Cavalier [Base Class]

[Triaxx]

Cavalier

Alignment: Any Lawful.

Hit Die: d10

Class Skills: The Cavalier's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (religion) (Int) Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex).

Skill Points at 1st level: (2 + Int Modifier) x4
Skill Points at Each additional Level: 2 + Int Modifier

{table=head]Level|Base Attack<br>Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special
1st|
+1|
+1|
+0|
+0|Lay on Hands, Aura of Law 1/day
2nd|
+2|
+2|
+0|
+0|Knightly Grace, Bonus Feat
3rd|
+3|
+3|
+1|
+1|Smite Foe 1/day
4th|
+4|
+4|
+1|
+1|Improved Shield Bash
5th|
+5|
+4|
+1|
+1|Dodge
6th|
+6/+1|
+5|
+1|
+1|Bonus Feat, Smite Foe 2/day
7th|
+7/+2|
+5|
+2|
+2|Aura of Law 2/day
8th|
+8/+3|
+6|
+2|
+2|Noble Mount 1st-Tier
9th|
+9/+4|
+7|
+2|
+2|Smite Foe 3/day
10th|
+10/+5|
+7|
+2|
+2|Bonus Feat
11th|
+11/+6/+1|
+8|
+3|
+3|Ride-by Attack
12th|
+12/+7/+2|
+8|
+3|
+3|Smite Foe 4/day
13th|
+13/+8/+3|
+9|
+3|
+3|Cleric Domain-1st, Lance Knight
14th|
+14/+9/+4|
+9|
+3|
+3|Bonus Feat, Noble Mount 2nd-Tier, Aura of Law 3/day
15th|
+15/+10/+5|
+10|
+4|
+4|Smite Foe 5/day
16th|
+16/+11/+6/+1|
+10|
+4|
+4|Combat Reflexes
17th|
+17/+12/+7/+2|
+11|
+4|
+4|Cleric Domain-2nd
18th|
+18/+13/+8/+3|
+11|
+4|
+4|Bonus Feat, Smite Foe 6/day
19th|
+19/+14/+9/+4|
+12|
+5|
+5|Cleric Domain-3rd
20th|
+20/+15/+10/+5|
+13|
+5|
+5|Bonus Feat, Noble Mount 3rd-Tier[/table]

Class Features:
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Cavaliers are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all types of armor (heavy, medium, and light), and with shields (except tower shields).

Lay on Hands: As per the Paladin ability.

Aura of Law: Aura of Law is a Cavalier's final defense. Used when foes close in around him the Cavalier summons his knowledge of right and law, and projects a feeling of defenslessness and clumsiness against neutral and chaotic foes. Neutral foes take a -1 penalty to AC and BAB, while Chaotic Foes take a -2 penalty to AC and BAB. This effect lasts for 1 round per Cavalier level. The aura can be resisted by a (DC10 + Cavalier level + Cavalier's CHA mod) Will save. A Cavalier may use Aura of Law once per day at first level, and gains additional uses every seven levels.

Mounted Combat: The Cavalier is treated as always having the mounted combat feat.

Smite Foe: As per the Smite Evil ability, but only against Chaotic or Neutral Foes. A Cavalier gains one use at third level, and an additional use every three levels there after.

Knightly Grace: At 2nd level, a Cavalier has been trained to fight on horseback, and when mounted on a horse or pony gains a +2 competence bonus when attempting to control an untrained animal. When mounted on a warhorse, or warpony, the Cavalier gains a +1 bonus to mounted melee attacks.

Bonus Feat: A Cavalier is granted bonus feat in addition to those she normally receives. Bonus feats may be selected from the fighter bonus feat list.

Improved Shield Bash: At 4th level Cavalier is treated as having the Improved Shield Bash feat while mounted, even if he or she does not meet the requirements.

Dodge: From 5th level on, when mounted a Cavalier is treated as having the dodge feat even if he or she does not meet the requirements for it.

Cleric Domain: A Cavalier, while not necessarily a religious warrior is looked upon with favor by his or her god. At 13th level, a Cavalier may choose one of his or her gods domain's, and use the domain power as a Cleric of one quarter the Cavalier's level, as well as the first level Domain Spell. At 17th level, the Cavalier gains the second level domain spell, as a cleric of one quarter Cavalier level, and at 19th, gains a third level domain spell, as a cleric one-quarter of the Cavalier's level.

Ride-by Attack: At 11th level, if not taken before the Cavalier gains Ride-by Attack while mounted, even he or she does not otherwise qualify.

Combat Reflexes: If he has not taken it at an earlier level, at 16th level, the Cavalier is treated as having Combat Reflexes.

Lance Knight: At 13th level, the Cavalier has become a master of mounted combat, and as such is able to deal double damage when charging mounted wielding with a Sword, or Axe and Shield. Charging with a lance deals triple damage instead. The Cavalier's BAB, and chance to hit rolls are unaffected. The Cavalier also is able to disregard the -2 AC penalty while charging mounted.

Noble Steed: At 8th Level, a Cavalier may spend 1d4 days familiarizing himself with a particular mount, and bind himself to it. In doing so, it becomes a first tier mount. At level 14, it becomes a second tier mount, and at level 20, it becomes a third tier mount. While mounted on his Noble Mount, the Cavalier gains a +1 to his Reflex and Will saves.

If the Cavalier's Noble Steed is killed, it takes a year and a day to become familiar enough with another mount to replace it. Upon the steeds death, the Cavalier loses 200xp per level, with a fort save for half. In addition, the Cavalier must make a fort save, or be treated as having one half his total ride skill until he gains another Steed. Making the fort save reduces the penalty to three-quarters his ride skill. If the Cavalier's Steed is resurrected, the penalty to his ride skill is negated.


Noble Steed
{table=head]Tier|HD|Natural <br> Armor|Str. Adj.|Special
1st|
+2|
+2|
+1|Improved Mounted Combat, DR5/Silver
2nd|
+4|
+4|
+2|Shield Mount
3rd|
+6|
+6|
+4|Mounted Archery, DR10/Silver[/table]

[DArKandEViL]

Isn't this a multi alignment Paladin basiclly?

[Triaxx]

Similar, but built on a different principle. Paladin's uphold right and order. A Cavalier with fight for order, but not necessarily the kind of order you might want.

I did borrow a few things from the Paladin, but I intended to make it a different sort of class.

[Rama_Lei]

Um, How can you have a cavalier without a horse? Wasn't a cavalier a member of the cavalry?

[Matthew]

Why doesn't the Cavalier receive any of the Mounted Combat type Feats? It seems kind of inconsistant to make his final Class Feature mount related when nothing else is, don't you think? What kind of Feats can be selected via the Bonus Feats?

[Caewil]

There's something wrong with the tables, the BAB progression is a little wacky, and so are the saves. It's just odd.

Adjust the BAB to full. (+20 at lvl 20) and the saves to 12, 6, 6.

[Iituem]

Suggest shifting B.A.B. to full (BAB = class level), giving one good save (Fort) and two poor (see other classes for guidelines on good/poor progression). Alter some of the feats to provide more mounted benefits (after all, a cavalier is a member of the cavalry).

In addition, the lance automatically deals double damage on a charge. You could extend this to triple (leaving double damage on the other weapons), but you might want to drop the feat down to 12th level or so anyhow, as it seems rather weak for an endcap.

Otherwise, looks nice.

[Nebo_]

Why are you giving it BAB that's higher than full? Also, there are not medium saves in DnD, it should either be good or bad. I also find it puzzling that you didn't add a mount like the paladin's.

[Triaxx]

Iituem: Isn't that a little low for such a feat? And what sort of end cap would you recommend? I think I'm trying too hard to keep it from being over powered, and ending up under powered.

Nebo: BAB was an accident. It's a carry over from a series of math tests, to see if it's possible to change the BAB without completely breaking D&D. Saves were a mis-type as well.

As for not adding a mount, I don't want to tread on the paladin's toes. Bad enough bards and rangers do it to the rogue.

[magic8BALL]

saves are still mis-typed.

This just looks like a different version of a paladin: a mounted combatant with a little spell casting and healing.

Also, skill points at 1st level should be x4, not x3.

[Roderick_BR]

I was kinda specting a mounted warrior, like the Cavalier PrC from Sword & Fist. Maybe you should at least rename it to something like Law Guardian.
I think someone already did a lawful neutral paladin in this forum. Yours seems more combat oriented with all these feats. I'll have to take a better look later.

[Triaxx]

The saves are correct for what I want. He's supposed to be a rapid moving warrior, with high defenses. He's not supposed to remain in place while a Wizard draws a bead on him. But the skill points were in error.

[Iituem]

Gah, didn't get my earlier type. Was going to suggest keeping Lance Knight at lvl 20, renaming it Knight of the Realm and giving triple damage to lances on a charge, count all weapons as lawful for the purposes of damage reduction and (possibly) give +1d6 lawful damage on attacks to all chaotic creatures.

[Triaxx]

Hmmm... I like that too. And I already added a special mount as an end cap ability. Decisions, decisions...

[Iituem]

I would suggest 'Noble Steed' rather than 'Celestial', as it does not carry the actual Celestial template and it would sound a little odd in the place of a Lawful Evil Cavalier. This is especially true as the horse in question, unlike a Paladin's mount, must be trained and familiarised from a horse in the mundane world, rather than summoned from the celestial planes.

I would suggest that a mount who dies inflict some sort of penalty (this is usually around the lines of a 200xp/character level penalty, 100xp/level penalty on a successful fort save, although you may wish differently) and that it will take a year and a day to familiarise oneself with a completely new mount. Resurrection of the mount would not remove any xp penalties (though it might other penalties) but it would allow for a rather cheerful reunion (and not having to train a new horse).

[Triaxx]

I thought I was forgetting something. And I have a perfect idea for the second penalty.

Does anyone else hate editing tables?