[ericthered]

I haven't played with them much. I ran one prominent NPC that felt like a powered knight, even if all the power was all actually from his sword. This was a solo campaign, and it was an NPC, so I don't know how helpful that is to your question.

I've got a game set up to run if I ever get the chance that centers around an order of empowered knights devoted to hunting monsters and their threatened obsolescence in the face of new weapons like the machine gun and radical political ideologies. The knights are somewhere between Jedi and Dragon Age's Templars. They are stronger and faster, and can detect each other and the monsters, but need a mystic substance to grant their powers. They can infuse metal they are touching with energy, getting +15 DR, +2d damage, and a (5) armor divisor. Several sub-orders have extra powers, including enhanced senses, Telecommunication, and immunity to projectiles fired from more than 10 yards away.

I'm not sure how that game will go if I run it. It was designed as an ISWAT scenario, with the knights as NPCs that can actually compare with the PCs, but I've grown fond of that world and may try to run it without pulling in world-hopping. I'm unsure how to balance it though, and I suspect at least one player would want to be something other than a knight.

Powered knights are a staple of fantasy in many forms of media. Dragon Age seems to have a lot of different types. DF has holy warriors. In settings with proper mages running around, powered knights aren't a huge balance issue. Sure, they're powerful, but so are the mages, and the powered knights can struggle to keep up with their more magical brethren. I've played short games featuring melee fighters with "powers" of one sort or another and it never feels like they steal the show.

On the other hand, powered knights sometimes show up as the ONLY powers available in a setting, and I think that often causes problems.