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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[James Gasik]

To me it seems like they're trying to add what is, in effect, prestige classes to the game without actually making them prestige classes.

 

[Parmandur]

I really like the idea of floating subclasses, but I really don't think it would work in this edition. In 6em they could make it so that all classes gain archetype abilities at the same time, or at least within a level or two of each other, and that you pick your archetype at the same level (assuming they continue with archetypes in 6e). At that point, floating subclasses would work. But it's too uneven right now.

Really, all Subclasses should be selected at 1st level: Mearls talked a bit back in the day on his happy Fun Hour that the training Levels did not work in practice as they intended, and after a few years everyone was just planning their Subclass from Level 1 anyways. It would allow them to bake in less in the main classes, and create greater flexibility, as can already be seen with the Classes who choose at level 1 rather than later.

 

[Parmandur]

I agree that floating subclasses are an odd fit with the current 5E subclass setup, and that it would be better to have archetype abilities at all the same class levels. But I don't see them reworking classes that extensively anytime soon (not even in 2024). So I'd much rather they find a way to make floating subclasses work under the current setup, instead of changing the way backgrounds and feats currently work.

I suppose another option could be the restoration of something like the character themes from 4E or the Next playtest? Another optional layer on top of the existing choices?

I think they might go that radical with the 2024 revision: as long as you can still show up with a 2014 PHB built character and play at the table with 2024 Monsters and such or a 2024 PHB character in Princes of the Apocalypse or whatever, I think they are on poitn with being compatible. The Classes are modular gameplay elements, and retweaking them to have a unified progression would just make sense.

 

[Faolyn]

Really, all Subclasses should be selected at 1st level: Mearls talked a bit back in the day on his happy Fun Hour that the training Levels did not work in practice as they intended, and after a few years everyone was just planning their Subclass from Level 1 anyways. It would allow them to bake in less in the main classes, and create greater flexibility, as can already be seen with the Classes who choose at level 1 rather than later.

Agreed. I can kind of see having all classes gain archetypes as level 2, as it's expected that you'll reach that level after the first or maybe second adventure (and as a way of avoiding too many 1-level multiclassing dips). But level 3 is just too high. And really, as you say, except the brand-new players who are literally just learning to play right then and there, everyone has at least an idea of what they're going for.

 

[James Gasik]

Most groups I know solve that by having players start at 3rd level.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Most groups I know solve that by having players start at 3rd level.

Which is exactly what I do. Which, IMO, is still a problem. If I have to start my game at a later level to achieve that, it's a problem with how the Class system is designed.

 

[James Gasik]

The way it was explained to me, the designers wanted characters to start as strong as what is currently 3rd level adventurers, similar to 4e starting characters, but there was backlash during the playtest and people demanding that they have weaker starting characters, so they made 1st and 2nd level characters so people had the option, but 3rd is the intended start point.

I'm pretty sure that was even stated somewhere by the developers, but it could be apocryphal, this was, after all, 8 years ago. Sometimes I have a hard time remembering last week!

 

[Bacon Bits]

The way it was explained to me, the designers wanted characters to start as strong as what is currently 3rd level adventurers, similar to 4e starting characters, but there was backlash during the playtest and people demanding that they have weaker starting characters, so they made 1st and 2nd level characters so people had the option, but 3rd is the intended start point.

I'm pretty sure that was even stated somewhere by the developers, but it could be apocryphal, this was, after all, 8 years ago. Sometimes I have a hard time remembering last week!

It's partially that, but it's also nerfing a la carte multiclassing. By making it take 3 levels to get going you significantly reduce frontloading. By then making levels 1 and 2 take about 3 game sessions tops, you push the PCs to level 3 extremely quickly, but characters that multiclass will not enjoy the same benefit. A 5th level fighter that switches to rogue will not speed through levels 1 and 2 of the new class.

Of course, then they made Warlock....

 

[James Gasik]

Seems they could have avoided that by saying Multiclass characters don't get a subclass, just how 2e multiclass characters weren't originally allowed to have Kits (until they could).

 

[Amrûnril]

Seems they could have avoided that by saying Multiclass characters don't get a subclass, just how 2e multiclass characters weren't originally allowed to have Kits (until they could).

This would massively limit the customization potential of multiclassing, though. A Storm Spirit Barbarian/Wildfire Druid and a Totem Barbarian/Moon Druid are wildly different combinations, both mechanically and thematically, despite sharing the same base classes. To me, this sort of customization is a huge part of the appeal of multiclassing.

It's also worth noting that classes differ dramatically in how much of their mechanical effectiveness they get from subclasses. Paladins, for instance get most of their power from base class features and have subclass features that mostly add flavor rather than combat prowess. Artificers, in contrast, really need their subclass abilities to be competitive with extra attack or full caster classes.