Small task for a Knight?

CKDad · Post by **CKDad** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 5:39 pm

My players are about to reach 2nd level, and I thought I'd give each of them a small class-related task to perform before they begin their training. Probably won't do this at every level but I thought it might spice things up the first time they do and make it a little special.

The ranger has to track and recover a critter; the rogue has to sneak aboard a ship and steal it's cat; and the wizard will have some riddles to solve. But for some reason I'm having a devil of a time thinking of something for the knight. Perhaps a joust?
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DangerDwarf · Post by **DangerDwarf** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 5:43 pm

Particpation in a tournament.

If you;ve got the old Companions set for BECMI, use The Golden Dagger as inspiration and outline.

Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 5:44 pm

Yeah, first thing that came to my mind is to have him prove himself in some kind of combat scenario. Is there a fellow Knight that is an appropriate challenge that the player would like a chance to do a beat down on?

Anyways, before they give him his "spurs" his superior/sponsor tells him he must prove he is worthy in one on one combat.
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serleran · Post by **serleran** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 5:55 pm

I would not make it a challenge of arms -- after all, if he loses, he loses a lot of face and reputation in the game world, and that can be devastating for a low level character trying to prove their worth. Instead, I would have it be some other sort of challenge, such as the that of the Green Knight from Arthurian lore -- to not do something, despite all the inclinations on the contrary.
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CKDad · Post by **CKDad** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 6:04 pm

Ah! I really like Serleran's idea. Make it part of the initiation into the order too... yes, this works.

The tourney / smackdown ideas are going into reserve for later.

Thanks all!
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Lord Dynel · Post by **Lord Dynel** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 7:05 pm

I'll throw out there a task that I just gave the knight in my game - to escort a lady from one town to another. Small task, with plenty opportunity for adventure.
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Lurker · Post by **Lurker** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 7:52 pm

Quote:
to escort a lady from one town to another

You beat me too it...

One of my favorite knights was based on a character in a Penman book. A knight from a minor family that is part of a party that escorts the queen. They stop for lunch and all the other knights doff their Armor (they were more courtly and refined) in the heat of the afternoon. The minor knight kept his armor on (his duty to protect the queen not laze around, eat and converse with her, plus his clothing under the armor was of very poor quality compared to the other knights) and remain watchful. Low and behold a rival duke sends his knights out to attack them, kidnap the queen and well you get the picture. The "poor" knight was able to charge the attacking knights and survive -badly hurt but still alive-because of the armor, the other knights all died but the queen was able to escape. His charge and melee ended with him captured, but he wasn't killed, a knight escorting a queen has to be worth something! The queen eventually ransomed him and placed him above the other high ranking and politically connected knights.

Something like this will give the knight a chance to get friends in high places, and decide if he is going to be a courtly knight or a combat type knight.
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gideon_thorne · Post by **gideon_thorne** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 8:03 pm

Knights are best on Quests. Doesn't even have to be anything particularly magical. But perhaps his Knightly order has heard of a missing relic of the order (could be as simple as the lost pennant of the Order of the Garter) that belonged to a given famous knight. Its simply the knights job to go find this particular item and return it to the chapterhouse. Course, there's a rival order that also lays claim to the given item... just as a plot foil.

In any event, the return and restoration of the item brings much prestige to the order who finds it, and much personal honor to the knight in question.

This could be something even as simple as the Knight gaining a +1 on charisma checks when seeking hospitality at various noble residents. There is much prestige in turn from having such a guest and so forth.

After all, with Knights, its not so much the wealth acquired, but the renown and honor gained.

Just some thoughts.
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CKDad · Post by **CKDad** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 8:34 pm

Thanks for the additional suggestions. Some of these are much more involved and longer-duration than what I'm looking for at the moment, but still great ideas.
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ghostSmacker · Post by **ghostSmacker** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 9:43 pm

I would pick one of the knightly virtues listed in the PHB and work backwards. Test one at each level. A test of humility, a test of courage etc. The important thing for me would be to make it a moral dilemma for the knight and the player, not just about rolling some dice.

The test needn't be fair or even have a solution. What is important is that the character evaluated his actions in line with the behaviour expected of a knight, and did the best he could.

Out of interest, what happens if the character passes or fails their test?

CKDad · Post by **CKDad** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 3:48 am

We actually played this through tonight. For those that don't know, my players are a group of 11-year-old boys (along with my daughter who's 15 but was feeling left out), so our games tend to have a higher action-to-roleplay ratiio.

In this case, they'd just completed their first dungeon and were spending this session in town. The knight, a soldier who had distinguished himself in battle and thus been knighted for valor (before play) was now choosing which of the local orders of knighthood he would affiliate with. After some instruction, he was assigned to stand vigil in a small courtyard in which an ancient stone stood.

Late at night, as the moon rose, glowing letters displaying the first part of the knight's code appeared on the stone. Some time later, a green giant carrying an enormous axe walked through the wall of the courtyard. After a brief discussion he challenged the knight to a contest of honor. (My daughter, who knows the Sir Gawain story, had to bite her tounge.) The young knight took his swing, taking the giant's head. Not knowing the story, he was actually pretty shocked when th egiant's body stood up and picked up the axe, after righting the grinning head.
After a few anxious moments of dithering, and letting him look over a copy of the knight's code I'd printed for him, he decided to go through with taking his blow. He was really relieved when the giant missed! The giant left the axe embedded in the stone, though, and said they'd meet again.
I actually let the boys chat about it a bit OOC, since they're all new to role-playing aspects of the game (lure them with orc-slaying, then suck them into the story, hehhehheh!) Two of the others pointed out to him that he'd been told he'd face a test of honor. He was still pretty nervous, but went through with it.

The other tests turned out well. The escapades of the elven thief trying to steal the ship's cat for the local guildmaster, with the aid of a friendly druid and our gnomish cleric, complete with all three chasing the cat down an alley with the sailors in pursuit, made for another fun time.
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CKDad · Post by **CKDad** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 3:58 am

ghostSmacker wrote:
Out of interest, what happens if the character passes or fails their test?

Passing the tests led to the players officially getting their levels, rolling their new HD and updating their stats. (The wizard missed this week so we'll squeeze him next time.)

I admit that I hadn't fully taken the possibility of failure fully into account! We actually had a couple close moments - the knight was really nervous about his challenge, and the thief was spotted escaping from the ship. The former I dealt with by letting the other boys help him reason out what was happening OOCly, and the latter played itself out hilariously. Who knew that a ring of jumping in the hands of an imaginative 11-year-old would cause such mayhem?
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ghostSmacker · Post by **ghostSmacker** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 12:41 pm

That sounds like a great session, especially if you're 11!

I started playing when I was that age, except we had zero role-playing. We just bashed things and... well, I'm sure you know the rest.

Lord Dynel · Post by **Lord Dynel** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 8:57 pm

Sounds like a good session CKDad. Make sure the boy doesn't get a hold of a copy of Sword of the Valiant!
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sieg · Post by **sieg** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 9:27 pm

All good suggestions!
Just a historical point, and one that doesn't apply if your using your knight class as something different but losing to another knight in a tournament wasn't considered a loss of honor. Losing wasn't as important as showing courage and determination.

Especially if a new (ie low level) knight faced a known powerful knight, simply being courageous enough to challenge and fight with heart and determination before going down was the mark of Chivalry. Refusing a challenge or challenging knights all know are weaker than yourself; that's dishonorable and knaveish.

Unless the lower level knight was talking smack about the higher level knight, a challenge to one below station wasn't considered courageous.

Just FYI,

Mike
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