D&D (2024) Do you like the Purple Dragon Knight Subclass?

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

The original 5e PDK was notoriously one of the worst and most boring subclasses in the game. It did a very, very poor job of emulating the niche that it was meant to represent. I don't care a bit about retcons so long as the change is good. I think it's disappointing that they seem to be outright abandoning the concept of a Warlord-lite Fighter subclass, but think practically any mechanical change from the original PDK is automatically an upgrade. So I rated this Yellow overall and for most of the individual features. I think this needs a significant rework, in lore and mechanics. Maybe it shouldn't even appear in this book, and instead be postponed to the next Tasha's/Xanathar's style book.

I dislike having another Fighter subclass that scales off of Intelligence. This would be the perfect time to use Charisma. I also suggested that they expand the subclass's niche to include all Gem Dragons, which would differentiate it slightly from the Drakewarden without restricting the lore to being tied to a single dragon type.

An important thing to note is that the Dragon companion's attack bonus, damage, and AC do not scale like they do for most other "pets" that have appeared post-Eberron. And waiting until level 15 to be able to ride on an actually flying dragon is way too long. People will choose this subclass to be able to ride on a flying dragon. Most campaigns don't make it to level 15.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

I like this subclass. But I'm a sucker for any dragon-themed subclass. And I don't care about the continuity debate. Like, at all.

 

[mellored]

I like this subclass. But I'm a sucker for any dragon-themed subclass. And I don't care about the continuity debate. Like, at all.

Continuity can be fixed by simply removing "Purple" from the name.

 

[Shardstone]

Why doesn't the Purple Dragon get any psionic abilities?

 

[THEMNGMNT]

Why doesn't the Purple Dragon get any psionic abilities?

I had the same thought. On the flipside, it's easy enough for a fighter to pick up Telekinetic and Telepathic feats.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

If this poll is any indication I think there will be changes made, but I don't think the Purple Dragon Knight will get completely scrapped, or the concept of riding dragons will get tossed, but revisions will need to be made, so I expect to see this in another UA. I think some of the features will be altered to be more party supporting then just Dragon mount supporting. I think they will have to do a better job of explaining WHY Purple Dragon Knights are riding Dragons, especially such exotic Gem Dragons, now when there was no history of doing so in the past. "Context is for Kings."

Looking at the other polls I did, I think the rest of the subclasses will be fine, although Spellfire Sorcerer might get buffed especially in terms of damage. Maybe a few other weeks here & there.

I don't expect any of the subclasses will get ditched this time.

 

[Scribe]

We need the context, it's frustrating without it. Can't know if it's a retcon or a development or even a result of time travel.

The context really doesn't matter.

It wasn't about X, now it is. That's not development. It's change, for the sake of change.

Call it something else.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

The context really doesn't matter.

It wasn't about X, now it is. That's not development. It's change, for the sake of change.

Call it something else.

The context does matter, I'm fine with story developments, I hate retcons.

 

[Mistwell]

Once I saw the big picture of how it works with the mounted combat rules, lance, feats. and the dragon rider concept, I loved the class. Needs some tweaking but it's really very good. Uniquely good on the fighter platform, due to feats.

 

[Zanshin]

A pokemon class like Drakewarden is fine

an actual Commander class would be better

Battle master/Bard was how I did a Warlord.