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.

News Archive | Dungeons and Dragons

Read the full archives of Dungeons & Dragons news, Sage Advice, Unearthed Arcana, and D&D Studio Blogs.

dnd.wizards.com

 

[ersatzphil]

I agree! Restrictions can really help set a setting apart, and I think they’re under-utilized. Just throw in a “your DM might or might not allow other options; work with them if you want to play something not included here” sidebar and you’re golden.

Not to get too far off into the Dark Sun weeds in a Dragonlance thread, but I think it'd be crucial for a number of settings - a wizard in Dark Sun needs to choose between being a preserver or a defiler, as example. It's not Dark Sun if you get to choose some third option and skirt the choice *.

That being said, were there wizards in Dragonlance that existed outside of the white / red / black robe orders? It's been long enough that I honestly don't remember.

* edit: I suppose psionics is technically that third option. YMMV.

 

[This Effin’ GM]

Not to get too far off into the Dark Sun weeds in a Dragonlance thread, but I think it'd be crucial for a number of settings - a wizard in Dark Sun needs to choose between being a preserver or a defiler, as example. It's not Dark Sun if you get to choose some third option and skirt the choice.

That being said, were there wizards in Dragonlance that existed outside of the white / red / black robe orders? It's been long enough that I honestly don't remember.

Not “legally” but yeah hedge mages or renegades were a thing

 

[Remathilis]

Kennder are one of the few D&D races that are problematic special enough to not be made generic to fit in other settings

Kender are like warforged in that regard. They do a better job flavoring their home setting than being slammed into everywhere.

 

[toucanbuzz]

Boo. You can't package nonsense and sell nostalgia under the label Dragonlance, no more than you can call a desert Dark Sun but remove cannibalism, slavery, and psionics. It's something else by then. I'm pretty critical because DL (1) was my starting fantasy book reading, (2) my first major gaming world, and (3) a beloved classic I am currently working on revisiting for 5E.

Someone asked what distinguished DL earlier, and to be concise as I can, it was the first D&D setting that had subtypes for dwarves and elves, the first to really link together a narrative story history, and the first to install a story-based adventure path rather than what had previously been sandbox modules for DMs to plug and play. The marketing campaign also set a model for success that had never been done or tried. Project Overlord. Pretty good stuff. Now, onto the bad stuff.

BOO

Kender. First, I think they're a terribly misunderstood gaming race that has been reduced to its worst stereotype by bad writing. Sourcebooks make kender much more complex and meaningful, but those have been lost to time in favor of 1 paragraph descriptors. Sigh. That said, the criticism.

Fey-what??? So kender are now magical Fey beings that create reality out of nothing from any container they carry. Did anyone actually read any of the original setting when coming up with this? If they weren't created by the Graygem of Gargath, then they aren't kender. They're something else you're dressing up with nostalgia and calling kender.

And home run on the kender physical description: "...look like humans with pointed ears and diverse appearances." Pure bleeping poetry.

My solution for kender pockets? Make it a roleplay feature originating from the influence of the chaos stone that created them. Sometimes you unconsciously put something really unique and cool looking in your pouch for later. The roleplay feature allows the DM or even the player to create stories of what and why things are in the pocket that should add to the story. Anyone roleplaying a klepto who steals from the party isn't really getting what a kender actually is. In any event, none of this "you pull a crowbar out of a pouch that only fits 1/5 of a cubic foot" nonsense.

Double BOO

Gold pieces on Krynn? You're whittling away at what makes the setting unique and turning slowly into Forgotten Realms with 3 moons.

Yay.

Lunar Sorcerer. Looks cool. I don't know how moon phases work on a setting with 3 moons that operate on 3 different cycles, but that can be worked on.

Not Bad

Knights as a background with "I joined for the free meals, but their lessons grew on me over time" is terrible. Feat of Squire is freely given but has a pre-requisite of squireship? At 4th level, I can basically skip the hierarchy of the Knights and go straight to the top with Rose. Sarcastically cool. Working through the ranks is boring. That all said, it's an elegantly simple solution to making Knights of Solamnia mean something more than an organization by offering benefits. I wouldn't want my advancement, however, to be tied to taking a Feat.

Wizards. Similar feeling of a simple solution to a complex conversion. I never liked the idea "white robes are always abjurers" as the robes are a philosophy of how magic should be used, but it does tie into original mechanics and I've been busting their chops on keeping things specially tied to the setting. So, a plus, though it's a hard sell to turn down +2 INT at 4th level in favor of a Feat.

It also doesn't solve renegades who opt out of the Towers for the lure of forbidden magic. The Towers give you cool abilities and access to the world's stockpile of spells, so it might behoove one to explain why a wizard would turn that all down. In the novels, renegades did things with magic that were terrifically powered and considered forbidden, such as creating Dreadwolves and unleashing what might be seen as wild sorcerery.

 

[Charlaquin]

Not to get too far off into the Dark Sun weeds in a Dragonlance thread, but I think it'd be crucial for a number of settings - a wizard in Dark Sun needs to choose between being a preserver or a defiler, as example. It's not Dark Sun if you get to choose some third option and skirt the choice.

Well, yeah, if defiling and preservation are done as arcane traditions then they would have to be the only options. That’s why I think they’ll more likely do the 4e route (and I think it was also the 3e route?) and say that defiling is a thing any arcane caster can choose to do to power up their spells (or, my preference, preserving is a thing any arcane caster can do by voluntarily weakening their own spells.) Then if you want defiling and preservation arcane traditions, they can expand on that mechanic, giving you extra bonuses when you cast in the associated way.

 

[This Effin’ GM]

Well, yeah, if defiling and preservation are done as arcane traditions then they would have to be the only options. That’s why I think they’ll more likely do the 4e route (and I think it was also the 3e route?) and say that defiling is a thing any arcane caster can choose to do to power up their spells (or, my preference, preserving is a thing any arcane caster can do by voluntarily weakening their own spells.) Then if you want defiling and preservation arcane traditions, they can expand on that mechanic, giving you extra bonuses when you cast in the associated way.

Dragon magazine article during 3e years did the same thing, everyone could do it and it made you super powerful, but the COST!

 

[darjr]

Yeah but they designed Strixhaven so you could drop it into any setting. And Owlin are related to the Feywild as well. Is there any race not from the Feywild anymore LMFAO?

Anyways after finding out the two classic settings for this year are tier 2 settings instead of T1 Planescape and Darksun i'm not relying on WotCs Tiers for guesses anymore, they are clearly on a nostologia kick.

My new guess for 2024 setting revisit, Stranger Things!

Yea. But that spell and backgrounds were meant for that campaign, not to be pulled out and used universally.

 

[cbwjm]

Not to get too far off into the Dark Sun weeds in a Dragonlance thread, but I think it'd be crucial for a number of settings - a wizard in Dark Sun needs to choose between being a preserver or a defiler, as example. It's not Dark Sun if you get to choose some third option and skirt the choice *.

That being said, were there wizards in Dragonlance that existed outside of the white / red / black robe orders? It's been long enough that I honestly don't remember.

* edit: I suppose psionics is technically that third option. YMMV.

I think I'd prefer to follow the original setting where both preservers or defilers were able to specialise in a school of magic and defiling was something any wizard could do. This would allow all the wizard traditions and defiling would be something that was tacked on overtop.

 

[ersatzphil]

This would allow all the wizard traditions and defiling would be something that was tacked on overtop.

That's a fair point - at least as I recall Dark Sun, defiling was always something you could choose, if you wanted to. Even if you were a staunch preserver, the temptation would always be there.

 

[Remathilis]

Double BOO

Gold pieces on Krynn? You're whittling away at what makes the setting unique and turning slowly into Forgotten Realms with 3 moons.

Steel was a silly concept for coinage anyway. There is no way, other than with handwaveium, that steel is worth more than gold. (though if anyone wants to point me to a historical example, I'm all ears).

That said, they could easily do what Ravnica did and just say elsewhere "on Krynn, steel is used instead of gold. 1 steel = 1 gold". That way, the D&D universal standard is held while keeping the option to be more authentic. (Ravenloft did the same with domain languages).