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[Let's Read] Dragonlance: War of the Lance
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<blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 7886746" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/EFNpICt.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p> <p style="text-align: center"><strong>Chapter Two: Magic of Krynn</strong></p><p></p><p>It can safely be said that the 4th Age is when magic was at its rarest. <strong>Divine Magic</strong> of all kinds entered into the realms of myth, and even elderly travelers lived their entire lives never witnessing the art of wizardry.</p><p></p><p>The vaunted gift of magical healing was perhaps the greatest loss. There have been attempts to make up for this, notably with religious movements attempting to contact new gods in hopes of making up for the loss of the true gods during the Cataclysm. But in fact, the loss of divine magic occured before this dire time, when so much of Istar’s government grew so corrupt that clerics were de-spelled and the few valiant examples of their patron deities’ ideologies were raptured away before the inevitable happened.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>What kind of victim-blaming BS is this? These aren’t toys or summer vacations being demanded; we’re talking about the desperate and the dying pleading for life-saving treatment. It gets even worse where in the following paragraphs there’s mention that there are cultures like the dwarves who never wavered in their belief, honoring the gods more as a memory than as a continuing presence due to their absence. The elves and many sedentary humans were bitter, sure, but in the previous chapter we had nomadic humans viewing the Cataclysm as a test but never received blessings in 350 years.</p><p></p><p>We get brief descriptions on various false faiths. Most of Ansalon is irreligious, either being a variety of atheist (“the gods are a myth”) or antitheist (“the gods are not worthy of respect”). Ironically it was this latter attitude which groups like the Seekers exploited; said group figured that there were gods, but that they should dedicate time and research to finding new ones which are worthy of respect. They clashed with other cults but soon became the predominant religion in Abanasinia, which features prominently in the beginning adventures of the Dragonlance Chronicles. Although they promoted ideals of charity and community, all too many of them fell to greed and hypocrisy. Many false faiths, even those with idealistic beginnings, became exploited in such a way. After the War of the Lance most such faiths were abandoned in favor of the true gods, whose spells and divine manifestations to questioning prayers were all the evidence needed.</p><p></p><p>An exception to the lack of divine magic existed among the gods of evil; when Takhisis relocated the Temple of Istar into the mountains of Neraka, she began to empower a trusted secret few, and some other evil gods followed suit. They would not openly reveal their powers to the world until 200 years later during the foundation of the Dragon Empire. And it would be nearly 20 years after that until the Heroes of the Lance would retrieve the Disks of Mishakal from Xak Tsaroth which cause the good gods to grant Goldmoon healing powers and soon others who followed her example. Most of Takhisis’ divine brethren stuck to the shadows by forming their own localized cults, but among the Dragonarmies worship of the Dark Queen was taking hold and pilgrims ventured to Neraka for training in the unholy arts.</p><p></p><p>We get write-ups on how the gods gradually re-enter the peoples’ lives during and after the War of the Lance. The gods and their priesthoods become organized into alignment-based branches known as the Holy Orders of the Stars: the Holy Order of Good, the Holy Order of Neutrality, and the Holy Order of Evil. Each order represents a threadbare association of clerics who (in theory) are subservient to the highest-level cleric of the Order’s chief deity: Paladine has a Chosen Prophet, Gilean has a Starmaster, and Takhisis has a Nightlord. This is a throwback to AD&D rules, where Dragonlance clerics followed a “there can be only one” Druid-style of leveling up where you had to prove your worth to take the place of the current leader above you.</p><p></p><p>Lawful deities such as Paladine, Mishakal, and Gilean quickly erected formal hierarchies, while the more free-spirited and chaotic deities appoint clerics on a case by case basis. With a few exceptions deities mostly appeal to cultures and subgroups relevant to their interests: Chemosh the god of death appeals to those on the verge or fearful of passing away, while Sargonnas becomes the state religion in the minotaur islands. The Knights of Solamnia pledge allegiance to three gods Habbakuk (nurturing god of the sea), Paladine (not-Bahamut), and Kiri-Jolith (a male Athena-like “justified war” god).</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/I3yqslt.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><strong>Arcane Magic</strong> has a criminally short entry in comparison. Unlike the rest of the pantheon, the three moon gods never left Krynn and still bequeath their power to the Orders of High Sorcery through lunar phases. The wizards realize that the gods, their gods specifically, never left. But they’re no more likely to be respectful of the rest of the pantheon; it was revealed in <a href="https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/lets-read-dragonlance-towers-of-high-sorcery.856820/" target="_blank">Towers of High Sorcery</a> that the Gods of Good minus Solinari approved of Istar’s anti-wizard purges.</p><p></p><p>In fact, the only real notable entry is details on the creation of draconians. Which seems odd as such rules will not come into play in a typical Dragonlance campaign and works best as a bad guy plot device. But it wouldn’t be a 3rd Edition sourcebook if it didn’t have highly specific and/or unnecessary rules!</p><p></p><p>Basically the ritual requires at least three casters,* two of who must be of differing casting traditions (arcane/divine) and all of them must possess the Create Draconian feat. A ritual is performed for 8 hours around a single unborn dragon egg, and at the end of the ritual the fetus is transformed into several baby draconians who then hatch out of the shell. The numbers differ greatly depending on the subrace of the draconian (and parent dragon egg), with more powerful subraces producing less draconians. However, if one or more ritualists has a Caster Level above the minimum 10th required for the feat, they generate points for a Creation Pool. Said points can be spent to enhance one or more born draconians, such as granting them ability score boosts, bonus hit dice, and even bonus feats relevant to their racial abilities (Ability Focus, Improved Natural Attack, etc).</p><p></p><p>*which contradicts Chapter One’s minimum of two.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><strong>New Spells</strong></p> <p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/SLgl1Um.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>Although magic in general was at its rarest during the Age of Despair, the era was not without its own magical innovations. The War of the Lance, particularly among the Dragonarmies, saw some new offensive innovations in regards to spells for combat purposes. The text also outlines that the “sorcerer/wizard” designation for new spells is such for making use of them in other Dragonlance eras. There’s 16 new spells, but I’m only covering the most interesting ones for the sake of brevity.</p><p></p><p><strong>Barrier of Deflection</strong> is like Mage Armor, but clerics can also cast it and it deals 1d6 force damage to those who strike or touch the recipient in melee.</p><p></p><p><strong>Elemental Blade</strong> is like the Druid’s Flame Blade, but it can be learned by more classes (clerics, sorcerers, and wizards as well) and can manifest as any of the five energy types. Each energy type has its own corresponding debuff which forces a save on a target every time they’re attacked with the blade. A few are obvious, like sonic deafening an enemy, but cold and electricity have some pretty good status effects (stagger and prone conditions respectively). It’s personal in range, meaning it’s not something you can give to a party member as a buff unless you have a class/feat/magic item/etc to bypass this limitation.</p><p></p><p><strong>Flamewave</strong> is like burning sphere, save that it creates a moving wall of fire which deals damage to those it passes while setting alight flammable objects.</p><p></p><p><strong>Healing Hand</strong> is a 1 round/level buff which lets your mere touch heal 1 point of damage as a standard action, or healing up to six targets at once as a full-round action. The description mentions that it’s used during mass combat where a little healing goes a longer way than the typical Cure X Wounds spells. But such a meager bonus will not help in direct combat given how much damage even low-level monsters can deal.</p><p></p><p><strong>Radiant Dart</strong> is like magic missile, but you must roll to hit a target with each missile and dazzles enemies for 1 round per point of damage taken.</p><p></p><p><strong>Share Sight</strong> allows a recipient of the spell and the caster to see through each other’s eyes by closing their eyes and concentrating. This lasts for 1 hour per level, and they see things through their natural/magical sight: for example, a human seeing through a dwarf’s eyes will view details discovered from darkvision.</p><p></p><p><strong>Shroud From Sight</strong> is an enchantment which causes onlookers to not notice your presence on a failed Will save as long as you concentrate. Smarter and 6+ Hit Die creatures can save every round, but others can only save once for the spell’s duration.</p><p></p><p><strong>Stone Tentacles</strong> is similar to Evard’s Black Tentacles, but is lower-level (3rd) and can be learned by divine casters (clerics & druids). It manifests as 2-6 Large tentacles depending on Caster Level, spaced within 15 feet of each other rather than Evard’s 20 foot burst. The tentacles possess a lower attack and grapple modifier, where the use the caster’s base attack bonus instead of caster level for determining said modifiers. It can cover a wider area than Evard’s at higher levels and is more malleable for battlemap spaces, but the tentacles can be attacked and destroyed which makes them more vulnerable.</p><p></p><p><strong>Traitor’s Death</strong> is an evil spell that wicked priests and arcane spellcasters use to prevent their underlings from turning upon them. It is akin to geas/quest where a promise the target makes is imbued with necromantic energy. If they break the promise they fall to -1 hit points and start bleeding out on a failed Fortitude saving throw; only magical healing can save them from imminent death.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><strong>Magical Items</strong></p> <p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/AQAWgGA.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>We have even more magic items than spells, with 15 specific items, 9 artifacts, and 4 special enhancements to apply to magical armor. A few of them are reprints from the Dragonlance Campaign Setting, but incorporate newer errata.</p><p></p><p>We first begin with a discussion on magical items during the 4th Age: barring the Tower of High Sorcery in Wayreth and the dark temples in Neraka, new ones aren’t really being created. Where they are found, they’re typically ancient family heirlooms, locked away in some pre-Cataclysm ruins, or possessed by powerful individuals with the drive to keep them out of reach of thieves and warlords.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Amusingly this publishing company would violate this advice multiple times during the Dragonlance Chronicles 3rd Edition conversion and the Key of Destiny Adventure Path. In the middle-to-higher levels it’s not uncommon to see nameless ‘elite mooks’ wielding +1 weapons and armor. Additionally, each of the Heroes of the Lance start out with a mixture of named specific items (Sturm’s notable Brightblade) and some +1 weapons or armor with no unique names or backstory to them (Tasslehoff’s forgettable +1 hoopak). This was the case in the original AD&D modules so I cannot be too hard on them for this.</p><p></p><p>But to this book’s credit, even most of the non-artifact magic items are specific named creations with some historical precedent in the world of Ansalon.</p><p></p><p><strong>The Brightblade</strong> is a unique bastard sword of dwarven make, notably the family heirloom of Sturm Brightblade. It will only break when its wielder does: it is a +2 sword which deals 2d6 bonus damage vs chaotic-aligned creatures, but if used for evil purposes the blade will shatter and curse its wielder with a -4 penalty on most d20 rolls.</p><p></p><p><strong>Diviner of Life</strong> is owned by the druid Waylorn Wyvernsbane, who is one of the later DMPCs of the Dragonlance Chronicles. Appearing as a cylinder of pure crystal, the light within changes colors depending on the physical health of the recipient it touches. It can be used to determine how many HP the target lost, if they’re suffering from disease or poison, or if they’re undead or an artificial creation like a golem.</p><p></p><p><strong>Flute of Wind Dancing</strong> can be played via a Perform check to cast various wind-related spells, with more powerful magic requiring longer continuous rounds of playing.</p><p></p><p><strong>Glass of Arcanist</strong> allow the reader to read any written word, and grants a +10 bonus on Use Magic Device checks with scrolls, tomes, and other magical items which involve reading to activate.</p><p></p><p><strong>Icons of Truth</strong> are book-shaped objects. If a person lays a hand upon while uttering a false statement, the icon glows red and they take damage. It can also be used to dispel magical illusions. The government of Istar made many of these icons to use in their courts.</p><p></p><p><strong>Nightbringer</strong> was forged by Black Robe wizards and somehow came into the hands of Verminaard, the Red Dragon Highlord. It is a +2 unholy mace which can blind an opponent on a failed Will save if the wielder utters the word “midnight” (free action) when attacking. The blindness lasts for 2d6 minutes if not magically healed, which makes it a powerful debuff.</p><p></p><p><strong>Singing Statues</strong> are fashioned in the likeness of Mishakal, goddess of compassion and healing; they were prominent in many of her temples before the Cataclysm. A statue is activated when touched by water, at which point it begins singing. The sound prevents undead from approaching within 30 feet, and also can unlock locks, portals, valves, etc. A person can also call upon the goddess’ power to activate an area-of-effect cure light wounds spell, and they do not need to be a spellcaster in order to do so.</p><p></p><p><strong>Dragon Bane Weapons</strong> are not a new magic item type per se, but rather covers new features to an existing type in Dragonlance. Dragon Bane weapons are never damaged or affected by a draconian’s death throes (won’t get stuck in a petrified baaz’s body, won’t melt in a kapak’s acid, etc). Such weapons are very rare on account that even during the days of Istar true dragons were rare to the point of myth. Such weapons were forged during the Third Dragon War, when Huma Dragonbane fought Takhisis who commanded the chromatic clans in taking over Krynn. </p><p></p><p><strong>Wyrmsbane and Wyrmslayer</strong> are a pair of dragon bane longswords forged by Silvanesti elves. Wyrmsbane has the ability to cast Locate Object 3/day, while Sting-I mean Wyrmslayer- emits a loud buzzing when in the presence of dragons or draconians and grants a +3 on saves vs all spells and abilities made by dragons. Wyrmslayer was bequeathed to the Qualinesti in ages past.</p><p></p><p><strong>The Blue Crystal Staff</strong> is our first artifact. It came into the hands of the prophet Goldmoon during the beginning of the Dragonlance Chronicles, where she found it in a ruined Istaran city which then became occupied by the Red Dragonarmy. The Blue Crystal Staff was meant to grant Goldmoon healing powers during the first adventure despite not being a Cleric: it is a staff with 20 charges which can be used to cast all kinds of healing magic. Cure Minor Wounds, which heals 1 hit point, expends no charges meaning that it can easily heal the party back to full after each fight. It can also teleport the wielder somewhere convenient and automatically deflect a dragon’s breath weapon, 1/day each.</p><p></p><p><strong>The Crown of Power</strong> is an icon of evil, where prophecies state that whoever wears it will rule all of Krynn in the name of Takhisis. Its current owner is Emperor Ariakas, and it is said that the final Kingpriest once wore it. The crown slowly turns any wielder lawful evil over time from failed Will saves,* but grants some powerful defensive and self-enhancement spells to cast (bull’s strength, globe of invulnerability, shield, etc) as well as +5 bonuses to Armor Class and saving throws</p><p></p><p>*which interestingly lends credence to the fan (and Ravenloft setting) theory that the Kingpriest and Istar were in fact Lawful Evil.</p><p></p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_plates" target="_blank"><strong>The Disks of Mishakal</strong></a> are the most prominent example of Dragonlance’s subtle Mormon inspirations (the other being <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephites" target="_blank">Goldmoon’s white skin and blonde hair among Lakota-expy nomads).</a> They detail the teachings of the eponymous goddess and were highly sacred even during the Age of Might. Said disks never came into Istar’s possession due to becoming lost when coming into possession of the dwarves. A reader who chooses to embrace the teachings of the Gods of Light gains enough experience points to level up, but said level be in Cleric, and they gain a permanent +1 to their Wisdom score.</p><p></p><p><strong>Hammer of Kharas</strong> is the most prized possession of the dwarves. It is an intelligent magic item with a host of spell-like abilities and can boomerang back into it’s wielder’s hand Thor-style, but its most famed feature is being one of the two items necessary to forge Dragonlances (the Silver Arm of Ergoth being the other).</p><p></p><p><strong>Mounted Dragonlances</strong> are larger versions of the base kind (which are detailed in Dragonlance Campaign Setting) and wielders suffer -4 on attack and damage unless riding on saddleback. Lesser Mounted Dragonlances grant a +2 bonus on Armor Class and saving throws against the attacks, breath weapons, and spells and spell-like abilities of evil dragons. For Greater Mounted Dragonlances the bonuses are +5, but it deals permanent Constitution drain equal to the wielder’s level + their dragon mount’s age category if applicable when hitting an evil dragon.</p><p></p><p><strong>The Silver Arm of Ergoth</strong> was created during the Third Dragon War as a joint project between humans, elves, dwarves, and metallic dragons. It looks like a molded silver cast of a human arm, but when attached to the stump of someone who lost an arm it magically attaches itself and functions as a highly effective prosthetic. It can only bond to people of good alignment and grants +4 Strength, the ability to heal 1 HP every hour, and Craft Magic Arms and Armor as a bonus feat if the wearer has 5 ranks in Craft (blacksmithing). Most importantly, it grants them the ability to forge dragonlances!</p><p></p><p><strong>Armor Special Qualities</strong> are all alignment-based. Dishonorable/Honorable armor grants +2 Armor Class vs the attacks of lawful/chaotic creatures, while Profane/Sacred does the same but attacks from good and evil creatures.</p><p></p><p><strong>Thoughts So Far:</strong> The new magic items are cool, effective for their stated purpose, and thematically tie into the campaign setting. It’s no coincidence that many of them were converted from the original Dragonlance adventures, but can otherwise make for some very nice treasures at the end of a quest. The discussion on divine magic and religion is a bit of a mixed bag, in that the text focuses far more heavily on the divine side of things. I am unsure what to think of three formalized holy orders, and there’s a bit too much page count spent on the Seekers and false religions which are highly specialized to one country (Abanasinia) in the entire continent.</p><p></p><p><strong>Join us next time as we take a tour of the post-Cataclysm continent in Chapter Three: Ansalon in the Age of Despair!</strong></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Libertad, post: 7886746, member: 6750502"] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/EFNpICt.png[/img] [b]Chapter Two: Magic of Krynn[/b][/center] It can safely be said that the 4th Age is when magic was at its rarest. [b]Divine Magic[/b] of all kinds entered into the realms of myth, and even elderly travelers lived their entire lives never witnessing the art of wizardry. The vaunted gift of magical healing was perhaps the greatest loss. There have been attempts to make up for this, notably with religious movements attempting to contact new gods in hopes of making up for the loss of the true gods during the Cataclysm. But in fact, the loss of divine magic occured before this dire time, when so much of Istar’s government grew so corrupt that clerics were de-spelled and the few valiant examples of their patron deities’ ideologies were raptured away before the inevitable happened. What kind of victim-blaming BS is this? These aren’t toys or summer vacations being demanded; we’re talking about the desperate and the dying pleading for life-saving treatment. It gets even worse where in the following paragraphs there’s mention that there are cultures like the dwarves who never wavered in their belief, honoring the gods more as a memory than as a continuing presence due to their absence. The elves and many sedentary humans were bitter, sure, but in the previous chapter we had nomadic humans viewing the Cataclysm as a test but never received blessings in 350 years. We get brief descriptions on various false faiths. Most of Ansalon is irreligious, either being a variety of atheist (“the gods are a myth”) or antitheist (“the gods are not worthy of respect”). Ironically it was this latter attitude which groups like the Seekers exploited; said group figured that there were gods, but that they should dedicate time and research to finding new ones which are worthy of respect. They clashed with other cults but soon became the predominant religion in Abanasinia, which features prominently in the beginning adventures of the Dragonlance Chronicles. Although they promoted ideals of charity and community, all too many of them fell to greed and hypocrisy. Many false faiths, even those with idealistic beginnings, became exploited in such a way. After the War of the Lance most such faiths were abandoned in favor of the true gods, whose spells and divine manifestations to questioning prayers were all the evidence needed. An exception to the lack of divine magic existed among the gods of evil; when Takhisis relocated the Temple of Istar into the mountains of Neraka, she began to empower a trusted secret few, and some other evil gods followed suit. They would not openly reveal their powers to the world until 200 years later during the foundation of the Dragon Empire. And it would be nearly 20 years after that until the Heroes of the Lance would retrieve the Disks of Mishakal from Xak Tsaroth which cause the good gods to grant Goldmoon healing powers and soon others who followed her example. Most of Takhisis’ divine brethren stuck to the shadows by forming their own localized cults, but among the Dragonarmies worship of the Dark Queen was taking hold and pilgrims ventured to Neraka for training in the unholy arts. We get write-ups on how the gods gradually re-enter the peoples’ lives during and after the War of the Lance. The gods and their priesthoods become organized into alignment-based branches known as the Holy Orders of the Stars: the Holy Order of Good, the Holy Order of Neutrality, and the Holy Order of Evil. Each order represents a threadbare association of clerics who (in theory) are subservient to the highest-level cleric of the Order’s chief deity: Paladine has a Chosen Prophet, Gilean has a Starmaster, and Takhisis has a Nightlord. This is a throwback to AD&D rules, where Dragonlance clerics followed a “there can be only one” Druid-style of leveling up where you had to prove your worth to take the place of the current leader above you. Lawful deities such as Paladine, Mishakal, and Gilean quickly erected formal hierarchies, while the more free-spirited and chaotic deities appoint clerics on a case by case basis. With a few exceptions deities mostly appeal to cultures and subgroups relevant to their interests: Chemosh the god of death appeals to those on the verge or fearful of passing away, while Sargonnas becomes the state religion in the minotaur islands. The Knights of Solamnia pledge allegiance to three gods Habbakuk (nurturing god of the sea), Paladine (not-Bahamut), and Kiri-Jolith (a male Athena-like “justified war” god). [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/I3yqslt.png[/img][/center] [b]Arcane Magic[/b] has a criminally short entry in comparison. Unlike the rest of the pantheon, the three moon gods never left Krynn and still bequeath their power to the Orders of High Sorcery through lunar phases. The wizards realize that the gods, their gods specifically, never left. But they’re no more likely to be respectful of the rest of the pantheon; it was revealed in [url=https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/lets-read-dragonlance-towers-of-high-sorcery.856820/]Towers of High Sorcery[/url] that the Gods of Good minus Solinari approved of Istar’s anti-wizard purges. In fact, the only real notable entry is details on the creation of draconians. Which seems odd as such rules will not come into play in a typical Dragonlance campaign and works best as a bad guy plot device. But it wouldn’t be a 3rd Edition sourcebook if it didn’t have highly specific and/or unnecessary rules! Basically the ritual requires at least three casters,* two of who must be of differing casting traditions (arcane/divine) and all of them must possess the Create Draconian feat. A ritual is performed for 8 hours around a single unborn dragon egg, and at the end of the ritual the fetus is transformed into several baby draconians who then hatch out of the shell. The numbers differ greatly depending on the subrace of the draconian (and parent dragon egg), with more powerful subraces producing less draconians. However, if one or more ritualists has a Caster Level above the minimum 10th required for the feat, they generate points for a Creation Pool. Said points can be spent to enhance one or more born draconians, such as granting them ability score boosts, bonus hit dice, and even bonus feats relevant to their racial abilities (Ability Focus, Improved Natural Attack, etc). *which contradicts Chapter One’s minimum of two. [center][b]New Spells[/b] [img]https://i.imgur.com/SLgl1Um.png[/img][/center] Although magic in general was at its rarest during the Age of Despair, the era was not without its own magical innovations. The War of the Lance, particularly among the Dragonarmies, saw some new offensive innovations in regards to spells for combat purposes. The text also outlines that the “sorcerer/wizard” designation for new spells is such for making use of them in other Dragonlance eras. There’s 16 new spells, but I’m only covering the most interesting ones for the sake of brevity. [b]Barrier of Deflection[/b] is like Mage Armor, but clerics can also cast it and it deals 1d6 force damage to those who strike or touch the recipient in melee. [b]Elemental Blade[/b] is like the Druid’s Flame Blade, but it can be learned by more classes (clerics, sorcerers, and wizards as well) and can manifest as any of the five energy types. Each energy type has its own corresponding debuff which forces a save on a target every time they’re attacked with the blade. A few are obvious, like sonic deafening an enemy, but cold and electricity have some pretty good status effects (stagger and prone conditions respectively). It’s personal in range, meaning it’s not something you can give to a party member as a buff unless you have a class/feat/magic item/etc to bypass this limitation. [b]Flamewave[/b] is like burning sphere, save that it creates a moving wall of fire which deals damage to those it passes while setting alight flammable objects. [b]Healing Hand[/b] is a 1 round/level buff which lets your mere touch heal 1 point of damage as a standard action, or healing up to six targets at once as a full-round action. The description mentions that it’s used during mass combat where a little healing goes a longer way than the typical Cure X Wounds spells. But such a meager bonus will not help in direct combat given how much damage even low-level monsters can deal. [b]Radiant Dart[/b] is like magic missile, but you must roll to hit a target with each missile and dazzles enemies for 1 round per point of damage taken. [b]Share Sight[/b] allows a recipient of the spell and the caster to see through each other’s eyes by closing their eyes and concentrating. This lasts for 1 hour per level, and they see things through their natural/magical sight: for example, a human seeing through a dwarf’s eyes will view details discovered from darkvision. [b]Shroud From Sight[/b] is an enchantment which causes onlookers to not notice your presence on a failed Will save as long as you concentrate. Smarter and 6+ Hit Die creatures can save every round, but others can only save once for the spell’s duration. [b]Stone Tentacles[/b] is similar to Evard’s Black Tentacles, but is lower-level (3rd) and can be learned by divine casters (clerics & druids). It manifests as 2-6 Large tentacles depending on Caster Level, spaced within 15 feet of each other rather than Evard’s 20 foot burst. The tentacles possess a lower attack and grapple modifier, where the use the caster’s base attack bonus instead of caster level for determining said modifiers. It can cover a wider area than Evard’s at higher levels and is more malleable for battlemap spaces, but the tentacles can be attacked and destroyed which makes them more vulnerable. [b]Traitor’s Death[/b] is an evil spell that wicked priests and arcane spellcasters use to prevent their underlings from turning upon them. It is akin to geas/quest where a promise the target makes is imbued with necromantic energy. If they break the promise they fall to -1 hit points and start bleeding out on a failed Fortitude saving throw; only magical healing can save them from imminent death. [center][b]Magical Items[/b] [img]https://i.imgur.com/AQAWgGA.png[/img][/center] We have even more magic items than spells, with 15 specific items, 9 artifacts, and 4 special enhancements to apply to magical armor. A few of them are reprints from the Dragonlance Campaign Setting, but incorporate newer errata. We first begin with a discussion on magical items during the 4th Age: barring the Tower of High Sorcery in Wayreth and the dark temples in Neraka, new ones aren’t really being created. Where they are found, they’re typically ancient family heirlooms, locked away in some pre-Cataclysm ruins, or possessed by powerful individuals with the drive to keep them out of reach of thieves and warlords. Amusingly this publishing company would violate this advice multiple times during the Dragonlance Chronicles 3rd Edition conversion and the Key of Destiny Adventure Path. In the middle-to-higher levels it’s not uncommon to see nameless ‘elite mooks’ wielding +1 weapons and armor. Additionally, each of the Heroes of the Lance start out with a mixture of named specific items (Sturm’s notable Brightblade) and some +1 weapons or armor with no unique names or backstory to them (Tasslehoff’s forgettable +1 hoopak). This was the case in the original AD&D modules so I cannot be too hard on them for this. But to this book’s credit, even most of the non-artifact magic items are specific named creations with some historical precedent in the world of Ansalon. [b]The Brightblade[/b] is a unique bastard sword of dwarven make, notably the family heirloom of Sturm Brightblade. It will only break when its wielder does: it is a +2 sword which deals 2d6 bonus damage vs chaotic-aligned creatures, but if used for evil purposes the blade will shatter and curse its wielder with a -4 penalty on most d20 rolls. [b]Diviner of Life[/b] is owned by the druid Waylorn Wyvernsbane, who is one of the later DMPCs of the Dragonlance Chronicles. Appearing as a cylinder of pure crystal, the light within changes colors depending on the physical health of the recipient it touches. It can be used to determine how many HP the target lost, if they’re suffering from disease or poison, or if they’re undead or an artificial creation like a golem. [b]Flute of Wind Dancing[/b] can be played via a Perform check to cast various wind-related spells, with more powerful magic requiring longer continuous rounds of playing. [b]Glass of Arcanist[/b] allow the reader to read any written word, and grants a +10 bonus on Use Magic Device checks with scrolls, tomes, and other magical items which involve reading to activate. [b]Icons of Truth[/b] are book-shaped objects. If a person lays a hand upon while uttering a false statement, the icon glows red and they take damage. It can also be used to dispel magical illusions. The government of Istar made many of these icons to use in their courts. [b]Nightbringer[/b] was forged by Black Robe wizards and somehow came into the hands of Verminaard, the Red Dragon Highlord. It is a +2 unholy mace which can blind an opponent on a failed Will save if the wielder utters the word “midnight” (free action) when attacking. The blindness lasts for 2d6 minutes if not magically healed, which makes it a powerful debuff. [b]Singing Statues[/b] are fashioned in the likeness of Mishakal, goddess of compassion and healing; they were prominent in many of her temples before the Cataclysm. A statue is activated when touched by water, at which point it begins singing. The sound prevents undead from approaching within 30 feet, and also can unlock locks, portals, valves, etc. A person can also call upon the goddess’ power to activate an area-of-effect cure light wounds spell, and they do not need to be a spellcaster in order to do so. [b]Dragon Bane Weapons[/b] are not a new magic item type per se, but rather covers new features to an existing type in Dragonlance. Dragon Bane weapons are never damaged or affected by a draconian’s death throes (won’t get stuck in a petrified baaz’s body, won’t melt in a kapak’s acid, etc). Such weapons are very rare on account that even during the days of Istar true dragons were rare to the point of myth. Such weapons were forged during the Third Dragon War, when Huma Dragonbane fought Takhisis who commanded the chromatic clans in taking over Krynn. [b]Wyrmsbane and Wyrmslayer[/b] are a pair of dragon bane longswords forged by Silvanesti elves. Wyrmsbane has the ability to cast Locate Object 3/day, while Sting-I mean Wyrmslayer- emits a loud buzzing when in the presence of dragons or draconians and grants a +3 on saves vs all spells and abilities made by dragons. Wyrmslayer was bequeathed to the Qualinesti in ages past. [b]The Blue Crystal Staff[/b] is our first artifact. It came into the hands of the prophet Goldmoon during the beginning of the Dragonlance Chronicles, where she found it in a ruined Istaran city which then became occupied by the Red Dragonarmy. The Blue Crystal Staff was meant to grant Goldmoon healing powers during the first adventure despite not being a Cleric: it is a staff with 20 charges which can be used to cast all kinds of healing magic. Cure Minor Wounds, which heals 1 hit point, expends no charges meaning that it can easily heal the party back to full after each fight. It can also teleport the wielder somewhere convenient and automatically deflect a dragon’s breath weapon, 1/day each. [b]The Crown of Power[/b] is an icon of evil, where prophecies state that whoever wears it will rule all of Krynn in the name of Takhisis. Its current owner is Emperor Ariakas, and it is said that the final Kingpriest once wore it. The crown slowly turns any wielder lawful evil over time from failed Will saves,* but grants some powerful defensive and self-enhancement spells to cast (bull’s strength, globe of invulnerability, shield, etc) as well as +5 bonuses to Armor Class and saving throws *which interestingly lends credence to the fan (and Ravenloft setting) theory that the Kingpriest and Istar were in fact Lawful Evil. [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_plates][b]The Disks of Mishakal[/b][/url] are the most prominent example of Dragonlance’s subtle Mormon inspirations (the other being [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephites]Goldmoon’s white skin and blonde hair among Lakota-expy nomads).[/url] They detail the teachings of the eponymous goddess and were highly sacred even during the Age of Might. Said disks never came into Istar’s possession due to becoming lost when coming into possession of the dwarves. A reader who chooses to embrace the teachings of the Gods of Light gains enough experience points to level up, but said level be in Cleric, and they gain a permanent +1 to their Wisdom score. [b]Hammer of Kharas[/b] is the most prized possession of the dwarves. It is an intelligent magic item with a host of spell-like abilities and can boomerang back into it’s wielder’s hand Thor-style, but its most famed feature is being one of the two items necessary to forge Dragonlances (the Silver Arm of Ergoth being the other). [b]Mounted Dragonlances[/b] are larger versions of the base kind (which are detailed in Dragonlance Campaign Setting) and wielders suffer -4 on attack and damage unless riding on saddleback. Lesser Mounted Dragonlances grant a +2 bonus on Armor Class and saving throws against the attacks, breath weapons, and spells and spell-like abilities of evil dragons. For Greater Mounted Dragonlances the bonuses are +5, but it deals permanent Constitution drain equal to the wielder’s level + their dragon mount’s age category if applicable when hitting an evil dragon. [b]The Silver Arm of Ergoth[/b] was created during the Third Dragon War as a joint project between humans, elves, dwarves, and metallic dragons. It looks like a molded silver cast of a human arm, but when attached to the stump of someone who lost an arm it magically attaches itself and functions as a highly effective prosthetic. It can only bond to people of good alignment and grants +4 Strength, the ability to heal 1 HP every hour, and Craft Magic Arms and Armor as a bonus feat if the wearer has 5 ranks in Craft (blacksmithing). Most importantly, it grants them the ability to forge dragonlances! [b]Armor Special Qualities[/b] are all alignment-based. Dishonorable/Honorable armor grants +2 Armor Class vs the attacks of lawful/chaotic creatures, while Profane/Sacred does the same but attacks from good and evil creatures. [b]Thoughts So Far:[/b] The new magic items are cool, effective for their stated purpose, and thematically tie into the campaign setting. It’s no coincidence that many of them were converted from the original Dragonlance adventures, but can otherwise make for some very nice treasures at the end of a quest. The discussion on divine magic and religion is a bit of a mixed bag, in that the text focuses far more heavily on the divine side of things. I am unsure what to think of three formalized holy orders, and there’s a bit too much page count spent on the Seekers and false religions which are highly specialized to one country (Abanasinia) in the entire continent. [b]Join us next time as we take a tour of the post-Cataclysm continent in Chapter Three: Ansalon in the Age of Despair![/b] [/QUOTE]
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