Knight

Medieval Europe's equivelent of Hell's Angels

It's around the year 600 AD in Western Europe, a period that ain't called the Dark Age for nuthin'. Rome has fallen, society is crumbling, small tribes are warring with one another, and a bunch of Germanic barbarians are fighting over the scraps. Then something comes in and changes the game: A while back some clever bastards in China figured out that it is much easier to ride a horse if you have small loops on strings hanging off the sides of your saddle to put your feet in. This idea became popular and slowly moved its way across Eurasia and then arrived in Europe by means of the Avars.

This meant that it was a lot harder to get knocked off your horse by your enemy, or swing your dumb ass off, and that you could crash into enemies with a lance, smashing shield walls, unlike earlier cavalry which could just scout, attack the rear and chase down people who were running away. A few armored guys on horseback with stirrups armed with spears and swords could break an army of hundreds and they could get from point A to point B quicker. The guys who figured this out first took over, all with the blessing of the Church so they could conquer troublesome pagans. When they took over, each cavalryman was given an area of farmland and farmers on it. They had to cough up a section of their harvests every year as protection money so their masters could afford their horses, armor, swords and a few goons on foot for backup. Europe was taken over by these equine riding motorcycle gangs which came to be called knightly orders.

These guys were the greatest thing in Europe's arsenal for nearly a thousand years before being weakened by Italian pike formations, another chinese import and the idea of a professional and standardized standing army which gradually put an end to the age of knights. Then, in the 19th century and after the French revolution, Romanticists who wanted to defend the old order of things against upstart ideas about "democracy" and suchlike began looking to the past with rose coloured glasses and forgot about the shitty quality of that period and instead saw dashing knights in shining armor (a phrase that originally meant "The New guy who has never been through battle" FYI).

Misconceptions

In modern parlance, Knight is the catch-all term for some posh bloke who fought on horseback with decent armour and weapons. But the term 'Knight' refers to the social rank of the man, not the way he fought.

Most armored guys on the battlefield (usually carrying shield, non rusted armor and a decent weapon) were Men at Arms -- a better equipped class of soldier. Through patronage of a wealthy lord large groups of these blokes were kitted out with decent weaponry and armour (to varying degrees). They sometimes had a horse if there weren't enough cavalry, otherwise they just be a better equipped form of infantry. They were usually of better social standing than their comrades serving in a Lord's (or Knight's) armies as meat shields and arrow fodder (Re: conscripted peasant), although that itself would vary from men who their overlord might socialise with to a degree, to a better off commoner like a merchant who simply bought better armor than the smelly peasants, or they might just be some smelly oik with an aptitude for combat kitted out at his Lordship's expense.

Since most Knights were fairly wealthy they nearly always fought as Men at Arms, though not all Men at Arms were Knights. It is also worth noting that Men at Arms usually were poorer equipped than Knights, and often received little to no training which usually lasted between a fortnight and a month. Knights, however, were trained from the age of six.

It is also worth noting that some Knights did not fight at all, being too sickly, too old when war broke out, or simply too scared; again, a Knight is a social rank, not a military rank.

The Modern Take

In our current times the misconceptions mentioned above have created a stereotype in the general public's mind of what it means to be a knight; an owner of land and a castle, wearing that ridiculous heavy armour on top of a mighty horse and being the upmost example of honour, valour and nobility. This is because over time people have a tendency to start romanticising things in poems and stories until what it originally was is buried under a mount of half-truths and plot twistings. For example there is that tricky part of the tale of King Arthur: his dad Uther Pendragon wants to have it off with the lady Igraine, who is married to his enemy Gorlois. So, using circumstances and Merlin's magics, Uther takes on the identity of her husband, has his way with her, and then nine months down the line Arthur is born, an illegtimate child. This is left out of many tales except those seriously referencing the old poems as it is not the heroic source of the once and future king that many would expect (in later legend there is emphasis that Gorlois actually dies before the conception, therefore changing the fluff of the legend in Uther's father. A predecessor to Matt Ward it looks like).

So many use knights are a standard for human warriors of chivalry going out and slaying various beasts and saving various maidens (most fantasy settings, RPGs and mmorpg's use knights as a class type, some renaming to make them sound more original like 'Paladin' or 'Crusader').

So if you are a knight in such a modern fantasy setting, your usual duties will include:

• Quest Taking: From killing a dragon to drive the moles out of the fields of farmers
• Monster killing: Really a whole category of it's own although often a Quest as well, there are various nasty critters around and in ye olde times you would serve as a pest exterminator for hire.
• Damsel rescuing: Even if she is married, you could get a kiss and hopefully a hefty reward for giving her a hand.
• Helping out your king: At times you'll be called on to help your king or lord and hook up with a bunch of your knightly mates to rout some naughty foreigners giving the kingdom trouble.
• Wench pulling: You keep an entire industry of busty women in business with the profits from your questing.
• Looking impressive: The armour is not just practical, it is also for show. It gives the peasants something nice to gawk at.
• Example setting: Along with looking good, you have to practice being good to and showing everyone how to be a goodie. From escorting ladies to putting your cloak out across a puddle to saying hello to Ted the stable boy, being a goodie is a 24/7 job.
• Training a squire: Knights don't just come out of nowhere, you got to have yourself an apprentice too. The good thing about it is they act like your own personal servant while you train them up and you might learn something while you are doing it too.

Pathfinder - The Cavalier

Paizo has added traditional knights/men-at-arms to the Pathfinder roleplaying game, as the cavalier class. They're a lot like Paladins without the magic. They differentiate themselves from the other melee classes in two major important ways: mounts and orders.

First of all, the cavalier focuses heavily on mounted combat. Lots of his class abilities give out bonuses to him and his team while he's on his mount, including his "banner" skills, and let him bond with one particular animal. Note that Pathfinder has rules for riding critters like motherfucking dinosaurs and sexy centaur ladies, so don't feel compelled to settle for regular old horses. Every cavalier can also challenge enemies one at a time in the best tradition of chivalry, bashing the head of their chosen target in the ground in the name of honor, and they are natural tacticians, handing out Teamwork feats to the whole party a couple times a day.

Second, a cavalier gets to choose from a variety of "Knightly Orders," that give him additional benefits and customizability, but also require him to keep up a code of conduct. Unlike the paladin's code, though, not all of these "codes of conduct" are pure Lawful Good stuff, and many vary heavily from order to order. Some outright tell you to be a murderous bastard, some basically make you act like a mini-paladin, and most give you an ideal, such as knowledge, glory, or beauty, to defend and strive for. You don't necessarily lose those benefits if you're terminally unable to roleplay your order right, but you will get jumped by other members who don't like you sullying their good (or evil!) name.

The Samurai class is a derivative of the Cavalier class, which mostly makes sense, and even comes with a few cool new Knightly Orders, though crosspicking is possible for both parties.

The Classes of Pathfinder 1st Edition
Core Classes:	Barbarian - Bard - Cleric - Druid - Fighter - Monk Paladin - Ranger - Rogue - Sorcerer - Wizard
Advanced Player's Guide:	Alchemist - Antipaladin - Cavalier Inquisitor - Oracle - Summoner - Witch
Advanced Class Guide:	Arcanist - Bloodrager - Brawler - Hunter - Investigator Shaman - Skald - Slayer - Swashbuckler - Warpriest
Occult Adventures:	Kineticist - Medium - Mesmerist Occultist - Psychic - Spiritualist
Ultimate X:	Gunslinger - Magus - Ninja - Samurai - Shifter - Vigilante

D&D 3.5

They have a high base attack bonus. Like paladins this class has a code of conduct. Unlike paladins, the consequences of breaking this code of conduct last a day tops (directly anyways, who knows what larger setbacks it might result in). The code of conduct consists of what they consider a "fair play". Part of the code of conduct is not dealing lethal damage to helpless foes. By the way, some creatures are immune to non-lethal damage.

See also

• Bretonnia: A nation in Warhammer Fantasy based around these fuckers.
• Samurai: The Eastern version.