The Knight.... and the Day

[Mirror]

I want to first start off by saying hi, I'm the new guy. I been lurking for weeks, and finally took the plunge.

My question, is simple, is there a way to expand on the Knight from phb2 without dipping into the Tome of battle? I like the Knight's defensive abilities, but I REALLY like its ability to stay mobile WITH the defense, and was wondering ways to build on that. I was suggested, by the DM no less, to go Crusader, retrain 2 levels into Crusader, and go from there. And a player, upon hearing this suggested I do that then grab White Raven Tactics. Reading how rediculous that is, I was hoping for something a bit more.... Knightly. Ideas?

 

[Empirate]

In my opinion, it doesn't get more knightly than a White Raven focused Crusader: you fight with your men and for your men, giving them bonuses left and right, ensure they profit from teamwork and inspire them in uncounted ways.

The Knight class itself has a few good ideas, but is mechanically rather weak. For example, it gives you bonus mounted combat feats, but doesn't work with them where class features are concerned. It has interesting class features based on Charisma, but doesn't grant good synergy for that in skills and other class features. Most of all, it feels kinda bland to me, really weak in what it's supposed to shine at.
Maneuvers just do it better. The Thicket of Blades stance and the Ironguard Glare feat each emulate about half of what the whole Knight class has going for it. And you're not giving up versatility by taking one stance, or one feat.

Oh, and welcome to ENWorld!

 

[Ahnehnois]

You might try converting the Pathfinder cavalier.

 

[kitcik]

I agree with Empirate.

As far as WRT, if you feel it is too cheesy, don't select it as a maneuver. However, this is not a cheesy interpretation of RAW, WRT says right in the description people can go twice in a round. Maybe you could take WRT but not use it on yourself? Seems a bit less cheesy that way.

 

[Dandu]

There might be an ACF or something in the PHB2.

 

[Mirror]

Thanks for the ideas guys!

If this makes a difference, the char in question is 12th level Knight. Upon hitting 13 was when the DM suggested possibly branching out, which is why it was also suggested to retrain 2 Knight levels into Crusader, so I would be a 10/3 instead of a 12/1. The reason I didn't want to branch out into the Tome was because, I felt it was cheesy, and I was already taking DM approved liberties as is ( the Knight is a human/half-vampire with no LA). Plus, I'm the group's typical meatshield. The other melee combatant is a fighter/tempest. Whom I have close to 1 1/2 hp compared to. Both of us, while not doing stelar damage, ARE keeping the squishies free, although, hit for hit, I do more damage, due to a..... jot with monkey grip and bastard swords.

From what I'm reading, the Crusader is good, but it doesn't really build on the mobility the knight introduced, and I was honestly looking for something that continued on that.