Krynn Humans can be any class allowed in the Dragonlance Adventures™
rules. These classes include Cleric, Druid, Holy Order of the Stars, Fighter, Barbarian,
Ranger, Cavalier, Paladin, Knightof Solamnia, Magic-user, Illusionist, Wizard of High Sorcery, Thief,
and Thief-Acrobat. Clerics and
Druids are nearly powerless within Krynn, as the gods of Krynn control
all divine power within its boundaries, and only Holy Orders of the Stars are recognized as
clerics to such gods. However, as spells of the first three levels are gained by practice of the ritual
without direct contact with the god,
such spells will function within Krynn (MyWorld interpretation inferred
from that rule). Generally, a Cleric or Druid from Krynn will leave the area, and be treated in
all respects as an occidental, except in regard for knowledge of cultural background, races and classes.
Cavaliers from Krynn are always in service to a nobleman; Paladins from Krynn are individual knights
in the service of a good god (one of the gods of Krynn). Cavaliers and Paladins may if they desire
apply to become Knights of Solamnia at no loss of level if accepted. Magic-users and Illusionists
within the realms of Krynn are
regarded as renegade wizards by the Wizards of High Sorcery, and
pressured to become Wizards of High Sorcery on pain of death. Thieves (who are not Kender) and
Thief-Acrobats are disdained as criminals throughout Krynn societies. They otherwise conform to
the Occidental sub-race, including
rolling for previous skills.
Qualinesti are a Krynn race akin to the Silvanesti, but tending to be smaller and darker. They have honey-brown to blond hair with blue or brown eyes, and the men dress in slacks while the women tend toward long dresses. They are the most open of the Krynn elves to the non-elven races, and have treaties even with the dwarfs for trade and mutual defense. They begin with -1 constitution and +1 dexterity, with minimum scores of 7/8/6/7/7/8/3. They are unlimited (Krynn class maximums) as Wizards of High Sorcery, thieves, thief-acrobats, and Holy Orders of the Stars, and can also advance to level 10 cavalier, level 14 fighter, or level 11 magic-user.
Silvanesti are the high elves of Krynn. They are fair skinned with light brown to blond-white hair, and hazel eyes exclusively (it is a mark of their bloodline). They prefer loose garments such as robes and capes. They have strong ideas about racial purity, and consider themselves better than other races, especially in philosophy. Their society is highly structured, with guilds, castes and restricted marriages, and hereditary leadership. They consider slavery of other races, even other elves (but not the Qualinesti), quite proper. They have the standard -1 constitution and +1 dexterity for elves, with minimum ability scores of 3/10/6/7/6/12/3. They may be paladins of level 12, fighters up to level 10, and are unlimited (except by Krynn class limits) as rangers, Wizards of High Sorcery, and Holy Orders of the Stars.
Kagonesti are Krynn wild elves, like wild elves in most respects. They are muscular, tan with dark black to light brown hair (and rare silvery white throwbacks), and hazel eyes. They frequently paint their faces and other exposed skin. They are attuned to nature, tribal and animistic in their ways, and resentful of the Qualinesti and the Silvanesti for past history in which the Kagonesti were enslaved by their brethren under the excuse of attempting to redeem and civilize them. Kagonesti begin with +1 on strength and constitution, +2 on dexterity, and -3 on intelligence. All of their scores must be at least 8 initially, except intelligence and comeliness, which may be as low as 3, They are unlimited (except by Krynn limits) as fighters, barbarians, rangers, thieves, and thief-acrobats, and can advance to level 7 as Holy Orders of the Stars.
Dargonesti are like dimernesti in most respects. These sea elves are native to the deeps, and sometimes called Deep Elves. They have deep blue skin, extended fingers, large eyes, and are the tallest of the elven races. They also shapechange, but become dolphins in their other form. Fewer of these have been seen, and less is known about them. Otherwise, they are identical to Dimernesti, and have been confused for them by land races, who usually refer to both races as "sea elves".
Dimernesti are a race of aquatic elves, known as Shoal Elves, as
their communities are in the shallows near the shore. They are able to breathe both air and water,
have light bluish skin and webbing on their fingers. Their silver hair is usually braided with
seashells. They have the innate ability to shapechange at will to a sea otter (not limited in times
per day); in this form, they can only be recognized as elves by other Dimernesti. They cannot use their
normal abilities (such as spell casting and weapon use) when in this form, but have all the natural
movement abilities of the creature. They are a nomadic people who rarely leave the sea, and
few have been seen by those on
land, although there are reports of these helping sailors in distress.
Initial scores are modified by -1 on strength and +2 on dexterity. All dimernesti elves have intelligences,
wisdoms, and charismas of at least 8, and dexterities not below 10. In the ocean, dimernesti
are limited only by the Krynn class
limits in advancement as Cavaliers, Paladins, Fighters, Wizards
of High Sorcery, and Holy Orders of the Stars; however, on land, they are only unlimited in Holy Orders
of the Stars, being held to level 16 as fighters, and level 10 in the other classes. Note that a character
could advance to higher levels training at home in the ocean and function at those levels while
in the water, but would be effectively the lower level when on land. Such temporary reduction would include
limiting hit points while out of the water, but everything would return upon re-entering the sea.
Unlike other elves, these do not have traditional family structures, but engage in community child
rearing. Dimernesti do not roll for order of birth or parents’ marital status.
Drow elves are an occidental underdark race. They purchase equipment
on the occidental chart, except that any drow who desires a hand crossbow at the beginning
of play may purchase a hand crossbow, 40 quarrels, and a 40 quarrel quiver, for a total of 40
gold coins. Only one such purchase is permitted per character; replacements will be at the listed prices.
Drow are more different from any other elves than they are from each other. Their skin color
is black as ink, and their hair white or silver. They may be fighters, rangers, cavaliers, magic-users, thieves,
thief-acrobats, assassins, attorneys, or alchemists. Several multi-classed possibilities exist.
Although almost all drow are chaotic evil demon-worshippers, and will be suspected and accused
of being such, player characters may take any alignment. Player characters have come to the surface,
and therefore are presumed to have fled the drow homeland (unless special arrangements are made
with the referee and the character is playing a chaotic evil). Thus they do not have continued
access to the secret materials used by the drow generally. Furthermore, the drow who
has fled to
the surface certainly has an assassin (at least one) tracking him. They are 90% resistant to
sleep and charm magics, and receive +2 on all saving throws versus any type of magic. They may fight
with two (one-handed) weapons, one in each hand, at no penalty. This does not increase the number
of attacks possible, but does make it possible to attack if weapons are held or otherwise immobilized.
Drow speak common, undercommon, elfish, gnomish, and drow sign, plus additional languages
up to the limit for their intelligence. They have 12" infravision. Drow females have a base
15" movement rate, but males have the normal 12" movement rate. They can detect secret and
concealed
doors as other elves, and can detect new construction (75%), stonework traps (50%), sliding
walls (2/3), and depth underground (50%) as dwarves. They can move silently as other elves
when not in metal armor or
with other non-elven characters (other than halflings, who have
the same ability), and are surprised only on 1 in 8 in such conditions. All drow have dancing lights,
faerie fire, and darkness 5’ radius as innate spells for use once per day. Upon reaching level 4 in any
class, they gain detect magic, know
alignment, and levitate, once per day. Females also gain clairvoyance,
detect lie (or detect truth), suggestion, and dispel magic, once per day beginning at level 4.
As with duergar, drow avoid daylight. Daylight and bright lights such as continual light spells
have detrimental effects on drow, including negating their improved surprise, penalizing dexterity
(and all its effects) by 2, all attacks at -2, and all opponent saves at +2. A drow attacking a creature in
the light while himself in the darkness reduces these penalties, gaining normal surprise and dexterity,
but being -1 to hit, and giving +1 to opponent saves. Dim light sources such as torches, lanterns,
magic weapons, light spells and
faerie fire do not have such effects. Drow are sometimes called
Dark Elves in the occident, but in Krynn that name refers to elves who are outcasts from their own
people.
Krynn Half-elves look a lot like elves, but have facial hair and human hair colors. They are particularly despised by elves, accepted only by the Qualinesti, who tolerate them disdainfully. They tend to be rebellious, anti-social, and insecure, but to exhibit unreasonable courage to overcompensate. They gain a +2 bonus to dexterity, and have minimum scores of 3/4/3/6/6/3/3. They may be Knights of Solamnia (any order), Fighters, Rangers, Magic-users, Wizards of High Sorcery, Thieves, Thief-Acrobats, Clerics, Druids, and Holy Orders of the Stars, but may not be multi-classed.
Gully dwarfs, known in Krynn as the Aghar or anguished ones, are
lighter than most, thinner, with narrower limbs and fingers, but commonly pot bellies. Although they
are physically similar to other dwarfs, they are often covered with boils, scars, sores, and filth,
since they have no sense of personal
cleanliness. They develop wrinkles very quickly after about age
twenty-five. Skin colors run from olive brown to light parchment to dirty gray-brown, sometimes splotched
or mottled. Males wear full long scruffy beards, and females have heavy pork-chop sideburns
but no hair on the chin. Hair color varies, including dirty blond, brown, rust, gray, and dull black,
with eyes of watery blue, dull green, brown, or hazel.
These creatures are incredibly stupid, proud of their meager abilities,
and very durable and survivable. They regard cowardice a virtue, and raise groveling
to an art form. They can distinguish one from many, but have no number system, and cannot distinguish
few from many, using "two" for
any number greater than one. Similarly, they regard their own needs
as paramount, their own people as highly important, and their own tasks as pivotal in the grand
scheme of things. Since they regard other races as, well, not exactly inferior, but not quite up to
themselves, it is not possible to persuade them of their own faults.
Gully dwarfs can be fighters, thieves, barbarians, thief-acrobats, or holy order of the stars. Krynn races cannot be multi-classed. Note that the gully dwarf does not normally qualify as a barbarian. MyWorld rules allow that tribes of barbarian Aghar have ability scores at the top end of the range for the race, but below the class requirements; other referees may prefer to give these characters the minimum ability scores for the race.
Hill dwarfs are the standard dwarf sub-race. They can be clerics, fighters, thieves, and assassins, and can be cleric/fighters, cleric/thieves, and fighter/thieves.
Being a non-magical race, dwarfs gain bonuses of +1 for each 3 1/2 points of constitution against rod, wand, staff, and spell. They are also bonused against poisons the same amount as to magic.
Hill dwarfs speak dwarfish, gnome, goblin, kobold, orcish, common,
and their alignment language, but cannot learn more than two additional languages regardless of
their intelligence. They have 6" infravision. Because of their background as miners and underground
dwellers, they can detect by
concentration within 10’ any grade or slope or new construction
(75%), sliding or shifting walls or rooms (2/3), and large stonework-type traps such as pits and deadfalls
(50%). They can also detect with concentration depth under ground (50%).
Hill dwarfs are bonused +1 to hit orcs, half-orcs, goblins, and hobgoblins, due to an extended racial animosity. Because of their ability to take advantage of their own small size, they gain a penalty of -4 on attacks launched against them by ogres, trolls, ogre magi, giants, and titans.
Dwarf charisma is limited to 16 relative to other races, but this limit does not affect the charisma of dwarfs to each other. They have skin from deep tan to light brown, and bright eyes which are almost never blue, with brown, black, or gray hair and ruddy cheeks. They set the standard of four feet tall and at least one hundred fifty pounds.
Krynn Hill dwarfs are barely distinguishable from their occidental namesakes. They have the same skin from deep tan to light brown, and bright eyes, with brown, black, or gray hair and ruddy cheeks. They can be fighters, barbarians, rangers, thieves, thief-acrobats, and holy order of the stars, but may not combine classes.
Krynn Mountain dwarfs are difficult to distinguish from Krynn hill dwarfs. Skin color varies less from a basic light brown, cheeks are smooth, and occasionally white hair is added to the other colors. They can be cavaliers, paladins, fighters, thieves, thief-acrobats, and holy order of the stars, but cannot combine classes.
Mountain dwarfs are like hill dwarfs, but about half a foot taller, lighter skin, and brown hair. They tend to live a little longer.
Surface gnomes are the most common. Their skin is usually wood brown,
sometimes ranging to gray brown. Hair ranges from medium brown to white, and eyes are
always blue, from grayish to bright. They speak their alignment language, Gnomish, Kobold, Goblin,
Hobbit, Dwarfish, Common, and the languages of burrowing mammals; they can learn up to two
additional languages. They have 6" infravision. Fighter, Thief, Illusionist, and Assassin classes
are available to them, and some combinations of two of these. They are resistant to magic as dwarfs,
+1 per three and a half points of constitution (rounded down) against rods, staves, wands, and
spells, but not poison. Also like dwarfs, they can detect certain aspects of construction underground.
They have an 80% chance of detecting grades or slopes, 70% for unsafe walls, ceilings, or floors,
60% for depth underground, and 50% for direction underground. They are bonused +1 to hit goblins
and kobolds, and confer a
penalty of -4 to attacks on them from gnolls, bugbears, ogres, trolls,
ogre magi, giants, and titans.
Svirfneblin, also known as deep gnomes, come from deep in the underdark.
They can be any class or class combination that surface gnomes can be. They appear more
muscular, and their eyes are gray. In addition to the normal abilities to detect things underground,
they are also able to hide against underground stone, being 60% undetectable if motionless.
No female svirfneblin have ever been encountered, so all player characters must be male. Although
those in the deep have great magic resistance, player characters are separated from these secrets,
limited to +2 against poison and
+3 on all other saves, and immunity to illusions and phantasms.
Players do not have improved natural armor class like their non-party counterparts. Deep gnomes speak
their own tongue which is close enough to gnomish to be mutually understood, and no other. They
may learn additional languages
according to intelligence as humans. They do not speak to elementals,
but may learn the language as any other. Svirfneblin may cast as innate illusionist spells blindness,
blur, and change self. A player character deep gnome who is not an illusionist may summon an earth
elemental once each day beginning at level six. All deep gnomes radiate a constant non-detection
relative to themselves. They have 12" infravision and 3" ultravision. In bright light, all vision
is reduced to 3", and all combat is at -1 to hit. They are surprised only once in twelve times, and surprise
others nine times in ten if not in bulky armor. They have the ordinary chance of psionic abilities.
They are +1 to hit against kuo-toa, but not goblins and kobolds; they have the same defensive bonuses
against the same large humanoids as their surface cousins.
Tinker gnomes are a Dragonlance race and class; in Krynn, all gnomes are tinkers, and there are no tinkers who are not gnomes. They are technologists in a world of magic. The class has been discussed already. Each gnome has a lifequest, to perfectly understand one type of machine. They are three feet tall, forty-five to fifty pounds, rich brown skin, curly or straight white hair, china blue or violet eyes, and cavity-free teeth. Males have soft curly beards, and all have wrinkled faces after about fifty years of age. They can talk quickly and listen carefully at the same time. Their true names are extremely long tellings of their ancestry, but they use shorter versions in casual contact, half a minute long among other gnomes, and a mere few syllables with others. Every year, there is one chance in ten thousand that a gnome will go "mad", and lose his grip on technology.
Irda are a race of people from Krynn. Under the Krynn mythos, these beautiful and intelligent creatures were the original stock of ogres, from which sprang the ogres and the minotaurs after a horrible disaster; they have been withdrawn from the world for ages, but some are scattered in hiding among the peoples of the world of Krynn, trying to find their way home. Because of their ancient roots and long absence from the world, they are rumored to be horrible evil creatures--entirely untrue, in the main. They are typically tall and slender (six feet is common), dark blue or green skin with either black or silver or white hair, silver eyes, and beautiful voices.
To aid them in hiding, Irda have the ability to shape change to appear as other humanoid life forms, adjusting their height by up to two feet. They must spend a proficiency slot in each form to which they intend to change; the first of those, if taken when the character is created, represents his most common form, in which he is indistinguishable from a creature of that type by any save magical means. Most player character Irda will begin with another form (such as Silvanesti or Human--preferably a Krynn race), and will be introduced to the other characters as if a member of that race, until they choos to reveal otherwise or do something which that race could not do. It may be inferred that they have normal (6") infravision, but infravision is not clearly stated as an ability of Krynn races, so DM's may differ on this point.
They face a distinct difficulty in the world of Krynn: creatures of good believe them to be evil, having legends of the horrible ogres who will one day return to rule the world, and so will hunt and destroy any Irda discovered; at the same time, creatures of evil attempt to form alliances with these they expect to be powerful evil creatures, and when the truth is realized, they too attempt to destroy these honestly good beings. (Player characters are not restricted in alignment.)
Among the Irda, magic is treasured. There are many who are Wizards of High Sorcery, and quite a few Holy Orders of the Stars. Any Irda to follow either of these professions gains an additional spell of the highest level he can cast. (The MyWorld interpretation of this is that the character may carry such a spell from those in his books; it would be illogical to suggest that he may have an additional spell of that level in his books, but will lose it when he advances to use the next level of spells, especially since the bonus applies to the cleric sub-class also.) Conversely, although they are not limited in progression as Cavaliers, Paladins, Fighters, or Rangers, they may not be Knights of Solamnia or Barbarians, and combat skills are rare among them. Some Irda are Thieves or Thief-acrobats.
Irda have high minimum ability scores. They must have a 15 charisma,
12 Strength and Constitution, 10 Wisdom, 8 Dexterity, and 5 intelligence. They begin
with +2 to Dexterity, Intelligence, and Charisma, but -2 on Constitution, which may not
exceed 16.
The Kender is an entirely different race unrelated to the hobbits of the occident; however, they are usually confused for a related sub-race because of their similar appearance. They are about the same height mixed hobbits--three and a half feet--and have something of the look of the small human. However, under the Krynn history, they are technically a sub-race of the gnome. They have elf-like pointed ears and expressive faces.
Kender have unique personalities which make them something of a joke
race--along the lines of the Tinker Gnomes of Krynn, but not as severely. These creatures have
no fear, seeming oblivious to the possibility that there could be any danger. They are highly independent
and very mobile, allowing
their insatiable curiosity to carry them into any situation. They
also have no concept of personal property, and so will take anything which catches their attention,
keep it for as long as it suits them, and abandon it when they find something to replace it.
The fearlessness does not result in recklessness; kender are fierce fighters when they need to be, and they are reasonably cautious when not driven by their curiosity. They will not throw their lives away haphazardly, but will often suggest plans which seem absurd on the surface but might succeed. Still, if there's any place from which no one has returned, the kender wants to be the first one to see it. They are interested in everything, from the magical to the beautiful to the dangerous to the disgusting. They are impulsive, not considering the possible outcomes of their actions.
They have a need for excitement, action, and new experiences. Most are with the adventurers for the fun of it. Trying to outrun a monster is viewed as a wonderful game. They are extroverted, trying to make friends wherever they go; however, they are noisy and talkative, and frequently turn people away. They are very sensitive to insults, and will not take orders from anyone.
Taunting is one of the kender's basic skills. Their curiosity gives them interesting if shallow understanding of their enemies, and they can effectively use invective and sarcasm to enrage an opponent into recklessness. If an intelligent creature that can understand the language in which the kender speaks is taunted by one, he must make a saving throw vs. Spells (wisdom bonus applies), or he will attack wildly for d10 rounds, -2 to hit and +2 on AC during that time. These penalties may be increased if the creature or character is adjudged by the referee to be particularly susceptible to such insults. On the other hand, the kender's long-term friends quickly develop an immunity to his barbed humor.
All kender are thieves. If the kender is not a thief class, he still has a 5% chance of success on any thief skill, except that he has a 40% chance to climb walls and no ability to read languages, modified by dexterity and halfling racial bonuses. However, because their nature is such that they don't understand the concept of personal property, the other Krynn races refer to the innate thievery of kender as "handling", and tend to excuse it (although it is annoying). The kender learn to open locks, move silently, listen at doors, hide, and pick pockets as means to satisfy their curiosity. They don't steal for profit, and they have no concept of the value of the things which they take. They pick pockets because they want to know what's in them; and if it's something pretty or interesting, they'll hold on to it for a while, intending to return it to the owner later, if he's still around. In an enemy fortress, they will pick up anything which might be a useful item or an interesting souvenir. But they would regard it an insult to be called a thief: they have no intention of stealing someone's property.
Kender have minimum ability scores, 6 in strength, intelligence, and charisma, 8 dexterity, and 10 constitution. They can be fighers, barbarians, rangers, thieves, thief-acrobats, clerics, druids, and holy orders of the stars. It may be inferred that they have the magic resistance of hobbits, although this is not clearly stated. Although they may be lawful, they lack self-discipline. There has never been a kender known to be evil.
Kender pockets are one of the most interesting aspects of the character race. As the kender handles objects, he places many of them in his pockets; as his pockets become too full, he displaces other objects he has been carrying. When the kender reaches into his pocket, he will pull out any random item from the list--the player has no control of what is pulled out, as it is randomly rolled from a table of 100 items. However, in addition to the many ordinary items which might be there (rocks, coins, feathers, string, teeth), there is a chance that useful equipment and miscellaneous magic items could be there.
This thievery does not extend to essential equipment, such as food, clothing, and weapons. The kender will hold on to his own essentials, and will not take such things from others.
Kender are also immune to fear, including the natural fear created by dragons and other monsters and the magical fear caused by wands and spells.
The minotaur of Krynn are completely unlike and unrelated to the monsters whose name they share. They are one of the sub-races of the ogres, and although they are over seven feet tall with short red-brown to black fur covering massive muscles and horns, their faces, although reminiscent of bulls, are still humanoid. The horns of females may reach 12", and those of males are twice that long. To suggest to a minotaur that he is in any way related to a cow is to insult him dreadfully (and thus to take your life in your hands).
Minotaurs wear clothing, typically a harness and leather skirt. The harness generally carries weapons and battle decorations. Battle axes (usually double-edged) are the preferred weapon, although some use paired broad swords.
Historically, the minotaurs were oppressed by the other peoples of Krynn. Eventually they built their own kingdoms, and became great ship builders and navigators. They have a firm belief that they are the superior race, and that eventually they shall rule all of Krynn. They are ruthless in battle and harsh in justice, believing that the weak should perish that the strong may dominate. They are trained from childhood toward strength, cunning, and intelligence, coming through a rite of passage called the Circus, a ritual combat and contest. Although they have a structured government, they perceive themselves as a classless society, since anyone may become emperor by besting the emperor in single combat in the circus. They also put great value in the honor of their families.
Minotaurs and their clerics almost invariably serve the evil god they call Sargas, known as Sargonnas to those outside of the minotaurs. Minotaurs are bonused +2 to Strength and Constitution, but take a -2 penalty to Wisdom. They have minimum strength and constitutions of 12, a minimum dexterity of 8, intelligence 5, and wisdom and charisma 3. Charisma may not exceed 16. They are unlimited as Fighers or Barbarians, and may be Rangers, Wizards of High Sorcery, or Holy Orders of the Stars, within limits.