Dark Sun

[Cyber-Dave]

Sorcerer class doesn't really fit Dark Sun or at the very least requires a ds specific version. My defiling rules use intelligence saves and if you fail you become a defiler. Arcane bards and warlocks don't belong on Athas IMHO. The bard is the Rogue: assassin IMHO.

Sorcerer King is a job title not a class. Sorcerers were magic users/wizards.

I don’t agree with you in regards to ththe sorcerer, and I used two setting specific bloodlines.

I really dislike the “save or you do something against your will” mechanic. The appeal of the genre is that it gives a player real agency. Your mechanic subverts that by removing agency. I think it’s bad game design. I prefer mechanics that play into a player’s agency by tempting the player to defile in the name of power just like the arcane casters of the setting are tempted to defile.

My document does get rid of arcane bards. Bard is now a rogue archetype.

I disagree with you in regards to warlocks. What 4e did with warlocks was one of the best aspects of the 4e Dark Sun book, so I copied their premise.

 

[Zardnaar]

I don’t agree with you in regards to ththe sorcerer, and I used two setting specific bloodlines.

I really dislike the “save or you do something against your will” mechanic. The appeal of the genre is that it gives a player real agency. Your mechanic subverts that by removing agency. I think it’s bad game design. I prefer mechanics that play into a player’s agency by tempting the player to defile in the name of power just like the arcane casters of the setting are tempted to defile.

My document does get rid of arcane bards. Bard is now a rogue archetype.

I disagree with you in regards to warlocks. What 4e did with warlocks was one of the best aspects of the 4e Dark Sun book, so I copied their premise.

I hated it. The reason warlocks are bad for Dark Sun is for multiple reasons. One being pact magic is a cleric thing. The second is arcane magic is from plant life not pacts with other beings. The third reason is Templars are priests in the Dark sun fluff and lore. The 4th reason is magic using classes are rare 2E even replaced the arcane bard with a rewrite. The 5th reason is fluff arcane magic is hated. While Templars are hated they are liked more than defiler and a Templars job is to root out arcane casters with the exception of a few Sorcerer Kings pets. Put simply the warlock as Templars makes very little sense in the setting.

A Templars domain or sorcerer king domain with some arcane spells on it make more sense.

6th reason is it needlessly contradicts a lot of fluff and novels where the Templars call on Hamanu for example and he grants cleric spells like healing and flames strike. In the lore Templars are very clearly priests which would be clerics in 5E.

Have you read the Pavek novels by Lynn Abbey? They are better than the Prism Pentad which at least was entertaining. They are some of the best Dark Sun novels and really flesh out the setting. One of the "Templars" was actually a water cleric who was one of the other Templars brother. The reason was the Templars did not really like to call on Hamanu unless they really had to.

It's so another reason the planets a mess. The Sorcerer Kings are granting stolen elemental power to the Templars. The Templars also do have some spiritual overtones as well such as planting festivals and they can work with things like water and earth clerics in carrying out their duties. The warlocks lack the required spells to function in their Templars duties as well.

Hence why I think 4E screwed up their take i
on Dark Sun on multiple levels. Also that whole creating more work for yourself the war domain kind of fits the Templars as they were more martial than the elemental clerics. Also the whole warlock as Templars thing it makes little sense logically for the SKs to create a organizational that can defile when the cities are located on the few fertile places left. Templars tend to be corrupt the would defile if they were an arcane class. In a setting where mobs in cities tear defiler apart and the SKs want to protect their cites generally not use them as fuel for their minions.

 

[Eltab]

it needlessly contradicts a lot of fluff and novels where the Templars call on Hamanu for example and he grants cleric spells like healing and flames strike. In the lore Templars are very clearly priests which would be clerics in 5E.

That sounds like something a Warlock with a master who pays attention to his antics can achieve, too. Modify the 'available spell' list as needed and you are good to go.

 

[Cyber-Dave]

Don’t know what to tell you, Zard. You will have to live with the fact that I don’t agree with you. I think warlocks with a specific pact that modifies their spell list and makes it more clerical is an ideal match up for warlocks and templars in Dark Sun.

 

[Zardnaar]

That sounds like something a Warlock with a master who pays attention to his antics can achieve, too. Modify the 'available spell' list as needed and you are good to go.

Think about it though in the context of the setting. The Sorcerer Kings are defilers, and their most powerful spells can be fueled using non plant based life. Otherwise they are still constrained by the limits of the setting. How would they channel arcane power to warlocks if they can't even do it themselves.

And even then assuming they are patrons and warlocks are still subject to defling laws and rules why would they create a heap of defilers when they rule the last few fertile lands themselves? They themselves have to be careful with their defiling and they have to use trees of life to offset that otherwise their own cities would be ash piles. How do they create a tree of life if they themselves are defilers (defilers can't create them BTW, preservers can)? Well they can't I would assume they get their Templars to do it for them (or pressure elemental clerics and/or Druids into it).

They are also not that big on sharing knowledge either in a setting where they have suppressed both magic and the written word so I don't really see them acting as patrons to warlocks either. The Templars are a fairly corrupt lot, generally evil if they were arcane casters most of them would be defilers and that would create additional strain on the Kings (Queens) tree of life reserve.

Sure the SK's have a few pet defilers (probably a handful) they can't actually create a whole bureaucracy of arcane casters and have it make sense in the setting. That and pact magic is actually clerical on this world. The SKs can't even channel spell power to their Templars (its stolen off the Elemental planes). I suppose technically a warlock would not have to be a defiler but then you have a whole bureaucracy of preservers serving defilers whose main job description is to suppress other preservers where a main theme of the setting is the preserver vs defiler thing.

That and adding more arcane casters waters down the whole concept of the setting where magic while powerful is harder than other worlds. Even the 1/3rd casters don't really belong IMHO, if you want an Arcane Trickster multiclass a wizard/rogue. Logically, thematically, mechanically warlocks make no sense in Darksun especially as servants of the SK especially en masse. Just because you can add more arcane casters to Darksun doesn't mean you should and even the Sorcerer makes no sense on Athas unless you refluff the class and even then most of the Sorcerer archetypes still don't make sense to include on Athas (eg Divine Soul, Dragon Sorcerer, the Storm one etc). The wild Sorcerer at a stretch maybe and that is assuming you refluff it.

The preserver/defiler duality and the reasons behind it along with the Templars are major elements of the Darksun setting. They back pedalled on a lot of the changes 4E made to FR, the same reasons mostly apply to Darksun and the designers who made those stupid decisions lost there jobs over it it seems (the ones who pushed 4E hard).

As I said why would the SKs have a whole bureaucracy of defilers or preservers working for them either way its a bad idea.

 

[cbwjm]

What I liked about 4e templars was that they were a theme, any class could be a templar. People seem to associate the 4e templar with the warlock because of the pact but the two were completely separate. I think the main reason that there was a sorcerer-king pact was that there were no clerics to substitute as templar since they removed the divine power source completely from darksun 4e so if they wanted to keep the previous lore of the sorcerer-kings being power conduits, they needed to fit it into the remaining classes and the warlock was the obvious choice.

For me, if I was going to use templars I'd most likely go with a cleric domain. It could be like the Druid circle of the land with different domain spells for the different sorcerer-kings. Combine that with a suitable background (templar bureaucrat?) and it would work well for what I'd want for Dark Sun in regard to the templar.

 

[Dispater]

The whole "templars as warlocks" thing started with 4e. I think it got new people confused, including myself. So, he lore is: Sorcerer Kings are connected to the elemental planes via the dark prism. This means they can freely tap into elemental clerical magic to bestow on their followers, but not use it themselves. This is an ability only the SK's posess.

Heh, pretty convoluted right, but I only learned this after I had designed the templar as a warlock. On review, I decided to keep it as it was. I took out the 'witchy' overtones of the warlock class, threw in a few healing and group spells, some extra spells from the patron Sorcerer king and essentially the templar cleric/warlock would feel pretty much the same.

There's something about the warlock that I just liked as a fit for templars. SK's are after all not gods and not ominipotent. The whole patron/warlock thing has a more viseral, dark feel to it, like you are tied in a personal bond with your lord, and that your power comes at a price.

You do need to seriously rewrite the 5e Warlock class for a fit though, because it really has a medieval witchy feel to it that kind of runs counter to what the templars are about.

 

[n0nym]

I ran a whole 5th edition Dark Sun campaign two years ago, with "Templar" being a title AND also a class. Most templars had were Paladins (vengeance) and several High Templars were Clerics. My players loved it, even though it was not absolutely canon.

I think the spell selection fits a lot better than the Warlock's.

 

[Bad Fox]

These are my homebrew rules for a 5e Dark Sun... I have yet to find a set that works better (at least for my needs). I still need four elemental clerics and the rules for the psionics classes to be able to run Dark Sun properly, though.

Nice work! I'm always interested in reading different 5e conversions for Dark Sun, as I'm gearing up to start a game with my group. Just finished a writeup for the races of Dark Sun yesterday - I know there's a lot already out there, but I wanted to try putting together my own version. I tried to stick as close as possible to 2e source material, but make it fit neatly with the 5e design philosophy and ensure that all the races would be interesting to pick. It also borrows some solid bits and pieces from other homebrews available online.


Dwarf Traits

Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2, and your Strength increases by 1.

Age. Dwarves mature at the same rate as humans, but are considered young until they reach the age of 50. They can live over 250 years.

Size. Dwarves stand between 4 and 5 feet tall, and average about 200 pounds. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 feet. Wearing heavy armor does not reduce your speed.

Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern colour in darkness, only shades of gray.

Dwarven Resilience. You have advantage on saving throws against poison, and you have resistance against poison damage.

Dwarven Toughness. Your Hit point maximum increases by 1, and it increases by 1 every time you gain a level.

Tool Proficiency. You gain proficiency with artisan’s tools of your choice.

Focus. You choose a task to which you are presently committed, called a focus. It must require at least one week to complete. While performing tasks directly related to the completion of your focus, you may choose to gain advantage on any one skill check or saving throw for which you are proficient.

You must finish a short or long rest before you can use this feature again. Once you have completed your current focus, you may select a new one.

Languages. You speak Common and Dwarvish. You may choose to read and write one or both of these languages.


Elf Traits

Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2, and your Intelligence increases by 1.

Age. Elves reach physical maturity at about the same age as humans. An elf can live up to 140 years.

Size. Elves range from just over 6 to well over 7 feet tall and have lean builds. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern colour in darkness, only shades of gray.

Keen Senses. You have proficiency in the Perception skill.

Elf Weapon Training. You have proficiency with the longsword and the longbow.

Unseen in the Wastes. You have advantage on Stealth checks while in the arid wilds of Athas.

Desert Runner. You add your Constitution score to the total miles that you can travel per day.

Languages. You speak Common and Elvish. You may choose to read and write one or both of these languages.


Half-Elf Traits

Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2, and two other ability scores of your choice increase by 1.

Age. Half-elves mature at the same rate humans do and reach physical adulthood at about the same age. They live a little longer than humans, often over a century.

Size. Half-elves generally range from 6 to 7 feet tall and have heavier builds than their elven counterparts. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Solitary Wanderer. You have proficiency in the Animal Handling and Survival skills.

Languages. You speak Common and two extra languages of your choice. You may choose to read and write any of these languages.


Half-giant Traits

Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 4 and your Constitution increases by 2. Your Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma scores decrease by 1.

Age. Half-giants reach adulthood by the age of 30 and can live for up to 200 years.

Size. Half-giants stand between 10 and 12 feet tall, and weigh in the neighbourhood of 1600 pounds. Your size is Large, which doubles your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag or lift.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 35 feet.

Giant Strength. You can have a Strength score as high as 22. Your melee attacks have a base reach of 5 feet and weapons crafted for you do an extra 1d4 damage.

Giant Toughness. You roll each hit die twice when determining your total Hit Points, adding any Constitution bonus afterwards.

Restrictive Bulk. You need at least 10 feet of space to move freely, but can squeeze through spaces at least 5 feet wide if you spend 1 extra foot of movement for every foot that you move. In spaces smaller than 10 feet, your attack rolls and Dexterity saving throws have disadvantage, and attack rolls against you have advantage.

Massive Inconveniences. You require four times the amount of food and water that a human does. Personal items such as clothes, armour and weapons cost double. Buildings, furniture and conveyances are not often built to support your weight.

Mercurial Nature. Half-giants can switch attitudes very quickly. To reflect this, one aspect of your alignment must be fixed and the other chosen at the end of each long rest. For example, a half-giant may have a fixed “lawful” alignment. Every morning, they must choose to be lawful good, lawful neutral, or neutral evil.

Languages. You speak Common, which you may choose to read and write.


Halfling Traits

Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2, and your Wisdom increases by 2.

Age. Halflings age more slowly than humans, reaching adulthood at the age of 40 and generally living to 120.

Size. Halflings typically stand a little over 3 feet tall and weight about 50 to 60 pounds. Your size is Small.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 feet.

Brave. You have advantage on saving throws against being frightened.

Halfling Nimbleness. You can move through the space of any creature that is of a size larger than yours.

Child of the Forest. You can attempt to hide even when only lightly obscured by foliage, heavy rain, mist, or other natural phenomena of the Forest Ridge.

Feral Killer. You may change a successful attack roll with a melee or thrown weapon into a critical hit. You must finish a short or long rest before you can use this feature again.

Languages. You speak Halfling. You may also read and write this language if you choose. It is strongly recommended that you select a background that allows you to learn the Common tongue.


Mul Traits

Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Constitution increases by 1.

Age. Muls reach adulthood in their late teens and usually live less than a century.

Size. Muls are typically over 6 feet in height and weigh 240-300 pounds. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Natural Athlete. You have proficiency in the Athletics skill.

Powerful Build. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag or lift.

Inexhaustible Strength. You have advantage on all Constitution saving throws to prevent exhaustion, and all exhaustion levels are removed when you finish a long rest, provided you have ingested full daily portions of food and drink.

Savage Attacks. When you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack, you can roll one of the weapon’s damage dice one additional time and add it to the extra damage of the critical hit.

Languages. You speak Common and one extra language of your choice. You may choose to read and write one or both of these languages.


Thri-kreen Traits

Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2, and your Wisdom increases by 1.

Age. Thri-kreen reach physical maturity around the age of 6 and generally live for about 30 years.

Size. Thri-kreen stand nearly 8 feet tall and weight over 450 pounds. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 feet.

Standing Leap. Your long jump is up to 30 feet and your high jump is up to 15 feet, with or without a running start.

Armored Carapace. You have a tough exoskeleton, providing an AC of 13 + your Dexterity modifier. A shield can be used as normal, but you cannot wear armor.

Efficient Adaptations. Thri-kreen do not require sleep and can rest while remaining alert and performing light tasks. You can be put to sleep by magical effects. You require 1 gallon of water per week to sustain yourself under normal conditions.

Thri-kreen Weapon Training. You are proficient with the gythka and the chatkcha.

Bite. Thri-kreen have a complicated jaw structure that can make unarmed strikes. You deal piercing damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength modifier, and the target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 1 minute. The DC equals 8 + your Constitution modifier + your proficiency bonus. If the saving throw fails by 5 or more, the target is paralyzed while poisoned this way. The target can repeat the saving throw at the start of its turns, ending the effect on a success.

After biting a target, you must finish a short or long rest before the poison is ready again.

Claws. Your claws are natural weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes that deal slashing damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength modifier.

Languages. You speak Thri-kreen. You may also read and write this language if you choose. It is strongly recommended that you select a background that allows you to learn the Common tongue.