Preview: Cold Iron Knight


There are chivalric orders among fae courts and human society dedicated to the preservation and accumulation of secret knowledge. Some of these orders beknight individuals with a mandate to employ these secrets toward a given end. Many of these knights go out into the world as Watchful Folk, using their knowledge and martial prowess to defend the meek and smite the cruel while simultaneously adding to their order’s store of hidden lore.

The Cold Iron Knight is the most directly marshal of the initial four classes. It’s the only one that gets a general attack bonus via the Combat Prowess class feature, and one of its primary features gives it access to equipment made out of Cold Iron, which allows it to pierce nigh-impenetrable magical defenses and interact with fae in other, more interesting ways.

On top of that, the threat of a cold iron blade is often more effective than its use. Fae beings facing down a knight at the negotiating table know that their counterpart could shred their comfortable invincibility with practiced ease, and that by itself can often facilitate a good-faith discussion where such might otherwise be impossible.

But Cold Iron Knights aren’t all brawn, no brains. Another class feature, Secretive Order, is centered upon their ability to gather and employ secret knowledge — and knowledge of secrets — in the completion of their quests. Collection of Tomes gives the knight the ability to research general information and hidden lore, given enough time to do so.

Designer Commentary

Joshua Mann: This class was probably the toughest on which to nail down an interesting tone, for me. The first iteration was just a fighter with magic weapons, which felt staggeringly bland compared to the other classes. We were actually going to have the Wolfhunter as the primary martial class on initial release, and develop the knight for later release. Then we struck on the idea of a Knights Templar style secret order, which I think gives the class a much more interesting flavor. As a side note, it’s also the class in which our one friend who always makes Geralt has had the most success generating an off-brand Witcher character, so there’s that.

John Cates: Hey I love this dude. I don't know exactly when I formulated it, but for years I've held onto this mental image of a knight completely dehumanized under a suit of full plate, resolutely walking into an opaque fog spreading across a dale. That's what the cold iron knight is for me — a person of unassailable conviction advancing into the unknown. A fairy-tale spaceman. That's why I opted for a relaxed, self-assured posture in the illustration over something more aggressive, and why the knight's tome is just as much a feature of their vestment as the cold iron sword. They're not aristocrats engaging in martial pageantry like historical knights; they're highly trained, rigorously educated explorers and crisis response personnel.

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