Sorcerers were in the original DL novels. Mentioned exactly once as I recall in relation to Magius, as in the staff of. It was used in a way that seemed to imply a renegade mage (that is one who practiced without approval of the tower) was a sorcerer. The setting basically held that all arcane magic was heavily regulated, so honestly bards fall into tower initiate more than they do Solamnic Knights. The mages of the tower literally hunted anyone practicing arcane magic without a license, the thought of a warlock would make for an awesome confrontation, but it doesn't fit casters who get their magic other than through study. The entire storyline of the Majere brothers would be different, though more interesting possibly if the secret knowledge of Fistandantilus made Raistlin a warlock rather than a mage who was super brilliant and studied. Other interesting variations from the other settings was that a Dark elf was not a race, but rather an elf who had fallen and followed the path of evil. The mention (of which I recall only one) being Dalamar.
And there is a difference between being non canon, and shoving in every piece of crap to have come out of 5e. During the war of the lance the clergy was limited to Goldmoon and those trained by the guy whom she gave the disks to whose name escapes me but begins with an E, aside from lord verminaard and I assume other clerics of Takhisis. The rest of the setting explicitly stated the gods had abandoned men with the exception of the 3 moons which only the tower was aware of. I'd have to go back and read the novels again but my 30+ years ago memory (which may be faulty admittedly) recalls they explicitly said after the cataclysm gods no longer answered the prayers of their clerics until the reestablishment of them by whatsisname, cleric of paladine. Also, minor annoyance, but not mentioning that Paladine's form was the Paladin kind of annoyed me. Fizban was only known well after the war was over as the incarnation worshipped by Kender (because of Tasselhoff.)
My point is, there's nothing wrong with making a setting where certain stuff isn't allowed. As for goblins, I believe the first person encountered by flint and Tanis in the first novel was a goblin or hobgoblin: Fewmaster Toade.
I don't mind it having some variation from the lore but wizards has decided that every setting now needs to be kitchen sink, not just FR, and it's at least to me ruining what makes these settings unique. My personal opinion is that in trying to please everyone, they really made a lot more work for me wanting to run this because now I have a lot to home-brew or argue with players if they don't like me disallowing something, one of them can DM instead. I'm just very disappointed and would prefer if they're going to do Planescape next year like they did this, that they just don't instead.
I'm not trying to sound like a grognard, but this is supremely disappointing, not trying to come off so much as angering.
Sorry for wall o text, but in relation to Dragonborn: I think they're getting shafted not being draconians. After all the draconians either turned to stone, or exploded, or turned to poison gas, or all sorts of cool stuff when they died that dragonborn don't. I also don't think that the explanation of "too infused with goodness" is as easy as you think, because the evil clerics would have no issue just murdering the ones who were unacceptable. Also the draconians were kind of a secret as Takhisis didn't want the good dragons to find out she was killing their kids until she won the war. Just minor inconsistencies really, but I find the conversation interesting if you wish to continue.
Sorry for wall o text, but in relation to Dragonborn: I think they're getting shafted not being draconians. After all the draconians either turned to stone, or exploded, or turned to poison gas, or all sorts of cool stuff when they died that dragonborn don't. I also don't think that the explanation of "too infused with goodness" is as easy as you think, because the evil clerics would have no issue just murdering the ones who were unacceptable. Also the draconians were kind of a secret as Takhisis didn't want the good dragons to find out she was killing their kids until she won the war. Just minor inconsistencies really, but I find the conversation interesting if you wish to continue.
Well, if the DM wants it to keep it true to Dragonlance lore, there's nothing stopping it. If you want players to only be: Human, Dwarf, Elf, or Kender - there's nothing stopping any DM from doing just that. However, the question comes of incorporating the now - what? 30? 40? - other playable races that D&D has introduced before this Dragonlance came out if someone wants to play one.
Playing goblins would be troublesome. But not impossible. You could be a very rare good goblin, but I'd expect everyone to judge you for being a goblin. (Disadvantage on all Social Checks against Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Kender, for example as a homebrew rule). Orcs? They don't even exist in Dragonlance - so that takes Half-Orcs off the table too. Tiefling, Aasimar, could be done - but also not in native Dragonlance. Demons exist (since Takhisis rules in hell), so Tiefling could be a thing. Aasimar could be someone who was just awakened, as a sign of the gods returning.
So I mean, with some creativity - you could technically probably play any existing race that's playable. It'd just take some story telling, and probably some homebrew rules to make it fit Dragonlance.
Sure, you could do whatever you want really, but I miss the days of limited options for some scenarios. Tieflingsd were limited to planescape until everyone (every edgelord rather) thought they were cool and wizards kitchen sinked them. It's a lot better IMO when a player must justify their special exception rather than give everyone ever option. Why not just let everyone cast fireball?
FIZBAN TREASURY OF DRAGONS solved your draconian issue.
HALF DRAGONS ARE AVAILABLE TO BE CREATED
Just as dragon reproduction is not necessarily a straightforward biological process, half-dragons come into being through a variety of means. The Half-Dragon Origin table below offers examples. (THE PAGE IS 31)
Dragons create half-dragon progeny for a wide range of reasons. Some dragons create half-dragons to secure reliable minions. Others seed half-dragons around their lairs to make the area more dangerous to interlopers. And on many occasions, half-dragons simply appear spontaneously or are an accidental consequence of a dragon's magical power and influence.
In some worlds, these same phenomena might explain the origins of dragonborn, kobolds, and perhaps the draconic gifts described in Chapter 2.
While humanoid-dragon romances definitely have occurred on Krynn, both past and present, IIRC half-dragons don’t exist in the Dragonlance setting.
FIZBAN TREASURY OF DRAGONS solved your draconian issue.
HALF DRAGONS ARE AVAILABLE TO BE CREATED
Just as dragon reproduction is not necessarily a straightforward biological process, half-dragons come into being through a variety of means. The Half-Dragon Origin table below offers examples. (THE PAGE IS 31)
Dragons create half-dragon progeny for a wide range of reasons. Some dragons create half-dragons to secure reliable minions. Others seed half-dragons around their lairs to make the area more dangerous to interlopers. And on many occasions, half-dragons simply appear spontaneously or are an accidental consequence of a dragon's magical power and influence.
In some worlds, these same phenomena might explain the origins of dragonborn, kobolds, and perhaps the draconic gifts described in Chapter 2.
While humanoid-dragon romances definitely have occurred on Krynn, both past and present, IIRC half-dragons don’t exist in the Dragonlance setting.
While true, with a war brewing it could be these "half dragons" (which we could just say are Draconians) were kept hidden by their dragon parent side... and now with trouble brewing, they know these children may be able to benefit against (or for) the war that is brimming on the horizon.
It just takes some fancy story telling to make just about anything possible.
Create a small continent/island, only known in legend and by the most ancient of dragons. The island's humanoid race is dragonborn. Their origin is lost in history. A cataclysmic event hits them (volcano, tsunami, dark cult similar to Numenor, etc.) And many flee. The ones that end up in Ansalon are thought to be draconians.
Create a small continent/island, only known in legend and by the most ancient of dragons. The island's humanoid race is dragonborn. Their origin is lost in history. A cataclysmic event hits them (volcano, tsunami, dark cult similar to Numenor, etc.) And many flee. The ones that end up in Ansalon are thought to be draconians.
Combine this - with my post above - and you have a very easy way to explain Dragonborn into the world.
Since time is something the can be played with just say the dragonborn are the distant children of draconians and humans.The survivors of the war hid and interbred and cross bread until the evil was bread down to normal levels.
That could explain the Dragonborns origin somewhat. But would not explain them being in the Dragonlance setting at that time.
But then again you can not and should not please everyone ALL the time.
But then again you can not and should not please everyone ALL the time.
While this is true... I think it's also nice to see if you can find a way to accommodate someone so long as they're purposely not trying to break the game.
So for example, I am (about to begin playing, hopefully soon) in a Dragonlance campaign. Now I absolutely love Dragonlance and dying to get into this... but one of the players, who wasn't asked about playing a Dark Elf (the DM, like me is a huge fan of Dragonlance) - but I'd explained in Dragonlance there are no "Drow" Elves, really - "Dark Elves" are normal elves, who are branded as such, because of some crime they may have done. And I went on to talk about how Dalamar was an example of that (although now he's insanely respected). But - I reached out to the DM and asked if he'd be cool with me challenging myself to explain how "Drow-like" elves might have existed in Dragonlance... but were virtually unknown. He said he was cool with it - and so I wrote something up (note - the player wanting to play the Dark Elf never saw this and came up with another origin that ties to the Cataclysm) - but anyway here's what I wrote - and I think it would explain how Drow-like elves (without the whole spider-fetish) might have existed (and I should not she wanted to be an Artificer Alchemist)...
Things to note: Durth in Dwarven means "Strange" and I just added "-Thax" since a long of dwarven Kingdoms had that, so I assume it'd mean something close to "Strange Kingdom"... https://dragonlance.fandom.com/wiki/Dwarven_Language The other lore (Crematia and the giving Dragon Stones) is part of the normal Dragonlance lore. https://dragonlance.fandom.com/wiki/Thorin The rest wrote itself as I sat down and let my imagination run wild. ________________
Meyver Lhee has only heard stories of the proud Silvanesti – the Elven Kingdom, hailed as the most beautiful kingdom. However, during the start of the Third Dragon War, her mother was among many others who fled Silvanesti seeking shelter from the war that was brewing. After all, during the Second Dragon War, Silvanesti had been attacked by the dark forces, which included: the bakali, ogres and Chromatic Dragons.
With the forests unsafe, the Silvanesti sought refuge among the Dwarves of Thorin (Hiel-Thax) for their part in handing over the Dragon Stones to Crematia, the ferocious red dragon which had led to the attack on Silvanesti. However, the Dwarves wanted to hide their shame and did not want the Elves walking among them as a constant reminder of their cowardice. The Dwarves offered a section of their kingdom, much further down and long abandoned in favor of their new kingdom, where the lava flowed, allowing for their smithing to be done more efficiently. The abandoned kingdom offered to the elves was known as Durth-Thax.
With no natural light, the Elves adapted by learning the ecology of Durth-Thax and life beneath the mountains, where most of the light was by small pools of bubbling lava or the odd vegetation – such as the fantastic purple mushrooms the Dwarves had called marman fungus. The Elves of Durth-Thax learned to become expert alchemists, mixing the various vegetation to create healing potions as well as other useful potions because while life in Silvanesti had been walled, and relatively safe; Durth-Thax was full of various dangers that none of the Elves were accustomed to. The occasional dwarf that came down to Durth-Thax to check on the elves and trade with them and warning them of the various dangers that lingered beneath the mountains. The Dwarves had often asked if the elves had wanted to return to Silvanesti and leave Durth-Thax, while some did; the majority had remained. They’d discovered that being free of the walled city brought danger and risk into their lives; but they were truly, perhaps for the first time, in hundreds of years, feeling alive and free.
As the Elves of Durth-Thax adapted to life beneath the mountain an interesting side effect began to take place. Similar to how all the stone in Durth-Thax and most of Heil-Thax was a dark, black stone, so did the elves discover that their own flesh tone began to adapt; whether this was evolution to allow them to more easily hide in shadow, or if it had been because of an unseen chemical that was reacting to the genetic make-up of the Elves, who were not native to Durth-Thax and had no tolerance for whatever was drifting in the air, remains unknown.
Meyver Lhee was born in Durth-Thax, this had been the only life she’d ever known, and like all of her family before her, she was extremely skilled alchemist. However, the stories she’d heard about where her family had come from – Silvanesti had often called to her when she slept. More so, when the dwarves of late, whom visited and traded with the Elves of Durth-Thax, that they’d heard rumors of a war brewing in the outside world… the world beyond the mountain… and something in Meyver Lhee called to her to venture forth… take what she knew of potions and see what the world outside looked like…
I`d recommend looking up the old 2nd addition module DLS4 Wild Elves for an "official" origin for Drow in Krynn and meet Jiathuli the Spider Queen, the former handmaiden of Takhisis and now imprisoned spider goddess.
The Valley of Perfect Silences in Ergoth is not what the Kagonesti who know about it think it is.
Sorcerers were in the original DL novels. Mentioned exactly once as I recall in relation to Magius, as in the staff of. It was used in a way that seemed to imply a renegade mage (that is one who practiced without approval of the tower) was a sorcerer. The setting basically held that all arcane magic was heavily regulated, so honestly bards fall into tower initiate more than they do Solamnic Knights. The mages of the tower literally hunted anyone practicing arcane magic without a license, the thought of a warlock would make for an awesome confrontation, but it doesn't fit casters who get their magic other than through study. The entire storyline of the Majere brothers would be different, though more interesting possibly if the secret knowledge of Fistandantilus made Raistlin a warlock rather than a mage who was super brilliant and studied. Other interesting variations from the other settings was that a Dark elf was not a race, but rather an elf who had fallen and followed the path of evil. The mention (of which I recall only one) being Dalamar.
And there is a difference between being non canon, and shoving in every piece of crap to have come out of 5e. During the war of the lance the clergy was limited to Goldmoon and those trained by the guy whom she gave the disks to whose name escapes me but begins with an E, aside from lord verminaard and I assume other clerics of Takhisis. The rest of the setting explicitly stated the gods had abandoned men with the exception of the 3 moons which only the tower was aware of. I'd have to go back and read the novels again but my 30+ years ago memory (which may be faulty admittedly) recalls they explicitly said after the cataclysm gods no longer answered the prayers of their clerics until the reestablishment of them by whatsisname, cleric of paladine. Also, minor annoyance, but not mentioning that Paladine's form was the Paladin kind of annoyed me. Fizban was only known well after the war was over as the incarnation worshipped by Kender (because of Tasselhoff.)
My point is, there's nothing wrong with making a setting where certain stuff isn't allowed. As for goblins, I believe the first person encountered by flint and Tanis in the first novel was a goblin or hobgoblin: Fewmaster Toade.
I don't mind it having some variation from the lore but wizards has decided that every setting now needs to be kitchen sink, not just FR, and it's at least to me ruining what makes these settings unique. My personal opinion is that in trying to please everyone, they really made a lot more work for me wanting to run this because now I have a lot to home-brew or argue with players if they don't like me disallowing something, one of them can DM instead. I'm just very disappointed and would prefer if they're going to do Planescape next year like they did this, that they just don't instead.
I'm not trying to sound like a grognard, but this is supremely disappointing, not trying to come off so much as angering.
Sorry for wall o text, but in relation to Dragonborn: I think they're getting shafted not being draconians. After all the draconians either turned to stone, or exploded, or turned to poison gas, or all sorts of cool stuff when they died that dragonborn don't. I also don't think that the explanation of "too infused with goodness" is as easy as you think, because the evil clerics would have no issue just murdering the ones who were unacceptable. Also the draconians were kind of a secret as Takhisis didn't want the good dragons to find out she was killing their kids until she won the war. Just minor inconsistencies really, but I find the conversation interesting if you wish to continue.
Well, if the DM wants it to keep it true to Dragonlance lore, there's nothing stopping it. If you want players to only be: Human, Dwarf, Elf, or Kender - there's nothing stopping any DM from doing just that. However, the question comes of incorporating the now - what? 30? 40? - other playable races that D&D has introduced before this Dragonlance came out if someone wants to play one.
Playing goblins would be troublesome. But not impossible. You could be a very rare good goblin, but I'd expect everyone to judge you for being a goblin. (Disadvantage on all Social Checks against Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Kender, for example as a homebrew rule). Orcs? They don't even exist in Dragonlance - so that takes Half-Orcs off the table too. Tiefling, Aasimar, could be done - but also not in native Dragonlance. Demons exist (since Takhisis rules in hell), so Tiefling could be a thing. Aasimar could be someone who was just awakened, as a sign of the gods returning.
So I mean, with some creativity - you could technically probably play any existing race that's playable. It'd just take some story telling, and probably some homebrew rules to make it fit Dragonlance.
Check out my publication on DMs Guild: https://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?author=Tawmis%20Logue
Check out my comedy web series - Neverending Nights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wr4-u9-zw0&list=PLbRG7dzFI-u3EJd0usasgDrrFO3mZ1lOZ
Need a character story/background written up? I do it for free (but also take donations!) - https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?591882-Need-a-character-background-written-up
Sure, you could do whatever you want really, but I miss the days of limited options for some scenarios. Tieflingsd were limited to planescape until everyone (every edgelord rather) thought they were cool and wizards kitchen sinked them. It's a lot better IMO when a player must justify their special exception rather than give everyone ever option. Why not just let everyone cast fireball?
While humanoid-dragon romances definitely have occurred on Krynn, both past and present, IIRC half-dragons don’t exist in the Dragonlance setting.
While true, with a war brewing it could be these "half dragons" (which we could just say are Draconians) were kept hidden by their dragon parent side... and now with trouble brewing, they know these children may be able to benefit against (or for) the war that is brimming on the horizon.
It just takes some fancy story telling to make just about anything possible.
Check out my publication on DMs Guild: https://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?author=Tawmis%20Logue
Check out my comedy web series - Neverending Nights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wr4-u9-zw0&list=PLbRG7dzFI-u3EJd0usasgDrrFO3mZ1lOZ
Need a character story/background written up? I do it for free (but also take donations!) - https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?591882-Need-a-character-background-written-up
Create a small continent/island, only known in legend and by the most ancient of dragons. The island's humanoid race is dragonborn. Their origin is lost in history. A cataclysmic event hits them (volcano, tsunami, dark cult similar to Numenor, etc.) And many flee. The ones that end up in Ansalon are thought to be draconians.
Combine this - with my post above - and you have a very easy way to explain Dragonborn into the world.
Check out my publication on DMs Guild: https://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?author=Tawmis%20Logue
Check out my comedy web series - Neverending Nights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wr4-u9-zw0&list=PLbRG7dzFI-u3EJd0usasgDrrFO3mZ1lOZ
Need a character story/background written up? I do it for free (but also take donations!) - https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?591882-Need-a-character-background-written-up
Since time is something the can be played with just say the dragonborn are the distant children of draconians and humans.The survivors of the war hid and interbred and cross bread until the evil was bread down to normal levels.
That could explain the Dragonborns origin somewhat. But would not explain them being in the Dragonlance setting at that time.
But then again you can not and should not please everyone ALL the time.
While this is true... I think it's also nice to see if you can find a way to accommodate someone so long as they're purposely not trying to break the game.
So for example, I am (about to begin playing, hopefully soon) in a Dragonlance campaign. Now I absolutely love Dragonlance and dying to get into this... but one of the players, who wasn't asked about playing a Dark Elf (the DM, like me is a huge fan of Dragonlance) - but I'd explained in Dragonlance there are no "Drow" Elves, really - "Dark Elves" are normal elves, who are branded as such, because of some crime they may have done. And I went on to talk about how Dalamar was an example of that (although now he's insanely respected). But - I reached out to the DM and asked if he'd be cool with me challenging myself to explain how "Drow-like" elves might have existed in Dragonlance... but were virtually unknown. He said he was cool with it - and so I wrote something up (note - the player wanting to play the Dark Elf never saw this and came up with another origin that ties to the Cataclysm) - but anyway here's what I wrote - and I think it would explain how Drow-like elves (without the whole spider-fetish) might have existed (and I should not she wanted to be an Artificer Alchemist)...
Things to note: Durth in Dwarven means "Strange" and I just added "-Thax" since a long of dwarven Kingdoms had that, so I assume it'd mean something close to "Strange Kingdom"... https://dragonlance.fandom.com/wiki/Dwarven_Language
The other lore (Crematia and the giving Dragon Stones) is part of the normal Dragonlance lore. https://dragonlance.fandom.com/wiki/Thorin
The rest wrote itself as I sat down and let my imagination run wild.
________________
Meyver Lhee has only heard stories of the proud Silvanesti – the Elven Kingdom, hailed as the most beautiful kingdom. However, during the start of the Third Dragon War, her mother was among many others who fled Silvanesti seeking shelter from the war that was brewing. After all, during the Second Dragon War, Silvanesti had been attacked by the dark forces, which included: the bakali, ogres and Chromatic Dragons.
With the forests unsafe, the Silvanesti sought refuge among the Dwarves of Thorin (Hiel-Thax) for their part in handing over the Dragon Stones to Crematia, the ferocious red dragon which had led to the attack on Silvanesti. However, the Dwarves wanted to hide their shame and did not want the Elves walking among them as a constant reminder of their cowardice. The Dwarves offered a section of their kingdom, much further down and long abandoned in favor of their new kingdom, where the lava flowed, allowing for their smithing to be done more efficiently. The abandoned kingdom offered to the elves was known as Durth-Thax.
With no natural light, the Elves adapted by learning the ecology of Durth-Thax and life beneath the mountains, where most of the light was by small pools of bubbling lava or the odd vegetation – such as the fantastic purple mushrooms the Dwarves had called marman fungus. The Elves of Durth-Thax learned to become expert alchemists, mixing the various vegetation to create healing potions as well as other useful potions because while life in Silvanesti had been walled, and relatively safe; Durth-Thax was full of various dangers that none of the Elves were accustomed to. The occasional dwarf that came down to Durth-Thax to check on the elves and trade with them and warning them of the various dangers that lingered beneath the mountains. The Dwarves had often asked if the elves had wanted to return to Silvanesti and leave Durth-Thax, while some did; the majority had remained. They’d discovered that being free of the walled city brought danger and risk into their lives; but they were truly, perhaps for the first time, in hundreds of years, feeling alive and free.
As the Elves of Durth-Thax adapted to life beneath the mountain an interesting side effect began to take place. Similar to how all the stone in Durth-Thax and most of Heil-Thax was a dark, black stone, so did the elves discover that their own flesh tone began to adapt; whether this was evolution to allow them to more easily hide in shadow, or if it had been because of an unseen chemical that was reacting to the genetic make-up of the Elves, who were not native to Durth-Thax and had no tolerance for whatever was drifting in the air, remains unknown.
Meyver Lhee was born in Durth-Thax, this had been the only life she’d ever known, and like all of her family before her, she was extremely skilled alchemist. However, the stories she’d heard about where her family had come from – Silvanesti had often called to her when she slept. More so, when the dwarves of late, whom visited and traded with the Elves of Durth-Thax, that they’d heard rumors of a war brewing in the outside world… the world beyond the mountain… and something in Meyver Lhee called to her to venture forth… take what she knew of potions and see what the world outside looked like…
Check out my publication on DMs Guild: https://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?author=Tawmis%20Logue
Check out my comedy web series - Neverending Nights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wr4-u9-zw0&list=PLbRG7dzFI-u3EJd0usasgDrrFO3mZ1lOZ
Need a character story/background written up? I do it for free (but also take donations!) - https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?591882-Need-a-character-background-written-up
I`d recommend looking up the old 2nd addition module DLS4 Wild Elves for an "official" origin for Drow in Krynn and meet Jiathuli the Spider Queen, the former handmaiden of Takhisis and now imprisoned spider goddess.
The Valley of Perfect Silences in Ergoth is not what the Kagonesti who know about it think it is.