Dragonlance was what got me into playing Dungeons and Dragons. I got into the TTRPG hobby when a friend (known as Darkmaster here) invited me to a game night of Mutants and Masterminds run by an acquaintance. We had so much fun that we picked up the hobby. Afterwards, we attempted to learn how to play D&D on our own. I wasn't too enthusiastic until he loaned me a copy of the Dragonlance chronicles. I enjoyed the book series and it got me more excited for playing D&D.
So, since I'm already working on a sort of Reboot/Fix to the Dragonlance setting, I figure it might be in good interest to go over the books for D&D 3.X in detail. I'll be starting with the main book, and then probably branch out into the splatbooks.
So, looking at the cover, it's certainly eye catching, but otherwise, there's really not much to say about it. A woman riding a dragon holding a lance. On the back cover, there's a blue dragon being riden by someone I presume is Kitiara uth Matar. It's the setting in a nutshell, and is decent.
The book opens with a foreward by Tracy Hickman (despite the fact that he's not credited on the cover as an author...). It starts kinda unrelated to the book as it talks about how he got involved with TSR, before talking about dragonlance, and how it was a TTRPG before it was any series of novels, which is a good enough sell, i suppose. There's not much else worth talking about here, so we'll go into the first chapters.
Introduction:
This part starts with a poem called the Canticle of the Dragon that covers the abridged history of the world of Krynn. Then it starts with a sort of line, that reminds me of "but come, the elves are waiting".
Regardless, it talks more about the 5 ages of Krynn. First, the Age of Starbirth, when the gods created the world. Then the Age of Dreams, which is when most of recorded history begins, even it most of it is shrouded in myth. That age ends with the Third Dragon War (the one with Huma and the dragonlances) and begins the Age of Might, which is the rise and destruction of Istar. Which goes into the Age of Despair which is when most of the main books take place (the chronicles, legends, dragons of summer flame). And then finally the Age of Mortals, when the War of Souls and the Dark Disciple trilogy happen.
Next is the world of Krynn. It says that there are 5 continents in the world, though only two of them have actually been fleshed out: Ansalon, where all of the main story takes place, and Taladas, which is fleshed out in other books. The other 3 are not mentioned (though one of them is Adlatum).
The final part of this introduction is the core themes and features of Dragonlance. One is epic fantasy, a dramatic battle of good against evil, and it's one of the core things dragonlance bills itself as. Adventuring for riches and bitches isn't really encouraged in the setting, players are more expected to go on epic journeys to save the world. The actions of the player characters should have massive impacts on the setting, which is certainly appealing. The next is of course the conflict between good and evil. The final one is the influence of the past of the world.
I'm generally on the fence about this stuff. I know Krynn's past well enough to not have it become "you will never be this awesome" but it is a risk in any game.
As an addendum, I'll add here, that Dragonlance is a very detailed setting. There's over 200 books written for the setting, meaning theirs plenty of material to draw from for cultures, regions, and so forth. If you like the books, and like roleplaying this is a good thing. However, the benefit is also a problem, in that there's so much work put into the setting that it's hard to add your own stuff without it feeling overly fanficcy. I personally don't care, but it might be an issue for some people.
Since this section is running short. I'll include...
Chapter 1: Races
We'll be going in order on this section so Humans first.
Humans
Humans were created by the Gods of Balance. Humans are divided into two categories, Civilized humans who live in cities and Nomads who don't. They get separate race blocks despite the fact that there's no appreciable difference between them. (Seriously, the only difference is languages, which you don't care much about. There's no reason for these to be seperate entries).
Dwarves
These are your typical fantasy dwarves. The are different variations on dwarves, though with a few exceptions, they're mostly minor.
Mountain Dwarves: Include the Clans of Hylar, the oldest clan, Daewar, and Klar, who the sourcebook says were Hill Dwarves caught inside Thorbardin when it was sealed off, and weren't alowed to leave. They're considered to be crazy, but the reputation is undeserved.
Mountain Dwarves apparently have a language called Hammertalk.
Hill Dwarves: Flint Fireforge of the companions is one of these. They are also called the Neiwar clan. There's no real difference statistically between Hill and Mountain dwarves save languages, again. I get that in universe Hill and Mountain dwarves hate each other, but I don't see why that justifies different race entries.
Dark Dwarves: These dwarves are exiled from the rest of the clans, because they have an interest in magic. They live deeper beneath the ground, and actually have different racial traits for once!
Dark Dwarves have normal dorf traits save for: +2 Con, -4 Cha 120ft. darkvision, and +2 to hide, move silently and listen, and suffer -2 attacks, saves, and checks in bright light.
Gully Dwarves: Ugh, why to these things exist? They add nothing, and are just offensive in every aspect, being basically retarded dwarves. As written in the books they're covered in sores and blisters because they're too stupid to figure out basic hygene. The implications get worse when their backstory is that they're they're gnome/dwarf hybrids, which just adds another uncomfortable layer on top of this. I have a few proposed fixes for gully dwarves, in my dragonlange reboot project, thankfully.
Anyways, they have +2 Dex, +2 Con, -4 int, -4 cha, are small size, have a +2 bonus to hide, move silently, and survival, and can use survival in cities to find food as well. They have +2 to saves against poison and disease, and have a +4 bonus to diplomacy to convince someone not to harm them. They suffer a -4 penalty to fear checks however. They're favored class is Rogue. Yeck, moving on!
Elves
Scoob, let's just chill out...
Elves are divided into different categories, and they all have different racial traits, and length entries, because of course they do. Regardless, the elves were originally created by the Gods of Light, though they've strayed from that purpose often enough, and thankfully, the books do acknowledge the arrogance and xenophobia of the elves.
Kagonesti: Basically, Krynns wild/wood elves. These elves prefer to live in the wilderness, in forests or plains. Though they do have the unfortunate tendancy to end up enslaved by othe other elves in an attempt to "teach" them how to live properly (the books emphasis, not mine), thus making them perhaps the only elves to have justified xenophobia. They live in Southern Ergoth, and are basically fine on their own, but the other elves keep trying to "civilize" them.
Kagonesti have normal elven traits except for +2 Dex, -2 int, -2 cha, Darkvision 30ft. (all Krynn elves have darkvision), proficiency with the longspear, all bows, and the short sword and +1 to Knowledge (nature) and survival.
Qualinesti: Basically, the high elves. They're the elves that most interact with the rest of the world, and most of the main elf characters in chronicles are from this group (laurana, tanis, gilthas, porthios, ect.). They were a split off from the Silvanesti, over idealogical differences (I have the Kinslayer Wars trilogy which covers this. I might go back and read it thoroughly one day). Their home gets attacked by a dragon overlord during the War of Souls. Though they take down the dragon, it destroys the elven capital, and with the elves already in disarray, it's not long before bandits, goblins, and monsters take over. The capital has collapsed into a sinkhole and become the Lake of Death. Now the Qualanesti are refugees.
Racial traits are the PHB elves plus the Elvensight and a +1 bonus to diplomacy and sense motive.
Silvanesti: Gray elves. The original elven civilization. Notables include Lorac (fucks over his people by attempting to channel a dragon orb and losing control, transforming the elven lands into a nightmare realm), Silvanoshei (fucks over his people by destroying a tree that created a barrier to protect their people [even though that barrier was draining the lives of the elves and their land, and was the result of the previous leader fucking over his people] and then falls in love with Mina, allowing him to get manipulated. When she leaves, he runs off after her, leaving his people without a leader), Alhanna Starbreeze (fucks over her people by moving troops to the wrong location, allowing minotaurs to invade and take over, turning the Silvanesti also into refugees) and Dalamar (doesn't fuck over his people despite being the only person on this list with an evil alignment). The silvanesti are basically super elves. Super beautiful, super magical, super arrogant, super xenophobic, super douchy! They do get brought down a few pegs though as the examples above demonstrate. They have a strict caste system, where your position in life is determined by what house you were born into (house ruler, house protector, house mystic, house gardener, house servant ect.) attempting to break out of this system will get you declared a dark elf and kicked out at the very least.
Racial traits are like normal elves but +2 dex, +2 int, -2 con, -2 cha. Elvensight and +1 to Knowledge Arcana and spellcraft.
Half-Elves: Unlike the PHB/Greyhawk half elves, which seems to imply that they're accepted by both races. Krynn half-elves are disliked by both. Otherwise, nothing really special. The only thing different from normal half-elves is Elvensight.
Sea-Elves:
Sea Elves are divided into two tribes the Dimernesti (shoal elves) and the Dargonesti (deep elves) who live where their names suggest. They all have blue skin, and webbed hands and feet for better swimming. The Dargonesti are isolationist and hold others (elves and non-elves) in disdain. The Dimernesti interact with others more, but after suffering during the cataclysm where they lost most of their cities, they've become less so.
Dargonesti have: +2 Str, +2 Dex, -2 cha, Swim 30ft. 60ft. darkvision. They have Blur, Dancing Lights, Obscuring Mist and Darkness 1/day each, and 3/day they can turn into a dolphin. They also suffer a -2 penalty to attacks, checks and saves if they spend more than 24 hours out of water. Their favored class is fighter. They have a +1 level adjustment, though it seems unwarranted.
Dimernesti have: +2 Dex, +2 Int, -2 Wis, -2 Cha. They can turn into a giant sea otter 3/day and suffer a -1 penalty to attacks, checks and saves if they spend more than 24 hours out of water.
Gnomes:
Gnomes of Dragonlance are the next of the "comic relief" races. They're not like standard hill gnomes, and are instead Steampunk gnomes. They're the most techonologically advanced people on Krynn, though unfortunately, this comes at the cost of some of their inventions going horribly awry and exploding. The gnomes obsession with innovation is part of their culture. Each gnome has a life quest that they must undertake. These aren't easy to accomplish, and are often passed down from generation to generation until it finally becomes completed.
Character wise, their basically protrayed as nerds, talkingreallyfastandusingalotofcomplexterminlogyandoverelaborationandliteralmindedness. The Gnomes mainly live on Mount Nevermind on Sancrist Isle, which is fairly out of the way from the rest of Ansalon.
Stat wise they have: +2 Dex, +2 Int, -2 Strength, -2 Wisdom, +2 to Craft Alchemy and any one other craft, knowledge, or profession skill, based on their lifequest. They also gain a +2 bonus to will saves. Their favored class is whatever their 1st level class is.
Well that wasn't so bad, compared to Gully Dwarves, whats next...
Ah, shit.
Kender:
You know what, fuck it, everything that needs to be said about Kender has already been said, by me and others. I have fixes and explanations proposed in my dragonlance reboot thing, so I'll talk about them there.
What is worth talking about a bit is Afflicted Kender. Basically a giant red dragon comes and kills the fuck out of Kendermore, turning the area around it into the desolation. The surviving Kender are changed, becoming more like ordinary humans halflings. They don't steal, can't taunt people and generally prefer to avoid danger rather than charge in out of curiosity. Differences with main kender are no immunity to fear, no bonus to taunt, and the skills are instead +2 climb, hide, move silently, and jump. No penalty to concentration.
Centaurs:
Apparently, these guys are a major race, despite not really being involved in any of the major books. Not really that interested in talking about them, and you probably aren't interested in reading me talk about them. MOVING ON!
Draconians:
Fuck. Yes.
Draconians are the best fucking thing in dragonlance, and one of the coolest things to come out of D&D period. They're everything you want out of dragonmen, and I fell in love with them upon first reading about them. They were created before and during the War of the Lance via a dark ritual using the eggs of metallic dragons, to basically be super soldiers for the war. They have a badass appearance, most have magical powers, and they all have death throes. Originally, the Draconians were all male, so as to keep the race subservient and unable to reproduce. However, after the war, it was discovered the ritual was performed on female eggs, they just weren't allowed to hatch. The females were freed and with their ability to reproduce secured, they founded the first Draconian nation, Teyr.
There are 5 normal breeds of Draconians (called Base or Metallic Draconians) and 5 other breeds (called Noble or Chromatic, though we'll talk about those guys much later).
Baaz: The basic kind made from the eggs of Brass Dragons. They are the most numerous of the draconians, used as footsoldiers in the dragon army. In a rare bit of realism, the Baaz's wings are too small to fly, though they can glide. They turn to stone upon death, trapping any slashing or piercing weapon that kills them within.
Statwise they have: +2 Str, -2 int, -2 wis, have the Dragon type and 2 dragon hit dice. They have claw and bite attacks, +2 natural armor, SR8+level and immunity to disease. They have run as a bonus feat, and can glide. When fighting under the command of a true dragon, they gain +1 to attacks and saves. They also need only 1/10th the amount of food a normal human does.
In my opinion if you were going to make one a character, you could eliminate the racial HD.
Kapak: Made from the eggs of Copper Dragons. They are stealthy and have special saliva. The males is poisonous, while the females has healing properties. In the dragonarmies they were used as scouts, spies, and assassins. They turn into pools of acid upon their deaths.
Statwise: +2 Dex, +2 Con, -2 Int, -2 Wis, Dragon type, 4 dragon HD. Have glide, death throes, poison/healing saliva, natural weapons, immunity to disease, run, 1/10th food requirement, inspired by dragons, Sneak attack, and SR11+level.
If i were eliminating the racial HD, I'd drop the sneak attack and lower the SR to 10+level.
The other 3 (Bozak, Sivak and Aurak) aren't listed here.
Ogre Races
On Kyrnn, Ogre constitutes a wide variety of creatures, listed here are the Irda, Ogres, and Minotaurs, though this group also includes giants.
Irda:
The original form of the ogres before their corrpution led to their downfall. These were the people created by the Gods of Darkness and are basically super-super-elves so much that even the super-elves would envy them. In the current era, there aren't that many of them. The Irda avoided the downfall of the rest of the ogres by secluding themselves from the rest of the world. They lived in isolation on distant islands, until they accidentally freed Chaos, which destroyed even more of them. Now there are just a handful left.
Most people in the rest of the world don't even know the Irda exist. If they have to go to the mainland, they always do it in disguise.
Stats are: +2 Int +2 Cha -2 Con. Have the [Shapechanger] subtype, low-light vision, and 3/day can Change Shape into a Humaoid creature. They have Dancing Lights, Detect Magic, Flare, Ghost Sound, Light and Mage Hand all 1/day. Favored Class is wizard.
Ogres
These are the fallen forms of the Irda, and are one of the 3 core races (the other being humans and elves). They live in the mountins in the ruins of what used to be Irda cities, as they've lost the knowledge of how to rebuild much of what was there. They're basically SRD ogres otherwise.
Minotaurs:
Krynn Minotaurs are different from their land based counterparts. They don't have racial hit die and are medium sized. They are a seafaring people, and rule and empire consisting of islands on the other side of the Blood Sea. They have a warrior culture, and venerate Sargonnas as their chief deity.
Stats are: +4 Str, -2 dex, -2 int, -2 cha, +2 natural armor, gore attack, bonus to intimidate, swim and use rope. They have the ability to gain scent as a feat.
And that's the races: Next up, classes!
