Fizban's Treasury of Dragons will be chock-full of dragon goodness when it drops on October 26. The Dungeons & Dragons sourcebook will include new character options like subclasses and dragonborn ancestries, tools for Dungeon Masters, and additional lore on dragons and their role in creating the multiverse. Fizban will serve as your guide in the book. If you aren't familiar with this quirky character, here's what you should know:
Introducing Fizban and the world of Dragonlance
Warning! Spoilers for the Dragonlance novels lie ahead!
Fizban the Fabulous is a feeble archmage who was the unexpected hero of the War of the Lance. He's the avatar of a dragon god yet often forgets the incantations to his spells. To understand how instrumental Fizban has been in the world of Dragonlance, you'll want to look at Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman’s Dragonlance novels.
The novels follow the story of Weis and Hickman’s D&D campaign back in the 80s. Hickman, the Dungeon Master at the time, created the world of Krynn. His players (including Weis) made up the party of adventurers known as the Companions, though they would eventually become known as the Heroes of the Lance.
The original series of Dragonlance books focused on the War of the Lance, a harrowing conflict between the followers of Takhisis, the goddess of evil, and an Alliance of the inhabitants of Krynn. The Companions were pivotal to the eventual defeat of the forces of Takhisis and her Dragonarmies.
Fizban and the War of the Lance
Fizban served as a sort of Gandalf figure to the Companions. In the first book, Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Fizban showed up at the group’s reunion after a five-year separation. He then set the adventure in motion by purposefully getting them mixed up in trouble with the local law enforcement.
Unbeknownst to the characters of the story, Fizban is actually the god Paladine, the deity of law and goodness in the realm of Krynn. Paladine had chosen the Companions to be his agents of good against the armies of the evil Takhisis. He would later join the Companions and bumble his way through the many adventures they would come to have, only helping or getting in the way as much as was needed to nudge them toward victory over Takhisis’ forces.
Fizban was known to be a kind yet forgetful mage. He had a long white beard, mouse-colored robes, and was always trying to straighten his bent, shapeless hat. The old mage had a propensity to get the group into more trouble than he solved, but that trouble always seemed to lead to a victory of sorts. As the party continued their adventures, Fizban grew fond of Tasslehoff, a kender. (Kenders are Krynn’s equivalent of halflings.) Fizban was instrumental in getting Tasslehoff to end the bickering within the Whitestone Council and eventually assisted in the forging of the legendary dragonlances that were used to slay the chromatic dragons supporting Takhisis.
Throughout their adventures, Fizban consistently showed incompetence with magic. As he was a wizard with a terrible memory, he could never remember the words of power to any of his spells, including his favorite, fireball. This guise of an aloof, forgetful old man was sometimes interrupted with moments of lucidity where he would offer an encouraging word at the exact right time.
Eventually, as the Companions’ journey came to an end, Fizban revealed himself to be the god Paladine. When confronted by the leader of the group, Tanis, for being the cause of their adventure, Fizban replied "I set the stage, lad. I didn't give you a script. The dialogue has been all yours."
Looking back on it now, it’s obvious to me that Fizban was a tool of Hickman’s in order to progress the story in his D&D campaign. If there is one quote that describes the role of a Dungeon Master to their party, it is those last words Fizban had for the Companions.
Why is Fizban Important to D&D?
The multiverse has been established in Dungeons & Dragons for quite a long time. While there are reflections of the Material Plane, such as the Feywild or Shadowfell, there are also different interpretations of the Material Plane. While these worlds are different in many ways, they also have their similarities.
In the world of Krynn, Fizban and Paladine are one and the same, involving themselves in the War of the Lance in order to bring law and goodness to the realm. In other D&D worlds, Paladine exists as the god of justice and nobility, Bahamut the Platinum Dragon.
Where there is good, there must be evil. For Bahamut, there is Tiamat. For Paladine, there is Takhisis. The way the good and evil dragon gods interact in the Forgotten Realms is similar to the way they interact in the War of the Lance. In the Monster Manual entry for metallic dragons, it is said that "Bahamut seldom interferes in the affairs of mortal creatures, though he makes exceptions to help thwart the machinations of Tiamat the Dragon Queen and her evil brood." This is precisely how Paladine interacts with the world of Krynn during the war with Takhisis.
Prepare yourself for dragons, minions, and more!
Fizban is the quintessential source for information on dragons. Not only is he a platinum dragon and the leader of the metallic dragons, but he was around for one of the most influential dragon-based conflicts that has ever occurred in the multiverse. During the War of the Lance, Krynn experienced the return of dragons to the mortal world, the corruption of metallic dragon eggs into draconians, and the forging of the dragonlances. At the center of all of this was Fizban. Thus, this doddering archmage is the multiverse's utmost expert on all things dragons.
Fizban's Treasury of Dragons releases October 26 and will be packed with dragon lore and stat blocks for new kinds of dragons. Players will enjoy new subclasses and dragonborn ancestries and more! You can preorder your copy now on D&D Beyond. If you have a Master-tier subscription, you can share your book and other content you've unlocked in the marketplace with players in your campaigns.
Mike Bernier (@arcane_eye) is the founder of Arcane Eye, a site focused on providing useful tips and tricks to all those involved in the world of D&D. Outside of writing for Arcane Eye, Mike spends most of his time playing games, hiking with his girlfriend, and tending the veritable jungle of houseplants that have invaded his house.
Who doesn't love some good dragon lore? :P
Really great article Mike! Fizban is the best character in the Dragonlance books, IMO. This makes me want to read them again. I hope a Dragonlance setting book and possibly an adventure comes out sometime, I've always wanted to run a campaign in it, but I wasn't around in editions where there were setting books/adventures for Dragonlance.
agreed, best part was him and the tree
So...should I read these Dragonlance novels?
EDIT: I've just started them.
I definitely recommend the Dragonlance novels. They're not the greatest writing ever, but the story is very solid. I haven't read them since I started playing D&D, but now that I think about it I really should.
Loved that tree scene!
Yes, also, there are other stories and realms where he goes, changing his name to Zanfib or some such. Also check out deathgate cycle, same authors, same avatar of bahamut, changed just enough because of copywrite..
Yes, yes you should!
I knew he was an avatar of Bahamut! The art shows him with a canary, and it’s mentioned somewhere he’s an avatar of a god.
I'm so excited for this book
Any chance of articles based on however loosely on the Dragonlance setting itself?
I know this is a new book due to release soon, but some articles on the setting that helped established the character headlining the book itself might help.
Maybe here's how they started off the Dragonlance campaign, how would you handle this instead?
They were 5th to 7th level as I recall and the group were meeting up for the first time in quite a while the mage underwent his trial and was left badly weakened needing his brother's help to get around and he just wishes that wasn't the case!
One character misses another character who we would later learn has joined the Dragonborn Empire and even had a child with another PC which her half elven boyfriend doesn't know about!
I coudl go on, but I know they were Draconians, but in 5e we have Dragonborn so why not use them?
Okay they don't have the same special abilities, but its 5e maybe have the situation be more complex with the dragonborn Empire having dragonborn of the various draconic species and the various dragons are in uneasy peace until this conflict starts.
Yes what I described is a drastic change, but maybe just maybe this might inspire articles on this setting so its not just to advertise the new book it gives you actual background that some of us would like to see even if only articles for now.
Anybody else want to share their feelings on this?
To be exact, Zifnab (in the Deathgate Cycle) wasn't actually the same person- he was a very, very old Sartan (possibly a human before that), who read the Dragonlance books and therfore chose this name.
That's why he also makes James Bond and Tolkien references.
Huh. Always thought it was the same deity. TIL.
If you've read the books, you know the general story. What I'd do is simply use the 5e stats for everything, like the monsters, spells, and classes. Don't bother trying to convert anything. Draconians and kender could be issues, but I'd just build draconians from dragonborn and throw in some spell effects where appropriate. For kender, I'd just reskin halflings and give them Vicious Mockery as a racial trait, things like that. The various knightly orders are the toughest, but DriveThruRPG.com has the old stuff from 1e-3.5e available in pdf. Or just check the homebrew stuff here for all of it.
But I'd still love an official book for the setting. I'd love an official version from teams that have years of experience balancing classes, spells, monsters, and everything else.
I loved Fizban when I was in middle school reading these. A really great character trying to do good however he could. I've used him as a template for many NPC's in my campaigns.
True, to date Hickman has had three nearly identical characters using the same anagram nomenclature. The latter technically having been well read and placing the Dragonlance books as being fictional literature from a long dead past etc. For legal reasons they are careful to keep them as separate entities and Hickman has told us how he sees them not being the same.
Bahamut=paladine..
I know.
I love them because they are of the few gods to transcende different realms.
Well, there are also several gods who are worshipped both on Oerth and Toril, mostly racial gods (Moradin, Gruumsh, Corellon, etc.), and one god from our world that has worshippers on Toril (Tyr).
But yeah, Krynn has few overlaps with other D&D worlds, so it's nice to have this one.