Below is a proposed conversion of the thirteen Heroes of the Lance to the rules of Fabula Ultima. They will require Fabula Ultima Core Rulebook and Fabula Ultima: Atlas High Fantasy to use. When writing them, I have chosen to write simplified descriptions of various skills, so these can be easy to pick up for new players, but aren’t just direct copy paste from the books. I choose to start them all at level 5, which is a starting level in Fabula, even if they join the cast later in the story. I have figured out it will be easier to level a character up than down, if they would be introduced earlier. The variable numbers dependent on Skill Level (number next to names of some skills) are already calculated for quick reference, so if you will be taking these characters higher, you will need to recalculate them.
Under the name of each character I included their traits in the format of Adjective, followed by Core Concept, then Detail, followed by a suggested Theme and starting Bonds. These do include some spoilers, as the secrets in Fabula Ultima exist between the characters, not players. I only elected to start with Bonds the characters begin at the start of the saga, not having more than two or a single bond with strength of two. Unlike most Fabula characters, many Heroes of the Lance have preexisting relationships with one another, but some of them only develop over the course of the game. If the GM feels this is too strong for a begging game, they are free to remove it.
When selecting classes, I have tried to reflect the accomplishments the characters have been shown to perform, as closely as possible. If multiple options were available, I tried to take one closer to the text, hence why Tas has levels in Fury for Provoke, even if he would probably be better off with Dancer doing the same through Peacock Dance – Provoke also enrages the target, which is closer to Kender taunt. I did try to show a variety of options in the game, however – Riverwind having levels in Darkblade, usually the edgelord class, came from my concern about overuse of the Fury, Guardian and Weaponmaster for other fighting characters. None of the others fit Darkblade, and you could potentially reflavor some of its darker aspects as Riverwind’s trauma. In other cases, when giving characters similar classes, I aimed for different abilities or combinations of them, so they play differently.
I have not used homebrew aside from a small bonus given to Sturm’s sword. To accurately reflect items like Staff of the Magi or Blue Crystal Staff, Raistlin and Goldmoon would have to start with Quirks, Described in Atlas High Fantasy – Heirloom Quirk, to be specific. However, Quirks are very powerful and game changing and if I allowed use of them, some builds would be completely different – Silvara, for one, would look much different with Elemental Soul: Ice Quirk. Moreover, quirks should not overlap between two characters and there wasn’t enough fitting to give each character one, even if we would reflavor some of them. There is no wrong way to build a character in Fabula Ultima and I acknowledge many of these heroes could be built in multiple ways. Mine are just an example.
I sincerely hope these will allow a new wave of people to try the Dragonlance campaign for their own, in a completely different game. I believe Fabula Ultima has potential for a whole new generation of players to go through the same emotional journey as did the people who played original modules in AD&D or read the novels when they came out.
-Filip R
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