Knight Errant (Cavalier/Bard)

The knight errant is a wandering knight who enjoys the sights and sounds of foreign places. Less dedicated to being a champion on the battlefield and more to refining his skills and strengthening his friendships, the knight errant is nonetheless committed to his order and honor. As he gains levels, his abilities as a bard, diplomat, and figurehead come to the fore. Where other cavaliers might solve all their problems by blindly charging their foes, the knight errant can use his knowledge of the world and its inhabitants to convince others to join his cause, rallying mobs or armies to serve his order at his side, all with a cocky arrogance befitting the far-striding champion.

Primary Class: Cavalier.

Secondary Class: Bard.

Alignment: Any.

Hit Dice: d10.

Bonus Skills and Ranks: Knight errants may select three bard skills to add to his class skills in addition to the normal cavalier class skills, one of which must be Perform. The knight errant gains a number of ranks at each level equal to 4 + Int.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Knight errants are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all types of armor (heavy, medium, and light), and with light shields.

Bardic Performance: A knight errant gains the bardic performance ability. A knight errant counts his archetype level as his bard level for the purpose of determining the effects of his bardic performance abilities. This is exactly like the bard ability of the same name.

Fascinate (Su): At 1st level, a knight errant gains the fascinate bardic performance ability in place of tactician.

Inspire Courage (Su): At 1st level, a knight errant gains the inspire courage bardic performance ability also in place of tactician. This ability grants a +1 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects and a +1 competence bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls. These bonuses increase to +2 at 5th level, and an additional +1 every six levels thereafter to a maximum of +4 at 17th level.

Inspire Competence (Su): At 3rd level, a knight errant gains the inspire competence bardic performance ability in place of cavalier’s charge. This ability grants any ally within 30 feet and able to see and hear the knight errant a +2 competence bonus on skill checks with a particular skill as long as they continue to hear his performance. This bonus increases by +1 every four levels thereafter to a maximum of +6 at 19th level.

Gather Crowd (Ex): At 6th level, a knight errant gains the skill to drawing an audience to his performances in place of his 6th level bonus feat. If in a settlement or populated area, a knight errant can shout, sing, or otherwise make himself noticed in order to attract an audience to his impromptu stage. The size of the crowd is typically equal to 1/2 the knight errant’s level × the knight errant’s Perform check result, but may also depend on the local population. The crowd gathers over the next 1d10 rounds. If the bard fails to engage the crowd (such as by performing, kissing babies, trying to use fascinate, and so on), it disperses over the next 1d10 rounds.