VALOROUS AND LOYAL ... ... serving his god, his
lord, and his lady, the knight is the archetypal hero. Not for him
cunning words or tricks, nor disguises and ambushes. The knight faces his
enemies boldly on the field of combat. The life of a knight is full of
quests, tournaments, and epic battles recounted in poems for the pleasure
of his lady-love. The classic image of a knight is a paladin in shining
plate armor, mounted on a warhorse. But knights can range far from this
stereotype; members of any character class, social class, race, or sex
can follow the path of chivalry.
This sourcebook investigates
chivalry in detail, giving knightly options for PCs and ideas for GMs to
use in designing adventures. Love and War features:
-
Discussions of the four knightly virtues - Valor, Loyalty, Piety, and
Love - including prestige classes, orders of chivalry, and specialized
feats and magic items for each. Become a valorous Dragonbane Knight
dedicated to battling monsters, a loyal Knight of the Fountain who serves
the king-in-exile, a pious knight of the Sun Goddess, or an amorous
knight-devotee of the Lady Iphigenia, who lived two hundred years ago and
was abducted by a powerful outsider.
- Sections on knighthood
and race that discuss how you can become a member of the dwarven Granite
Wall order that defends a mountain kingdom, the halfling Order of the
Sun that spreads the fame of its own members' deeds, or the Order of the
Nightingale that protects the elven queen.
- Exceptional
examples of knighthood, such as arcane spellcasters, female knights, lover
pairs, and dark knights who twist and pervert the chivalric virtues.
-
Guidelines for creating your own knightly prestige class and order of
chivalry, as well as rules for tournaments, quests, tracking renown,
and courtly battles of wit.
Requires the use of the Dungeons &
Dragons Player's Handbook, Third
Edition, published by Wizards of the Coast. VERSION 3.5
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