More Dark Sun Goodness

Phaezen · Oct 23, 2009

Rich Baker has posted another Darsun blog here

Starts with announcing Dark Sun has moved from Design and Development to editing.

He then discusses Dragonborn in Dark Sun, and confirms they are known as Dray in Athas and have a very different background/culture/personality to the core Dragonborn.

Here is what to expect:

The dragonborn (or dray) are a race of sorcerous merchants, hired spellcasters, pragmatic mercenaries, and maybe even slavers. They're not especially numerous, so you don't see a lot of them around. Their clans are like small, insular merchant houses, and they might serve as deal-brokers and moneylenders: disliked in many places, but regarded as very useful to have around.

avin · Oct 23, 2009

Works for me.

"They're not especially numerous" is great, we won't see lots of dragonborn/dray wandering around. The DM can never show them in game as npcs and still some dragonborn fan can play it.

Thumbs up.

vagabundo · Oct 23, 2009

How does that fit with 1e Darksun (I consider the revised Darksun as 2e and this release 3e - I aim to confuse)?

I don't really remember much about them; I know they were created by a Sorcerer King and lived underground or something...

StarFyre · Oct 23, 2009

it kinda fits i guess...

Dray, created by Dregoth, the few that escaped New Gustinal wandered the place; mainly being untrusted.

There were 2 types..1st gen, and 2nd. First gen were stronger, more of warriors. The 2nd gen were more intelligent and more like casters. They also had a more advanced language, learning abilities, etc.

I'm just gonna rename dragonborn Dray as they have done with 4E, it appears, but remove certain options that don't fit with the original fluff for dark sun (ie. no flying for Dray)

Doesn't sound to bad, as the fluff they have are really meaningless and can be changed if the DM sees fit. Atleast people can use Dray if players like

Sanjay

Mark Hope · Oct 23, 2009

The reimagined dray sound like they've taken some inspiration from the ssurrans. The ssurrans were a heat-resistant lizardman race from the region around Athas' Lava Gorge. They were traders, nomads, packrats, clannish - in short, many of the things that the new dray are. Interesting...

RodneyThompson · Oct 23, 2009

I also really like the dray story a lot because they've sort of got this race-wide pathos that results from them being kicked out of Giustenal. They're a race scorned by their own creator, cast out of their homeland, and left to drift. They were essentially told by their creator, "You're not worthy." That's pretty strong, and creates a very different kind of dragonborn than the core "We once ruled a mighty empire and are a proud warrior race" kind of dragonborn.

Wik · Oct 23, 2009

Mark Hope said:
The reimagined dray sound like they've taken some inspiration from the ssurrans. The ssurrans were a heat-resistant lizardman race from the region around Athas' Lava Gorge. They were traders, nomads, packrats, clannish - in short, many of the things that the new dray are. Interesting...

Beat me to it.

***

My only complaint about the dragonborn/dray is the fact that they are considered natural spellcasters. And the suggestion that they sell their services as spellcasters. I don't really know why it bugs me, but it does. Just a tiny bit.

But, I like that they're in the "other races" section, and I can't really complain about their implementation. It was, to put it simply, almost perfectly done from my vantage point.

coyote6 · Oct 23, 2009

Wik said:
My only complaint about the dragonborn/dray is the fact that they are considered natural spellcasters. And the suggestion that they sell their services as spellcasters. I don't really know why it bugs me, but it does. Just a tiny bit.

I wonder if some of the dragonborn racial powers are being recast as "natural spells"? I think someone said that dray didn't have breath weapons or fly, before; maybe that's just a way to keep the same mechanical stuff available, with a different special effect.