Dragonlance/Characters
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This page needs some cleaning up to be presentable. Some or all of these characters need descriptions. A list of tropes is not a description. |
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Characters from Dragonlance include:
Heroes of the Lance
Caramon Majere
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Race: Human |
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Raistlin's twin brother and self-appointed protector. Caramon is strong yet a little slow (but not stupid) in contrast to his brilliant but frail twin. Caramon is loyal to a fault to his brother and frequently puts himself in harm's way to protect Raistlin despite the knowledge that Raistlin is willing to kill him to achieve his ends; his main story arc throughout the series is learning to step out from Raistlin's shadow and see his twin as he really is. Caramon is in love with Tika Waylan, whom he marries; Palin Majere (see below) is their son.
- Big Brother Instinct
- Big Eater: Caramon eats a lot in the "Chronicles" series, and is miserable if he's deprived of regular (and very large) meals. Despite this, he never gets fat, presumably due to his active lifestyle. In the "Legends" series after Raistlin abandons him, he becomes so depressed that he ceases to be active and takes up drinking heavily. That, combined with his big eating, soon turns him into a tub of lard.
- The Big Guy
- The Caretaker: It's repeatedly shown that he needs Raistlin more than Raistlin needs him, and that his whole identity is wrapped up in being his brother's protector. In Legends, his Character Development revolves around finding his own worth as an individual, and letting go of his twin.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Starts out doing this in the Legends trilogy, but he gets better.
- Dumb Is Good
- Dumb Muscle
- Happily Married
- Heroes Want Redheads
- Love Makes You Dumb: In this case brotherly, not romantic, love.
- Meaningful Name: His name is meant to sound like "caring man".
- The Southpaw
Fizban the Fabulous
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Race: Human (not) |
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A scatter-brained old wizard who repeatedly runs into the Companions and frequently gets them into trouble, only to get them out of it again seemingly by accident. His meddling often leads them down just the right path they needed to take, but whether it's intentional or not is unclear. He and Tasslehoff become good friends. He is actually the great god Paladine in disguise, and his eccentric facade masks careful planning.
- Big Good
- Bunny Ears Lawyer
- Captain Ersatz: Of Gandalf, though far nuttier.
- Cloudcuckoolander
- Disney Death: In Pax Tharkas.
- Eccentric Mentor
- God in Human Form: He's actually Paladine, the primary god of good.
- Grumpy Old Man
- Inept Mage
- Magic Misfire
- Obfuscating Stupidity
- Playing with Fire: His most iconic spell, the Fireball.
- Robe and Wizard Hat
- Squishy Wizard
- The Storyteller
- Trickster Mentor
- Wizard Beard
Flint Fireforge
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Race: Hill dwarf |
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- An Axe to Grind
- Badass Grandpa
- Cool Old Guy
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: He dies of a sudden heart attack!
- Not entirely unexpected, between the foreshadowing of the skeletal warriors letting him die of old age in the dream induced by Cyan Bloodbane, the complaint of chest pains, and the fact that he's over 200 years old and still trying to keep up with his more youthful companions.
- Fantastic Racism: He hates mountain dwarves because they shut his people, the hill dwarves, out of Thorbardin following the Cataclysm.
- Grumpy Old Man
- Our Dwarves Are All the Same: The only part of the stereotype that he doesn't fit is that, as a hill dwarf, he's never lived underground.
- Parental Substitute: To Tanis.
- Team Dad
Gilthanas-Kanan
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Race: Qualinesti elf |
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- Big Brother Instinct
- Dragon Rider: Rides a silver dragon with whom he is in love.
- Interspecies Romance
- Love At First Sight: With Silvara who is actually a silver dragon in Kagonesti elf form.
- Magic Knight
- My Sister Is Off-Limits
- Supporting Leader: He rallies the metallic dragons and becomes the commander of Kalaman, but remains in the background for most of the story.
Goldmoon
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Race: Human |
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- The Chick
- Disney Death
- Hair of Gold
- Heroic Sacrifice
- The Messiah
- Noble Savage
- Out of Focus: Her character arc is more or less completed in the first book, after which she has less importance to the storyline.
- Stellar Name
- Unexplained Recovery
Lauralanthalasa-Kanan (Laurana)
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Race: Qualinesti elf |
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- Action Girl: And later evolves into a Lady of War.
- Badass Princess
- Betty and Veronica: The Betty
- Brainless Beauty: Subverted. When she first appears Laurana comes across as simply an airhead princess Tanis has outgrown; but she proves that she is a lot braver, smarter, and tougher than everyone thinks (and this is even before she Took a Level in Badass).
- Character Development
- Distress Ball: When she falls into Kitiara's Obvious Trap.
- Damsel in Distress: Subverted in that she ends up refusing Tanis's help in rescuing her and instead breaks free on her own.
- Fallen Princess: After running away from home to chase after Tanis.
- Four-Star Badass
- Hair of Gold: Naive almost to the point of ditziness at first but she grows out of it.
- Hello, Nurse!
- Hidden Depths
- Jeanne D'Archetype
- Love Makes You Dumb: Her massive blonde moment in Dragons of Spring Dawning is caused by her love for Tanis.
- Magnetic Hero: She inspires thousands to join the Whitestone Army.
- Rebellious Princess
- Sobriquet: "The Golden General".
- Spoiled Sweet
- Took a Level in Badass: Flaky princess to world saving hero and brilliant military commander.
- Victorious Childhood Friend
- World's Most Beautiful Woman
Raistlin Majere
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Race: Human |
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- A God Am I: In the Dragonlance Legends trilogy.
- All of the Other Reindeer: He was picked on a lot in his childhood and never played with the other children due to this, and his frailness.
- Anti-Hero: Type IV
- Anti-Villain
- Apocalypse How: He causes a Class 6 one in the alternate timeline where he killed all of the deities.
- The Archmage: The most powerful Wizard to ever walk upon Krynn.
- Blood From the Mouth
- Brought Down to Normal: The gods take away his magic for a while after he is rescued by Paladine from Takhisis. They let him have it back so he can help them find Krynn in the Fifth Age.
- Byronic Hero ---> Villain Protagonist
- Celibate Hero
- The Chessmaster
- Deadpan Snarker
- Eyes of Gold
- Evil Sorcerer: Following a...
- Face Heel Turn
- Face Framed in Shadow: Courtesy of his hooded robes, often.
- The Gift: He is naturally very talented at magic.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Raistlin is extremely jealous of his brother.
- Heel Face Turn: After he dies he later manages to come back to the world of the living during the Chaos War for a short while and he admits he was being a fool when he was trying to kill all of the gods. He also helps the gods find the world that was stolen by Takhisis in the War of Souls trilogy.
- Hellish Pupils: Hourglass-shaped.
- Incurable Cough of Death
- Ill Guy: He suffers from something that is similar to Tuberculosis, but it is not contagious. It is eventually revealed that Fistandantilus leeching his lifeforce is what is causing him to be sick.
- Insufferable Genius
- Locked Into Strangeness
- Manipulative Bastard
- Nothing Up My Sleeve: A knife.
- Paint It Black: Illustrating his Face Heel Turn.
- Pet the Dog: His interaction with Bupu and the other gully dwarves.
- Picked Last: This happened during his childhood. He eventually just stopped trying to play with the other children.
- Pyrrhic Villainy: The result of his efforts in Legends.
- Redemption Equals Death
- Rule of Cool: This is the main reason behind his hourglass eyes. The first artist who painted him gave him hourglass eyes just because they looked cool. It was up to Margaret Weis to come up with a reason for them. This led to the creation of the Test of High Sorcery as an explanation for how Raistlin got his eyes, and for the idea of Wizards needing to take a test.
- Squishy Wizard
- The Starscream: A particularly ambitious example: he tries (and succeeds, in one version of events) to overthrow and replace the goddess of evil.
- Tall, Dark and Snarky
- Tragic Hero: He is called more of a tragic hero than an outright villain in the Annotated Legends.
- True Neutral later turns Neutral Evil
- The Unfavorite
- Vader Breath: His whispery voice, raspy breathing, and Incurable Cough of Death.
- Virginity Makes You Stupid: Inverted when compared to Caramon.
- Virgin Power: In the Annotated Legends it is said that Raistlin must resist sleeping with Crysania to "preserve his power". given the way magic works in the setting, it is unlikely that Raistlin would have actually lost his powers if he had slept with Crysania. So the meaning of that statement is a little ambiguous.
- Possibly that Crysania would lose her power, since she's a cleric and may have taken a vow of chastity.
- White-Haired Pretty Boy: Got the white long hair, but the pretty boy part is highly debatable.
- Who's Laughing Now?: A lot of his behavior can be traced back to how he was bullied as a kid.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: To Crysiana in Legends.
Riverwind the Plainsman
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Race: Human |
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- Bodyguard Crush
- Bow and Sword in Accord
- Noble Savage
- Out of Focus: The same as Goldmoon above.
- Tall, Dark and Handsome
- The Stoic
- Not So Stoic: A few times, but most notably after Goldmoon's supposed death when the heroes are trying to escape, he goes completely berserk and tears the draconians apart with his bare hands.
- Unstoppable Rage: Mostly when Goldmoon is in danger. He is a barbarian, after all.
Sturm Brightblade
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Race: Human |
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- Ancestral Weapon: And armor.
- Badass Mustache
- Cool Sword: The Brightblade, his family's Ancestral Weapon.
- Deadpan Snarker: Mostly towards Raistlin.
- The Snark Knight: Maybe not really, but Just for Pun.
- Heroic Sacrifice
- Honor Before Reason
- Hurting Hero
- Impoverished Patrician
- Knight in Shining Armor
- Knight in Sour Armor
- The Lady's Favor: Alhana Starbreeze's Starjewel.
- The Lancer
- Lawful Good: Mostly managing to avoid being Lawful Stupid.
- Love At First Sight: With Alhana Starbreeze.
- Number Two: To Tanis, being his closest confidant, and usually the one taking charge when Tanis is incapable of such.
- The Stoic
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He really doesn't get along with Raistlin and works with the mage mostly out of respect for Caramon.
- Younger Than He Looks: Looks about 40 when he is actually about 30.
Tanthalas Half-Elven (Tanis)
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Race: Half-elf |
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A half-elf warrior and the de facto leader of the Companions. Son of an elven noblewoman who was raped by a human warrior, Tanis is torn between his two heritages, as well as between the human woman Kitiara and the elf princess Laurana. Flint acts as a surrogate father to him.
- The Archer
- Bow and Sword in Accord
- Child by Rape
- Cool Sword: Wyrmslayer, a sword which once belonged Kith-Kanan.
- Dating Catwoman: With Kitiara in Flotsam.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Stabbed in the back by a nameless mook in Dragons of Summer Flame.
- Halfbreed / Half-Human Hybrid: Thus the name.
- The Hero
- Heroic Bastard
- Heroic Self-Deprecation
- The Leader: Type II.
- Redheaded Hero
Tasslehoff Burrfoot
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Race: Kender |
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- Cloudcuckoolander
- Keet
- Loveable Rogue
- Make Wrong What Once Went Right: Responsible directly or indirectly for most of the negative cosmos-altering events.
- Pals with Jesus: Or, well, Pals With Paladine.
- Plucky Comic Relief
- Spanner in the Works: Kender in general tend to have this effect, but Tas is an especially notable example.
Tika Waylan
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Race: Human |
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- Action Girl
- Big Breasts, Big Deal: Usually Type III, though when she first encounters the impossibly elegant, and more modestly endowed, Laurana, she feels a bit self-conscious about how much cleavage she's showing.
- Eighties Hair: Thanks to artist Larry Elmore.
- Fiery Redhead
- Frying Pan of Doom: In her most iconic scene.
- Happily Married
- Shield-Bash: She's more dangerous with her shield than her sword, at least at first; she bashes a draconian's skull in with it.
- Stripperiffic: Her armor.
Servants of the Dark Queen
The Blue Lady ( Kitiara Uth Matar)
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Race: Human |
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- Betty and Veronica: The Veronica
- The Chessmaster: She's quite intelligent, though she's not as good at it as her little brother (which ends up biting her hard after she underestimates him)
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder
- Dark Action Girl
- Ditzy Genius: In game terms she has a canon Intelligence score of 13 and Wisdom score of 7 (the human average for both is 10). In other words she's very cunning but not very wise and prone to impulsive decisions.
- The Dragon
- Dragon Rider: With her blue dragon mount, Khellendros, aka Skie.
- Face Heel Turn: In the backstory.
- Gender Neutral Writing: Employed briefly to help disguise her identity.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Kitiara is extremely jealous of her romantic rival Laurana. (Especially after learning that Laurana is more beautiful than her.)
- The Heavy
- Psycho Ex-Girlfriend: To Tanis, though she's less psycho than "Power-hungry Ex Girlfriend".
- The Starscream
Emperor Duulket Ariakas
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Race: Human |
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- Authority Equals Asskicking: Justified, as he murdered his way up the hierarchy.
- Bad Boss: Very, very bad! So bad even his own dragons fear him.
- Big Bad / The Dragon: Which he is in Chronicles really depends on whether you take the mortal or divine perspective.
- The Emperor
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas
- Evil Counterpart: Raistlin thinks to himself about how Ariakas reminds him of a "Dark-Souled" version of Caramon.
- Evil Overlord
- Evil Sorcerer
- Large and In Charge
- Magic Knight: A rare (for Dragonlance) aversion of Squishy Wizard. He kills at least one man with his bare hands.
- Self-Made Orphan: Slew his own father as revenge for the murder of his mother.
- Sorcerous Overlord
- The Strategist: As he emphasizes in his introduction, it was his strategy that allowed the Dragon Highlords to conquer as much land as they did, before the Dragonlance was remade.
- Tin Tyrant
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: As he is dying he calls on Takhisis to save him - but she refuses because she's decided on Kitiara as her new favorite in the mortal world.
Fewmaster Toede
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Race: Hobgoblin |
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- Butt Monkey
- Captain Ersatz: Likely unintentional but Toede--at least as he appears in Lord Toede--is strikingly similar to Edmund Blackadder complete with a Baldrick expy in Groag the Bumbling Sidekick.
- Dirty Coward
- Immortal Life Is Cheap: He can be killed, but will keep coming back no matter what. He gets killed multiple times in the novel Lord Toede.
- Evil Overlord: Technically, but nobody takes him seriously.
- Meaningful Name: "Toady".
- Our Goblins Are Wickeder
- Small Name, Big Ego: He commissioned a thirty-seven-volume biography of his life in which he claimed to be "the love child of Queen Takhisis, after Her Dark Majesty fell head over heels in love with Toede's father, a hobgoblin of enormous good looks and manly prowess, traits that he would pass on to his son," and that he was named after Takhisis's "uncle", "Toede Highgod".
- Starter Villain
- Villain Protagonist / Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: In Lord Toede.
Fistandandtilus
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Race: Human |
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- Enemy to All Living Things
- Evil Sorcerer
- Grand Theft Me
- Manipulative Bastard
- Out-Gambitted: By Raistlin.
- Shrouded in Myth
- Walking Wasteland
Lord Ariakan Ariakas
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Race: Human |
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- Back from the Dead: Possibly. Zeboim recovers his trapped soul in Amber and Iron so it seems unlikely he'll be staying dead.
- Half-Human Hybrid: He's the son of human warlord Ariakas and the goddess Zeboim.
- Noble Demon: In complete contrast to his father Ariakan is presented as a much more sympathetic and, yes noble figure. He's still fully dedicated to conquering the world mind you.
- The Strategist
Mina
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Race: Human |
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- Dark Action Girl
- Dark Messiah
- The Dragon: In War of Souls
- Eyes of Gold: Err, make that amber
- God in Human Form
- Sleep Mode Size - In the third book of the Dark Disciple Trilogy, Amber & Blood, she turns into a child with no memories of what happened to her before, save that Goldmoon was her "mother".
- Well-Intentioned Extremist
- Waif Prophet
Verminaard
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Race: Human |
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- Authority Equals Asskicking: He takes on Sturm, Tanis, Caramon, and Raistlin at once and wins until Goldmoon enters the fight.
- Bad Boss
- Carry a Big Stick: His mace, Nightbringer.
- Evil Overlord
- Evil Sounds Deep
- Disc One Final Boss
- Large and In Charge
- Magic Knight
- Religion of Evil: He's a priest in one.
- Tin Tyrant
- Warrior Monk
Other Characters
Alhana Starbreeze
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Race: Elf |
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- Defrosting Ice Queen
- Love At First Sight: With Sturm, not that it goes anywhere.
Ausric Krell
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Race: Death knight (formerly human) |
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- Cursed with Awesome: He rather likes being a Death Knight, the only thing that sucks for him is that he is stuck on an island...at first.
- The Brute: He is very quick to resort to physical violence to solve any problems.
- The Dragon: He becomes Chemosh's Dragon after he is freed from Zeboim's control.
- Undeath Always Ends
Beldinas Lightbringer, Kingpriest of Istar
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Race: Human |
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- The Caligula: Somewhat subverted in that no one realized he was nuts until it was too late...
- Holier Than Thou
- Jumping Off the Slippery Slope
- Knight Templar
- Lawful Stupid: Enough so to become a direct threat to existence
- Light Is Not Good
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Though as the other tropes listed for him indicate, he's only a hero in the most arguable sense.
- Unwitting Pawn: Turns out that everything he did was puppetmastered by Fistandantilus
- Well-Intentioned Extremist
Berem Everman, the Green Gemstone Man
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Race: Human |
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- Immortality
- Non-Action Guy: Until the end.
- Unstoppable Rage: When he hears his sister calling in Neraka.
- Who Wants to Live Forever?
Bupu
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Race: Gully Dwarf |
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- Morality Pet: To Raistlin
- You No Take Candle: Like most gully dwarves, she doesn't speak very well.
Crysania
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Race: Human |
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- Blue Blood
- Defrosting Ice Queen
- Draco in Leather Pants: How she feels about Raistlin. She's right that he's redeemable, but wrong that he cares about her.
- Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Deconstructed
- Love Martyr
- Not So Different: to Raistlin
- Pride
- Shiny Midnight Black
- Unwitting Pawn
Dalamar the Dark
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Race: Silvanesti elf |
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- Affably Evil
- Bastard Understudy
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder
- Crossover: According to the "Wizards Three" articles that used to run in Dragon magazine, he's acquainted with Elminster of the Forgotten Realms and Mordenkainen of Greyhawk and used to meet them for dinner parties in the home of Ed Greenwood. This is apparently canon, at least in Forgotten Realms.
- Deceptive Disciple
- Villain Protagonist: He's a self-proclaimed Evil Sorcerer, but generally winds up one of the "good guys" in any novel where he's a major character - which accounts for a lot of the Betrayal Tropes listed above.
Elistan
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Race: Human |
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- Cold-Blooded Torture: He endured torture at the hands of Verminaard, who tried to forcibly convert him to the worship of Takhisis.
- Defector From Decadence: Started out as a member of the Seeker cult, but with good intentions.
- Easy Evangelism: Goldmoon converted him to the worship of Paladine with one simple parable. He had been searching desperately for something to believe in up to that point, though.
- Good Shepherd
- The Messiah
- Older Than They Look: As a result of a wasting disease (cured by Goldmoon).
- Reasonable Authority Figure
- Saintly Church
Gilthas Pathfinder, Speaker of the Sun and the Stars
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Race: Half-elf |
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- Halfbreed / Half-Human Hybrid: 1/4 human, 3/4 Qualinesti Elven.
- Non-Action Guy: Tanis' and Laurana's son has no shortage of courage but a sword wielder he isn't.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Not so much stupidity as such but he maintained an image of being indolent, sickly and weak-willed to (successfully) fool his enemies.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something
- Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: The savvy one to Kerianseray.
- The Wise Prince
Hederick the Theocrat
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Race: Human |
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- Corrupt Bureaucrat: He's not really evil in that he lacks malice; all he cares about is staying in power.
- Cult: His Seekers.
- Fantastic Racism: Towards everyone but "civilized" humans, including elves, dwarves, and Plainsfolk.
- Foil: To Elistan.
- Miles Gloriosus: He hides during the uprising against Verminaard, then takes credit for it.
- Scam Religion: He created the Seeker cult just to gain political power and money.
- Small Name, Big Ego
- Smug Snake
Kerianseray, the Lioness
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Race: Kagonesti Elf |
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- Action Girl
- Barbarian Heroine
- Hot Amazon
- Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: The energetic one to Gilthas.
Lord Derek Crownguard
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Race: Human |
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- Ambition Is Evil
- Glory Hound
- Good Is Not Nice: Though the definition of good in his case is definitely arguable.
- Holier Than Thou
- Honor Before Reason: So very much.
- Jerkass
- Knight Templar
- Lawful Stupid
- The Rival: While primarily Sturm's rival, he is also Gunthar's rival for the position of Grand Master.
- Sanity Slippage: He gets gradually more and more insane, culminating in him vastly underestimating the draconians and riding into battle with his forces, instead of defend. The entire army is killed, and Derek survives until he is brought back to the other knights, where his mind has finally snapped and he dies.
- Smug Snake
Lord Gunthar Uth Wistan
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Race: Human |
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- Badass Mustache
- Character Tics: Gunthar is noted to always stroke his mustache before he rides into battle.
- Cool Old Guy
- Guile Hero: A political one, against Derek Crownguard. He uses Sturm as his main piece to gain victory against Derek, something that makes Laurana feel a bit uncomfortable, even if she finds Gunthar sympathetic and his actions necessary.
- Honor Before Reason
- Knight in Shining Armor
- Lawful Good: Unlike most of the Knights of Solamnia, and like Sturm, he manages to mostly avoid being Lawful Stupid, though he has many more boundaries as acting Grand Master than Sturm has.
- Only Sane Man: Among the leadership of the Knights of Solamnia. Once he becomes Grand Master, he begins to try and rework the Measure.
- Parental Substitute: Briefly acts as one for Sturm.
- Reasonable Authority Figure
- Stroke The Mustache
Lord Soth
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Race: Death knight (formerly human) |
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- Black Knight
- Classic Villain: In the final issue of Dragon (the official D&D magazine), he was named as one of the greatest villains of all time, and he is widely considered by fans to be the archetypal Death Knight.
- Enemy to All Living Things
- Enigmatic Minion
- Fallen Hero: Big time.
- Promethean Punishment
- The Undead
- Unholy Matrimony: His motivations in Legends come to center increasingly around his very creepy crush on Kitiara.
- Was Once a Man
Nightshade Pricklypear
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Race: Kender |
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- I See Dead People
- Nay Theist: He seems to respect the gods, but chooses not to worship any.
- Nightmare Fetishist: He is a Kender Nightstalker (A variant Mystic class that deals with undead), so he is always curious about different sorts of undead and spirits.
- Pals with Jesus: Despite his Nay Theist status, he has a good relationship with the god Majere.
- Pity the Kidnapper: After his death, Chemosh, the god of Death and Undead (Who likes to trap souls in the Abyss) has no interest in keeping him around and tells him to leave to continue his Soul's Journey once he arrives at Chemosh's domain. Zeboim even shows up to make sure he is dead and that he is leaving Krynn.
Palin Majere
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Race: Human |
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- Ancestral Weapon: The Staff of Magius, inherited from his uncle Raistlin.
- The Archmage: He is not as powerful as his uncle, but he was the most powerful Primal Sorcerer during the early Fifth Age, and he was one of three who helped to rediscover Primal Sorcery in the Fifth Age with very little to work from.
- Brought Down to Normal: After the War of Souls, he is given the choice to have his High Sorcery restored to him (He had been practicing Primal Sorcery during the early Fifth Age), but he refuses to use any sort of magic ever again after he realizes that it is not making him happy. He decides to focus on his family instead, and so now he has no magical ability at all.
- Finger-Snap Lighter: One of his spells he developed as a Sorcerer has him snap his fingers to cast it.
- In the Blood: While he is Raistlin's nephew, not his son, he shows an interest in magic and a somewhat similar personality to Raistlin when he is young. Initially his father Caramon feared that he would end up like Raistlin and tries to discourage him studying magic, but he eventually let him after Dalamar has a talk with him (Caramon).
- Playing with Fire: During his time as a Sorcerer, he knew the school of Pyromancy.
- Squishy Wizard
Porthios-Kanan
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Race: Qualinesti Elf |
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Rhys Mason
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Race: Human |
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- Bare-Fisted Monk: He has training to be one, but most of the time he prefers using his Simple Staff.
- Everybody's Dead, Dave: This happens to his entire Monastic Order of Majere, except for him of course. It is the reason why he gets involved in the events of the Dark Disciple Trilogy.
- Simple Staff: His preferred weapon of choice.
Steel Brightblade
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Race: Human |
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- Anti-Hero / Anti-Villain / Villain Protagonist: He's a Knight of Takhisis, but one of the main protagonists of Dragons of Summer Flame and ultimately a heroic character.
Usha Majere
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Race: Human |
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- Eyes of Gold: Mostly subverted in that they turn out to be less of an indication of supernatural origin than people initially suppose.
The Gods
Good Deities
Branchala, the Song of Life
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God of music, harmony, poetry, and beauty |
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Habbakuk, the Fisher King
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God of animals, hunting, water, and rebirth |
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Kiri-Jolith, the Sword of Justice
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God of war, courage, honor, and solidarity |
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- True Companions: In a way, he can be considered the god of True Companions given that he is considered the god of Solidarity and of uniting together to overcome life's problems.
- Worthy Opponent: How he sees Sargonnas, his Evil Counterpart.
Majere, the Mantis of the Rose
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God of discipline, meditation, thought, and industry |
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- Animal Motifs: Praying Mantises and Spiders.
- All Monks Know Kung Fu: Monks of his order train in martial arts.
- Bare-Fisted Monk
- The Good Chancellor: To Paladine.
- Old Master
Mishakal, the Healing Hand
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Goddess of healing, mercy, the home, and compassion |
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- Lady of War: Has become one after the War of Souls trilogy.
- The Medic
- White-Haired Pretty Girl: Her Aspect in the Dark Disciple trilogy.
- White Magician Girl
Paladine, the Platinum Dragon
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God of good dragons, kingship, guardianship, and redemption |
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- A God Am I: Inverted.
- Big Good
- Bunny Ears Lawyer: As Fizban.
- Crystal Dragon Jesus
- Expy: For Bahamut, the god of good dragons from other D&D settings.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: As Fizban.
Solinari, the Mighty Hand
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God of good magic, abjuration, and divination |
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- Unwitting Pawn: To Takhisis in Dragons of the Hourglass Mage.
Neutal Deities
Chislev, the Beast
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Goddess of nature, wilderness, beasts, and the seasons |
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Gilean, the Book aka Astinus the Scribe of Palanthas
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God of knowledge, balance, watchfulness, and freedom |
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- God in Human Form: As Astinus.
- Truly Single Parent: His daughter Lunitari sprung fully-formed from him.
- The Watcher
Lunitari, the Veiled Maiden
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Goddess of neutral magic, illusion, and transmutation |
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- Fiery Redhead
- Master of Illusion: One of the areas of magic that she specializes in is Illusion.
- Unwitting Pawn: To Takhisis in Dragons of the Hourglass Mage.
Reorx, the Forge
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God of creation, mountains, metal, luck, and pride |
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- Our Dwarves Are All the Same / Our Gnomes Are Weirder: The two races he created have very different views of him, each in their own image.
- The Gambling Addict: Gets some heroes into trouble by this when he's Dougan Redhammer.
- Ultimate Blacksmith
Shinare, Winged Victory
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Goddess of wealth, enterprise, communication, and travel |
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- Honest Corporate Executive: She urges her clerics to be this, in contrast to her Evil Counterpart Hiddukel.
Sirrion, the Flowing Flame
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God of fire, creativity, passion, and renewal |
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- Playing with Fire: He is made of it.
Zivilyn, the World Tree
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God of wisdom, foresight, prophecy, and enlightenment |
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- Old Master: While not a martial deity, he favors appearing as an old man. His Clerics are also ranked by age, with the oldest ones being the highest ranking.
- The World Tree: One of his titles in fact.
Evil Deities
Chemosh, the Lord of Bones
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God of death, the undead, murder, and false hope |
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- Affably Evil
- Animal Motifs: Goats, well, Goat skulls.
- A Glass of Chianti
- Big Boo's Haunt: His domain in the Abyss is called "Death's Manse" and is filled with all sorts of undead creatures.
- Deal with the Devil: He tries to lure souls that are passing on through the Gate of Souls to him by promising them that he will give them the power to take care of any unfinished business they had on Krynn. Any soul who accepts usually finds themselves turned into an undead creature in his service, or trapped in his domain in the Abyss.
- Evil Counterpart: To Majere, who preaches faith in High God's plans for cosmic order. In contrast, Chemosh preaches that existence is chaotic and meaningless.
- Expy: He is similar to Orcus, the Demon Prince of the Undead in other Dungeons & Dragons settings.
- Flat Earth Atheist: He encourages his followers to preach that there is no afterlife, and that the only way to survive death is to become an undead creature.
- Idiot Ball: He was holding it for a while during the Dark Disciple Trilogy when he was grieving over the "death" of Mina when he sees her "spirit", but he does not even bother to check and see if the "spirit" is real or not. It takes his brute Death Knight subordinate to point out to him that since he is the God of Death, he should be able to tell if Mina's spirit is real or not, once he realizes that Mina's spirit is just an illusion made by two Wizards, he is not amused. Even so in the end he ends up becoming stubborn and pushing her away. Nuitari even lampshades this.
- Necromancer: Pretty much the default set of powers for his Clerical followers.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: His aspect in the Dark Disciple trilogy.
- Sloth
- Sympathy for the Devil: He seems to cause this in the Dark Disciple trilogy.
- The Grim Reaper
- The Undead: What he has dominion over.
- Whatevermancy: His followers are granted the power of necromancy.
Hiddukel, the Prince of Lies
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God of greed, lies, thieves, and secrets |
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- Corrupt Corporate Executive: One of his aspects is basically the fantasy version of one.
- Deal with the Devil: His favored method of corrupting mortals.
- Dirty Coward: He is a coward at heart.
- Evil Counterpart: To Shinare.
- Expy: Of the archdevil Mephistopheles from Dungeons & Dragons (one of Hiddukel's alternate names is M'Fisto), though the latter is Lawful Evil.
- Greed
- Satan: He is not the head evil deity, but his motif of corrupting mortals through Faustian Pacts and he can manifest as the stereotypical appearance of Satan (red guy with horns and a tail) as one of his Aspects.
Morgion, the Black Wind
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God of disease, famine, poison, vermin, suffering, and madness |
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- Animal Motifs: Goats.
- Deal with the Devil: He will often come to someone who is dying of an illness and offer to "cure" them. His "cure" allows the person with the illness to continue living, but they can still spread their disease, and they must serve Morgion by spreading as much disease as possible. If they cease to serve Morgion's interests the disease will resume its course and eventually kill the person.
- Evil Counterpart: To Mishakal.
- Evil Tower of Ominousness: His Bronze Tower.
- Expy: Of Anthraxus the Oinoloth from Dungeons & Dragons (Morgion is also known as Anthrax Goatlord).
- Green-Eyed Monster: Envy is his domain.
- Loners Are Freaks: He is by far the least social evil deity. He mostly keeps to himself and is said to suffer from a madness only deities can have.
- Master Poisoner
- Omnicidal Maniac: Possibly, one of his lines in a book is "I am Morgion...I am the end of all things."
- Worthy Opponent: How he sees Mishakal.
Nuitari, the Devouring Dark
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God of evil magic, arcane secrets, necromancy, and enchantment |
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- Affably Evil: He can act this way when he wants to.
- Ambition Is Evil: While he is now one of the gods of magic, before he became one he used to represent Ambition.
- Black Magic
- Token Evil Teammate: Not part of a Five-Man Band, but he is close to Solinari and Lunitari, the god and goddess of Good and Neutral magic respectively.
- Unwitting Pawn: To Takhisis in Dragons of the Hourglass Mage.
Sargonnas, the Red Condor
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God of vengeance, war, conquest, and rage |
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- Affably Evil
- Animal Motifs: Condors
- Blood Knight
- Even Evil Has Standards
- Evil Counterpart: To Kiri-Jolith.
- God of Evil: He used to be the "consort" of Takhisis, and now that she is dead, he's the most powerful evil deity.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: The god the the proud warrior race worships.
- Worthy Opponent: How he sees Kiri-Jolith, his Good Counterpart.
- Wrath
Takhisis, the Queen of Darkness
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Goddess of evil dragons, domination, hatred, intrigue, and night |
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- A God Am I: Inverted, and then she is killed.
- Big Bad
- The Chessmaster
- Evil Matriarch
- Evil Counterpart: To Paladine.
- Expy: Of Tiamat, the dragon-goddess of other Dungeons & Dragons settings.
- Gender Bender: Her Dark Warrior form is sometimes described as male, but is female in Dragons of Summer Flame. Of course, since she's a deity she probably doesn't really have a gender as mortals understand it and just looks like whatever she wants.
- God of Evil
- Lust
- Sealed Evil in a Can
- The Vamp: In her aspect as the Temptress.
Zeboim, the Sea Witch
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Goddess of oceans, storms, jealousy, and spite |
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- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Had a thing for Ariakas.
- Evil Counterpart: To Habbakuk and Chislev, the other nature-gods.
- Kill It with Water: She is fond of drowning those who displease her.
- Mama Bear: She might be evil but she loves her son, as Ariakan's betrayer Ausric Krell had the misfortune to discover.
Overgods
Chaos
- Abusive Precursors
- Apocalypse How: Class Z
- Balance Between Good and Evil: It's said that if the balance shifts to far he will return.
- Big Bad: Dragons of Summer Flame
- Chaotic Evil: obviously
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin
- Fate Worse Than Death: Most Omnicidal Maniacs just want to end the world- Chaos wants to make it so that the world never existed at all.
- Omnicidal Maniac
- Order Versus Chaos: Three guesses what side he's on, the first two don't count.
- Retcon: He was initially supposed to be the original creator god, then he became a Satan-analogue, and finally became the embodiement of entropy and destruction.
- Sealed Evil in a Can
- The End of the World as We Know It: His ultimate goal.
High God
- Divine Delegation
- God: He is the highest authority in the setting, and he has only ever spoken on page once in all of the novels. All of the deities are terrified of him.
- Order
- Truly Single Parent: He created Paladine, Gilean, and Takhisis by himself and considers them his children.
Groups
Clerics
- Functional Magic: Of the Theurgy variety(but they prepare it in a Vancian way).
- White Magic
Mystics
Mysticism is often called the "Power of the Heart", but it can really be called the ambient energy of all life. Mysticism was discovered after the Chaos War by Goldmoon. Mysticism, unlike Primal Sorcery, was nearly unheard of, as it had possibly never been used before the Fifth Age. Mysticism draws upon the energy in all living things. The discovery of Mysticism was a great boon, as Mystical magic could heal and cure disease, something that had been lost after the gods left at the end of the Chaos War. Mysticism was introduced in the Dragonlance SAGA game system, and could only affect living or once-living matter. So, there could be Mystics who could, heal, manipulate plants and animals, or create undead creatures, but they could not create a fireball.
- Background Magic Field: Mystics draw their magic from the power of all life(and can even use it to make unlife in the form of undead if they are trained in Necromancy).
- Bad Powers, Bad People: The Citadel of Light refuses to teach the sphere of Necromancy, which deals with corporeal undead. They do teach the sphere of Spiritualism, which deals with incorporeal undead, and even that is considered a little borderline.
- Functional Magic: Of the Force Magic variety(It is drawn from all living things and their own soul).
- Green Lantern Ring: Mystics in the SAGA system made up spells on the fly. So, like Sorcerers, they could be very creative with what spheres of Mysticism they knew.
- Green Thumb: Mystics with the Animism sphere.
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: Mysticism is called "The Power of the Heart".
- Nay Theist: A Mystic may respect the gods, but due to the very nature of their power, they can never worship one.
- Mysticism School: There is the Citadel of Light founded by Goldmoon.
- Soul Power: The sphere of Spiritualism.
Primal Sorcerers
The magic called Primal Sorcery is actually one of the oldest forms of magic that as always been around on Krynn. Primal Sorcery was the magic that was used before the Three Moon Gods took their places in the sky. The practice of Primal Sorcery fell out of use because the Moon Gods believed it to be dangerous after three sorcerers accidentally caused magical storms that devastated Ansalon when they defeated an army of Dragons during the Second Dragonwar. The moon gods taught the three sorcerers High Sorcery. Primal Sorcery was re-discovered after the Chaos War when all of the gods left. Primal Sorcery was introduced in the Dragonlance SAGA Fifth Age game system. Primal Sorcerers in the SAGA system could only manipulate non-living matter, so they could create fireballs, tidal waves, or tornadoes, but they could not heal anyone or create undead creatures.
- An Ice Person: Cryomancers
- Background Magic Field: From which they draw their magic from(well, and their own soul too).
- Blow You Away: Aeromancers
- Dishing Out Dirt: Geomancers
- Elemental Powers
- Fire, Ice, Lightning
- Full-Contact Magic: In the SAGA system RPG anyone could learn Primal Sorcery as long as they had a high enough reason score. So, a character who is not a Squishy Wizard could learn a School of Sorcery.
- Functional Magic: Of the Force Magic variety.
- Green Lantern Ring: Primal Sorcery in the SAGA system was a system that had Sorcerers make up spells on the fly. This could result in the player finding all sorts of ways to do something with what schools of Sorcery they had.
- Magi Babble
- Magical Gesture
- Magical Incantation
- Magic Knight: For the same reasons given for Full-Contact Magic above.
- Making a Splash: Hydromancers
- Master of Illusion: Spectramancers can go this route.
- Not That Kind of Mage: A Sorcerer is not to be mistaken for a Wizard.
- Playing with Fire: Pyromacers
- Razor Wind: Aeromancers
- Shock and Awe: Electromancers
- Summon Magic: Summoning is a School of Sorcery
- Sorcery School: There was the Academy Of Sorcery, but it was destroyed shortly before the War of Souls, but there are likely still minor Sorcery schools scattered across Ansalon.
- Whatevermancy: Aeromancy, Cryomancy, Electromancy, Geomancy, Pyromancy, Hydromancy, Spectramancy are all Schools of Primal Sorcery.
Wizards
- Asskicking Equals Authority: The most powerful Wizard of his or her respective order is the one who is almost always the leader of their order. Dalamar is the most powerful Black Robe currently, so he gets to lead the Black Robes.
- Black Cloak: The Black Robes
- Bad Powers, Bad People: The Black Robes like to specialize in the schools of Necromancy and Enchantment, which deal with The Undead and mind-control respectively.
- Blessed with Suck: The Test of High Sorcery often makes the Wizard pay a steep price.
- Card-Carrying Villain: The Black Robes, though many of them are at least Affably Evil. They just know that they're getting their power from the dark moon, and are completely cool with that.
- Color-Coded Wizardry: There are White, Red, and Black Robes. White represents Good, Red represents Neutral, and Black represents Evil.
- Fictionary: The language of magic is based off of Indonesian's grammatical structure. However, most of the actual words are just gibberish.
- Functional Magic: Of the Rule Magic variety (to be even more specific, Vancian Magic). There is also a hint of Theurgy as they draw their magic from the three moons in the sky, which are physical manifestations of the three gods of magic.
- Lunacy: Wizards draw their power from the three moons, and their magic can be affected depending on where in the sky the moon they draw power from is in the sky.
- Magi Babble
- Magical Gesture
- Magical Incantation
- Magical Society
- Master of Illusion: Red Robes who specialize in Illusion can become this.
- Necromancer: A potential path for Black Robes.
- Not That Kind of Mage: A Wizard might be annoyed at being mistaken for a Primal Sorcerer.
- Summon Magic: Via the School of Conjuration
- Squishy Wizard: The Wizards prime loyalty is to magic, which does not leave them much time to practice physical combat skills.
- Token Evil Teammate: The Black Robes often end up in this role.
- Wizarding School: They have set up some of these in major cities.
Races
Civilized Humans
- Fantastic Racism: They are often prejudiced toward non-humans.
- Humans Are Average: As per Dungeons & Dragons standard.
- Humans Are Flawed
- Humans Are White: Averted; most of the northern ethnic groups have dark skin. Most of the main characters of the novels are white, though.
- Proud Merchant Race Guy: The Ergothian sailors.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: Many of the Solamnic people.
Draconians
- Mooks: Baaz draconians.
- Elite Mook: The bozaks are a step up from baaz and often lead them.
- Henchmen Race
- Lizard Folk
- Master Poisoner: Male kapak draconians have glands that secrete venomous saliva.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy
- Taken for Granite: Baaz turn to stone when they are killed. This has a nasty habit of entrapping their enemies' weapons.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Sivaks can shapeshift into other races.
- Winged Humanoid: All draconians but auraks have wings, though only sivaks can use them for actual flight; the others just glide.
- Witch Species: Bozaks and sivaks both have minor magical abilities, while auraks are skilled sorcerers by nature.
Dwarves
- Boisterous Bruiser: Most dwarves, but especially the mountain dwarves of Clan Daewar and hill dwarves of Clan Klar.
- The Brute: The Daergar dark dwarves.
- Elves Versus Dwarves
- Evil Counterpart Race: The dark dwarves.
- Expy: The dark dwarves of Clans Daergar and Theiwar are stand-ins for the gray dwarves and derro, respectively, from mainstream Dungeons & Dragons.
- Mighty Glacier
- Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Hill and mountain dwarves play this trope straight. Dark dwarves, on the other hand, take the dwarven stereotypes and twist them to evil.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy
- Stout Strength
Elves
- Cultural Posturing
- Elfeminate
- Elves Versus Dwarves
- Enslaved Elves: The green dragon Cyan Bloodbane tries to enslave the Silvanesti, but the Companions drive him off. But then the Silvanesti and Qualinesti basically enslave their own kin, the Kagonesti.
- Evil Counterpart Race: The Mahkwahb are the evil counterparts to the Dargonesti sea elves.
- Expy: Most of the elf cultures are based on one of the common Dungeons & Dragons subraces: Qualinesti are based on high elves, Silvanesti on gray elves, Kagonesti on wood elves, and Dargonesti and Dimernesti on aquatic elves.
- Fragile Speedster
- Hidden Elf Village: All of the elf races are reclusive to some degree, but the Silvanesti are the worst.
- Noble Savage: The Kagonesti.
- Our Elves Are Better: Though good-aligned on paper, most elves act more neutral due to their snobbish outlook toward other races. Qualinesti and Silvanesti share the "high elf" archetype (exaggerated with the Silvanesti) while Kagonesti are "wood elves"; "dark elves" do not exist as a race (no drow on Krynn), but instead as a social status (evil outcasts).
- Perma-Shave: Out of all elves, only the oldest Silvanesti are known to grow wispy facial hair.
- Proud Scholar Race Guy: The Silvanesti.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Dargonesti and Dimernesti can shapeshift into dolphins and sea otters, respectively.
Goblinoids
- Defector From Decadence: The Sikk'et Hul goblin tribes have rejected evil and emulate human culture.
- Mooks: Goblins.
- Elite Mook: Hobgoblins.
- Giant Mook: Bugbears.
- Our Goblins Are Wickeder: As the D&D norm, they are split between goblins (small sneaks), hobgoblins (medium-sized troopers), and bugbears (large brutes), though both hobgoblins and bugbears are adequate at stealth.
Gnomes
- Gadgeteer Genius
- Mad Scientist: If a tinker gnome isn't a mad engineer, s/he's probably this.
- Only Sane Man: "Mad gnomes" are sane gnomes born to normal gnomish parents. Their inventions actually work, which makes them objects of scorn and pity.
- Our Gnomes Are Weirder: The tinker gnomes practically define the "weird gnome" trait in modern fantasy.
- Transplant: Tinker gnomes are a major race in Spelljammer, as a result of a large number of them finding their way into space and failing to find a way back down.
Gully Dwarves
- Fantastic Racism: Everyone but the kender looks down on them.
- Joke Character: Pretty much the main reason to play a gully dwarf character.
Irda
- The Atoner: For the actions of their ogre ancestors.
- Enlightened Mystic Race
- Evil Counterpart Race: Both the nzunta and the "fallen" ogres.
- Green-Skinned Space Babe: They look like tall blue humans.
- Hidden Elf Village
- Inhumanly Beautiful Race: Even more so than elves.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting
- Witch Species: They have natural magic abilities.
Kender
- Expy: Of D&D's halflings.
- Fragile Speedster
- Hobbits: They were designed to fill the same niche as D&D's halflings, but bear little resemblance to Tolkien's hobbits apart from size. Incidentally, halflings in D&D were later redesigned to be more like kender.
Minotaurs
- A Load of Bull
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: Even more than dwarves.
Nomadic Humans
- Noble Savage
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: Most of them, especially the Plainsmen of Abanasinia, the nomads of Khur, and the Nordmaarian Horselords.
Ogres
Dragons
Red Dragons
Blue Dragons
- Even Evil Has Standards
- Lawful Evil
- Blue Oni
- Noble Demon: While the other evil dragons have some (less) evil individuals only the Blues as a species display widespread admirable traits like loyalty, love or grief over fallen comrades.
- Shock and Awe: Their breath ability is lightning.
Green Dragons
Black Dragons
White Dragons
- An Ice Person
- Chaotic Evil
- Dumb Muscle: Actually the weakest dragons, but still stronger than just about anything else.