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.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

Seems like a prime opportunity for some sort of Waterdeep Griffon Calvary themed subclass.

 

[Valetudo]

I think a pally can already do a flying horse, how about a griffon class?

 

[Mistwell]

The build in question was Dueling at level 1, Great Weapon Master at level 4, Polearm Master at level 6, and Mounted Combatant at level 8. You attack with a lance. The dragon becomes medium sized, and rideable by a medium sized PC, at level 7. And it's flying at that level too, though it doesn't remain in the air.

No other class can do that, that early. You're going to destroy foes with that lance. Attacking at advantage with mounted combatant, three times (twice as a fighter, once with polearm master) plus a reaction attack if something enters your reach, extra damage equal to your proficiency bonus on all three of those attacks if they hit due to GWM and a full extra attack instead of the d4 attack if you drop someone, and of course all your three attacks get the +2 damage from dueling.

If the dragon dies you can bring it back with a second wind use (which scales with level and they have more uses of in 2024). It has decent stats IF your fighter has a good intelligence. And of course mounted combatant makes it difficult for the mount to even take damage. I liked Gravity Push, and shared second wind, and its boost to saves.

It's mechanically a good subclass.

 

[bedir than]

Keeps staring in Drakewarden

 

[Maxperson]

College of Spirits: Bards who drink alcohol.

Or else the ghosts of all the Bards that @Snarf Zagyg killed.

Circle of Stars: Druids dedicated to celebrities.

I hear they live on the Hollywood walk of fame.

 

[Pauln6]

fighter already has enough MAD issues to be giving them multiple extra stats to need to be distributing their boosts across a subclass

I'm not obsessed with stats to be honest - I just think fighters need more HP. All I'm saying is that there should an option with mechanical benefits for players who fancy playing an intelligent, non-magical fighter. Fighters shouldn't be forced to be stupid because that 14 really should go into Dex or Con.

 

[Mecheon]

If PDKs are a boring organization, why not just put them to bed? Why the need to retool them into something that makes little sense for PDKs and even less sense for amethyst dragons?

They keep bringing the name back. If they want fetch to happen, they gotta put effort into it

Anyway I find this whole line “They’re called Purple Dragon Knights so they should get purple dragon pets!” to be really juvenile, as if D&D players can’t understand the name of faction not being literal. Perhaps the Emerald Enclave should live in a literal castle made of emeralds? Does everyone in the Order of the Gauntlet get a special magic gauntlet? Are we gonna cut up the membership cards of any Harpers who can’t play the harp?

If your average person hears "Dragon knight" they're going to think a knight associated with dragons in some way like, y'know, DotA's Dragon Knight, the knight who turns into a dragon with his ultimate ability. That's how class names work, they should be clear what they're about.

Like Banneret is, incidentally,

 

[Tonguez]

Keeps staring in Drakewarden

Yeah the Drakewarden is a great class and very well done, its needs more love

I'm happy they've gone back to Banneret, even if the old version was a bit weak, it was a good support fighter - of course they should just go all in and call it Warlord/Marshal.

I think the Purple Dragon Knight should have been recast as a Dragon-Slayer, with skills that leant in to slaying Huge and Gargantuan monsters of various kinds (not just Dragons), that fits more with the lore origin

 

[ECMO3]

extra damage equal to your proficiency bonus on all three of those attacks if they hit due to GWM

GWM does not do extra damage on attacks made with a bonus action or a reaction.

When you hit a creature with a weapon that has the Heavy property as part of the Attack action on your turn, you can cause the weapon to deal extra damage to the target.

So neither the 1d4 PAM attack, nor the reaction from enemies entering reach give the damage bonus.

I really don't see this being much more powerful than what you can do with a small Lance-wielding Battle Smith Artificer, and actually worse at most levels between 3 and 8, since she can start riding her Steel Defender at level 3 and does not need to wait until level 7 and the Artificer does not need to use any resources to either heal or ressurect the Steel Defender.

 

[mellored]

I think the Purple Dragon Knight should have been recast as a Dragon-Slayer, with skills that leant in to slaying Huge and Gargantuan monsters of various kinds (not just Dragons), that fits more with the lore origin

The 3e PDK did not slay big creatures. It was Cha based and gave bonuses to allies.
Also could cast Fear once per day.
SRD - Purple Dragon Knight