Kharille wrote:
I think the blood sword warrior can't do a lot of things such as attacking sleeping opponents or run away. I figure maybe the knight and barbarian should have some similarities, such as penalties for running away from combat. An experience point deduction seems harsh, but perhaps a certain behavior would be expected to them.
Flyting of loki mentions 'playing the part of a woman' as an undesirable behavior. I'm sure knights who lie and run away would take an impact in their reputation.
I'm sure a warrior code would make this profession more colourful. Thoughts?
Conan, the role playing game, does codes of behaviour well (given time, I could probably dig some out to share), and Pendragon, too, instills knights with romantic, chivalrous, and Christian ideals to live up to. However, Dragon Warriors, for me, is a little bit more 'earthy' than that - it's fine for Knights to overtly adhere to their virtues, but covertly will be politicking like crazy to secure their fortunes. Obviously, the heroic knights that the PCs play will not undertake such skulduggery, but NPC knights and barons certainly should!
There are some example knightly vows in the Song of Rowland, composed around 1100AD:
o To fear God and maintain His Church
o To serve the liege lord in valour and faith
o To protect the weak and defenceless
o To give succour to widows and orphans
o To refrain from the wanton giving of offence
o To live by honour and for glory
o To despise pecuniary reward
o To fight for the welfare of all
o To obey those placed in authority
o To guard the honour of fellow knights
o To eschew unfairness, meanness and deceit
o To keep faith
o At all times to speak the truth
o To persevere to the end in any enterprise begun
o To respect the honour of women
o Never to refuse a challenge from an equal
o Never to turn the back upon a foe
And the Duke of Burgundy, in the 14th century, composed a list of knightly virtues:
o Faith
o Charity
o Justice
o Sagacity
o Prudence
o Temperance
o Resolution
o Truth
o Liberality
o Diligence
o Hope
o Valour
You could do worse than use these as the basis of any knightly code you wanted to put together for your campaign.