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Dragonlance Dragonlance: Solamnic Knights & Mages of High Sorcery Preview

WotC has shared another preview of the upcoming Dragonlance setting/adventure with a look at backgrounds and feats for Solamnic Knights and Mages of High Sorcery. Feats include Squire of Solamnia and Initiate of High Sorcery. Interestingly, one prerequisite is "Dragonlance Campaign", which implies that the feats can't be used outside that setting...

WotC has shared another preview of the upcoming Dragonlance setting/adventure with a look at backgrounds and feats for Solamnic Knights and Mages of High Sorcery.

knights-of-solamnia.jpg


Feats include Squire of Solamnia and Initiate of High Sorcery. Interestingly, one prerequisite is "Dragonlance Campaign", which implies that the feats can't be used outside that setting.

 

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Levistus's_Leviathan

5e Freelancer
Recently indeed, since Strixhaven didn't have any similar restriction for its feats. Nor Eberron (though to be fair, anything pre-Tasha is basically a different era at this point).
It required that you had the background. Which requires you to be in one of the colleges. And Eberron's Dragonmarked Races/Subraces and magic items require you to have a Dragonmark, which requires you to be from Eberron.
 

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JEB

Legend
It required that you had the background. Which requires you to be in one of the colleges.
If a DM declared the Strixhaven backgrounds were in their homebrew setting, RAW they were covered. Nothing in Strixhaven says those backgrounds can only be used in a Strixhaven campaign.

And Eberron's Dragonmarked Races/Subraces and magic items require you to have a Dragonmark, which requires you to be from Eberron.
If a DM declared dragonmarks were in their homebrew setting, RAW they were covered. Nothing in Rising from the Last War says that dragonmarks can only be used in an Eberron campaign.

But these new feats can, RAW, only be used in "Dragonlance Campaign." RAW it's different.
 


Reynard

Legend
Supporter
If your biggest complaint so far is that the book doesn't have enough mustaches, it looks like it's going to be a great book ;)
This is actually one of those things I feel like we should examine a little more deeply and not dismiss out of hand.

WotC has consistently given short shrift to world building since the start of 5E. Their adventures and settings are shallow. I like to refer to 5E as the "MCU Edition" because it is popular and fun and cool, but shallow and, frankly, it's best not to think too hard about it.

The "lol why are you worried about mustaches" attitude is a pretty succinct distillation of the the MCU attitude. Who cares? It's just facial hair?

But here's the thing: little details are the key to good worldbuilding. Whether this culture wears long mustaches (like the Celts; it didn't appear out of nowhere) or this culture has a schism between the two kinds of elves is important stuff. It matters, from the perspective of building a world that feels real and complete and deep. Dismissing it out of hand reveals an "MCU" attitude that amounts to "shut up and get on with the adventure."

Which is fine as far as it goes, but some people want more than that. Some people want detailed world building even if those details aren't focused on combat bonuses or class abilities or other mechanical bits.

What's weird is that there is no problem with keeping mustaches as a cultural aspect of the Knights of Solamnia. It doesn't do anything to make them bad or unpalatable to modern audiences. But they still just ignored it. It wasn't even on their radar. You can tell by the art. That should tell you how much they care about Dragonlance in general. They don't care about its nuances or particulars. It's just another nostalgic cow to be milked to death. It is an IP meant to be marketed in such a way as to extract as much income from both older and new fans as possible with no regard tow hat it might have meant at some time.

Which is fine. WotC is a business. They should want to sell books. But by the same token when older fans see that it is a shallow cash grab, we shouldn't feel bad about not buying these things. They aren't for us, even if they try and convince us otherwise with nostalgic names.

And to be clear, I am not suggesting that new or old fans who don't care about how WotC is treating these old properties are wrong. They should absolutely enjoy the things they enjoy and support those things by buying them. If WotC is making stuff you love, by all means, buy it and support it and evangelize it, regardless of it nostalgic cred.

But if they aren't? Don't. Don't buy things just because it has a brand on it you once loved. Don't reward them for doing something wrong to a thing you loved. Don't be so desperate for validation of your formative brands.

The lackof mustaches doesn't mean Dragonlance is bad. But it is a hint, a suggestion, that WotC hasn't really even looked at what they were re=-creating beyond even the most basic level. Their concern is about broad, shallow features that appeal to the widest audiences, without concern about anything that came before or detailed worldbuilding that (although arbitrary) gives a sense of texture to the world. WotC doesn't care about the depth of Dragonlance because they don't expect you to care about Dragonlance six months from now. And that goes for every world they produce.
 

Levistus's_Leviathan

5e Freelancer
What's weird is that there is no problem with keeping mustaches as a cultural aspect of the Knights of Solamnia. It doesn't do anything to make them bad or unpalatable to modern audiences.
They changed the Knights of Solamnia to accept women into their ranks. That might have something to do with mustaches not being required for them anymore.
Whether this culture wears long mustaches (like the Celts; it didn't appear out of nowhere) or this culture has a schism between the two kinds of elves is important stuff.
Hang on, there's a huge difference between "do they like facial hair" and "there's a schism between two kinds of elves". Most settings don't have facial hair be important in any way. There's the recurring joke about all Dwarves, including the women, having beards, but that's not mentioned in any of the books and is a meme the community came up with. But things about whether there's a schism between multiple kinds of elves actually does matter. The difference between a Tairnadal and Aereni Elf actually matters in Eberron. The fact that a knightly order tends to have mustaches? Not so much. That doesn't alter how anyone actually plays the game like how Eberron differentiates between elven subraces. If a 6e Eberron book got rid of the difference between the Tairnadal and Aereni Elvish cultures, that would be a big deal that would greatly affect the world and ruin some character concepts. Whether or not the art shows the Knights of Solamnia with mustaches doesn't have an effect like that.

And I don't think 5e is bad at worldbuilding, there are books that prove that 5e can do it well (Theros, Eberron, Wildemount). But there are 5e books that do it badly (Spelljammer, Strixhaven, SCAG).
 

Reynard

Legend
Supporter
They changed the Knights of Solamnia to accept women into their ranks. That might have something to do with mustaches not being required for them anymore.
If they allow women i somehow doubt women would be subject to the mustache rule.
Hang on, there's a huge difference between "do they like facial hair" and "there's a schism between two kinds of elves". Most settings don't have facial hair be important in any way. There's the recurring joke about all Dwarves, including the women, having beards, but that's not mentioned in any of the books and is a meme the community came up with. But things about whether there's a schism between multiple kinds of elves actually does matter. The difference between a Tairnadal and Aereni Elf actually matters in Eberron. The fact that a knightly order tends to have mustaches? Not so much. That doesn't alter how anyone actually plays the game like how Eberron differentiates between elven subraces. If a 6e Eberron book got rid of the difference between the Tairnadal and Aereni Elvish cultures, that would be a big deal that would greatly affect the world and ruin some character concepts. Whether or not the art shows the Knights of Solamnia with mustaches doesn't have an effect like that.
DL has distinct eleven cultures with distinct positions within the War of the Lance. I would be surprised if 5e DL even mentioned it, let alone made it matter.
And I don't think 5e is bad at worldbuilding, there are books that prove that 5e can do it well (Theros, Eberron, Wildemount). But there are 5e books that do it badly (Spelljammer, Strixhaven, SCAG).
I didn't say "bad" I said "deep." Good or bad aside, WotC has completely eschewed deep world building. There isn't a single example of it. Even the Forgotten Realms, the most used of 5E settings, doesn't actually get any deep world building.
 


Levistus's_Leviathan

5e Freelancer
If they allow women i somehow doubt women would be subject to the mustache rule.
Which is why "the Knights of Solamnia all have stupid mustaches" can't be a unifying theme anymore. Unlike "they ride dragons" and "are basically paladins except nonmagical".
DL has distinct eleven cultures with distinct positions within the War of the Lance. I would be surprised if 5e DL even mentioned it, let alone made it matter.
There were those slave elves, right? I also doubt that this book will mention the difference unless the adventure goes to where the elves live. This isn't a setting book, it's an adventure book.
I didn't say "bad" I said "deep." Good or bad aside, WotC has completely eschewed deep world building. There isn't a single example of it. Even the Forgotten Realms, the most used of 5E settings, doesn't actually get any deep world building.
Please define "deep" worldbuilding. Do you mean stuff like listing the exports, laws, and taxes of every single country? Because 5e has stuff like that.
 

Micah Sweet

Level Up & OSR Enthusiast
They changed the Knights of Solamnia to accept women into their ranks. That might have something to do with mustaches not being required for them anymore.

Hang on, there's a huge difference between "do they like facial hair" and "there's a schism between two kinds of elves". Most settings don't have facial hair be important in any way. There's the recurring joke about all Dwarves, including the women, having beards, but that's not mentioned in any of the books and is a meme the community came up with. But things about whether there's a schism between multiple kinds of elves actually does matter. The difference between a Tairnadal and Aereni Elf actually matters in Eberron. The fact that a knightly order tends to have mustaches? Not so much. That doesn't alter how anyone actually plays the game like how Eberron differentiates between elven subraces. If a 6e Eberron book got rid of the difference between the Tairnadal and Aereni Elvish cultures, that would be a big deal that would greatly affect the world and ruin some character concepts. Whether or not the art shows the Knights of Solamnia with mustaches doesn't have an effect like that.

And I don't think 5e is bad at worldbuilding, there are books that prove that 5e can do it well (Theros, Eberron, Wildemount). But there are 5e books that do it badly (Spelljammer, Strixhaven, SCAG).
I can't speak to Theros, but the worldbuilding for Ebrrron and Wildemount was primarily done by WotC. They have their own authors.
 

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