What is Dragonlance? The New Dragon Campaign Setting for D&D 5e

Everything you need to know about Dragonlance Campaign Setting for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition. Dragonlance Weapons, magic, dragons, gods, and more for D&D 5e ⏬ More Content ⏬

=== 🔗 DC Links ===

=== 📍 Credits ===
🖱️ Video Editor: Zack Newman

0:00 Intro
0:52 Overview
2:01 Timeout
3:01 Dragonlances
4:04 Key Figures
5:37 Timeout
6:42 Races
7:46 History
10:10 Gods
12:33 Magic
14:13 Outro

#DnD #DungeonsandDragons

[Fsudryden]

I read Dragonlance when I was 10. My brother told me I had to read The Hobbit and Lord of The Rings before he gave my the three books that were the Dragonlance Chronicles. Those books changed my life. I have read sooo many novels since then and to this day they are still my favorite. I am incredibly happy Dragonlance is coming to 5e and a whole new generation will be experiencing it for the first time.

[Ammoman]

Dragonlance came out in the 80s. Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman wrote the original book and campaign setting. I have played in the setting extensively and have run the entire War of the Lance (15 modules) a couple of times.
Kenders are so much cooler than halflings BTW. There were the Knights of Solamnia (3 levels) and there were 3 magic users; red robes (N), white robes (G) and black robes (E) their powers ebbed and waned with the corresponding moons. Gold has no value so money is made of steel. So much more. There was a ton of 2e resources.
I'm excited about this!

[garrettmoynihan]

I remember going into Waldenbooks (when that was still a thing) and seeing the entire shelf of Dragonlance novels. They were the reason I got into reading, and for someone who says they haven't read any of them, that was an okay summary. You seem to have gained an interest for the setting, so all I'm going to say is welcome to the club and good luck with the tidal wave of lore coming your way.

I'll share one fun fact before I go: The three moons of magic occasionally align in a celestial conjunction forming a great eye in the night sky.

[vapypr]

Also, wizard's spells were directly affected by the phase of their respective moon. During your moons full phase you had more spells available. The moons also have different time for their revolutions. Example, Nuitari took longer to go around the world than Lunitari

[scatterbug]

Dragonlance was the coolest thing ever when I was 12 years old. I tried to re-read the books in my 40's and they did NOT age well. Except for "The Legend of Huma." 😁

[rlnguizado]

Dragonlance was my first toe dip into D&D in high school back in the 80’s. So cool that it’s coming back and I recently began rereading the books a few months ago.

[antspineaha]

I loved the Raistlin and Camaron Majere run.

[BryonAutry]

I definitely appreciate you putting a spotlight on my personal favorite D&D setting! I am so excited to have new official material coming out for it, even if it is a reboot of the setting with changes to modernize it. Honestly, for a video from the outside looking in with just cursory research, I think you did a great job! There are several inaccuracies as others pointed out, but honestly, even the youtubers I have watched talk about it who had read the books or played with the setting in the past have made mistakes when talking about it, so don't feel too bad (probably because they hadn't read them since they were teenagers and WotC hasn't done anything with the setting since 3.5... but I digress). Instead of just pointing out there were mistakes, I hope you don't mind if I clarify things, because I genuinely love talking about the setting, and want more people to get into it:

1. Kender - they are a bit more complex than just halflings by another name, though they were created as a replacement for halflings in the setting. Essentially think of them as halfling sized folk, with pointed ears like an elf. Their personalities tend to be akin to that of children who never grew up. When they reach a certain age they develop a wanderlust that takes them on adventures all over the world. The stigma around them as a race (both in-world and among players) comes from the fact that average Kender don't really have a concept of personal property, and tend to absent-mindedly "borrow" random things that aren't nailed down. They don't do it maliciously, and tend to forget they have these things until the randomly find them rummaging around in their many packs and pouches. Many players in the past used this aspect of their lore as an excuse to steal from other players without repercussion, which is one for the reasons the non-Dragonlance D&D players have a negative view of them, as well as Kender being utterly immune to fear tends to lead to them acting rashly and getting themselves and their companions into trouble.

2. Draconians - the original Draconians were introduced in the first trilogy of novels during the War Of The Lance, which is when the 5E book is going to be set. Essentially the dragon armies of Takhisis stole a bunch of dragon eggs from the good/metallic dragons and were originally used as leverage to keep them from interfering in the conflict. Many of those eggs were corrupted by dark magic, as you mentioned, to create Draconians of different types (based on the type of Dragon egg used). Baaz Draconians are created from brass dragon eggs and are the foot soldiers/grunts, they turn to stone on death. Kapak Draconians come from Copper dragon eggs and are essentially the assassins, the dissolve into a pool of acid when they die. Bozak Draconians come from Bronze dragon eggs and are gifted leaders and tacticians skilled in martial and magic combat, when they die they explode. Sivak Draconians come from Silver dragon eggs, they are the only Draconians that have wings that are capable of flight and are often scouts, the can shapeshift into people they have killed (once), and when they die their corpse actually shapeshifts into the person who killed them for several days and then turn into soot. Finally, Auraks come from gold dragon eggs and are the most powerful magic users. They are the least loyal to Takhisis, and they don't have wings. When they die they go berserk, self immolate, and then explode.

3. Dragonlances - A correction, you stated that the first Dragonlances were created in the War Of The Lance during the Age of Despair. Actually Duncan Ironweaver crafted the first Dragonlances during the 3rd Dragon War, and the main figure to use a true dragonlance to slay Takhisis on Krynn and send her back to the Abyss during that war was the legendary Solamnic Knight Huma Dragonbane. The ones crafted during the War Of The Lance were done by learning how they were done before. These new ones were crafted by a human named Theros Ironfeld who lost his arm and was able to claim the silver arm of Ergoth (like Duncan before him) and was given the Hammer of Karas to use for that very purpose. Also, I don't remember ever reading about this process being used to create non-lance weapons, but honestly, I don't see a good reason why it couldn't be done, either. lol

4. The Age of Mortals/Types Of Magic - after Chaos was defeated at the end of the Age Of Despair, Takhisis actually was able to use alot of the magic released to steal the world away. Faith in the gods was renewed following the events of the War Of The Lance, so when they suddenly vanished AGAIN it changed everything. This time the gods truly were not there (except a weakened Takhisis, of course), including the gods of magic (Solinari, Lunitari and Nuitari), so the sources of magic being used were completely gone. Eventually mysticism and sorcery were discovered/rediscovered and developed in their absence. Primal sorcery has actually always existed on Krynn but the original users were ancient Dwarves and the practice was eventually lost to time after the gods of magic offered an easier and more stable source. Primal sorcery draws from the ambient magic of the planet itself, or can be drained from magical items like a battery. Mysticism allows the user to channel divine magic through belief in oneself, rather than belief in the gods. One of the main characters from the original novels, Goldmoon (who was also the first true cleric of good in hundreds of years during the War Of The Lance), was the one to create the first order of Mystics on Krynn during The Age Of Mortals. The gods did eventually find the world again during this age, and the last novels written for the setting during that time period left with the world having to figure out how everything was going to be going forward, with the return of godly divine magic and arcane lunar magic, alongside the continued existence of sorcery and mysticism.

5. On the Gods of Krynn - At first I was thrown off when you said there were 15 gods, 5 of each. But then I realized how you got that number, so I just want to clarify: there were actually 21 gods among the three pantheons. Paladine, Takhisis and Gilean are not separate from the other gods, they are essentially the Odin/Zeus of each of their pantheons. Similarly, Solinari, Lunitari and Nuitari are also gods within the pantheons (Solinari is the son of Paladine and Mishakal, Nuitari is the son of Takhisis and Sargonnas, and Lunitari sprang fully formed from Gilean's thoughts), although their first loyalty is to magic itself and they live on their individual moons, rather than the other god realms. Then, as you said, there are 5 additional gods in each pantheon, rounding the numbers out to 7 each for most of the setting's history. Also, Clerics get their spells from any of the gods except Solinari, Lunitari or Nuitari. They do not take on Clerics, they are instead only patrons of Arcane magic users, and the mostly Wizards who utilize their power wear colored robes (rather than holy symbols) that signify their devotion to a particular god/moon of magic: White for Solinari/Good magic, Red for Lunitari/Neutral Magic, and Black for Nuitari/Evil magic.

I hope this came off as helpful and not overly critical, and I hope people who see it find it interesting, at least!

[Nephilim]

I read them a lot as a kid lol 😆 I often run my Halfling rogues like tasselhoff burrfoot. No tragic backstory, just a whole lot of ADHD and cheerful curiosity with a lack of boundaries.
The Wizards are not only tied to a moon, but each moon has a color. White, Red, and Black. With each of those specialized in certain magics. It was really cool!

[acouplereviews]

This has me wanting to get into 5e, my group has basically ran home brew rpg's since we first gathered for the last 6 years, I used the Dragonlance setting as I'm a fan since childhood for one campaign and it was very smooth and memorable. Thanks for the video! My favorite stuff in krynn: Knights of solamnia and thier code!

[burgsrus]

Actually the two coolest things to come out of the Dragonlance books were Lord Soth and Raistlin.
Kender's were a cool race, not sure why so many people call them just halflings. They were so much better. They were more vagabond than halflings and with the fearlessness they were just a ton of fun.

[nicholasmcmullin]

I’m going to DM my first ever campaign running this module. Thanks for all of your content and please keep it coming!

[Fsudryden]

Balance is the major thing in Dragonlance. The ages of the past are supposed to be a lesson about how if good gets a hold of the world how that can eventually go bad (the cataclysm and how it happened look it up).

[meswain]

Interesting that in Dragonlance there’s rumors of the neutral god being alive. In Fizban’s and Eberron they both tell stories of the evil one killing the neutral one.

[grumpyoldnord]

I am very curious where you got the information in your research, as there is so much inaccuracy in what you are saying. If I may suggest, you should get your hands on some of the old campaign setting books from 2nd or 3rd edition, or - even better - read the Chronicles and Legends trilogies, as that is where Dragonlance shines best.

[GrandOldDwarf]

I'd love to see how you would make a campaign inspired by Dragonlance, as well as things you would homebrew for such a campaign.

[justinwatson]

Kender are immune to fear and insatiably curious, they’re definitely hafling variants, but they do read unique to the type.

[troythomas]

Maybe his research for this video should’ve actually included reading a few dragonlance books

[illiwd]

Yes to the video/videos on the Gods of Dragonlance!!!

[rikitaygaming]

I am much more interested in dragonlance after this video. Keep up the good work. Would love some more in depth lore video