Standards

Most notably, a knight’s standard appears in five places: on his armor, his shield, his lance-banner (when leading a charge to battle or shown at the beginning of a tournament), on a large banner or flag flying high above his castle, and on his private signet ring (which is used to leave an impression in sealing wax on letters and legal contracts).

The standard can include anything from the favorite flowers of a knight’s lady to the depiction of the knight’s most hated enemy or heroically vanquished foe. In classic medieval history, the objects placed on the standard usually had no apparent meaning to those outside the family. Often that secret was not passed down to the next generation of the family either, making things very confusing indeed if a genealogy is attempted.

However, for our purposes, it really adds very little to the game if such standards are useful for nothing more than identifying the enemy during a foggy battle. For all players interested in adding some color to their characters, some more thought is required.

The royal standard is born only by the king, his squires, and his personal knights, guards, and army. However, some kings require at least a portion of their standard to be included somewhere in the standards of any sworn vassals, noble or knighted. In such cases, the king’s symbol is something simple and easily recognized, like a sun, moon, lion, single bar, background color, or even a dragon, which is easily incorporated into any lesser standard.

Before a campaign is begun, at least the king’s standard should be described to the characters, as his followers are to be treated with the utmost care at all levels of adventuring. The standards of any neighboring allies and enemies and the local noble manor should also be determined before play commences fully.

If the DM is using the option of waiting to knight his warriors until they have become worthy of the honor through great deeds, then the knight-in-training must bear the standard of his lord until he has earned the chance to create his own noble line. Otherwise, players should detail their family crest and history during the character creation phase and submit this to the DM for approval and inclusion into the campaign.

In particularly large kingdoms or worlds where there is an emperor, it is possible for a newly knighted warrior to have more than one required symbol in his standard, making the customizing of his own standard a difficult one.

It is now readily apparent why the Heraldry skill in the Players Handbook becomes useful. With this skill, it is possible to deduce another knight’s allegiances, family history, and record of previous deeds or crimes. It also becomes equally apparent why the DM needs to whip up some of this information beforehand! Use it to drop hints about an ancient weapon known to be wielded by a famous, or infamous, knight. It also comes in very handy during a tournament.

In any case, the exact nature and meaning of the standard is left up to the character and the DM. Below we present two examples, one from history and one from fiction, to guide the DM in this matter.