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.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

Yeah, I think this gets lost in thinking about the change. It's the key driver to making them bigger players across Faerun. IMO FR struggles a bit with being too regional. Having more global groups helps give it more of a cohesive feel (again, IMO, YMMV, etc).

I said it elsewhere, but I'm fine with the PDKs being a dragon riding order, but them specifically using amethyst dragons is the issue. And here the lore explicitly says the dragon-riding PDKs are inspired by the dragonriders of Krynn, I once again wonder why we couldn't have gotten metallic dragons instead of amethyst ones.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

Yeah, I think this gets lost in thinking about the change. It's the key driver to making them bigger players across Faerun. IMO FR struggles a bit with being too regional. Having more global groups helps give it more of a cohesive feel (again, IMO, YMMV, etc).

It's kind of interesting that they settled on the thing that 5e Eberron did to give Dwarves a hook in the setting, "we fight aberrations".

 

[mearls]

I said it elsewhere, but I'm fine with the PDKs being a dragon riding order, but them specifically using amethyst dragons is the issue. And here the lore explicitly says the dragon-riding PDKs are inspired by the dragonriders of Krynn, I once again wonder why we couldn't have gotten metallic dragons instead of amethyst ones.

I see it like this:

The Krynn thing is background detail. I can't see it ever coming up in my game.

I actually like leaning into the gem dragons. It lets me position the PDKs as sitting outside the traditional metallic vs. chromatic struggle. I like that it introduces a third faction in that conflict rather than attaching a character to metallic dragons. Their tie to psionics and aberrations is also a nice spice that broadens out their natural enemies.

I also admit that this approach plays to my DMing sensibilities. I like powerful, friendly entities who have a layer of creepiness or strangeness to them, which is how I plan on portraying gem dragons. As an example, just today in my campaign that players made an alliance with a fey spirit that inhabits a massive, thorny bramble that rips apart creatures that try to enter it and commands a small army of creepy spiders. To seal the deal, each PC had to let a tiny spider crawl on them and ride around while they complete the spirit's quest.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

I see it like this:

The Krynn thing is background detail. I can't see it ever coming up in my game.

I actually like leaning into the gem dragons. It lets me position the PDKs as sitting outside the traditional metallic vs. chromatic struggle. I like that it introduces a third faction in that conflict rather than attaching a character to metallic dragons. Their tie to psionics and aberrations is also a nice spice that broadens out their natural enemies.

I also admit that this approach plays to my DMing sensibilities. I like powerful, friendly entities who have a layer of creepiness or strangeness to them, which is how I plan on portraying gem dragons. As an example, just today in my campaign that players made an alliance with a fey spirit that inhabits a massive, thorny bramble that rips apart creatures that try to enter it and commands a small army of creepy spiders. To seal the deal, each PC had to let a tiny spider crawl on them and ride around while they complete the spirit's quest.

I guess the thing is, I do like weird creepy gem dragons... I just think the purple dragons of Cormyr are the furthest you could get from creepy, weird and alien. They're two great tastes that, I personally, don't feel go well together; chocolate and cilantro rather than chocolate and peanut butter, you know?

 

[I'm A Banana]

I see it like this:

The Krynn thing is background detail. I can't see it ever coming up in my game.

I actually like leaning into the gem dragons. It lets me position the PDKs as sitting outside the traditional metallic vs. chromatic struggle. I like that it introduces a third faction in that conflict rather than attaching a character to metallic dragons. Their tie to psionics and aberrations is also a nice spice that broadens out their natural enemies.

I also admit that this approach plays to my DMing sensibilities. I like powerful, friendly entities who have a layer of creepiness or strangeness to them, which is how I plan on portraying gem dragons. As an example, just today in my campaign that players made an alliance with a fey spirit that inhabits a massive, thorny bramble that rips apart creatures that try to enter it and commands a small army of creepy spiders. To seal the deal, each PC had to let a tiny spider crawl on them and ride around while they complete the spirit's quest.

It'll be interesting to see if any of that is supported in the book, or if it's just basically Fridge Logic/Copium. What @bedir than mentioned about it not just being handwaved is encouraging, but the Krynn thing is goofy enough to give me pause. I can take a little goofy in my FR, but if that's basically all there is? Oof.

Powerful planar sages who typically remain aloof choosing to ally with a cadre of knights of the realm has some potential, and it's unorthodox enough to be potentially interesting because those puzzle pieces don't immediately fit together, but if the reason is basically that some in-universe agent wanted to loot something from another setting, then

 

[Parmandur]

It'll be interesting to see if any of that is supported in the book, or if it's just basically Fridge Logic/Copium. What @bedir than mentioned about it not just being handwaved is encouraging, but the Krynn thing is goofy enough to give me pause. I can take a little goofy in my FR, but if that's basically all there is? Oof.

Powerful planar sages who typically remain aloof choosing to ally with a cadre of knights of the realm has some potential, and it's unorthodox enough to be potentially interesting because those puzzle pieces don't immediately fit together, but if the reason is basically that some in-universe agent wanted to loot something from another setting, then

It very much fits with how Great Wyrms have been depicted since Fizban's, which became central to the D&D cosmology in the new core books: it is less "this guy had a weird dream" and more "I was talking to my Echo on Krynn and got the 411 on this new approach we can take..." because the whole Thing for Grratwyrns now is that they are in communication with their own alternate universe versions across dimensions.

Also, occult Gem Dragon plots centered on finding/awakening/rebuilding/creating the missing Saridor have been something WotC has been seedong fairly aggressively, in Adventure campaigns or the recent dragon art book.

 

[Remathilis]

It'll be interesting to see if any of that is supported in the book, or if it's just basically Fridge Logic/Copium. What @bedir than mentioned about it not just being handwaved is encouraging, but the Krynn thing is goofy enough to give me pause. I can take a little goofy in my FR, but if that's basically all there is? Oof.

Powerful planar sages who typically remain aloof choosing to ally with a cadre of knights of the realm has some potential, and it's unorthodox enough to be potentially interesting because those puzzle pieces don't immediately fit together, but if the reason is basically that some in-universe agent wanted to loot something from another setting, then

I took the Krynn reference as a bit of a cheeky nod to the fact they know Dragonlance is the dragon knight setting and literally saying it inspired the idea, in fiction and out.

But D&D lore is Serious Business so people are going to be upset with a bit of an in-joke.

 

[Umbran]

Time to pop my bottle of Schadenfreude Champagne*.

Mod note:

Your sparkling disdain is not really compatible with the respect we expect you to show for your fellow posters, even if you disagree with them.

You might want to step back from that edge, before you say something truly regrettable.

 

[ECMO3]

So early access for the FR book is out.

Banneret is a completely new subclass, no Dragons.

The Purple Dragon Knights and Amethyst Dragons are mentioned in the secotion on Cormyr, but it is very short and not emphasized. Basically a decade ago someone there went out seeking an alliance with Amethyst Dragons and made such an alliance, so it is not counter to the lore and it is easily ignored.

There is also a Purple Dragon Squire background and a Purple Dragon Rook Origin feat but neither of them mention Dragons at all and have nothing to do with Dragons mechanically.

Overall I am happy with it (so far)

 

[Zardnaar]

Shade is kinda back. Its refounded, not flying and settled by survivors of Shades fall.