Chapter 8: Creatures of Ansalon
This chapter provides 19 new creatures, roughly half of which are draconians and dragonspawn. Barring the Ogre Titan, all of them fit within Tiers 1 and 2 for Challenge Ratings.
Draconians have been covered lorewise in the first Chapter, so instead we have typical stats for them as NPCs. What NPC draconians universally get that PCs don’t is that they’re immune to all diseases, have blindsight 60 feet or truesight in the case of the Aurak, immunity to the paralyzed condition, Magic Resistance, and gain advantage on all attack rolls and saving throws when under the command of a dragon it can see. Auraks (CR 10) are the most powerful draconians, being accomplished spellcasters with Magic Resistance, a Noxious Breath like the PC type but deals more damage and recharges on a 5-6 on a d6, and their spellcasting abilities are mostly utility such as Greater Invisibility, Dimension Door, Polymorph, and Dominate Person. Baaz (CR 2) are the ever-common front-line soldiers who don’t have much going for them besides natural weapons and longsword attacks. Bozaks (CR 5) are a step above Baaz, having a whopping four melee attacks when multiattacking and can substitute one such attack with a bite or Arcane Bolt, the latte rof which deals 4d10 force damage. Bozak also gain the bonus spells as the PC race save for Shocking Grasp, having Blade Ward and True Strike as cantrips instead. Kapaks (CR 3) are quite predictably skirmishers, with a 4d6 Sneak Attack, advantage on Stealth when wearing light or no armor, can remain hidden while hiding if they miss with a ranged attack, and their natural venom applies the poisoned condition along with the paralyzed condition. Finally, Sivaks (CR 8) are big melee bruisers, being Medium size* but all their attacks have a reach of 10 feet, where their natural weapons and greatsword deal double the damage dice that would be typical for such weapons. They have the shapechanging capability of its PC counterpart, but can also fly up to half its speed without provoking opportunity attacks as a bonus action. Combined with its natural fly speed of 60 feet, they are incredibly mobile.
*This is a change from 3rd Edition where they were Large in their natural form.
Dragonspawn have origins similar to draconians, being humanoids experimented on to be given more draconic features. Due to being created by the Dragon Overlords, their existence only comes around during the Age of Mortals. They are less a specific monster type and more of a template that can be applied to a beast, giant, humanoid, or monstrosity. Their gained abilities include wings and a flying speed equal to their walking speed, a natural armor of 13 + Dexterity modifier when unarmored, Darkvision 60 feet, resistance to a specific damage type based on their draconic creator’s, a breath weapon whose damage is based on their Challenge Rating, and like draconians have a Death Throe dealing that same energy damage when they drop to 0 hit points. We have 5 sample stat blocks applied to existing monsters and NPCs, one for each chromatic dragon type: Black Dragonspawn Ogre, Blue Dragonspawn Veteran, White Dragonspawn Mage, Green Dragonspawn Spy, and Red Dragonspawn Griffon.
Hatori (CR 10) look like a cross between a dragon and crocodile, typically living in deserts where their flipper shaped limbs let them “swim” beneath sandy surfaces. They are sentient yet not very smart, capable of speaking Draconic, and they are slow on land at 10 feet but have a fast burrow speed of 60 feet. Combined with their tremorsense of 60 feet, this encourages them to rely upon hit and run tactics. They primarily fight with a grappling bite or tail attack, and they can swallow Medium or smaller targets they’re grappling. With 20 AC and resistance to non-magical bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage, they are quite resilient against most normal attacks. But with 126 hit points, they can go down quickly from characters who can bypass such defenses at high Tier 2 to Tier 3 levels.
Ogre Titans (CR 12) have their origin in Takhisis, who gave a vision to Dauroth, an ogre mage. The vision taught ogres how they can gain the power of their ancestors from the Age of Dreams, where they submerge themselves in an alchemical solution whose chief ingredient is elf blood. Every month they must drink a potion to maintain such a form lest they devolve, and only Dauroth knows the ingredients and rituals which he uses to strictly control who else can become like him. In terms of stats, Ogre Titans are boss monsters, with Legendary Actions and Resistance, imposing physical attacks such as elbow spurs and greatsword multiattacks, and a variety of supernatural capabilities such as Destroy Undead in the vein of Channel Divinity, a ranged Soul Blast dealing necrotic damage, an AoE Freezing Blast that recharges on a 5-6 on a 1d6, and a variety of spells such as Hold Person, Animate Dead, and Insect Plague. The Destroy Undead lets them regain lost spell slots, so they are usually accompanied by a group of skeletons to act as magical batteries.
Skrit (CR 6) are giant beetles who live in deserts, camouflaging themselves as rocks to better catch unwary prey. They are Beasts and thus are a one-trick monster in having not much besides melee attacks and advantage on Stealth checks while being still in rocky or desert terrain. Their bite attack comes with several debilitating debuffs on a failed Constitution save, including the poisoned and paralyzed conditions and a reduction of maximum hit points. The last of which happens every hour they keep failing the save, and it and the poisoned condition are only healed naturally after three successful saves.
Spectral Minions are souls who died while unable to fulfill an oath, anchored to the Material Plane and reliving their last days as a curse until their oath is fulfilled. Due to this, they do not cease to exist when destroyed, reforming at the beginning of the next day. Searchers (CR 2) are those cursed to roam a small area to find an item that no longer exists or is not within their territory, while Warriors (CR 4) are found in at least two mutually hostile groups tasked with fighting each other. Both types of monsters share many of the same features, being incorporeal undead with an awful lot of condition and damage immunities and resistances, plus immunity to the Turn Undead ability Their obsessive nature grants them advantage on all attacks, saves, and ability checks when it perceives some obstacle standing between it and the fulfillment of its vow. The only real differences Warriors have from Searchers are better stats plus fighting with longswords rather than shortswords.
Miscellaneous Creatures includes mundane animals. Three of them we already covered in prior posts: Giant Mantis, Porpoise, and Sea Otter. The ‘wari (CR ¼) is a flightless bird with thick strong legs found on the plains of Abanasinia and the Plains of Dust. They gather in flocks, stampeding at the sound of loud noises and the smell of blood. They aren’t great threats individually, primarily fighting with either a beak or a talon, the former of which can knock a target prone on a failed Strength save should the ‘wari move at least 20 feet before making the attack. A successful knockdown also grants a talon attack as a bonus action.
Thoughts: All of the monsters are new to 5th Edition save for the Draconians, who have stats in Shadow of the Dragon Queen. Comparatively speaking, the Draconians in Tasslehoff’s Pouches of Everything are much stronger, particularly the Aurak and Sivak who get a lot more hit points while the Bozak gets a very damaging ranged magical attack. Tasslehoff’s Aurak also get a lot more spells, and its at-will invisibility is upgraded to greater invisibility which more or less encourages them to remain unseen in combat at all times. Tasslehoff’s draconians are also amazing scouts, being able to pinpoint unseen threats thanks to their blindsight.
Comparatively speaking, the draconians in Shadow of the Dragon Queen are much more suitable as “cannon fodder,” better able to be deployed in large and mixed units without requiring the PCs to be high level or have lots of minions and AoE abilities in order to deal with them. Tasslehoff’s non-Baaz draconians better represent “elite units” in the same vein as the Veteran NPC in the core rules, while the Aurak and Sivak can more reliably solo low and mid-level parties.
As for the rest of the monsters, the Dragonspawn feel too conceptually close to the Draconians, but this is less the fault of the book and more how they were originally in prior material. Their main benefits are flying speed and breath weapons, which if nothing else make their default monsters and NPCs a lot more dangerous by letting them stay out of range of melee attacks and the ability to damage multiple foes at once. The rest of the monsters look fine to me and in line with their intended roles. The Ogre Titan looks to be a tough boss monster, especially given that it can regain all its spells when destroying weak undead, but as that costs an action on its part it is still weighed against the greater action economy.
Chapter 9: The River of Time
This chapter gives a general overview of the setting’s history. Krynn’s timeline is divided into five Ages, with the last two getting most of the word and page count on account that’s when almost all novels and adventures take place. The
Age of Starbirth covers the gods creating and managing reality, where no mortals yet exist and souls are instead stars drifting in space. It’s very much the Genesis of Dragonlance, where the gods are still debating and working on projects for what they want to do with the spirits and what forms to give them. The major events include the All-Dragons War where the chromatic and metallic dragons are created and Takhisis manages to corrupt the first of them, the All-Saints War where the gods fight over what to do with the newly-discovered star spirits before deciding that each pantheon will give them one gift as mortals, and Reorx entrapping Chaos inside what would become known as the Graygem of Gargath.
The
Age of Dreams covers the beginning of recorded mortal history and the origin of many foundation elements of the Dragonlance setting. The first mortal races besides dragons are the ogres, elves, and humans, with the ogres building an empire before it is later destroyed by a slave revolt. The Graygem fell out of Lunitari’s possession onto Krynn, its wild magic energies reshaping various life forms into new species and races. The First Dragon War occurred when the elven king Silvanos settled his people in a forest inhabited by chromatic dragons and the two groups started fighting over territory, with the war ending as the gods of magic gave the elves special stones to trap the dragon’s souls. Some of the oldest and most iconic civilizations are formed around this time, including the dwarven kingdom of Kal’Thax, the elven kingdom of Silvanesti, the human Empire of Ergoth, with Qualinesti and Solamnia being breakaway provinces of the last two who both grew dissatisfied with their origin countries’ policies. The dwarves inadvertently release the chromatic dragon souls from their stones, beginning the Second Dragon War which ended when three mages caused the earth to swallow the dragons but at a great cost. The Wizards of High Sorcery are formed to regulate magic as a result of this. The transition between the second and third Ages happened during the Third Dragon War, when Takhisis raised an army of dragons to take over Ansalon. During this time a group of heroes banded together to save the world: Huma Dragonbane the Knight of Solamnia, Magius the Red Robed Wizard, and Heart the Silver Dragon who later married Huma. The Dragonlance and Dragon Orbs were invented during this time, and Huma most famously used a Dragonlance to pierce Takhisis’ heart in order to banish her from Krynn.
The
Age of Might began sometime after the end of the Third Dragon War. It primarily concerns the rise and fall of the empire of Istar, which began as a secular city-state but soon became a continent-spanning theocracy dedicated to the Gods of Light. Ruled over by Kingpriests who believed themselves the moral arbiters of the world, over time they created and enforced increasingly authoritarian policies that hurt, oppressed, and killed even those who weren’t evil, notably arcane spellcasters, worshipers of non-Paladine gods, kender, and in its final years even those who have unwholesome thoughts they didn’t act upon. This earned Istar the enmity of many other civilizations, but nobody was strong enough to outright overthrow them. The final Kingpriest, Beldinos Pilofiro, sought to become a god himself. The gods sent various warnings, including the removal of true clerics across Krynn, warnings which went unheeded by Istar’s people who believed it the work of evil. When the Kingpriest attempted to ascend to godhood and commanded the gods, they answered him with the Cataclysm, destroying the empire of Istar and causing incalculable devastation to the rest of Ansalon and Taladas.
The
Age of Despair began after the Cataclysm. The loss of divine magic as well as technological and magical innovations, permanent geological changes, deaths of countless people, and political turmoil led to three centuries of chaos and misery as society reverted back into isolated realms. Takhisis took advantage of the fallout during this time, secretly returning to Krynn after the rest of the Gods abandoned it, transporting the sunken Temple of Istar into the mountains of central Ansalon to act as a portal from which her forces would emerge and take over the world. She also commanded her minions to steal the eggs of the metallic dragons, who after the Third Dragon War settled in a remote archipelago isolated from the rest of Krynn. Using the eggs as hostages (and secretly to create draconians), she coerced an oath of non-interference from the metallic dragons in her upcoming war. Takhisis’ plans were put on hold when an unlikely mortal, Berem, ended up accidentally killing his sister out of greed in trying to pry the magical Foundation Stone from the Temple. The gem ended up embedded in his chest, granting him immortality.
Even without a working portal, Takhisis was able to grant visions and divine magic to her followers, who began growing in power in central Ansalon and rapidly taking control of nearby territories. They became known as the Dragon Empire, with their five military wings known as the Dragonarmies. The War of the Lance began when they invaded the adjacent nation of Nordmaar, and over the course of three years made significant inroads into western Ansalon. Much of the continent is under their control, but the tide was turned when a group of old friends and adventurers known as the Companions met Riverwind and Goldmoon. The latter of whom was a prophet who discovered the Disks of Mishakal in the ruined city of Xak Tsaroth, and upon their recovery gained clerical spellcasting and began preaching that the true gods have returned. The Companions would then go on to fight the Dragonarmies, recover the secrets of Dragonlance forging, and reveal the fate of the metallic dragon eggs with the aid of Heart’s sister Silvara to get the good dragon’s involvement in the War of the Lance. Berem joined the Heroes of the Lance to head to Neraka, the Empire’s capital, where he sacrificed himself to free the soul of his sister while Tanis Half-Elven killed Emperor Ariakas. The Temple of Neraka exploded, the Dragonarmies fell to infighting over their own territory, and the War of the Lance came to an end as the Whitestone forces (the alliance of non-evil nations fighting the Empire) took back most of their homelands.
The post-war era was known as the Time of Dragons. Notable events include Raistlin taking over the ruined Tower of Palanthas, and he and some of his friends concerned for his safety ended up traveling through time, culminating in Raistlin sacrificing himself to prevent Takhisis from escaping the Abyss via a portal. Kitiara, the Blue Dragon Highlord, attempted a last-ditch desperate invasion of the Solamnic city of Palanthas, and was soundly defeated, marking the true end of the Dragon Empire. Albeit another organization dedicated to Takhisis in the area would arise: the Knights of Neraka, founded by Ariakan, Emperor Ariaka’s son. The Age of Despair ended when the Irda accidentally unleashed Chaos into the world by breaking the Graygem, who began to spawn horrific new monsters across Krynn in an attempt to destroy it, slaughtering good and evil forces alike. Chaos was forced to leave the world when Tasslehoff stabbed him in the toe, a drop of his shed blood caught in the Graygem.
The
Age of Mortals began after Chaos’ defeat, and Takhisis managed to steal away the world from the rest of the gods while they were distracted in dealing with Chaos. Clerical and wizardly magic ceased to exist, with primal sorcery and mysticism gradually uncovered. As a side effect of moving Krynn, the Material Plane was placed near a world home to truly gigantic and powerful dragons. Five dragons regarded as “weaklings” in this world discovered Krynn and decided that they could live like kings by invading it. These five dragons became known as the Dragon Overlords, able to grow their power via absorbing the souls of slain dragons into Skull Totems. More political upheaval occurred along with spirits being unable to pass on to the afterlife remaining on Krynn, with the events later becoming known as the War of Souls. A young orphan girl known as Mina was raised in the Citadel of Light, and eventually received visions from Takhisis disguised as the One God. With the power of a goddess at her side, she took over the Knights of Neraka. Mina’s army grew in power, taking over territory across Ansalon while also fighting the Dragon Overlords who had their own conquering ambitions. She was able to kill two of the Dragon Overlords, but the surviving Heroes of the Lance were busy at work in setting things right: Raistlin used Tasslehoff and his Device of Time-Journeying to help the rest of the gods return to Krynn, and when Takhisis attempted to enter the world once more the rest of the gods stripped her of her godhood. Paladine became mortal in order to maintain the balance. Takhisis was killed by Silvanoshei, the noble son of the Silvanesti and Qualinesti elf rulers. Mina killed him in revenge and took Takhisis’ corpse in her arms and swore to kill all elves. The War of Souls ends when the gods reestablish themselves, only one Dragon Overlord currently survives, and primal sorcerers and mystics are here to stay on Krynn.
In fact, the death of the last great Dragon Overlord becomes the focus of the last third of the Key of Destiny Adventure Path!
Thoughts: I’d say that this chapter covers many of the important events in Dragonlance history. It makes sense that the 4th and 5th Ages get the most attention, and the events for the Age of Despair are more or less brief yet accurate and help paint a picture of the setting in broad strokes. It may be due to my inexperience with that particular era, but the Age of Mortals feels quite clustered and jumbled. You not only have the establishment of new magical types and academies for them, you have multiple bad guy factions in the form of the Knights of Neraka who Mina later takes over, the Dragon Overlords, and while it was briefly mentioned the minotaur empire managed to invade and occupy Silvanesti. And this says nothing of Chaos’ monsters who are still running around, less an organized power bloc and more single-minded eldritch monstrosities. This is to say nothing of Ansalon going through what is basically a Second Cataclysm, where Chaos and the Dragon Overlords permanently altered Ansalon’s terrain. It does make the setting feel full of problems for the PCs to solve even in the post-war peace, but the confluence of multiple world-defining events kind of detract from each other in feeling overdone.
Chapter 10: Geography of Ansalon
The final chapter of Tasslehoff’s Pouches of Everything goes over the major regions and kingdoms of Ansalon. While it details the continent in the “current era” post-War of Souls, the text also describes how things were during the Age of Despair where appropriate given that era is the most popular one for Dragonlance campaigns. We even have both a two-page map (Age of Despair era) and a stand-alone PNG file of the continent, which is a lot more detailed than the one we have in Shadow of the Dragon Queen. Sadly the latter has a huge filesize, and screenshotting the one in the book is impractical as most of its text is very small and unreadable when zoomed in, so I cannot show it to you. But there are plenty of maps of Ansalon online for people to find, should one wish to see the following locations and their relation to each other.
Abanasinia is a frontier region in southwestern Ansalon. Its close proximity to many other kingdoms and groups such as the dwarven kingdom of Thorbadin, elven nation of Qualinesti, and the last remaining Tower of High Sorcery make it one of the most diverse regions of Ansalon. There’s a group of indigenous nomadic humans who live here known as the Plainsfolk, but they and humans of various types from all over Ansalon are collectively referred to as Abanasinians. The region is also noted for hosting the continent-famous Inn of the Last Home, which besides having delicious spiced potatoes is where the Heroes of the Lance first converged on their journey to liberate the continent from the Dragonarmies.
Balifor is a region in eastern Ansalon home to warm savannas and deserts in the Age of Despair, and in the current era it’s a wasteland known as the Desolation due to the Red Dragon Overlord’s foul magical experiments. Most of the population post-Cataclysm is nomadic, with the nominal capital being the seaside town of Port Balifor. Being one of the first regions conquered by the Dragonarmies and the former home of the most powerful Dragon Overlord, Balifor is a place that is sadly familiar with generations of tyranny.
Blöde is a nation in south-central Ansalon. Most of its population are humans and ogres, who traditionally are autonomous and only have reach so far as their warbands. They were one of the first nations to pledge allegiance to Takhisis’ Dragon Empire during the War of the Lance, and during the Age of Mortals the Black Dragon Overlord turned much of the terrain into dangerous swampland.
Estwilde is a large stretch of marshland flanked by mountains in north-central Ansalon. It is dominated by human tribes, with the largest groups being the good-aligned yet reclusive Lor-Tai people, the Lahutians who are cannibals that frequently capture and eat those who pass through their territory, and the Mountain Folk who have the most contact with outsiders and frequently hire themselves out as mercenaries. The city of South Shore is its major urban population center. During the Age of Despair it was conquered early by the Dragonarmies, but day-to-day living didn’t change much besides more military bases built to launch attacks into adjacent territories.
Goodlund is a peninsula that makes up the territory east of Balifor. It was created by the Cataclysm, one of the largest bodies of land to remain above sea level when Istar sank beneath the waves. Its notable inhabitants include the centaurs of the Wendle Wood, the kender of Kendermore, and the gnolls, goblins, and other monstrous humanoids of the Laughing Lands to the east. The Red Dragon Overlord held sway over this land during the 5th Age, and her destruction of Kendermore created the subrace known as the Afflicted Kender.
Icereach is the southernmost region of Ansalon, connecting to the polar region of Chorane which is more or less unknown. There used to be an ogre Kingdom of Suderhold here, and the terrain was still cold and barren. But the Cataclysm made the land even colder and more inhospitable, and the only significant civilizations are human tribes known as the Icefolk who call themselves the Arktos, the walrus-people known as Thanoi, and white dragons.
Khur is a nation in eastern Ansalon dominated by desert and mountains. Nomadic human tribes collectively known as the Khur are the region’s primary inhabitants, and are famous for their horses that are in high demand across the continent. During the Age of Despair one of the nomad leaders, Salah-Khan, became the Green Dragon Highlord and used his position to subjugate rival tribes. During the Age of Mortals, sections of Khur would come under control of either the Red Dragon Overlord or the Knights of Neraka, the latter still holding sway in several population centers.
Nightlund is technically part of Solamnia, but gets its own special entry due to its history. It was sparsely populated even before the Cataclysm, being the traditional familial holdings of the Soth family. When Lord Soth was cursed, so was the land which until modern times remained under perpetual twilight. After the Chaos War, Raistlin’s apprentice Dalamar moved the Tower of High Sorcery of Palanthas into a forest in the region. The end of the War of Souls broke the curse of twilight.
Nordmaar is a kingdom in the far north of Ansalon. And since Ansalon is in the southern hemisphere, this makes it a warm, tropical land home to the sprawling Sakhet Jungle. Its mostly-human inhabitants are a mixture of groups, including the Nordmen who live in various cities and the Horselords who pledge allegiance to the Khan of the Southern Wastes. They traditionally have been close friends of Solamnia, and during the Age of Despair they were the first nation to be invaded by the Dragon Empire who took it over in two weeks. It’s also home to the Fountain of Renewal and the Dragon’s Graveyard, the former of which is a holy site to Mishakal and the latter the final resting place of deceased metallic dragons. Both locations play a prominent role in the Key of Destiny adventure path, the other big Dragonlance campaign besides the original Chronicles. While the book doesn’t out and out say this, Nordmaar has been portrayed as a curious eclectic of fantasy counterpart cultures: Scandinavian, Aztec, and Central Asian influences if we go by naming conventions.
Northern Ergoth is an island nation and the spiritual successor to the human Empire of Ergoth. A land-bound nation pre-Cataclysm, that terrible event saw the empire split into two islands. While currently eclipsed by Solamnia, Ergothians today are known for being experienced seafarers, with trade networks stretching across the continent. Physically speaking most Ergothians are dark-skinned, and their culture is inspired by real-world Rome complete with a Senate and reigning Emperor. Northern Ergoth has been a rather placid land during much of the Fourth and Fifth Ages, blessedly removed from the worst of the wars gripping the mainland continent. Two autonomous nations coexist alongside the Ergothian humans: the kender in the forest of Hylo, and the goblins of Sikk’et Hul.
Plains of Dust dominate Ansalon’s far south, sitting north of Icereach, Abanasinia and Qualinesti to its west, Silvanesti to its east, and Blöde to its north. It is sparsely populated, made up of harsh deserts, plains, and badlands inhabited by nomadic human and centaur bands. Ironically, the terraforming of the Green and Black Dragon Overlords have made regions of the Plains more fertile, allowing life to flourish in places. The only major population center is the city-state of Tarsis, once a thriving trading port pre-Cataclysm that fell into economic ruin when the sea waters receded and left it permanently landlocked. In the Age of Mortals they’ve taken advantage of the fertile terraforming, its nobility working with the Dark Knights to harvest the land’s new natural resources.
Qualinesti is one of the two major elven kingdoms of Ansalon. Even during the Age of Despair it was a magical place, with the nearby Tower of High Sorcery producing White Robe mages who were treated with respect whereas in other lands they were distrusted and even hated. They suffered greatly when the Red Dragonarmy invaded during the War of the Lance, seeing much of their population displaced to Southern Ergoth. But the kingdom was dealt an even more terrible blow during the War of Souls, when the Green Dragon Overlord crashed into the capital city upon his death, forming the Lake of Death. In current times the land is in control of various rival factions of outlaws and goblins.
Sancrist is an island nation off the western coast of Ansalon. Dominated by forests and mountain ranges, it has been the traditional homeland of the gnomes who live in Mount Nevermind. During the Age of Despair it was the last bastion of the Knights of Solamnia, where their home kingdoms forcefully expelled them in blaming them for being unable to stop the Cataclysm. After the Chaos War the top half of Mount Nevermind exploded by the gnomes (book doesn’t say why or if this was intentional), but the lower levels of the mountain are still functional.
Silvanesti is the other major elven kingdom of Ansalon, located in the continent’s far southeast. Dominated by great forests, they put up a tough fight when the Dragonarmies invaded, only for their king to make use of a Dragon Orb to repel them. This accidentally turned the land into a nightmarish realm and forcing his population as well as the Dragonarmies to flee the country. After war’s end the returning Silvanesti undid much of the damage, but once again they were forced into exile where the Minotaur Empire invaded their country and took it over at the end of the War of Souls. Its capital, Silvanost, is regarded as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and even during the elven exiles there were remnants of its beauty to be found amidst the abandoned streets.
Solamnia is one of the largest and most prosperous realms of Ansalon, dominating the continent’s northwest. It doesn’t have a single centralized ruler, being made up of various provinces and city-states united by a common heritage and order known as the Knights of Solamnia. Its largest city, Palanthas, is also one of the largest cities in Ansalon in general and is considered by many to have weathered the Cataclysm the best. It is a major deep water port, which made it a valued strategic target by the Dragonarmies and Knights of Neraka during their respective wars.
Southern Ergoth is the other island nation making up the former Empire of Ergoth. Unlike Northern Ergoth it is a much more rural realm. The city of Daltigoth was reclaimed by ogres, and its forests are home to the Kagonesti elves. Both the Qualinesti and Silvanesti settled in refugee colonies here during the War of the Lance, where they enslaved the Kagonesti to build their cities. The Dragonarmies took over much of the island, and during the Age of Mortals it was the seat of the White Dragon Overlord who turned the land into a harsh arctic climate.
Taman Busuk, aka Neraka, is a region in southern Ansalon home to the Khalkist mountain range. Being the place where Takhisis transported the Temple of Istar to begin her plans for world domination, Taman Busuk has long held a sinister reputation as being under the persistent sway of evil. But not all Nerakans were loyal to the Queen of Darkness, and the capital city of Neraka was home to an underground resistance movement during the War of the Lance. Taman Busuk’s three major population centers are Gargath, Sanction, and Neraka. Neraka is the nominal capital of the region, but after the Age of Mortals they are all effectively autonomous city-states. However, Neraka serving as the administrative center of the Knights of Neraka makes that city-state very powerful and influential.
Teyr is the newest nation of Ansalon, built during the Age of Mortals by the former Dragonarmy Bozak officer Kang. Its foundations were formed from the ruins of a failed dwarven colony, and is a military dictatorship in line with how most draconians were trained and raised. The presence of female draconians and the necessity of a civilian workforce has led to equal measures of hope and uncertainty about their future, where for once draconians may be something more than expendable soldiers serving at the whims of others.
Thoradin is a dwarven nation in central Ansalon. It existed for thousands of years, but during the Cataclysm much of it was destroyed, being renamed Zhakar and its people becoming evil. The dwarves of Thorbadin occupied it during the Age of Mortals, but tunnels to it were sealed off during the war with the Green Dragon Overlord. The exiled prophet of Reorx, Severus Stonehand, made his way to Zhakar. Once there, he assembled a following to overthrow Zhakar’s government and heal them of their mold plague which earned their eternal gratitude. The nation was renamed Thoradin, with Stonehand seeking to restore it to its former glory.
Thorbadin is the primary mountain dwarven kingdom, located in southwestern Ansalon. It is inhabited by different clans of dwarves, being a complicated network of levels and tunnels with a giant stalactite known as the Life-Tree serving as the administrative center. Dwarves from all clans and the Council of Thanes meet at the Life-Tree for business and politics. Countless natural springs above the surface flow into the mountain, supplying the dwarves with reliable water sources and water-clocks used to keep track of time in the absence of sunlight. Excellent urban planning allows travelers to quickly find desired residences and businesses.
Throtl is a rugged land located east of Solamnia and north of Lemish.* Humans and goblinoids traditionally live here, often at war. During the Chaos War the hobgoblins made significant progress in taking over human settlements along with annexing a portion of Estwilde.
*A country that this book doesn’t cover, unfortunately. To quickly sum it up, it’s south of Solamnia and has been ruled by tyrannical nobles who broke off from Solamnia. They didn’t want to be held to standards of how an ideal ruler should treat their subjects in comparison to the more good-aligned Knights of Solamnia. Its major city is a crime-ridden hive of scum and villainy. Lemish allied with the Dragonarmies in hopes of using them to take revenge upon Solamnia, and their ports were used as part of a supply line for the Red Dragonarmy’s occupation of Abanasinia.
Thoughts: In covering 21 realms in 7 pages, the individual entries are quite brief, mostly focusing on geography, recent history, and in some cases brief descriptions of capital cities. It pales in comparison to the more detailed setting guides of some prior Editions, being pretty bare-bones and giving more of a general rundown of countries. There isn’t much for a DM here, who will either have to make things up or borrow from more detailed sourcebooks for more involved adventures.
Thoughts So Far: The bestiary only gives a small sampling of creatures in Dragonlance, with heavy emphasis on the draconic evil minions of the setting’s BBEGs. The chapters covering the history and geography of Ansalon are functional, and more useful than Shadow of the Dragon Queen which only focuses on one particular region of Solamnia rather than Ansalon as a whole. Personally speaking, I found 3rd Edition’s Dragonlance Campaign Setting and War of the Lance better use for covering Ansalon’s realms in detail. But for a book that’s a general 5th Edition player’s guide, these chapters are serviceable.
Overall Thoughts: As someone who read the original Tasslehoff’s Pouches of Everything, the Revised version greatly expanded on its content. For a sourcebook seeking to pull Dragonlance into 5th Edition, it overall does its job in covering the major points, from comprehensive overview of the major races, the gods, the world and its history, and the conversion of various popular magic items fans are sure to like.
When it comes to player options in the form of subclasses, feats, weapons, and the like, there are quite a few options that are more powerful than others, which need to have rules language cleared up, or otherwise will lead to dissatisfied players who then find the choices to be underpowered or not reflective of their intended character concept. But such examples are exceptions to the general rule, and overall I can see both newcomers and fans finding a lot of things to like without feeling lacking in some areas.
And now, I covered two of the big fanmade player’s guides for Dragonlance on the Dungeon Master’s Guild. For my next post, I will make side-by-side comparisons between the two sourcebooks, showing their relative strengths and weaknesses.
I should note that there’s a third such player’s guide: Dragonlance Peoples & Paragons, but it isn’t as well-known and is the work of one person rather than a fan community. I haven’t read it either, so I can’t include it as a comparison.
