Morrowind Character Guide Series: The Knight

Danae -

Foreword

For those who watch my let's plays and livestreams, you'll know that we're all about role-playing and not at all about min-maxing. This series is not about the ultimate [insert class] build, let's face it, sooner or later your character will be a god-killer whether you min-max or not. In addition we tend to always want to play the same way, with the same style, the same weapons, the same game play. So instead, I want to suggest ways to play a class and mods that can make the experience fresh and more unique. For more general role-playing mod recommendations, you can check this guide.

Skills, Race, and Birthsign


The important attributes for the Knight are Strength, followed by Personality. You will need a bit of Agility if you choose to use a shield, Intelligence for Enchant and Willpower for Restoration.
The two best races in my opinion are the male Redguard and the Nord.
The Nord, especially the female Nord will be better at casting Restoration spells but worse with a shield (so stick to two-handed weapons).
The Redguard is more versatile with weapons as you'll enjoy decent buffs in both Long Blade and Axe (the Nord only has Long Blade) and can use either one-handed or two-handed weapons. Also, your daily power Adrenaline Rush kicks ass.
If you intend to take advantage of the Speechcraft skill (it's a major skill for the Knight), you could pick the Lady. If combat is your priority, go with the Warrior birthsign.

Gameplay and Mods

Looking the part

  • The Ultimate Knight Shop by Orry aka The Hand of God for all your shields and armour needs. Includes Knights of Tamriel by Jeremy McQuinn (or get the separate armour here: Jeremy has quests to get each armour set).
  • Bob's Armory 2 has plenty of medieval looking armour and chainmail for both genders.
  • But also Carnithus Armamentarium Complete for all the Black Knights out there as well as the Lady Knights in skimpy armour.
  • Make sure your weapons look great, you can either follow this guide on Weapon Replacers or go with the fanciest weapons out there (remember, you are a Knight, rusty weapons won't do), grab HD Weapons by EJ-12 and Qwerty. I normally only use their artifact replacers but for my Knight, I want the whole replacer.

Combat

  • For mods that make shields more fun, refer to my Crusader Guide.
  • Fighting is your art (as well as rescuing damsels in distress, I guess?) some make sure it is fun and challenging! Try the combat module from Apoapse's MNEM Gameplay Overhaul. If you decide to install more modules, read carefully through the read me as some mods that are included are quite old or even obsolete. The combat module is great and included the good old MEN Combat Tweaks.
  • If MNEM is not your cup of tea, try some combat mods from my Barbarian Guide.
  • The latest mod for combat is Next Gen Combat by Aracelliy. This one does not leave my modlist.

House Redoran

If your Knight fights with honor, House Redoran is a better fit for you. Most people agree House Redoran is dull so here are a few mods to make it more interesting.

  • LGNPC naturally. Grab anything related to House Redoran and Redoran-controlled cities: Pax Redoran, Ald'ruhn, Indarys Manor, Maar Gan, Vivec, Redoran, and Ald Velothi.
  • Olyn Hleran, a Redoran Companion: a mod by LadyPhoenixFireRose, Pseunomix, and myself. Olyn will offer hints or even alternative ways to complete Redoran quests. In his house, a memento is added to his collection for every quest done.
  • Ald'ruhn X is my favourite expansion for the city. Looks beautiful and immersive, even has a quest. Grab Malic's patch to improve pathgrids and fps
  • Alternatively, you can try Crankgorilla's Ald'ruhn Expansion, a good mod, especially since it has a couple of radiant quests, but keep in mind that the FPS hits can be quite high and that Crankgorilla’s specialty is to use modder’s resources, which can sometimes break immersion.
  • Epic Ald'ruhn by MikeandIke. Adds tons of houses to the city to make it look epic. These houses have no interiors or NPCs. I would argue that the placement of some houses is a bit odd, but the overall effect is there, Ald'Ruhn looks like a major city now.
  • Redoran Council Hall improvement by Kalian brings life to a somewhat empty council hall.
  • Vil's Indarys greatly expands the House Redoran manor.
  • Or, if you prefer, Centurion's Redoran Stronghold Extension adds 3 buildings and services to Indarys Manor.
  • Casey Tucker's Khuul expanded is an immersive and lore-friendly add-on for the fishing village.
  • More Detailed Places - Khuul by Ragox is more lightweight and enhances Khuul by way of extra plants, banners, and the like.
  • Maar Gan, a more detailed place by Ragox. A minimalist expansion to the town, adding plants, lanterns, and so on. It is mostly compatible with the following mods.
  • Maar Gan Expanded by ManualIntelligence, adds a few buildings and services.
  • Unique Maar Gan gives the original Maar Gan buildings a unique texture. Naturally, if you are already using Detrius's Redoran replacer, this mod won't make a difference. Not compatible with the previous mods as the new buildings would not have the unique texture.
  • Ald Velothi Complete by Saltmummy. This large expansion adds quite a few traders and services to Ald Velothi, including a winery, an outdoor market, a house boat, a baker, a bookstore, and even a fort taken over by renegade Ashlanders. If this is all too much, you can pick and choose here.

Other

  • For mods that let you make better use of Speechcraft, check my Agent Guide.
  • A Knight needs a steed!
    • For Dunmer, or the Knight who's adopted Vvardenfell as his new home, definitely grab Abot’s Guars. It even lets you ride a guar with a companion. It's always been glitchy in my game, but then again, I tend to mod it till I break it...
    • MadMax's Pegas Horse Ranch will suit most races. With this mod, you not only ride horses, you also breed them and train them. You might want to grab the Improved Riding Horse Fullrest Edition for better horse textures.
    • Aspiring Dragonknight? I've got you covered: Reign of Fire by Razhkul is a massive quest involving Dragons attacking Vvardenfell and, spoiler, you get to train your dragon! Be sure to grab Gluby's patch, as well as Bahamut's dragon textures.
    • If you'd rather challenge a Dragon Lord and earn the right to ride him, try MadMax's Lord of the Dragons.
  • A Knight is noble-born... Here are three mods to prove it: Imperial Noble Titles, Long Live the King, and Jarl of Solstheimall mods by Gavrilo93. Progress through the ranks of nobility, become Duke, Jarl, or even King.
  • A Knight is educated, for mods related to books, check out my Bard Guide.
  • Be good to the poor plebs, Gavrilo93's Communist Nerevarine lets you donate money to paupers.
  • Merlord's Character Background has the famed warrior background that fits nicely the knight.
  • Fargoth in Distress by Gavrilo93 and PoodleSandwich2. Lets you do the right thing, because you are noble and honorable.

Castle life

Castles and Manors

  • I fell in love with Korana's Solstheim Castle all these years ago. This castle is beautiful and staffed. Large laboratory with an alchemist to sort your ingredients, a maid that draws a bath, an armoury, a dancer, a winery, stables... Honestly, just discovering the place a is joy!
  • Spokorni's impressive Castle Hestatur: Massively huge castle decorated with Spok's Paintings that you'll also need to download. DarkElfGuy made a Youtube showcase right here.
  • If that's too big, Spokorni is also the author of the excellent Yorick's Tower, smaller and yet large. Grab Phaid's transport add-on for easy access.
  • If you fancy a historically accurate castle of medium size, Créhange Manor by ReflectioN is for you. Its size is moderate, which is perfect for a Knight.
  • Castle Vianden by ReflectioN is a beast of a castle, filling it with people and treasure is a quest of its own. The castle is gorgeous and based on the castle of the same name in Luxembourg. Keep this one when you level up to King!

DarkElfGuy made a video on top 10 castle mods.

Your Staff

Having a big empty castle is really sad. Pick one of these mods to hire cooks, a maid, guards, a garderner, etc.

  • A Lord's Men by Lord Gildor. A very large choice of NPCs for hire, including guards, trainers, and companions. The common household staff carry relevant items in their inventory but won't do much beyond that.
  • Nevena's Assistants and Apprentices. With this you can hire a chef, an alchemist, a smith, a brewmaster... These NPCs will sell wares relevant to their class and demand regular payment for their services.
  • My own Staff Agency where NPCs are hired and paid regularly. They also offer services: the alchemist will give you a potion once a day, the cook will give you bread, the enchanter will fill and empty soul gem, the priest will heal you, etc.
    I have made this YouTube video showcasing all three mods. I did try to stay objective but I probably failed to some extent.

Goals and Handicaps

Handicaps: Be chivalrous!

  • Never turn a quest from a lady in distress, unless her intentions are clearly dishonourable.
  • Never flee from a fight.
  • Don't lie or cheat for personal gain. Or even, at all!
  • Don't wear shabby armour! If you want to use your armorer skill, grab Merlord's Realistic Repairs but if you want a true handicap, have your armour repaired by a smith (come on, you have the gold and you don't really want to spend days at the forge when there are so many monsters to slay and damsels to rescue!)

Goals

  • Marry well, find a noble bride worthy of you. With Romance you get to woo the Noble lady of your dreams.
  • Find the best noble steed for you.
  • Fill your chosen castle with staff and treasure - there is A LOT of display space! Be sure to install Dahrk's Super-Sized Storage so even vanilla containers can hold more than a flower, a candle, and a sock.
  • Become a King, or at least a Duke.

Final words

If you want more ideas for random handicaps and goals, check this blog entry with wheels to click, you can find my permadeath modlist (and all the others, actually) here and if you'd like to see many new characters created, join us on Twitch every Sunday for our permadeath runs ;)
Happy Morrowinding!