Unless I completely misread something how are you challenging every round? It's a once a combat thing (but lasts until the opponent is dead) just like the paladin's smite evil (except the once per combat instead of daily limits).
Yeah, I had misread that. Realized it afterwards when I reviewed things. Although in actuality, every instance I used it we really did face only one foe per combat (for whatever reason, that's mostly how the encounters broke out for those mods -- party versus 1 "bad guy").
So, I wanted to fill some slots in our biweekly PFS game in the Detroit Metro area, and I thought I'd double-dip here and make a cavalier to do some playtesting with. In my home game, I don't have a current "niche" I see cavaliers fitting into for a while, so this is my big chance to get some play time in with one and contribute.
My character was as follows; if anyone wants to yell at me at how sub-optimal he is, all I'll say is -- he's my character, not a faked-out example. I'm going to play this guy for a good amount of time, not throw him away after I "prove" something. I'm considering going into the Hellknight Prestige class, so some of this was me spreading things thin so I had some Wisdom and Charisma bonuses to make the Hellknight prestige class features useful to me eventually.
Character breakdown:
Str: 16
Dex: 14
Con: 14
Int: 10
Wis: 12
Cha: 13
Feats: Toughness, Shield Focus
Traits: Indomitable Faith, Armor Expert
Order: Order of the Shield
Faction: Cheliax (for maximum RP value and because a cavalier/hellknight seems pretty keen)
As you can see, I wanted to juice my AC up as high as practical with my starting gold (and I deliberately bought the most expensive items I could within the 150gp limit for PFS -- that seemed to suit the class concept). I upped my HPs with Toughness, and tried to guard my Will save with my trait choice. I obviously had concerns about being flanked while challenging, so I figured I'd give myself the best chance I had of surviving.
We played two PFS mods today, so I had a chance to see a fairly good range of possible interactions, from RP possibilities to (plenty of) combat. Here's my initial reactions on the class features and flavor:
1) Challenge
RP Value: High
I got to shout plenty of challenges -- my favorite being "I swear I shall kill all these slavers and bandits, starting with... you! (as I randomly picked the nearest mini amongst the bad guys)". It felt very in character to be picking foes and moving into single combat with them.
Combat Value: Medium to High
I pretty much got to constantly use this ability, and almost always was rolling that extra 1d6. The only times I didn't use this ability were the few rare rounds that I simply couldn't possibly engage in melee combat at all -- we faced targets that were flying or situated up on walls. Other than that, I challenged in every single round of combat. Lacking Power Attack, that extra die was the only thing that helped us overcome DR in a couple cases. I'd say this is the mechanic right now for the cavalier, everything else is very much incidental.
It didn't seem overpowering, even though I got to use it so much and pretty much never caught the bad side of it (the times I was flanked because I was challenging, I still had AC 17 and no one we fought had sneak dice). The additional ~3 points damage essentially helped put me where I would have been if I had been a 2-handed fighter with a great-axe instead of a sword+board with a battle-axe.
2) Mount
RP Value: High
I rode my horse most of the time out of combat, and when someone suggested we abandon it so we could sneak away from an encounter, saying I could just buy another horse, I put my foot down and said "you cannot buy that sort of love, sir!". That was both cheesy as heck and fun.
Combat Value: Low
If I'm reading the companion rules correctly, this mount doesn't come combat-trained. I could use him as a quick mode of transport around the battlefield, but I dismounted rather than having to make the Ride checks to control him in combat. Also, we had only a few instances where combat happened outdoors and the horse could even have played a part.
I'd say for the first few levels, it's nice to have (horses aren't cheap, after all), but unless I'm missing something and the horse is meant to come combat-ready, it's just flavor rather than power. In fact, rules-wise, I'm not sure I see how you get a combat-ready mount before 4th level (when the standard animal-companion upgrade kicks in). I suppose if you had the coin to buy a warhorse, you could discard your current mount and upgrade immediately after you spend a week mourning Old Paint.
3) Oaths
RP value: High.
Combat value: Nil to marginal
I'll cover these oath by oath; in a PFS session that blocks out 4-5 hours of time, it was hard to pick useful oaths. Here is what I evaluated, what I used and why, and how it worked out:
Oaths overview:
Oath of Chastity: I swore this oath once, and kept it for an entire adventure. It had high RP value, as I had to keep cautioning the female halfing in the party to not even brush up against me "lest my armor be astirred in an unseemly fashion". No one at the table understood exactly why I was so insistent, and coupled with my professions of love for my horse they definitely thought I was pretty perverse. I call that fun, and very suiting to the class flavor. Game-mechanic-wise, it never came into play -- I never had to make a save versus enchantment that whole adventure. So, totally 'meh' there, but still OK.
Oath of Greed: Never even looked at this one. Having to acquire 1000gp/lvl just to get a bonus that only lasts 24 hours? Not even vaguely worth it, nor likely to occur. I suppose it would come in handy if you pretty much knew you were about to get a hefty item, and then the temporary buff might be interesting, but... I deem this one unlikely for me to ever use in PFS, and even in my home games I don't know if any of my players would ever be able to meta-game enough to put this oath into play and get value out of it.
Oath of Justice: Considered it, since one of the adventures very much centered around getting one "bad guy". The only reason I didn't use this one was because I knew in a PFS adventure, the vanquishing of the bad guy probably would be the last encounter anyway. In a home game, this one probably would get a lot of use, especially if you knew you were going to follow the pattern of "eliminate the main lackey first, then get the boss". I'd rate this as one of the more useful oaths, especially once you can have multiple oaths in effect (since the payoff for this one might take a while).
Oath of Loyalty: Considered it, but didn't get a really good chance to use this one. I would probably make this my primary oath next time, since the triggering action is so simple and the benefit generally useful.
Oath of Protection: I would never use this one, only because I've been on enough (MMO)RPG "escort" missions to know that you always get screwed over by trying to ensure zero-damage to the "package". To me, this one screams out "hey, DM, please really try to hurt this other person". The fact that you only get the bonus when adjacent to the target of this oath makes it even more minimal. For something this restrictive in triggering and utility, I'd say much more than a measly +1 is appropriate (and +2 at 5th level doesn't seem much more appealing either).
Oath of Purity: Used this one, would use it again. Very much in flavor, and possibly of some use in actual play. I'd almost make this one the default "fallback" oath, since poison is a rare occurrence and everything else is pretty much player-controllable. Bonus in that the benefit, once obtained, helps you on the very saves that help you keep it active.
Oath of Vengeance: I used this one almost exclusively in the first adventure, switching the target as needed. It felt very much in flavor "I swear I'll kill all these [fill-in-the-blank], for they are an affront to everything I stand for!". However... I didn't see more than an incidental mechanical benefit here. This could be awesome for any thematic adventure where you know you'll face very specific foes, but even then you want to keep grinding through them since after 1 hour it resets. Still, another great oath to fall back on.
One unclear mechanical point is how specific the oaths must be, and the severity of the wording in "The cavalier swears to slay all creatures of a specific kind". It seemed a bit creepy to swear to slay all "humans", so in the course of the adventure I said "I swear to slay all these brigands". I know word-count matters, but I can see how in a class so defined by a code of honor, you might want to define the expectations and boundaries here. For instance, once sworn, is the oath abandoned if the cavalier gives any mercy?
Overall, I'd like more variety in the oaths, and definitely more benefit. Since all of these effects have expiration periods and a fair amount of specificity in how they apply, I'm pretty sure a default +2 in place of the +1 would make them more mechanically appealing. That might be too much of a tweak, but still... something feels a bit 'meh' about these, and I'd much rather have them feel more "awesome cool!". YMMV.
4) Order
RP Value: Insanely high
Combat Value: Minimal yet, but promising
My selection of the Order of the Shield as a Chelaxian was quite deliberate, and it paid off big-time; I actually in session threatened a fellow Chelaxian character and told him "if you torture that woman, I swear I shall cut you down where you stand. She shall not be harmed so long as I live." Wow, that was fun (and unexpected from those "evil Chelaxians" -- I'm LN, tending much more towards good). I felt strongly connected to my character and his ideals, and knowing that eventually some mechanical benefits would accrue made it even better.
I got very meager mechanical benefits from this choice, although having Knowledge (Local) as a class skill was nice. I forgot my Challenge benefit, but that would have been very handy in several fights. At level 2, Resolute looks to be a great bonus (and I'm going to stick with cavalier at least up through lvl 6 so that benefit gets even better). So, I think the Order concept works.
Once tweak I might make is to tie 1-2 Oaths specifically to an order. Either these are Oaths only that order can swear, or that order gets better benefits or duration from an existing oath. I prefer the first option; even 1 additional Oath option restricted to just your order solidifies the concepts further.
Overall, I think this class mostly works as-is. I'll get a bonus feat next level, keeping me competitive with the fighter, plus my order ability kicks in.
Specific things I see I'd like to see tweaked or that I would house-rule myself, just looking ahead a few levels as I imagine my character's future:
- Oaths, as mentioned
- Cavalier's Charge is great, but would most people have the Ride checks and mounted combat feats to make best use of this?
- Expert Trainer confers a Handle Animal bonus; I'd prefer a Ride bonus instead -- the skill checks I want to make are more like the Ride checks of fast dismount, spur on, etc. Feels like this should be an "Expert Rider" bonus instead. In fact, Skill Focus: Ride almost seems like it deserves to qualify as a bonus feat pickable alongside the combat feat list they get.
