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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[Scars Unseen]

The questions seems to be becoming, "should a fantasy race be defined by any negative traits at all?"

It'd be a shame if they couldn't be. Empowerment is a fantastic thing, but there should be room for overcoming adversity for those who feel comfortable roleplaying such things. For that matter, succeeding or failing at overcoming one's own flaws should be on the table as well. Not saying that can't come from any source other than one's own biological nature or cultural upbringing, but I'm certainly not going to say those must be excluded as sources either.

 

[Micah Sweet]

It'd be a shame if they couldn't be. Empowerment is a fantastic thing, but there should be room for overcoming adversity for those who feel comfortable roleplaying such things. For that matter, succeeding or failing at overcoming one's own flaws should be on the table as well. Not saying that can't come from any source other than one's own biological nature or cultural upbringing, but I'm certainly not going to say those must be excluded as sources either.

It will be a shame, yes.

 

[Stefano Rinaldelli]

Formal logic has rules, but again we're not dealing in formal logic here. You're doing absolutely nothing to rebut those who have explained the problem to you, you keep saying "logic" as if that has any bearing on the discussion.

Then you are right by logic and not by formal logic? Or you are right above logic? You don't need to be logical to be right, isn't it?

No one's making your discuss this, chum. You can bow out anytime.

Chum? I have sincere doubt, and your tone seems to be the one of who is starting to lack arguments.

But you're not addressing what's actually being said. Romani = thieves, and kender = thieves is the point, not Romani = kender.

Exactly. Romani = Kender is false. Period.

And the Earth, by the way, is not a sphere. It's an oblate spheroid.

You are very clever.

So you admit that common stereotypes can, in fact, create a connection with a fictional race. Interesting.

selective attention, bad sign.

But this is not binary. It's not a "yes or no" question. Clearly HP goblins have more connections to Jewish stereotypes than kender do to Romani stereotypes. There are degrees or connection. HP goblins have a stronger connection. Kender have a weaker one. But they still have one.

Similarities can be totally incidental, you know? This connections you are talking about are a NONSENSE. Often the people that believe that similarities are a sign of something are conspiracy theories followers. It is a wrong way of thinking that leads to see monsters in the shadows.

JK Rowling is not Chinese, so you're really going off the rails here.

LOL "chinese friendly author" does not means "author that is friend of chinese"? Is my poor english betraying me... maybe

And further off the rails here. Again, the fact that both kender and Romani are considered thieves does not mean they are the same, and I've never said they're the same.

And so you don't find useful to modify kenders? Right? It starts to twist my limited capacity brain.

This is a blatant misrepresentation. Even those explaining to you, over and over again, what the issue is have not said you "have to remove." I have said, for example, that it would better if WotC removed it.

Undoubtfully different, excuse me if I didn't see the difference.

You use the term "disquieting" instead of "offended",

because I mean disquieting. period.

You have no basis to say why someone would jump to a conclusion, even if they are doing so. Claiming that you know their motivation for doing so is invalid.

I don't care their motivations. I care their proof. No proof, no care.

From my end, I understand exactly what you're saying, I simply believe you're wrong. Which is why I have explained why and how I think you're wrong. Claiming that those who disagree with you are merely doing so due to malice is terrible form in a discussion, and you shouldn't do it.

You are able to understand a simple text? Really, maybe my english is terrible, I'm italian. But I never said this. I have said that I don't care about 1. people unable to understand, 2 people unwilling to understand because driven by a second aim. It's more clear now?

 

[Maxperson]

And the Earth, by the way, is not a sphere. It's an oblate spheroid.

And yet still rounder than many balls, which is the point of what he said.

 

[Remathilis]

I'm not against biological negative traits by principle. For instance human race has a very big biological problem to cope with long term problems. Everybody recognize it and it does not offend anybody. I can build a fantasy race with a lot of biological problem without reasonably offend anyone.

You're mixing up what I'm saying.

A race that has poor eyesight, or no opposable thumbs, or who can't reach the top shelf of the supermarket is fine. That is a function of their biology. These can form the basis of racial traits.

A culture that teaches that there is no such thing as personal property, or that treachery is an acceptable route to power, or that all other life is inferior is likewise acceptable, so long as individuals from that culture have the ability to disagree with it and reject it. These should not form the basis of racial traits.

A race that has an innate racial desire to steal is a cultural trait masquerading as a biological one. That's a no-no these days. Think of it like this: if my kender decides he doesn't care about material objects, what does his pockets trait do? Nothing. A kender could choose not to handle. An elf can choose not to use swords. A dwarf can choose not to smith. An orc can't decide not to use darkvision. A tiefling can't decide to not be resistant to fire. A drow can't decide to not be blinded by light (for now).

 

[Stefano Rinaldelli]

It will be a shame, yes.

I wonder what Tolkien would think about the whole thing of biological limit suppression, giving the fact that he builts Hobbit folk around their biological limits to drive them toward their overcoming. A beautiful arc of narration and a strong moral teaching to be cancelled by his editor for the fear of offending somebody who resemble similarities between hobbits and himself.

 

[Stefano Rinaldelli]

You're mixing up what I'm saying.

A race that has poor eyesight, or no opposable thumbs, or who can't reach the top shelf of the supermarket is fine. That is a function of their biology. These can form the basis of racial traits.

ok I really uinderstood that you were against biological negative traits. My apologies.

A culture that teaches that there is no such thing as personal property, or that treachery is an acceptable route to power, or that all other life is inferior is likewise acceptable, so long as individuals from that culture have the ability to disagree with it and reject it. These should not form the basis of racial traits.

So you are against a cultural traits that become a biological trait? So do I, but simply because is poor narrative.

 

[James Gasik]

D&D has always muddled the difference between culture and biology, and the current era's attempt to separate the two is amusing, since it's often based on rather flimsy justification.

For example, in AD&D Elves are bad at opening locks. Why? "Elves don't use locks".

So as a culture, Elves don't believe in locking up anything? And despite the fact everyone else does, Elves are like "oh I can't be bothered to familiarize myself with such silly things as locking up dangerous magic items so the children can't get at them". Amusing.

Or you get things like Halflings throwing rocks good. Either because it's a popular pastime (culture) or they have good hand-eye coordination (biology)?

At the end of the day, it comes down to what the designer of the game thinks. If they think dwarves are greedy and love gems, then that's what they do. You can say it's a cultural thing, but it could just as easily be a divine curse, or Dwarves are just attracted to shiny things like some birds are.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

1- First support your accusation with proofs, than let a judge decide.

What accusation? That you are not a member of a discriminated-against group? If you claim that you are I'm happy to take you at your word.

Or do you think self proclaimed victims would be the judges in trials?

No one is on trial.

2- You can do better than be offensive jumping to unconsistent conclusions

I'm not drawing any conclusions. I merely listed the conditions that would make your claims reasonable. People are free to draw their own conclusions.

3- It's called coherence: I don't care about people

 

[Paul Farquhar]

And yet still rounder than many balls, which is the point of what he said.

There are a lot of balls.