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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[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Hey, don't lump all older players together! We don't all hate change!

That's why I specifically said "Older players, the ones that complain a lot, cannot be pleased". I know that not all older players hate this or any of the main changes that WotC have been making recently. Sorry if that was unclear. I was only trying to talk about the ones that have been whining for years about minutia that WotC has been changing, even if it's just objectively a good change.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Yeah, it's not only Dragonlance that has this trouble, but any adapted IP. You can find space for other stories, sure, but sometimes it's hard not to feel diminished by knowing that this other band of heroes are ultimately going to save the world/galaxy.

The thing about Dragonlance that I would makes the situation different from Forgotten Realms is that the entwining of metaplot and setting was specifically enforced by the modules. You were strongly encouraged to play through them as the characters of the novels, frequently being funneled into making the very same decisions that they would make in the novels.

Dragonlance Adventures wouldn't come out until 1987, so for fans the modules were some of the only official representation of Dragonlance early on.

How is it any different from Faerun novels etc? Do your characters have to be the Heroes of the Lance? Can they not be over somewhere else saving the world in some other way? Crit Roles heroes are THE HEROES of Emon etc... can you not play in that area then?

If you play a Star Wars RPG should Luke and Vader and the Emperor etc etc not hae been a thing?

I really dont get how people cant play in a world that has an established tale in it. Its one point in time in one area of space. Theres a lot of space to tell your own stories without conflict.

I would bump it ahead to the future - the past of Krynn is already heavily mined (and muddled by time travel). That seems safest and the easiest way to move forward.

Maybe the story is set 500 years before or after the War of the Lance and your PCs are the ones who fight and stop Takhesis.

 

[James Gasik]

Oh yeah, I mean, Planescape was built on a lot of wonky assumptions about how the outer planes work (magical weapons losing effectiveness across planes) and planar traits that don't exist now. Plus, another conceit, that "Primes", ie, characters not native to the planes would be clueless berks now has a serious problem when genasi, tieflings, aasimar, and gith are player options.

Spelljammer requires a huge conceit, that ALL CAMPAIGN SETTINGS (except for weirdos like Athas) are contained in crystal spheres and that there is a "deep space" region filled with an ignitable gaseous medium called the phlogiston, and you can sail a spacefaring ship from the Realms to Oerth to Krynn to some other bizarre world.

And some lore will have to be retconned, because WotC does not want to acknowledge the Forgotten Realm's contact with Spelljamming civilizations (as it's abandoned canon). Like the Elven Space Navy having a base at Evermeet, the Shou having their own Spelljammers, and merchants selling wheel lock pistol technology in Waterdeep.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Tinker Gnomes getting there crap together to build Warforged? Sure, why not.

Actually, in Spelljammer, the Tinker Gnomes that got to space ended up building Gnome-like androids called Autognomes (which are a part of the Spelljammer UA), so adding Warforged/Autognomes to Dragonlance wouldn't be that much of a stretch.

Not that I or Wizards of the Coast would do that, but it would be possible.

 

[James Gasik]

Oh I knew about that, I think I mentioned it before, that Tinker Gnomes only become competent (to a given level of competency) when they get to Krynnspace.

 

[Dire Bare]

Older players, the ones that complain a lot, cannot be pleased.

Hey, careful with that brush! I'll be hitting 50 this summer and have been playing since I was a kid in the 80s. Personally, I've enjoyed most of what's been put out for 5E (and all of the editions before it). And the stuff I don't like, I don't categorize as "bad", "wrong", or a "mistake", but rather simply "not to my tastes".

We're not all cranky, impossible-to-please grognards!

 

[James Gasik]

Sir, I demand you turn in your "old man gamer" card this instant! We're all supposed to be irascible, bearded, and grumpy, like Dwarves!

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

There are changes we can tolerate better and others that make us to feel unconfortable. And that happens with all reboots in the entertaiment industry. We should wonder what changes really help to improve the IP. Today the D&D are being redesigned for a "cosmopolitan market", and this is right, because one of the best things of D&D is players learning to forget the differences and cooperate for a common goal, the color or gender of the cat doesn't mind if this catchs mice. The new Dragonlance is going to add more characters as Theros Ironfeld.

In the tabletop Dragonlance is totally different because lots of players know the novels before the modules, and this means they know special spoilers. We shouldn't be surprised if the future modules are retconected to can cause surprise for the players who discovered those spoilers in the novels, like the secret identity of..

I suggest a cameo of Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman as nPCs in the modules, but adding a secret, they are watchers (with orders of no-interference) and they work for a different faction. But they presence causes a butterfly effect altering the metaplot.

Anytimes to say what you don't like isn't enough, you have to show your own suggestions about how it can be fixed or improved. I have said the mine, to open a door to allow parallel worlds or alternate timeline, where players enjoy more freedom to alter the plot, but we can keep the original continity.

* What if chronomancers avoid the Greygem to be broken, causing the war of chaos, but there are evil cults from beyond crystal sphere who want to destroy it to cause the second cataclysm?

I miss the chronomancers and the crazy potential to create new stories, but I am afraid if they return, it will one of the last sourcebooks of this edition, when the risk was lower.

 

[James Gasik]

Oh man, don't prevent the Greygem from being broken, that led to some cool stuff! Well we know that there's something funny going on with Fizban as it is- he's based on the old man and the canaries, a well-known Avatar of Bahamut. And it's pretty obvious Paladine IS Bahamut.

But then Fizban showed up in the Death Gate cycle as "Nabzif", which raises some more questions...

 

[Bupp]

Does anyone else want to play an eladrin lunar sorcerer and roll to see what season and lunar phase you are each day?