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.

 

[Necropolitan]

I really wish the advice on having monster friends adventure alongside the party was better (or, y'know, extant). Riding dragons and griffons and dinosaurs, befriending unicorns, fighting alongside celestials, dealing with fiends, even recruiting guards and knights and veterans and spies...you don't need to be a particular class (though certainly you might have classes who are better at certain friends), but the game really could use a better system for handling this than "IDK, just increase the challenge of the encounters, I guess, good luck!".

Treating them as something like a magic item makes some sense mechanically. They aren't tools you're guaranteed to have access to, you don't have to pay for them with a power budget, they might get lost or destroyed or abandoned, but they're always going to be an advantage, even if they're just "common" or "uncommon."

There's always that conflict between "designed to be interesting over multiple adventures" and "designed to be interesting for 3 rounds" that has to be navigated....

There are the two Summon Mount spells.

 

[I'm A Banana]

There are the two Summon Mount spells.

Not really what I'm talking about. Those spells serve their purpose, but they are not the same fantasy as "I am friends with a dragon who fights alongside me and my party."

 

[Necropolitan]

Not really what I'm talking about. Those spells serve their purpose, but they are not the same fantasy as "I am friends with a dragon who fights alongside me and my party."

Not friends, but the 3rd party Battlezoo Ancestries: Dragons has a class for playing as a Dragon.

 

[mellored]

Not really what I'm talking about. Those spells serve their purpose, but they are not the same fantasy as "I am friends with a dragon who fights alongside me and my party."

So take the PDK background and the Drakewarden ranger.