I know that there is some effort being made by fans to translate Al-Qadim into 4e, but in a fit of anti-socialism and desire to play now, rather than later, I've decided to go ahead and post some of my own ideas here for two reasons:

1) I want to play now. I just moved, and have a lead on a new group, but if I have the option of running an Al-Qadim game I need to be ready with it now. So I'm going to go for minimal changes to get to a 1001 Nights style game.

2) Its often great to have a variety of ideas to kick around, so after an initial perusal I'm going to try not to read through those other ideas until I get some of mine down.

First: Kits.
AD&D 2nd Edition was a very different beast than 4e is. It was even very different from 3.5. The big problem right away with Al-Qadim is that it modified all of the base classes with "kits" that were suitably 1001 Nights themed, and that needs to translate into 4e with a minimum of work.

Thankfully, we've already been given a mechanism that I think will do this quite well: Backgrounds. Check out the Forgotten Realms Players Guide Preview or the Scales of War Character article in Dragon 366. A minor change in something like skills can really give an appropriate flavor to a character. There is no need for extensive re-writes of base classes, decide which combat role a barber would fill, or type casting every faris as a paladin (indeed, the original kits didn't even do this).

Backgrounds won't work for everything, however. So things like arcane casters will need a different patch, but as a first attempt these are going to cover a lot of ground. So instead of making every corsair a ranger, or every warlord a mamluk, this keeps the spirit of kits which were sometimes just a simple tweak, by letting them apply to any class. A broad patch, but one that I still like.

Mechanically, I'm going to try to keep each background at the power of one feat. Generally skill training or skill focus. This also precludes the idea of regional backgrounds to an extent, so it will matter a little less if your Corsair is from the Pearl Cities or the Pantheist league. I did give Askar a few options based on region. I've also added a couple backgrounds to try to cover Arcane or Divine roles that could have been kits (Faqih, Imam, Vizer...).

Without further ado, Al-Qadim Backgrounds:

Askar (Hometown Hero)
Skill Training or Skill Focus in Bluff, Streetwise or:
Pantheist League: Religion
Ruined Kingdoms: History + Speak a language
Corsair Domains: Seamanship
Pearl League: Seamanship
Cities of the Heart: Diplomacy
Free Cities: Diplomancy
Crowded Sea: Seamanship

Ajami (Foreigner)
Speak one foreign language, and choose one free feat (Foreigners ought to be exotic and have strange skills, but strange skills just don’t exist anymore).

Barber
Skill Training or Skill Focus in Healing, Bluff, or Diplomacy

Beggar
Skill Training or Skill Focus in Streetwise, Bluff, or Endurance

Corsair
Skill Training or Skill Focus in Seamanship, Athletics, or Acrobatics

Desert Rider
Mounted Combat or Skill Training or Skill Focus in Nature.

Faris (Religious Knights)
Skill Training or Skill Focus in Religion, Diplomacy, History

Faqih (Scholar)
Linguist; Skill Training or Skill Focus in History, Insight, or Perception

Hakima (Wise Woman)
Skill Training or Skill Focus in Insight.

Holy-Slayer
Skill Training or Skill Focus in Religion, Stealth, or Thievery

Imam (Temple priest)
Linguist; Skill Training or Skill Focus in Religion, Diplomacy, or History

Kahin (Idol Priest)
Skill Training or Skill Focus in Religion, Nature or Insight

Mamluk (Slave-Warrior)
Linguist, Skill Training or Skill Focus in Diplomacy or History

Matrud (Outcast)
Skill Training or Skill Focus in Nature, Streetwise, or Intimidate

Mystic
Skill Training or Skill Focus in Insight, Religion or Nature

Rawun (Storyteller)
Linguist; Skill Training or Skill Focus in Bluff, Diplomacy, or Insight

Sa`luk (Scoundrel)
Jack of All Trades or Skill Training or Skill Focus in Stealth, Thievery, or Streetwise.

Tajir (Merchant)
Skill Traiing or Skil Focus in Bluff or Diplomacy

Vizir
Linguist; Skill Training or Skill Focus in Bluff, Diplomacy, or Insight


Thoughts? This covers a lot of ground and was really minimal work. Obviously there could be a few other backgrounds, maybe a version of Askar for each major region or something, but I think it works quite well. I'm letting any class play as a Sa`luk or Mamluk or Matrud. I'm not sure there's anything intrinsic to the Rogue class that makes for a better Sa`luk than a Fighter would: these aren't combat roles. With the appropriate skill training, a lot of roleplaying options open up, with minimal powergaming or optimization abuse.

Some things aren't covered though, which I'll tackle in a bit, including:

Wizards: reflavoring some implements (adding Abacus and Handglyph, maybe Orrey or Loom as well) will help, but ultimately I need to tackle the Brotherhood of True Flame and Sorcerer/Elemental Mage distinction. I suspect the quick and dirty way will just be to reflavor fire spells as sand and call it a night.

Sha`ir: Old Sha`irs jut won't work in 4e. Something has gotta be done and they don't seem to lend themselves to any particular combat role. I'm contemplating a "Multiclass only" class and/or reflavoring Feypack to Genie pact.

Other wizard kits (Mecanician, Ghul Lord, Mystic of Nog, Jackal, Spellslayer) are backburner'd till the rest gets figured out.

Hakima: I'm a little less than thrilled with it so far as this tiny background, but I guess its passable. Maybe I can only allow the Divine Oracle paragon path to those with the Hakima background? There's also the multiclass-only class, but I'm waiting to see how that works in the Forgotten Realms Players' Guide.

Savage Priests: seems like I should say something about these guys, but I'm not sure what it is. I do love the Ruined Kingdoms regions though, so I will want to do something with Shajar, Kiga, and Raggara.

Ultimately, I don't think things like the Ethoist/Pragmatist/Moralist distinction or Hakima and Sha`ir are easily tied to combat role (i.e. Classes), though maybe they are to power source. I'll get back to those later though. For now, I think this is an awesome start which covers the martial classes just fine. Divine and/or Arcane come next.

Bera