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The Chad Jihad posted:I realize the setting is called Dragonlance but this is too many dragons What was your breaking point? The Other Dragons, the Dragon Orcs, the Dragon Orcs Who Are Mindslaves, or the Dragon Orc Nation?
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Jan 25, 2020 00:48
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FATAL & Friends 2020: 'Dragon' has Stopped Looking Like a Word
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Jan 25, 2020 00:51
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Dragon dragon Dragon dragon dragon dragon Dragon dragon.
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Jan 25, 2020 01:01
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Libertad! posted:What was your breaking point? The Other Dragons, the Dragon Orcs, the Dragon Orcs Who Are Mindslaves, or the Dragon Orc Nation? I think the Amphi Dragon is what got me. Its just a big scaly frog!
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Jan 25, 2020 01:02
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megane posted:FATAL & Friends 2020: 'Dragon' has Stopped Looking Like a Word
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Jan 25, 2020 01:24
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The Chad Jihad posted:I realize the setting is called Dragonlance but this is too many dragons Too many dragons, not enough lances.
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Jan 25, 2020 01:27
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Nemo2342 posted:Too many dragons, not enough lances. This one's better for a thread change title.
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Jan 25, 2020 01:37
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the dargon is wise, a sage among the ignorant
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Jan 25, 2020 01:47
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megane posted:FATAL & Friends 2020: 'Dragon' has Stopped Looking Like a Word
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Jan 25, 2020 07:21
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 Buck Rogers XXVc: The 25th Century Saturn: You Shoulda Put A Ring On It Saturn itself doesn't have a lot going on- nobody’s tried placing any bioengineered life on it, though theoretically it’d be possible to breed something like the Stormriders and put them in the middle atmosphere. Instead Saturn’s exploitation revolves entirely around its rings and satellites. The rings are inhabited by a group of genetically engineered miners called Ringers. Ringers are basically cyborgs- they’re wired into large cybernetic spacesuits and can never leave them (if forced to, they die.) The Ringers mine the rings not just for minerals, but for water and hydrocarbons. Like the Belters the Ringers are fiercely independent, and carry that to a very weird extreme- they have no loyalty to any organized state, barely make contact with the rest of humanity except for trade, and don’t really form communities except as necessary. Also living out here are a lot of Spacers, as we met earlier, and they’re even more antisocial. Basically Saturn’s a good place to go if you hate people. Atlas is the innermost moon of Saturn, and it’s a repair and congregation site for the Ringers. Prometheus and Pandora are both trading posts for inhabitants of the region, focusing on stuff found in the rings. Janus and Epitmethius are twin moons in basically the same orbit; both have spaceports, and are supply points. Janus also specializes in building small specialized craft. Mimas is the site of a single arcology in a giant crater, run by an insane dictator named Agatha Kiribashi. She is over 200 years old thanks to advanced medical treatments, owns everything and everyone in the settlement, and has an army of clones and Gennies. Enceladus is an ice world with all its settlements in orbit. Tethys is a gigantic mall. There’s a huge chasm running some 900 miles, it’s been domed over, and is the Saturnian center of commerce. It’s one of those places where everything goes, everything has a price, etc. There are a couple of Trojan objects on Tethys’ orbital path; Calypso is a giant rock that’s been turned into a for-profit prison open to anyone willing to rent space, and Telesto is sort of a puppet of Tethys that specializes in poor quality spaceships and other sleazy operations. Dione has a similar chasm, as well as lots of veins of valuable hydrocarbons all over the surface. Many separate city-states have been established, and they’re all perpetually feuding and waging trade wars. Rhea is also rich with hydrocarbons, but various arcologies squabbled over mining rights and all their economies stagnated and they all kinda died out, with people abandoning the surface to live elsewhere. It’s a big ghost town, and there are still pirates and the like hiding out in the ruins. Titan is, basically, in the middle of a giant 4x game. Since it’s the only moon with an atmosphere (rich in nitrogen), it’s got potential for terraforming. No one group really seems to own it, so ALL the major powers of the solar system have put their own terraforming operations into effect. This, as you might imagine, is not a good idea as all these slightly different approaches to terraforming leave the moon in a state of constant flux. The various groups keep trying and competing, and nobody’s declared war yet because they don’t want everyone else to gang up on them. Also, nobody actually knows what the right approach is. This seems like a fun place to send players. Hyperion is a “potato shaped rock” (this scans), home to a small robotic emergency station. Iapetus has one face constantly covered in a black carbon dust, which various settler groups are mining, but it’ll probably run out in a few years. And finally, there’s Phoebe, which serves as a religious sanctuary for members of various faiths across the Solar System- it’s run by a group of representatives from the major groups, and the Ishtarians are providing military support. And that’s Saturn. The Outer Worlds are both pretty self-contained, and you’ll have to come up with reasons to drag the PCs out here if you want to use all this stuff, but there are some interesting hooks here and there. And yeah, that’s as far as we get into the outer solar system; Uranus is a mystery. So, next time, we’ll have a bunch of assorted setting information. Communications delays! Money! Those drat DPs again! Be there!
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Jan 25, 2020 19:13
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Libertad! posted:In terms of folktales, most of them come from old war stories which then take on an increasingly fictionalized account to pass on important lessons. Some are quite bitter about their metallic dragon ancestors: one involves a troop of draconians coming upon a seemingly peaceful town which is in reality a trap by the metallic dragons to kidnap them. Once they find out they cannot change their children back, they slaughter them all. The moral is that draconians should be wary of even their ancestors, who “will destroy you if you don’t become what they want.” Between this and quote:And if that’s not bad enough, there’s a secret order of noble draconians encouraging the civil strife and infighting in the belief that Teyr will inevitably show its true colors for “evil feeds upon itself.” Well. Besides Maxwell Lord posted:
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Jan 25, 2020 20:22
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I think it's remarkable how "grounded" the Buck Rogers RPG is. Like it's not hard hard sci-fi, but it's not clogged with mystic psychic monks, space aliens, time travellers or inexplicable hypertech like so many others. It feels like most things in the setting would fit well into a Traveller campaign.
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Jan 25, 2020 20:52
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I'd so play Buck Rodgers, even in the dumb d20 form. Savage Rodgers when?
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Jan 25, 2020 21:18
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PurpleXVI posted:I think it's remarkable how "grounded" the Buck Rogers RPG is. Like it's not hard hard sci-fi, but it's not clogged with mystic psychic monks, space aliens, time travellers or inexplicable hypertech like so many others.
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Jan 25, 2020 22:43
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I just double-checked the solar system map from the Buck Rogers RPG; it only goes as far as Hygeia and Aurora in the asteroid belt as far as mapping things out (though I don't see why you couldn't make a pit stop to the Jovian or Saturnian moons.) This only applies if you want to go off-map and visit the outer planets on purpose. If your rocket runs out of fuel you start drifting through space; this is where you cross your fingers that you come within 33 million miles (one inch on the map) of a planet so you get caught in its gravity well and can signal for help before you
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Jan 25, 2020 23:24
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  Book 3: Kindred of the Dragon Chapter 1: Draconic Cousins This chapter covers the various monsters of the Dragon type which aren’t true dragons, dragonspawn, or draconians, including some specific to the Dragonlance setting. Generally speaking they do not have a universal creation story like the chromatic and metallic clans: most of them are later creations of the gods or by mortals for some specified task. Each one gets a handy stat block, even ones already in the core Monster Manual. The wyvern’s the odd exception, where we instead have an Advanced Challenge Rating 14 Greater Wyvern which is Gargantuan in size. Dragon Turtles are creations of Zeboim, the Chaotic Evil goddess of storms and the sea. Although they are violent creatures representing her wrath, they are mostly Neutral aligned for some reason. They mostly care for survival and typically become allies or mounts of aquatic races who can provide them with enough food. The aquatic ogres have been known to decorate their shells with enchanted paint to infect their bloodstreams with bacteria. Such organisms are harmless to the dragon turtle, but deadly to those they bite (and yes we get stats for it as a poison). Dragonnes originated as sapient lions, tigers, panthers, etc living on the Dragon Isles who had close ties to the metallic clans. When Takhisis’ chromatic minions snuck onto the Isles to steal the metallic dragon eggs, said animals detected their presence and fought to save the eggs. They failed and were slaughtered. When the metallic dragons woke up, they despaired not just at the loss of their eggs but at the deaths of their furry friends. Paladine decided to bless the few survivors, turning them into dragonnes. Said monster’s roar represents the emotional pain felt during these dark times, which is why it saps the energy and makes those who hear it tired. Most dragonnes still live on the Dragon Isles, but a few during the War of the Lance moved to Ansalon in search of draconians out of curiosity and an attempt to make sense of their origins. Faerie Dragons are small, playful beings which mostly dwell in forest glades. Different cultures have their own theories on their origins, ranging from having ties to the alien huldrefolk to being the children of Habbakuk. They have close ties to the elven forest nations and have been helpful in safeguarding said homes from their many enemies, from the Dragonarmies to the Dragon Overlords. The latter group has caused many faerie dragons to become displaced across the continent due to supernatural changes in terrain. Stat-wise they are Small, extremely good flyers (100 feet, perfect maneuverability), have a non-damaging breath weapon which can daze opponents, and a variety of spell-like abilities centering around misdirection, illusion, and nature. Feeders are dagger-sized dragons who appear like said weapon but with a pommel shaped like a dragon’s head. Their ‘blade’ is a blood-sucking proboscis, and is actually a common ingredient for wizards designing weapons which cause magical bleeding. The feeders were created by Takhisis as a cruel jest to sow paranoia; feeders will often lay dormant, appearing much like normal weapons before seemingly coming to life and stabbing their owner to death. In spite of this origin the chromatic clans feel no love for them, believing them to be pathetic pretenders and vermin to be destroyed. Stat-wise feeders are extremely small (Diminutive size), have a primary stab attack which deals Constitution damage as it drains blood, and has a +10 bonus to Disguise checks to pass itself off as a dagger. Fogdrakes are bipedal dragons which naturally create a radius of magical mist around their bodies. It is believed that they were artificially created to hunt down spellcasting elves during the Age of Dreams, and their innate ability to sense arcane magic as well as their hatred for such phenomena lends credence to this theory. Most of them are bound in magical prisons in suspended animation dating to the Second Dragon War, although quite a few have been broken due to dwarven miners stumbling upon them. Statwise fogdrakes are Huge melee-focused dragons who can full attack on a charge and Rage like a barbarian. They have no breath weapon and glide instead of fly, and constantly exude the equivalent of an Obscuring Mist spell which does not hinder them thanks to a 60 foot radius of Blindsight. Hatori are crocodile-like dragons which can swim through sand and earth as naturally as a fish through water. They never stop growing for their entire lives, and a few can become truly massive. They are solitary hunters due to the rarity of food in their regions, and frequently migrate. They are sapient (Intelligence 7) and are capable of mating with true dragons whose offspring are known as Tylors. Statwise Hatori are Large sized creatures but can Advance up to Colossal size. They have a slow base land speed of 10 feet, but can burrow much faster through earth at 60 feet. They are built for melee, capable of full attacking on a charge, can charge while burrowing, can start a free grapple every time they hit a smaller-sized opponent, and can swallow said grappled opponent. Pseudodragons are much like their basic D&D versions: tiny playful beings with a cat-like disposition but a good heart. They have only recently made themselves known to the world at large during the Age of Mortals, and tend to bond with individual mortals who earn their respect or amuse them. They are high-maintenance familiars and demand frequent attention, and will part ways with a mage who acts cruelly to the pseudodragon or others. Sand Beasts are dinosauric-like dragons living in deserts believed to be behir-hatori crossbreeds. They are nocturnal hunters and have very keen eyes and are capable of sudden bursts of speed. Their mating season occurs during the Night of the Eye, when all three of Krynn’s magical moons are full, and the males fight and crash into each other for the right to mate with present females. During the War of the Lance the Green Dragon Highlord Salah-Khan often assigned disfavored officers with the unenviable task of capturing said beasts as a potential gift to Emperor Ariakas. No officer succeeded in this task, and it took the efforts of a green dragon to capture one by the closing years of the War of the Lance. And even then the sand beast somehow escaped! Statwise sand beasts are Large dragons which deal bonus damage on a charge attack (a whopping 4d6+24 total) and can also gore opponents they trample over. Every 1d4 rounds they can get a supernatural speed boost, taking an extra standard or move action. They are faster than hatoris on land but have a slower burrowing speed. Tylors are the half-elves of dragonkind. The result of a hatori-true dragon pairing, they are often scorned by their mostly-chromatic parents but treated as fond cousins by metallic clans. Their appear much like wingless dragons with angular heads and long necks. Their scales match that of their dragon parents, but have a duller color and their bodies have knobby ridges on the lower parts much like a hatori. They do not have the biological moral compulsions as their true dragon heritage, and during the War of the Lance served either the Dragonarmies or the Whitestone forces on a case by case basis. Like true dragons they have been known to serve as mounts for riders, although the chromatic breeds make for more short-term relationships while sea tylors refuse to serve anyone. Tylors have more varied stat blocks in Bestiary of Krynn, but we have a sample green tylor stat block in this product. They are Large-sized dragons who can burrow instead of fly, and can cast spells as a 5th-level sorcerer in addition to spell-like abilities mostly centered around misdirection (blur, pass without trace, invisibility, longstrider). They have the Frightful Presence of their true dragon parents. Wyverns are our final entry. Their origins are unknown and differ from culture to culture: some theorize they are descended from black dragons due to a mistranslation of elven poetry, while gnomes believe they share a common ancestry with pseudodragons. Metallic dragons claim that they were allies of the bakali (lizardfolk) and other reptilian humanoids. Most wyverns live in mountain ranges and served as flying cavalry for various forces in Krynn’s long past. They fell out of favor among the Dark Queen’s armies during the Second Dragon War and are much more isolated. They are not very bright and live simple lives as hunters, although they are respectful of true dragons and have been known to become minions (in the chromatics’ case) and potential friends (in the metallic’s case). But their poor impulse control and lack of intelligence is something many true dragons find annoying. They are notoriously ornery and hard to train as mounts, although the Dark Knights have had some success in convincing a few to join their ranks. We have a Greater Wyvern stat block instead of the base variety: it is a 21 Hit Die Gargantuan version of its species and as such has a much more powerful assortment of natural weapons along with a debilitating Constitution-damaging stinger attack. Thoughts So Far: Overall this chapter is a bit of a mixed bag: I do like how the sourcebook expanded on some of the existing mythology and placement of the core Monster Manual creatures in the world. The Dragonnes’ roar reflecting a traumatic origin and also being on a quest to find the link between draconians and the stolen metallic eggs is my favorite. The wyverns being more akin to an isolated society than animalistic monsters I found to be an interesting touch. But some are not so different than their base entries, with the dragon turtles and pseudodragons hardly different from their setting-less versions. The hatori and sand beasts are really just “monster dragons” to use as combat encounters  Book 3, Chapter 2: Bakali Races We’re in the home stretch baby! This chapter details the iconic scaly races of Dungeons & Dragons (plus two new ones) and their place in the existing Dragonlance canon. Collectively known as the “bakali” due to a common ancestral lineage, they include the lizardfolk, their larger and meaner jarak-sinn cousins, troglodytes, kobolds and their larger cousins the sligs, and nagas. Much like the draconians, the authors did a good job at making three-dimensional societies for most of them as well as PC material in the form of racial classes. The naga sadly have no classes, as the authors explain that their abilities are too powerful and unbalanced as playable options. A Brief History talks about a shared origin history. The bakali claim to be a primordial race of ur-lizardfolk* who lived before the rise of the three elder races of humans, ogres, and elves who they call the Starborn. The dragon clans visited the bakali tribes and declared themselves as masters, worshiped as virtual gods. The dragons shared a few secrets and taught them to build great cities and master various forms of magic. The dragon-god’s cities warred upon each other for territory and resources, which angered the true gods of Krynn. Said gods visited earthquakes, storms, and other natural disasters to destroy their civilizations. Chislev and Sirrion, the gods of nature and fire respectively, disagreed with the rest of their pantheons’ cruelty and trained the bakali survivors in fire and the weaving of clothes to survive the oncoming Ice Age. And so the bakali today worship those two gods above all others. *and lizardfolk today still call themselves bakali. So besides the big obvious Cataclysm, this is not the first or even second time the gods of Krynn apparently committed genocide upon ancient civilizations. The War of the Lance sourcebook details them doing the same to the City of Lost Names whose ruling sorcerers mastered the art of time travel: a few of the gods mustered a force of red dragons to burn down said city, including the supposedly good-aligned god Solinari. Losing the secrets of their original civilization, the bakali suffered, and over the years found themselves joining the forces of Takhisis during various Dragon Wars, either through trickery (her posing as Chislev or Sirrion) or in a few cases due to genuine devotion. During the War of the Lance, lizardfolk matriarchs guarded the hatcheries of chromatic dragons while their parents warred for the Dragon Empire. Kobolds notably served as shock troops in the Blue Dragonarmy’s forces. In the current Age of Mortals the bakali see the current era as a golden age in the making. A time where they can reclaim their old ancestral grounds and make a name for themselves. The founding of the draconian city-state of Teyr was partially this inspiration, but so was the Black Dragon Overlord Onysablet’s experimentation in making bakali super-soldiers for her territory. Lizardfolk comprise three races: the base bakali, the jarak-sinn, and the underground troglodytes. The bakali live in wet and humid environs in small villages, and those who lair near the pre-Ice Age ruins regard such cities as sacred and guard the holy grounds against intruders from outsiders to among their own race. The jarak-sinn are technically a subrace of lizardfolk tainted by Takhisis to be bigger and stronger with innate violent and dominant tendencies. Jarak-sinn cannot reproduce with each other and require a bakali mate, but they inevitably attempt to steer lizardfolk towards more warlike pursuits in the tribes where they do show up. Lizardfolk lay eggs in communal hatcheries and as such are raised as a whole by the village rather than by specific parental units. Bakali and Jarak-sinn are distrustful of wizardry, regarding it as “elven magic” and exile clerics and druids who do not worship either Sirrion or Chislev. Mystics are held in high regard, viewed as being inheritors of the ancient lost art of their first civilization, although they often struggle with clerics and druids for shared social status. Troglodytes are very different than their base setting-neutral kind. They are not mostly Chaotic Evil, being rather isolated and inoffensive creatures who live as scavengers in Krynn’s dark tunnels. They often clash with dwarves, although more due to territory than anything else. Troglodytes are matriarchal in nature: their tales teach that it was male leaders who were responsible for their elder civilizations’ wars and thus only appoint women as leaders. Furthermore, they are quite proud of their underground homes and will tell outsiders who make friendly contact of the various subterranean wonders their clan encountered. When it comes to other races the lizardfolk are isolationists. A few have made positive trade relations with neighboring humans and a few migrated to Teyr in belief that it will be a safe haven for reptilian people. But overall they are feared and disliked, in some cases mistaken for draconians by those less learned of both creatures, while elves are disliked due to the lizardfolk having long memories of fighting them during the Second Dragon War.  Kobolds and Sligs are bakali who were warped by the passing of the Graygem into races of their own. They are quite similar to their base versions: regarded as pests and monsters by most races, hate gnomes, and are known for their legendary trapmaking. Not very original, but the trapmaking aspect has a bit of a spin on it as the two races are rather jealous of the gnome’s technological prowess. Kobolds are almost universally bullied by the other evil races, and sligs are bigger, beefier versions of them who believe that their cousins are innately slaves made to serve them. The kobolds hate the sligs and other races for mistreatment, and often develop sadistic tendencies and inferiority complexes as a result. Kobolds are often fond of trash talk and threats, hoping that their bluster can avoid fights before they begin. Inter and intra-kobold conflict often uses this first as a possible deterrence to outright violence. Kobold tribal leadership is determined via democratic vote, while sligs use ritualized trial by combat. All forms of labor are devoted to food production and survival. Trapmakers and priests are the exception, with specialized roles to which they dedicate their lives and are supported by the rest of the community. Sligs live in both nuclear and extended family units, although kobolds recognize no concept of marriage and children are raised exclusively by the tribe’s women. Interestingly kobolds and sligs give birth to live young much like mammals instead of laying eggs. Many kobolds are quite fond of the former Blue Dragon Highlord Kitiara. By hiring so many of their race as soldiers during the War of the Lance, she was one of the few non-kobolds who seemed to regard their race with respect. It is for this reason that she became something of a folk hero among their tribes. The death of Takhisis has caused a cultural upheaval among the slig: their priests and lorekeepers are going into full-on propaganda mode, insisting that they never worshiped such a weak goddess and replacing her role with that of Sargonnas (Lawful Evil deity of vengeance and strength). Kobolds for their part still hold Takhisis fondly but have also transferred their faith to Sargonnas. Both sligs and kobolds strongly prefer divine magic over arcane, with no particular bias towards clericism or mysticism. quote:wizardly magic: the kobold necromancer Master Yap Sizzlegizzard, who rose to play a minor role in the restoration of the Dragons’ Graveyard just months after the War of Souls. Yap had been a sorcerer of some talent prior to the return of the gods, and he was among those visited by Nuitari with an offer of patronage. Yap’s progress after this point, together with the story of how he passed the Test of High Sorcery, remains unknown. Following the incident at the Dragons’ Graveyard, Yap went on to pursue his dark arts and generally cause trouble for others, much to the chagrin of other Black Robe wizards. Fun Fact: Master Yap is a kobold DMPC of the Key of Destiny Adventure Path, the only real long-term one who joins the party mid-way through the second book. He’s had something of an ascended fandom among Dragonlance gamers.  Nagas are serpent-like beings with humanoid heads. They come in three varieties who each have their own languages (Celestial, Abyssal, or Aquan) and behavior. They are very low in number and cannot lay claim to any true settlements, but they have a bit of commonalities. Their origins are unknown but many sages place their creation during the Second Dragon War. Nagas are not social creatures and tend to stick to single places over the course of their long lives if they can help it. Guardian nagas choose holy sites and act as protectful watchers over the area, while the evil-aligned spirit nagas are a bit more sociable and often manipulate others to do their bidding: quote:Spirit nagas, in particular, have a knack for using lesser races to do their bidding. They know how to read creatures like kobolds, goblins, hobgoblins, and even nomad humans and trolls; knowing their tendencies allows them to know how to hold power over them. Knowing that kobolds will feel bound to fulfill a debt or favor owed, a spirit naga might do something to help their tribe, knowing not only that she can call in that favor later but that, until she does, the tribe feels beholden to her. She would know that goblins are easily intimidated but aren’t likely to honor a debt, so she might use power and threats—such as a threat to have her kobold allies attack—to hold a local goblin clan in line. Meanwhile, a bakali settlement nearby needs assistance building a small flood control dam, so she enlists her goblin vassals to do it (thus ensuring the bakali owe her a favor, as well). Actual webs of intrigue set up by spirit nagas can get much more complex. Errr, you trying to tell us something, book? Nagas are naturally gifted at arcane magic, wielding primal sorcery much like dragons and capable of using it even in pre-Chaos War eras. They worship various gods depending upon their alignment and nature, but have a more lackadaisical attitude towards outright devotion: a small shrine with a few objects related to the deity’s area of influence is considered adequate for most nagas. Naga language often adopts peculiarities even when speaking in other tongues: the water naga’s Aquan has no pronouns of any kind and sounds quite odd: Example of Water Naga Speech posted:Greetings, human, please forgive Cantha for frightening human; Cantha did not mean to do so nor does Cantha mean human harm. Cantha’s name is Cantha, what is human’s? Racial Traits and Classes: All of these reptilian races save the naga have both base racial traits for making characters as well as Savage-Species style level progressions. The Dragonlance kobold has no Hit Dice or Level Adjustment and can be played much like a core race, although they get one new nifty trait on top of their Monster Manual features: Great Ally. This reflects kobolds being good team players, where their aid another and flanking bonuses given to allies is +3 and +4 respectively instead of the default +2. Sligs are a 5 level class with the crappy Humanoid type. They have some pretty nice bonuses on all three physical ability scores but a penalty to Charisma, and they have Martial Weapon Proficiency in a variety of polearms. Their more eye-catching features includes the ability to spit acid as a ranged touch attack which can also temporarily blind targets, and they have Fire Resistance 10. As for the three Bakali races...the base lizardfolk is exactly like its Monster Manual version save with more bonus languages: they’re underpowered with some natural weapons and a nice Armor Bonus along with being able to swim, but nothing else significant for their effective 3 level class. Jarak-sinn are like Lizardfolk Ogres: they are Large size, have higher Strength and Constitution bonuses than their base race but -4 Intelligence, a +9 instead of +5 natural armor bonus, and the unique ability to coat their melee weapons with corrosive acidic saliva which deals 1d4 damage and only works on living non-reptilian creatures. All for a 6 level class. Not very impressive either. Finally, troglodytes have a nice 90 foot darkvision (most races have 60 feet at most), the Multiattack as a bonus feat along with natural weapons, and a +4 racial bonus on hide checks which increases to +8 in stoney and underground surroundings. They have good natural armor at +6, but their most iconic ability includes a constant 30 foot radius of musk which sickens all within the AoE for 10 rounds. The troglodyte has no means of suppressing this ability, which is rather debilitating for a 4 level PC class. Thoughts So Far: In terms of expanded society and culture, this is a great book. Non-evil troglodytes are a novel concept, and I liked how the lizardfolk were made an interesting race with rich history while maintaining their iconic features. The kobolds and naga didn’t really add much new, and the racial classes are predictably underpowered. Appendix: Rules of the Dragon The final segment of our book includes feats, spells, equipment, magic items, and two new templates along with charts and tables for age, height, and weight for all of the draconian and new races detailed in Dragons of Krynn. Quite a bit of this material has previously existed in earlier Dragonlance sourcebooks, but are repeated here for their relevance to dragons and dragonkind. Several of the new Feats enhance existing draconian abilities, and as such vary in quality. Feats which improve death throes are never going to see use in all but high-level play at which point the party cleric can resurrect you, while a Draconian Glide/Fly series of feat trees can give you outright flight but can cost up to 4 feat slots. Improved Energy Ray is a rather cool aurak-only feat which increases the damage of their innate energy ray and can imbue their melee attacks with it. Potent and Greater Potent Saliva increases the die types of a kapak’s poison/healing saliva, and due to Dexterity damage being better than outright healing damage is more useful to the males. Alternate Form allows any Adult or older true dragon to shapeshift into a single animal or humanoid form, while Draconic Vampirism allows a true dragon to gain temporary hit dice by absorbing the souls of other true dragons they slay. The five Spells are situational to varying degrees. Detect Dragon allows you to sense the presence of creatures with the Dragon type but is very high-level in comparison to other detect spells and not as useful. Dragon’s Blood grants you immunity to the frightful presence of dragons and a scaling resistance bonus on saving throws against the abilities of a certain true dragon type determined by casting the spell. Dragonbane grants a weapon the ability to be unaffected by the death throes of a draconian and can automatically bypass any damage reduction of a dragon type creature. Dragonwise grants you a nice +10 bonus on Charisma skill checks when dealing with dragon type creatures, and finally Globular Hoard makes all unattended items touching one another to be considered to have all of the items’ combined weight for the purposes of manipulation; a common anti-theft measure for dragon hoards. Equipment includes some new weapons and armor developed by respective races, and most of them are nothing special. But we have a new thrown ranged weapon known as a wyrmbarb: this barbed metal spear is connected to a 20 to 60 foot length of chain purchased separately. When thrown at a dragon or another flying opponent it can lodge in said opponent if they are hit and fail a Reflex save. This limits their movement within the chain’s length unless they succeed on a Strength check or dislodge it as a full-round action, taking damage while they do so. For Magic Items, we have Mounted Dragonlances which deal more damage than the base but suffer attack penalties unless you are riding on a mount; a Shield of Breath Absorption which grants you Evasion against all breath weapons; and Stinkberries which can be thrown as sling bullets and cast Stinking Cloud upon impact. The artifacts include the deadly Dragon Orbs which can control evil-aligned dragons, drive draconians insane, and even let you peer into the past or future, but at the risk of being mentally dominated by the chromatic dragon spirit living inside. The Dragonlance of Huma is the most powerful of its kind, having more powerful abilities in the hands of a Lawful Good wearer while also granting said wearer the Mounted Combat for free and the Dismissal spell-like ability which can even banish gods from Krynn! The Dragonpurge Amulet was created by Malystryx the Red Dragon Overlord, and is used to absorb the skulls of dead dragons in an extradimensional storage space while granting scaling natural armor bonus to the wielder based on the number of stored skulls. The Heart of Dracart is capable of creating new draconians from already living ones by shattering the soul of a sacrificed draconian: said souls go on to create hundreds or even a thousand new draconians, but they are barely sapient and are good for little more than manual labor and brute combat. Finally, the Scale of Proxy can be used by someone nominated by a Dragon Overlord, granting them the ability to create Dragonspawn on their own. Speaking of which, we have a base Dragonspawn template which only includes the bare-bones universal features of said subrace but without their more unique clan-based features. The other template is the Heart of Dracart Draconian. They are basically scaled-down draconians of the sacrificed host, with lesser natural armor and 2 less Hit Dice. They lose much of their innate supernatural abilities such as death throes, and they have middling ability scores: 10 in physical, 5 in mental, and lose all of their skills and feats save for Listen and Spot which are a static +2 bonus. They retain the host’s class but cannot cast spells due to their mental scores and cannot advance in levels. They’re predictably pitiful creatures meant only as mooks, but their existence as a template without sample stat blocks means that the DM will have to start making his own Dracart Draconians for this role. And given the preponderance of existing Draconian mooks in Dragonlance sourcebooks, this feels more like something done to gamify aspects from the novels than something which will be useful in actual play. The last scholarly sidebar of this book is a rather interesting full-page one: it details a goblin hunter among his clan who spotted a blue tylor, and later described his encounter at seeing a hatori breaking free of the Dark Knights while a slave in their mines. The hatori’s rampage allowed him and the rest of his goblin kin to run or fight their way to freedom. Final Thoughts: Back in the 1980s, the original DL Modules sought to “put the Dragons back in Dungeons & Dragons,” and every adventure featured one such monster in a role beyond that of a typical beast. As the final stand-alone product in the 3rd Edition era of the setting, Dragons of Krynn more or less follows upon this original mission statement but for all of Ansalon. As a sourcebook it is great and appeals to both players and Dungeon Masters, and the nation of Teyr is very detailed for its relatively short page count. The entries are fun to read and, in spite of Dragonlance’s status as a cliche fantasy romp, it is willing to make some big subversions on the various iconic monsters. It even gave the monstrous wyverns a novel historical role! For the weak points, I’d say that these include the attempts at monster racial classes, and the feats and spells in back are not exactly appealing character options save for a few. But as those are in an Appendix rather than being a large portion of the book, this is not as bad as other D20 System products of its era. I hope that you enjoyed this Let’s Read, for it will be my last Dragonlance-related review in a while. For my next Let’s Read it looks like it will be the al-Qadim Campaign Setting. Unless SIGMATA manages a surprise upset in the last 24 hours as of this posting. I look forward to the next time we walk upon Ansalon’s shores together. Libertad! fucked around with this message at 21:51 on Jan 27, 2020 |
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Jan 26, 2020 02:53
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Why does the ice moon of Saturn not have any settlements? First of all it's not going to be any colder than the others and second of all it'd be easier to tunnel into. "Cat like disposition and a good heart" No need to say the same thing twice.
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Jan 26, 2020 04:32
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I think fogdrakes may be what was done with Rage, though she also was heavily implied to be an ancestor of modern dragons, and also was immune to all damage not dealt to her neck. For reasons.
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Jan 26, 2020 05:05
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PurpleXVI posted:I think it's remarkable how "grounded" the Buck Rogers RPG is. Like it's not hard hard sci-fi, but it's not clogged with mystic psychic monks, space aliens, time travellers or inexplicable hypertech like so many others. I feel like it’s as hard SF as you can get while still having something like a space opera. That’s really the cool thing about the setting, these are two sub genres of science fiction that normally just don’t mix but it works.
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Jan 26, 2020 05:19
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Maxwell Lord posted:I feel like it’s as hard SF as you can get while still having something like a space opera. That’s really the cool thing about the setting, these are two sub genres of science fiction that normally just don’t mix but it works.
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Jan 26, 2020 05:29
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So I've been looking over what I've done for Dragonlance these past near 2 months. And the funny thing is, I did more than I thought. For Dragonlance's 3.5 era, there were 11 sourcebooks (discounting a revised printing) and 6 adventures. I already reviewed the core setting sourcebook back in 2003, and the Dungeon Master's Screen is nothing special (screen with tables plus 32 page sourcebook of various NPC stat blocks). Additionally, the 3rd Edition revisions of the original Chronicles I'm doing for PurpleXVI's review would add another 3 (Dragons of Spring still ongoing) to my 5 already done sourcebooks. I also reviewed Key of Destiny Adventure Path, but stopped midway through the second sourcebook and plan to re-review the entire thing someday. It was my first ever FATAL & Friends, but a lot of the posts have sources to abandoned forums now filled with malware. So where does that leave me with the remaining Dragonlance sourcebooks?  Age of Mortals: Detailing Dragonlance's current Fifth Age, after the deaths of all but one of the Dragon Overlords and Takhisis dying for good. It is not a well-designed sourcebook, with an inaccurate table of contents and some odd font choices. It is novel for having stats for all of the Dragon Overlords and some new Colossal+ size categories for them, but is the worst of the sourcebooks.  Holy Order of the Stars: Covers the gods and religious orders of Ansalon. Would've been my next review, and was notable for having 18 prestige classes representing specialized worshipers for all but the Gods of Magic.  Knightly Orders of Ansalon: Would have covered the Knights of Solamnia, the Dark Knights, and the Legion of Steel. Also would've covered the more minor knighthoods from web enhancements.  Races of Ansalon: A sourcebook on new mechanics and role-playing notes on the major races. And some minor ones, including an entire chapter on goblins, and some mini-systems like designing gnomish inventions and a kender pouch contents 1d100 table.  Bestiary of Krynn: The "monster manual" for Dragonlance. Oddly this one didn't wow me as much as other setting-specific bestiaries. It did have some rules in back for monstrous PCs and how various societies would respond/treat them.  Lost Leaves from the Inn of the Last Home: although published during the D20 era, is completely rules-neutral. I can't really review it given its contents, and I'm a terrible cook so I don't know if I can do the real-world "Ansalonian-inspired recipes" justice. We also learn from this sourcebook that the Wizards of High Sorcery invented and preserve ice cream with cold magic.  Key of Destiny AP: The Age of Mortals' Epic Quest to Save the World Equivalent. But this time not based off of any existing PCs or novels. Earlier Edition Stuff: Interestingly when looking at prior Edition sourcebooks, they were quite heavy on adventure content over proper sourcebooks; the latter category was more or less a few specialized boxed sets. SAGA is the exception, which was the first system to do a proper city sourcebook on Palanthas. But 2nd Edition had a few such as the Otherlands and a write-up on Taladas' Minotaur League. And since 3e Dragonlance copies and inspires content from the SAGA-based Age of Mortals, I feel confident in saying that we got a very deep look into the world of Dragonlance so far. I may be crazy in saying this, but I feel as though I can review the rest of the Edition (minus Lost Leaves) in due time once I properly rest and recuperate. 
Libertad! fucked around with this message at 05:49 on Jan 26, 2020 |
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Jan 26, 2020 05:36
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Aw, i had Lost Leaves from the Inn of the Last Home, i liked all the biographies and stuff, never did actually try to cook anything from it, i wonder what ever happened to it. Edit: same with the Art of Dragonlance book.
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Jan 26, 2020 06:04
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Please do the Races of Ansalon first, watching the writers try to somehow make Dragonlance not problematic is always entertaining (if not in the intended way).
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Jan 26, 2020 09:56
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By popular demand posted:Please do the Races of Ansalon first, watching the writers try to somehow make Dragonlance not problematic is always entertaining (if not in the intended way). I may put up what to review as a poll once I return to Krynn. The StrawPoll has been a pretty good estimation of audience input across 3 different websites. Well, I also post my reviews on ENWorld, but I didn't put my own thread/poll explanation there b/c their sheer membership numbers may overwhelm and dominate results. Want to be more holistic.
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Jan 26, 2020 10:44
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FoldableHuman posted:I wonder if this was intentional, or if all the dragons are off-model in general because it's not an official WotC book. They might have rules about this, just like with Mindflayers and Beholders. There aren't any rules strictly forbidding it, but more importantly there aren't any rules in the OGL license allowing it, which is what you're really need. Though the OGL is pretty vague, it can be clear from other period references like the old OGL FAQ put out by Wizards that it only refers to text. So borrowing art designs without explicit permission of the rights holder would be a whole other legal situation. IANAL, of course.
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Jan 27, 2020 01:00
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God drat that new title kicks rear end.
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Jan 27, 2020 01:06
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Sometimes you can just tell when I've finally caught up with the thread.
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Jan 27, 2020 01:42
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Hostile V posted:God drat that new title kicks rear end. 
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Jan 27, 2020 01:50
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Hostile V posted:God drat that new title kicks rear end. I take 75% of responsibility for this.
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Jan 27, 2020 02:45
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...so, are there any good sourcebooks on Myconids or other fungus folk?
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Jan 27, 2020 02:48
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The StrawPoll for my next FATAL & Friends closed just now. The results are in, and while it was a close call for days, al-Qadim squeaked by a victory. I shall be reviewing that first, but fear not! I will be reviewing SIGMATA immediately afterwards!
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Jan 27, 2020 06:47
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Yay! I think.
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Jan 27, 2020 07:20
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Jan 27, 2020 07:38
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Libertad! posted:The StrawPoll for my next FATAL & Friends closed just now. The results are in, and while it was a close call for days, al-Qadim squeaked by a victory. I shall be reviewing that first, but fear not! I will be reviewing SIGMATA immediately afterwards! Unrelated to any of this but where is your avatar from? That's a very distinctive style.
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Jan 27, 2020 17:32
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NewMars posted:Unrelated to any of this but where is your avatar from? That's a very distinctive style. That would be Fenneko from Aggretsuko which is basically a Sanrio office comedy anime. EDIT : Libertad's avatar, that is. Mine is a dumb space ninja. Tylana fucked around with this message at 17:41 on Jan 27, 2020 |
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Jan 27, 2020 17:37
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LeSquide posted:...so, are there any good sourcebooks on Myconids or other fungus folk? Just an indepth look a ttheir social gathering and hang out spots called Club Fungi.
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Jan 27, 2020 20:20
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I remember this guy who was troublingly obsessed with parasitic fungi from my time on grogs.txt, I think he took down his blog of his many homebrewn fungi and the myriad ways they could murder you, tho.
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Jan 27, 2020 23:19
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Alien Rope Burn posted:I remember this guy who was troublingly obsessed with parasitic fungi from my time on grogs.txt, I think he took down his blog of his many homebrewn fungi and the myriad ways they could murder you, tho.
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Jan 28, 2020 00:32
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Alien Rope Burn posted:I remember this guy who was troublingly obsessed with parasitic fungi from my time on grogs.txt, I think he took down his blog of his many homebrewn fungi and the myriad ways they could murder you, tho. A tragedy this folk art is lost to us.
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Jan 28, 2020 01:14
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Omnicrom posted:Yay! I think. Don't worry, I promise to go back to reviewing Dragonlance after my break. If I do, I may go whole hog and review the Key of Destiny Adventure Path. Can be fun to compare and contrast it with the original Chronicles. NewMars posted:Unrelated to any of this but where is your avatar from? That's a very distinctive style. What Tylana said. Fenneko's my favorite character from Aggretsuko.
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Jan 28, 2020 02:12
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