Spelljammer Spelljammer Shows Up In The Wild - Check Out The Tables of Contents

Copies of Spelljammer are starting to show up. Mike Long of Tribality is in receipt of the books and has tweeted some photos!

 

[QuentinGeorge]

What classes didn't exist in Ravenloft and the original Dragonlance(other than clerics/paladins that showed back up quickly)? And Theros, for all that inspired it, is not ancient Greece. They had no real cause to limit classes or other options in those settings.

Dark Sun is a very different beast.

Sure, outside of Domains of Dread banning paladins and bards, it didn't really "ban" classes. Traditionally in Ravenloft, it wasn't about banning classes but they were all radically changed. Most spells functioned differently, your deity was nigh-uncontactable, your familiar/animal companion was secretly evil. 5th edition dumped that, including power checks and a whole bunch of other stuff rather integral to the setting.

I'm not sure why people believe Dark Sun is somehow sacred enough to avoid this fate? If WoTC thinks people will buy the book, they'll do it. They'll stick gnomes in there if they think they'll get away with it.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Sure, outside of Domains of Dread banning paladins and bards, it didn't really "ban" classes. Traditionally in Ravenloft, it wasn't about banning classes but they were all radically changed. Most spells functioned differently, your deity was nigh-uncontactable, your familiar/animal companion was secretly evil. 5th edition dumped that, including power checks and a whole bunch of other stuff rather integral to the setting.

I'm not sure why people believe Dark Sun is somehow sacred enough to avoid this fate? If WoTC thinks people will buy the book, they'll do it. They'll stick gnomes in there if they think they'll get away with it.

I agree. WotC has no compunctions on messing with their IP where there's money to be made.

 

[pukunui]

Never been a fan of spelljammer, always looked silly to me, saying that, I'm buying this on day one.

I had a strong dislike for Spelljammer in the 90s but I have preordered this set on DDB.

 

[Yaarel]

I had a strong dislike for Spelljammer in the 90s but I have preordered this set on DDB.

That is my impression too. I have 1e friends who want to do 2e Spelljammer (using 1e-ish rules). For my tastes, that setting is a bit too ... goofy.

But the way 5e is presenting it, I am excited about it. I cant wait to get this.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Any word on the plasmoid? I'm going to be playing one and I'm desperate to know if anything has changed from their UA depiction.

It looks like they're almost identical to the UA version, but their Shape Self ability has changed a bit in wording to clarify the feature a bit. They still have two damage resistances (acid and poison), advantage for and against Grapple checks, the ability to squeeze through 1-inch-wide spaces while naked, the ability to hold their breath for an hour, and 60-foot Darkvision.

 

[Maxperson]

Okay. Thanks for the info. Could they use some of the already existing Cleric Domains as the "Elemental Clerics", or were the clerics from Dark Sun too different? Because the Tempest, Nature, and Light Domains have connections to the elements. Gladiator could definitely be a Fighter or maybe Barbarian subclass, Dark Sun "Bards" could just be a subclass of Rogue, and there could just be an elemental Ranger subclass. This doesn't seem like much of an issue.

And haven't paladins changed a bit since 2e? They no longer have to serve a god or be a certain alignment, they just dedicate themselves to an oath. Would they still be out of place in Dark Sun with their current version?

Certain paladin oaths could work. None of the ones that are good, though. They weren't on Athas because the idea of serving right or faith were had faded from that world long ago. Maybe come up with an Oath of Survival and/or Oath of Dominance or something.

Clerics had certain powers that were elemental in nature, so they would need their own subclass and probably domains. They weren't tangentially connected to the elements. They were earth, air, fire or water and that was it.

And neither were Strixhaven's dragons. Making new types of dragons or adding a mechanic where a powerful enough defiler becomes a dragon wouldn't be difficult. And what about Avangions would make them difficult to add to 5e? Aren't they just the opposite of Athasian Dragons?

Yeah. Avangions were the opposite, but had different abilities. Dragons and avangions were also psion/wizards. It wasn't enough to just be one or the other. You needed the two classes to become one.

 

[Maxperson]

Sure, outside of Domains of Dread banning paladins and bards, it didn't really "ban" classes.

2e Ravenloft didn't ban paladins. It even let the DM know that domain lords were aware of exactly where every paladin in their realm was. The class wasn't banned, but it did carry a very short lifespan. I don't remember bards being banned, but then I've never liked bards, so I probably just tossed that out of my mind.

Traditionally in Ravenloft, it wasn't about banning classes but they were all radically changed. Most spells functioned differently, your deity was nigh-uncontactable, your familiar/animal companion was secretly evil. 5th edition dumped that, including power checks and a whole bunch of other stuff rather integral to the setting.

So I just pulled out my 2e Ravenloft to look at things closer. Paladins were in the character section, but had abilities altered and had the very probable short life span I mentioned. Priests got spells from their gods, but with some changes to some spells as noted in the book. Bards are not banned at all. It specifically mentions in the rogue section that any spells bards can cast are subject to the Ravenloft changes.

No classes were banned from that setting at all.

I'm not sure why people believe Dark Sun is somehow sacred enough to avoid this fate? If WoTC thinks people will buy the book, they'll do it. They'll stick gnomes in there if they think they'll get away with it.

I don't know why you think power checks are gone. They're there, but in a different form. It takes the form of Dark Bargains and Dark Gifts. So it kept the powers checks and kept all classes being available. It got rid of the alterations to magic and didn't built in terror and horror checks, but the DMG has those, so they didn't need to put them into the setting. When all is said and done, not much actually changed.

I would expect the same of Dark Sun.

 

[Micah Sweet]

2e Ravenloft didn't ban paladins. It even let the DM know that domain lords were aware of exactly where every paladin in their realm was. The class wasn't banned, but it did carry a very short lifespan. I don't remember bards being banned, but then I've never liked bards, so I probably just tossed that out of my mind.

So I just pulled out my 2e Ravenloft to look at things closer. Paladins were in the character section, but had abilities altered and had the very probable short life span I mentioned. Priests got spells from their gods, but with some changes to some spells as noted in the book. Bards are not banned at all. It specifically mentions in the rogue section that any spells bards can cast are subject to the Ravenloft changes.

No classes were banned from that setting at all.

I don't know why you think power checks are gone. They're there, but in a different form. It takes the form of Dark Bargains and Dark Gifts. So it kept the powers checks and kept all classes being available. It got rid of the alterations to magic and didn't built in terror and horror checks, but the DMG has those, so they didn't need to put them into the setting. When all is said and done, not much actually changed.

I would expect the same of Dark Sun.

Not much actually changed in the rules, no.

 

[Havrik Stoneskimmer]

Some of the changes to the Spelljammer races (remember Spelljammer?) are wild.

The Hadozee's glide ability is wild. You drop up to 500ft per round. The Hadozee can glide up to 5ft per 1ft drop...at no movement cost. It makes sense, but that's potentially a lot of free movement.

I think it's badly written, but when you're gliding you're not falling, so I wouldn't allow them to drop 500' a round. That would be something like 284 mph otherwise. I think a reasonable interpretation is that you can descend up to your speed in a round, gaining 5' of free horizontal movement for every foot you descend. That ends up being a much more reasonable figure in line with what I envision the ability to look like in use.

 

[overgeeked]

I think it's badly written, but when you're gliding you're not falling, so I wouldn't allow them to drop 500' a round. That would be something like 284 mph otherwise. I think a reasonable interpretation is that you can descend up to your speed in a round, gaining 5' of free horizontal movement for every foot you descend. That ends up being a much more reasonable figure in line with what I envision the ability to look like in use.

I’m not 100% on the thing as written, but I’m not sure about your take either. What’s the rate of drop for parachutes and paragliders?