How does knighthood work in your games?

[Jon_Dahl]

I've tried to search data about medieval knighthood, but the problem is that I don't find detailed information. Basically all sources repeat that they were nobels (but in e.g. England still commoners) that followed the chivalric code and served their liege as a part of the feudal system.

But what does that mean? If a player becomes a knight, what is the list of things you gain and things that you're supposed to do in your every day life?

This is of course highly campaign-specific and more, but as an example let me give you my own version of Knight of Sterich.

1. All knights must be addressed as "sir" at all times. All knights must each other equally, treat commoners as their proteges and serve their lords without hesitation and with honor.
2. In a war or a battle approved by his lord knight has several benefits, including:
- Only nobles and the army commander have authority over knights
- Knights receive a equal share of the loot; shared with high-ranking commoner officers and other nobles that have directly participated in combat
- Lord should always pay ransom for a captured knight
3. Knight's word is true unless proven otherwise.
4. Knights that have fought for the March in a significant battle or with unusual bravery or that have performed six months of military service receive full exemption from taxes for that year.
5. Knights receive invitations to tournaments, whenever they are held. It's possible for a knight to make a living by jousting. Commoners are never invited to participate in such events.

What I'm basically after here is this:
If I player asks you "what if I get dubbed as a knight, what do I get?" what will be your answer?
Like I said, this is highly campaign-specific etc.

 

[Mark CMG]

Here are some links to older threads on the matter that might prove to be interesting reading -

http://www.enworld.org/forum/genera...lease-knighthood-ceremonies-certificates.html

http://www.enworld.org/forum/genera...aste-system-your-typical-fantasy-society.html

http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/95035-knights-glory-honor-nobility-but-how.html

http://www.enworld.org/forum/genera...rders-knighthood-help-discussion-request.html

http://www.enworld.org/forum/genera...-cavaliers-code-conduct-unearthed-arcana.html

http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/132677-how-much-land-new-noble.html

*edit* per [MENTION=3987]Bagpuss[/MENTION] 's suggestion (fair enough), I have decided to remove the last two thread links.

 

[steeldragons]

For my own campaign, there are two kinds of knights...generally speaking.

There are the feudal/political knights. These generally only exist in my campaign world's kingdom of Grinlia (the most English/European-like feudal nation in my world).

There are two avenues for this. Being dubbed a knight of one's own accord or being born of one -receiving the title when one come's of age and/or the parent dies, thus inheriting the title and holdings of their knighted father (or mother).

These are warriors of renown and prestige who have proven themselves to the lord and realm in which they reside. They are "knighted" by the ruler of the land (most commonly and prestigiously, the queen, but a duke or even baron can "knight" someone within their own realm.

They are bound to serve their direct lord and thus, are bound to the service of the crown of the kingdom. They receive a fiefdom/landholdings commensurate to their service (and the capacity of their lord). So someone knighted by the queen, herself, might be granted more land, a larger fighting force to command. Expectations are they will "rule over" their land for the greater lord: serve as judge in legal matters, see to the protection of their borders, the collecting of taxes, etc.

The land, usually comes with a stipend or starting treasury of some significant amount and, of course, any money raised in fief beyond the taxes due their lord are the knight's to keep. In the event of military service, then naturally the lord for whom they serve will pay them fees (usually through the doling out of more territory rather than actual coinage, but often both.)

Knights are expected to be honorable in their dealings. Tell the truth, honor debts, be true to their word, treat commoners with respect and dignity as well as deal with their superiors in loving servitude and deference, seek out or at least defend against evil and protect the innocent. They are expected to treat other knights respectfully, also, as their brothers-in-arms. Of course, the knight is expected to heed the rallying call of his lord (and that of his lord's allies) without question.

Of course, this is not always the case ("rogue knights", "black knights", knights that become more heartless warlords than just rulers, etc...)

This knight is, after all, a military title more than a civic or noble one. Though it still holds some political sway...even if it is the lowest of noble titles. A knight will almost always be received in any court (of the kingdom in which they hold their title) with dignity and hospitality...whether the hosting lord likes them or not.

And yes, they hold/are recognized by the title of "Sir" to be used at all times.

While fighters and paladins are the most common, any class (and any alignment) may be "knighted" if they have proven themselves deserving of such an illustrious honor. Still, an aristocratic or noble household is more likely to receive that honor than some dirty commoner/mercenary/adventurer with a sword.

A knight may also be stripped of his lands and holdings for not keeping up his/her end of the "bargain" to protect and serve their lords, lands and/or (even sometimes) their people/peasants/commoners.

The other kind of knight is not a political/feudal title, but a member of a knightly order. This is usually, though not always, a religious order...serving a god/dess or temple...holding the deity as one's "Lord" for whom they serve as a "knight".

The codes of chivalry, justice, protection of innocents, etc... are usually held and followed even more stringently than political "Sirs". For that matter, these orders generally have their own titles/ranks and are not commonly referred to as "Sir."

In my own campaign, the best example of this are the Redstar Knights. Lawful Good paladins who are recognized the world over as the "Knights" of the god of battleskill and guardianship...the god's mortal swordarm in Orea. They are a direct branch of the god's temple and subject to, in addition to their superiors in the Redstar order, the priests (clerics) of that temple...and to a lesser extent, the service of any cleric of one of the Lawful Good gods to whose temples they are often assigned to protect for a period of time. They are referred to by their temple/order's titles of (from low level to high) "Goldshield" (1-3rd lvl), "Lightninglance" commonly shortened to "Lightlance" (4-7th lvl), and "Crimsonstar" (8th lvl+)

An example of this knightly order without direct religious involvement would be the "queen's calvary" in Grinlia, the Order/Knights of the Starsword. These are often [politically] "knighted" warriors and paladins, but they may not necessarily be so.

Starsword knights, as any "order" would be, are sworn to a code of conduct similar to a paladinic/chivalric code. Foremost being the service/defense of queen and country (regardless of the wishes of direct lords/lesser nobles) and, secondarily, pledge themselves to a god [of good, preferably, but one or two of neutral gods do exist] of their choosing (to show their pious and devout virtues moreso than any actual religious fervor...though there is more than one Starsword Knight with a deeply religious/spiritual reputation).

These knights are also awarded the title of "Sir" though there is no assumption of land-ownership. They are also, generally looked up to (by commoners) a bit more than the political "sir knight" since they are viewed as serving more out of a sense of duty and purpose and selflessness than someone with their own castle and money-making land.
For payment, since that is one of your concerns, they receive a stipend direct from the crown's own treasury.

In the case of both of the above knightly orders, room and board is expected and hospitality due (and usually happily offered) wherever they go anywhere within the kingdom. Friction is not uncommon/the lines of power may be blurred when one of the crown's Starswords comes into another [political/noble] Knight's fiefdom. Less so with the Redstar Knights as it is understood the Redstars are beholden to their god and temple first, rather than any political obligation/connection.

That's what I have, for my campaign world, on Knights. Do with it what you will. Is there anything else, specific, you'd like to know about any of them?

Have fun and happy knighting.
--Steel Dragons

 

[Stormonu]

In my campaign, knights are generally field officers/special forces. The original order of knighthood came as part of an alliance of three nations who organized their forces into one larger military unit that still exists to this day as the Knights of the South. It would be equivalent to a modern day UN peace-keeping force. Most of the KotS are regular troops generically called knights, but the actual number of real knights in the force is quite small (the official term is Knight-Commander).

Beyond that, each nation has its own knightly order to lead troops into battle. Among the middle-eastern like Randese, these knights are known as Saracens. Among the magic-wielding Silka Kingdom, they are called Chevaliers, among the spanish-like Millese, they are dubbed Musketeers.

Each order has its own rules and regulations, but most knights are wealthy aristocrats - it takes money to maintain the weapons and gear of a knight and live life as a soldier instead of working in the fields. Likewise, many landed knights (knights who do own land) also are charged with providing warriors for the country they defend should war break out - and arming, feeding and housing said individuals takes money.

There are also those knights who receive their commission on the field of battle. These knights may be commoners or freemen given this honor for extreme acts of heroism. Generally they don't have the funds to maintain more than themselves and their own gear, and they are often known by the term "knight errant". Knight errants have obligations to show up for battle if called by their lord, but otherwise spend their time performing tasks to hone their fighting skills and otherwise earn money/food and the like by "questing" or performing mercenary work.

Likewise, the knightly codes vary from country to country. Some examples of the vows and duties of the various counties in my game are:

Knights of the South/Southern Kingdom/Unaligned realms (Lawful Neutral, Lawful Good)

• Honor and Bravery both on the field and off
• Humility in one’s actions
• A knight’s actions and words should act in concert
• A knight’s word is his bond
• The knight defends the innocent and helpless
• Evil cannot go unpunished
• Mercy to enemies who ask for it
• A warrior has the right to die in honorable combat, face to face with his foe*
• Knight’s weapon: Long sword, bastard sword, two-handed sword, lance, morning star, spear, halbard

* Knights of the South frown on the personal use of ranged weapons, but will not punish others for their use.

Kingdom of Vall Vega (Lawful Neutral, Lawful Good, Lawful Evil) and allies

• Humility in one’s actions
• Lawbreakers must be brought to justice
• Mercy to enemies who beg for it
• Ranged Weapons are the weapons of coward.*
• Knight’s weapon: Long sword, bastard sword, heavy mace

* Knights of Vall Vega generally kill enemies who use ranged weapons against them. They do not allow the use of ranged weapondry among their ranks (though they will field mercenary archers when facing foes known to use ranged weapons), and have great disdain for those they affiliate with who do use them.

Llannhanex/Iiannhanex (Lawful neutral)

• Fearlessness on the battlefield
• Lawbreakers must be brought to justice
• The defeated and all his possessions are the lawful property of the victor
• Mercy is a virtue to be doled out as appropriate
• Loyalty to the country and its leaders
• Knight’s weapon: Khopesh, camel sword, scimitar, scorpion sword (Llannhanex only), spear, sling, short bow, long bow

Llannhanex/Iiannhanex regularly use ranged weapons before closing into melee combat. Some knights prefer the use of ranged weapons and chariots, never closing to melee.

Millos (Lawful Neutral)

• Personal glory in combat elevates one rank
• Cowardice on the battlefield is unforgivable
• Any weapon or tactic to defeat an enemy is fair, though stealth and ambush are the tools of the weak
• Mercy for those who can pay for it
• To the victor go the spoils
• Knight’s weapon: Rapier, long sword, pistol, longarm

* Millos knights prefer pistols and long swords for war and rapiers for personal combat.

Misake/Barbed March/Principalites of Xatmas (Lawful Neutral, Lawful Evil)*

• A trial of arms cannot be refused
• A victory by an means is better than defeat
• Honor and integrity when dealing with a foe (off the battlefield)
• No wrong can go unpunished
• Mercy is for the coward and weak–willed
• Death in combat is the fate of the warrior – fleeing a combat or refusing to face an enemy is shameful
• Knight’s weapon: any

* Misake/Barbed March knights use ranged weapondry when closing with an enemy, then prefer to melee. Staying at range is frowned upon and can result in charges of cowardice (and execution or defrockment).

Randu/Skienlands/Simera/Ran Da Khan (Lawful Neutral, Lawful Evil)*

• Only divine magic and the magic of the Wa–Atari/Wri–Atari is sacred – all other spellcasting is an affront and must be punished
• Loyalty to the home country above all else
• Spells are the tools of the weak and should be avoided.
• Mercy to those who have proved their mettle in combat
• Knight’s weapon: Scimitar, falcion, short bow, spear, halbard

* Randese knights commonly use ranged weapondry and do not frown on its use

Silkna Kingdom (Lawful Good, Lawful Neutral)

• Those who wield magic have the right and duty to rule
• Evil cannot go unpunished
• Mercy to enemies who beg for it
• The weapons of war are varied; there is no shame in the use of any implement of war*
• Knight’s weapon: Short sword, long sword, two-handed sword, handaxe, battleaxe, greataxe, lance, spear, heavy mace, heavy flail, sling, crossbow

* Knights of the Silkna Kingdom have no compunction against using ranged weapons or spells to defeat an enemy, but consider poison and other “terror tactics” to be out of bounds

Spi Dak Su/Chiamung (Lawful Neutral, Lawful Evil)

• Those who wield their weapon in the name of their lord are also entrusted with the dispensation of justice against the common populace
• Loyalty to one’s lord above all, and to the emperor above one’s own lord
• One on one duels are the true test of the warrior
• Once war against an enemy is declared, all tactics are fair game
• A warrior does not strike a foe without warning
• Mercy is for those unable to accept the fate of the defeated
• Knight’s weapon: Katana

* Spi Dak Su/Chiamung warriors have no compunction about using ranged weapons, poison (but never on a katana) or magic to defeat an enemy, as long as such use is not done secretly or from ambush.


Lastly, what do you get by being a knight:

- A small sum monthly or yearly to pay for your gear (and loyalty)
- The right to be called "Sir" or "Madame" (or it's equivalent)
- The right to bear arms and wear armor in public without restriction in your home country (i.e., no peacebonding of weapons or banning of weapons from public areas)
- Most countries grant you the power of a law officer - you can arrest, act as a judge over squabbles among commoners and in some places/cases mete out justice to lawbreakers
- Demand shelter/food/goods from commoners to fulfill your duties; you can request food/shelter from nobles while engaged in knightly duties
- You are allowed to maintain a keep or other stronghold and in some cases, organize and maintain a small military force or garrison for times of war.

-

 

[LurkAway]

Has anyone ever played a campaign where knights are just as lawful or unscrupulous as the general population?

I'm thinking robber knights, Game of Thrones, etc. Where "knight" is just a title and code of conduct is subjective.

 

[jasper]

Has anyone ever played a campaign where knights are just as lawful or unscrupulous as the general population?

I'm thinking robber knights, Game of Thrones, etc. Where "knight" is just a title and code of conduct is subjective.

I did. My players went from one kingdom where knighthood was highly regulated to one afew hundred leagues away where was just another title which could be bought. Needless to say they caught on quickly and one even did try to buy the title.

And for some library books on the subject.
Oakeshott, Ewart books and articles.
A Knight and his Armour, A Knight in Battle, A Knight and his Castle, A Knight and his Castle, A Knight and his Horse , A Knight and his Weapons, Dark Age Warrior*, The Archaeology of Weapons , The Sword in the Age of Chivalry . Journal of the Arms and Armour Society of London, A Royal Sword in Westminster Abbey in The Connoisseur Magazine 1951*. The Sword in Anglo-Saxon England *, Fighting Men (with Henry Treece)*, The Blindfold Game*, Sound of Battle (with Leonard Clark)*, European Weapons and Armour, Records of the Medieval Sword*, Sword in Hand*, Sword in the Viking Age* (not yet published). The Oakeshott Institute

and there a book titled "Chivilary" which may help. Can't find in my listing.

 

[Celebrim]

Knighthood is mostly a title in my campaign world, and if a Knight has a code of honor it will be one related to the particular leige, duties or service he is devoted to.

Knighthood conveys a +3 circumstantial modifier on social interactions with someone who recognizes your rank and is inferior to it. It also grants certain legal immunities depending on the region. Generally speaking:

1) You can't be tortured to produce a confession.
2) If you are guilty of a capital crime, you'll be executed by beheading rather than some more creative manner.
3) You can't be tried in or summoned to a common court, but only by other nobles.
4) Your word can't be gainsayed by a commoner. If it comes down to your word versus his, without witnesses, it's not a tie. This means you can generally accuse a commoner and he has no defense, whereas a commoner can accuse you and without other evidence your word is sufficient defence.
5) If your word is gainsayed by another noble, absent any evidence, you have a right to redress the accusation by trial of combat.
6) You aren't subject to certain taxes, most notably from the perspective of an adventuring mercenary you aren't subject to the blade tax on weapons with blades longer than 12".
7) You have the right to bear arms generally. Your weapons won't be confiscated by local authorities when you enter town, and you can bear weapons in the presence of other nobles.

 

[Umbran]

This post is a little aside from most of the others. Skip it if you're only interested in Medievalisms...

At first, I glanced at the thread and nearly bypassed it, because I'm running Deadlands these days, and knightly orders don't mean much in the Weird West. But then, I considered it for a moment, and realized that I very much do have an equivalent to knightly orders. In Deadlands, I have military officers and I have The Agency and the Texas Rangers.

Interestingly, both the Agency and the Rangers (the Union and Confederate answer to having violent and dangerous supernatural crap in the world) have some aspects of knighthood - you join the order, and you get some powers, and some responsibilities, and you are expected to exert your powers in the name of discharging your responsibilities.

So, what do you get for joining one of these organizations?

You get a paycheck. Not a large one, though.

You get a badge. In the Wild West, this means something. Folks tend to listen to you, and do what you ask, even if it is technically outside your purview. Certain doors are opened by the tin star.

But, on the other hand, you get responsibilities. There's an organization that gets to give you orders, and you are expected to follow them. You usually have a lot of leeway in how to implement things, but if the Boss says you're supposed to look into Monster X, then you go look into Monster X.

You also have a code of conduct you're supposed to abide by, at least in theory. Well maybe less code of conduct, as code of ethics, and admittedly the ethics in the Weird West are... loose. But there's a lot of things that a private citizen can do that an officer of the law cannot expect to get away with for long.

 

[howandwhy99]

As others kind of show knighthood typically means working for the lord of the land. That's cool, if he or she is a fellow PC, but the old Cavalier class was kind of a knight at large because it allowed space for adventuring rather than doing a job.

Knighthood is basically that in my game, a recognition by the state and special authority and benefits as well as strictures and responsibilities. It isn't class specific, but typical responsibilities are more easily fulfilled by some classes than others. Of course there's always that meek, fat, old guy who sits in court, but still holds the title of knight.

 

[Umbran]

...the old Cavalier class was kind of a knight at large because it allowed space for adventuring rather than doing a job.

The term for that would be "knight errant", as opposed to "landed knight". Some knighthoods come with a grant of land, with attendant revenues and obligations.