I'm with Madadder. The actions of the knights are simple for many reasons. We gain abilities or mechanics by the weapons we pick. Weapons have different degrees of crowd control and status infliction.

As for mobility, it is the basis for most tactical decisions in the game. It should not be trivialized by adding in additional escape mechanics.

These not only overcomplicate things, but range from "badly overpowered" (the kick (Stun is restricted to a few weapons for a reason), the bomb-punt (the power and AoE of bombs is balanced by their charge time and lack of range)) through "redundant" (Flourish-style swords have combos and charge attacks akin to the lunge suggestion). Dodging's kind of unnecessary and potentially lethal in a game that puts such heavy emphasis on minding your surroundings, which are often so dangerous that a dodge move covering any real ground would be as potentially suicidal as taking the hit in the first place.

The counter idea I can almost get behind; problem is, shielding is more susceptible to lag than almost any other regular action, and requiring split-second timing to get your counter in is going to give players trouble there. It's the best suggestion of the lot, because it would require no additions to the controls and would ostensibly be dependent on player skill, but I think lag problems would render it useless, or at least largely unused.

Yeah, I'm in the UK and shield lag is probably my single biggest day-to-day problem, but as an optional feature it's the best of the bunch. It's still not something I'd use, because, well, I'd get killed a lot.