The pen and ink drawings of the Cavalier in Dragon #72 by Keith Parkinson have drawn criticism. Some said he should stick to painting. However, ever since I received this issue, I have always enjoyed these drawings. A warhorse-riding cavalier elf maiden? That's really awesome stuff. I appreciate the vibe and how bold the inking is.
In his Art of books, Keith acknowledges that he's always struggled with drawing. I'm inclined to like these because I'm a big fan of Parkinson's work and I have a special fondness for ink drawings. Other than these, there aren't many instances of him working with ink. DL3 Dragons of Hope are the only other examples I can think of off the top of my head.
It's obvious that the class is overpowered. At times "game balance" didn't really seem to matter much to Gary, but it wasn't as out of hand as Paladins are! He had a talent for focusing on the cool aspects of things while ignoring or waving away the power levels. Nevertheless, you can't help but think that the cavalier is a fantastic idea for a class.
Side note: I got tired of only finding low-rez jpegs online of these illustrations, so I went to the source issue and scanned in hi-rez versions to post here.
