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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dnd.wizards.com

 

[Micah Sweet]

As of 10 months ago...

View attachment 153069

This looks like it was supporting my point.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Because that way, they can create a world that has all of 5e's setting assumptions (post 2018) in place from the start. Better than mangling old settings the new fans they care about aren't familiar with anyway.

If you are an fan of the old settings, why aren't you just using the old books? Why do you care what might be in the new 5E book?

I mean is this an ego thing? The old ways are better and thus the older fans can't stand the thought that newer players of D&D are going to only learn and care about the "new ways" of these settings? They won't know the settings from when they were "good"? If they go looking for players to play in a game they're only going to find these "tainted" new players who have been brainwashed by the new material?

 

[This Effin’ GM]

This looks like it was supporting my point.

Or it supports that older gamers aren’t supporting WotC so they are going where the money is. It’s a two way street.

 

[DEFCON 1]

That guy. I hope he gets a taste of his own medicine one of these days.

"I drank what?"

 

[Umbran]

this is a lot of investment in products to appeal to an older player base specifically.

It is a case of "have their cake and eat it too".

For the older gamers, these are fan service, which probably sells reliably. For the younger gamers, these are new and intriguing (the franchise hasn't really had action in 10 to 15 years), which also sells.

 

[Umbran]

This looks like it was supporting my point.

Yep. 40+ year old gamers do not comprise the majority of the audience, by a long shot.

 

[This Effin’ GM]

It is a case of "have their cake and eat it too".

For the older gamers, these are fan service, which probably sells reliably. For the younger gamers, these are new and intriguing (the franchise hasn't really had action in 10 to 15 years), which also sells.

It’s a genius strategy, making sure they don’t leave anyone out. As I am stuck in the middle of old and new, it’s like a golden age for my collecting.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Your changing your original statement which was that this has been the case since 2014 and now stating this has been the case in the last 3-4 years. Ok. Let’s talk about the last 3-4 years.

2018: neverwinter Nights enhanced edition released. First of the Original Adventures Reincarnated released, collaboration between WotC and Goodman games. RA Salvatore returns to write novels about Driz’zt and crew. Tome of Foes: stats for all kinds of planescape related goodness. Dungeon of the Mad Mage, a classic megadungeon.

2019: Ghosts of Saltmarsh released. Descent into Avernus released. Eberron setting released. Rise of Tiamat revisited to polish up and release as one book rather than pervious two.

2020: baldurs gate 3 released (beta). Curse of Strahd polished up and revised a bit more.

2021: Van Richten’s guide to Ravenloft. Dark Alliance released, a game centered around older heroes. Fizbans Treasury of dragons released, filled with updated stats for older dragon menaces.

2022: this year they have scheduled for multiple setting reprints, updated to 5e. Assuming they can stick to their schedule, this is going to be the best year for established gamers to get catered specifically to.

this is a lot of investment in products to appeal to an older player base specifically. I don’t want to go back to the 2-3 books a month we had in 3e, that’s a recipe for disaster for a publishing company I feel, but I feel there is ample evidence that WotC isn’t only committed to new players and it’s weird people keep saying that.

also, just to clarify in the buying reprinted products in dms guild: I don’t have PDFs on the way.

I was referring to WotC wanting to cater to fans from post-2014 (when 5e was released), but the shift in design philosophy occurred post-2018.

I play very few video games, so I can't speak to that and will concede that point.

WotC does use their old IP, but they make significant changes to it in an attempt to thread the needle and make everyone happy. I think they would be better off just making new settings for the new players that are the overwhelming majority now, and allowing creators on the Guild to make material for their older settings.

 

[Jer]

This looks like it was supporting my point.

Your point read like it was Wizards trying to attract younger gamers.

What @Umbran posted suggests that instead younger gamers are the bulk of their current customers, and so we shouldn't be surprised to see them doing the kinds of things their younger customers want rather than what older gamers what when the older gamers are a minority of the customer base.

 

[This Effin’ GM]

I was referring to WotC wanting to cater to fans from post-2014 (when 5e was released), but the shift in design philosophy occurred post-2018.

I play very few video games, so I can't speak to that and will concede that point.

WotC does use their old IP, but they make significant changes to it in an attempt to thread the needle and make everyone happy. I think they would be better off just making new settings for the new players that are the overwhelming majority now, and allowing creators on the Guild to make material for their older settings.

Ok but here is the point I’m trying to make. We can’t say they are trying to thread the needle and make everyone happy and ALSO say they are only targeting new players. These are conflicting statements, only one can be true.

I agree 100% they are trying to play both sides (they should! It’s the best way for the company to make money, it’s the best plan)