Knight NPC Stat Block 5e: Parry, Leadership and the 2024 Knight

This page covers the knight NPC stat block: the armored retainer, oath-sworn champion or lord's enforcer a DM drops into a scene. It is not the paladin or fighter class. The knight is a CR 3 Medium Humanoid worth 700 XP, with AC 18 from plate, 52 hit points, two greatsword attacks a turn and a Parry reaction that adds 2 to its AC against one melee hit. The 2014 knight also has Leadership, a once-per-rest action that adds a d4 to its allies' attack rolls and saves. The 2024 knight loses Leadership, gains 1d8 radiant damage on every hit, and can fire its heavy crossbow twice a turn.

Table of Contents

• •Knight Stat Block (2014)
• •The Knight in the 2024 Rules
• •How the Knight Fights
• •Running a Knight Encounter
• •How Players Beat a Knight
• •Knight Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Knight Stat Block (2014)

The SRD 5.1 knight is a front-line soldier with one support ability.

AC 18 is the headline. At CR 3 most monsters sit at AC 13 to 15. A level 3 fighter with +5 to hit needs a 13 to hit the knight, 40% of the time, before Parry.

The crossbow is a formality. Its Multiattack is "two melee attacks," so at range it gets one heavy crossbow shot at +2 for 5 damage. A knight that can't reach anyone should close the distance, not shoot.

Leadership is an action. For 1 minute, whenever a nonhostile creature the knight can see within 30 feet makes an attack roll or a saving throw, the knight can call out and that creature adds a d4, as long as it can hear and understand the knight. A creature can only have one Leadership die at a time. It recharges on a short or long rest and ends early if the knight is Incapacitated.

Brave gives it Advantage on saves against being Frightened.

The Knight in the 2024 Rules

SRD 5.2.1 keeps the knight's defenses and rewrites its offense.

What changes in play:

• •More damage, no support. The 2024 knight deals about 40% more per greatsword hit (14 against 10) but no longer buffs the soldiers around it.
• •It's a real ranged threat now. Two crossbow bolts at 15 damage each mean a knight on a wall or across a river is dangerous instead of idle.
• •Parry works blind. The 2024 trigger only needs the knight to be holding a weapon. A hidden rogue or an invisible attacker can still be parried.
• •Fear does nothing. Immunity replaces Advantage, so the Fear spell and the Frightened rider on other effects fail outright.

How the Knight Fights

A knight holds a point and makes the party come to it. It's slow (30 feet, Dex 11), heavily armored and hard to move, so it fights best where the party has to get past it: a gate, a bridge, a corridor or the side of whoever it's sworn to protect.

Damage per round. Against AC 16, +5 hits on 11 or higher, 50%:

Parry, worked out. Parry turns any melee hit that beat the knight's AC by 0 or 1 into a miss. Against a +5 attacker, AC 18 is hit on 13 to 20 (40%). Parry makes 13 and 14 miss, dropping that attack to 30%. One in four of that attacker's hits disappears. It only works once a round, so the knight should save it for the hardest-hitting attack it can see coming, usually a paladin's swing or a raging barbarian, not the first dagger.

Leadership, worked out (2014). A d4 averages 2.5. A guard with +3 against AC 16 hits on 13+ (40%); with a d4 added, the chance rises to 52.5%. That's about a 30% increase in its damage, plus a d4 on every save against the party's spells for a full minute. Leadership costs the knight one round of its own attacks (about 10 damage). Four guards with spears (4.5 per hit) gain only about 2 damage a round from it, so it takes about five rounds to pay back in damage alone. Use it when the allies hit harder than guards or the party relies on save spells, and use it on round 1, before anyone can Incapacitate the knight and end it.

Protect the charge. Most knights are guarding someone. Stand next to the noble, the priest or the prisoner. Characters who want to reach that person have to go through or around a creature with AC 18, and leaving its reach provokes an opportunity attack.

Fight with honor, or don't. Whether a knight attacks an unconscious foe, accepts a surrender or fights to the death depends on its oath. Decide before the fight. A knight who yields at 10 hit points and offers a parley is a better scene than one more corpse.

Running a Knight Encounter

A knight is worth 700 XP. Under the 2024 SRD budget for four characters:

The 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide guidelines (used by our encounter calculator) rate a lone knight against four level 3 characters as Medium (700 XP against a 600 Medium threshold). Add four guards and the ×2 multiplier for five creatures makes it 1,600 XP, exactly the Deadly threshold at level 3. The 2024 budget calls the same group Moderate, because the 2014 multiplier counts four weak guards as extra danger. In play it lands between the two: the guards drop fast, but a 2014 knight with Leadership makes them hit more often.

Knights work from level 3 to about level 7. After that, AC 18 stops mattering as attack bonuses climb, and the knight becomes a named lieutenant in a bigger fight.

How Players Beat a Knight

• •Make it save, not get hit. AC 18 is its strength; its Dexterity and Intelligence saves are +0. Fireball (Dex) is a good choice. Thunderwave is a worse one: it calls for a Constitution save, and the knight is proficient (+4).
• •Hold Person is strong. The knight is a Humanoid in both editions and its Wisdom save is +2. A DC 14 spell lands 55% of the time. Attacks against a Paralyzed knight have Advantage, and any hit from within 5 feet is a critical hit.
• •Kite the 2014 knight. Its crossbow shot is +2 for 5. Ranged characters 60 feet away can take it apart for several rounds. The 2024 knight shoots back for up to 30.
• •Spend cheap attacks into Parry. Parry is one reaction a round. Send the weaker attack in first; once the knight parries, the big hit that follows lands normally.
• •Kill Leadership by Incapacitating it. Hold Person, a monk's Stunning Strike or anything else that leaves the knight Incapacitated ends Leadership for every ally at once.
• •Don't bother with fear. Brave (2014) and Frightened immunity (2024) both shut it down.
• •Talk. A knight has an oath and a lord. A good Persuasion check or a credible threat to its lord's reputation can end the fight without a swing. Use the NPC generator to give the knight a name, an oath and a grudge so the parley has something to work with.

Knight Encounter Ideas

The toll knight. A knight has sworn to let no armed traveler cross a bridge without first besting her in single combat, a vow she made to a lord who died ten years ago. She'll fight one champion at a time and stops at first blood. The party can fight her, sneak past at night, or find the lord's heir to release her from the vow.

The escort that turns. The party is traveling with a knight and his squires to deliver a prisoner. Halfway there, the knight learns the prisoner is innocent and the lord who ordered the transfer means to have her killed. His oath says deliver her; his conscience says don't. Whether he fights the party, joins them or asks them to decide for him depends on how they've treated him so far.

The siege postern. Four guards and a knight hold the sally port of a besieged keep. The knight uses Leadership (2014) or crossbow volleys from the arrow slits (2024) while the guards hold the door. The party is trying to get a message inside, not take the keep, so finding the right words for the knight matters more than beating him.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is a knight in 5e?

A knight is CR 3 and worth 700 XP in both the 2014 and 2024 rules. It has AC 18 (plate) and 52 hit points.

How does the knight's Parry work?

As a reaction, the knight adds 2 to its AC against one melee attack. In 2014 it must see the attacker and wield a melee weapon; in 2024 it only has to be holding a weapon when it's hit. If the higher AC beats the attack roll, the attack misses.

Does the 2024 knight have Leadership?

No. SRD 5.2.1 removes Leadership. In exchange the 2024 knight adds 1d8 radiant damage to both its greatsword and heavy crossbow and can make two crossbow attacks per turn.

Can the knight be Frightened?

The 2014 knight has Advantage on saves against being Frightened (Brave). The 2024 knight is immune to the Frightened condition.

What's the difference between a knight and a veteran?

Both are CR 3 soldiers worth 700 XP. The knight has better AC (18 against 17), Parry in both editions, Leadership in 2014 and radiant damage in 2024. The veteran has more hit points (58 in 2014, 65 in 2024, against 52), three attacks in 2014 and no support ability. Use a knight for a sworn champion and a veteran for a sellsword.

Stat blocks: System Reference Document 5.1 (2014) and 5.2.1 (2024), Wizards of the Coast, CC-BY-4.0. Tactics, encounter math and ideas are Loreify's own.