Dragonlance More DRAGONLANCE Information: Kender, Battles, W&H's Novels, & More!

In addition to the official videos announcing Dragonlance releases for late 2022, I got to talk to talk to the D&D team and get a few more details not in the public D&D Direct event.

• Because Dragonlance is a setting about war, Ray Winninger, Executive Producer of Dungeons & Dragons, was asked if Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen would have large-scale combat rules. He said that they would in an broad abstract form. The board game or battle game Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn is actually focused on large-scale combat and can be played independently or RPG players could switch to Warriors of Krynn for their big combat scenes, including porting in their characters and then switch back to the RPG after the battle. So the RPG adventure can be played alone, the board game can be played alone or they can be combined, depending upon the group's preference.
• Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn is a cooperative game.
• When asked if Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn could be used for large-scale battles in other D&D settings Winninger said it was designed with that idea in mind. However, if Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn is poplar they'll consider making more customized, large-scale combat board games for other settings.
• Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen is a brand new story, independent of the upcoming novel, Dragonlance: Dragons of Deceit. Winninger said that Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman are telling their own story set in Krynn while Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen is a different story set in Krynn and is blazing a trail to help players create their own stories in Krynn. So Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen and Dragons of Deceit are both set in the same world but different stories.
• There will be some cameos from old Dragonlance characters, especially villains, in Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen.
• Price points for Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn and Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen are not finalized yet.
• When asked about player races for Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen – especially Kender – Winninger said that Kender have gotten a good reception from the Unearthed Arcana play test but they're making some tweaks. Yes, Kender will be an option. He said the play test material gives hints as to what playable races it will have but would not mention to confirm any specifically beyond Kender.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

And your DM.

Only if the DM us a problem with the PCs being effective for some reason.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Only if the DM us a problem with the PCs being effective for some reason.

Being effective in that specific way can be quite annoying.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Being effective in that specific way can be quite annoying.

Why?

 

[humble minion]

And your DM.

Eh, it depends. If the kender is using their bonus action to taunt and their action to hide, they're not doing damage so the bad guy will survive longer. And taunt only affects attack rolls anyway. Area affects and other stuff targeting saves will completely ignore it.

If the kender's party is fighting a group, taunt will only affect one of the enemies, so is less effective. And a single big monster is more likely to have attack modes that can bypass the taunt disadvantage completely. Not to mention that if the critter passes its saving throw against taunt, the kender has used its bonus already, so has the choice of attacking and standing in the open, or hiding and being ineffective that round.

It's a pretty useful ability (it's effectively a better Compelled Duel with a shorter duration), but it's hardly game-defining.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Why?

In some circumstances, forcing an opponent to target you and then making yourself untargetable effectively prevents the enemy from taking action.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

In some circumstances, forcing an opponent to target you and then making yourself untargetable effectively prevents the enemy from taking action.

back in 4e with the Swordmage I had a DM hate me so much.

I could mark multi targets (normally the creatures the DM wanted to have hit) so if the monster targeted one of my allies I would negate a huge amount of damage, then deal some damgage to the monster. I also had an AC 10 or more higher then most my allies...

so take a penalty to hit and deal less damage, or waste move and attacks on high AC target... if the DM stacked the encounter though (more targets then I could mark, or high enough damage to over come the reduction from my shielding others or just high enough to hit my AC) he knew it could easily be unfair (and possible TPK) if I didn't midiate or if I disengaged.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

In some circumstances, forcing an opponent to target you and then making yourself untargetable effectively prevents the enemy from taking action.

Kender taunt doesn't do that though. The tauntee can attack a different target with disadvantage. Which is cancelled if they can get advantage. Or they can use an ability that doesn't require an attack roll. Or they can take a dodge action, or hide themselves.

We have an ancestral guardian barbarian in our current party, which has a similar ability. It aint that great.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

In some circumstances, forcing an opponent to target you and then making yourself untargetable effectively prevents the enemy from taking action.

No, it doesn’t, first of all. Being given disadvantage isn’t preventing you from taking action. Disadvantage isn’t “you cannot hit”, it’s just a probability penalty. Secondly, so what? PCs and NPCs have abilities that deny actions to their enemies.

And the most important enemies generally have stuff that isn’t an attack roll, anyway.