Wizards of the Coast released a new version of their Cavalier subclass for the Fighter this week via Unearthed Arcana, and if I like it better than the original version of the subclass, it’s nevertheless still not particularly close to being something that I would actually play. That’s a shame. As a former armored cavalry officer, I would really like to find a way to play some kind of mounted heavy cavalryman. I just don’t think WotC is there yet in terms of class design
I was big fan of 4th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons, but I always felt that it’s biggest shortcoming was the way that it modeled--or rather, failed to model--mounted combat. You had to take the Mounted Combat feat if you wanted play a knight or some kind of cavalryman, and that feat’s benefits were strictly limited compared to other feats, particularly those related to your Character’s race or class. None of the classes in 4e had a build that particularly favored mounted combat, not even the Paladin, which has traditionally had Celestial Charger as one of its iconic class features. I even tried setting up a mounted campaign for my gaming group, but it just didn’t work. The group felt there were better ways to move through the campaign-world than by horseback, and they didn’t see the advantages of trying to optimize their characters for combat on horseback. I tried upping the ante, adding high fantasy concepts to the game like griffins and riding sharks, but we never achieved the feel I was looking for, and after a while, I quit trying.
