Image credit: Tony Justamante Jacobs
Knights are the upper class soldiers that populate fantasy armies and protect the king’s interests across the land. Perhaps you need a party of knights for the PCs to encounter while visiting a neighboring kingdom. Maybe you need a group of knights to pursue the wrongly-accused PCs as they flee the wrath of the king.
Here’s a free knight generator for 5e Dungeons & Dragons and for the Low Fantasy Gaming system to make the creation of customizable knights easy and fun!
Customize Your Party of Orcs
Knights are often treated as generic fighters with good armor and horses. But with a little more detail, you can bring them to life as a very different kind of encounter for your PCs.
- Backstory: The Maker’s Forge Foe Generator will create a backstory for your knights that you can tweak as needed to fit into the PC’s current situation. What are these knights doing in this part of the world? What battles have they fought recently? What mission have they been assigned by their feudal masters? What do they want? And more importantly, how does what the knights want conflict with what the PCs want?
- A name and vivid description: your knights should each have their own names (that begin with “Sir” of course!) that can be discovered during parley, trade, negotiation, threats, or capture. Every knight should be unique when you describe him to the player that encounters him. Vivid description is the lifeblood of the roleplaying game. What sets this knight apart from his fellows? Separate from the band of knights, what does this knight want? And what is he prepared to do to get it?
- Weapons and hit points: knights typically possess excellent armor, weapons, and a mount. What does his horse look like? What strategy and tactics will he use in battle? How tough is this knight? Does he use a shield or prefer two-handed weapons?
- Knight Commander: bands of knights often report to a minor noble, a knight commander. Is he noble-hearted and honorable? Or a hollow shell, handed his land and titles without the courage to go with them? What does this knight commander want? How does he treat those under his charge?
- Veteran knights and common soldiers: Some knights have seen countless battles and know every trick in the book. Other bands of knights command a small army of common soldiers in service to their lord.
- Loot: should the PCs win the day, what gear and valuables might the knights be carrying? What possessions do they protect in service of their king or queen?
Foe Generator for 5e D&D and Low Fantasy Gaming
So what are you waiting for? Go use the Maker’s Forge Knight Generator to get a jump-start on a band of knights. It does all the grunt work for you: stats, names, horses, short descriptions, weapons, and HP for each knight, even the loot they’re carrying should your PCs defeat them. All that’s left for you to do is to bring the knights’ goals into sharp conflict with the PCs and let the sparks fly!