CavalierFighter Martial Archetype — D&D 5e
Cavalier is the fighter built to stand between the enemy and everyone else and make that a mechanical guarantee, not just a roleplay choice. Marking a foe punishes it for attacking anyone but you, and later features let you eat damage meant for an ally or drag a fleeing enemy back into range — this is the archetype for a player who wants "protect the party" to actually mean something at the table.
Level by level
Cavalier Features
Level 3 — Cavalier's Mark
A melee hit lets you mark the target: it has disadvantage on any attack that doesn’t target you, and if it tries to move away from you without teleporting, you can spend your reaction to make an opportunity attack against it regardless of normal reach rules, making it brutally expensive for a marked enemy to ignore you.
Level 3 — Unwavering Mark
Whenever a marked creature hits someone other than you, you can add your Strength modifier as bonus damage the next time you hit it, so a mark that gets ignored anyway still comes back to bite the enemy.
Level 10 — Guardian's Strike
As a reaction when a creature within 5 feet of you damages someone else, you can teleport to swap places with an ally within 5 feet and take a portion of that damage yourself, letting you physically insert your body into a hit meant for someone squishier.
Level 15 — Unyielding
Once per long rest, when you fail a saving throw, you can choose to succeed instead, giving your tankiest fighter build one guaranteed escape from the single save-or-die effect that would otherwise end the encounter for you.
Swear the Oath
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Forge a Cavalier Fighter