Dragonlance DRAGONLANCE LIVES! Unearthed Arcana Explores Heroes of Krynn!

The latest Unearthed Arcana has arrived and the 6-page document contains rules for kender, lunar magic, Knights of Solamnia, and Mages of High Sorcery.

In today’s Unearthed Arcana, we explore character options from the Dragonlance setting. This playtest document presents the kender race, the Lunar Magic sorcerer subclass, the Knight of Solamnia and Mage of High Sorcery backgrounds, and a collection of new feats, all for use in Dungeons & Dragons.

Kender have a (surprisingly magical) ability to pull things out of a bag, and a supernatural taunt feature. This magical ability appears to replace the older 'kleptomania' description -- "Unknown to most mortals, a magical phenomenon surrounds a kender. Spurred by their curiosity and love for trinkets, curios, and keepsakes, a kender’s pouches or pockets will be magically filled with these objects. No one knows where these objects come from, not even the kender. This has led many kender to be mislabeled as thieves when they fish these items out of their pockets."

Lunar Magic is a sorcerer subclass which draws power from the moon(s); there are notes for using it in Eberron.

Also included are feats such as Adepts of the Black, White, and Red Robes, and Knights of the Sword, Rose, and Crown.

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[James Gasik]

Ok, well I'll take it as data. I didn't mind it, as they were really a gimmick. Hard to get smoke powder (though again, I probably should have made it more readily available) and you get a big crossbow. D10 damage isn't really that big a deal. Now the starlock pistol, that was potentially frightening, given the fact that it's d4 could explode...but it was still less effective than a Magic Missile spell.

The main complaint I kept hearing was, ironically, that it gave the equivalent of magic to anyone that could afford it. Given the endless "Fighter vs. Caster" debates, I wonder how that's a bad thing...

 

[Scars Unseen]

The main complaint I kept hearing was, ironically, that it gave the equivalent of magic to anyone that could afford it. Given the endless "Fighter vs. Caster" debates, I wonder how that's a bad thing...

Well if what people like about fighters is the swording, then making them more effective by giving them something that makes swords irrelevant isn't exactly the fix they're looking for.

 

[Maxperson]

Ok, well I'll take it as data. I didn't mind it, as they were really a gimmick. Hard to get smoke powder (though again, I probably should have made it more readily available) and you get a big crossbow. D10 damage isn't really that big a deal. Now the starlock pistol, that was potentially frightening, given the fact that it's d4 could explode...but it was still less effective than a Magic Missile spell.

The main complaint I kept hearing was, ironically, that it gave the equivalent of magic to anyone that could afford it. Given the endless "Fighter vs. Caster" debates, I wonder how that's a bad thing...

It wasn't the damage for us. It was the mixing of tech and fantasy. We wanted pure fantasy and guns didn't fit that vision, and for me still don't. My Realms has never had, and never will have smoke powder, and I completely ignore Gond as a DM.

 

[James Gasik]

And that's fine, I know a lot of people who don't like science fantasy in their fantasy. It's a personal preference.

As for making swords obsolete, I can think of plenty of stories where guns exist but swords remain relevant. The Three Musketeers, for example.

 

[Scars Unseen]

As for making swords obsolete, I can think of plenty of stories where guns exist but swords remain relevant. The Three Musketeers, for example.

The Three Musketeers doesn't have the fighter vs wizard problem though. My point is that any solution to the power discrepancy of magic vs martial that gunpowder can provide will ultimately be disappointing to the people who have a problem with the discrepancy of magic vs martial.

 

[Rabulias]

With that in mind, to come out with a complete new setting that generates enough buzz to sell in the neighborhood of a Tasha's or a Mordenkainnens is a very, very steep hill to climb. When they do announce a completely new setting, you're going to see a couple of year run up before you actually get that new setting in print.

Considering 5e D&D's impressive track record so far, I don't think WotC will need to do much more than they normally do to generate buzz and get highly successful sales numbers for a new setting book. I mean, look at Strixhaven. Yes, it had the MtG tie-in, but that was not an established property at the time; it was more a case of simultaneous cross-promotion.

And yeah, the Druid pre-gen was mentioned previously in the thread. I think he pre-dates Dragonlance Adventures (I really need to check on that).

The main Dragonlance modules (DL1 through DL14) were released 1984 through 1986, before the Dragonlance Adventures hardback in 1987.

 

[Micah Sweet]

The Three Musketeers doesn't have the fighter vs wizard problem though. My point is that any solution to the power discrepancy of magic vs martial that gunpowder can provide will ultimately be disappointing to the people who have a problem with the discrepancy of magic vs martial.

I don't really see a preference for or against firearms in D&D having anything to do with martial vs. magic. It's just asthetics, and a feeling that they should coexist, to me.

 

[James Gasik]

I was just bringing up an older argument about firearms and comparing it to the current state of the game, I didn't mean to suggest that we give Fighters grenade launchers to combat disparity. We used to have Intelligent magic swords for that!

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

We had one or two firearms back then, but mostly as novelties. The exploding damage dice was neat, but most PCs ended up sticking with their bows and swords.

I think a big part of it is that the foundational fantasies back then were worlds without firearms - Middle-Earth, Hyperborea, Nehwon, etc. I could point to Barsoom, but by the 80s I don't know how much people were into Barsoom. I certainly didn't come to it until much later, though I confidently suspect that younger Ralif would have chafed at the blurring of fantasy and sci-fi lines. Younger Ralif was a purist in that regard and didn't know what he was missing out on.

But as we see more and more fantasy series that include magic and technology like Mistborn, The Craft Sequence, the Grishaverse, and tons of anime, people are going to be growing up with different visions of what fantasy is and can be. Some younger people I've run with are all for firearms in D&D, others still draw a hard line there.

This is purely anecdotal, but nobody in any of my groups liked firearms in 1e or 2e, and we played the Realms.

Getting back to Dragonlance, if it's an adventure, I kinda hope Takhisis isn't the big bad (or at least, not the one the PCs fight). Do we need a rematch with Tiamat after Tyranny of Dragons? I know, she's the iconic villain of Dragonlance, but there are plenty of other great choices.

 

[RoughCoronet0]

You know, with the Lunar Sorcerer subclass, having a Lunar Sorcerer Haregon or even a Grey Wolf (refluffed Dog PC from Animal Adventures) Lunar Sorcerer would be incredibly on point theme wise.

Those are awesome ideas.

I’ve been considering a Longtooth Shifter Lunar Sorcerer myself. I love Lycanthropes and moon magic.