If our main character is going to end up as a Knight in this game, I’d prefer it if they save that one for Act III or something. You don’t really become a knight like that if you’re a blacksmith’s son, generally you had to be the son of a knight, but of course there could be exceptions if he’s a successful warrior and prove to be a great asset in the civil war. Still, he’d most likely just end up being a man-at-arms. They could be almost like knights, being well-trained and well-equipped and all that. except they weren’t knights. At least that’s what wikipedia tells me:
Man-at-arms (also called armsman or coistrel) was a term used from the High Medieval to Renaissance periods to describe a soldier, almost always a professional warrior in the sense of being well-trained in the use of arms, who served as a fully armoured heavy cavalryman.[a] It could refer to knights or noblemen, and to members of their retinues or to mercenaries in companies under captains. Such men could serve for pay or through a feudal obligation. The terms knight and man-at-arms are often used interchangeably, but while all knights equipped for war certainly were men-at-arms, not all men-at-arms were knights. (…) The military function that a man-at-arms performed was serving as a fully armoured heavy cavalryman; though he could, and in the 14th and 15th centuries often did, also fight on foot.
(…) one of the easiest ways for a man to improve his social rank was through military service; another method was through the church. In the Norman states, unlike in many other contemporary societies, the knighting of men of common birth who had demonstrated ability and courage on the field of battle was possible. Although rare, some non-knightly men-at-arms did advance socially to the status of knights. The knighting of squires and men-at-arms was sometimes done in an ignoble manner, simply to increase the number of knights within an army (such practice was common during the Hundred Years’ War). In chivalric theory, any knight could bestow knighthood on another, however, in practice this was usually done by sovereigns and the higher nobility.
So yeah, looking at that last quote, there could be a slim chance you could get knighted for doing excellent service in combat… which I guess the bard or the thief characters wouldn’t achieve. You could also maybe become a good friend with a knight, maybe save his life in battle, maybe he’s older than you and is almost like your mentor… and in the end he knight you because he formally has the right to do so as a knight himself.
Although I like the concept of you potentially gaining prestige in the future acts during the “time in between” if there is any.