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]

Perhaps so, but we still have mind control spells.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

If Harry Potter were being published now, love potions would have been vetoed. The spirit of the age has changed.

As far as I can tell the author herself would have been vetoed too, so it's way past time for the "spirit of the age" to change to the Age of Kobra Kai, aka counter cultural to this age, with freer speech.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Perhaps so, but we still have mind control spells.

Love potions are inherently more problematic than mind control spells. Mind Control is inherently very morally dark, but not as explicitly evil as "love" potions. Potions that make people fall in love with you are very rape-y, while Mind Control magic is just taking away someone else's free will for literally any purpose. Having a rape potion is very different from having a much broader school of magic that theoretically could accomplish the same thing, but doesn't have the inherent connection to that awful thing.

It would be like comparing a specific spell called "burn down orphanages" to the much broader Evocation school of magic. Sure, Fireball can absolutely burn down an orphanage, but it overall has a much more versatile use than that singular spell made specifically for doing a terrible thing.

 

[James Gasik]

I suppose, but I don't see forcing an emotional state on someone to be that much different than mind control. It's still about forcing you to act (or not act) in a way you don't wish to.

All magic is potentially abusable in horrible ways. I'm not saying there's a GOOD use for a love potion, but coercing a villain to tap dance off a cliff isn't really that much better.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I suppose, but I don't see forcing an emotional state on someone to be that much different than mind control. It's still about forcing you to act (or not act) in a way you don't wish to.

All magic is potentially abusable in horrible ways. I'm not saying there's a GOOD use for a love potion, but coercing a villain to tap dance off a cliff isn't really that much better.

But there are also much more mundane/morally good uses of Enchantment magic. You can use Suggestion to force your child to eat their vegetables. You can use Geas on a villain to keep them from doing evil. You can prevent a criminal from getting away with Command. Dominate Person can be used to force a murderer to confess their guilt.

Not all Mind Control magic is inherently bad. Enchantment spells can be used for good. However, Love Potions are inherently evil. It gets rid of consent, which is evil in literally any circumstance that it can be used in. There are circumstances where temporarily controlling the mind of someone else can achieve good. A love potion can not be used in a way that is good. They're just inherently evil.

 

[James Gasik]

I don't disagree Love potions are bad, but some of your examples reinforce my point. Using magic to discipline a child because you know what's best for them? Geas on a villain to strip them of free will? Shades of Clockwork Orange. Making villains confess to crimes, doing an end run around due process?

The road to Hell is paved with good intentions, right? But hey, we have other threads for alignment debates going, I'm willing to let this go.

 

[Demetrios1453]

But there are also much more mundane/morally good uses of Enchantment magic. You can use Suggestion to force your child to eat their vegetables. You can use Geas on a villain to keep them from doing evil. You can prevent a criminal from getting away with Command. Dominate Person can be used to force a murderer to confess their guilt.

Not all Mind Control magic is inherently bad. Enchantment spells can be used for good. However, Love Potions are inherently evil. It gets rid of consent, which is evil in literally any circumstance that it can be used in. There are circumstances where temporarily controlling the mind of someone else can achieve good. A love potion can not be used in a way that is good. They're just inherently evil.

What if the only way for the world to be saved is a prophecy that "So and so must find love", and now they are on their deathbed, having never found love. Would using a love potion then be evil if it meant saving the world?

(Obviously playing devil's advocate here; your point is pretty much correct.)

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

What if the only way for the world to be saved is a prophecy that "So and so must find love", and now they are on their deathbed, having never found love. Would using a love potion then be evil if it meant saving the world?

If it's against their consent, yes. This is basically asking "if there was a fantasy world where you had to rape someone to save the world, wouldn't it be a good thing to do that?"

It's still evil, even if it saves the world. And if someone ever wrote a story like that . . . I would be highly concerned about the kind of person that they are. That's just a deeply troubling premise. It reeks of "for the greater good" ideology and is brimming with Thermian excuses.

 

[James Gasik]

I can think of one time a love potion worked out alright. Madmartigan in Willow.

 

[Maxperson]

But there are also much more mundane/morally good uses of Enchantment magic. You can use Suggestion to force your child to eat their vegetables.

Stopping a person from committing suicide, sure. Casually taking over your child's mind to make them eat their veggies? Not so much. I would absolutely not call that either mundane or a morally good use of enchantment magic.

You can use Geas on a villain to keep them from doing evil. You can prevent a criminal from getting away with Command. Dominate Person can be used to force a murderer to confess their guilt.

Sure, but you have to be very careful with Dominate. It would be easy to force an innocent person to confess guilt with that spell.

Not all Mind Control magic is inherently bad. Enchantment spells can be used for good. However, Love Potions are inherently evil. It gets rid of consent, which is evil in literally any circumstance that it can be used in. There are circumstances where temporarily controlling the mind of someone else can achieve good. A love potion can not be used in a way that is good. They're just inherently evil.

Just for the sake of argument, what if someone is normally incapable of feeling emotion and the love potion could allow them to experience love? Or if someone wanted to drink it for whatever reason?