How to equip a TL3 knight?

[Anaraxes]

a Baron at least

That depends on the Status you give the character, not just his Wealth.

[DanHoward]

This is just another example of the huge wealth descrepancy between even the poorest knight and the rest of the populace. There is no middle class during this time. You have those who are very wealthy or better and the rest who are struggling or worse. Maybe one or two in each village, like the miller, would be average.

[PPoS]

Status could probably give you a couple of horses and some equipment for you knight to use. At least, that is what Banestorm suggest.

[Novembermike]

Originally Posted by gilbertocarlos

According to banestorm, a unlanded knight is status 2.
The cost of living is almost equal to wealth also, so, no gain in there.

An unlanded knight doesn't have a lot of that equipment. He's going to have a sword, a shield, helmet and leather or cloth armor. Some or all of it will be cheap. If he has a Patron (the Church, a Baron, the Empire itself) then he might have the full set of equipment, or if he inherited it or has some signature gear that's different but some random unlanded knight isn't going to be running around with top of the line gear.

[Figleaf23]

ST 11 [10]
DX 11 [20]
IQ 10 [0]
HT 12 [20]
Wealthy [20] (many crusaders sold out or hawked themselves to the hilt to get dough for the trip, so I would let you have access to the full $5,000)
Status 2 [10]
Combat Reflexes [15]
Sig Gear 3 ($1500) [3]*
Hard to Subdue [2]
[100 CP]

Signature Gear:
*Mail Hauberk $230
*Mail Sleeves $70
*Guantlets $100
*Mail coif $55
*Pot Helm $100
*Facemask $100
*Mail Leggings $110
*Spurs $25
*Thrusting Broadsword $600
*Medium Shield $60
*Dirk $30
Total Sig Gear = $1480

Bought Equipment:
Cavalry Horse $4000
Boots $80
Small Mace $35
Lance or Long Spear $60
Saddle and Tack $150
Saddle bags $100
Total bought = $4425

[pawsplay]

Originally Posted by Anthony

You go with Very Wealthy or greater, or you have only partial gear (including a lesser grade of steed). It may be worth considering whether the price of horses in Basic is reasonable, checking around I find Verbruggen; if we assume a mail byrny is heavy mail, that says 1 solidi = $100, and a warhorse should cost $1,200. Of course, that's an 8th century warhorse (actually, read that section anyway; it discusses who was expected to have what level of gear).

I'm pretty sure they are not reasonable. The Basic Set never specifies what $ are being used to set those prices. The prices sound pretty reasonable for trained, modern horses, which means they are probably inflated.

However, a historical knight was generally Comfortable or Wealthy, with a powerful Patron who supplied arms and armor. A relatively wealthy knight would be, naturally, Very Wealthy.

Average wealth is not as rare as some of the previous posts have stated. While it is rare for peasants to be more than Struggling, there are free farmers who would be the main of Average wealth individuals, along with some tradesman. They would not be a middle class as we know it, but enjoyed food security and ownership of small pieces of land, animal, and professional equipment.

[Langy]

Originally Posted by gilbertocarlos

According to banestorm, a unlanded knight is status 2.
The cost of living is almost equal to wealth also, so, no gain in there.

Then you don't have a knight anymore, but a Baron at least.

A Knight is Status 2. That means that, no matter how much wealth you give him, unless you also buy Status or Rank, he'll never have more than Status 2. EDIT: And it's Status or Rank that determines your social status, like whether you're a Baron, etc, not Wealth level.

In other words, it's perfectly acceptable for a Knight to be Filthy Rich or a Multimillionaire, or even just Very Wealthy.

You are creating a problem where none exists, by asserting that Knights must be Wealthy, but they don't have enough money to buy their stuff. That's the wrong way to go about it. You figure out how much money they need to buy their stuff, then you assign them a Wealth level that's high enough.

[Danukian]

Originally Posted by DanHoward

This is just another example of the huge wealth descrepancy between even the poorest knight and the rest of the populace. There is no middle class during this time. You have those who are very wealthy or better and the rest who are struggling or worse. Maybe one or two in each village, like the miller, would be average.

Occupy the Fief?

Originally Posted by Figleaf23

Signature Gear:
*Mail Hauberk $230
*Mail Sleeves $70
*Guantlets $100
*Mail coif $55
*Pot Helm $100
*Facemask $100
*Mail Leggings $110
*Spurs $25
*Thrusting Broadsword $600
*Medium Shield $60
*Dirk $30
Total Sig Gear = $1480

That's an awful lot of generic equipment to be sig-gear for my tastes. I would prefer taking a Patron offset with a duty, save the sig-gear for something less generic, like a better quality sword. YMMV.

[Figleaf23]

Originally Posted by Danukian

That's an awful lot of generic equipment to be sig-gear for my tastes. I would prefer taking a Patron offset with a duty, save the sig-gear for something less generic, like a better quality sword. YMMV.

I appreciate that perspective, but although it's a long list, it is strictly his arms and armor.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by ULFGARD

Generally, I'd say Patron (possibly offset with a Duty). All that gear isn't cheap, and it's rarely within the means of an individual.

You can also trade points for cash.

If he's a landed knight, i.e. he has his own manor, then he either needs to be wealthier than the wealth level the OP has defined, or else GURPS is off-key with some costs being too high, probably armour and mount. But I've always gotten the impression that those items were expensive, so most likely the knight simply needs to be wealthier, or if he's an unlanded knight he needs a Patron.