Cavalier in Action, Council of Thieves Campaign

[KnightErrantJR]

Alright, I posted this one other time, and foolishly didn't do so on my snazzy Lazarus equipped lap top, so I should try this one more time.

One of the players in my campaign converted his character, a 2nd level dwarf fighter, into a 2nd level dwarf cavalier. Given that the dwarf had a background as a former military trainer in the Chelaxian military, it didn't seem too hard to convert him over conceptually.

For anyone playing in the campaign, there are some mild spoilers about the set up of the adventure and where the party was at, so I'll put the set up in spoilers.

Spoiler:

The adventurers started out having already wandered around the sewers, and having already freed Arael from the Hellknights outside of town, and picked up in town.

Out of Combat

This session had a lot of roleplaying to it, as the adventurers were interacting with NPCs a lot, so much of the Cavalier's combat effectiveness didn't really come into play.

Spoiler:

The cavalier didn't really interact much with the actor that was to be their nemesis in the scene where they take the horses back, but the dwarf did use intimidate a bit to help train some of the Children of Westcrown during their down time.

Also, since the party had some down time, everyone else used some of their non-combat skills to make money, and I allowed the dwarf to use his Handle Animal to help train animals around Westcrown much like other characters used Profession, Craft, or Perform to make money.

RP wise, the dwarf has not picked out a mount because he doesn't want a "human" style mount, and is holding out for an axebeak, since he can't use a boar for a mount as per the mount rules.

Since he doesn't have a mount yet, he has explained that his dwarf trained mules and other animals for combat situations while he was in the military, so that he can explain the bonus he gets to the skill. At the very least, it gave him something to hang his hat on RP wise with the character.

There were a few skill checks that the dwarf helped out with, having chosen the Order of the Cockatrice, since he figured this would be the most logical for an adventurer. He and the party were happy with the +3 on aid another checks.

Trial by Combat

Again, a bit of a spoiler for why the combat came about, in the campaign.

Spoiler:

The PCs set out to find a shadowbeast to hunt in order to boost their reputation. Given that the group consists of six characters, instead of four, the shadowbeast involved was a bit more dangerous than some of the "defaults," but still something from the "Westcrown by Night" encounter chart.

The party was surprised by a shadow mastiff in the streets of town, and the dwarf moved in to fight the beast. When everyone had surrounded the shadow mastiff, it howled and set more than half the party to running.

At this point, the dwarf's player did mention that it would have been nice to still have his fighter's bravery ability, and that panicked really hurt, as he ran and dropped his weapon.

After a two rounds of fleeing, the dwarf came back against the beast, and the dwarf challenged the shadow mastiff. He had said he would be hesitant to use the ability with too many foes on the field, but against a single foe, it wasn't a concern.

This gave everyone that managed to surround the beast an additional +1 to hit, and was well liked by the party.

The dwarf's player pointed out that he would have gotten bonuses to help someone that asked for help, but he felt that the way the Oath was written, he would have to wait for someone to ask for help, or tell them to ask him for help, and he felt that was a bit strange. Overall, he's having a hard time making the oaths work out.

Also, while he's waiting for a thematically appropriate encounter, it should be noted that this encounter, in relatively clear streets, would have actually allowed him to ride a mount in combat fairly easily.