Pas d'armes

Anyone who's been in a D&D game has probably heard their fair share of quotes from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. In fact, you could make a case for it being the real "D&D movie" in terms of how it captures the feel of a campaign (if you ask me, that honor goes to The Princess Bride, but I digress). While the movie is funny enough in its own right, for those familiar with Arthurian legend, there's a whole other level of humor that goes over most people's heads.

Case in point: the Black Knight. It's one of the most iconic, and most quoted, scenes in the movie, and no doubt it's a routine that many a DM has been forced to listen to more times than they can count. However, what most people don't realize is that the scene is a parody of the very real historical and literary phenomenon known as pas d'armes.

The basic concept is this: if a knight so chose, he could take up a position at a narrow point where travelers wouldn't have the option to go around easily (for instance, a bridge, or a city gate) and challenge any other knights who came that way to a duel - conducted on their own terms, which could be anything from swordfighting to an impromptu joust. They could refuse to fight if they so chose, but this was considered a sign of cowardice, and the traveler would be required to leave his spurs by the side of the road.

For women (particularly noblewomen), the rules were a bit different. If a woman passed by the knight without anyone to accompany her, she would often leave a personal belonging - such as a glove, a scarf, a napkin, or the like - that the knight would then guard. Anyone who defeated the knight would then be able to return it to her if they were passing by.

Chivalric romance is full of this sort of thing, and there are numerous records of it happening in real life as well. To history nerds like me, this is a concept that's rich with opportunities for gaming.

The most obvious idea is to make a knight guarding a pass a combat encounter - though one that has some leeway, and thus one that's more interesting than a straight-up fight. You don't have to fight the knight; perhaps the rules would only apply to those with titles, so the average fighter might get by unharmed, but a paladin or someone with the Noble background wouldn't be so lucky (of course, some knights may not be as selective with their challengers). Even a knightly PC would have the option of turning the challenge down, though the threat to their honor could have some very real in-universe consequences; it could impact their interactions with NPCs if the word got out that they refused a challenge, or if you're using an honor mechanic, accepting or refusing a duel could play into this.

There are records of some knights offering to lend horses and equipment to travelers without the necessary gear to meet the challenge on their terms - if you need an excuse to try out mounted combat rules, this could be an all-too-rare opportunity to bring it up. Since some records of pas d'armes included entire retinues of knights battling it out (more on that in a bit), you could even involve the whole party in an impromptu tournament. In a fantasy setting, the rules could be expanded - for instance, a knight might forbid the use of magic or enchanted items (although an unscrupulous one demanding his opponent put aside a magic sword, only to then sucker-mordhau them with one of his own, can provide a fun, if obnoxious, twist). Alternatively, a wizard might set up their own version of the challenge, requiring passing spellcasters to compete in a magical duel.

Samurai Jack

The detail of tributes from passing ladies presents its own opportunities. If a PC manages to defeat the knight in combat, and there's a trinket left from a previous traveler, that's an instant quest hook for the PC to return it. One twist you can throw in is to have the trinket be a magic item, which introduces a dilemma for parties - do they do the honorable thing and return it, or do they hold onto it for their own use?

There's also the possibility of a PC declaring a pas d'armes themselves. The compelled duel spell is a nifty and flavorful option that sadly gets underused when everyone keeps making smite-bots, but it's a useful point of reference. In one campaign, I'm playing as a paladin who uses the compelled duel spell, reflavored to be an appeal to pas d'armes. If a player wishes to settle a combat encounter by one-to-one combat among the champions of each party, they could invoke this tradition, and their opponents may or may not be accepting of it.

Finally, and what I feel is perhaps the most interesting option, the party could stumble upon an ongoing pas d'armes. As stated before, these duels could get massive if each side brought enough men, and since they were often on well-traveled routes, this could run into the obvious conflict. There are records of one particular duel over one bridge on the Camino de Santiago, a major pilgrimage route in Spain, that held up traffic for over a month after the knights pledged not to leave until they had broken 300 lances. To me, this is begging to be a random encounter. The party finds the road is blocked by dueling knights, and other travelers are getting restless. Will they go around it? Attempt to get them to stop? Or will they join the melee themselves?

Overall, I feel like there are many opportunities for interesting encounters and roleplaying presented by the concept of pas d'armes, and it's one of my favorite encounters to use in play. If you want to make your games feel more like they sprung from the pages of chivalric tradition, you'd be well suited to throw in a knight guarding a bridge or two.