Why You Should Play A Cavalier Fighter | D&D 5e

[@josuelservin]

Only once, one of my players have chosen to play this class and once I realized they have no direct options to get a mount I gave them the first figurine of wondrous power from the Ivory Goats set and a quest to find the other two, he was reluctant to have a goat as a mount at first, but I told him that goats are not native in my world, so it is considered as mythical monster and it was a lot of fun having him charge into battle in a giant goat!

[@theeye8276]

Mythical goat

[@apjapki]

Amazing!

[@aquartertwo]

9:05 This can be remedied by Phantom Steed: a 3rd-level material-free Wizard ritual spell. By Level 6, it can be casted by: - Your party's Wizard - Your party's Lore Bard - You, the Fighter, who has an INT of 13 and took the Ritual Caster Feat

[@Comicsluvr]

The Cavalier suffers from the same issue as the Samurai; The name brings with it a lot of preconceived notions that may or may not apply to the subclass. Both work well but would benefit from better names.

[@enterthedungeon]

Agreed!

[@andrewlustfield6079]

@@enterthedungeon I've been playing and running Cavaliers since 1st ed--the way it was written back then was pretty ham fisted without a lot of nuance, but there were a lot of good ideas, too. Over these many years, I've come to a place where I feel the best way to conceptualize them as a highly specialized warrior elite as opposed to a fighter--a rank and file warrior that's able to fill many different roles exceptionally well, but not overspecialized or married to one style of fighting. And I do see Samuari as their own version of the Cavalier. This can be done with any culture's warrior elite. The simplest fix for a European cavalier to give them an additional mounted boost---give them +1 damage bonus per level when doing a mounted charge as an automatic feature. Doing this reflects that the cavalier knows how to combine weapon damage with the mass and speed of his mount to deliver a really nasty hit. So a 7th level cavalier does +7 additional damage on a mounted charge. In part, this was why mounted charges could be so devastating in real life. Just one possible thought to consider. HEMA channels are always great sources for inspiration, too. Many HEMA channels not only explore weapons, but also different kinds of armor from different eras. In real life they were the medieval version of tanks, too. And a truly feared adversary--rightfully so.

[@mechs_with_hands]

Cavalier, the natural companion to Wizards. If you ignore the wizard, you die. If you ignore the Cavalier and try to attack the wizard, you die. Also, Shapeshift happy druid + Cavalier= Why Warding Maunver while riding a T-Rex is a mobile warcrime.

[@stoephil]

It has so many protective stuff for your teammates... Because your mount is another creature too, here is the synergy with mounted combat : you protect your mount.

[@mjnior]

Cavalier + life cleric..... she was a shield maiden. Amazing build. Oh and she was a reborn for lineage 😮

[@TheDoughboy1917]

I think the cavalier should've just been called knight, like it was when it was UA (if i remember correctly). While knights were obviously famous for riding horses and mounted combat, the term invokes more imagery than just that. Cavalier invokes the image of a mounted combatant much more clearly, if that makes sense. The subclass was probably named Cavalier to connect it with the 1E class and 2E fighter kit. Edit: I just forgot it was also probably named Cavalier because Eldritch and Echo Knights exist, but this could've been remedied by naming it like Classical Knight or Chivalrous Knight

[@dominickdibart12]

The reason it has defensive abilities is to theoretically protect your mount and help control the battlefield. If you’re going to play this subclass with a mount ask your DM to use the sidekick mechanics from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. The first level of a Warrior Sidekick gives them the the option to use their reaction to give disadvantage on an enemy’s attack that would hit a creature within 5 feet of them. It’s nuts

[@michaelcordero7061]

You could just use phantom steed.😊

[@jasonhenry8067]

“It’s like they took two ideas and fused them into one” Apparently that’s exactly what they did. The Cavalier was born from a merger of two UA fighter subclasses that didn’t make the cut independently.

[@enterthedungeon]

I didn't know that. Thanks for commenting!

[@nnickplays9713]

Which ua subclasses?

[@nealenthenerd399]

Which subclasses?

[@elijahhawkins4033]

I just listened to a clip from Jeremy Crawford and apparently it was the Old UA of the Cavalier and the Knight. (I use dnd5e.wikidot for my D&D sources and you can find the UA listed there on the fighter page)

[@noahabbe9107]

I cant wait for the banneret subclass a huge roleplay class

[@enterthedungeon]

My secret love is the Purple Dragon Knight (AKA the Banneret)

[@aronnemcsik]

@@enterthedungeon I would love to play this class one day and if by any chance I get to multiclass I'm gonna go with Bear totem barbarian just to become more of a problem...

[@michaelcordero7061]

Purple dragon Knight isn't actually that Good. If you want to play a commander role, Battle Master with its team oriented maneuvers works better.😊

[@noahabbe9107]

@michaelcordero7061 sure,battlemaster is a better class but banneret is built to roleplay a noble knight in shining armor as in any fantasy story. Battlemaster seems more of a tactician role by comparison.

[@michaelcordero7061]

@@noahabbe9107 Nothing stopping you from being a Noble and a Tactician. Banneret by itself is decent overall, but it falls short of significantly better options in both role-play potential and viability.

[@MilkJugA_]

I think it's unfortunate that the lvl 3 feat has a limit of 5ft, when mounted knight would often logicially wield long reach weapons. Also I wish it didnt scale only off strength, i think it would be better if it was based on proficiency bonus

[@bignelly9476]

The first campaign I ever played was rime of the frost maiden and that first Character was Ajax a Goliath cavalier fighter. I was playing a sword and bord type fighter and whilst my dm did belittle my lack of damage being only a d8 he was infinitely frustrated with the lack of damage he was doing to me and the party. Very good memories of Ajax unfortunately the campaign only went till level 12, would have went all 20 levels in that class if I could.

[@TheTeletrap]

Cavalier definitely feels like it tries to emulate historical formation fighting with how many covering attacks they get. Having a line of cavaliers could easily emulate a historical pike wall. Definitely has that feel of a professional soldier whether mounted or dismounted. Perhaps “Lineman” or “Landsknecht” would be a better descriptor of the class.

[@dislikebutton9571]

if you have a wizard friend in your party or if you find the spell somehow you can take the ritual caster feat, and copy phantom steed into your ritual book. It will let you summon a 100 speed mount as a ritual but if the mount takes damage it disappears, so I also suggest mounted combatant feat and maybe shadow touched to cast invisibility on the mount to protect it. Reminder that when your mounts takes the disengage action it protects both you and it from opportunity attacks which works great with that 100ft speed.

[@nemo5335]

cavalier/ancestral guardian with sentinel and a polearm, and you have made a walking tarpit. just stand there in a chokepoint slapping things with your polearm and yelling "HEY FREAKSHOW, YOU'RE GOING NOWHERE!"

[@DesmondDentresti]

I'm glad a lot of the B-roll was of Aragorn. Because everyone thinks he would be a Ranger in D&D, because rangers were based off of him originally and that's what people called him in the book. To me, Aragorn has always been a Fighter and specifically the Cavalier lets him be a true protector to his companions. It gives him some of the skill proficiencies he would otherwise miss out on compared to Ranger. Plus all the additional ASI's let you actually round him out, because Aragorn is a jack of all trades with high numbers in every ability score as well as likely a couple of Feats.

[@ThirtytwoJ]

Mastiff 8gp. Horse 25gp. 2 levels of druid, ranger, or nature cleric if ya wanna find one. Strixhaven Fractal, ultimate mount esp if you give it warding bond to have the familiar cast onto you. Then you protect each other. If you go 2 levels warlock you get the usual fun... 3 if ya dont want the last skill and prefer lots of pseudodragon poison.

[@unhackerthelaziestbastardo6083]

I remember thinking about making an Ancestral Guardian Barbarian where the concept was "Wood Elf Knight or wandering warrior, virtually indistinguishable from a fighter", and I remember I wanted to go with a fighter subclass. I didn't realise Cavalier was the way to go (because I initially wanted to go with Champion for extra crits)

[@chriscrane1482]

This is probably my favorite fighter subclass. It can do a lot of stuff. They all can but this one in particular with the abilities it gets just fits so many archetypes. I played it as a mounted knight and it was great. We even did a higher level one shot and it damn near murdered the shadow monk on the charge because while the arena was dim light he needed a lantern to see due to being human. Later in the campaign one of the enemies mind controlled him and it damn near ended in a party wipe because of it. I had gone with a polearm/lance build where Id basically just get as many reaction attacks as possible to halt people. When he got turned against the party the monk was halted and butchered. The other 2 players had to avoid the enemies and the now possessed knight and barely made it to each other and teleported out. I can't wait to play the Cavalier again.

[@darkdragonsoul99]

I am someone who actually fell into the misconception that it's just a mounted knight without a surefire mount. I mean a full scale tank is something I didn't think I'd find it dnd but this seems to be the closest thing too it.

[@PhilosophicalZombieHunter]

I really really enjoyed playing a cavalier. My party almost never even lost any health and my mage loved me.

[@Needlesse]

You could play a centaur. Just ask your dm if that can count as being mounted. If your dm is nice he can give you permanent advantage on saving throws to being knocked prone as an overhaul of the the 3rd level born to the saddle. Maybe even fall dmg resistance. The 15 level charge synergises nicely with hooves charge attack as that gains advantage on prone targets.

[@PowderKeg3838]

I gave my cavalier player a magic item that allowed for a find stead spell once per day.

[@brandonschneider3993]

I doubt anyone will read this. But if you do, take my word for this. Do 5 levels of Barbarian. Path of the bear totem. The rest is Cavalier fighter. Take the feats great weapons master(of course) and mounted combatant. This is amazingly tanky. Now. As for your mount. Talk to your DM about using your bear spirit as your mount. Use the brown bear stat block. If your mount dies, roll a d4 and you can't conjure your spirit mount for as many days as rolled. It makes it such an easy way to guarantee you'll have a mount and incorporates you're totem multiclass in. Any other feats you can do what you want. Swap GWM out for polearm master for extra distance. But you'll have a great time and your DM will hate you

[@samfish2550]

The one caviat is the BA attack is Only if they attack another creature close enough to proc it. So it's easy to avoid, less of a attack for you than a disinsentive for the enemy.

[@tirionpendragon]

"Only a recommendation, please, never piss off the Cavalier Fighter, that thing will wipe out you and all your homies." - Big Bad Evil Guy

[@cyberrift8168]

these videos inspired me to play an arcane archer with the modifications so thanks :)

[@Trexflex1699]

if you run cavalier and a battlesmith multiclass, you apply disadvantage to all attacks other than on you and your steel defender has a reaction to do the same thing, giving all melee range enemies disadvantage on all attacks

[@lucasolivares2161]

i guess this subclass has full tank mechanics cause, obviously, u can have a mount and that mount being a creature that have actions, imagine a Bear rider or something like that u always have a decent dmg dealing companion and thats is pretty neat

[@an1mepirateking499]

I am playing as a grung gladiator who was enslaved to the arena master and got free with my friend the large honey badger and he is my mount. MY mount is immune to the poison I secreted by touch and it is really awesome. I can make multiple attacks and innately do poison damage and it just rocks.

[@michaelcordero7061]

Cool thing about Cavelier is that you dont need a mount to be viable. A mount should be seen simply as a buff to your abilities without needing to be someting you rely on to hold the build together. Cavalier is an example of a tank archetype done right. Tanks in RPGs typically need to be good at a handful of things. 1st off, Locking down space. Cavelier excels at this. Dare i say better than giant barbarian. Even if giant barbarian has more reach potential (demiurgic collosus +reach weapon + bug bear) Cavalier has more potential for speed nulling opp attack spam, (tunnel fighter stance + Pole arm master and lv 10 Cavalier, opp attack become free, spam them while in stance. Sentinel if you want to ignore disengage.) 2nd: Tanks must he able to draw aggro. Cavalier can make enemies have disadvantages in attacking anyone other than the Cavalier. Forcing foes to fight them first. Giant barbar can do the same, but more so through damage potential and demonstrating that they are the most dangerous and the one that should be focused. Monks can do this too by being fast as f**k and stun spamming everything. 3rd: Tanks must be able to shrug of hits/avoiding damage while keeping aggro. Giant barbarian is good at this with natural resistance, Monk can function as an aggressive evasion tank if played correctly. And Cavalier can keep up with warding manuver that can just null a strike entirely for you or an ally and give you or them resistance if you get hit anyway. So it does both. In the event that you don't need to hold the line and be defensive, Cavalier has the potential to be an aggressive brawler as well, especially since you can sprint by prone someone on hit. If you use a mount like Phantom Steed, you become a one man blitzkrieg that can solo cavalry charge and knock 8 dudes flat on their asses instantly if you action surge. And when it comes to brawling, your capstone is littlerally an "im gonna interupt an ally or enemy's turn and make an opp attack against a target in my reach as a special reaction." Which can be used to join in on a coordinated strike with the party against one target, or strike a foe first and potentially kill them before their turn can even f**king start. And if you use Tunnel fighter, this special reaction becomes FREE, though you can't use it with normal opportunity attack to double up on two opp hits in one enemy turn. Even still. Jump in and interrupt whenever an enemy in your reach tries to do something without moving, or just join in to kill a weakended target. Cavalier is f**king underated man! 😂

[@dantedetoussaint209]

Donno about this one chief. I love fighter. And don't get me wrong I will and want to play a cavalier. It's just staying always with 5ft of an enemy is a real task in the early levels and warding bond only helps with attack rolls

[@jarlnils435]

Centaur fighter chamion build with bow, lance, sword, severed heads for throwing. Run into battle as if you are cavalry, shoot from afar, run to them, lance them, trample them, retreat, shoot, run to them, trample, hit with sword run away, repeat. And than become champion subclass.

[@Oznerock]

Unwavering mark is actually great while mounted! Because it means the enemies can't just kill your mount!

[@The_mekboy_you_deserve]

3:20 it is worth noting also that warding maneuver works also on you, so yes, you become even more tanky and yes, you gain resistance to the damage you take. And I think that a Cavalier Fighter was one of the funniest characters I ever made. His name was Strider and he was a… mimic, shapeshifted into plate mail, the core concept was that he did not want enemies to get out of his reach because… who would want to let his dinner escape, right? I ignored the part about mounted combat completely. I went into battle with a glaive, hit, stepped 5ft away and then let the barbarian attack the guy, he'd go out of enemy's reach to jump to another enemy, I would get my wavering mark from the attack of opportunity and then the enemy was dead in round 2,rinse and repeat for many more rounds to come.

[@williamperez4770]

Loved your video. I don't see a link to the other vid mentioned st the end though?

[@jole8723]

My favorite fighter class

[@mikemuller863]

Hi there, very cool Video and I like the Cavalier, Barbarian combination. What I cant understand ist the Reachtion u can use ervery round. Action and Bonus Action is clear for me, but where is the reaction? Greetings Mike

[@stealth_meister4939]

You say it's not about mounts until you get saddle of the cavalier, throw it on your mount, get mounted combatant, and now you impose permanent disadvantage on all attacks if they attack your mount, which you redirect to yourself, keeping the disadvantage. You mark them and now they have disadvantage no matter where they go and you most likely have advantage on them since most creatures are likely gonna be smaller than your mount. Then use sentinel if they try to run away to get rid of their disadvantage, making them basically lose their turn. Edit: you actually don’t need sentinel due to hold the line.

[@uiuelite]

How play a good cavalier 1-Take armor plate 2-Take lance and shield 3-Take a dire wolf as mount 4-CHARGE THE ENNEMY

[@VBadBaboon]

How well does Cavalier multiclass with paladin? Cause I think Find Steed and Find Greater Steed would be really handy spells to have

[@enterthedungeon]

It's a fine multiclass. Smites and healing are never bad. The problem is the soonest you can get Find Steed with the multiclass is when a character is 8th level. That's usually when most parties begin to wrap up their adventure meaning you'll be mostly Paladin rather than Cavalier. Overall its a good multiclass but the Steed spells come in late enough that most PCs won't get full use of them.

[@irishjesus3927]

@@enterthedungeon I have a similar question:) I’m playing a Paladin right now and want to multiclass into a cavalier. If I wait until I hit level 5, I gain the “find steed” spell. I can then switch over to cavalier. I’m currently level 2 with shield master (I played a variant human) and at level four I was going to take the Mounted Combatant feat. I’ll use whatever mount I can find until I gain the spell at level five…unless the wizard in my party has a summon steed spell or something. I haven’t chosen my vow, yet, but which would be best in conjunction with my listed plan?

[@Cashmoneez]

I agree that it should not be “cavalier” but I do love the flavor of a mounted knight dashing all over the field to defend teammates reminds me a lot of the fire emblem where most games will start with a calvery unit to make the early game easier. Perhaps something like “warden” would be a better name

[@ThirtytwoJ]

Mmmm im lookin hard at this for a poisoner hadozee, or halfling. mastiff ftw. Tho i guess bugbear and a few others would be sweet... Cough grung cough. Small RACES get a lot more use out of it. Esp for like... A strixhaven fractal user.

[@clusterchuck7346]

I'm actually playing a polar master cavalier now

[@WolfHreda]

I thought the Cavalier was cool as shit, and then I accidentally crafted a Halfling Beast Master who rides her Primal Companion into battle and took the Mounted Combatant feat at some point. Reaching the Ranger's 18th level ability necessitated skipping a Fighter subclass, but I took two levels for a fighting style (Interception is incredibly useful while mounted), Action Surge, and Second Wind.

[@ramonruijgt4532]

what if they reflavour it as a fighter who climbs on huge monsters back and fights on

[@enterthedungeon]

Then I'd be very happy

[@The_Young_Lion]

What movies did you pull your clips from?

[@owlking195]

My friend is combining this with battle smith arti

[@Renard229]

Tried it in a oneshot, took ritual caster for phantom steed. (Mongolian!!!)

[@hankdetroit2076]

I've been playing dungeons & dragons since 1986 when I was 12 years old... And I've been a cavalier the entire time... I love being the cavalier who's aspiring to become a paladin one day...

[@WyattRoss-kr9sd]

If you play this as a bugbear with the polearm master along with the pike NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO GET HIT EXCEPT YOUR ENEMIES

[@paulh3892]

‘‘Tis but a flesh wound - the cavalier

[@colinhudspeth8019]

Dooode noooooo you get all kinds of stuff for mount fighting like straight immune to difficult terrain plus this also counts for vehicles

[@Elkantar_Rostorgh231]

5e did the Cavalier so fucking dirty.