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.

 

[Maxperson]

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?

I've yet to see a Red Wizard who was red. Or members of The Kraken Society who were krakens.

 

[CreamCloud0]

Exactly. All magical. I do view psionics as a form of magic, just not arcane magic. Certainly, they aren't purely martial. A player wanting a martial character who is intelligent should have an option without being magical. The tactical warlord in 4e showed that there is an archetype that can be implemented. It's not even an obscure one.

Even something simple like you get 1/2 Int bonus rounded up to initiative rolls and 2 (+ Int bonus) d6 superiority dice to spend on a restricted (warlord type) manoeuvres. Plus you add your Cha bonus to the hp you heal.

Realistically, most people wouldn't have more than +2 so that's +1 initiative, 4d6 superiority dice, and 1d4+2 healing.

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

 

[Benjamin Olson]

I guess I care more about the default setting being straightforward and accessible than being deep and meaningful, or not "juvenile" (whatever that means for this elf game that I've often played with literal children).

Once again, to me the whole appeal of the Forgotten Realms is that it is a setting that's cosmopolitan enough to accommodate basically any character option or any monster, which has giant piles of lore easily accessible, which everyone is slightly familiar with, but which, critically, nobody I play with is invested enough in the lore of to care if we change up many or most things to suit our needs or whims. If I wanted lore I care about I'd use my own setting, but then I'd have to either tell players "no" or accept the lore consequences when they wanted to play a cat person in a psyonic subclass. The Forgotten Realms just says yes to everything, and has the sort of lore that comes from that. I don't particularly respect it's lore "vision", but that's part of what makes it useful.

I get that someone's going to be invested in any setting, it just seems a little silly when its a setting that every new non-setting specific bit of content just gets thrown into willy nilly and which has clearly been substantially reinterpreted over the decades to suit changes of edition and such. There has not really been a grand coherent vision for Faerun for a long, long time, and honestly when WotC tries to have some big event ongoing that produces the worst content; I really hate when a published adventure derails the flow to feature something that is just there to be a cool moment for people who played some other published adventure or read some novel (without even the courtesy of a DM note that that's why its there and here's how to skip it if it's not relevant to your group).

In any case as someone who loves the Forgotten Realms because I don't have to care about its lore it's odd to encounter people who love it because they do. Makes me feel like it's time to get a new generic fantasy setting as the default for those of us who just want to roll dice and not have to make up every bit of lore on the fly, and maybe the Forgotten Realms can be preserved as it is for you lore-curating afficianados.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

From the same mindset that brought you Purple Dragon Knights who ride purple dragons:

Battle Smith: Artificers who gain abilities relating to fighting smiths.

Morrisey wept.

Path of the Storm Herald: Barbarians who can predict the weather and tell people about it.

“Rudolph the Red knows rain, dear!”

Path of the Totem Warrior: Barbarians who wield totem poles as weapons.

Cabers vs Totem poles!

College of Spirits: Bards who drink alcohol.

Very Letterkenny, I’m thinking.

Grave Domain: Clerics who are very somber and serious.

They are not amused. EVER. Total immunity to charm/enchantment magic.

Circle of Stars: Druids dedicated to celebrities.

The Devotees of Mother Stewart & The Dogg

Arcane Archer: Fighters who fire Wizards from bows.

Who among us hasn’t felt that temptation?

Way of the Open Hand: Monks who answer "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" by slapping people.

Circle of Iron!

Oath of the Ancients: Paladins dedicated to protecting senior citizens.

“Hold thy horses, citizen, that I may aid this venerable cross yon thoroughfare!”

Swarmkeeper: Rangers who aren't allowed to travel because the swarm needs to be kept in one spot. Those bees ain't budging.

That’s most of ‘em, but not all of them…

Man Dons Bee Suit Made of 460,000 Live Insects

Beekeeper was “hot, suffocating and nervous” during stunt.

abcnews.go.com

Phantom: Rogues who wear masks and gain bonuses when inside opera houses.

They’ll steal the show!

Wild Magic: Sorcerers who gain their powers from a connection to nature.

“Watch what happens when I eat THIS mushroom!”

(time passes)

“That was obviously not the mushroom he thought it was. Good service, though. Nice to see everyone came.”

School of Bladesinging: Wizards who sing to swords.

…and the swords who wish they’d STOP!

Seriously, those Cha-dumping magic jockeys crooning at cutlasses are probably a major source of evil swords. They can’t hold a note, and the swords can’t cover their ears. Maddening!

 

[Mistwell]

I really liked the UA Purple Knight. I wish they had simply responded to the criticism by changing it to a different name and lore. Amethyst Knight or whatever.

 

[Necropolitan]

I really liked the UA Purple Knight. I wish they had simply responded to the criticism by changing it to a different name and lore. Amethyst Knight or whatever.

Or remove the Amethyst part and make it so it can have any of the Dragon types as a companion.

 

[Scribe]

I really liked the UA Purple Knight. I wish they had simply responded to the criticism by changing it to a different name and lore. Amethyst Knight or whatever.

Right? Simple.

 

[TwoSix]

Cormyr is going to feel bad about their unilateral disarmament when the Sembian Green Dragon Knights attack, I can tell you that much.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Well, people who want to have a knight with a feeble dragon pet can just use the UA version.

 

[Mistwell]

Well, people who want to have a knight with a feeble dragon pet can just use the UA version.

It was not feeble. It was a rather powerful class when combined with the right feats and tactics.