Knights specialize in fighting, and are better at it than nearly anyone else. They favor heavy armor and, well, “knightly” melee weapons. Their name refers more to this than to their social status, which is as highly variable as that of any other delver. In the book’s own words: “… Knight sounds better than Fighter (so generic!) or Thug (offensive!).”

So yeah, this is the equivalent of D&D’s Fighter class, but it’s a lot more honest about representing a specific type of combatant, and also about their capabilities: when they say the knight is good at combat, they mean it. As you might already be able to tell, they’re my favorite template.

Basic Stats

The Knight’s starting statline is ST 14, DX 14, IQ 10, HT 13. Their speed is reduced from 6.75 to 6.00.

They have the second highest base ST, losing only to the Barbarian. Their high DX also makes them excellent physical generalists.

Advantages

Knights start with 2 levels of the Born War Leader talent, plus Combat Reflexes and High Pain Threshold. None of these are exclusive traits, but the last two are major boons to anyone who plans to engage in combat and Knights are the only profession that always starts with both.

Born War Leader means Knights are much better at their profession’s main mental and social skills than their average IQ 10 would indicate.

They have a whopping 60 points to put into further discretionary traits, all of which make them better at either fighting (like Extra Attacks and Enhanced Parry) or leadership (like extra levels of Born War Leader).

Of note here is Weapon Master, which boosts their skill at arms from merely “unrealistically good” to “superhuman”. This advantage reduces penalties for multiple attacks and defenses, gives access to some special skills, and gives them a major damage boost with the weapons covered by the advantage. Knights are not the only profession that has access to this: Martial Artists, Swashbucklers, Scouts and Thieves also have it. But Knights are the only profession with access to the version that covers all weapons, if they’re willing to pay the 45 points it costs.

Disadvantages

Knights need only choose -35 points of disadvantages here, as their reduced Speed makes up for the rest. The available choices of personality problems here let you make anything from a callous and unpleasant thug to a crusty veteran soldier to a chivalrous hero. You also have a small selection of physical disadvantages representing old battle wounds.

Skills

All Knights have the skills to use a shield and any one ranged weapon of their choice, as well as some unarmed combat training. The melee skill packages offer the choice between skill 20 at any one weapon, skill 17 at two, or skill 16 at three. Do you want to master your chosen weapon, or do you want to be able to use anything that can show up on a random loot table?

I’ve seen people not take the Shield skill and instead move its points to a weapon skill, increasing it by 1. That would indeed let them start with skill 21 in a weapon.

Other skills include the tactical and leadership stuff boosted by Born War Leader, and they can pick a few from the full gamut of universal delver lore plus Intimidation.

A Knight is likely to start with fewer skills than many other professions, but there’s nothing preventing them from learning more with earned points. And they can start out very, very good at their main job, so they can start branching out earlier.

Special Knight Traits

Knights can buy extra HP up to 1/2 their ST, instead of just 1/3. Also, they can buy new weapon skills or improve existing ones with earned character points instantly at any time - even mid battle!

They also have some exclusive traits. As you might expect, these are not magic, and instead represent you being Just That Good.

  • Armor Mastery (5 points): When you wear any armor with DR 2+, increase its DR by 1. This reflects your skill at actively using the armor, turning your body so blows always strike the strongest parts.

  • Rallying Cry (5 points): Unleash the Warlord in you! This lets nearby allies who are mentally stunned (from surprise or enemy powers) immediately make a Will roll to recover. If they succeed they immediately lose the defense penalties from being stunned and can act normally on their next turn.

  • Sacrificial Block and Sacrificial Parry (1 point each): These let you attempt these defenses on behalf of someone else who is in reach. The Block works for allies who are behind you, the Parry for allies who are beside you. Roll as if you were defending yourself, and if you succeed your ally is protected as if they had succeeded. They’re “sacrificial” because they count against your own defense limit for that round.

  • Shield Mastery (15 points): Any shield you use gains +1 to its Defense Bonus, and you gain an extra DR 2 against cone and area attacks if you can interpose your shield. Captain America probably has this.

  • Shield Wall Training (1 points): This lets you use your shield to block attacks on behalf of an ally who is beside you, and eliminates the penalty for attacking while holding a large shield.

Customization Notes

You can use this template to make any “heavy fighter” archetype, from an European-style knight to a samurai to an Amazon to Guts from Berserk. It’s all about weapon and disadvantage choice. The book also says it’s important to decide if you want to completely master a single weapon be decently skilled in a wide variety of them. High skill is definitely powerful, but there’s value in keeping your options open in campaigns where the GM is enthusiastic about random loot.

As a personal note, I’m going to say Weapon Master is so good it feels almost mandatory. Few things are more dangerous in the battlefield than a ST 17+ Weapon Master Knight who focuses on a single big swingy weapon like a polearm or two-handed sword. By the time the wizard finishes charging that fireball, all enemies in the field will already be dead.

No matter your specific build, you definitely want to spend quirk points on extra money for an armor upgrade.

The “This Ain’t D&D” Section

For once there isn’t much to this section. DFRPG Knights are pretty similar to D&D Fighters in terms of visual style and intended function.

The main difference here is, well, truth in advertising. Both games say the archetype is the among the best at fighting, but here this is actually true.

It helps that GURPS melee combat goes far beyond the “I hit it with my weapon” level of detail supported by D&D mechanics, and that you actually become more effective if you use those options. With such a high skill level you can afford to do that without reducing your chances of success.