Building the NEW Heroes of the Lance IE (A solid 5E Test Party)



The goal of this post is to build a well rounded party for the revamped Dragonlance 5E Classic campaign. I’m going to compare the original Heroes of the Lance and look at the new available formats and how the rulesets change the two. With any luck I’ll be able to craft a 5E party that will be capable of taking on the challenges posed by the Dragon Armies, but there are a number of challenges that I’ll have to address to make that happen.

So looking at the original Heroes of Lance we have the following. First each character was between the 3rd and 6th level

  • Tanis - Half Elf - Ranger

  • Flint Fireforge - Dwarf - Fighter

  • Sturm Brightblade - Human - Fighter

  • Cararmon - Human - Fighter

  • Raistlin - Human - Magic User

  • Tasselhoff - Kender - Thief

  • Goldmoon - Human - Cleric (NPC)

  • Riverwind - Human - Ranger (NPC)

I intend to keep Goldmoon & Riverwind as NPCs, so this leaves six characters to generate fresh. the OG Heroes of the Lance had three tanks (Fighters) and three distance attackers (Ranger, Thief and Magic-User) - an additional ranged attacker with Riverwind and also a support character in Goldmoon. 

Riverwind also provided back up Tanis in the scouting and wilderness survival role and Goldmoon eventually was the main healer once the story progressed. 

As I want to keep this in line with the original game, but adapted to the modern era I am going to bring in more of the newer classes. I’ll still have three martial classes, which seems like a good idea considering the lack of healing to begin with. 

Ultimately this is what the party will be..

  • Theoden the True - Half Elf - Monk

  • Sir Leo Dawnchess - Knight of Solamnia - Human

  • Rasfer of Kothas - Minotaur - Barbarian

  • Wyila the White - Elven - Wizard of High Sorcery

  • Simon Talespinner - Kender - Bard

  • Monty Stonecypher - Dwarf - Rogue

Now considering the changes to recovery of HP via resting the new party has an advantage there as compared to the OG Heros. Also as the 5E character classes are more empowered, compared to the OG counterparts, I’m going to start with all characters at first level instead of 3rd - 6th level. 

The reason for this is twofold. First if I need to make adjustments, it will be easier to adjust the characters up instead of revamping the whole world down. Secondly the 5E version of the game includes a challenge rating system that I can use to help in adjusting the difficulty of encounters. 

Goldmoon and Riverwind offer a different challenge. In the OG they start off as NPCs but can become PCs later on. So I’ll treat them as NPCs throughout the test adventure. Between Goldmoon as a support class as well as the Bard, this moves Riverwind to the party’s only Ranger and keeps him as an additional distance attacker and defender for Goldmoon, the mage and bard. 

The final aspect of how to run this test scenario so it stays true to what a real group might do is to provide backgrounds and motivations for each of the characters. Since they aren’t a group of friends headed back home for a reunion like in the original novels I am opting to give them motives and goals as PCs might do. 

Goldmoon & Riverwind will remain with the goals they had in the OG. They will also take actions close to what they did per the original novels. (This means mistakes as well as motivations will be used per the novels.)

I’ve decided upon the following backstories for the test group:

  • Theoden the True - Half Elf - Monk

    • Theoden is a Seeker and is traveling back to Haven after tracking down a rumor that proved to be false. He is eager to report back to the council and is unaware of recent events.

  • Sir Leo Dawnchess - Knight of Solamnia - Human

    • Leo is traveling to Solace to return the arms and armor of a fallen comrade in battle. It was his allies dying wish that this be done so he is honorbound to see it through.

  • Rasfer of Kothas - Minotaur - Barbarian

    • Rasfer is a hired hand to Wyila. 

  • Wyila the White - Elven - Wizard of High Sorcery

    • Wyila, recently passed the test at the Tower of High Sorcery and has an interest in Darkenwood. She hired Rasfer to be her personal bodyguard, as exploration is often dangerous. She is traveling to Solace to pick up rumors and any bits of information before venturing into the Darkenwood.

  • Simon Talespinner - Kender - Bard

    • Simon is a kender who found out what Wyila is doing and can’t resist the opportunity for adventure. Rasfer is wary of him, but Simon is working on winning him over… Whether Rasfer wants it or not.

  • Monty Stonecypher - Dwarf - Rogue

    • Monty pulled a job off in Solamnia and is looking for a palace to lay low for a bit. Haven seems like a safe bet to chill out while the heat blows over.

I’ll post full characters later on and I’ll provide updated stats as they advance. 

With these characters the test group should be able to take on the adventure and challenges as presented in the books. I’ll do a breakdown and provide updated results for each encounter as well as maps and strategic tips to get the most out of the game sessions/setting.

Feel free to comment on the party makeup and let me know if you think a better party could be formed or would be more capable to take on the adventure.

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