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.

 

[I'm A Banana]

So take the PDK background and the Drakewarden ranger.

Watered-down "dragons" don't fulfill the fantasy, either.

I keep coming back to magic items because the fantasy is very similar - the companion is a (reasonably) reliable part of my kit that just makes be better than I would be without it. I don't have to be a weaker Fighter to have a dragon-friend. I get it on top of what I'm doing as a Fighter (even if I can't use it everywhere and maybe I have to appease it like a sentient magic item).

 

[CreamCloud0]

So take the PDK background and the Drakewarden ranger.

the problem trying to be solved here (or one of them at least) is not being tied to a specific class and/or subclass for your pet.

 

[mellored]

I don't have to be a weaker Fighter to have a dragon-friend.

Then your just more powerful than the rest of your party who don't get one.

the problem trying to be solved here (or one of them at least) is not being tied to a specific class and/or subclass for your pet.

Then your back to feats or magic item (which is DM dependant).

Or a DM PC.

 

[Eubani]

I can see a Dragon mount as an epic boon, give everyone a pet thus avoiding the party balance issue.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Subclasses that have a growing creature as their pet is just not working:

Characters tend to level up once every in game week or month at most...
Actually sometimes one level a day.

So the dragon grows from little to ancient in just a few days.

So the solution is just a summoned pet that takes the form of a dragon. That is nothing I associate with a fighter. Paladin and ranger are better fits.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Then your just more powerful than the rest of your party who don't get one.

Then your back to feats or magic item (which is DM dependant).

Or a DM PC.

Yeah, in the same way as if I have a +1 weapon, I'm more powerful than the rest of my party if the rest of my party doesn't have it. Of course, the D&D solution here is to make sure magic items are fairly plentiful and easy to hand out. NPC buddies should also be fairly plentiful and easy to hand out! My main issue is that they are not!

Subclasses that have a growing creature as their pet is just not working:

Characters tend to level up once every in game week or month at most...
Actually sometimes one level a day.

So the dragon grows from little to ancient in just a few days.

So the solution is just a summoned pet that takes the form of a dragon. That is nothing I associate with a fighter. Paladin and ranger are better fits.

I'm with you 'till the last line. A summoned pet isn't going to really get the job done since it's gotta fit into the "power budget" of a spell, and then has to always be a useful way to spend the resource of a spell slot. Riding a griffon, say, isn't a limited, temporary thing that I should have to spend a resource on. The fantasy I have of my character (at least, eventually, if not at the start) is that I have a griffon, one that's reliably around, one that I can call up when I want, one that will gladly help me fight those orcs over there. Maybe I don't need to be able to bring the griffon with me everywhere (it's OK if I can't raid the tight, twisty kobold mines with my horse-sized lion-bird probably, and it's OK if it has to go hunting when I'm in town so it doesn't eat a child or something), which means that it's not like a class feature. I should still be able to participate in a dungeon raid or a social encounter without being handicapped by my griffon being offscreen. And when the griffon CAN be onscreen, I want it to be something cool I can use, not just flavor.

It's like....Charlie Kale's Barracuda in Poker Face. It's clearly a part of the character, something that helps define them, but it's not like it needs to show up and help her solve murders, because it's a car. It can be there for the car chases and the street scenes and whatever. It can be there when it's useful or it makes sense. It's not a constant part of her power set. But it is an important part of that power set. It's not super different from Sherlock Holmes's 221b Baker St, or maybe the Doctor's TARDIS -- an important part of the character that isn't necessarily something the character always uses to do their thing, but that is often present and serves a clear purpose.

Heh, this is making me thing that you combine magic items with the Bastion system, and.....