Dragonlance (+) What Would You Want From 5e Dragonlance?

[ph0rk]

Yeah that's not true. Renegade wizards were actively hunted by the Conclave, but they could still cast spells.

And sorcerers and Knights of the Thorn didn't get their powers from the moon gods, nor did mystics receive their powers from any god.

Whatever, I haven't read or played dragonlance in an age.

The point is the restrictions were real and had in-world consequences. A book of toothless factions that have no mechanical relation to the classes and magic system would be useless - a description of the relevant factions already exists for free.

 

[ECMO3]

Mass combat would be great. Other than that, flesh out Kender and gully dwarves more so as to address their pejorative stereotypes (DL will have both, I assume) and not be so stereotypy

Can you do this though and still be consistent with the story? In the original rules these characters, particularly Kender could not help themselves.

It was not a stereotype as described, it was a matter of their biology and DNA.

I know the sensitivity recently towards ability scores, things like a -2 intelligence for Orcs. But even with a -2 you could go against this. This is a number that is overcome by an ASI at level 4 and there are intelligent and "good" orcs in forgotten realms lore. There are no Kender that understand the concept of personal property.

1E Kender were really interesting because of their defining traits and the larcenous mindset with no understanding of monetary value was one, but the complete, total and utter immunity to fear combined with an inhuman curiosity was another. Both of these made Kender play like they really were an alien from another planet.

I think at one point in the novels Tass falls off a cliff or bridge or something and in his head as he is falling he is contemplating what it will feel like to splat at the bottom and how neat it will be to experience that. Then someone casts feather fall on him. That defines the Kender IMO.

 

[Alzrius]

And sorcerers and Knights of the Thorn didn't get their powers from the moon gods, nor did mystics receive their powers from any god.

With regard to the Knights of the Thorn, it's worth noting that them receiving their arcane spells from Takhisis was a retcon. Their original presentation (in an appendix at the end of The Second Generation novel) has them gaining their powers from all three moons in an unknown manner.

It was one of several instances of the Dragonlance novels including game statistics, something I quite enjoyed.

 

[ph0rk]

Also the last time I played DL it was a AD&D box set and I don't recall sorcerers at all.

I don't remember 3e ish sorcerers in the books, so adding them to latter settings just to fit the system would be an example of exactly the thing they should not do.

Subclasses or even whole classes that don't fit shouldn't be there, and the ones that do fit with faction restrictions should be spelled out and bucking those systems should have real consequence.

 

[ECMO3]

Elf (High = Silvanesti/Qualinesti; Wood = Kagonesti; No Drow)

There was a Dark elf BBEG in one of the modules. It is not explained how/where he came from.

 

[Alzrius]

I don't remember 3e ish sorcerers in the books, so adding them to latter settings just to fit the system would be an example of exactly the thing they should not do.

Sorcerers, in Dragonlance, were characters who accessed "wild magic," the magical energy that was left over from when the world was created. Supposedly they existed at various points in history, but (if I recall correctly) the Orders of High Sorcery made sure to suppress them whenever they found them.

For 3E, sorcery was rediscovered during the Age of Mortals, when the Orders had disbanded due to the loss of gods-given magic. The original presentation in the novels had sorcery being unable to directly affect living things - so no mind-affecting effects, no polymorphing creatures, etc. - but it could still manipulate elements, so you could still throw fireballs and lightning bolts (this was contrasted with mysticism, the "power of the heart" that was discovered to replace divine magic, and which could only affect living things).

The 3E sourcebooks, as I recall, didn't keep that distinction, since it would have required redoing the various spell lists (and quite possibly throwing balance out of whack), but there may have been a sidebar or web enhancement somewhere that talked about how to do it.

 

[Alzrius]

There was a Dark elf BBEG in one of the modules. It is not explained how/where he came from.

If you're referring to the drow in DLS4 Wild Elves (affiliate link), I suspect that the spelljammers in that module had something to do with it (though, as noted in the product history, the entire module has been effectively decanonized).

 

[ECMO3]

I would not call Dragonlance a low magic setting. I would call it a high magic setting where the magic spellcasting is controlled by the God's enforcers on the ground (both the moon gods for arcane and the other gods). Magic exists aplenty in the setting - Dragon Orbs, Dragonlances, +3 weapons, vorpal blade, the Staff of the Magius which is arguably the most powerful wizard magic item in 1E. The modules and rulebooks on Dragonlance were chocked full of magic.

 

[ECMO3]

If you're referring to the drow in DLS4 Wild Elves (affiliate link), I suspect that the spelljammers in that module had something to do with it (though, as noted in the product history, the entire module has been effectively decanonized).

No, I am refering to the module in 1E where the heroes of the Lance work with the ice Barbarians. The White Dragonlord antagonist in that module is a dark elf.

 

[Alzrius]

No, I am refering to the module in 1E where the heroes of the Lance work with the ICE Barbarians. The White Dragonlord antagonist in that module is a dark elf.

That's an instance of how, in Dragonlance, "dark elf" refers to elven criminals who've been exiled from their homeland, rather than being a synonym for "drow."

In that case, the dark elf in question was Feal-Thas.