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.

 

[MostlyHarmless42]

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.

So like the champion, which got decent by similar changes, I expect the banaret to be decent too.

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.

Edit: on reddit there is a screenshot of a page which says, that it is only cha mod persons and only 1/short rest, no matter how many second winds available...

Yes. Glad to know yet again people are scared of change and the game suffers for it. RIP cool dragon pet. Frankly I'll be houseruling away that once per short rest restriction. Second wind already has a use limitation and the healing amount, even with a d4 is still nowhere near enough warrant that limitation. It's also still frustrating their "I let people attack when I action surge" ability isn't until 10th level AND still doesn't help spellcasters in the slightest.

Looks we'll be home brewing it once again. sigh

 

[bedir than]

Looks we'll be home brewing it once again. sigh

Just use the Drakewarden

 

[Sacrosanct]

Just use the Drakewarden

I never understood why they would have two subclasses that are basically the same theme when there are other subclasses out there that aren't represented.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

I never understood why they would have two subclasses that are basically the same theme when there are other subclasses out there that aren't represented.

You mean like the divine soul sorceror and celestial warlock? Or the genie warlock and the genie paladin? Or the bladesinger wizard and eldritch knight fighter?

 

[Pedantic]

I could see two players working together as Dragon and Rider with some kind of Bond feat allowing them to coordinate better but generally dont like the idea of players running 2 PCs unless everyone is doing it.

I could see the playing the Dragon with a dumb rider, but thats an entirely different setting.

Until then Drakewarden will do

Fantasy Craft had a base playable dragon species and the Lancer class, that specialized in riding. You could easily pair up two PCs to pull that off. The Lancer gets an animal companion that could serve as a mount, but making that into same other kind of pet would be pretty neat.

 

[Sacrosanct]

You mean like the divine soul sorceror and celestial warlock? Or the genie warlock and the genie paladin? Or the bladesinger wizard and eldritch knight fighter?

pretty much, yeah. I know the bladesinger has a legacy going back to being an iconic 2e kit, so I'll give that one some slack.

*Edit: Assuming no new core classes, which I think the game could use an animist, you could work it into a subclass: a Warlock pact of the beast. New invocations that are around invoking animal spirits that each grant a particular power/effect from some sort of totem (small statuette, tattoo, etc). I'd rather see that over yet another dragon pet themed or genie themed subclass.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I never understood why they would have two subclasses that are basically the same theme when there are other subclasses out there that aren't represented.

I'd wager that Drakewarden is likely not very popular. For me, I find that it does not fulfill the fantasy of "a frickin' dragon companion" very well, in part because of how it is a spirit whose power conforms to your level, and not, y'know, actually a dragon that you made friends with. It doesn't even get to be Large until Level 15, or have a breath weapon until Level 11. I like it's customizability, but it does not deliver on the promised fantasy very well for me. The promised fantasy includes the idea of this dragon being its own independent creature who has chosen to befriend you, rather than a part of you that just looks like a dragon.

Glad to know yet again people are scared of change and the game suffers for it. RIP cool dragon pet.

Liking a leader-y Fighter more than another milquetoast attempt at a pet subclass is not primarily about being scared of change (for me, at least), it's about wanting a different sort of change.

but a mount subclass? that should be workable for any character concept.

Mounts are troublesome to base power in. They are challenging to bring into dungeon environments, they suffer issues with hp/damage scaling, and while you can ride a horse at 1st level, mount subclasses have to wait until at least 3rd (and most pet subclasses don't let you ride it at that point), making the realization of the archetype something crippled. There's also all the usual problems with pets (consuming table time, for instance).

These aren't unsolvable problems, but they are problems well beyond the scope of a subclass to solve.

All that said, I'm betting WotC will still release a dragon-riding fighter subclass at some point, since it is a juicy archetype (even if it wasn't a good fit for the Purple Dragon Knights). Time will tell if lands like a brick, I suppose.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Yes. Glad to know yet again people are scared of change and the game suffers for it. RIP cool dragon pet. Frankly I'll be houseruling away that once per short rest restriction. Second wind already has a use limitation and the healing amount, even with a d4 is still nowhere near enough warrant that limitation. It's also still frustrating their "I let people attack when I action surge" ability isn't until 10th level AND still doesn't help spellcasters in the slightest.

I really hoped they would remove the limitation. But the dragon pet sucks.
Not for lore reasons but because having a real dragon as a mindless pet growing from wyrmling to adult in a few weeks is really dumb.

Looks we'll be home brewing it once again. sigh

Feel free.

Cthulu by daylight has the hero subclass doing similar things.might be a good replacement for the banneret.

 

[TwoSix]

I'd wager that Drakewarden is likely not very popular. For me, I find that it does not fulfill the fantasy of "a frickin' dragon companion" very well, in part because of how it is a spirit whose power conforms to your level, and not, y'know, actually a dragon that you made friends with. It doesn't even get to be Large until Level 15, or have a breath weapon until Level 11. I like it's customizability, but it does not deliver on the promised fantasy very well for me. The promised fantasy includes the idea of this dragon being its own independent creature who has chosen to befriend you, rather than a part of you that just looks like a dragon.

Rules for a dragon companion are like the 3.5 Leadership feat but even worse. It isn't something that should simply be an opt-in player selection like a subclass. It needs an entire campaign frame and suite of special rules built around it.

If only one character is going to be a dragon rider, you either need a group of player very accepting of imbalance if it's in the service of a narrative (and a general sense that the utility of the dragon is in service to the whole party, even if it's part of only one character's story), or a host of spotlight control rules like some superhero games have, because core D&D can't handle those situations in a "balanced" way.

 

[Remathilis]

I never understood why they would have two subclasses that are basically the same theme when there are other subclasses out there that aren't represented.

I mean, why do we need the reanimator artificer, grave cleric, and undeath warlock, shadow sorcerer and oathbreaker paladin when the necromancer wizard already exists?