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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[This Effin’ GM]

My only thoughts on why the letting the players pick which phase isn't a terrible idea? It does make it a heck of a lot easier to track. That moon chart is a nightmare to keep track of and we all know it.

1. I don’t think it’s a bad idea, the sorcerer moon subclass is just fine. In general I want the moon chart though

2. I make my players who are arcane casters keep track of the moon chart, I give them a copy. It also helps them to double as party time keeper. It’s been working out really well once I stopped doing it myself in my Dragonlance game

 

[Remathilis]

Lunar sorcerer: it is weird flavor-wise that each of the phases would correspond with each of the 3 Krynn moons. As if they were folded into phases.

If you look at the school pairs that each phase in the meta magic power, and then look at the school pairs for each robe feat, its blaring obvious. However, I think they opted for phase rather than move to support use on other settings, much like how the Spirit Bard in Ravenloft is based on general archetypes rather than the Tarokka.

Here is a better idea, let them pull any item from any PC/NPC inventory within X feet as a bonus action. Grant a saving throw or opposed skill check for unwilling targets. The problem with Kender isn’t the ability to steal things, it’s how they are unrepentant kleptomaniacs that refuse to even acknowledge what they are doing. Being able to “grab” a healing potion from the bard on the other side of the wall to heal the downed cleric is a good thing.

No. Absolutely no.

First off, if they are willing and able handlers, the game already has rules for picking pockets. Give kender proficiency in Sleight of Hand and advise that kender don't use it for material gain but instead to help others or out of curiosity. At least the kender is now liable for its actions.

Because if the kender is acquiring anyone else's things without agency (be it magical or mundane) you've created a problem. People WILL use this to steal important items (magical items, weapons, spell components) just because it's "funny". They will also use stolen consumable items ("I drink Bob's potion of healing") and the stolen from will have no course of recompensation for his lost item. That, in a few games I've witnessed and countless ones I've read about, has led to bad blood between players and even campaign's ending. (A friend of mine once said Dragonlance games last 1d4 sessions after the introduction of the first kender.)

So if they are going to "steal" they either do it willingly and with full knowledge they are doing so (and thus are liable for their actions) or they can conjure random bullpucky from Gods know where absolutely innocent and oblivious to how it happened, but it's gotta be one or the other.

 

[Hussar]

Out of curiosity, I dug up the final version of the kender from the D&D Next playtests. It basically has all the same concepts in terms of abilities, just different executions:

• Dex +1 and Cha +1 (as opposed to floating ASI)
• Speed 25 feet
• Fearless (immunity to the frightened condition)
• Kender Pockets (25% chance of having any piece of nonmagical equipment after searching for 1 minute, once per day, mundane explanation)
• Taunt (opposed Performance vs. Insight as action, if you win target must attack only you, with disadvantage; only works on target once per day)

So I guess they were pretty happy with the general approach they had way back in 2013, it was just a matter of power and flavor. (I wonder if the mechanical changes might have even been based on ancient Next feedback.)

Shhhh. You're trying to use facts in this conversation.

 

[DEFCON 1]

WotC, just make a new setting dangnabbit.

You lucked onto a bunch of new fans and you are twisting old setting to sell it to them instead of selling new stuff.

What were Ravnica, Theros, Wildemount, and Strixhaven? As far as this old brain can remember... none of those four settings have ever been published in D&D before. They are all new D&D settings, and all quite varied on top of that.

Oh, and as far as Dragonlance is concerned... based upon the last time anything for it got published, it might as well be considered a "new setting" for all the new fans out there, since who knows how many ever actually saw or read anything from that setting decades ago.

Seems to me it isn't the new fan that really wants a supposed all-new setting... but an older fan such as yourself who for some reason wants a setting that is completely invented and not adapted from any previous material. WHY that needs to the case... why inventing something out of whole cloth is somehow better than taking other previously designed worlds from Magic or CritRole and creating D&D setting books off of them... is beyond me though.

 

[DarkCrisis]

Seeing Margaret Weis pop up into discussions on Facebook and Twitter and see that she’s not a fan of WotCs version of Dragonlance.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Seeing Margaret Weis pop up into discussions on Facebook and Twitter and see that she’s not a fan of WotCs version of Dragonlance.

We knew that when the court case happened. Hence the "Classic" label.

But she has long been unhappy with what the IP owner did with the setting. She hated Krynn's presence in Spelljammer way back in 1989.

I guess when you write a religious allegory you don't want people mucking with it.

 

[Minigiant]

The title sales it to the old fans.

Heck I may read it just see how much more they change and make less unique to the setting out of general curiosity.

Kender are Fey-Halflings. What are they going to do to Gnomes? Are Orcs and Drow a thing now?
Paladine is the same Bahamaut as everywhere else. Takhisis is the same Tiamat as well. Will the other gods be aspects of other well know gods from other settings?

Will the 3 Moon Magic gods finally have clerics? Do they no longer dislike Sorcerers (yes)?

I can’t wait see how they fit all the square pegs into the round holes. Will the spirit of the setting survive? Be interesting to see.

The forcing every setting to work pretty much the same is a trend I am not liking in 5e

Making every setting the same except with different names and feats really weakens the customization element of D&D.

 

[Minigiant]

What were Ravnica, Theros, Wildemount, and Strixhaven?

Only one of those are new WOTC settings

 

[DEFCON 1]

Only one of those are new WOTC settings

So? What difference does that make? They are all new D&D settings. Why do new fans supposedly need a new setting that WotC has never made before?

 

[DarkCrisis]

We knew that when the court case happened. Hence the "Classic" label.

But she has long been unhappy with what the IP owner did with the setting. She hated Krynn's presence in Spelljammer way back in 1989.

I guess when you write a religious allegory you don't want people mucking with it.

Moat authors probably don’t. Salvatore and Greenwood were pretty unhappy with what 4th ed did for their novels etc