Dragonlance DRAGONLANCE LIVES! Unearthed Arcana Explores Heroes of Krynn!

The latest Unearthed Arcana has arrived and the 6-page document contains rules for kender, lunar magic, Knights of Solamnia, and Mages of High Sorcery.

In today’s Unearthed Arcana, we explore character options from the Dragonlance setting. This playtest document presents the kender race, the Lunar Magic sorcerer subclass, the Knight of Solamnia and Mage of High Sorcery backgrounds, and a collection of new feats, all for use in Dungeons & Dragons.

Kender have a (surprisingly magical) ability to pull things out of a bag, and a supernatural taunt feature. This magical ability appears to replace the older 'kleptomania' description -- "Unknown to most mortals, a magical phenomenon surrounds a kender. Spurred by their curiosity and love for trinkets, curios, and keepsakes, a kender’s pouches or pockets will be magically filled with these objects. No one knows where these objects come from, not even the kender. This has led many kender to be mislabeled as thieves when they fish these items out of their pockets."

Lunar Magic is a sorcerer subclass which draws power from the moon(s); there are notes for using it in Eberron.

Also included are feats such as Adepts of the Black, White, and Red Robes, and Knights of the Sword, Rose, and Crown.

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[Zaukrie]

The actual season doesn’t matter for Eladrin either, so I’m not surprised. Note, though, that thing the Sorcerer’s phase to the current actual moon phase would render their 6th level ability useless, and significantly weaken their 18th level ability.

Ealdrin don't get to change though...do they? Yes, you'd have to change those two abilities.....

This difference between the designers and me is about lore and flexibility and player freedom. They (and most players) love it, and I prefer games where the world matters more, where if you are tied to the moon(s), you are actually influenced by the moons. No skin off my nose either way....it is a difference of taste.

 

[Seramus]

I haven’t read it yet, but I have no issue with the concept.

It's miles better than an entire race that is incapable of deducing "Missing items in my pockets + People mad at me = I might be the problem."

 

[Charlaquin]

Looks interesting, though never been a big fan of Dragonlance. I am more here for all the handwringing over the increased emphasis on alignment and feat chains. grabs popcorn

Oh yeah! That was a thing I meant to comment on too, but it slipped my mind. I’m a bit surprised they tied something mechanically to alignment here - I would have expected them to move away from that. But I don’t actually mind. If alignment is going to continue existing, it should matter in some way, so this works fine for me.

 

[DarkCrisis]

As someone who started with 3e as a kid, Dragonlance is before my time and I know relatively little about it. What would be the big draw to play in the Dragonlance setting rather than FR or Exandria?

If you love the novels, its fun to play in the setting.

Um it has a very large good vs evil bend to it. The gods are very active in the world (more or less). Dragons aren't really a rare sight.

Also sort of post-apocalyptic.

 

[Scribe]

They had to do something like this. They’re moving away from cultural traits tied to race, and a lack of boundaries around personal property just doesn’t make sense as a biological trait. This is the most logical way to keep the pockets thing but make it an inborn ability. Personally, I would rather they have totally dropped the pockets ability, but I can see why they would be reticent about doing that.

I'm not saying I'm surprised, but I don't have to like what is just another step in a direction I disagree with.

 

[JThursby]

I'm not a fan of how the changes to the kender alters the lore around them, for reasons that I think are better explained by Graeme Barber.

D&D's Lore Struggle - POCGamer

Why does D&D struggle with lore? This is a question

pocgamer.com

I agree with Barber’s assessment 100%. If anyone asks me why I’m dissatisfied with 5e lore I’m just gonna link this article.

Hopefully as the next edition gets closer Wizards will want to hire on world builders worth a damn. Paizo is full of talented writers who would love a pay raise, Wizards should give them some competitive offers.

 

[cavetroll]

As someone who started with 3e as a kid, Dragonlance is before my time and I know relatively little about it. What would be the big draw to play in the Dragonlance setting rather than FR or Exandria?

I think you would only do it if you read the books, its those characters that made the setting iconic. Raistlin (evil wizard in a good party) was the driving beauty of dragonlance for me.
I know we did a few dragonlance modules integrated into the campaign but I have no memory of how we did it now.
FR has just way more locations/settings that you can go with compared to Krynn.

 

[Charlaquin]

Ealdrin don't get to change though...do they? Yes, you'd have to change those two abilities.....

They can change season whenever they finish a long rest.

This difference between the designers and me is about lore and flexibility and player freedom. They (and most players) love it, and I prefer games where the world matters more, where if you are tied to the moon(s), you are actually influenced by the moons. No skin off my nose either way....it is a difference of taste.

I mean, I agree, I think having your powers tied to the current lunar phase (and current season) would be cooler. I’m just saying, you’d want to give the subclass a new 6th level feature, and probably change the 18th level one to let you use the burst of your current phase with a Metamagic point.

 

[darjr]

I agree with Barber’s assessment 100%. If anyone asks me why I’m dissatisfied with 5e lore I’m just gonna link this article.

Hopefully as the next edition gets closer Wizards will want to hire on world builders worth a damn. Paizo is full of talented writers who would love a pay raise, Wizards should give them some competitive offers.

WotC just hired another Paizo author/dev.

 

[Charlaquin]

I'm not saying I'm surprised, but I don't have to like what is just another step in a direction I disagree with.

No, you definitely don’t. I don’t really like this particular decision either (though I support the general direction). Just elaborating on what I think their reasoning is, not trying to tell you what you should think about it.