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

 

[GMforPowergamers]

So, he outright gave them all those abilities, with no need to learn them or improve and hone their skills? So they're just a bunch of perfect Mary Sues, which makes them automatically less interesting than D&D elves.

no he didn't nothing indecates that a 10 year old elf has any great mastery they are all trained

 

[GMforPowergamers]

D&D 5E - Dragonlance, Mages of High Sorcery, WotC video

There is a test that might kill your character to join the mages. If I heard right. In order to fully join there is a moment to take the test in the adventure.

www.enworld.org

they outright said they are keeping that any caster can join towers

and It is not the test of before... and they say it's based on a mix of harry potter and dune, can't wait for that to hit the fan.

and they call out that the players get to help the DM make the adventure for the test (sure a lot wont like that)

 

[Micah Sweet]

No, they're not. They're minor differences. They fulfill the same purposes, they do the same thing.

Look, there are certain tropes that when you string them together, they make "elf." That's why I linked the TV trope page. Pretty? Otherworldly in a fey kind of way? Usually pretty? Long-lived? Magical? It's an elf. Often it includes things like "androgynous" and "looks down on 'mortal' races" and "in tune with natural forces."

Tolkien elves and D&D elves may have slightly different traits, but they're both elves and those slightly different traits don't actually matter to anyone.

They matter to me. But then, I'm a pretty serious Tolkien enthusiast.

 

[Maxperson]

I guess you have a low opinion on The One Ring RPG then?

Yes. The races are roughly equal in that game, which makes it not Middle Earth. Dwarves and elves should be much better than humans.

 

[Maxperson]

becuse I think it's funny, Tolken elves are the base of D&D elves.

Inspiration for. But Gygax changed them to the point of not being anything remotely close to Tolkien elves.

none of that is needed for a tolken elf unless you are giving every race those types.

Why would I give them to humans who wouldn't have those. In Middle Earth the races are not equal. Not even close.

all of this can be the named elves we know are high level cause they are immortal

Except we know from Tolkien that it was all elves and they got these gifts at birth.

 

[Maxperson]

I will turn to my copy of the middle earth 5e book and see very similar to 5e elves

But you will not see Middle Earth elves in your Middle Earth 5e book, because game balance prevents them from being put into the game.

 

[R_J_K75]

You're totally correct! It was my memory that was faulty:

Monster Manual (1977)
Player's Handbook (1978)
Dungeon Master's Guide (1979)

Even so you get the idea. He drops one paragraph in the PHB almost as an aside reference. And expects you to remember what he is talking about when he includes the siege rules in the DMG one year later... He just assumes the reader has the background to recognize when to adjust the scale of the game to 'wargaming/mass combat mode'.

But as you can see it is easy to make things like 1:10 scaling for mass combat fully integrated into the game rules from the start. Unfortunately when the designers started giving different types of HD to monsters in later editions, that throws off the abstraction. Also missile weapons need to be integrated with how siege engines would work if you go to 1:10 scale for mass combat. It's a shame that basically no one picked up on what Gygax did. As once you know what to look for, it is obvious that at least in this area subsequent editions have been a regression in their ability to scale for mass combat.

Always seemed an odd order to release those books, probably just poor foresight.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Inspiration for. But Gygax changed them to the point of not being anything remotely close to Tolkien elves.

very close, you just seem not to see it

Why would I give them to humans who wouldn't have those. In Middle Earth the races are not equal. Not even close.

because elves aren't superman... I don't know what makes you think that. Nothing in the LotR or other realated texts say they are.

Except we know from Tolkien that it was all elves and they got these gifts at birth.

nope they get them, we have no reason to think they are born with telepathy or +6 to stats as laughable as that would be.

But you will not see Middle Earth elves in your Middle Earth 5e book, because game balance prevents them from being put into the game.

They ARE middle earth elves YOU just don't like them

 

[Maxperson]

So, he outright gave them all those abilities, with no need to learn them or improve and hone their skills? So they're just a bunch of perfect Mary Sues, which makes them automatically less interesting than D&D elves.

There was some learning. Things like the songs of power were innate. Elven singing has power, but you could get better at it. Skill with weapons and such was learned, but much easier to be good at it due to the insanely high ability scores. The only thing really keeping elves from being Mary Sues was the fact that they were prone to tragedy. Bad things happened to them in their pride and arrogance.

 

[Maxperson]

very close, you just seem not to see it

Show me the 1e abilities that match or come close to the Tolkien elves from my post. I don't see it because it simply isn't there. It takes more than pointy ears, lives in the forest, is long lived, and is named elf to be close to being a Tolkien elf.

because elves aren't superman...

Not in D&D. They are in Middle Earth.

Nothing in the LotR or other realated texts say they are.

Really? Going toe to toe with archangels, and needing multiple Balrogs to kill them isn't in the text?

nope they get them, we have no reason to think they are born with telepathy or +6 to stats as laughable as that would be.

Nothing other than Tolkien's writing anyway. You should do some research on them before you laugh at me. You'd learn something about Tolkien's elves and the gifts that they are born with.