Weekly Wonders - Cavalier Archetypes

Dark and Stormy Knights!

Few classes capture the imagery of the valorous and courageous knight as well as the cavalier, with its chivalrous orders, its rallying banner, and its trusty steed. But more player options are always a good thing, and with so much focus directed towards new cavalier orders, there are relatively few cavalier archetypes available to players, making the class less customizable, in some ways, than others. This is particularly unfortunate, because the cavalier class has several class features that tie directly into teamwork feats, which were introduced alongside the class in the Advanced Player's Guide. What might the cavalier class have looked like if it was introduced in Ultimate Combat? What about players that aren't interested in teamwork feats? These are some of the things that the four new cavalier archetypes presented in this book explore.

These archetypes are split between two relatively traditional interpretations of the cavalier, and two that are a bit more radical. On the unusual side, there is the arachknight, a spider-mounted cavalier inspired by the drow, who gains the ability to use poison, train vermin, and eventually even create webs of his own. Also on the more extreme end, the driven warrior is a cavalier who makes heavy use of the vehicle rules presented in Ultimate Combat, and is designed to fight from a vehicle, rather than astride a mount, with numerous improvements to his driving ability. The favored knight represents the sorts of cavaliers who spend more time at jousts and tournaments than on the battlefield, and focuses on performance combat, also from Ultimate Combat. Finally there is the lancer, an archetype that is more archetype at combating other mounted warriors, and which can break lances off in their foes with devastating effect, and eventually perform a devastating charge that allows them to perform multiple attacks.