In Dragonlance, The Orders of High Sorcery are governed by the three gods of Magic, Solinari, Lunitary, and Nuitari. Does that make the Wizards of High Sorcery Clerics? Buy Holy Orders of the Stars: https://www.dmsguild.com/en/product/3239/holy-orders-of-the-stars-3-5e?affiliate_id=50797 

Wizards of High Sorcery serve the gods, obey strict laws, and can lose their power if they stray.

So… are they clerics?

Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam, and today I’m going to answer a question that comes up surprisingly often: are Wizards of High Sorcery clerics? I’d like to take a moment and thank the DLSaga members and Patreon patrons, and invite you to consider becoming a member or patron–you can even pick up Dragonlance media or get $10 by signing up to StartPlaying.Games using my affiliate links. I’m referencing DLA Dragonlance Adventures, and the Chronicles and Legends for this information, if I leave anything out or misspeak, please leave a comment below.

At a glance, Wizards of High Sorcery look very much like clerics. They draw power from divine beings. Their magic waxes and wanes according to heavenly bodies’ cycles. They are bound by oaths, laws, and a rigid hierarchy. They can be punished, stripped of power, or even executed for violating doctrine. And like priests, their lives are defined by service to something greater than themselves. So the confusion is understandable.

But in Dragonlance, Wizards of High Sorcery are not clerics, and the distinction matters greatly—both thematically and cosmologically. To understand why, we have to start with what the gods of magic actually are.

Solinari, Lunitari, and Nuitari are gods, yes—but they are fundamentally different from the rest of the pantheon. When the other gods aligned themselves for the coming All-Saints War, the gods of magic refused to take sides. Instead of ruling from the heavens, they bound themselves to Krynn itself, revolving around the world as moons, anchoring magic directly into creation.

They do not demand worship. They do not ask for prayer. They do not require devotion, sacrifice, or moral obedience. They grant access, not favor.

A Wizard of High Sorcery does not serve a god in the way a cleric serves Mishakal, Paladine, or Takhisis. A wizard pledges loyalty to magic itself. This is explicitly stated in the doctrine of the Orders: a wizard’s only loyalty is to magic. That single principle is the reason magic survives in Krynn at all. This is the first and most important difference. Clerics are instruments of divine will. Wizards are custodians of a cosmic force.

Since the Second Dragon War, the gods of magic have not intervened to guide behavior. They do not issue commandments. They do not speak through visions demanding obedience. Instead, they allow the Orders to regulate themselves through law, tradition, and brutal accountability. The Conclave, not the gods, governs wizardry. The Test of High Sorcery, not divine judgment, determines worthiness.

And the Test makes this distinction crystal clear. The Test of High Sorcery is not about faith. It is not about morality. It is not even about good or evil. Wizards are not judged on why they want power, but on whether they will use it responsibly. Failure does not mean excommunication. It means death.

When a wizard takes the Test, they are not dedicating their soul to a god. They are pledging their entire life to magic. That pledge is enforced not by divine punishment, but by the Orders themselves. A wizard who breaks faith with their order does not lose magic because a god is displeased—they lose it because they have broken alignment with the cosmic structure that allows them to channel it. Even the moons reinforce this difference.

A cleric’s power flows continuously so long as they remain in good standing with their deity. A wizard’s power fluctuates mechanically, predictably, impersonally. Solinari waxing does not reward a White Robe. Nuitari waning does not punish a Black Robe. The moons do not care. They simply are.

When a wizard strays too far from the principles of their order, the moon ceases to affect them—not as judgment, but as consequence. And this brings us to the crucial dividing line. Clerics exist to serve divine purposes. Wizards exist to preserve balance.

A White Robe wizard must pursue good, yes—but only because unrestrained magic is destructive. A Black Robe wizard pursues self-interest, but within boundaries. A Red Robe wizard stands between extremes, maintaining equilibrium. These are not moral callings. They are functional necessities.

That is why White and Black Robes can slaughter each other on the battlefield, then calmly debate spell theory in a Tower of High Sorcery. Their loyalty is not to ideology, nation, or god—it is to magic’s survival. And it is why renegade wizards are treated more harshly than apostate clerics.

A fallen cleric has lost favor. A renegade wizard is a threat to reality. The Orders will hunt, capture, convert, or destroy renegades because uncontrolled magic destabilizes the world itself. This is not heresy—it is hazard containment.

So while Wizards of High Sorcery share surface similarities with clerics—hierarchy, obligation, loss of power—their role in Dragonlance is entirely different. Clerics are servants. Wizards are stewards. Clerics submit to will. Wizards submit to law. And that distinction is at the very heart of Krynn’s cosmology.

But that is all the time I have to talk about Wizards of High Sorcery and whether they are clerics. What do you think? Does the distinction matter to you as a player, or do they feel functionally the same at the table? And if you were playing a wizard in Dragonlance, which order would you choose, and why? Leave a comment below.

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I go where I choose in this world, and I choose to go with you, Tanis Half-Elven.