I really like that they are leaning into the idea of Level and Feat Prerequisites for obtaining other Feats. "Adept of the Black Robes 4th Level, Initiate of High Sorcery" for example.
I am also starting to like the idea of Backgrounds granting a starting Feat. I wonder if that is something they want to add for 2024's rules update.
Have to read through this more carefully later, but on first glance seems cool. I’ve always enjoyed Dragonlance as a setting.
The Lunar Sorc looks fun if a bit complicated as far tracking what phase you are in and what each one does. Nice to see them playing with the sorc base abilities and meta magic
Overall, a neat UA. Needs some word clarity in the Lunar Sorc, since it says you can cast one of the bonus spells for free depending on your phase, but later goes to say you can change phases at 6th level with a Sorc point. In theory, that's 15 bonus spells at 9th level every day for 2 sorc points.
Kender: taunt is ok. Ace: leary about the "magical curiosity conjuration of someone else's property retcon of tradtional disregard for property". I dunno if this "magic" was every reflected in the novels or if this is going to be a serious retcon in the new novels too.
Lunar Magic ... ok, so I don't really know Dragonlance iterations beyond to original. Did prior editions give space for Wizards and Sorcerers in Krynn? This Lundar Wizard seems cool, but am I to presume this is now what Raistlin was, or was the arrival of more "sorcerous" arcanists a thing delivered by the moons onto Krynn in later iterations? Also, again just skimming, but I don't see any guidance to a campaign on tracking moon phases (also Krynn has like three moons....). It's a potentially cool idea but I don't see how it plays specifically in Krynn, or even on a setting agnostic game world. I mean do we presume every moon's relationship with a world follows the terrestrial lunar month? It's a neat thing for the DM and player to accomodate but I could see world building that might lead to frustrations. (Like isn't the invisible of black moon on Krynn's phases r-e-a-l-l-y s-l-o-w.
Knight of Solamnia: I don't remember them being represented as "really" cultured so I'm suspect of the musical instrument proficiency. At least in the original trilogy they were while an order with a lot of mythos attached to it, even the books that looked at the age of Huma protrayed the Knights as basically a bunch of boorish oafs and/or political careerists for the most part. The background comes with a deck of cards, make that a choice of gambling tools and give them proficiency in that gaming tool. I picture Knights sitting around at camp playing games of chance and strategy more than I see them creating musical bands in their downtime.
Mage of High Sorcery and related feats: I haven't worked through them, but reading them I like what's presented here, it seems a "lesson learned" from Strixhaven using feats instead of a subclass for a range of classes. Also noting, they're making alignment matter here, I do wonder if a character pulls a Raistlin and takes on the Black Robes after Red Robes do they really have to wait four levels to make that shift, and do they retain the prior feat?
I was expecting a Dragonlance book, though as my take on the Dragonlance lore was largely "meh" I wasn't necessarily looking forward to it. I do like some of the options presented here though, particularly the lunar magic and the High Sorcery feats and could see myself picking up this book to adapt those options.
Oh the meh side of the prospect of a a DL book, I'm guessing we'll see four pages of Draconian reprint from Fizmans, and maybe another 2-4 pages for Aspects of Takhesis and Paladine, and a page for the Dragonlance with maybe a good picture of one? Wonder if we'll see a different interpretation of the Minotaur (though that's already in MMM right?).
So summer release with the last time I checked novel's release or fall for holiday nostalgia shoppers and people psyched by the novel?
Lunar Sorc flavor and content is very good, and it's especially good to see that Tasha's expanded spell lists are becoming more the norm. When I first read it though I thought it meant the spell list you got depended on the phase of the moon in-game and was like "damn, that's a lot of timekeeping expectation to put on the DM!" haha.
I do think it's cool that you can change them too. I feel like Moon Sorcerer is going to be a popular multiclass pair.
(Note to self: Lunar Sorcerer/Circle of the Moon Druid multiclass, build Moon Moon!)
Ah, I see that the Sorcerer gets to decide the moon's phase they're drawing from ... I dunno, I mean players are going to like that freedom but I think it sorta dilutes the point of having a character bonded to the moon; but I also understand WotC likely not wanting to introduce what would be viewed as a restriction.
Lunar Sorcerer, Circle of Moon, we need a Path of the Moon Barbarian with Lunar Rage!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Magic of the Orders of High Sorcery in Krynn has always been tied to the moons and their phases. The color of their robes corresponds to the moon that influences their magic. It was kind of a pain to keep track of the moon phases back in the day, but it was a part of the game. I think it would be extremely unpopular these days considering people don't want to track easy things like food, arrows or encumbrance.
They didn't have sorcerers (or warlocks, eldritch knights, arcane tricksters...) back then, so it only makes sense that a lot of things would have to be adjusted in the lore to fit the multitude of arcane spellcasters that 5e has. I think the background and corresponding Feats works well for this. I think that the Knightly Order Feats are an elegant design choice as well. It lets you "progress through the ranks" without having to multiclass or do any added homebrew.
Thanks for clearing that up, what I'm a little confused about is how they're going to balance out the Sorcerer's "touched by the moon" and Raistlin's hoarding of spell books and scrolls a la Wizards. I like the Knightly feats, and am actually thinking of reskinning them just as regular combative feats sort of like Inspiring Leader, etc. Also like Divinely favored (and the "robes" too). in a setting agnostic way I can see them being used as boons for a party who are doing quite literally gods' works but neglected to pick a "healer" class in the lot. Ahem. Bard's practically tongue tied by Healing Word.
This is one of those instances where I could see myself possibly buying the book strictly for stripping out it's player options and reskinning them via homebrew here on DDB. Or just skipping this book and buying piecemeal the player options here on DDB and making homebrew copies of them so they speak more to my game world. Knight of the Rose becoming "War Cry" and the like.
Thanks for clearing that up, what I'm a little confused about is how they're going to balance out the Sorcerer's "touched by the moon" and Raistlin's hoarding of spell books and scrolls a la Wizards. I like the Knightly feats, and am actually thinking of reskinning them just as regular combative feats sort of like Inspiring Leader, etc. Also like Divinely favored (and the "robes" too). in a setting agnostic way I can see them being used as boons for a party who are doing quite literally gods' works but neglected to pick a "healer" class in the lot. Ahem. Bard's practically tongue tied by Healing Word.
This is one of those instances where I could see myself possibly buying the book strictly for stripping out it's player options and reskinning them via homebrew here on DDB. Or just buying piecemeal the player options here on DDB and making homebrew copies of them so they speak more to my game world. Knight of the Rose becoming "War Cry" and the like.
Raistin was a Wizard so would use the standard Wizard Class with the Mage of High Sorcery background and associated feats. The only real issue I see with this is that the Lunar Magic Sorcerer can also benefit from the background and feats, but I guess that is fine considering the benefits of being a Wizard are pretty good as is.
I completely agree with you on the Feats. Those are going to find their way into my world some how.
Bummer that they made Knight of Salami a background vs subclass :/
Question, is the first time they've had stacking feats (need one to get the next)? I've had that homebrewed as a concept but don't think i've noticed it in official feats.
The Lunar Sorc needs to be streamlined a bit (it's overcomplicated in parts) and some of the language needs to be cleaned up, but my God do I love this thing. Easily the first Sorcerer that has truly excited me, ever in 5e. I love, love, love it and hope it doesn't get butchered when it makes it to print.
The rest of the UA...meh. Good on them making Kender explicitly not kleptos. But I'm not a fan of these specific backgrounds/feat trees.
Yeah, I'm digging the Lunar Sorcerer too. Having different modes based on moon phases is a neat idea, with a low-ish cost way to switch between them on the fly. The discounts on metamagic costs if the spell school matches your current phase is also a neat idea, one I wish we could graft onto the existing PHB Sorcerers somehow. One thing I need cleared up though, is the free cast of the spells on the extra spell lists. The UA states: "While in the chosen phase, spellsofthe associated phasein the Lunar Spells table can be cast once without expending a spell slot." which makes me think it's supposed to be once per extra spell, which is nice, but it also says "Once you cast aspell inthis way, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest." which seems to imply that you only get one free cast of any spell on the extra spell list.
Yeah, I'm digging the Lunar Sorcerer too. Having different modes based on moon phases is a neat idea,
it's not based on the moon phase, that's just the name. The way I read it, you pick whatever phase you want after each rest...it doesn't have anything to do with the in-game phase of the moon.
Bummer that they made Knight of Salami a background vs subclass :/
Question, is the first time they've had stacking feats (need one to get the next)? I've had that homebrewed as a concept but don't think i've noticed it in official feats.
They did it with Strixhaven, a lot of the framework for the High sorcery stuff (background) is from there as well.
I am a little surprised they locked taunt to charisma as they seem to be more focused on letting the player choose the mental stat for features.
I am surprised they chose to tie alignment into some of the feat prerequisites. Maybe alignment is going to play a larger role in the Dragonlance setting material than in base 5e
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Four-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
unearthed-arcana/heroes-krynn
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
Looks like Dragonlance is one of the classic settings.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
I really like that they are leaning into the idea of Level and Feat Prerequisites for obtaining other Feats. "Adept of the Black Robes 4th Level, Initiate of High Sorcery" for example.
I am also starting to like the idea of Backgrounds granting a starting Feat. I wonder if that is something they want to add for 2024's rules update.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
Have to read through this more carefully later, but on first glance seems cool. I’ve always enjoyed Dragonlance as a setting.
The Lunar Sorc looks fun if a bit complicated as far tracking what phase you are in and what each one does. Nice to see them playing with the sorc base abilities and meta magic
Overall, a neat UA. Needs some word clarity in the Lunar Sorc, since it says you can cast one of the bonus spells for free depending on your phase, but later goes to say you can change phases at 6th level with a Sorc point. In theory, that's 15 bonus spells at 9th level every day for 2 sorc points.
I’m really digging this Lunar Sorcerer.
The added spells…coupled with the versatility of the lunar phases…makes this an incredibly flexible sorcerer.
Quick takes on a first skim through.
Kender: taunt is ok. Ace: leary about the "magical curiosity conjuration of someone else's property retcon of tradtional disregard for property". I dunno if this "magic" was every reflected in the novels or if this is going to be a serious retcon in the new novels too.
Lunar Magic ... ok, so I don't really know Dragonlance iterations beyond to original. Did prior editions give space for Wizards and Sorcerers in Krynn? This Lundar Wizard seems cool, but am I to presume this is now what Raistlin was, or was the arrival of more "sorcerous" arcanists a thing delivered by the moons onto Krynn in later iterations? Also, again just skimming, but I don't see any guidance to a campaign on tracking moon phases (also Krynn has like three moons....). It's a potentially cool idea but I don't see how it plays specifically in Krynn, or even on a setting agnostic game world. I mean do we presume every moon's relationship with a world follows the terrestrial lunar month? It's a neat thing for the DM and player to accomodate but I could see world building that might lead to frustrations. (Like isn't the invisible of black moon on Krynn's phases r-e-a-l-l-y s-l-o-w.
Knight of Solamnia: I don't remember them being represented as "really" cultured so I'm suspect of the musical instrument proficiency. At least in the original trilogy they were while an order with a lot of mythos attached to it, even the books that looked at the age of Huma protrayed the Knights as basically a bunch of boorish oafs and/or political careerists for the most part. The background comes with a deck of cards, make that a choice of gambling tools and give them proficiency in that gaming tool. I picture Knights sitting around at camp playing games of chance and strategy more than I see them creating musical bands in their downtime.
Mage of High Sorcery and related feats: I haven't worked through them, but reading them I like what's presented here, it seems a "lesson learned" from Strixhaven using feats instead of a subclass for a range of classes. Also noting, they're making alignment matter here, I do wonder if a character pulls a Raistlin and takes on the Black Robes after Red Robes do they really have to wait four levels to make that shift, and do they retain the prior feat?
I was expecting a Dragonlance book, though as my take on the Dragonlance lore was largely "meh" I wasn't necessarily looking forward to it. I do like some of the options presented here though, particularly the lunar magic and the High Sorcery feats and could see myself picking up this book to adapt those options.
Oh the meh side of the prospect of a a DL book, I'm guessing we'll see four pages of Draconian reprint from Fizmans, and maybe another 2-4 pages for Aspects of Takhesis and Paladine, and a page for the Dragonlance with maybe a good picture of one? Wonder if we'll see a different interpretation of the Minotaur (though that's already in MMM right?).
So summer release with the last time I checked novel's release or fall for holiday nostalgia shoppers and people psyched by the novel?
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Lunar Sorc flavor and content is very good, and it's especially good to see that Tasha's expanded spell lists are becoming more the norm. When I first read it though I thought it meant the spell list you got depended on the phase of the moon in-game and was like "damn, that's a lot of timekeeping expectation to put on the DM!" haha.
I do think it's cool that you can change them too. I feel like Moon Sorcerer is going to be a popular multiclass pair.
(Note to self: Lunar Sorcerer/Circle of the Moon Druid multiclass, build Moon Moon!)
Ah, I see that the Sorcerer gets to decide the moon's phase they're drawing from ... I dunno, I mean players are going to like that freedom but I think it sorta dilutes the point of having a character bonded to the moon; but I also understand WotC likely not wanting to introduce what would be viewed as a restriction.
Lunar Sorcerer, Circle of Moon, we need a Path of the Moon Barbarian with Lunar Rage!
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Magic of the Orders of High Sorcery in Krynn has always been tied to the moons and their phases. The color of their robes corresponds to the moon that influences their magic. It was kind of a pain to keep track of the moon phases back in the day, but it was a part of the game. I think it would be extremely unpopular these days considering people don't want to track easy things like food, arrows or encumbrance.
They didn't have sorcerers (or warlocks, eldritch knights, arcane tricksters...) back then, so it only makes sense that a lot of things would have to be adjusted in the lore to fit the multitude of arcane spellcasters that 5e has. I think the background and corresponding Feats works well for this. I think that the Knightly Order Feats are an elegant design choice as well. It lets you "progress through the ranks" without having to multiclass or do any added homebrew.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
Thanks for clearing that up, what I'm a little confused about is how they're going to balance out the Sorcerer's "touched by the moon" and Raistlin's hoarding of spell books and scrolls a la Wizards. I like the Knightly feats, and am actually thinking of reskinning them just as regular combative feats sort of like Inspiring Leader, etc. Also like Divinely favored (and the "robes" too). in a setting agnostic way I can see them being used as boons for a party who are doing quite literally gods' works but neglected to pick a "healer" class in the lot. Ahem. Bard's practically tongue tied by Healing Word.
This is one of those instances where I could see myself possibly buying the book strictly for stripping out it's player options and reskinning them via homebrew here on DDB. Or just skipping this book and buying piecemeal the player options here on DDB and making homebrew copies of them so they speak more to my game world. Knight of the Rose becoming "War Cry" and the like.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Raistin was a Wizard so would use the standard Wizard Class with the Mage of High Sorcery background and associated feats. The only real issue I see with this is that the Lunar Magic Sorcerer can also benefit from the background and feats, but I guess that is fine considering the benefits of being a Wizard are pretty good as is.
I completely agree with you on the Feats. Those are going to find their way into my world some how.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
there better be a hoopak.
Bummer that they made Knight of Salami a background vs subclass :/
Question, is the first time they've had stacking feats (need one to get the next)? I've had that homebrewed as a concept but don't think i've noticed it in official feats.
Guide to the Five Factions (PWYW)
Deck of Decks
The Lunar Sorc needs to be streamlined a bit (it's overcomplicated in parts) and some of the language needs to be cleaned up, but my God do I love this thing. Easily the first Sorcerer that has truly excited me, ever in 5e. I love, love, love it and hope it doesn't get butchered when it makes it to print.
The rest of the UA...meh. Good on them making Kender explicitly not kleptos. But I'm not a fan of these specific backgrounds/feat trees.
Yeah, I'm digging the Lunar Sorcerer too. Having different modes based on moon phases is a neat idea, with a low-ish cost way to switch between them on the fly. The discounts on metamagic costs if the spell school matches your current phase is also a neat idea, one I wish we could graft onto the existing PHB Sorcerers somehow. One thing I need cleared up though, is the free cast of the spells on the extra spell lists. The UA states: "While in the chosen phase, spells of the associated phase in the Lunar Spells table can be cast once without expending a spell slot." which makes me think it's supposed to be once per extra spell, which is nice, but it also says "Once you cast a spell in this way, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest." which seems to imply that you only get one free cast of any spell on the extra spell list.
it's not based on the moon phase, that's just the name. The way I read it, you pick whatever phase you want after each rest...it doesn't have anything to do with the in-game phase of the moon.
Guide to the Five Factions (PWYW)
Deck of Decks
Lunar sorcerer is going to be hell for DnD beyond to make work lol....
I suppose it's a good thing (for them) that they won't be bothered unless/until it makes print.
They did it with Strixhaven, a lot of the framework for the High sorcery stuff (background) is from there as well.
I am a little surprised they locked taunt to charisma as they seem to be more focused on letting the player choose the mental stat for features.
I am surprised they chose to tie alignment into some of the feat prerequisites. Maybe alignment is going to play a larger role in the Dragonlance setting material than in base 5e
Four-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!