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

 

[Minigiant]

Why do we want rare firearms?

I've never understood this paradigm in which guns exists but are incredibly rare or unusual. If we want guns, why not have them practically replace guns or crossbows?

I think it is because many fear firearms would completely overshadow melee.

Personally I think with enough magical armor and warrior skill, one can have uncommon or even common firearms and still have clashes of swords.

Best firearm rules I've seen for D&D is that gunpowder/smokepowder whatever you want to call it, is made from dragon dung. Which makes it expensive, rare, and a really neat idea.

Would actually, funnily enough, dovetail nicely with Dragonlance. Maybe we could change Dragonlances to firearms. That would be pretty cool actually.

Ivealways that a LG vs CG vs LE vs CE epic setting with firearms would be awesome.

Like the lovechild of Warhammer Fantasy and Dragonlance adopted by a classic Dueling Empires story.

But Dragonlances as magic firearrms would be interesting.

 

[Minigiant]

If evil humanoids could use firearms, then nobody would want to play with melee-focused classes as monk, barbarian or paladin.

Only if the DM is too chicken to have bullet defecting monks and bulletproof heavy armor.

Warhammer is a bad copy of Gunpowder era Era Earth with magic and the setting is called still Warhammer and all the major warrior characters are melee specialists except for one very insane vampire pirate.

 

[Azzy]

If evil humanoids could use firearms, then nobody would want to play with melee-focused classes as monk, barbarian or paladin.

I disagree.

 

[James Gasik]

Yeah, I mean, think about the kinds of firearms we're talking about. Wheel lock pistols from Spelljammer were the most advanced firearm around, and we're talking 1500 AD. The arquebus was fairly widespread in the Realms in 2e, as Gond had shared the technology with the people of Lantan (and they were popular among the Giff). So the fire rate is not exactly fantastic, if I'm being generous comparable to a hand crossbow and heavy crossbow (and since those weapons have been around longer, they are probably more advanced). Sure, non-magical armor is probably not very helpful against them, and it does significant damage, but this is D&D- most things have the survivability of action heroes. A D&D Fighter could dodge shrapnel like John Rambo, and if he does get shot "it's just a flesh wound".

Considering that PC's routinely survive 50' falls and getting blasted by dragonfire, what's a gun? I know, people think of how firearms work in our world, but our beloved game is nothing like that- a single sword stab, just a few inches deep, is lethal to real-world humans, and even a D&D Wizard can take a few of those!

 

[Micah Sweet]

Speaking of Firearms, I hope one day for an official D&D setting with firearms integrated in the base logic.

• gunpowder firearms
• alchemical firearms
• arcane firearms
• fancy crossbows
• holy hand grenades
• protection from missile spells
• gunslinger and heavy gunner subclasses
• bulletproof barbarians
• Elves being too snobby and sticking with arcane archers
• overwatch and suppression fire rules

then you could planewalkback to Krynn with all these crazy gimmicks.

Adventures in Zeitgeist for 5e and Level Up does a lot of this.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I think it is because many fear firearms would completely overshadow melee.

Personally I think with enough magical armor and warrior skill, one can have uncommon or even common firearms and still have clashes of swords.


Ivealways that a LG vs CG vs LE vs CE epic setting with firearms would be awesome.

Like the lovechild of Warhammer Fantasy and Dragonlance adopted by a classic Dueling Empires story.

But Dragonlances as magic firearrms would be interesting.

People use melee in modern games all the time, and certainly in action-oriented modern stories. Seems like either a forced preference on the part of the designers, or a failure of imagination.

 

[Alzrius]

Speaking of Firearms, I hope one day for an official D&D setting with firearms integrated in the base logic.

You may want to look at the Savage Coast Campaign Setting (affiliate link) then, from AD&D 2nd Edition, which does exactly that. As it says in the "Weapons and Equipment" section:

Heavier armors are avoided by seafarers of the sea powers and mounted Gaucho warriors. Heavy armors are also avoided in Cimmaron because firearms are common, which all but negates the benefits of armor (see the "Equipment and Economics" chapter for details).

 

[Vaalingrade]

You may want to look at the Savage Coast Campaign Setting (affiliate link) then, from AD&D 2nd Edition, which does exactly that. As it says in the "Weapons and Equipment" section:

There's two extremes that always come up in D&D firearms discussion:

1) Guns are instant death lasers that should crit 800x

and the one represented here

2) D&D doesn't know where the term 'bulletproof' comes from.

 

[Hussar]

Why do we want rare firearms?

I've never understood this paradigm in which guns exists but are incredibly rare or unusual. If we want guns, why not have them practically replace guns or crossbows?

Well because they basically replace every weapon. And that’s not the aesthetic I’m looking for.

Frankly I wouldn’t mind winding the clock back from the early Renaissance era that DnD usually inhabits. Drop back to about 1000 AD and I’d personally be happier.

Give me more Vikings DnD than three musketeers.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Well because they basically replace every weapon. And that’s not the aesthetic I’m looking for.

depend on the era of guns swods and rifles had a long overlap, now full automatic is a problem.