One of the reasons that I find so interesting about playing a knight character in a DL setting (during the War of the Lance time period) is the state of disarray and apathy that surrounds the knighthood during this period. Throw in the War against the Dragon Armies and you have the perfect ingredients for series of wonderful and complex RP where the character can help to bring a stodgy group into a new era, and set a new course.

It does however require a great deal of patience and dedication on the part of the player, because there are no instant successes. Most servers seem to have the same issues in attracting and keeping knight player characters; it's so much effort to deal with the rules and the perceptions of knighthood that most pass on it all together, and those who do have a high drop out rate when they do not see their contribution bear fruit quickly enough.

The way to have fun with it is to RP small victories and slowly introduce your big ideas. Remember, those Players who have stuck with their knight characters for a long time have done so for a reason; they like things the way they are. Which is actually true to the novels. But if you are really good, and you are patient, one day you will convince your fellow knight players to adopt something you have proposed.

The type of knight character that I enjoy playing is interested in Honour, Justice and Fair Play. She judges other characters based on their actions (as she can determine); she always gives others the benefit of the doubt (even to some unsavory characters). She will always defend the weak, never strikes first (unless a friend is senselessly attacked), and offers mercy as soon as her opponent is at a disadvantage.

Some might disagree with this but I find playing a knight character who looks for the good in everyone, and will even try to turn her enemy back to the light, is a lot of fun to play. My inspiration for this character type are archetypes like Luke Skywalker, Sir Lancelot, etc.

In the DL world there are archetypes for this type of character and that is Paladine and Huma, look it up, I provided the link. I've also included a link to some excerpts from The Measure, also on DL Nexus.

These are some of my favourite quotes.

Said that justice be sought in peace before using the sword.
Stated to know thy enemy.
Stated to not take life needlessly and to fight only in defense.

Hope this gives some more folks a reason to play a knight character; see you IG.

Some good points here. Though in my opinion much of it applies to all chars. Though personaly I don't care if I get any victories as long as the rp is good. That's all I ask for. That and the DM's bow to my every whim. If you play a char it's up to you to intergrate your char into the world not a DM's responsability. That process can either be quick or long. Depends on how lucky you are RP wise or char type. I don't see my char Elendor effecting the world in a big way any time soon due to his personality. But you never know RP can be a fickle thing. Who know where it'll lead you.