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.

 

[Pauln6]

Bannerets should have access to warlord type battlemaster manoeuvres with d6 dice. They could have a class feature that let's them make diplomacy rolls to communicate even where intelligent beings lack a common language. To be fair, I'd prefer to let anybody try this up to a point.

 

[Clint_L]

Even though taste is subjective, “Purple Dragon Knight” manages to be an objectively dumb subclass title, so I’m glad it’s gone.

 

[mellored]

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.

You could definitely move Inspiring Surge to 7 (gant 1 attack or cantrip when you action surge).

Bulwark to 10 (all allies affected by the same effect can reroll with +Cha bonus).

And you got room for more at higher levels. Maybe even Conjure Dragon?

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.

Scaling mass healing word.

 

[Weiley31]

They made the 2024 Champion subclass a whole lot better. Im willing to give the 2025 Banneret the benefit of a doubt to see if it gets a similar improvement.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Good! The space of "knightly fighter who is a good battlefield commander and healer" is a pretty key D&D archetype that FR's Purple Dragon Knights have filled through multiple edition changes, and the 2014 model wasn't great. Looking forward to seeing it, and nervous that they're gonna do it dirty (we didn't get to see or playtest it, so I'm a little nervous).

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

I feel like "dragon mount" was always going to be a dicey proposition as a class feature.

Like, D&D can't do "horse mount" reliably as a class feature, and it's a game where the mounted knight is a pretty key archetype. The closest we get is paladins summoning steeds for free. I was working on a sort of Mongol steppe-archer archetype and, with the current ruleset, you're just better off leaving the horse outside the dungeon and being a regular archer when you're not out in the wilderness. Even in the best case scenario with a dragon mount, you get a nerfed version of the real thing that is necessarily a little underwhelming thanks to its power being paid for by a subclass's budget. And a lot of Familiar Syndrome kind of encounters ("Oh! I forgot about my friend and I don't really know their actions or initiative or...")

As a point of comparison, FR has a famous set of griffon-riders, for instance, and if you want to join that club and realize that archetype, there's not a PC option you can ever take that will give you a griffon. You gotta work with your DM, and go out and find one, and do the RP for it. Because advanced mounts isn't something 5e does well (because your power should never depend on something you can't take into a dungeon).

Oh, so we get the worst of both worlds? Delightful. Great job, lore defenders, you really stuck it to WotC with this one!

Very sad. Rabid fanbois with a canon fetish turn an interesting subclass into something as boring as F.

WotC should try to do a dragon-rider Fighter, they just shouldn't call it a Purple Dragon Knight, because that's not the fun part of being a Purple Dragon Knight. If you think the existing lore is boring, then you definitely aren't in the target audience for it, and maybe there's a case that enough people think it's boring that a dragon-rider would be a better addition to the game than a battlefield leader, but then it should stand without using the Purple Dragon Knight as its name.

 

[WhatTheEyeSees]

Bannerets should have access to warlord type battlemaster manoeuvres with d6 dice. They could have a class feature that let's them make diplomacy rolls to communicate even where intelligent beings lack a common language. To be fair, I'd prefer to let anybody try this up to a point.

Sure, but that is not what they did up to 3rd level at least. Instead they took what was an interesting UA subclass and made it largely pointless in what they have released so far - just play a battle master. Hopefully it gets something more interesting at higher levels.

 

[Valetudo]

A battlemaster is much better off being a selfish damage dealer than a support class.

 

[Charlaquin]

WotC should try to do a dragon-rider Fighter, they just shouldn't call it a Purple Dragon Knight, because that's not the fun part of being a Purple Dragon Knight. If you think the existing lore is boring, then you definitely aren't in the target audience for it, and maybe there's a case that enough people think it's boring that a dragon-rider would be a better addition to the game than a battlefield leader, but then it should stand without using the Purple Dragon Knight as its name.

I don’t find the existing lore boring, I just don’t know the existing lore. And don’t really care to, because Forgotten Realms is too massive and bloated to be accessible even if I was interested in it as a setting. Mostly, the name “purple dragon knight” conjures the mental image of a knight either riding or trying to slay a purple dragon. And that sounds cool and interesting, but then the subclass doesn’t live up to that image. It’s just an incredibly generic knight, with no dragon-related features at all, let alone purple ones.

I understand that the purple dragon knights have never been dragon riders in the lore, but the thing about setting lore is that it can, and should, evolve. Just because they have never ridden purple dragons in the past doesn’t mean there couldn’t be some new novel or adventure module in which the events lead to the purple dragon nights starting to actually ride purple dragons.

This refusal to accept anything new in old settings is what that still active “the conservatism of D&D fans is exhausting” thread is about. Stodgy grognards too dedicated to these settings as they were decades ago, and throwing a fit every time moves are made towards allowing the settings to evolve from that point. The existing lore doesn’t have to change for purple dragon knights to start riding purple dragons in the current era of the realms. Indeed, the art that has been shown makes it look like that’s happening anyway, so all this complaining about “muh lore” has accomplished is making a subclass more mechanically generic. The lore is still evolving in the same direction.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I don’t find the existing lore boring, I just don’t know the existing lore. And don’t really care to, because Forgotten Realms is too massive and bloated to be accessible even if I was interested in it as a setting. Mostly, the name “purple dragon knight” conjures the mental image of a knight either riding or trying to slay a purple dragon. And that sounds cool and interesting, but then the subclass doesn’t live up to that image. It’s just an incredibly generic knight, with no dragon-related features at all, let alone purple ones.

Which makes "Purple Dragon Knight" a bad name. But that the subclass is a relatively generic knight-commander instead of some super specific and gimmicky thing is absolutely great in my book. Subclasses should be archetypes that represent several character concepts and fit to most settings.

 

[Pauln6]

Sure, but that is not what they did up to 3rd level at least. Instead they took what was an interesting UA subclass and made it largely pointless in what they have released so far - just play a battle master. Hopefully it gets something more interesting at higher levels.

I felt that giving them the d6 superiority dice plus the manoeuvre that boosted cha checks and one other warlord style manoeuvre instead of proficiency in persuasion would be a start. Can supplement at higher levels and with feats.

Their other class features are not like battlemasters at all.