D&D: Dragonlance’s Best New Items
From Fargabs to Boilerdraks, Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen introduces some new gear. And these are Dragonlance’s best new items.
Dragonlance might seem like a stolid, stodgy fantasy world. It’s dyed in the wool fantasy that takes place in “castle times, England” with towering spires of magic and good, evil, and neutrality actual tangible forces in the world. And yet, for all that, Krynn has always had its roots in just a little bit of pulpy, steampunk-y ingenuity. After all, this is the world that introduced Tinker Gnomes to D&D.
From their homes on Mount Nevermind, they experiment with specialized magic, science, and a whole lot of clockwork. And in Shadow of the Dragon Queen, the fruits of their labor can be a lifesaver, since tinker gnomes are responsible for some of Dragonlance’s best new items. And yes, Dragonlances are included in the book, but they’re not new. They first appeared in Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons, and are unchanged in this book. So, you won’t find them on the list of Dragonlance’s best new items.
Fargab
A backpack-sized device, always created with a bonded pair. These mechanical contraptions allow communication over a long distance, using a strange force called “radio waves.” Each fargab has been tuned to a specific frequency, and when wearing one, you can use an action to speak a short message of twenty-five words or less to another creature wearing the matching fargab, so long as they’re within 18 miles.
The strange magic of “radio waves” seems to require no recharging at dawn, you can just limitlessly communicate up to 18 miles distance as long as you have the action and the matched fargab to do it.
Narycrash
Another “backpack-sized device.” The tinker gnomes who come up with this must have a fascination with wearable items. Backpacks in particular. But the narycrash holds a balloon-based parachute. If you plummet while wearing it, you can use your reaction to deploy the balloons, which rapidly inflate and slow your descent to 60 feet per round. At least until you are ten feet from the ground, then there’s about a twenty-five percent chance the balloons deflate and you fall normally the rest of the way.
Boilerdrak
Boilerdraks are a step up from backpacks. These are wagon-sized devices, and the device is a loose term. Really they’re more like big dragon-shaped siege engines. Though they require a little more effort than the typical catapult does, they are intimidating as can be. A boilerdrak, once lit, aimed, and fired, can expel a 60-foot cone of flames, dealing 5d10 fire damage to anyone who fails a save in the area.
But, they do tend to explode. There’s a 5% chance with every use that a boilderdrak will explode in a fiery blast, dealing its damage to anyone caught within 30 feet of the exploding siege engine. But hey, how often do you roll a 1?
Gnomeflinger
A personal favorite. The gnomeflinger is a special catapult designed to hurl creatures instead of projectiles. It’s hard to say which came first, the narycrash or the gnomeflinger, but the one came about shortly after the other.
Gnomeflingers can be used to rapidly deploy special forces on the battlefield, catapulting and airdropping them up to 300 feet away from their starting point. Just take care not to crash. Run into someone or something, and you’ll take 1d6 bludgeoning damage for every ten feet you’ve traveled.
Kagonesti Forest Shroud
Finally, the Kagonesti Forest Shroud is Dragonlance’s answer to the cloak of elvenkind. This special cloak is made of autumnal leaves, and like its elvenkind counterpart, grants you an advantage on Stealth checks. Though unlike the cloak of elvenkind, this bonus extends to any use of the Stealth skill, not just checks to hide.
And on top of that, you can use a bonus action to take a misty step, teleporting up to 30 feet away. But it gets better, because not only do you teleport, but you have advantage on the next attack roll you make before the end of your turn.
These items and a few others await in Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen.
