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.

Dragonlance Backgrounds and Feats: Answer the Call as Knights and Mages

Will you join the Knights of Solamnia or the Mages of High Sorcery? Each offers a unique background and feats for Dragonlance characters. Get a sneak pe...

www.dndbeyond.com

 

[Stormonu]

His THAC0 is pretty high. I guess that means he's relatively easy to hit?

I'm not sure if you're joking, but his THAC0 of 12 equates to a +8 to hit bonus in 5E (and he could hit himself on a 12 or better, so not too hard to do )

 

[Reynard]

You stated that worldbuilding was a staple of early D&D, and I'm making the case that heavy worldbuilding wasn't really a thing until the mid-eighties, ten years after the appearance of the game. Yes, 2nd and 3rd editions went crazy with the world-building. You obviously prefer having multiple sourcebooks for a given world, but I don't. You call that shallow. I disagree. You say that the people at WotC don't care about worldbuilding. For me, to say that people like Chris Perkins and Wes Schneider don't care about worldbuilding or the history of the game is ludicrous.

I didn't say "early D&D" you did. FR didn't come out until 1987, at the very tail end of 1E. As long as there have been official settings there has been support for the vast majority of them beyond the core setting supplement. This was true both in the TSR days and the pre-5E WotC era. So WotC NOW doesn't seem to think setting support is important or worth their while. I'm not sure what's controversial about that statement given the evidence.

 

[Flamestrike]

That's bizarre. What purpose does including that restriction serve?

Feedback from DMs dealing with whining spellcaster players who want access to Strixhaven background (which gives a feat and access to Silvery Barbs).

It makes it more clear that 'DMs permission, and Dragonlance only unless he or she says otherwise' is an express thing.

Less whining that way.

Marginally.

 

[darjr]

His THAC0 is pretty high. I guess that means he's relatively easy to hit?

I'm not sure if you're joking, but his THAC0 of 12 equates to a +8 to hit bonus in 5E (and he could hit himself on a 12 or better, so not too hard to do )

This exchange is, imho, one reason thaco had to go.

 

[Stormonu]

This exchange is, imho, one reason thaco had to go.

eh, it's a terminology thing. If you don't know what the term means, of course it's confusing.

 

[darjr]

eh, it's a terminology thing. If you don't know what the term means, of course it's confusing.

But also it was easier to convert it to a bonus to explain it.

 

[Stormonu]

But also it was easier to convert it to a bonus to explain it.

What gets me, now that I'm looking at it, his THAC0 should be 7 (base 12, +2 to hit from 18/99 Strength, +3 sword; don't get me started on how to math that...) - A +13 to hit in 5E terms.

 

[Velderan]

What gets me, now that I'm looking at it, his THAC0 should be 7 (base 12, +2 to hit from 18/99 Strength, +3 sword) - A +13 to hit in 5E terms.

I'm just feeding the point @darjr made, but wasn't THAC0 a static number based on your level and then you added your bonuses from stats, weapon enchant, or specialization directly to your roll?

 

[Ruin Explorer]

This exchange is, imho, one reason thaco had to go.

I still remember the day in the twilight of 2E (1999 maybe?), when 3E had been announced and WotC put out a document which was like "10 ways you can play D&D 3E right now" (or something, I forget the number), and one of them just explained basically how to flip THAC0 and other stuff in 2E into just bonuses, and I explained this to the players and they were SO HAPPY.

Smiling faces.

So yeah, it had to go, and it going made D&D a much better game.

 

[Velderan]

I still remember the day in the twilight of 2E (1999 maybe?), when 3E had been announced and WotC put out a document which was like "10 ways you can play D&D 3E right now" (or something, I forget the number), and one of them just explained basically how to flip THAC0 and other stuff in 2E into just bonuses, and I explained this to the players and they were SO HAPPY.

Smiling faces.

So yeah, it had to go, and it going made D&D a much better game.

My wife has only ever played 5E for about 3 1/2 years now and she picked up my 2E PHB once and asked what the difference even was. I explained what THAC0 was and how proficiency checks were handled and she said "So sometimes you need to roll high and sometimes low? That's dumb game design, it's confusing to people on whether they should be happy or sad to see a 1."