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.

 

[bedir than]

give everyone a pet thus avoiding the party balance issue.

While my world doesn't do this with dragons, it does do it with 'normal' beasts which can include drakes and other non-intelligent dragonkind.
Everyone in the party has an animal (or a Feat boosting their power).

 

[Eubani]

I think people need to accept outside of epic level games a dragon alongside a character will never fit the power level. You will only get something unsatisfying that is skinned to look like a dragon.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I think people need to accept outside of epic level games a dragon alongside a character will never fit the power level. You will only get something unsatisfying that is skinned to look like a dragon.

What matters is the role play. The power is irrelevant.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

What matters is the role play. The power is irrelevant.

Cool. Then you can buy your character a horse and roleplay that it is a dragon.

 

[Mecheon]

Cool. Then you can buy your character a horse and roleplay that it is a dragon.

I mean, back in Journey to the West that kinda just how it be

mind I think said horse forgot he was a dragon prince like. 90% of the time

 

[ECMO3]

What matters is the role play. The power is irrelevant.

For players to roleplay a Dragon pet, in a fashion consistent with what people understand a dragon to be, it needs to be powerful.

I actually see very little roleplay coming out of this or really any similar type of pet. If they publish a class it could work mechanically, but it will be for those mechanical reasons it is successful/desired (flying, breath weapon etc), not because it is a Dragon, especially when it is an obscure Dragon type that is unheard of in most campaigns.

 

[unfurledknot]

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).



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).





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.

the best case scenario is the bring back the fun and interesting concept of Dragon Rider without PDK as its name. The issue I think most people have with it isn't the concept itself but just the lore baggage attached to the name

 

[Zardnaar]

the best case scenario is the bring back the fun and interesting concept of Dragon Rider without PDK as its name. The issue I think most people have with it isn't the concept itself but just the lore baggage attached to the name

Yup PDK is a prestige class or background.

Not riding a dragon. Or a Amethyst dragon.

The purple dragon was a black one with a skin condition.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Said skin condition properly termed “old age.”

 

[Zardnaar]

Said skin condition properly termed “old age.”

Six of one. Half dozen of another.