Just use The Bear Knight

19 Jan, 2026

One of the greatest pieces of advice I ever read is Just Use Bears. It makes the game flow more easily with fewer pauses. I can whip up some convincing stat block for any mundane enemies that the player ever got themselves into.

Even better, another version of "Just Use Bears" that I always use (both when prep and play) is from Chris McDowall's post on Bastionland (Non-)Conversion Guide.

To put it simply, this method adjusts the bare-bone building block based on the fictional property. It is similar to the idea of transforming a simple shape in drawing. Weirdly enough, the closest thing to a bear in the Mythic Bastionland is the Ox.

How about a knight then? This game is about knights and stuff. It would be convenient if I also had a bare-bones knight stat block. So, here we go, The Bear Knight.

The Bear Knight: VIG 10, CLA 10, SPI 10, 3 GD

• One-handed Weapon (d8 hefty), Set of armors (A2).
• Riding Steed (VIG 10, CLA 10, SPI 5, 3 GD)

You then modify it based on these properties:

• If a knight is strong in some aspect, +4 to that Virtue. -4 otherwise.
• Mature knight: +4 to all Virtues and 2d6 GD.
• Old knight: -4 to all Virtues and 3d6 GD. ¹
• Weapons: d6 to d10 (Common) or 2d6 to 2d10 (Uncommon and Rare).
• Armour: in the scale of 1 to 4.
• Special moves (if any)