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The Test of High Sorcery

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The Test of High Sorcery

A 4th level adventure to play alone or with friends!


So you want to be a Mage of High Sorcery? To join the esteemed organization, you must travel to the Tower of Wayreth and undertake the most important event in your life—the harrowing Test of High Sorcery! If you can survive where so many aspiring mages have failed, you will forever bind your soul to the Gods of Magic and gain access to untold arcane secrets.

 

The Test of High Sorcery is the perfect adventure for new and veteran players looking to experience Dungeons & Dragons in a new way! It is a solo adventure, where your choices have meaningful consequences, but it also provides balanced rules to play with a group or a Dungeon Master. This 154-page tome features:

  • A sprawling adventure that fits perfectly as an expansion to any Dragonlance campaign, Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen, or as a stand-alone replayable experience

  • A tale full of sorcerous intrigue, featuring many new characters alongside iconic favorites like Fistandantilus, Takhisis, Fizban the Fabulous, and the Gods of Magic

  • Innovative Destiny and Trait mechanics make your choices really matter—and ensure every mage’s Test of High Sorcery is a unique experience

  • Over 60 possible outcomes to determine which Order of High Sorcery you join and provide compelling new plot hooks for your character during future adventures

  • Dozens of unique locations with rich stories and sorcerous challenges that Dungeon Masters can use to create their own version of the Test of High Sorcery

  • New magic items and stat blocks, with mechanics that support clever use of enemies’ weaknesses and the environment against them

  • Four gorgeous sample characters, with interactive character sheets designed to be new-player friendly so that you can jump right into the story

  • A detailed primer on the history of Krynn and how it relates to the Mages of High Sorcery

  • A community survey when you finish to let you see how you compare to other mages taking their Tests of High Sorcery

This adventure is a huge project of the heart by veteran D&D writers and longtime Dragonlance fans Donathin Frye and Kienna Shaw! You can check out their previous solo adventure To Hell & Back Again—the Platinum best-selling and best-reviewed adventure in the Descent Into Avernus storyline!
 
 
book sample
 The Test of High Sorcery provides a comprehensive introduction on how to play this unique adventure,
including the unique Destiny and Trait mechanics, a brief history of Krynn,
and balanced rules for inviting others to play along with you.
 
 
 
book sample 2
 Meet dangerous and intriguing NPCs who will present trials that require you to
find clever solutions and make high-risk decisions to determine your fate!
 
 
 
book sample 3
 Thrilling and streamlined combat rules allow you to encounter new takes on classic creatures and monsters,
where each battle is a test of your problem-solving, magical prowess, and resilience!
 
 
 
book sample 4
Replay over and over again with more than 60 unique outcomes and hooks for future stories!
 
 
Thanks to Adam from Dragonlance Saga for having Donathin and Kienna on his show to talk about The Test of High Sorcery! Check out Dragonlance Saga on YouTube for an amazing resource celebrating the wonderful world of Dragonlance.

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Reviews (14)
Discussions (22)
Customer avatar
Lewis C February 14, 2024 4:05 pm UTC
Any chance you will be doing a POD version of this?
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Customer avatar
Don F February 18, 2024 5:46 pm UTC
CREATOR
I'd love to bring the book to POD! I hope we're able to—but that decision will be up to the team at DM's Guild. If given the opportunity, I think the book would be awesome in print!
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Customer avatar
Lewis C February 19, 2024 10:28 am UTC
I forgot that you need their permission to get a POD. Have you submitted to them for it?
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Customer avatar
Don F February 19, 2024 7:03 pm UTC
CREATOR
We have! We will do it again when the book reaches the Platinum bestseller level. I'm hoping that's when we'll see it in print.
Customer avatar
Tarik Z February 10, 2024 1:09 am UTC
Hi, can this be played by a 3rd level character? what should be changed?
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Customer avatar
Don F February 10, 2024 10:08 pm UTC
CREATOR
A third-level character should be able to take the Test of High Sorcery with little adjustment! For balance, I'd recommend:

- Reduce the DC of ability checks by 1
- Reduce enemy Armor Class and saving throws by 1
- Increase your number of Destiny Points by 1

Good luck!
Customer avatar
Foo F February 03, 2024 9:40 pm UTC
PURCHASER
This is an impressive effort. Thank you for making multiple decision trees and filling in all the details, making it easy to run an adventure with zero prep time.
This is a rarity. It reminded me of the original AD&D modules with all the blocks that were to be read out to the adventuring players. I hope you can make more content like this!
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Customer avatar
Don F February 05, 2024 7:22 pm UTC
CREATOR
I'm so glad that you enjoyed the adventure so much! Thank you for sharing. And for the kind words :)
Customer avatar
Christopher J January 24, 2024 6:38 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Does anyone have a flowchart for the traits and storylines? It would be a really helpful guide to work through the story and not have to be flipping around so much - some of the traits have direct impact to the order, some are just focused on helping you through the storyline. I love it, but a flowchart would be really helpful...and before I create one, I thought I'd ask if someone else had one!
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Customer avatar
Matthew H January 24, 2024 6:47 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I don't, but please make a new discussion comment here if you create one!
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Customer avatar
Don F February 05, 2024 7:23 pm UTC
CREATOR
This is a very cool idea! If you put one together, I'd love to see it.
Customer avatar
Matt J November 04, 2023 8:15 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Hi Don and Kienna, you did a great job with this! I had a blast running one of my player's kender bard, lol, through the test. Another one of my players (wizard) is up next to take the test. I love defined traits at most decision points are noted and used throughout. Really fun design! In the event you are not aware, I think under A47 there is reference to Nuitari as the red moon, when I assume you meant to say Lunitari? In any case, nice work!!!
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Customer avatar
Don F November 16, 2023 6:06 pm UTC
CREATOR
Thank you for catching that, Matt! I'll add that to our list of updates for a future version. I'm very happy to hear you and your player enjoyed the adventure, and hope the next test goes just as well. You can't keep a good(?) kender down :)
Customer avatar
Burt A September 06, 2023 1:21 am UTC
PURCHASER
On page 17, please fix the story of Silvanoshei. He was not an elvish queen. Also, he didn’t sacrifice his life. He didn’t want Mina to be killed by Takhisis.
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Customer avatar
Don F September 06, 2023 4:28 pm UTC
CREATOR
Thank you for reaching out about this. It's on our short list of things to edit when we release an update for the book!
Customer avatar
Jeanette B July 30, 2023 3:48 am UTC
PURCHASER
My friend who plays our group's mage is a long time Dragonlance fan. He was so excited to play in the Dragonlance setting and we ran his test this past week. He had so much fun and couldn't wait to tell the rest of the party about it during our regular session.
Reply
Customer avatar
Don F July 30, 2023 7:24 pm UTC
CREATOR
That's awesome! I'm really glad he had a great time and hope the others enjoyed his wild story of the Test :)
Customer avatar
Richard B July 18, 2023 3:02 am UTC
PURCHASER
I really enjoyed this adventure. I, in fact, ran through it twice with two different characters and found the story different in many ways both times.

I would love to see solo's from the same authors in Dragonlance for characters from level 1 to 20. Two story streams especially: one for Knights of Solamnia and the other for a Wizard of High Sorcery.
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Customer avatar
Don F July 22, 2023 11:00 pm UTC
CREATOR
I love hearing you've played through it multiple times and had varied and great experiences! Thank you for sharing that. Kienna and I always look for the right time and project to work together again. A level 1 to 20 solo campaign would be a massive undertaking, and we both keep busy with other projects. But, personally, I'd totally play a great solo adventure following a Knight of Solamnia if someone released one!
Customer avatar
Lawrence J C June 18, 2023 4:07 pm UTC
PURCHASER
This solo adventure was WONDERFUL!!!
Do you happen to have any more solo adventures for Dragonlance???
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Customer avatar
Don F June 18, 2023 8:30 pm UTC
CREATOR
I'm so glad you enjoyed the adventure! Kienna and I haven't written any other solo adventures for Dragonlance—only To Hell & Back Again for the Forgotten Realms. We work on a lot of TTRPG products for publishers, and when we publish on DM's Guild, it's because we're inspired by a specific idea. The Test of High Sorcery was an adventure we were really inspired to write because it's so essential to Dragonlance and really benefits from our choice-driven solo adventure style.

That said, I'd totally love to see folks write more great Dragonlance solo adventures. I'd play them!
Customer avatar
Todd S May 31, 2023 10:55 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Almost all of the comments I see talk about running this solo with the mage. Does this work well when running as a group?
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Customer avatar
Don F June 02, 2023 1:30 am UTC
CREATOR
I definitely can't speak for the experiences of folks who've played it with a group, but I know some do. In the introductory chapter, we playtested the mechanics for different-sized groups to create rules to support that! You can check out those rules in the full preview. With a group, the story will center strongly around the mage character because it's their Test of High Sorcery. Companion characters can support them through roleplay and gameplay—and their lives are certainly at risk during the adventure.

I hope that helps!
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Customer avatar
Lawrence J C June 18, 2023 4:10 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Dear DM Don, Do you happen to have a email address I can write to you?

I have a great idea for an adventure, and I've written the beginning, but I need help. It involves a small party that includes a White Robe mage who's just passed his Test by the skin of his teeth. They are given a mission by the Three heads of the Orders to locate the missing Tower of Nightlund for the White Robes to use, and given instructions by Dalamar the Dark. The White Robe mage has a pseudodragon familiar to get them past the guardian forest.
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Customer avatar
Don F June 18, 2023 8:38 pm UTC
CREATOR
That sounds like an excellent idea for an adventure! I'm happy to help a little if I can. I keep my email private, but you can message me through Twitter and I'll respond when I am able. I'm easy to find there :)
Customer avatar
Thomas K May 23, 2023 2:30 pm UTC
PURCHASER
About how long is this adventure, Start to Finish? I've read it through and planned to use it when my mage hits Level 4 in SotDQ. We're probably four or so sessions out from that point and I want to plan appropriately. Thanks!
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Customer avatar
Matthew H May 23, 2023 3:22 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I've run it 4 times in one-on-one sessions and each one took about 3 hours. It's fantastic.
Customer avatar
Kenneth G May 14, 2023 12:35 am UTC
PURCHASER
Decided to buy this after watching some use it on youtube.

Really hated that Shadow of the dragon queen cheap out on the test. This really filled the hole left in that campaign.

Absolutely love that it can be reused, as the player options can change it based on their choices. So it won't be the same thing everytime.

Oh. The results for the mage, she got white robes, tho she had hoped/choose Lunitari.
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Customer avatar
Lawrence J C June 18, 2023 4:17 pm UTC
PURCHASER
...See more
Customer avatar
Markos M May 08, 2023 12:19 am UTC
PURCHASER
I really enjoyed solo playing the test with a character I had from another campaign. I already had the story of my character in my head and it helped me a lot making the choices he would do. Can't wait to play the test with my players in my Shadow of the Dragon Queen campaign.
I just have a question about the end of test and the remaining destiny points. Are there any suggestions about grave injuries and lingering effects? Any source for those maybe?
Reply
Customer avatar
Don F May 08, 2023 12:52 am UTC
CREATOR
I'm so glad you enjoyed it, and I hope you'll share how the Test of High Sorcery goes for your players in SotDQ! There are tons of homebrew and third-party publisher options for handling grave injuries and lingering effects—and some recommendations in the Dungeon Master's Guide optional rules too.

One super easy way you could handle injuries: after finishing a short or long rest, the player rolls 1d6. On a result of 1, they have disadvantage on ability checks and/or saving throws hindered by their injury until they finish a long rest. If the drawback had a specific trigger (a certain phase of the moon, after a rainstorm, etc) then you don't even need a random dice roll.

Depending on the narrative, you can alter the effect (a level of Exhaustion, other similar minor drawbacks, etc.) You could also make the changes purely cosmetic and/or roleplayed without mechanics. Whichever way you go, I wouldn't overthink it and keep the impact of the tests focused on what makes sense for the story...See more
Customer avatar
Giovanni S May 02, 2023 6:50 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Bought today, great product.
I feel like we need something similar for Clerics (maybe expanding the oniric scene in the prelude of the book with a series of tests and making the godly patron change with the tests result) and Knights of Solamnia.
I think these three classes are the pillars the setting is built around (poor thieves).
Reply
Customer avatar
Don F May 08, 2023 12:55 am UTC
CREATOR
Yes! I totally agree. I could see similar adventures for clerics, Knights of Solamnia, and many other backgrounds too. Including rogues!

Thank you for sharing and letting us know you enjoy the book. :)
Customer avatar
DM D April 08, 2023 1:59 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I absolutely LOVE this adventure. I'm going to be running it in a few weeks and have one question. Is the art in the book available to be downloaded separately? I like to use images to set the mood and the art in here is beautiful!
Reply
Customer avatar
Don F April 08, 2023 6:05 pm UTC
CREATOR
I'm so glad you enjoy the book! Best wishes to you and any others you take through the Test. While the art's not downloadable directly, if you use a program like Adobe Acrobat Reader, you can left-click on an image to highlight it, then right-click the image to "copy image", and then paste it into another program to share with players. Let us know how it goes for you! :)
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Customer avatar
DM D April 12, 2023 9:15 am UTC
PURCHASER
That worked great! Thanks :)
Customer avatar
Ryan K March 16, 2023 6:01 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Random question, any plans to make a similar module for becoming a Knight of Solaminia? It'd be cool to run both modules back to back depending what my characters are wanting to become. Knight of the Crown, Knight of the Rose, Knight of the Sword.
Reply
Customer avatar
Don F March 18, 2023 1:55 pm UTC
CREATOR
It's something we've chatted about! Our work for publishers has our schedule pretty full currently, but Kienna and I are always looking for free time and the right ideas to work together again.
Reply
Customer avatar
Ryan K March 23, 2023 4:42 pm UTC
PURCHASER
The Trials of Honor has a nice ring to it ;)
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File Last Updated:
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This title was added to our catalog on December 06, 2022.