2010: Is it Dragonlance? (hint)

[CasvalRemDeikun]

Heh. I notice the Ariakas in the picture is left-handed, but the mini is right-handed. (Not that I don't think it's the same character - it obviously is, just look at the sword hilt - but apparently the sculptor didn't pay attention to which hand the sword was in.)



I thought it was canonical that he was a wizard (presumably with some kind of special exemption from Takhisis on the usual rules about wizards wearing armor).

...Although, now that I think about it, Tanis simply assumes he's a wizard based on the magical barrier around him; Tanis not being a wizard himself, he could have made a mistake. Raistlin's intervention allows Tanis to win, and Raistlin later mentions Ariakas as the "one man who could have bested [him]," which both suggest wizard, but again, neither is definitive. Huh.

Okay, yeah, I see where the arguments get started. I'd say the writers definitely intended him as a wizard when he was first introduced, but perhaps they later retconned it over the armor question?

Actually, in the modules, which were released first, Ariakas was a cleric. The reason for the switch in the novels was because we already had a warrior-cleric Dragon Highlord, Verminaard, so they made Ariakas into a warrior-wizard (cooler IMO).

 

[Dausuul]

Except, as I mentioned before, the NEW miniature line of the Wizards are an accessory of 4ed ...​

As I said earlier, I think we can count on something Dragonlance being released for 4E at Gen Con. The question is whether it will be just a Dragonlance adventure or mini-setting, or whether they'll announce Dragonlance as the Official Setting for 2010.

Actually, in the modules, which were released first, Ariakas was a cleric. The reason for the switch in the novels was because we already had a warrior-cleric Dragon Highlord, Verminaard, so they made Ariakas into a warrior-wizard (cooler IMO).

Gotcha.

I also like him better as a wizard.

 

[M.L. Martin]

I thought it was canonical that he was a wizard (presumably with some kind of special exemption from Takhisis on the usual rules about wizards wearing armor).

...Although, now that I think about it, Tanis simply assumes he's a wizard based on the magical barrier around him; Tanis not being a wizard himself, he could have made a mistake. Raistlin's intervention allows Tanis to win, and Raistlin later mentions Ariakas as the "one man who could have bested [him]," which both suggest wizard, but again, neither is definitive. Huh.

There is a definitive statement in Dragons of Spring Dawning that he's a wizard who earned the Black Robes (Book 2, Chapter 2, IIRC), but that's a change from his writeup in the modules, which make him a cleric. W&H have stated that they made the change to avoid making him too much like Verminaard.

So, if you go by the original modules, he's a cleric; if you go by Chronicles, he's a wizard. Later material has tended to go with either one or the other; the Emperor of Ansalon novel and the 15th Anniversary supermodule went with cleric, while the stuff by Margaret Weis and MWP went with wizard. (I think the 3.5E supermodules had him as a proto-Thorn Knight to get around the 'wizard with sword' bit.)

And while the art has been used for Ariakas, I think it was originally the cover of the Knight of the Sword or Knight of the Rose novel . . .

 

[Dausuul]

There is a definitive statement in Dragons of Spring Dawning that he's a wizard who earned the Black Robes (Book 2, Chapter 2, IIRC), but that's a change from his writeup in the modules, which make him a cleric. W&H have stated that they made the change to avoid making him too much like Verminaard.

So, if you go by the original modules, he's a cleric; if you go by Chronicles, he's a wizard. Later material has tended to go with either one or the other; the Emperor of Ansalon novel and the 15th Anniversary supermodule went with cleric, while the stuff by Margaret Weis and MWP went with wizard. (I think the 3.5E supermodules had him as a proto-Thorn Knight to get around the 'wizard with sword' bit.)

And while the art has been used for Ariakas, I think it was originally the cover of the Knight of the Sword or Knight of the Rose novel . . .

Clearly he's a mystic theurge.

 

[M.L. Martin]

Clearly he's a mystic theurge.

Something like that was proposed online by a few fans to try and reconcile the matter.

Personally, I favor the explanation that the modules are Krynn-1, the novels are Krynn-2, and later material tends to be one or the other, or some other branch of the River of Time. (I always preferred my own Krynn-M or Krynn-3. )

 

[CasvalRemDeikun]

Clearly he's a mystic theurge.

Nope, he is a Paladin-Warlock. That way he fits both versions.

 

[ferratus]

Ariakas could be a swordmage, a warlock/warlord hybrid, or a Cleric with a Wizard multiclass feat.

Knights of the Thorn are Warlocks? Swordmages? Dragon Sorcerers? Each could be equally correct interpretations.

Another reason that 4e Dragonlance (if there is such a thing) should restart the canon and build from the ground up to be a 4e setting.

 

[avin]

Some people are saying this could be Ariakas turned into a PHH mini:

https://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mi/20090618a

I have no doubt. It's DL.

 

[M.L. Martin]

Some people are saying this could be Ariakas turned into a PHH mini:

https://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mi/20090618a

I have no doubt. It's DL.

Oh, so this has been defined as a 'Human Male Paladin'? Might not be anything more than a cool-looking piece of art they used for inspiration, then, sort of like the "Free League Ranger" or a similar piece from 3.5E that bore a striking resemblance to Tanis Half-Elven.

I still think DL has too much baggage, too many hurdles to overcome for the 4E conversion (how does one make True Healing a province of the gods in a game of leader roles and rituals?), hasn't done as well as WotC would want in previous incarnations, and is caught between the Scylla of making it attractive to a mass 4E audience and the Charybdis of holding on to the novel fans. I may very well be wrong, though.

 

[Cam Banks]

Or it's a case of re-using art for inspiration, like the Tanis-but-not-Tanis mini.

As for Ariakas, he's a former Black Robe wizard who eschewed gaining arcane power from the moons and instead gained it directly from Takhisis. He was the prototype for the Thorn Knights; his son Ariakan founded the Knights of Takhisis and incorporated arcanists into the orders in recognition of his father's own achievements.

How you'd build that in 4E is up to the reader, obviously, but I'm very much in favor of warlock with some means of acquiring armor proficiency.

Cheers,
Cam