Herald (Banneret Rework)

Heralds are paragons of valor and leadership who protect the innocent and rally fellow adventurers to the causes of justice and freedom.

Heroes of Faerun's Banneret exists as a sad shadow of its potential. Banneret strives to be the battlefield supporter, urging allies back into the fight and keeping them emboldened to fight their foes. With a crippling single use of its central ability per short rest being the only opportunity to bolster your allies, it doesn't achieve its peak fantasy. The Battle Master has the second closest fantasy to the battlefield supporter, but it comes woefully short of the idea as well, focusing on personal expertise in combat.

I am reworking the kit and enabling Banneret to truly let their flag fly.
I am also renaming it to Herald, because Herald is better. 
You'd trust Herald with the banner of your house.

The rework gives Herald a pool of dice to use on stratagems like Battle Master. Instead of using those dice to empower their own strikes, Heralds use their Rally Dice to embolden and reinforce their allies. These dice fuel all the stratagems I gave the Herald. I know that giving them such dice starts to blend the core mechanics of two subclasses but I'm doing my best to keep this balanced while using the language of other subclasses before it. 

Their central ability, Banner Recovery, is slightly changed from Banneret's "Group Recovery" to give the Second Wind heal a bit more head room with 1d6 as opposed to 1d4. Banner Recovery will enable Herald to get one or more allies back into the fight. At later levels it also grants temporary advantage on D20 tests, but that is actually part of the original class.  Unfortunately the one, single moment before each short rest of emboldening allies is not enough, SO I KEPT GOING!

I gave the Herald a bizarro-world version of the Battle Master Maneuver "Rally". Emboldening Aid, Rally's new cousin, is important to the core fantasy of the subclass. It gives your fighter a reason to get close and back up your allies both in and out of combat. Emboldening Aid gives the Herald limited access to Help as a bonus action. This makes Herald the second subclass who can give such swift assistance (mastermind rogue being the other). This action is strongest in combat and really shines when you can assist an ally with taking down a target in tandem. It can also be the moment where you pop up next to an ally having a rough time and go back to back. As Battle Master's "Rally" should be an imitation of what is the core identity of this subclass, Emboldening Aid also provides temporary HP. The present limiter of helping an ally within 5ft prevents this from enabling that Temp HP from being thrown across the battlefield. It also encourages roleplay opportunities between the Herald and their ally as they go for the Avenger's style team up. 

The final ability I gave them is Battlefield Support. While Emboldening Aid and Banner Recovery keep the Herald's allies alive and in the fight, Battlefield Support lends itself to the himbo, chad, banner-carrier moment of rushing over to a dying ally and placing yourself between them and death. Its based on charisma, which takes notes from Knight Envoy and Banner Recovery at the core of the class. That said, Battlefield Support won't get the target ally up. What it will do however, is keep an ally alive through the power of a cheesy one liner and a meat shield. Functionally, I gave Herald limited uses of Stabilize as a bonus action. This is noooooowhere near as strong as getting the ally back on their feet with Banner Recovery, but it will keep allies alive. I expect it to be a dark horse ability which will create tense moments for peak roleplay. Imagine the fading perception of a dying character. They brush closer to death, only to have the Herald descend from above to save them from death itself and those who would send them down that path further. 

Overall, these abilities flesh out the core idea of the subclass. It would be all to easy to give this class more stratagems and options to bolster and direct your allies, but I AM NOT making another Battle Master. Battle Master is good as its own thing. Herald is not and shall not be Battle Master. 

Wizards, take notes. Hire me.

Whether it be through devilish charm or weathered and trusty stoicism, Herald will do right by you. 

Level 3: Knight Envoy

You know how to conduct yourself with grace as a noble ambassador. You gain the following benefits.

Comprehension. You can cast the Comprehend Languages spell but only as a Ritual. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for it.

Polyglot. You learn one language from the language tables in the Player’s Handbook or chapter 2 of Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerûn. When you finish a Long Rest, you can replace a language learned from this benefit with another language you have heard, seen signed, or read in the past 24 hours.

Well Spoken. You gain proficiency in one of the following skills of your choice: Insight, Intimidation, Persuasion, or Performance.

Level 3: Bold Bannerer

Your time inspiring others on and off the battlefield has refined your techniques.

Rally Dice. You have four Rally Dice, which are d4s. A Rally Die is expended when you use it. You regain all expended Rally Dice when you finish a Short or Long Rest.

You gain an additional Rally Die when you reach Fighter levels 7 (five dice total) and 15 (six dice total).

Level 3: Ardent Supporter

Stratagems. You learn three stratagems fueled by special dice called Rally Dice. Stratagems grant options to sustain and support your allies. You can use only one stratagem per turn.

Banner Recovery. When you use your Second Wind to regain Hit Points, you can choose a number of allies within a 30-foot Emanation originating from yourself, up to a number of allies equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of one). Expend one Rally Die for each of those allies. Chosen allies regain Hit Points equal to 1d6 plus your Fighter level.

Bolstering Aid. When you take the help action to assist an ally within 5ft, you may expend one Rally Die to do so as a bonus action. That ally gains temporary Hit Points equal to the roll of the Rally Die (1d6) plus your Fighter Level.

Battlefield Support. When you make a medicine check to stabilize a dying ally, you may expend a Rally Die. If you do, you may attempt that medicine check as a bonus action and may add the Rally die roll (1d6) plus your Charisma Modifier (minimum of one) to the check. 

Level 7: Team Tactics

When you use stratagems from Ardent Supporter, each chosen ally has Advantage on D20 Tests until the start of your next turn.

Level 10: Rallying Surge

When you use your Action Surge, you can choose allies within a 30-foot Emanation originating from yourself, up to a number of allies equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of one). Each of those allies can immediately take a Reaction to use one of the following options.

Attack. The ally makes one attack with a weapon or an Unarmed Strike.

Move. The ally moves up to half its Speed without provoking Opportunity Attacks.

Level 15: Shared Resilience

When an ally you can see within 60 feet of yourself fails a saving throw, you can take a Reaction to expend a use of your Indomitable feature. The ally can immediately reroll the saving throw with a bonus equal to your Fighter level; the ally must use the new roll.

Level 18: Inspiring Commander

You gain the following benefits.

Bolstered Rally. The area of effect for both Banner Recovery and Rallying Surge is now a 60-foot Emanation.

Unshakable Bravery. You have Immunity to the Charmed and Frightened conditions.