Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Let’s start with the most vanilla of the Lorwyn tribes, the kithkin. The kithkin of Lorwyn are small humanoids resembling halflings or gnomes. Quite possibly even dwarves without beards. A proud, hardy folk that sticks together against all adversity. To this end they benefit from Thoughtweft, a sort of collective consciousness shared by members of the same clachan. We’ll get to that one in a sec.
The kithkin live in clachans under the leadership of a cenn. Several such clachans are known, including Burrenton, Kinsbaile, and Goldmeadow. As you can see on the card, clachans are rural settlements, evoking feelings of peace and coziness. Not unlike the settlements of Tolkien’s hobbits, which makes sense, considering both draw inspiration from British Isles. The aesthetic is fortunately a bit different, so it’s easily distinguishable from Hobbiton.
Thoughtweft
The tribal feature of the kithkin, thoughtweft enables the sharing of thoughts and emotions among the kithkin. As per the flavour text in the pictured card, this enables uncommon cooperation. It could probably work as a mix of kobold Pack Tactics and the Help action. This would provide them with an advantage on almost any roll, so the balancing seems questionable. Also it would probably mean that kithkin PCs would have means of instant communication within reasonable distance. I’m curious to see how will thoughtweft get handled. The balance issues would probably be moot with NPCs, especially in Shadowmoor, where kithkin could make great foes, but let’s keep to Lorwyn for now.
As a side note, the thoughtweft supposedly provides the kithkin with ambidexterity. Sharing right-handedness and left-handedness through the mind link is a nice touch.
Kithkin equipment
Kithkin being the most “normal” tribe in Lorwyn, their equipment is a mix of fairly regular fantasy stuff. Looking at the cards swords, daggers, and spears seem to be the most prevalent, with axes a little less common. The swords we see are on the shorter side, often it’s hard to determine whether they’re short swords or daggers. Shields of different sizes are shown, but not too often. There are two types of ranged weapons used by the kithkin – slings and bows. Along with the spears these make most sense for someone who is small and stocky.
As for armour, we see all kinds. Some kithkin seem to wear no armor or just some non-essential elements. Others are fully clad in plate or maille. Scouts and skirmishers wear leather, heavy infantry the best armour possible, together with large shields. In this sense they behave as we would expect from a humanoid fantasy species.
The kithkin are also known for their cavalry, and their love for the springjacks is legendary. On the card art they are either clad in full plate, or wear lighter leather armor, if any. The more sensible ones wield spears, but sometimes they are shown with two shortswords or daggers. While this is not a very advisable loadout for cavalry, it seems the kithkin have an affinity for dual-wielding shorter blades. I see potential species traits there.
While springjacks are among the most prized possessions of the kithkin, their knights have one more mount at their disposal – giant plovers! With both land-based and aerial knights the kithkin of Lorwyn have a quite colourful force should they need it. Judging from the card below, their mages are also able to employ strange winged contraptions. The one we see looks like two large jugs connected by webbing, with bird wings and legs. A magical construct perhaps?
The kithkin aerial forces are not limited to birds and bird-like constructs. They seem to employ balloons and flying ships of some sort. These offer nice possibilities for adventurers needing fast transportation across potentially dangerous lands. Just don’t fly into a giant. We can also see flasks of alchemical concoctions being dropped from the balloon, which totally seems like something a D&D party might do.
Magic
Kithkin utilize various forms of magic. They are adept healers and potent alchemists. Their smithing is also intertwined with magic. Kithkin are not known for offensive casting, rather using spells and alchemicals that empower their kin. In D&D terms that would mean little to no evocation spells, but plenty of enchantment, transmutation, and abjuration. Some divination and necromancy (healing) as well.
They are very superstitious, so kithkin magic is supposedly full of technically unnecessary accessories, which adds a lot of flavour. It also makes it hard to distinguish what really works, and what is just for show or the sake of ritual. This should be especially prominent if the party didn’t have a kithkin among them. And for the kithkin players it should open many role-playing possibilities, even when they’re not playing a caster.
Summary
Kithkin are the most basic of the tribes, in the sense that it’s easy to understand their motives and way of life. They could be a good majority species for a party, a decent background species (the one most prevalent in the adventures), and also fine antagonists, should one want to play a different kind of game. Though for this purpose the Shadowmoor kithkin might be better suited.
Rule-wise I would probably make them mostly resemble halflings with some specific traits. Thoughtweft and ambidexterity should be a thing. Dexterity +2 as a main ASI, then +1 depending on subspecies based on clachans. Below are some of my suggestions.
- Goldmeadow – +1 WIS, proficiency in stealth and perception, some skirmish related bonus
- Burrenton – +1 STR, proficiency with smith’s tools, fire resistance
- Ballyrush – +1 CHA, proficiency on Animal Handling, bonuses on mounted combat
- Dundoolin – +1 INT, bonus language, proficiency in 2 INT skills
- Kinsbaile – +1 CON, bravery and leadership related traits
- Cloverdell – +1 WIS, proficiency in nature, herbalist tools, some treant boons?
What do you think of the clachan/subspecies list? Do you have other suggestions? I tried not to make it into “playable” state, but I believe you could easily make a kithkin character using the paragraphs above.
I will of course do a Shadowmoor kithkin version as well. For now enjoy my short summary of Lorwyn kithkin. Your thoughts and comments are welcome in the comments section! We can speculate together and then see how the official result differs from our predictions.
Final remarks
While there is lore available on Lorwyn and its denizens, a large part of my analysis is based on card art and flavour text. Therefore a lot might be a matter of artist license rather than conscious worldbuilding decisions. Sometimes that is preferable. We’ll see in the official supplement how the specific issues will be resolved.
The cards used as illustrations were obtained on Scryfall and all rights to them are reserved to Wizards of the Coast and/or other respective owners.
The author is not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast or any other party mentioned in the text.
Rashundai Games 