D&D 5E Leveling up a Knight

[cthulhu42]

The party I'm currently DMing has recently procured the services of an elvish Knight (MM 347) who has pledged her sword to them for one year.

I'm awarding her a portion of XP and I'm thinking, for simplicity sake, to have her level up whenever the party levels up, but I'm not sure what that would look like.

I know I could write her out as a fully formed NPC character build, but I like the fact that she has a few abilities different from the standard PC classes, and also that she has relatively few moving parts to keep track of. I'd like to not bog her down with lots of special abilities beyond what she comes with, but still make her able to keep up with the party as they get into highher levels.

So far I'm just thinking of the obvious routes of giving her a boost to hit points and her to hit chance, but I'm looking for other ideas. Maybe a boost to her parry AC every few levels?

 

[jgsugden]

The easiest answer is to just "multiclass" it with a class, like fighter. When it gains a level, allow it to add level 1 fighter abilities. That will slowly add complexity over time, but keep it pretty simple if the knight is only around ofr a bit.

 

[TallIan]

The easiest answer is to just "multiclass" it with a class, like fighter. When it gains a level, allow it to add level 1 fighter abilities. That will slowly add complexity over time, but keep it pretty simple if the knight is only around ofr a bit.

I do this all the time to make "mini bosses". It's really easy to keep track of, especially of you stick to classes that your playets have, you can just ask them if you ever get lost.

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[MechaTarrasque]

If the knight is likely to only last a while (ye old sacrificial NPC to show the PC's "it is dangerous"), then I would go with a feat. I would be leery of doing that more than twice.

For longer term, I would think about what CR I want the knight to be, and then use the DMG to adjust the knight's stats to fit that. I would probably use the conjure elemental spell as a basis: at PC level 9, the knight is a CR 5, at PC level 11, the knight is a CR 6, etc. and backfill so PC 7=CR 4, PC 5=CR 3, etc.. You could even split it so the knight is defensively the desired CR on the PC's even level (so at PC level 8, the knight is defensively a CR 5, but offensively a CR 4) and gains the offensive CR on the odd numbers.

 

[Wulffolk]

Don't worry so much about levelling up the Knight.

Focus on levelling up the DRAMA!.

Play her just enough to get the players attached to her, then kill her off. She could make a noble sacrifice on behalf of the party, or she could die tragically without fulfilling some vow or quest that the party could feel obligated to complete on her behalf, or she could become a ghost that has limited interactions with the party only at consequential moments, or she is torn between her service to the party and upholding previous duties which draw her away from the party and maybe transform her into some form of adversary that is not necessarily evil.

There are a million ways to twist this to create drama. The main point is that I would find almost any way to not have to play her as a DM PC for the long term.

 

[cthulhu42]

Some good ideas here. Thanks.

She's not a sacrificial cow. Potentially she could be around for a game year and I'd like to give her a fighting chance. Still, I worry about giving her extra abilities because I've already got plenty on my plate. I was thinking of giving her some of the more static fighter abilities as she levels, like maybe extend her crit range ala Champion.

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[cthulhu42]

Don't worry so much about levelling up the Knight.

Focus on levelling up the DRAMA!.

Play her just enough to get the players attached to her, then kill her off. She could make a noble sacrifice on behalf of the party, or she could die tragically without fulfilling some vow or quest that the party could feel obligated to complete on her behalf, or she could become a ghost that has limited interactions with the party only at consequential moments, or she is torn between her service to the party and upholding previous duties which draw her away from the party and maybe transform her into some form of adversary that is not necessarily evil.

There are a million ways to twist this to create drama. The main point is that I would find almost any way to not have to play her as a DM PC for the long term.

The drama will come, but first she has to last long enough for the party to develop an attachment to her. They just leveled to 13,and while I don't want her to be comparable to a 13th level PC, she ought to have some chance of survival and be able to pull her own weight.

Currently I've got one of my players running her mechanics and keeping track of her rolls, etc, while I only have to worry about her decisions, so that takes some of the load off of me. But I don't want to saddle this player with a fully formed 2nd character. He's got enough to keep track of.

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[DeanP]

I suggest when the PCs hit a new proficiency bonus level, she should gain +1 to attacks and another Hit Die. This would provide her with additional staying power but keep her in a support role.

 

[Hriston]

Judging by its hit points, the Knight seems about equal to a level 5 battlemaster, so when it gets to 7500 XP, I'd give it an ASI and another hit die. I'd also check to see if this affects its CR and raise its proficiency bonus if appropriate.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Just give her enough hit dice to match the rest of the party, a corresponding proficiency bonus, and max out her Strength. That's plenty of contribution, regardless of party level. Nobody is going to look down on an extra ~19 per round, especially if she's otherwise self-sufficient.