WotC Dragonlance: Everything You Need For Shadow of the Dragon Queen

WotC has shared a video explaining the Dragonlance setting, and what to expect when it is released in December.

World at War: Introduces war as a genre of play to fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons.

Dragonlance: Introduces the Dragonlance setting with a focus on the War of the Lance and an overview of what players and DMs need to run adventures during this world spanning conflict.

Heroes of War: Provides character creation rules highlighting core elements of the Dragonlance setting, including the kender race and new backgrounds for the Knight of Solamnia and Mage of High Sorcery magic-users. Also introduces the Lunar Sorcery sorcerer subclass with new spells that bind your character to Krynn's three mystical moons and imbues you with lunar magic.

Villains: Pits heroes against the infamous death knight Lord Soth and his army of draconians.

Notes --

• 224 page hardcover adventure
• D&D's setting for war
• Set in eastern Solamnia
• War is represented by context -- it's not goblins attacking the village, but evil forces; refugees, rumours
• You can play anything from D&D - clerics included, although many classic D&D elements have been forgotten
• Introductory scenarios bring you up to speed on the world so no prior research needed

 

[Paul Farquhar]

In the 1e Dragonlance Adventures the following classes are mentioned.

Krynn Minotaurs have a level 8 limit as a Ranger. Irda can also be Rangers, so Rangers are present. Half-elves show unlimited advancement as Druids, so Druids are there as well. Dimernesti Elves show advancement of 10/unlimited as Paladins, and Silvanesti Elves can hit level 12 as a Paladin. One of Caramon's kids discovers sorcery and becomes the first Sorcerer on Krynn in one of the novels. Gnomes are Artificers, even if there wasn't a class for it.

People seem to forget that early on the were rules were in flux. For example, early on druids appeared, and then they were ruled out by the hardback setting book.

 

[Hussar]

People seem to forget that early on the were rules were in flux. For example, early on druids appeared, and then they were ruled out by the hardback setting book.

I think this really speaks to the point I was trying to make about setting elements. What you (not you, but the general you) think of as "Dragonlance" will really depend on when you got into it, and how. Unlike a lot of other settings, there are a lot more avenues into the setting than through the game. Like, sure, I understand that there are Eberron novels out there, but, let's be honest, most people get into Eberron through playing D&D and through the source books. It's probably reasonable to assume that a Ravenloft fan got there through the game, rather than from another direction.

But, there are HUGE number of DL fans that have probably never played the original modules, but, have read many of the novels. So on and so forth. About the only other setting that sees this kind of broad entrance would be Forgotten Realms. I'm sure there are lots of Salvatore fans who have never picked up a D20. Or people who played Baldur's Gate or the various other FR branded computer games. That sort of thing. I know that describes me to a large degree. I came into FR primarily through video games. It wasn't until very recently that I've actually started diving in the game information about the Realms.

 

[Jiggawatts]

No Knight in any of the core novels ever cast a spell, and there is no reference anywhere to their ability to do so.

Knight Clerists of the Order of the Sword are an order of battle clerics devoted to Kiri-Jolith. They have been in the setting from the very start.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I know that describes me to a large degree. I came into FR primarily through video games. It wasn't until very recently that I've actually started diving in the game information about the Realms.

That's true for me too. I mostly played in my homebrew setting before Baldur's Gate.

 

[Morrus]

Curious how they'll handle adding in classes to the setting that didn't exist before, at least as far as I'm aware:

Artificer
Bard
Druid
Monk
Paladin
Ranger
Sorcerer
Warlock

Far as I know, none of these classes had a prominent NPC that I can recall. Friend of mine said one of the novels did have a Monk from a far off land. I can see these classes coming from "Beyond Ansalon" continent. It was always "Wizard" when it came to magic, not sure where Sorcerers fit in. Are they just treated the same albeit different methods of using arcane magic? Same with Warlock, which I'm guessing would probably be those outcast kind of magic users.

Were there any Druids? I can't recall. I've read a lot of Dragonlance novels back then and the only classes I ever saw represented were Barbarian, Fighter, Cleric, Thief (Rogue), and Wizard. Heck I don't even know if Psionics exist in Krynn.

Classes are just metagame rules concepts, not in-universe things. You just use classes as building blocks to represent an in-universe character concept; it doesn't matter what the rules building block is called.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Yeah, but it's a shame the second option is pushed so hard it feels like they want you to feel bad about wanting the first.

What's so important about Orcs being banned in the world that making it up to the DM somehow takes away the setting's uniqueness? This isn't Dark Sun where Orcs are purposefully excluded because of a canonical reason (they all got killed awhile back). So long as they aren't mentioned in the book . . . what's the big deal? Why does the book have to say "Orcs are banned in Dragonlance"?

 

[Hussar]

Classes are just metagame rules concepts, not in-universe things. You just use classes as building blocks to represent an in-universe character concept; it doesn't matter what the rules building block is called.

While I 100% agree with what you are saying here, 4e has proven that many people do not believe this to be true.

 

[Morrus]

While I 100% agree with what you are saying here, 4e has proven that many people do not believe this to be true.

I can't help what people believe. I can just say what I think.

 

[Velderan]

Huh? They are a few hundred miles away or so

Sorry, I meant country not continent. They're far enough away that whatever world events are going on in the adventure are distant rumors where the companions are.

 

[AnotherGuy]

What's so important about Orcs being banned in the world that making it up to the DM somehow takes away the setting's uniqueness? This isn't Dark Sun where Orcs are purposefully excluded because of a canonical reason (they all got killed awhile back). So long as they aren't mentioned in the book . . . what's the big deal? Why does the book have to say "Orcs are banned in Dragonlance"?

Setting continuity. Setting loyalty. WotC appeasing its older demographic.