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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[Micah Sweet]

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?

I do use the older books. However. I also play 5e, and would appreciate mechanics for the game i play.

 

[This Effin’ GM]

I do use the older books. However. I also play 5e, and would appreciate mechanics for the game i play.

On this sentiment, the day they update Shackled Coty to 5e and Age of Worms is the day I stop buying books and live forever in those two adventures

 

[Micah Sweet]

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)

If they were equally in force, they would be conflicting statements. But what they're doing is making new material with modern sensibilities, but using old names. I just think they should drop the old names.

 

[Micah Sweet]

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.

I'm not surprised. Just sad and a little bitter to be left behind. I freely admit it's a personal issue I'm having trouble working through.

 

[Parmandur]

Is any traveler who steals character just a Romani stereotype now?

They way it gets used here, yes. I know you meant yhat to be rhetorical, but you got it.

 

[BrokenTwin]

Wait, kender are a romani stereotype? I always thought they were just a stereotype of children. You know, constantly taking things that don't belong to them, small, inexplicably likeable and tolerated by the people who know them... they're called kender, which is only one letter off from kinder (german for children). How did people make the jump to romani instead of children?

 

[Bitbrain]

Reply to OP.

Well, guess it will be Spelljammer and Dragonlance this year. Hopefully Dark Sun next year.

As for the UA itself:

I don’t like feats, so I despise the very concept of feat chains. On the other hand, embedding feats into backgrounds is okay. Not great, but okay.

I prefer the Greygem origin for Kender, not the Feywild.

Lunar Sorcerer. Me Likey.

 

[darjr]

People pester them about old settings, and people pester them about rehashing the same things. Sometimes at the same time.

So they release old settings but also use their own vision and ideas. That’s how it should be. Straight up stat conversions are non starters.

One of THE MOST popular 5e releases was Ravenloft. So much so they pulled the trigger on the domains of dread book and a special coffin edition. Oh! And praised one of the creators, who is also one of the very writers of Dragonlance, which created a buzz for Dragonlance. I’d think a goodly fair number of new folks would have sought out those books.

 

[This Effin’ GM]

People pester them about old settings, and people pester them about rehashing the same things. Sometimes at the same time.

So they release old settings but also use their own vision and ideas. That’s how it should be. Straight up stat conversions are non starters.

One of THE MOST popular 5e releases was Ravenloft. So much so they pulled the trigger on the domains of dread book and a special coffin edition. Oh! And praised one of the creators, who is also one of the very writers of Dragonlance, which created a buzz for Dragonlance. I’d think a goodly fair number of new folks would have sought out those books.

Interesting timing too with Skyraiders coming out. We are about to get a resurgence of Weis and Hickman the likes of which the world has never (hyperbole) seen!

 

[Zaukrie]

Hit dice as a pool I can use to fuel things is great. It does seem like it is adding some complexity to the game, which I'm all for if people want. I do.