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.

 

[GarrettKP]

We can add a very cool Gundam into D&D Forgotten Realms as a core feature... But I hope we'll all find it inappropriate for official core D&D and FR releases. A world feels like a world when it's internally consistent, those lore fans pointed out a flaw that WotC should have know, it's writers should have known. WotC F-ed up, not the lore fans.

You want Dragonriders? There's a very appropriate setting for that, it's called Dragonlance. And if your DM wants to allow those in their FR campaign, that's absolutely awesome. But to be honest, it has very little place in a FR core product.

In the past we've had more products where such a subclass would have fitted in perfectly, heck, it would have fit into Dragon's Delve if it wasn't just an adventure collection.

It's a good call for the FR books.

Adding in a partnership with a gem dragon to a knightly order isn’t a flaw in internal consistency. It’s just an evolution. The year for the books is 1501. It’s been a long time since the PDKs were formed. People, places, and organizations can and do evolve over time.

 

[Pauln6]

Living Greyhawk used meta organisations, a bit like factions, which had benefits depending on your standing within the organisation independent of class or background. A Knight who rides a dragon sounds to me like it should be independent of class. Paladin mounts have always been a bit of a wierd exception

 

[Plaguescarred]

I find Banneret underwhelming It's not something i'd play.

 

[WhatTheEyeSees]

Lame and pointless.

This looks to be following in the tradition of the first PDK as a subclass that will never be played, while PDK from the UA was innovative and fresh and would have been used. This doesn't give me a lot of hope that we are going to see interesting forward looking content directly from Wizards until at least 6th Edition comes out.

 

[TiQuinn]

I think the name’s boring AF.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I find Banneret underwhelming It's not something i'd play.

I like the banneret. Even though the level 3 ability is a bit of a nerf compared to the 2014 subclass used with the 2024 fighter, the whole idea of using second wind to rally your allies is nice.

Only problematic thing: the battlemaster also gets a skill proficiency and can do nearly the same healing with one of their maneuvers.
Although it is just one ally and temporary hp equal to battle master die + half fighter level. And it costs an extra bonus action.

I think not limiting it to 1/short rest had been more than OK. But lets see the whole banneret package. The battle master always feels very front loaded conpared to all other subclasses.

 

[kapars]

Lame and pointless.

This looks to be following in the tradition of the first PDK as a subclass that will never be played, while PDK from the UA was innovative and fresh and would have been used. This doesn't give me a lot of hope that we are going to see interesting forward looking content directly from Wizards until at least 6th Edition comes out.

I think Wizards is trying forward looking content, they just have an established player base that viciously resists change. Their strict adherence to the survey model that allows that user base to influence what gets printed is the issue. They could start making 6E and it would be surveyed back to 5E. We saw some of that with the 2024 edition.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

The Banneret's abilities includes a Level 3 "Knightly Envoy" ability that allows it to cast Comprehend Language as a ritual

Just enough magic so that it isn't a pure martial class, but not enough to actually be useful.

 

[Remathilis]

I think Wizards is trying forward looking content, they just have an established player base that viciously resists change. Their strict adherence to the survey model that allows that user base to influence what gets printed is the issue. They could start making 6E and it would be surveyed back to 5E. We saw some of that with the 2024 edition.

This right here is the biggest issue with D&D going forward. It's caught in a catch 22 of people who cry for new ideas and innovations but stubbornly cling to traditions created 40 years ago. People hear claim they want the world to expand and grow, but when the dragon knights of Cormyr get actual purple dragons, they whinge about how that isn't cannon to the lore as described in 1985 and WotC should not deviate from it, and then on the next breath complain how WotC can't create anything new and reprints the hits again and again.

It's the same argument people make when they complain about tieflings and dragonborn as not appropriate to older settings because they didn't exist 30+ years ago, then also complain when they get the 51st flavor of elf.

Well, we got what was asked for by the survey: they took the SCAG PDK (one of the weakest and least picked subs), gave it its generic name, and updated it. Hope the later level features are better because that level 3 feature is weak. But hey, community gets what community wants. Here is your boring generic knight.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Just enough magic so that it isn't a pure martial class, but not enough to actually be useful.

Hey guys, let's put a pin in this conversation while the PDK chants for 10 minutes straight.... IMO Rituals take too long. I let people rush them with successful Arcana/Religion/Nature checks.

Also, can we retire the damn d4 and just move on to the d6? Its annoying to roll and the difference of 1 HP on average for something used as infrequently as Group Recovery is negligible.