character’s range of options, but none are specific to cavaliers. In fact, most of these feats could serve to make a cavalier out of an ordinary fighter.

The Social Class and Lineage rules add new depth to character background, helping players build a character history. As with other supplements in this book, this is intended for use by all classes, and basically involves a percentage die roll, modifier by race and class, to determine the social class your character originates from (from destitute to royalty). This, in turn, determines how many rolls on the history table you are permitted, as well as the modifier to your starting monies. For each roll on the history table, a number of possibilities abound, dependent on social class, from a significant disaster that befell your family to having a folk hero in your lineage (which gives you a bonus on social class).

Variant and optional rules include adjusting the cavalier class to better suit a particular campaign (such as Green Ronin’s Testament setting) and a system for generating your character’s coat of arms and armorial bearing. This section also provides game effects for such, and an explanation of what the different terms mean.

Retainers and Steeds are discussed at length, including a system of novice classes not unlike the apprentice system described in the 3rd edition DUNGEON MASTER’S Guide. In fact, this system could easily be used to run a campaign centered on novice characters that are “fresh off the farm,” so to speak, with no appreciable skills or talents in their chosen class. Templates are a new system that add minor features to a character without changing any fundamental qualities, and are intended for use with a cavalier’s retainers (and thus, can be applied only to those characters with an NPC character class). The section of steeds not only offers five different levels of quality in mounts and some unique traits, but also a selection of truly exotic steeds (in Monster Manual format).

The Armory describes some new abilities for armor, shields, and weapons, as well as a few specific armors, shields, weapons, rings, wondrous items, and artifacts. Finally, there are detailed notes on tournaments (including mechanics for jousting events) and knightly orders. Rules for building your own knightly order are also provided.

Critical Hit
I like the Social Class and lineage rules. This really adds some depth to characters and encourages the PCs to detail a little of the history of their character. Likewise, I think that the prestige classes offered here show a lot of potential, but as I noted, they really don’t need the cavalier base class. If you replace the Weapon Excellence requirements of the knight of quality with Weapon Specialization, then that class is just as viable as the others. Finally, the template system will be useful to any DM who is looking to make one commoner different from another without adding a PC class. Not every minstrel is a bard, or every spy a rogue, after all.

Critical Fumble
As I noted, with good Fortitude and Will saves, the base attack bonus of a fighter, a d12 hit dice, and the ability to increase one’s skill with a chosen weapon, the cavalier seems to outshine every other class in the game. In fact, given that there are relatively few drawbacks to playing one, I can’t see why anyone would opt to play a less-powerful fighter when this class is available. Sure, you lose the extra feats and the ability of Weapon Specialization, but Weapon Excellence more than makes up for that, and you get Skill Focus a total of three times (in addition to a +2 to Sense Motive and Diplomacy checks), Leadership as a bonus feat, immunity to fear (and the ability to make allies within a short distance immune to shaken effects), and the ability to extend the AC bonus for fighting defensively to allies in adjacent squares.

Okay, so you have to adhere to a specialized Code of Conduct and remain lawful, but what happens if you violate it? Oh, you simply become a black knight, retaining all abilities, but unable to further advance as a cavalier. I’m sorry, but I just don’t see this as being balanced. The idea is solid, but the class needs some fine-tuning. I think the cavalier would work well as a prestige class that must be earned, but as a base class, it is too powerful and really, just isn’t necessary.

Coup de Grace
I still don’t see the need for a cavalier base class, but outside of that, The Cavalier’s Handbook contains a lot of good material. In fact, this would make an excellent addition to the library of any DM who owns The Noble’s Handbook (also from Green Ronin), or anyone looking to design a knightly character. If you’re missing the cavalier of old, though, then the one presented here does quite a bit for reviving that feeling of nostalgia (or revulsion, as the case may be).

The artwork is of mostly good quality, and it seems to be pretty much relevant to the text (though a few pieces are used as fillers, but still fit the theme of the book overall). Everything short of artwork has been designated as Open Game Content, and the layout is easy to get used to and makes finding what you need pretty simple. It lacks an index, but the table of contents is thorough enough to keep that from being a big problem.

Final Grade: B

 

[GameWyrd]

The Cavalier's Handbook

This is a review of The Cavalier's Handbook from Green Ronin. A Cavalier is typically a mounted warrior, a fighter on a horse (or a supporter of Charles I of England). It's funny how the combination of mount plus fighter creates a new class angle in the way that doesn't happen with the other classes. A ranger and mount - The Mongol's Handbook? A bard and mount - The Troubador's Handbook? A sorcerer and mount - The, um, er, Mounted Sorcerer's Handbook? So even before I open up the book I already have expectations. I'm running a generic d20 game and I wanted mounted warriors to be significant, significant enough to warrant paying about $20 for a 96-paged supplement. Let's see what The Cavalier's Handbook can offer me.

The book gets off to a good start. The introduction scolds my initial definition; "More than just a mounted warrior..." the book insists and then continues, "..., the cavalier represents excellence in arms, unsurpassed equestrian skill, and a devotion to the code of chivalry." And yes, the phrase "secular paladin" is also used and that'll be promising if the class does not have any supernatural abilities, especially not the annoying and mystery destroying Detection Magic. The introduction also plugs a way at "why play a cavalier?" but I think that's the wrong question to ask and answer. Why should the DM include cavaliers in the game? That's a more relevant and tougher question to answer.

It's also worth noting that Green Ronin has already published The Noble's Handbook so whereas the chivalry angle is a nice one to explore we have to be sure we're not getting old rope for new money.

Chapter One offers up the character class stats for the Cavalier itself. Huzzah. There are no magical class specials here to add inexplicable awkwardness to the character. There are magic-like class specials like "Fearless" (available at level 19) which empower the Cavalier with an immunity to fear (not that you couldn't guess). Cavalier is one of the exciting classes as there is a special at every level. The chapter is as thorough as we would hope. There are paragraphs on religion, background, races and role. As we have all the space we need we've also rules for the Epic Cavalier.

The Knights of the Table Round are cited as helpful examples. Lancelot cheated with Guinevere and so wouldn't really be represented well via the Paladin class (besides, Lancelot didn't have any divine powers and didn't have a beef with Gawain who was sometimes obviously 'not quite good'). I suppose here we're also trying to reinforce the concept that you couldn't do justice to Gawain or Lancelot with the standard fighter rules either. At this point in the book I'm still not convinced.

There's a bunch of sample Cavaliers - which is a bit of a waste of space.

There's a section for the modern Cavalier. Here we have rules for treating the Cavalier as an advanced class for d20 Modern. This is an unexpected treat and a real bonus. It's a whole extra dimension to the supplement. As an advanced class (or d20 modern prestige class) the Cavalier works really well. The illustration of the fun wielding woman on the large motorcycle shows at a glance just how versatile the class is.

There are prestige classes in the next chapter. The Holy Crusader is another take on the religiously mounted warrior. A Knight of Charity gives all that she has away to others. A Knight of Infamy spreads discord and evil. Cavaliers must be lawful and a Knight of Infamy must not be good. A Knight of Quality is a "quintessential knight", or so we're told. There are also Knights of Renown and the admission that they're an extension of the Knights of Quality. A Sister of the Sidhe is a female eleven cavalier. There are samples of each prestige class throughout the chapter. There's nothing that really stands out there. The "Knight of" series is unfortunately bland. The samples are just filler. If I was playing a mounted warrior, a cavalier, then I would be frustrated by my career options.

This is a d20 product and so there are new feats. There's actually seven pages of new feats and most of these are brought into play because the character is assumed to be mounted. I'm not quite sure why something is a general feat (Steed Defense (General)) or when it's a steed feat (Steed Focus (Steed)).

Along with these feats there are variant rules for social classes and lineages. These rules do expand and overlap with the Noble House rules from The Noble's Handbook. The additions here aren't just a sandbox for the Cavalier class to play in but can be applied to any class. This helps bring the rest of the game up to date with politics and social power plays. I thoroughly approve but then I'm one of those gamers who appreciate that angle in their scenarios. The irony is that we can now do the socially elite mounted fighter without using the Cavalier class at all.

Another variant rule bite briefly looks at taking the Knight of the Cavalier. This is a fantastic idea. The best d20 classes are the generic ones (I think). More people will be able to use the book if it could cope with mounted Samurai warriors, Mongol like mounted archers or demi-human mounted warriors.

There's a token gesture to Coats of Arms and Heraldry. This is nice. I wish there was more.

I think one of the main problems with the mounted warrior concept in D&D style fantasy and in almost any other fantasy is the steed itself. It gets in the way. Dungeons, for example need to be wide and tall enough for horses. It's hard to do nautical or desert based adventures if there is an animal to feed. If you're willing to be ruthless about it then the steed can simply be abandoned (or killed). That's bad enough with a horse but if the mount is a fancy and exotic creature then the player is likely to be miffed. There's even more of an issue if the mount was exceptionally hard to come by. In Chapter Four there are rule mechanics for all sorts of mounts but little help on how to incorporate them smoothly into a game. Just how much does the Crag Crawler eat anyway? And what? The Crag Crawler is a giant riding lizard. There are quite a few exotic steeds in the book including giant flies, lich steeds and intelligent extra planar creatures.

Retainers can be nearly as annoying. It takes a very good GM to do the voices and personalities for a dozen or so hangers on which follow the group around. It takes a good player to allow his [tangible power assets] to be behind the scenes for most of the game.

Whereas I can see the attraction of playing an expert warrior on an exotic mount and with some bodyguards or backup wizard I cannot see the attraction of letting the character into a game I'm trying to run. What about the rest of the group? They'd be in danger of being overshadowed.

Flick back to the lich steed rules and then forward again to the collection of magic rings. Ah well! I suppose spotting the Tolkien influence in a fantasy RPG is a bit like spotting trees in a forest. These magic rings are part of the Armory chapter and are nestled alongside items typically associated with knights.

Cavalier really is a synonym for knight as far as The Cavalier's Handbook is concerned. Chapter Six looks at Honour and Tournaments. This is a brief section which does little more than explain the concept and assign some points for victory conditions. The last chapter talks about Orders. Orders are groups of associated Kni.. sorry, groups of associated Cavaliers.

Okay. The Cavalier's Handbook does what it says on the tin. It is a thorough class book. The Cavalier is a new class and the rules here make it work. I'm just not impressed by the class, it doesn't inspire me to allow it into the game and I think the worse angle to take (given we have the The Noble's Handbook) was that of a noble fighter. There's not much reason to have both. I'd rather have the Noble's Handbook. That said, there's no reason to avoid the book if you do have a genuine need for a regal mounted warrior in your game.

* This The Cavalier's Handbook was first published at GameWyrd.

 

[elforcelf]

So you give it five stars but do not want to use it? And you put it down? elforcelf.

 

[GameWyrd]

Should be three stars - review whent up when I was clueless to the new interface