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[Let's Read] Dragonlance Companion
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<blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 9182617" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/kPbjEhL.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><strong>Grave Speaker Ranger</strong> represents those who understand that death is as much a part of the natural world as life…and find it more fascinating than living creatures. Their 3rd level features include gaining thematic bonus spells such as False Life and Revivify, gaining helpful whispers from spirits that grant advantage on Survival checks, immunity to becoming lost, advantage on initiative rolls and immunity to becoming surprised while in favored terrain, and once per turn deal bonus damage when they hit a creature with 50% or less hit points (1d6, 1d10 at 11th level). At 7th level they can cast a slotless Speak with Dead once per long rest or short rest while in favored terrain, and can speak with the corpses of Beasts like the spell but an infinite number of times. At 11th level they crit on a 19 or 20 vs targets with 50% or less hit points, and at 15th level necromantic vines and roots puppeteer their body when they’re reduced to 0 hit points once per long rest. In such a state they can still act as though they were conscious for up to 1 minute, but still have to make death saves as normal and won’t truly die until this effect ends.</p><p></p><p><em>Thoughts:</em> The real strength of this subclass is dependent on the environment the DM puts you in on adventures. In favored terrain and wilderness crawls the Grave Speaker has a lot of great features. The bonus damage and increased critical chances to heavily wounded targets are nice but not amazing, and the 15th level capstone is pretty good for increasing the Ranger’s survivability. But it doesn’t hold a candle to stronger existing subclasses such as Drakewarden and Gloomstalker, who have more specialized features. Or even the Fey Wanderer’s bonus psychic damage, which is less than the Grave Speaker’s but triggers regardless of the enemy’s hit point value. I’d rate this one as moderate in most circumstances, but good if you pick the right terrain for the campaign.</p><p></p><p><strong>Tinkerer Rogue</strong> represents those who have a knack for advanced technology, and in the world of Krynn the gnomes of Mount Nevermind are their most famous members. At 3rd level they gain proficiency with thieves' tools or a set of artisan’s tools and add double their proficiency bonus on all tool checks with which they are proficient. They also can add Sneak Attack to a weapon attack they make without disadvantage, but only a number of times per long rest equal to their proficiency bonus. Also at 3rd level they are good with Improvised Weaponry, adding their proficiency bonus on attack rolls with improvised weapons and don’t suffer disadvantage when throwing them at long range. Additionally, they can spend 10 gold and make one of five special types of weapons during a short or long rest. These weapons typically deal damage along with a debuff, such as Blast Powder that is single-target damage but can also blind on a failed Constitution save. At 9th level the tinkerer can create two such special weapons per rest, and a number of times equal to their Intelligence modifier per long rest can add that same modifier to the ability check or saving throw of themselves or an ally within 30 feet. At 13th level they ignore all class/race/spell/level requirements for the purposes of using a magic item, and at 17th level they gain +1 on all saving throws per attuned magic item.</p><p></p><p><em>Thoughts:</em> The inability to add proficiency bonus to attack rolls with improvised weapons was a long-time complaint in 5th Edition, forcing those fond of acid vials and alchemist’s fire to take the underpowered Tavern Brawler feat to be any good at using them. The Tinkerer Rogue not only solves this problem, it also adds a bunch of other features encouraging their use. Not only that, the Tinkerer is well-suited for damaging builds, as besides their limited-use improved Sneak Attack their various special craftable weapons impose conditions that mix well with openings for further Sneak Attacks. Double proficiency on all tools is more situational, but for campaigns making use of craft systems this works quite nicely in reinforcing the Tinkerer’s features. As the special weapon DCs are based off of the Tinkerer’s Intelligence, it does make this little-used rogue stat a prerequisite for it in builds. But thematically speaking it makes sense for this subclass. Overall, I give this one high marks.</p><p></p><p><strong>Dreamwalker Sorcerer</strong> has a special connection with the illusory vistas of dreams and nightmares. At 1st level their additional learnable spells gear heavily towards illusions and sleep-based magic, such as Phantasmal Force and Major Image. The bonus spells are heavily spread out between books, with three non-core spells each from a different sourcebook: Nathair’s Mischief is in Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons, Catnap from Xanathar’s, and Summon Aberration from Tasha’s. The other 1st-level feature includes proficiency in the Insight skill, and once per long rest they can choose a number of creatures equal to their Charisma modifier currently resting to have either Dreams or Nightmares. Dreams grant temporary hit points equal to their sorcerer level plus their Charisma modifier, while Nightmares grant disadvantage on their next saving throw vs a spell or magical effect.</p><p></p><p>At 6th level they can spend up to 5 sorcery points to increase the potency of a Sleep spell, adding 2d8 per sorcery point to the total hit points that can be affected. At 14th level they learn the Dream spell if they don’t already know it, and can cast it as one action if they target an already sleeping creature. The sorcerer can also choose to make themselves monstrous, which forces the target to roll a Wisdom save each turn or take 10d6 psychic damage. Should they save, they take half damage and awaken. At 18th level the sorcerer gains truesight out to 30 feet, and their Sleep and Dream spells can affect targets who would otherwise be immune such as being undead.</p><p></p><p><em>Thoughts:</em> Even with the sorcery point feature, the hit point total of Sleep still peters off quickly at higher levels, and the immunity bypass comes in too late at 18th level when many creatures have hit points in the triple digits. The 14th level feature is a great way for a sorcerer to conduct long-range assassinations, but that’s a very situational use at best. Otherwise this subclass is too focused on one or two spells, with the boon of temporary hit points all too easily obtained through other means.</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/SeAVzKr.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><strong>Deity Warlock Patron</strong> solves the persnickety conundrum of how warlocks can be inserted into Krynn without upsetting the lore. Instead of typical patrons like an archfey or Lovecraftian Great Old One, warlocks can make pacts with deities to gain arcane spells. In fact, this has precedence in Dragonlance’s Fifth Age, when Takhisis stole away the world and monopolized Krynn’s access to magic. During this time she granted arcane spellcasting to the wizards in the Knights of Takhisis.</p><p></p><p>This subclass chooses from an existing Deity to be the warlock patron; the warlock’s alignment doesn’t have to match their deity, but the alignment of said deity determines the bonus spells they can access. Bonus spells that kick in regardless of alignment are a diverse array, such as Shield, Knock, Commune, and even True Resurrection at 9th level.* Good deities grant healing healing magic such as Healing Word and Revivify, Neutral Focuses on transmutation such as Enhance Ability and Polymorph, while Evil focuses on offensive options such as Dissonant Whispers and Vitriolic Sphere. A number of times per short or long rest equal to their proficiency bonus, the warlock can call upon their Deity’s Favor. This has specific effects based on alignment: good deities restore the hit points of a target within 30 feet and also increase their hit point maximum by that amount for the next 8 hours, neutral provides a Protection From Good and Evil style ward that requires no concentration on a touched willing creature, and evil deals extra damage on top of a damaging attack the warlock just made.</p><p></p><p>*Pretty sure this is a typo and meant to be Raise Dead.</p><p></p><p>At higher levels the warlock can once per short rest choose a willing creature within 60 feet, who is compelled to speak the deity’s name (or mouths it if cannot speak), granting both the creature and the warlock resistance to a single damage type based on alignment. Neutral grants resistance to the physical damage types, evil the elemental types plus poison, and good the more obscure types: force, necrotic, psychic, radiant, or thunder. At 10th level the warlock can create illusory symbols once per short or long rest that provides an AoE effect to them and their allies: good deities grant temporary hit points, neutral is a multi-target Greater Restoration, and evil grants extra damage of a chosen damage type equal to warlock level on a creature’s next attack. The 14th level capstone ability lets the warlock regain an expended spell slot once per short or long rest when they score a critical hit with an attack. Also once per short or long rest, they can spend a reaction when damaged by a creature to appear like their deity for 1 minute, gaining immunity to that damage type and adding double proficiency to attack and damage rolls.</p><p></p><p><em>Thoughts:</em> The subclass’ role depends heavily on their patron deity. Good gods make the warlock into a rather competent healer. The 1st level Deity’s Favor are all very strong features: Good is like a less-powerful Aid but can stack in being from separate sources, Neutral’s concentration-free Protection from Evil is great to put on multiple party members before fights against certain creature types, while Evil can really increase a Warlock’s DPS when combined with Agonizing Blast. The 6th level shared damage resistance is more situational, and the 10th level abilities are broadly useful. The 14th level “Deity avatar mode” is a very nice buff, and the double proficiency on attack and damage rolls makes the Warlock even more of a DPS machine. And given that all of these features recharge on short as well as long rests, this is an extremely powerful subclass.</p><p></p><p><strong>High Sorcery Wizard</strong> are those mages who passed the Test to join the most exalted organization of arcane spellcasters in Ansalon. At 2nd level they join one of the Orders, which in turn are keyed to one of three damage types for the purposes of subclass features: White is Radiant, Red is Force, and Black is Psychic. Whenever they cast a wizard spell, they can amplify that spell, redirecting some energy to a target within 60 feet and damaging them for 1d6 + Intelligence modifier of the Order’s damage type. This feature’s uses are limited to proficiency bonus per long rest. At 6th level once per short or long rest, they can choose a target within 60 feet whenever they cast a wizard spell: White Robe wizards can heal that target for 1d8 + Intelligence modifier in hit points; Red Robes imbue them with temporary hit points if they’re willing, and due to being instilled with cosmic balance they cannot roll anything with advantage or disadvantage until the end of the Wizard’s next turn; and Black Robes impose disadvantage on ability checks and Constitution saves for maintaining concentration on a spell until the end of the wizard’s next turn. At 10th level, once per long rest, the Wizard can spend a reaction to reroll a failed save against a spell or magical effect. At 14th level they add their Intelligence modifier to the damage of cantrips, and they can choose up to two targets instead of one with their 6th level feature.</p><p></p><p><em>Thoughts:</em> This subclass’ features feel rather uninspiring. The additional damage with their initial 2nd level feature doesn’t amount to much, and the White Robes’ 6th level feature is like a free use of Cure Light Wounds which is both weak and lore-breaking.* Being able to reroll a failed save and the Black Robes’ disadvantage on Constitution saves and ability checks is a nice debuff, but you need more than that to make a good subclass. Furthermore, I don’t like the implication that wizards need to take this subclass to join the Orders of High Sorcery. In Dragonlance it was clear that the Orders had specialists of many different kinds: you’d find enchanters and necromancers among the Black Robes, diviners and abjurers among the White Robes, and illusionists and transmuters among the Red Robes.</p><p></p><p>*In Dragonlance, arcane spellcasters are unable to use magic to heal others. There are workarounds, but often come at a cost such as draining the life from another being.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/9pPFeEJ.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p> <p style="text-align: center"><strong>Character Options</strong></p><p></p><p>This super-short chapter gives us 2 new backgrounds and 7 new feats, all of which are geared towards iconic organizations in the setting. Like in default 5e Dragonlance, the organization-specific feats can be chosen as 1st level background-specific and 4th level bonus feats, and can also be taken as regular feats. Whereas Shadow of the Dragon Queen gave us options for the Knights of Solamnia and Mages of High Sorcery, the Dragonlance Companion gives us options for the Knights of Neraka and Seekers. The latter of which feels weird, in that they’re a small localized religious movement that died off quite early in the initial Chronicles and adventure once the true gods made their presence known again in the world.</p><p></p><p>The <strong>Knights of Neraka,</strong> formerly known as the Knights of Takhisis, were formed by the deity of the same name during the Fifth Age. Being the spiritual successors to the Dragonarmies, they sought to conquer Ansalon, and eventually the world, and their mission still remains the same even after the death of Takhisis.</p><p></p><p>The Knight of Neraka background grants proficiency in Athletics, Intimidation, two languages of the player’s choice, and their Feature includes free food and lodging at the strongholds of their order along with the Squire of Neraka feat. Said feat lets the character have to spend only 10 feet of movement to go from prone to standing, and they gain Battlemaster-like maneuvers and superiority dice, learning Commander’s Strike, Menacing Attack, and Sweeping Attack. The three other feats correspond to specific orders and require you to be 4th level: Knight of the Lily is for the shock troopers, where they gain +1 to Strength or Constitution, advantage on attack rolls against good-aligned creatures during the first round of combat, and once per short or long rest as a bonus action can perform an AoE frighten effect on nearby enemies for 1 minute if they fail a Wisdom save. Knight of the Skull represents the religious arm of the organization, where they gain +1 to Wisdom or Charisma, learn Branding Smite and a 1st level paladin spell of choice, and can cast them once per long rest each and if they’re a spellcaster use slots for further castings. Knight of the Thorn represents those arcane magic users who pledged allegiance to Takhisis/Neraka over the Orders of High Sorcery. They gain +1 to Intelligence or Charisma, gain proficiency in Arcana or double proficiency if already proficient, and can cast Augury once per long rest and with spell slots if a spellcaster.</p><p></p><p>As for the <strong>Seekers,</strong> Seeker Guard is the background and gives us proficiency in Intimidation, Survival, one musical instrument, and one language. It grants the Seeker Sergeant feat as a bonus feat, and its Feature makes their demeanor indicate to others that they’re a member of law enforcement and they add double proficiency on Intimidation checks when interrogating non-Construct, non-Undead creatures. All of their feats add +1 to Strength or Constitution. Seeker Sergeant grants free private rooms in any garrison or Inn that recognizes the Seekers, and as a bonus action a number of times per long rest equal to their proficiency bonus they can give tactical advice to an ally within 60 feet, who then gets advantage on their next attack. Seeker Lieutenant is the next feat up the chain at 4th level: it grants a free small private house in a settlement controlled by the Seekers, and a number of times per proficiency bonus per long rest can impose disadvantage on an enemy’s attack roll targeting an adjacent ally as a reaction. Seeker Captain is the 8th level feat, where they gain the privileges of minor nobility in Seeker towns and are gifted a manor house with a small staff, and they exude a Dominating Presence where a target they hit must make a Wisdom save or have disadvantage on their next attack roll against the Seeker. Unlike the prior feats, this special ability is of infinite use.</p><p></p><p><em>Thoughts:</em> The Knights of Neraka get some good proficiencies, and the base Squire feat is pretty good in granting Battlemaster maneuvers. The Lily’s AoE Frighten is another useful option, and given its bonus action they can easily follow it up with a regular action. The Skull isn’t as impressive and is contingent on what spells you select, and Thorn is highly situational in that Augury is pretty swingy as far as divination spells go. The Seeker background is great for Intimidation-based builds, but its feature can be a hindrance in that it makes other people have an intuitive sense of your background which you may not always want in all situations. The Sergeant’s bonus action for advantage on an attack is great, particularly with Rogues for Sneak Attack, and Captain’s Dominating Presence is great if you can lock a target down into being forced to attack you. But the bonus lodgings and houses aren’t useful for more mobile campaigns and those set outside Abanasinia.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/ZtifX3s.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p> <p style="text-align: center"><strong>Spells of Krynn</strong></p><p></p><p>This chapter is deceptively short in being 6 pages long, but has 19 spells ranging from 0 to 9th level. While I’ve been thorough in the prior sections, I’m only going to cover a few in depth. A large number of them (6) deal lightning damage and are lightning or storm-themed, another 6 are focused around temporal manipulation such as time travel, and the rest are a more diverse array. All of them are spells from earlier Editions of Dragonlance or D&D in general.</p><p></p><p>Daze and Know Direction are our cantrips, the former dealing psychic damage on a failed Intelligence save and the target can’t take reactions until its next turn, while Know Direction lets the caster intuit which way is north. Dark Bargain is a 1st level spell, where the caster touches a willing creature, where they lose one of their Hit Die and gain advantage on their next attack roll or ability check before the end of their next turn, and the caster gains an extra Hit Die which is the same die size of the touched target and can exceed the caster’s normal Hit Die maximum. Project Pain is a 2nd level spell cast as a reaction, projecting into a nearby target that takes 4d6 damage on a failed Wisdom save and the caster has advantage on Constitution saves to maintain concentration against the source of damage. Stone Shards is pretty much a less-powerful version of Scorching Ray: it too is 2nd level and creates 3 stone shards which can be tossed, but they deal 3d6 bludgeoning damage each, the spell is concentration for 1 minute, and the range of the shards are 30 feet. The only apparent advantage is that the caster can toss the stones one at a time rather than all at once, but it costs 1 action per throw. Enfeebling Storm is a 5th level necromancy spell that is an AoE cylinder that imposes halved speed and disadvantage on Strength and Dexterity saves and checks on those within it. Vampiric Aura is a 7th level spell that creates a 20 foot radius mist for the duration. Creatures who enter or remain within the mist take 6d8 necrotic damage, and the caster regains in hit points half the amount dealt.</p><p></p><p>And what of the lightning-based spells? Many of them riff of of existing spells but with some alterations: Crackling Sphere is like Flaming Sphere but is 3rd level and deals 3d8 lightning instead of 2d6 fire, has a range of 120 feet instead of 60 feet, and has to be used as an action rather than bonus action but can move up to 60 feet instead of 30 feet. Shocking Spark is a 1st level melee attack, much like shocking grasp but deals 3d6 damage by default and instead of negating reactions deals +10 damage on a critical hit vs targets made of or wearing metal. And Storm Wall is like Wall of Fire in making an AoE damaging field but deals extra damage to metal targets. And I bet you can’t guess what Spark Shield is based off of! Dalamar’s Lightning Lance is one of the more unique and innovative zappy spells: it’s 4th level single target, dealing 4d10 lightning damage and the stunned condition on a failed Constitution save, with disadvantage on the save if the target’s wearing metal or made of metal.</p><p></p><p>And what of the time-based spells? Well we’ve got Temporal Anomaly (1st level, detects abnormalities in time), Paradox (3rd level, choose an action taken within the last minute and it and its effects are erased, higher levels can erase actions much further back in time),* Time Hop (3rd level, cast as bonus action and caster vanishes from the location and appears in the space or nearest occupied if full 1 turn later), Temporal Eye (6th level, like scrying but can observe events within the last or next 7 days), Nullify (9th level, single-target spell that deals a lot of psychic damage and those reduced to 0 hit points are erased from history as everyone forgets their existence), and Timereaver (9th level, like Teleport but can travel up to 1,000 in the past or 100 years in the future, requires DC 30 Arcana check to work, has a d100 table but instead of teleporting off-target can end up off by several months or even decades).</p><p></p><p>*I can see this as a nightmare to run in combat due to cause and effect.</p><p></p><p><em>Thoughts:</em> First off, the favorites. Dark Bargain is a pretty cool means of finding ways to spend Hit Dice besides short rests, Project Pain is a cool counterattack that comes with a nice secondary benefit, Enfeebling Storm is a nice way to set up enemies for a Fireball or similar Strength/Dexterity-based AoE attack, and Vampiric Aura is a pretty powerful self-healing necromancy effect.</p><p></p><p>I found the multitude of lightning-based spells to be unimaginative and in some cases underpowered. Flaming Sphere’s usability comes from it turning bonus actions into a nice secondary means of dealing damage in combat, but Crackling Sphere removes this. Shocking Grasp is useful in helping squishy wizards get out of reach of melee attackers, and I can’t see myself using this in most cases in comparison to something like Guiding Bolt or even Hex for damage-stacking. Stone Shards is just weak all around for its level, and several of the time-based spells are either very situational or campaign-breaking.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/llIMnxD.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p> <p style="text-align: center"><strong>Items of Magic</strong></p><p></p><p>With 22 new magic items and a d100 Trinkets of Krynn table, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Dragonlance is not a low-magic setting! Like the preceding spells, many of these magic items are taken from earlier Dragonlance sourcebooks, although I can’t say for certain exactly how many are truly new.</p><p></p><p>The <strong>16 initial magic items</strong> are your standard kinds, and some of the more interesting ones include the Device of Time Journeying (Artifact, lets the wielder and 8 willing creatures travel to any location in the world at any point in its past or presence, provided you succeed on a DC 25 Intelligence/Wisdom/Charisma check), Dragon Plate Mail (Legendary, as plate mail but grants +2 AC, no disadvantage on Stealth, resistance to the damage type of the dragon scales forming it, 3 charges which can be expended to create an illusion of a dragon that imposes the Frightened condition on onlookers, gains once-per-week use of Legendary Resistance), Frostreaver (very rare, +3 battleaxe dedicated to the god Habbakuk, deals +1d6 cold damage and once per turn reduces a struck target’s speed by half, deals maximum damage to objects), Hoopak (rarity varies, cross between slingshot and quarterstaff that can make a frightening high-pitched whine as an action that imposes frightened condition on a nearby creature for 1 minute if they fail a Wisdom save), Oathkeeper (artifact, +3 longsword that deals +2d6 damage vs non-lawful creatures, makes wielder aware of any deliberate lie told within 15 feet, can cast Geas once per day while holding the sword, sword is intelligent, telepathic, and detects non-lawful creatures within 120 feet), Spellbook of Magius (Very Rare, holds 20 random spells of 1st to 5th level, once per day as an action can cast a random spell from the book without the need for components), and Weapon of Bonding (Uncommon, can return weapon to hand as a bonus action if within 30 feet, returns to you the next dawn if lost; Greater version is Very Rare, +1 weapon, and has 3 charges which can be spent to automatically succeed on an effect that would charm or frighten you).</p><p></p><p>But there is one new magic item type that is pretty nifty: Spell Runes, which are less like a specific item and more like a scroll or potion in being a variety of choosable effects. Spell Runes are sewn into clothes using thread made from a metal: the rarer the metal, the more powerful the effect and thus its rarity. The creation of a spell rune takes place over a period of 2 to 7 long rests depending on rarity, and a person’s proficiency bonus determines how many complex and simple runes they can have active on their person. Complex spell runes require attunement in addition to the prior limit, but simple spell runes don’t need to be attuned.</p><p></p><p>We have a list of 22 Complex Spell Runes and 17 Simple Spell Runes, which either give persistent or limited-use benefits. For some of the Complex ones, we have Bilak (Speak, very rare) which lets one cast spells without verbal components, Keawetan (Life, legendary) burns away once the caster is reduced to 0 hit points and restores them to full health, and Balakan (Memory, Rare) lets the wearer regain an expended spell slot of up to 5th level once per day. The vast majority of Simple runes are once per day castings of existing spells without components, such as Bentuk (Shape, rare) casting Stone Shape or Cas (Cat, uncommon) casting Pass Without Trace. The exceptions are rather interesting, such as Tanah (Earth, uncommon) granting resistance to force damage or Tanda (Shadow, rare) which connects the user to the Shadowfell and lets them cast Misty Step a number of times per day equal to their proficiency bonus.</p><p></p><p>The six <strong>Legacy Items</strong> stand apart from others in the Companion. They are meant to be unique personalized rewards for a specific PC, and gain further benefits as they level up. Each legacy item has 4 ranks ranging from 0 to 3, and roughly correspond to the Tiers of play. Rank 0 activates at 1st level, 1 at 3rd, 2 at 5th, and 3 at 11th. Ranks come with Catalysts, story-based quests congruent with the item’s function. For example, Bonesplinter’s Rank 3 requires the item to consume bones from an adult dragon, while the first rank of Scavenger’s Charm requires the wearer to survive or avoid a trap that would’ve harmed them. The items include Bonesplinter (crafted from a dragon’s bones, can regrow bones on its form to use as arrows, improvements include things such as +1 on attack and damage rolls and reducing movement speed of struck targets), Coaltender (ring or earring that lets you comfortably subsist in cold weather, higher ranks grant resistance to fire damage and get once per day immunity to fire damage), Measure (sword, can spend charges to give illusory changes to height, higher ranks grant things like gain advantage on attack roll or crit on a 19-20), Scavenger’s Charm (glows faintly within 50 feet of oozes, higher ranks grant +1 on all saving throws and cast Create Food and Water once per day), Sun’s Glare (shield, can magically clean armor and clothing during a long rest, higher ranks grant +1 to AC, charges that can blind enemies within 10 feet, use reaction once per day to deal radiant damage as a counterattack), and Wanderlust (compass, always points true north, higher ranks include additional needles that point to things such as the nearest hub of civilization or sources of magic).</p><p></p><p><em>Thoughts:</em> I really like the concept of Spell Runes. They’re also the only items in this book that have a default price for the spool types, which gives the PCs incentives to spend their money. The Dragon Plate Mail makes for a nice end-game item, and Weapons of Bonding can be nicely paired with throwing weapons such as javelins. The Hoopaks feel odd to include as magic items, particularly given that they’re regular equipment in Shadow of the Dragon Queen. Otherwise, the other items haven’t really elicited any strong emotions in me. Quite a few feel either too focused on a specific campaign type (Device of Time Journeying) or feel rather lackluster in contrast with its legendary feature: the Spellbook of Magius is a particular example, in that it…lets you cast a randomly-determined wizard spell once per day. Wow, I’m quivering in my boots at this onslaught of arcane might! Oathkeeper is a pretty neat weapon, although it seems to be an original creation. Fortunately the Dragonlance Companion comes with a built-in backstory for it, as being wielded by the leaders of the Knights of the Rose before its last owner hid it away in Lord Soth’s keep.</p><p></p><p>The Legacy Items are obviously inspired by the 3rd Edition sourcebook Weapons of Legacy. Personally speaking, the sample items don’t really have that wow factor. The Catalysts vary in quality and difficulty, with some more easily accomplished than others than even of the same rank. A lot of the abilities are either situational or passive, which makes them pale in comparison to end-game items such as the Holy Avenger.</p><p></p><p><strong>Thoughts So Far:</strong> The remaining subclasses are a mixed bag. Tinkerer stands out as a clear favorite, and the Grave Speaker looks to be alright from my initial readings. I’m not feeling the Dreamwalker or the Wizard of High Sorcery for reasons I explained in their initial entries. The Deity Warlock may be a tad too powerful for damage-dealers with an Evil patron deity.</p><p></p><p>I have similar feelings on the spells, which look to be of questionable balance overall, and feel that the magic items could’ve used some more pizzazz or iconic options. In looking over at Tasslehoff’s Pouches of Everything, that sourcebook got the lion’s share of iconic items such as the Blue Crystal Staff or the Brightblade. While I understand that the two publishers didn’t want to step on each other’s toes too much for redundancy, this leaves the magic item options in the Dragonlance Companion feeling poorer in this regard.</p><p></p><p><strong>Join us next time as we cover time travel, the Gods of Krynn, and new monsters in the Bestiary!</strong></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Libertad, post: 9182617, member: 6750502"] [img]https://i.imgur.com/kPbjEhL.png[/img] [b]Grave Speaker Ranger[/b] represents those who understand that death is as much a part of the natural world as life…and find it more fascinating than living creatures. Their 3rd level features include gaining thematic bonus spells such as False Life and Revivify, gaining helpful whispers from spirits that grant advantage on Survival checks, immunity to becoming lost, advantage on initiative rolls and immunity to becoming surprised while in favored terrain, and once per turn deal bonus damage when they hit a creature with 50% or less hit points (1d6, 1d10 at 11th level). At 7th level they can cast a slotless Speak with Dead once per long rest or short rest while in favored terrain, and can speak with the corpses of Beasts like the spell but an infinite number of times. At 11th level they crit on a 19 or 20 vs targets with 50% or less hit points, and at 15th level necromantic vines and roots puppeteer their body when they’re reduced to 0 hit points once per long rest. In such a state they can still act as though they were conscious for up to 1 minute, but still have to make death saves as normal and won’t truly die until this effect ends. [i]Thoughts:[/i] The real strength of this subclass is dependent on the environment the DM puts you in on adventures. In favored terrain and wilderness crawls the Grave Speaker has a lot of great features. The bonus damage and increased critical chances to heavily wounded targets are nice but not amazing, and the 15th level capstone is pretty good for increasing the Ranger’s survivability. But it doesn’t hold a candle to stronger existing subclasses such as Drakewarden and Gloomstalker, who have more specialized features. Or even the Fey Wanderer’s bonus psychic damage, which is less than the Grave Speaker’s but triggers regardless of the enemy’s hit point value. I’d rate this one as moderate in most circumstances, but good if you pick the right terrain for the campaign. [b]Tinkerer Rogue[/b] represents those who have a knack for advanced technology, and in the world of Krynn the gnomes of Mount Nevermind are their most famous members. At 3rd level they gain proficiency with thieves' tools or a set of artisan’s tools and add double their proficiency bonus on all tool checks with which they are proficient. They also can add Sneak Attack to a weapon attack they make without disadvantage, but only a number of times per long rest equal to their proficiency bonus. Also at 3rd level they are good with Improvised Weaponry, adding their proficiency bonus on attack rolls with improvised weapons and don’t suffer disadvantage when throwing them at long range. Additionally, they can spend 10 gold and make one of five special types of weapons during a short or long rest. These weapons typically deal damage along with a debuff, such as Blast Powder that is single-target damage but can also blind on a failed Constitution save. At 9th level the tinkerer can create two such special weapons per rest, and a number of times equal to their Intelligence modifier per long rest can add that same modifier to the ability check or saving throw of themselves or an ally within 30 feet. At 13th level they ignore all class/race/spell/level requirements for the purposes of using a magic item, and at 17th level they gain +1 on all saving throws per attuned magic item. [i]Thoughts:[/i] The inability to add proficiency bonus to attack rolls with improvised weapons was a long-time complaint in 5th Edition, forcing those fond of acid vials and alchemist’s fire to take the underpowered Tavern Brawler feat to be any good at using them. The Tinkerer Rogue not only solves this problem, it also adds a bunch of other features encouraging their use. Not only that, the Tinkerer is well-suited for damaging builds, as besides their limited-use improved Sneak Attack their various special craftable weapons impose conditions that mix well with openings for further Sneak Attacks. Double proficiency on all tools is more situational, but for campaigns making use of craft systems this works quite nicely in reinforcing the Tinkerer’s features. As the special weapon DCs are based off of the Tinkerer’s Intelligence, it does make this little-used rogue stat a prerequisite for it in builds. But thematically speaking it makes sense for this subclass. Overall, I give this one high marks. [b]Dreamwalker Sorcerer[/b] has a special connection with the illusory vistas of dreams and nightmares. At 1st level their additional learnable spells gear heavily towards illusions and sleep-based magic, such as Phantasmal Force and Major Image. The bonus spells are heavily spread out between books, with three non-core spells each from a different sourcebook: Nathair’s Mischief is in Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons, Catnap from Xanathar’s, and Summon Aberration from Tasha’s. The other 1st-level feature includes proficiency in the Insight skill, and once per long rest they can choose a number of creatures equal to their Charisma modifier currently resting to have either Dreams or Nightmares. Dreams grant temporary hit points equal to their sorcerer level plus their Charisma modifier, while Nightmares grant disadvantage on their next saving throw vs a spell or magical effect. At 6th level they can spend up to 5 sorcery points to increase the potency of a Sleep spell, adding 2d8 per sorcery point to the total hit points that can be affected. At 14th level they learn the Dream spell if they don’t already know it, and can cast it as one action if they target an already sleeping creature. The sorcerer can also choose to make themselves monstrous, which forces the target to roll a Wisdom save each turn or take 10d6 psychic damage. Should they save, they take half damage and awaken. At 18th level the sorcerer gains truesight out to 30 feet, and their Sleep and Dream spells can affect targets who would otherwise be immune such as being undead. [i]Thoughts:[/i] Even with the sorcery point feature, the hit point total of Sleep still peters off quickly at higher levels, and the immunity bypass comes in too late at 18th level when many creatures have hit points in the triple digits. The 14th level feature is a great way for a sorcerer to conduct long-range assassinations, but that’s a very situational use at best. Otherwise this subclass is too focused on one or two spells, with the boon of temporary hit points all too easily obtained through other means. [img]https://i.imgur.com/SeAVzKr.png[/img] [b]Deity Warlock Patron[/b] solves the persnickety conundrum of how warlocks can be inserted into Krynn without upsetting the lore. Instead of typical patrons like an archfey or Lovecraftian Great Old One, warlocks can make pacts with deities to gain arcane spells. In fact, this has precedence in Dragonlance’s Fifth Age, when Takhisis stole away the world and monopolized Krynn’s access to magic. During this time she granted arcane spellcasting to the wizards in the Knights of Takhisis. This subclass chooses from an existing Deity to be the warlock patron; the warlock’s alignment doesn’t have to match their deity, but the alignment of said deity determines the bonus spells they can access. Bonus spells that kick in regardless of alignment are a diverse array, such as Shield, Knock, Commune, and even True Resurrection at 9th level.* Good deities grant healing healing magic such as Healing Word and Revivify, Neutral Focuses on transmutation such as Enhance Ability and Polymorph, while Evil focuses on offensive options such as Dissonant Whispers and Vitriolic Sphere. A number of times per short or long rest equal to their proficiency bonus, the warlock can call upon their Deity’s Favor. This has specific effects based on alignment: good deities restore the hit points of a target within 30 feet and also increase their hit point maximum by that amount for the next 8 hours, neutral provides a Protection From Good and Evil style ward that requires no concentration on a touched willing creature, and evil deals extra damage on top of a damaging attack the warlock just made. *Pretty sure this is a typo and meant to be Raise Dead. At higher levels the warlock can once per short rest choose a willing creature within 60 feet, who is compelled to speak the deity’s name (or mouths it if cannot speak), granting both the creature and the warlock resistance to a single damage type based on alignment. Neutral grants resistance to the physical damage types, evil the elemental types plus poison, and good the more obscure types: force, necrotic, psychic, radiant, or thunder. At 10th level the warlock can create illusory symbols once per short or long rest that provides an AoE effect to them and their allies: good deities grant temporary hit points, neutral is a multi-target Greater Restoration, and evil grants extra damage of a chosen damage type equal to warlock level on a creature’s next attack. The 14th level capstone ability lets the warlock regain an expended spell slot once per short or long rest when they score a critical hit with an attack. Also once per short or long rest, they can spend a reaction when damaged by a creature to appear like their deity for 1 minute, gaining immunity to that damage type and adding double proficiency to attack and damage rolls. [i]Thoughts:[/i] The subclass’ role depends heavily on their patron deity. Good gods make the warlock into a rather competent healer. The 1st level Deity’s Favor are all very strong features: Good is like a less-powerful Aid but can stack in being from separate sources, Neutral’s concentration-free Protection from Evil is great to put on multiple party members before fights against certain creature types, while Evil can really increase a Warlock’s DPS when combined with Agonizing Blast. The 6th level shared damage resistance is more situational, and the 10th level abilities are broadly useful. The 14th level “Deity avatar mode” is a very nice buff, and the double proficiency on attack and damage rolls makes the Warlock even more of a DPS machine. And given that all of these features recharge on short as well as long rests, this is an extremely powerful subclass. [b]High Sorcery Wizard[/b] are those mages who passed the Test to join the most exalted organization of arcane spellcasters in Ansalon. At 2nd level they join one of the Orders, which in turn are keyed to one of three damage types for the purposes of subclass features: White is Radiant, Red is Force, and Black is Psychic. Whenever they cast a wizard spell, they can amplify that spell, redirecting some energy to a target within 60 feet and damaging them for 1d6 + Intelligence modifier of the Order’s damage type. This feature’s uses are limited to proficiency bonus per long rest. At 6th level once per short or long rest, they can choose a target within 60 feet whenever they cast a wizard spell: White Robe wizards can heal that target for 1d8 + Intelligence modifier in hit points; Red Robes imbue them with temporary hit points if they’re willing, and due to being instilled with cosmic balance they cannot roll anything with advantage or disadvantage until the end of the Wizard’s next turn; and Black Robes impose disadvantage on ability checks and Constitution saves for maintaining concentration on a spell until the end of the wizard’s next turn. At 10th level, once per long rest, the Wizard can spend a reaction to reroll a failed save against a spell or magical effect. At 14th level they add their Intelligence modifier to the damage of cantrips, and they can choose up to two targets instead of one with their 6th level feature. [i]Thoughts:[/i] This subclass’ features feel rather uninspiring. The additional damage with their initial 2nd level feature doesn’t amount to much, and the White Robes’ 6th level feature is like a free use of Cure Light Wounds which is both weak and lore-breaking.* Being able to reroll a failed save and the Black Robes’ disadvantage on Constitution saves and ability checks is a nice debuff, but you need more than that to make a good subclass. Furthermore, I don’t like the implication that wizards need to take this subclass to join the Orders of High Sorcery. In Dragonlance it was clear that the Orders had specialists of many different kinds: you’d find enchanters and necromancers among the Black Robes, diviners and abjurers among the White Robes, and illusionists and transmuters among the Red Robes. *In Dragonlance, arcane spellcasters are unable to use magic to heal others. There are workarounds, but often come at a cost such as draining the life from another being. [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/9pPFeEJ.png[/img] [b]Character Options[/b][/center] This super-short chapter gives us 2 new backgrounds and 7 new feats, all of which are geared towards iconic organizations in the setting. Like in default 5e Dragonlance, the organization-specific feats can be chosen as 1st level background-specific and 4th level bonus feats, and can also be taken as regular feats. Whereas Shadow of the Dragon Queen gave us options for the Knights of Solamnia and Mages of High Sorcery, the Dragonlance Companion gives us options for the Knights of Neraka and Seekers. The latter of which feels weird, in that they’re a small localized religious movement that died off quite early in the initial Chronicles and adventure once the true gods made their presence known again in the world. The [b]Knights of Neraka,[/b] formerly known as the Knights of Takhisis, were formed by the deity of the same name during the Fifth Age. Being the spiritual successors to the Dragonarmies, they sought to conquer Ansalon, and eventually the world, and their mission still remains the same even after the death of Takhisis. The Knight of Neraka background grants proficiency in Athletics, Intimidation, two languages of the player’s choice, and their Feature includes free food and lodging at the strongholds of their order along with the Squire of Neraka feat. Said feat lets the character have to spend only 10 feet of movement to go from prone to standing, and they gain Battlemaster-like maneuvers and superiority dice, learning Commander’s Strike, Menacing Attack, and Sweeping Attack. The three other feats correspond to specific orders and require you to be 4th level: Knight of the Lily is for the shock troopers, where they gain +1 to Strength or Constitution, advantage on attack rolls against good-aligned creatures during the first round of combat, and once per short or long rest as a bonus action can perform an AoE frighten effect on nearby enemies for 1 minute if they fail a Wisdom save. Knight of the Skull represents the religious arm of the organization, where they gain +1 to Wisdom or Charisma, learn Branding Smite and a 1st level paladin spell of choice, and can cast them once per long rest each and if they’re a spellcaster use slots for further castings. Knight of the Thorn represents those arcane magic users who pledged allegiance to Takhisis/Neraka over the Orders of High Sorcery. They gain +1 to Intelligence or Charisma, gain proficiency in Arcana or double proficiency if already proficient, and can cast Augury once per long rest and with spell slots if a spellcaster. As for the [b]Seekers,[/b] Seeker Guard is the background and gives us proficiency in Intimidation, Survival, one musical instrument, and one language. It grants the Seeker Sergeant feat as a bonus feat, and its Feature makes their demeanor indicate to others that they’re a member of law enforcement and they add double proficiency on Intimidation checks when interrogating non-Construct, non-Undead creatures. All of their feats add +1 to Strength or Constitution. Seeker Sergeant grants free private rooms in any garrison or Inn that recognizes the Seekers, and as a bonus action a number of times per long rest equal to their proficiency bonus they can give tactical advice to an ally within 60 feet, who then gets advantage on their next attack. Seeker Lieutenant is the next feat up the chain at 4th level: it grants a free small private house in a settlement controlled by the Seekers, and a number of times per proficiency bonus per long rest can impose disadvantage on an enemy’s attack roll targeting an adjacent ally as a reaction. Seeker Captain is the 8th level feat, where they gain the privileges of minor nobility in Seeker towns and are gifted a manor house with a small staff, and they exude a Dominating Presence where a target they hit must make a Wisdom save or have disadvantage on their next attack roll against the Seeker. Unlike the prior feats, this special ability is of infinite use. [i]Thoughts:[/i] The Knights of Neraka get some good proficiencies, and the base Squire feat is pretty good in granting Battlemaster maneuvers. The Lily’s AoE Frighten is another useful option, and given its bonus action they can easily follow it up with a regular action. The Skull isn’t as impressive and is contingent on what spells you select, and Thorn is highly situational in that Augury is pretty swingy as far as divination spells go. The Seeker background is great for Intimidation-based builds, but its feature can be a hindrance in that it makes other people have an intuitive sense of your background which you may not always want in all situations. The Sergeant’s bonus action for advantage on an attack is great, particularly with Rogues for Sneak Attack, and Captain’s Dominating Presence is great if you can lock a target down into being forced to attack you. But the bonus lodgings and houses aren’t useful for more mobile campaigns and those set outside Abanasinia. [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/ZtifX3s.png[/img] [b]Spells of Krynn[/b][/center] This chapter is deceptively short in being 6 pages long, but has 19 spells ranging from 0 to 9th level. While I’ve been thorough in the prior sections, I’m only going to cover a few in depth. A large number of them (6) deal lightning damage and are lightning or storm-themed, another 6 are focused around temporal manipulation such as time travel, and the rest are a more diverse array. All of them are spells from earlier Editions of Dragonlance or D&D in general. Daze and Know Direction are our cantrips, the former dealing psychic damage on a failed Intelligence save and the target can’t take reactions until its next turn, while Know Direction lets the caster intuit which way is north. Dark Bargain is a 1st level spell, where the caster touches a willing creature, where they lose one of their Hit Die and gain advantage on their next attack roll or ability check before the end of their next turn, and the caster gains an extra Hit Die which is the same die size of the touched target and can exceed the caster’s normal Hit Die maximum. Project Pain is a 2nd level spell cast as a reaction, projecting into a nearby target that takes 4d6 damage on a failed Wisdom save and the caster has advantage on Constitution saves to maintain concentration against the source of damage. Stone Shards is pretty much a less-powerful version of Scorching Ray: it too is 2nd level and creates 3 stone shards which can be tossed, but they deal 3d6 bludgeoning damage each, the spell is concentration for 1 minute, and the range of the shards are 30 feet. The only apparent advantage is that the caster can toss the stones one at a time rather than all at once, but it costs 1 action per throw. Enfeebling Storm is a 5th level necromancy spell that is an AoE cylinder that imposes halved speed and disadvantage on Strength and Dexterity saves and checks on those within it. Vampiric Aura is a 7th level spell that creates a 20 foot radius mist for the duration. Creatures who enter or remain within the mist take 6d8 necrotic damage, and the caster regains in hit points half the amount dealt. And what of the lightning-based spells? Many of them riff of of existing spells but with some alterations: Crackling Sphere is like Flaming Sphere but is 3rd level and deals 3d8 lightning instead of 2d6 fire, has a range of 120 feet instead of 60 feet, and has to be used as an action rather than bonus action but can move up to 60 feet instead of 30 feet. Shocking Spark is a 1st level melee attack, much like shocking grasp but deals 3d6 damage by default and instead of negating reactions deals +10 damage on a critical hit vs targets made of or wearing metal. And Storm Wall is like Wall of Fire in making an AoE damaging field but deals extra damage to metal targets. And I bet you can’t guess what Spark Shield is based off of! Dalamar’s Lightning Lance is one of the more unique and innovative zappy spells: it’s 4th level single target, dealing 4d10 lightning damage and the stunned condition on a failed Constitution save, with disadvantage on the save if the target’s wearing metal or made of metal. And what of the time-based spells? Well we’ve got Temporal Anomaly (1st level, detects abnormalities in time), Paradox (3rd level, choose an action taken within the last minute and it and its effects are erased, higher levels can erase actions much further back in time),* Time Hop (3rd level, cast as bonus action and caster vanishes from the location and appears in the space or nearest occupied if full 1 turn later), Temporal Eye (6th level, like scrying but can observe events within the last or next 7 days), Nullify (9th level, single-target spell that deals a lot of psychic damage and those reduced to 0 hit points are erased from history as everyone forgets their existence), and Timereaver (9th level, like Teleport but can travel up to 1,000 in the past or 100 years in the future, requires DC 30 Arcana check to work, has a d100 table but instead of teleporting off-target can end up off by several months or even decades). *I can see this as a nightmare to run in combat due to cause and effect. [i]Thoughts:[/i] First off, the favorites. Dark Bargain is a pretty cool means of finding ways to spend Hit Dice besides short rests, Project Pain is a cool counterattack that comes with a nice secondary benefit, Enfeebling Storm is a nice way to set up enemies for a Fireball or similar Strength/Dexterity-based AoE attack, and Vampiric Aura is a pretty powerful self-healing necromancy effect. I found the multitude of lightning-based spells to be unimaginative and in some cases underpowered. Flaming Sphere’s usability comes from it turning bonus actions into a nice secondary means of dealing damage in combat, but Crackling Sphere removes this. Shocking Grasp is useful in helping squishy wizards get out of reach of melee attackers, and I can’t see myself using this in most cases in comparison to something like Guiding Bolt or even Hex for damage-stacking. Stone Shards is just weak all around for its level, and several of the time-based spells are either very situational or campaign-breaking. [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/llIMnxD.png[/img] [b]Items of Magic[/b][/center] With 22 new magic items and a d100 Trinkets of Krynn table, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Dragonlance is not a low-magic setting! Like the preceding spells, many of these magic items are taken from earlier Dragonlance sourcebooks, although I can’t say for certain exactly how many are truly new. The [b]16 initial magic items[/b] are your standard kinds, and some of the more interesting ones include the Device of Time Journeying (Artifact, lets the wielder and 8 willing creatures travel to any location in the world at any point in its past or presence, provided you succeed on a DC 25 Intelligence/Wisdom/Charisma check), Dragon Plate Mail (Legendary, as plate mail but grants +2 AC, no disadvantage on Stealth, resistance to the damage type of the dragon scales forming it, 3 charges which can be expended to create an illusion of a dragon that imposes the Frightened condition on onlookers, gains once-per-week use of Legendary Resistance), Frostreaver (very rare, +3 battleaxe dedicated to the god Habbakuk, deals +1d6 cold damage and once per turn reduces a struck target’s speed by half, deals maximum damage to objects), Hoopak (rarity varies, cross between slingshot and quarterstaff that can make a frightening high-pitched whine as an action that imposes frightened condition on a nearby creature for 1 minute if they fail a Wisdom save), Oathkeeper (artifact, +3 longsword that deals +2d6 damage vs non-lawful creatures, makes wielder aware of any deliberate lie told within 15 feet, can cast Geas once per day while holding the sword, sword is intelligent, telepathic, and detects non-lawful creatures within 120 feet), Spellbook of Magius (Very Rare, holds 20 random spells of 1st to 5th level, once per day as an action can cast a random spell from the book without the need for components), and Weapon of Bonding (Uncommon, can return weapon to hand as a bonus action if within 30 feet, returns to you the next dawn if lost; Greater version is Very Rare, +1 weapon, and has 3 charges which can be spent to automatically succeed on an effect that would charm or frighten you). But there is one new magic item type that is pretty nifty: Spell Runes, which are less like a specific item and more like a scroll or potion in being a variety of choosable effects. Spell Runes are sewn into clothes using thread made from a metal: the rarer the metal, the more powerful the effect and thus its rarity. The creation of a spell rune takes place over a period of 2 to 7 long rests depending on rarity, and a person’s proficiency bonus determines how many complex and simple runes they can have active on their person. Complex spell runes require attunement in addition to the prior limit, but simple spell runes don’t need to be attuned. We have a list of 22 Complex Spell Runes and 17 Simple Spell Runes, which either give persistent or limited-use benefits. For some of the Complex ones, we have Bilak (Speak, very rare) which lets one cast spells without verbal components, Keawetan (Life, legendary) burns away once the caster is reduced to 0 hit points and restores them to full health, and Balakan (Memory, Rare) lets the wearer regain an expended spell slot of up to 5th level once per day. The vast majority of Simple runes are once per day castings of existing spells without components, such as Bentuk (Shape, rare) casting Stone Shape or Cas (Cat, uncommon) casting Pass Without Trace. The exceptions are rather interesting, such as Tanah (Earth, uncommon) granting resistance to force damage or Tanda (Shadow, rare) which connects the user to the Shadowfell and lets them cast Misty Step a number of times per day equal to their proficiency bonus. The six [b]Legacy Items[/b] stand apart from others in the Companion. They are meant to be unique personalized rewards for a specific PC, and gain further benefits as they level up. Each legacy item has 4 ranks ranging from 0 to 3, and roughly correspond to the Tiers of play. Rank 0 activates at 1st level, 1 at 3rd, 2 at 5th, and 3 at 11th. Ranks come with Catalysts, story-based quests congruent with the item’s function. For example, Bonesplinter’s Rank 3 requires the item to consume bones from an adult dragon, while the first rank of Scavenger’s Charm requires the wearer to survive or avoid a trap that would’ve harmed them. The items include Bonesplinter (crafted from a dragon’s bones, can regrow bones on its form to use as arrows, improvements include things such as +1 on attack and damage rolls and reducing movement speed of struck targets), Coaltender (ring or earring that lets you comfortably subsist in cold weather, higher ranks grant resistance to fire damage and get once per day immunity to fire damage), Measure (sword, can spend charges to give illusory changes to height, higher ranks grant things like gain advantage on attack roll or crit on a 19-20), Scavenger’s Charm (glows faintly within 50 feet of oozes, higher ranks grant +1 on all saving throws and cast Create Food and Water once per day), Sun’s Glare (shield, can magically clean armor and clothing during a long rest, higher ranks grant +1 to AC, charges that can blind enemies within 10 feet, use reaction once per day to deal radiant damage as a counterattack), and Wanderlust (compass, always points true north, higher ranks include additional needles that point to things such as the nearest hub of civilization or sources of magic). [i]Thoughts:[/i] I really like the concept of Spell Runes. They’re also the only items in this book that have a default price for the spool types, which gives the PCs incentives to spend their money. The Dragon Plate Mail makes for a nice end-game item, and Weapons of Bonding can be nicely paired with throwing weapons such as javelins. The Hoopaks feel odd to include as magic items, particularly given that they’re regular equipment in Shadow of the Dragon Queen. Otherwise, the other items haven’t really elicited any strong emotions in me. Quite a few feel either too focused on a specific campaign type (Device of Time Journeying) or feel rather lackluster in contrast with its legendary feature: the Spellbook of Magius is a particular example, in that it…lets you cast a randomly-determined wizard spell once per day. Wow, I’m quivering in my boots at this onslaught of arcane might! Oathkeeper is a pretty neat weapon, although it seems to be an original creation. Fortunately the Dragonlance Companion comes with a built-in backstory for it, as being wielded by the leaders of the Knights of the Rose before its last owner hid it away in Lord Soth’s keep. The Legacy Items are obviously inspired by the 3rd Edition sourcebook Weapons of Legacy. Personally speaking, the sample items don’t really have that wow factor. The Catalysts vary in quality and difficulty, with some more easily accomplished than others than even of the same rank. A lot of the abilities are either situational or passive, which makes them pale in comparison to end-game items such as the Holy Avenger. [b]Thoughts So Far:[/b] The remaining subclasses are a mixed bag. Tinkerer stands out as a clear favorite, and the Grave Speaker looks to be alright from my initial readings. I’m not feeling the Dreamwalker or the Wizard of High Sorcery for reasons I explained in their initial entries. The Deity Warlock may be a tad too powerful for damage-dealers with an Evil patron deity. I have similar feelings on the spells, which look to be of questionable balance overall, and feel that the magic items could’ve used some more pizzazz or iconic options. In looking over at Tasslehoff’s Pouches of Everything, that sourcebook got the lion’s share of iconic items such as the Blue Crystal Staff or the Brightblade. While I understand that the two publishers didn’t want to step on each other’s toes too much for redundancy, this leaves the magic item options in the Dragonlance Companion feeling poorer in this regard. [b]Join us next time as we cover time travel, the Gods of Krynn, and new monsters in the Bestiary![/b] [/QUOTE]
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