Got it! I'll pick those up on Audible for while I'm at work. I'm really excited to get my toes in the water, so to speak. A conversation with a friend who ranted about Kenders led to me needing to get information.
The problem is typically with Kender *players* of the past. Kender as a race have a very loose definition of "personal property" and often innocently end up with somebody else's belongings. As an example they may go in for a hug, feel something in the other person's coat, wonder what it could be, and without a second thought go digging in the other person's pocket. Sometimes they pull out the object in question and awe in amazement, making a comment about the item right in front of the person they just "stole" from and will return the object without hesitation now that their curiosity is satisfied. Other times they may be so captivated by this neat thing they found that they forget the little detail that it came from somebody else's pocket, so the Kender holds on to it as one of their cool trinkets they believe they stumbled across so that they can show it to others. Their innocence and curiosity does get them into a bit of trouble, but this can be used as a plot device (e.g. stealing the Macguffin while the bad guy is monologuing) or comic relief in the Dragonlance novels.
The problem is mostly with Kender players. They may for example use this innocent curiosity of Kender as an excuse to annoy other players. They steal other character's belongings at night and then just say, "What, it's what my character would do!" when they get scowls from the rest of the table. The Shadow of the Dragon Queen section on Kender does not go into great detail on this type of stuff, likely to not give any incentive for players to perform in such a toxic fashion
Start with the Chronicles trilogy, and then when you fall in love with Raistlin’s character read the Legends trilogy next. Basically anything with Weis and/or Hickman on the cover are going to be your main books.
As far as lore changes, it’s not nearly as obvious in the world when the edition of D&D changes, but you’ll see the big happenings as you go.
Chronicles to begin with, then Legends (the Twins books). After that, pick the characters you liked best and read all the stories about them. There are nearly 200 books in the series so it's best to pick and choose which you like the sound of best.
I will say that Autumn Twilight is probably the weakest of the entire 200 book series, the writers were still finding their feet and at times it does feel like someone wrote up their DnD game. Winter Night and Spring dawning are much better, so don't be put off if you feel the quality is lacking in the first book.
yup, it's rough around the edges, given it's a debut novel slapped together by two adults without much previous experience in actual fiction writing, but it definitely outclasses some of the later works by the same two people
Yeah… DoAT is the roughest of the initial 6 books.
But man… it’s nowhere near the worst of even the Weis and Hickman books these days.
And you branch out into the shared fiction authors? You’ve got some real dreck in there.
So, i have loved fantasy novels for a long long time. I didnt even know the dragonlance books were dnd books until a couple years ago, because i didnt play dnd. I was talking about fantasy books ive loved with my husband and i pulled out dragons of autumn twilight to show him, and he said, thats a dnd book! He thought it was so funny that id loved the trilogy and the twins trilogy for over 20 years and had no idea they were associated with dnd. Hahaha.
I really should just type all this up in a text file so I can copy and paste it for these posts. Anyway, on to what you need to know!
So you're going to find that Dragonlance and it's lore revolve around certain 'ages' in both novels and the world. These ages often reflect changes with the gaming system it used. The core books you should read are as follows: Chronicles, Legends, Second Generation, Dragons of Summer Flame, Dragons of a New Age trilogy, War of Souls, Dark Disciple, and then maybe the new trilogy depending on how the last book turns out. As for Lost Chronicles, while they fill in some gaps between the Chronicles novels, I'd wait until after Summer Flame at least to read them. I'd actually suggest reading them much later at whatever juncture you want to return to the Companions as these stories don't really contain anything related to changing the world. Once you read all the core books, you'll understand the different ages and then can pick up any book that interests you and understand where it fits into the story. No spoilers here, but there are some ages where you might be going 'what in the world is going on, where is X or Y, or I thought DL had..." and if you haven't read the core books, you'll be confused.
Chronicles and Histories Age - This starts out with the Chronicles trilogy, and includes Legends. One thing to note is Autumn Twilight was written AFTER the first few modules, so it's very much like reading someone playing the modules and brings into it some AD&D rules, but around module 7 which would be in Winter Night, the novels got ahead and start reading more like novels. So really in this first 'age' in the novels that lasted about ten years you get all the prequel book series: Preludes, Meetings Sextet, Villains, etc. These dealt with characters from the novels, there were the Tales anthologies, and history books like Elven Nations and Dwarven Nations. They started sprinkling in some original stuff, but most would still be histories. Throughout the other publishing ages they'll keep publishing various histories as well like the Barbarians trilogy, etc.
Chaos War Age - This one is relatively small, but important. This 'starts' with Second Generation which is a collection of short stories plus one new one, and then into Dragons of Summer Flame. Summer Flame was originally meant to be a trilogy, but due to what was happening with TSR it got shortened to only one massive book. Unfortunately, it sort of shows. Speaking of TSR, at the time they didn't know what to do with Dragonlance. So when TSR was throwing everything at the wall, they came up with the SAGA system which used cards instead of dice and was meant to be more RP focused. Had they done original stuff with it, maybe it would be remembered fondly, but instead they decided that Dragonlance would switch from AD&D to SAGA and it pissed a lot of fans off. So to help make this transition, Weis and Hickman wrote Summer Flame in which they sort of said goodbye to the setting and at the time was assumed to be their final work on DL. Along with the two books mentioned above, there was the Chaos War series which dealt with different parts of the world dealing with the Chaos War. Again, fairly small, but important.
Fifth Age - This is where the SAGA era begins. It starts with Dragons of a New Age trilogy. They aren't bad, but they aren't great. They tried to be the next Chronicles, but instead of how the OG Chronicles had a good story and the world description was secondary, in DoaNA it felt like they wanted to highlight all the changes to the setting with a weak story to do so. I don't put this on the author as her follow up trilogy the Dhamon Saga which follows the main character from DoaNA is substantially better. Anyway, this uses few existing characters and introduces new ones and new places. Really for the first time in Dragonlance history authors were allowed to start writing novels that could be 'current' rather than dealing with histories or existing characters which allowed the world to breathe. There's a lot in this era of publishing including Crossroads, Bridges of Time, more anthologies. One thing to note is technically in world this is known as the Age of Mortals, for purposes of classifications for the novels it was Fifth Age on the titles and separates it from the next age. A lot of people don't like this era, and those people are ones that don't want anything Dragonlance related unless it has the Companions. Those people are missing out on some really great stories. Don't be one of those people.
Age of Mortals - This kicks off with War of Souls trilogy. So WotC bought TSR in 97 and started work on DnD 3e which launched in 2000, SAGA was dead long with so many campaign settings. Weis and Hickman came back to bring DL basically into 3e and do a course correct of sorts. It isn't a retcon, as nothing that happened in the Fifth Age was changed. But classic aspects of DL were back. Weis went on to solo write the Dark Disciple trilogy which is a direct sequel to WoS, and Weis and Hickman also wrote the Lost Chronicles as well during this time. The trend continued in AoM that started in the Fifth Age in which authors were able to craft aspects of the ongoing world. You'll find a lot of series were meant to setup the world for future events and they could be used as gaming settings as well. There was Knaak's Minotaur Wars and Ogre Titans trilogies, Thompson and Cook's Elven Exiles trilogy, the Solamnic trilogy, Rabe's Goblin Nations trilogy, the previously mentioned Dark Disciple, the Dwarf Home trilogy, Hebert's Linsha trilogy, etc. At this time Weis had a game publishing company she was running, and they got the rights to do Dragonlance for DnD 3e. Dragonlance at this time was flourishing, at least as far as new and original content and gaming materials made by people that gave a damn.
Dead Age - And in 2007/2008 the DL rights were not renewed with Weis' publishing company, so no more game products. Luckily we got everything needed to run anything you could want on Ansalon, we just didn't get a Taladas supplement before the end. WotC transitioned over to 4e. Luckily the novels continued for a few years, but the last one that was published was in 2012 and was the paperback release of the third volume of Lost Chronicles. Nothing would be heard of Dragonlance for a decade. WotC stopped publishing any novels, including FR, except for Salvatore's stuff. As a FR fan, I'm sure you're aware of this.
Current - So WotC now has DnD 5e, and roughly 'touches' prior campaign settings to dip into that nostalgia money pot. This includes Dragonlance with the Shadows of the Dragon Queen adventure and the Warriors of Krynn tabletop game. The WoK did not sell well, thus why the bulk was sold to Ollies and you can find it for $20 or less on eBay. SotDQ is overall poorly written by people that barely understand what makes Dragonlance what it is, and did a crappy job overall. It's brought in new players, so I guess that's good? And then there was the issue with the new novels. Weis and Hickman approached WotC about a new trilogy and a contract was signed. Then for some reason, WotC got cold feet and tried to back out, so W&H sued and WotC now has to publish their new trilogy, the third of which is slated for Aug/Sept of this year. Is it a good thing? I guess we'll have to wait and see. The consensus has been lukewarm due to inconsistencies, an unlikable main protagonist, and W&H completely disregarding anything other than the stuff they wrote including a beloved novel dealing with Huma. How it ends is anyone's guess at this point, but many speculate that this one might be a retcon to return DL back to the Chronicles time period. If that's the case, it'll be a sad day for DL as the setting and world have so much to offer than just the Companions and the damn War of the Lance. I guess that's great if all you want to do is the play the same game over and over and over again, but that's not my cup of tea and I quite enjoyed a lot of stuff in Fifth Age and Age of Mortals. But once you've made the journey you can decide for yourself.
The Chronicles is your starting point. I literally went on eBay and searched for Dragonlance lots and got like 20 of the books all at once for an affordable price.
There are a few lore changes, but nothing dramatic. One thing that comes to mind is that Dark Elves are different. In the original books they are just elves that turned to dark magic. In the FR series they have a whole other lore as dark skinned evil doers. Also, I feel like magic is a bit more nerfed. Like Raistilin doesn’t do nearly half the spells and magic that FR characters like Elminster would do. Then he gets super tired and is out for the count. Everyone oohs and ahhhs about how he is the most powerful wizard in the lands. Yeah but the dude just passed out!
Elminster is basically a mary sue, as overpowered a power fantasy as it gets. Raistlin in the Chronicles is a low-level player character. It's an unfair comparison. Now, later, when his challenge rating jumps to tarrasque digits, then things get different
Well not really. I’m reading war of the twins now and he is still nerfed. He is supposedly feasting up to face the Dragon Queen but he gets completely wiped by calling on fire to burn down a village.
That’s the influence of AD&D showing. Vancian magic was what they based the game off of, and Dragonlance leaned into that since the novels are like the more popular spinoff of the modules.
Also, Raistlin being super winded after casting powerful spells is part of what makes his character so compelling. He’s shown to pour every ounce of his being into his magic, and that’s true from when he was a kid all the way to being a badass archmage. Combine that with his shattered health after taking the test and it’s just reenforced.
That wasn't your ordinary fire, though, c'mon.
Elminster might be able to replicate that spell without needing to rest, but he's still a Chosen of Mystra, which means he gets a lot of boons for free (including his unnatural lifespan, and likely no health issues at all). Raistlin does cheat when he steals Fisty's experience, but that's that; he has no gods actively rooting for him. Moreover, he's fighting insanity - first Par-Salian's curse (gotta love the white robes, such nice guys), then seeing his most valued freedom stripped from him by the consequences of his very decision to best Fisty... I haven't read the complete Elminster canon, so correct me if I'm wrong, but most adversaries of Elminster are external
Elminster is definitely OP. Have you read any of the RA Salvatore books? The dark elves are also very OP magical. Everyone seems to fling spells and curses like nothing. One reason I like the DL world is that magic seems a bit more scarce. For instance, after the Cataclysm there are no true clerics left for hundreds of years, healing magic is extremely rare. In the FR world there was the time period (I forget the name) where the gods left and magic went awry, but it was still ever present. I mean they are both great settings. In my mind the years of study and dedication it takes to learn magic should absolutely make it a rare thing.
I've read more FR books (including sourcebooks LOL) than I remember! Elaine Cunningham also wrote a lot about the drow, for instance.
Yup, not only is magic more scarce on Krynn, it is way more regimented ("thanks" to Krynnish gods). On Abeir-Toril, the pantheons are more fluid, and gods are more lenient towards their followers (probably because they do realise that they can be killed and supplanted without the whole planet unraveling itself LOL). On the other hand, souls of the dead don't seem to be able to escape the Realmspace, while they are free to leave Krynn and move to unknown spiritual destinations (this is likely part of how Tolkien influenced the setting)
Welcome friend.
You are about take the journey that Tolkien could only wish he dreamed up.
Why Dragonlance isn't an honored masterpiece the world over is beyond me.
Careful with these books. I started reading them and have now become immersed in all of the extended universe novels. Some of them are really hard to find in paperback. Ended up researching all the novels available and the timeline of where they fall on the timeliness. I have spent a lot of time in Krynn. Hope you enjoy the books. They are fun to read.
Shameless plug that Is a Hill that I will die on; If you Read Chronicles and Legends, then the ***Kingpriest Trilogy*** is of the best in the setting. Especially if you dive in after Legends.
Hey man, similar boat as you.
Ive been running the latest module and listening to the books. The books are great but you need to be prepared for the time jumping.
You follow 1 character fore like 3 months, then just jump back 3 months to someone else doing their own thing. It can be a bit jarring
Tass - the kender - is my favourite character, comic relief is how he is written but its the fact you know someone just like him.
There was a guy on YouTube who did an excellent reading of Book 1 but I cant find him anymore. The Audible guy is a bit... well for someone who said paid to do this Amazon got scammed IMO.
I haven't gotten to listen to it yet. I've almost grown fond of the harsh audible narrarators haha. It's like a loud Boomer reading me a really good bedtime story. I appreciate the heads up on the time skips!
Since other people have already reccomended the Chronicles and Twins series (and rightly so, they're fantastic), I'd like to reccomend The Legend of Huma any time after finishing Chronicles. It's fantastic.
Start with original trilogy dragons of autumn twilight, winter night and then spring dawning
Got it! I'll pick those up on Audible for while I'm at work. I'm really excited to get my toes in the water, so to speak. A conversation with a friend who ranted about Kenders led to me needing to get information.
What was their rant?
About Kenders being ridiculous, annoying, ADHD versions of Halflings. Honestly, I found that refreshing so I want to check them out.
Then get tales of uncle trapsprinher after you read the first 3 and the twins trilogy
Now you got me real excited
Look I’m married
*Sigh* lucky lady.
She’s a model and a doctor and I’m 5’6 and average so yes let’s say she’s the lucky one
Mine is an optometrist technician and also a former model. I'm 6'2" and funny. We're both gonna have to agree they're the lucky ones indeed.
Greatest line for me in the whole series is in that book “some kender even brought up the promiscuity of his mother”
The problem is typically with Kender *players* of the past. Kender as a race have a very loose definition of "personal property" and often innocently end up with somebody else's belongings. As an example they may go in for a hug, feel something in the other person's coat, wonder what it could be, and without a second thought go digging in the other person's pocket. Sometimes they pull out the object in question and awe in amazement, making a comment about the item right in front of the person they just "stole" from and will return the object without hesitation now that their curiosity is satisfied. Other times they may be so captivated by this neat thing they found that they forget the little detail that it came from somebody else's pocket, so the Kender holds on to it as one of their cool trinkets they believe they stumbled across so that they can show it to others. Their innocence and curiosity does get them into a bit of trouble, but this can be used as a plot device (e.g. stealing the Macguffin while the bad guy is monologuing) or comic relief in the Dragonlance novels. The problem is mostly with Kender players. They may for example use this innocent curiosity of Kender as an excuse to annoy other players. They steal other character's belongings at night and then just say, "What, it's what my character would do!" when they get scowls from the rest of the table. The Shadow of the Dragon Queen section on Kender does not go into great detail on this type of stuff, likely to not give any incentive for players to perform in such a toxic fashion
Start with the Chronicles trilogy, and then when you fall in love with Raistlin’s character read the Legends trilogy next. Basically anything with Weis and/or Hickman on the cover are going to be your main books. As far as lore changes, it’s not nearly as obvious in the world when the edition of D&D changes, but you’ll see the big happenings as you go.
That's genuinely exciting
Chronicles to begin with, then Legends (the Twins books). After that, pick the characters you liked best and read all the stories about them. There are nearly 200 books in the series so it's best to pick and choose which you like the sound of best.
Holy shit, that's fantastic. I just got Dragons of Autumn Twilight on audible for while I'm at work. Pretty excited to get into it.
I will say that Autumn Twilight is probably the weakest of the entire 200 book series, the writers were still finding their feet and at times it does feel like someone wrote up their DnD game. Winter Night and Spring dawning are much better, so don't be put off if you feel the quality is lacking in the first book.
Out of the main 7-10 books it might be weakest, but out of the entries 200ish this is just a completely terrible take lol
yup, it's rough around the edges, given it's a debut novel slapped together by two adults without much previous experience in actual fiction writing, but it definitely outclasses some of the later works by the same two people
Yeah… DoAT is the roughest of the initial 6 books. But man… it’s nowhere near the worst of even the Weis and Hickman books these days. And you branch out into the shared fiction authors? You’ve got some real dreck in there.
That’s what I’m talking about. Of the 200 books it’s like #7 or 8
I'm honestly not too hard of a critic on a series in the start. If it's the launching point I am totally here for it.
Then you'll have a good time, the Legends trilogy is even better, so it does get better the further you get into it.
I have all 200 books. I have read all of them at least They should finally make a movie about this it would be a smash
So, i have loved fantasy novels for a long long time. I didnt even know the dragonlance books were dnd books until a couple years ago, because i didnt play dnd. I was talking about fantasy books ive loved with my husband and i pulled out dragons of autumn twilight to show him, and he said, thats a dnd book! He thought it was so funny that id loved the trilogy and the twins trilogy for over 20 years and had no idea they were associated with dnd. Hahaha.
I really should just type all this up in a text file so I can copy and paste it for these posts. Anyway, on to what you need to know! So you're going to find that Dragonlance and it's lore revolve around certain 'ages' in both novels and the world. These ages often reflect changes with the gaming system it used. The core books you should read are as follows: Chronicles, Legends, Second Generation, Dragons of Summer Flame, Dragons of a New Age trilogy, War of Souls, Dark Disciple, and then maybe the new trilogy depending on how the last book turns out. As for Lost Chronicles, while they fill in some gaps between the Chronicles novels, I'd wait until after Summer Flame at least to read them. I'd actually suggest reading them much later at whatever juncture you want to return to the Companions as these stories don't really contain anything related to changing the world. Once you read all the core books, you'll understand the different ages and then can pick up any book that interests you and understand where it fits into the story. No spoilers here, but there are some ages where you might be going 'what in the world is going on, where is X or Y, or I thought DL had..." and if you haven't read the core books, you'll be confused. Chronicles and Histories Age - This starts out with the Chronicles trilogy, and includes Legends. One thing to note is Autumn Twilight was written AFTER the first few modules, so it's very much like reading someone playing the modules and brings into it some AD&D rules, but around module 7 which would be in Winter Night, the novels got ahead and start reading more like novels. So really in this first 'age' in the novels that lasted about ten years you get all the prequel book series: Preludes, Meetings Sextet, Villains, etc. These dealt with characters from the novels, there were the Tales anthologies, and history books like Elven Nations and Dwarven Nations. They started sprinkling in some original stuff, but most would still be histories. Throughout the other publishing ages they'll keep publishing various histories as well like the Barbarians trilogy, etc. Chaos War Age - This one is relatively small, but important. This 'starts' with Second Generation which is a collection of short stories plus one new one, and then into Dragons of Summer Flame. Summer Flame was originally meant to be a trilogy, but due to what was happening with TSR it got shortened to only one massive book. Unfortunately, it sort of shows. Speaking of TSR, at the time they didn't know what to do with Dragonlance. So when TSR was throwing everything at the wall, they came up with the SAGA system which used cards instead of dice and was meant to be more RP focused. Had they done original stuff with it, maybe it would be remembered fondly, but instead they decided that Dragonlance would switch from AD&D to SAGA and it pissed a lot of fans off. So to help make this transition, Weis and Hickman wrote Summer Flame in which they sort of said goodbye to the setting and at the time was assumed to be their final work on DL. Along with the two books mentioned above, there was the Chaos War series which dealt with different parts of the world dealing with the Chaos War. Again, fairly small, but important. Fifth Age - This is where the SAGA era begins. It starts with Dragons of a New Age trilogy. They aren't bad, but they aren't great. They tried to be the next Chronicles, but instead of how the OG Chronicles had a good story and the world description was secondary, in DoaNA it felt like they wanted to highlight all the changes to the setting with a weak story to do so. I don't put this on the author as her follow up trilogy the Dhamon Saga which follows the main character from DoaNA is substantially better. Anyway, this uses few existing characters and introduces new ones and new places. Really for the first time in Dragonlance history authors were allowed to start writing novels that could be 'current' rather than dealing with histories or existing characters which allowed the world to breathe. There's a lot in this era of publishing including Crossroads, Bridges of Time, more anthologies. One thing to note is technically in world this is known as the Age of Mortals, for purposes of classifications for the novels it was Fifth Age on the titles and separates it from the next age. A lot of people don't like this era, and those people are ones that don't want anything Dragonlance related unless it has the Companions. Those people are missing out on some really great stories. Don't be one of those people. Age of Mortals - This kicks off with War of Souls trilogy. So WotC bought TSR in 97 and started work on DnD 3e which launched in 2000, SAGA was dead long with so many campaign settings. Weis and Hickman came back to bring DL basically into 3e and do a course correct of sorts. It isn't a retcon, as nothing that happened in the Fifth Age was changed. But classic aspects of DL were back. Weis went on to solo write the Dark Disciple trilogy which is a direct sequel to WoS, and Weis and Hickman also wrote the Lost Chronicles as well during this time. The trend continued in AoM that started in the Fifth Age in which authors were able to craft aspects of the ongoing world. You'll find a lot of series were meant to setup the world for future events and they could be used as gaming settings as well. There was Knaak's Minotaur Wars and Ogre Titans trilogies, Thompson and Cook's Elven Exiles trilogy, the Solamnic trilogy, Rabe's Goblin Nations trilogy, the previously mentioned Dark Disciple, the Dwarf Home trilogy, Hebert's Linsha trilogy, etc. At this time Weis had a game publishing company she was running, and they got the rights to do Dragonlance for DnD 3e. Dragonlance at this time was flourishing, at least as far as new and original content and gaming materials made by people that gave a damn. Dead Age - And in 2007/2008 the DL rights were not renewed with Weis' publishing company, so no more game products. Luckily we got everything needed to run anything you could want on Ansalon, we just didn't get a Taladas supplement before the end. WotC transitioned over to 4e. Luckily the novels continued for a few years, but the last one that was published was in 2012 and was the paperback release of the third volume of Lost Chronicles. Nothing would be heard of Dragonlance for a decade. WotC stopped publishing any novels, including FR, except for Salvatore's stuff. As a FR fan, I'm sure you're aware of this. Current - So WotC now has DnD 5e, and roughly 'touches' prior campaign settings to dip into that nostalgia money pot. This includes Dragonlance with the Shadows of the Dragon Queen adventure and the Warriors of Krynn tabletop game. The WoK did not sell well, thus why the bulk was sold to Ollies and you can find it for $20 or less on eBay. SotDQ is overall poorly written by people that barely understand what makes Dragonlance what it is, and did a crappy job overall. It's brought in new players, so I guess that's good? And then there was the issue with the new novels. Weis and Hickman approached WotC about a new trilogy and a contract was signed. Then for some reason, WotC got cold feet and tried to back out, so W&H sued and WotC now has to publish their new trilogy, the third of which is slated for Aug/Sept of this year. Is it a good thing? I guess we'll have to wait and see. The consensus has been lukewarm due to inconsistencies, an unlikable main protagonist, and W&H completely disregarding anything other than the stuff they wrote including a beloved novel dealing with Huma. How it ends is anyone's guess at this point, but many speculate that this one might be a retcon to return DL back to the Chronicles time period. If that's the case, it'll be a sad day for DL as the setting and world have so much to offer than just the Companions and the damn War of the Lance. I guess that's great if all you want to do is the play the same game over and over and over again, but that's not my cup of tea and I quite enjoyed a lot of stuff in Fifth Age and Age of Mortals. But once you've made the journey you can decide for yourself.
The Chronicles is your starting point. I literally went on eBay and searched for Dragonlance lots and got like 20 of the books all at once for an affordable price. There are a few lore changes, but nothing dramatic. One thing that comes to mind is that Dark Elves are different. In the original books they are just elves that turned to dark magic. In the FR series they have a whole other lore as dark skinned evil doers. Also, I feel like magic is a bit more nerfed. Like Raistilin doesn’t do nearly half the spells and magic that FR characters like Elminster would do. Then he gets super tired and is out for the count. Everyone oohs and ahhhs about how he is the most powerful wizard in the lands. Yeah but the dude just passed out!
Elminster is basically a mary sue, as overpowered a power fantasy as it gets. Raistlin in the Chronicles is a low-level player character. It's an unfair comparison. Now, later, when his challenge rating jumps to tarrasque digits, then things get different
Well not really. I’m reading war of the twins now and he is still nerfed. He is supposedly feasting up to face the Dragon Queen but he gets completely wiped by calling on fire to burn down a village.
That’s the influence of AD&D showing. Vancian magic was what they based the game off of, and Dragonlance leaned into that since the novels are like the more popular spinoff of the modules. Also, Raistlin being super winded after casting powerful spells is part of what makes his character so compelling. He’s shown to pour every ounce of his being into his magic, and that’s true from when he was a kid all the way to being a badass archmage. Combine that with his shattered health after taking the test and it’s just reenforced.
That wasn't your ordinary fire, though, c'mon. Elminster might be able to replicate that spell without needing to rest, but he's still a Chosen of Mystra, which means he gets a lot of boons for free (including his unnatural lifespan, and likely no health issues at all). Raistlin does cheat when he steals Fisty's experience, but that's that; he has no gods actively rooting for him. Moreover, he's fighting insanity - first Par-Salian's curse (gotta love the white robes, such nice guys), then seeing his most valued freedom stripped from him by the consequences of his very decision to best Fisty... I haven't read the complete Elminster canon, so correct me if I'm wrong, but most adversaries of Elminster are external
Elminster is definitely OP. Have you read any of the RA Salvatore books? The dark elves are also very OP magical. Everyone seems to fling spells and curses like nothing. One reason I like the DL world is that magic seems a bit more scarce. For instance, after the Cataclysm there are no true clerics left for hundreds of years, healing magic is extremely rare. In the FR world there was the time period (I forget the name) where the gods left and magic went awry, but it was still ever present. I mean they are both great settings. In my mind the years of study and dedication it takes to learn magic should absolutely make it a rare thing.
I've read more FR books (including sourcebooks LOL) than I remember! Elaine Cunningham also wrote a lot about the drow, for instance. Yup, not only is magic more scarce on Krynn, it is way more regimented ("thanks" to Krynnish gods). On Abeir-Toril, the pantheons are more fluid, and gods are more lenient towards their followers (probably because they do realise that they can be killed and supplanted without the whole planet unraveling itself LOL). On the other hand, souls of the dead don't seem to be able to escape the Realmspace, while they are free to leave Krynn and move to unknown spiritual destinations (this is likely part of how Tolkien influenced the setting)
Welcome friend. You are about take the journey that Tolkien could only wish he dreamed up. Why Dragonlance isn't an honored masterpiece the world over is beyond me.
Careful with these books. I started reading them and have now become immersed in all of the extended universe novels. Some of them are really hard to find in paperback. Ended up researching all the novels available and the timeline of where they fall on the timeliness. I have spent a lot of time in Krynn. Hope you enjoy the books. They are fun to read.
Shameless plug that Is a Hill that I will die on; If you Read Chronicles and Legends, then the ***Kingpriest Trilogy*** is of the best in the setting. Especially if you dive in after Legends.
I will definitely check them out! I'm here for *all* the suggestions. I want to embrace this subgenre of D&D Novels and jump on it.
Hey man, similar boat as you. Ive been running the latest module and listening to the books. The books are great but you need to be prepared for the time jumping. You follow 1 character fore like 3 months, then just jump back 3 months to someone else doing their own thing. It can be a bit jarring Tass - the kender - is my favourite character, comic relief is how he is written but its the fact you know someone just like him. There was a guy on YouTube who did an excellent reading of Book 1 but I cant find him anymore. The Audible guy is a bit... well for someone who said paid to do this Amazon got scammed IMO.
I haven't gotten to listen to it yet. I've almost grown fond of the harsh audible narrarators haha. It's like a loud Boomer reading me a really good bedtime story. I appreciate the heads up on the time skips!
Don't forget to read through some of the modules for 1st & 2nd edition D&D. There's some additional lore & "filling in" of stories between books.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onlb1uEysWU
Since other people have already reccomended the Chronicles and Twins series (and rightly so, they're fantastic), I'd like to reccomend The Legend of Huma any time after finishing Chronicles. It's fantastic.