Help redoing the 1e cavalier?

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Hrafn
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Help redoing the 1e cavalier?

#1 Post by Hrafn »

No idea where this actually goes... Houserules seemed appropriate.

After a good fight turned ugly, a job lost to injury, a pregnancy, a birth, some severe schedule shifts and chronic illness (not all of them my own, but most!), I finally found time to do something fun, and that's play a game of older D&D with a friend.

Long story short, instead of letting him idiot chill and throw books at him, I ran him through a conversation about pulp adventure, survivalism, and philosophy and used his responses to shape the character. I'm looking at a cavalier from the AD&D unearthed arcana book, except... It's too ethnocentric to british Europe. I was wondering if anyone could help me shape it more towards a general class, since the cavaliers likely to be floating around are either ottomans or Arabian horse nomads, neither of which cleaved to chivalric knightly mores nor plated armor head to toe. And... I am plum stuck for ideas.


Thoughts?
Kaa, who devours (5th level shaman, ACKS)

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Alethan
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Re: Help redoing the 1e cavalier?

#2 Post by Alethan »

Hmmm... Will think on it a bit and get back with you. Might just be a few general ideas, but hopefully will be helpful.

I assume the baby one was you? If so, then heartfelt congratulations!
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Re: Help redoing the 1e cavalier?

#3 Post by Alethan »

Reading through the 1e UA, it seems like there are just a few real limitations set upon cavaliers that invoke the medieval European culture...
Cavaliers are not limited in which weapons they can use, but certain weapons are preferred over others, such that a cavalier will seek proficiency in these weapons before learning other weapons. These weapons are the lance (required of the 1st-level Armiger), long sword, broad sword, bastard sword, short sword, horseman’s mace, horseman’s flail, horseman’s military pick, dagger, scimitar, and javelin.
The cavalier gains bonuses “to hit” with certain weapons as he or she advances in level... (details of weapon bonuses provided)
The lance is the preferred weapon of the cavalier, and proficiency with it is required at the first level.
...a cavalier character will always seek to possess the very best and finest-quality armor the cavalier is able to own.
As a member of the social upper classes, the cavalier has a coat of arms and armorial bearing.
Everything else either has no ethnic bearing or could easily be adapted. For the most part, the trouble seems to be with weapons and armour. So the obvious way to remove the European ethos is to remove or change the weapon and armour limitations. Instead of requiring specific weapons, maybe just require any weapons used to be of certain quality (i.e. higher cost) than standard weapons. Or come up with a list of weapons appropriate to the ethnic focus you have in mind.

Same goes for any trappings the cavalier has - clothed in the finest samite (isn't that a line from the Holy Grail?), mount tack embossed with silver or gold, highest quality horse, etc.

For the armour issue, maybe tackle it a different way for a different culture, as bravery is indeed defined differently by different cultures! Maybe wearing no armour at all while riding into battle is the ultimate form of bravery! In that case, you could borrow the AC advancement from the Monk (or Dark Dungeon's Mystic) to reflect skill gained at avoiding damage through level advancement. You might then modify the parrying ability to give them some help at lower levels - maybe give them the ability to parry once and attack once in the same round?

As an aside, I think it's funny that the cavalier rules include this...
Weapons that deal out damage at a distance (including pole arms, missile weapons, and the two-handed sword) call into question the cavalier’s personal bravery, and as such are avoided by all except the most powerful of cavaliers.
... when a cavalier wearing plate armour, wielding a heavy lance, and riding a war horse charging down an orc in leather with a rusty sword is really the opposite of "personal bravery". I think the lance/war horse combination is most certainly a classification of "distance" weapon greater than pole arms and two-handed swords. Personal opinion, of course.
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Hrafn
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Re: Help redoing the 1e cavalier?

#4 Post by Hrafn »

Aye, t'was me. Thanks!

And, I feel like a lot of the behavior is very stilted. It's not even very medieval, it feels like an anachronism reconstruction of Chivalry. It does say right there, the code is fit for a feudal campaignand the DM should feel fit to adjust though, I've somehow missed that line every time over the last fifteen years <_<

Och, looks like I need to do some internet researchin'. Hopefully I can find useful information and not just dry, Wikipedia level stuff.
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Re: Help redoing the 1e cavalier?

#5 Post by Dizlexus »

For the purpose of this discussion I think it is important to point out that the SAMURAI from OA is a SUB CLASS of the Cavalier.

Here is an example of the class being adjusted to another culture by the early ADD writers themselves, much like what is being suggested.
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Re: Help redoing the 1e cavalier?

#6 Post by Alethan »

Dizlexus wrote:For the purpose of this discussion I think it is important to point out that the SAMURAI from OA is a SUB CLASS of the Cavalier.

Here is an example of the class being adjusted to another culture by the early ADD writers themselves, much like what is being suggested.
Excellent point, Diz.
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