D&D 5E Leveling up a Knight

[phoffman]

I DMed a similar situation to yours. In the 5e Adventure "Out of the Abyss" as a DM you have lots of NPCs to help the party along early in the game. My party didn't have a rogue, so I decided to empower a few of the NPCs to make them last a little longer.

I had the NPC only gain a Hit Dice ever other level of the PCs, once he reached 4 Hit Dice I gave him +2 to his prime statistic. But I also gave the NPC an ability from the start that made him relevant as the PCs began to outstrip his power. I then turned over the combat decisions to one of the PCs for this NPC.

BONUS ACTIONS
Help. Gnome can use his bonus action to use the Help action. In addition he can use the help action to aid an ally within 30ft in attacking a creature, the target of the attack must be within 30ft of him (Normally 5ft) and able to hear or see him.

NPCs don't have to level as PCs. My players seem to like it when the NPC companions or henchmen do not outshine them. But they adore NPCs that empower them in combat, or social situations.

For an Elven Knight from MM347 I would give her Fey Ancestry (The elf has advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can't put the elf to sleep.) and Darkvision 60ft to start. Then I would swap the Heavy Crossbow for a Longbow.

The Knight is already 8 Hit dice, and the party is level 13. I could probably safely change the proficiency bonus to equal to a PC of her HD (She would have (this will increase the MM347 saving throws she has listed and allow her to hit more often) Because the PCs are already 5 levels above the HD of the NPC, if i wanted her to be a henchman that grows with them I would just give her 1 HD every time the PCs leveled (and increase her proficiency bonus to match a PC with her HD).

The knight already has some interesting abilities, but as she levels I would add some traits or abilities that empower the PCs, to keep her mechanically interesting. Since I let my Players control the NPC in combat (ofcourse i always reserve the right to override choices, some times an NPC will do things more inline with the NPC personality than is tactically what the player wants), adding abilities to NPC doesn't take away from the Monster NPCs i am controlling.

I would consider some of the following, perhaps they will give you inspiration.
If she is a High Elf, perhaps a Wizard Cantrip, or Misty Step 1/day.
Increasing her crit range is nice, but I did that for an NPC and my players were not impressed as much.
Abilities like the Protection Fighting Style could be interesting.
Second Wind would add longevity to the NPC
I would want to have Players have a reason to keep the Knight in Melee combat, perhaps granting her the ability. "Your friends have advantage on melee attack rolls against any creature within 5 feet of you that is hostile to you."

If you end up adding HD to the Knight every time the PC levels , she will always be 5 HD behind them, you don't need to add class levels to keep them relevant in my opinion. In my games I would just give them abilities that seem to make sense based on gameplay or PC interaction with the NPC and use existing PC abilities for inspiration.

 

[Quickleaf]

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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It really depends how much you want the Knight to contribute to the party. Do you want her contribution to be equal to a PC? Half of a PC? Less? More?

One litmus test I have for such allied NPCs is if this NPC were to be charmed or otherwise turned against the party, how much challenge would they pose in a 1-on-1 fight with a single PC? For example, a CR 3 Knight is a trivial speedbump for most 13th level PCs.

Here's one possible course of advancement...

PC Level.....Hit Dice......Ability Scores.....Features/Traits
11.............8d8+18..............................Apply Brave trait to charmed as well as frightened
12.............9d8+18......+1 to two...........Parry adds +3 to AC
13.............10d8+20............................Gain a 3rd Extra Attack
14.............11d8+22............................Gain proficiency in a third saving throw
15.............12d8+24....+1 to two...........Choose a Fighting Style
16.............13d8+26.............................Parry adds +4 to AC
17.............14d8+28.............................Leadership bonus increases to +1d6

 

[aco175]

I would give the knight another power that the other players cannot have. Sometimes I give a NPC a power from 4e like an attack on all enemies in 5ft (close burst 1). Another easy power is misty step. It is a one-step, easy to use and forget power. These can start as 1/day and increase to 1/rest as the knight gains levels. You can also give support powers that come into play. Giving another player a bonus to AC like shield spell or a +1 to any roll is useful and memorable in many situations. By staying a few levels behind the PCs, the knight is never going to outshine them, but can lend support and boost their powers from time to time.

 

[Charlaquin]

Hit dice and Proficiency Bonus are probably enough. Maybe the occasional Feat or Ability Score Increase.

 

[cthulhu42]

It really depends how much you want the Knight to contribute to the party. Do you want her contribution to be equal to a PC? Half of a PC? Less? More?

One litmus test I have for such allied NPCs is if this NPC were to be charmed or otherwise turned against the party, how much challenge would they pose in a 1-on-1 fight with a single PC? For example, a CR 3 Knight is a trivial speedbump for most 13th level PCs.

Here's one possible course of advancement...

PC Level.....Hit Dice......Ability Scores.....Features/Traits
11.............8d8+18..............................Apply Brave trait to charmed as well as frightened
12.............9d8+18......+1 to two...........Parry adds +3 to AC
13.............10d8+20............................Gain a 3rd Extra Attack
14.............11d8+22............................Gain proficiency in a third saving throw
15.............12d8+24....+1 to two...........Choose a Fighting Style
16.............13d8+26.............................Parry adds +4 to AC
17.............14d8+28.............................Leadership bonus increases to +1d6

There's lots of good ideas throughout this thread. Thanks to everyone for their input. The above is probably closest to what I'll be doing, with some minor revisions.

A question though: Is there any good reason not to bump her hit dice to a d10?

 

[Quickleaf]

There's lots of good ideas throughout this thread. Thanks to everyone for their input. The above is probably closest to what I'll be doing, with some minor revisions.

A question though: Is there any good reason not to bump her hit dice to a d10?

You can do whatever you want. d8 hit dice are simply an artifact of HD-by-size used for 5e's monsters (i.e. d8s for Medium).

The thing to be aware of is how powerful your DM-PC is compared to a fellow PC. This will be relevant for gauging difficulty of encounters/adventuring days, and (in your case) possibly discerning share of experience the DM-PC gets.