Wizards of the Coast has revealed that the Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen campaign for D&D was created during an era when the main arcane spellcasting class was the mage, which evolved into the wizard in later editions of the game.
In the world of Krynn, there is a powerful organization known as the Wizards of High Sorcery, who are broken into three orders based on alignment and the three magical moons of the world. The good-aligned White Robes draw their power from Solinari, the neutral-aligned Red Robes draw their power from Lunitari, and the evil-aligned Black Robes draw their power from Nuitari. Anyone in Krynn is allowed to study arcane magic up to a point, but they will eventually be asked to come to the Tower of High Sorcery in Wayreth in order to take the Test. Those who survive this deadly test are allowed to formally one of the orders and learn deeper secrets of magic, while those who refuse to take it are branded as renegades and hunted down.
Dragonlance is coming to D&D 5e in Shadow of the Dragon Queen, which acts as both a campaign and a loose world book for Krynn. A new video on the official Dungeons & Dragons YouTube channel has revealed some big changes to the lore of Dragonlance that have been made in Shadow of the Dragon Queen. The Wizards of High Sorcery have undergone a re-branding, in order to fit with the new arcane classes in the game, while the Test of High Sorcery now comes to the player.
Dragonlance's Test Of High Sorcery Has Been Changed To Fit Better Into A Campaign
D&D 5e has several arcane spellcasting classes, with wizards ed by sorcerers and warlocks. Dragonlance has a Lunar Magic sorcerer subclass already; these are spellcasters that draw power directly from the three moons. To accommodate these classes, the Wizards of High Sorcery are now referred to as the Mages of High Sorcery, which fits with a trend established in One D&D, where sorcerers, warlocks, and wizards are part of the Mage group. The other major change is that characters no longer need to travel to Wayreth to take the Test; instead, it's something that will be arranged for them during the adventure, and it will be istered by the Mages of High Sorcery out in the field.
The concept of the Test is great for a Dragonlance novel, which can focus on one or two characters going on a private journey that explores their character, as was the case when Raistlin and Pali took the Test. The Test doesn't work as well in a D&D campaign, and it has always been something that is tricky to implement in Dragonlance D&D campaigns of the past.
The change to the Test makes a lot of sense from a game perspective, as players can experience this key part of the setting, without needing to derail their entire Dungeons & Dragons campaign. Hopefully the Shadow of the Dragon Queen will make more changes to the source material in order to better accommodate the epic battlefields of Dragonlance in a Dungeons & Dragons session.
Source: Dungeons & Dragons/YouTube
