Purple Dragon Knight Retooled as Banneret in D&D's Heroes of Faerun Book

The much-maligned Purple Dragon Knight Fighter subclass is being retooled towards its original support origins in the upcoming Heroes of Faerun book. Coming out of GenCon, an image of a premade character sheet of a Banneret is making its way around the Internet. The classic support-based Fighter subclass appears to have replaced the Purple Dragon Knight subclass, which received a ton of criticism for not resembling the Purple Dragon Knight's traditional lore.

The Banneret's abilities includes a Level 3 "Knightly Envoy" ability that allows it to cast Comprehend Language as a ritual and gain proficiency in either Intimidation, Insight, Performance, or Persuasion (this appears unchanged from the Purple Dragon Knight UA), plus a Group Recovery ability that allows those within 30 feet of the Banneret to regain 1d4 Hit Points plus the Banneret's Fighter Level when the Banneret uses its Second Wind ability. Scrapped is the Purple Dragon companion that the UA version of the subclass had, which grew in power as the Purple Dragon Knight leveled up.

The Banneret was the generic name for the Purple Dragon Knight in the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. The Banneret/Purple Dragon Knight was originally more of a support class that could provide the benefits of its abilities to its allies instead of or in addition to benefitting from them directly. For instance, a Banneret's Action Surge could be used to allow a nearby ally to make an attack, and Indomitable could allow an ally to reroll a failed saving throw in addition to the Banneret.

 

[Remathilis]

I'm torn on this. On the one hand, this is going to be a much more usable generic knight/warlord subclass, and its probably a lot more lore appropriate. On the other hand, you are losing a freaking dragon as a pet/ally/mount. The real question is whether it will be able to meet the expectations and power level of the UA PDK, or will it be more akin to the SCAG PDK/banneret...

 

[bedir than]

I'm torn on this. On the one hand, this is going to be a much more usable generic knight/warlord subclass, and its probably a lot more lore appropriate. On the other hand, you are losing a freaking dragon as a pet/ally/mount. The real question is whether it will be able to meet the expectations and power level of the UA PDK, or will it be more akin to the SCAG PDK/banneret...

I hope they toss in some of the Cavalier's power.
I love the flavor of the Banneret. But it was weak. This better third level ability is nice

 

[Bayushi_seikuro]

I'm old.
This sounds much more in-line with the way I remember the Purple Dragons being represented in the old original Grey Box Forgotten Realms, and feels much easier to plug into any campaign that has knightly orders.
YMMV

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I'm torn on this. On the one hand, this is going to be a much more usable generic knight/warlord subclass, and its probably a lot more lore appropriate. On the other hand, you are losing a freaking dragon as a pet/ally/mount. The real question is whether it will be able to meet the expectations and power level of the UA PDK, or will it be more akin to the SCAG PDK/banneret...

Hopefully they'll just retool that subclass for a Dragonrider subclass and make the dragons available in more than just purple.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

So it resembles the SCAG banneret more.

The former level 3 ability was up to 3 allies regain fighter level hp.

1d4 extra and all allies seems a decent boost. Especially when you consider that the fighter starts with 2 to 4 uses of second wind per day instead of 1.

Also royal envoy seems to have gone down from level 7 to level 3. So the level 7 slot is free. Which means either a new ability at that point or other abilities are coming earlier.

So like the champion, which got decent by similar changes, I expect the banaret to be decent too.

At level 4, the banneret can heal allies for 1d4+4 hp 3 times as a bonus action while also healing 1d10+4 to themselves.
That is comparable to the 5.14 mass healing word.

Edit: on reddit there is a screenshot of a page which says, that it is only cha mod persons and only 1/short rest, no matter how many second winds available...

 

[schm0]

I could not be happier. WotC made the right choice here, surprisingly. We already have a dragon pet subclass, and don't need another. Also, this decision thankfully sidestepped a lot of the hugely problematic insinuations that came with the lore (I don't think anyone was actually comfortable with enslaving dragon babies.)

 

[kapars]

This is so dull compared to what the UA had. I hope that design comes back somehow.

 

[GarrettKP]

Edit: phantom post.

 

[Merlecory]

Glad that the purple dragon knight retains some of the lore, though I wish that this wasn't yet another Ability: Cast a spell without a spell slot.