Dragonlance Need some help on a Backstory for a character on Taladas

[ECMO3]

So my group decided to play a Dragonlance game next level 1-20, but it is going to take place on the continent of Taladas. I am fluent in the lore of Ansalon but not this other continent.

I had my heart set on a Goblin Divine Soul/Enchantment Wizard when we were going to play in Ferun and the Character was going to be a chosen of Liera who poses as a Gnome, Halfling or human child most of the time. Deception proficiency, Disguise kit proficiency, Disguise Self spell. Her ideal is why tell the truth when a lie will do. I had more details, but that is the gist.

I am trying to figure out how this could translate to Taladas as I don't know anything about the Lore there. I want the deceit/trickery aspect of that earlier build but I don't want to be evil, more of a CN type character who does not really wish ill on the people she decieves.

What God would she likely be a chosen of? How well do Goblins integrate into civilization in Taladas? Will she need to be in disguise all the time when in a city?

 

[humble minion]

I'm no expert on Taladas lore but you're going to have trouble with your selection of gods. In Krynn of course all arcane spellcasters get their powers from the three moon-gods of magic, and neither Chosen nor divine soul sorcerers are really a thing that syncs well with that But you could just skin it as a cleric with unusual powers, or else maybe some god is trying to sneak one of their people into the Orders of High Sorcery for some reason.

The god of lies in Krynn is Hiddukel, who is pretty unambiguously evil. One way you could play it is that your character has unwittingly drawn the attention of Hiddukel who for some reason of his own is trying to drag her further into more proactive and dedicated evil.

Another way you could go is with Reorx. He's actually neutral, mostly a god of craft but he's also worshipped by gamblers and rogues. But that's not so much about lying as such, it's more about being the god of risktakers, those who take chances in service of hoping to achieve something great. Liars for the sake of lying isn't really a fit there. But honestly, I've always thought this aspect of Reorx was a bit tacked-on and inconsistent, probably because the designers wrote the pantheon and then thought 'oopsie, I forgot to put in a god who non-evil rogue PCs could worship!'

The third way i can think of is to have her follow Branchala. Branchala's the god of art and music and beauty, so you might be able to spin it that your PC is really a storyteller, crafting her persona and telling lies to teach or entertain or just generally make life more pleasant and interesting for people listening.

 

[kigmatzomat]

Taladas has multiple civilizations. All of them were royally screwed up by a continent-splitting comet. Ansalon got just a taste of Taladas' devastation. (Makes you wonder what the gods were thinking.... was it a "2 birds with one stone" cataclysm or did they just really hate/totally not care about Taladas?)

You have the Roman-esque Minotaurs, the dune-ish Glass sailors, the various mongol-like tribes of humans and Elves, the gnomes with competent clockwork, some fairly vicious kender, and the ilquar goblins (who perform skull shaping....)

I would consider going with a taladian kender. They are not the irritating "not allowed to hate them becuase for some reason they are lovable" kleptomaniac kender. No, these are "barely lived through a cataclysm and are now paranoid, murderous kleptomaniacs out to disarm everyone in arm's reach" kind of irritating kender.

They also enjoy harsh practical jokes, so your character is right up their alley.

 

[kigmatzomat]

Found my PDF of "Time of Dragons". This is from page 81:

The Marak naturally assume that everyone and everything is a potential threat against them.
Nor has their sense of humor totally abandoned them. It has, however, become a very black humor. They still delight in fun, defined as harsh practical jokes and mischief. The preferred targets of these jokes are outsiders, particularly non-kender. Failing that, the jokes are used as a method of revenge and comeuppance among the kender. They have developed an elaborate system of face based on who has last had the better of whom.

 

[toucanbuzz]

While your DM should be providing all this lore to you, here's the free Taladas Handbook (for 3e rules) made by the Dragonlance Nexus crew, which is the "everything Dragonlance" site. It'll give you solid goblin lore and roleplaying ideas, even if the rules are an older edition.

As for a deity, I second @humble minion 's suggestions.

 

[jgsugden]

...I had my heart set on a Goblin Divine Soul/Enchantment Wizard when we were going to play in Ferun and the Character was going to be a chosen of Liera who poses as a Gnome, Halfling or human child most of the time. Deception proficiency, Disguise kit proficiency, Disguise Self spell. Her ideal is why tell the truth when a lie will do. I had more details, but that is the gist...

I'd start by asking your DM if you can go with your heart's desire. Your goblin started in Faerun, found their way on a Spelljamming Ship / Planar Gate / whatever and ended up using that to escape to someplace where it might be far from the threats that were after it. 5E intentionally welcomes this type of idea - we have the Far Traveller background. The PC could have just arrived and be trying to 'fit in' to a world that is not known or understood. You'd have to talk about how to handle magic - but there are plenty of ways to work that. I had a player in an Ansalon game not like the Moons - so I gave him an amulet that allowed him to draw magic from there and ignore the impact of the moons.

I have very rarely, as a DM, told a player that the character idea they wanted to play is not allowed. I've let players play:

• Themself after they were transported to my campaign world,
• An awakened squirrel monk,
• A robot from Gamma World,
• An intelligent weapon, and
• Inigo Montoya. Yeah, that Inigo Montoya.

They all worked. As long as the player wants to play the PC as being as out of place as it seems to the setting, why stop it?

OK, also Barb Wire. I let someone play Barb Wire. That was the line. I should have stopped that one given the player's history - but I did allow it. Sometimes being permissive is not rewarded, but as a DM, I'd certainly allow you to play the concept you wanted to play in my Taladas game.

 

[ECMO3]

Thanks for the ideas. I am going to tweak the character idea, keeping her some the same, but dramatically changnig the ideals/bonds etc.

I am starting to work on my idea and I am going to use a Lunar Sorcerer since that makes more sense in DL. Also she is going to be less about being decietful for the sale of deceit because the way she wants to play doesn't really line up with Krynn's gods.

She is going to be a Goblin from the Wretched Ones (thanks Kigmatzonat for giving me some lore I could use as keywords to find out more lore). The DM is using the Dragonlance extra feats at 1st and 4th level but if you use the setting specific ones they need to be reskinned for Taladas. So she is basically born to a Witchdoctor type mother who started to indoctrinate her into magic with a focus on Nuitari. However she had a conscious and good streak so she ran away from the clan and made it into the civilized world, she keeps her identity hidden to avoid being run off.

That is as far as I got so far. Rest of the character design is similar; high intelligence Sorcerer-Wizard multiclass.