VIDEO
and it is a subclass\Ninspired by a character class
that goes all the way\Nback to first edition D&D.
The cavalier in first edition D&D appeared
in the original book “Unearthed Arcana.”
So, in a way, when we were doing
our “Unearthed Arcana” series\Nof subclasses we thought
“Well, of course, in a series
named after the book, ‘Unearthed Arcana’
we should have the cavalier in it.”
Although, we didn’t end\Nup including the acrobat
which was another option in that book.
So, the cavalier is in many ways
the classic knight in shining armor
with the added twist of being outstanding
at horse back riding.
Now, many people might think
“Well, the game already has
the classic knight in shining armor,
and that’s the paladin.”
The big difference between\Nthe cavalier and the paladin
is that the paladin is a holy warrior
usually dedicated, if\Nnot to a particular god,
to a cause of some kind, to\Na great concept like justice.
Whereas, the cavalier is\Na non-magical warrior.
One who can be just as\Nhonorable as a paladin
but who might be driven by allegiance
to a particular monarch,\Na particular kingdom,
to the cavalier’s family,\Na particular town.
So, it has, in a way, more\Na grounded earthy feel
than the paladin, who again
is often this figure associated\Nwith these high ideals
and divine magic.
So, we actually showed\Noff more than one version
of the cavalier in our\N”Unearthed Arcana” series.
Both version actually got\Nkindof a mixed reception,
to be honest, from fans good enough
to make it into the book.
But, each time the score,\Nthe satisfaction score
was just on the line\Nenough that we kept saying,
“Okay, we’ve got to do more work.”
And really, the dissatisfaction\Ncame down to the fact
that the cavalier relying on\Nthe use of superiority dice
which is a mechanic that we borrowed
from the “Battle Master” one\Nof the fighter subclasses
in the player’s handbook.
Now, we thought people might be interested
in seeing this mechanic\Npropagated elsewhere.
But, instead, often\Nthe feedback we got was
“No, that’s the Battle Master’s.
We don’t want to see it in\Nother fighter subclasses.
We want to see them do their own thing.”
Feedback on the cavalier also at times
was very anxious about the\Nrole of the cavalier’s mount
because, as cool as it\Nis to be on horseback,
or dragonback or griffinback,
or whatever it is that\Nyou are riding in D&D
people know that often, if\Nyou go into a tight cave
or a dungeon that mount is not\Na whole lot of good to you.
And, so it then becomes\Nproblematic if too much
of your class features rely\Non your mount being present
because you could potentially wander
into a particular environment
and feel like “poof”, half\Nyour character’s abilities
just got turned off.
We wanted to make sure\Nthat in the final version
of the cavalier, the version that appears
in the “Xanathar’s Guide”\Nwe address those concerns.
So, in the version that’s in the book
is actually quite\Ndifferent from any version
that people saw in the\N”Unearthed Arcana” series.
What we ended up doing\Nis, we took the parts
that people liked best about the cavalier.
Then, we looked at some\Nof the other subclasses
we really released on the\N”Unearthed Arcana” series
for the fighter, and that was the knight.
And the knight and the\Ncavalier were super close
to each other in terms of story.
And again, story is our\Nstarting point with design
for our subclasses.
And we know as we were thinking
about what was going to\Nmake it into this book
very unlikely that both the cavalier
and the knight were going to make it in.
And, in fact, their\Nscores were really close
and the cavalier just\Nedged out the knight.
And that’s why the cavalier\Nended up being the one
that went in.
I have a feeling the\Ncavalier edged out the knight
partly because of the nostalgia
some people have for the name.
You know, it goes all the way\Nback to the first edition.
It’s also a name that appears
in the “Dungeon’s and Dragons” cartoon.
Granted, for probably the\Nmost unlikable character
in the show.
(laughs)
– [Todd] It was like\Neveryone’s least favorite.
Or at least he should be.
– The strange cavalier who does\Nnot have any kind of weapon
and also does not a mount.
– [Todd] Yeah.
(laughs)
– Poor Eric.
– [Todd] It’s a rough role to play.
– What we ended up doing\Nfor the final version
is we went to the knight\Nand looked at the features
that people like the\Nbest there, took those,
took the best features of the cavalier
and wove them together into essentially
a brand new subclass.
And really, the theme of this subclass
and this is something that came up
in both the cavalier and the knight
in their previous designs\Nis that they are all
about protecting others.
Because, again, these are knights.
Even if they are not, even\Nif a particular cavalier
isn’t a paragon of good,
the cavalier is going to be\Nabout protecting property,
people, something.
And so, the cavalier has class features
that are about protecting\Nthose around him or her.
And then we also have a few\Nfeatures related to the mount,
but we made sure that the mount is always,
sort of like, a little extra.
For most of the features\Nthe mount is not required.
But the cavalier will always be happy
when the mount gets to shine.
But, in a way, the mount\Nis kind of frosting.
And also, it is important to us
that the cavalier has\Nan identity of its own.
That’s not reliant on this\Nother creature being present.
Because even in history\Nwhere we had cavaliers
there was so much more\Nthan horse-back riders.
I mean, they were knights
with many other responsibilities\Nand martial abilities.
Although, we do point\Nout in the book and this
was something we pointed in\N”Unearthed Arcana” as well
that the cavalier is not meant
to be an accurate portrayal\Nof cavaliers in history.
And that’s true for anything in D&D.
D&D is often filled with\Nthings that were inspired
by things from real world history,
myths from different human cultures,
and D&D always sort of takes\Nthem and transform them,
and often turns them\Ninto an archetypal form
that feels natural in high fantasy.
And that’s really what\Nwe’ve done with the cavalier
who is now this mighty protector,
awesome at holding the line\Nand locking people down
who try to run away.
Really great at charging into battle
whether on foot or on horseback
and doing mighty initial strikes.
I think people are going to enjoy
what emerged from the\Nkind of revision process
that we went through over\Nthose multiple versions
that appeared in “Unearthed Arcana”
and then culminating in the version
that appears in the book.
– The cavalier is part of\N”Xanathar’s Guide to Everything”.
You can purchase that\Nbook on dndbeyond.com
in the link provided in\Nthis video description.
I’m Todd Kenreck.
Thanks for watching.