D&D 5E What do you want in a Dark Sun book (sans psionics)?

[Coroc]

Nah, Thri-kreen were both. Only time there were only female-only Kreen were with one of the subraces who were based on flower mantids and were bright pink. Also one of the video games for whatever reason

EDIT: The game had half-giants and kreen locked to a single gender each due to sprite limits if I remember right.

Speaking of, I want the full set of Kreen subraces

Ah thanks I might have deducted that one from the DS video game.

But ..... DM : " We are going to do a campaign in the toughest most brutal setting D&D has ever created, Darksun"

Player: " Alright I am going to play a flower mantis "

DM " A what?, why not a sprite or an unicorn or some faery? What is that one supposed to look like?"

Player : " Well, ahm, aeh , its pink ...."

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

There is a flower mantis in the real life. Its name is hymenopus coronatus

* Racial traits for elflings (for fans of lolita version primal-punk) and silt-runners as playable races?

* If the world of Athas is, or was in the past, within a crystal sphere.... could this have been explored by the rhulisti (rhul-thaun ancestors) for the blue and green age? Could any spelljammer be used to evacuate people for the cleasing wars?

* Some DMs could use no Athasian races to create stories about the threat of the intruders, unknown people from far lands and we don't know they may be potential allies or enemies.

* A picture of Elric of Melidbone by Brom has made me to think about to use some ideas from Planescape to create a "gaiden" (paralllel story) of DS, with their own tyrants and tainted paranormal powers, with the option of "refugees" from Arthas as "guest artists".

* What would happen if a tarek (Athasian orc, but without the subtype) finds an egg of a bionid (creature of Spelljammer)?

* Could the life-shaper tech by the rhulisti to create a crossbow what reload itself, like the organic weapons of Tyranids from 40.000 or the yuuzhan vong from Star Wars legends?

Could a necromancer to create a wicked version of the life-spaher tech?

* Could scros (Spelljammer orcs) try to invade Athas, at least after the fall of the most of the sorcerer-kings?

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Halfgiants had one fixed part of alignment and one with a chance of shifting between the extremes each day, so they where a bit of split personality: e.g. A half giant would shift between lawful neutral and chaotic neutral with or lawful good and lawful evil. in the first example neutral would never change, in the second lawful.

That's actually correct yes.

I think Muls PC were all males, and Thrikreen all female, due to female Muls would be of lesser use as a heavy duty worker or fighter and also of no use to breed because of sterile. With Thrikreen, males were drones, and probably decapacitated after mating (like with RL Mantis)

No that's wrong on both counts.

There are even pictures of female Muls (in 2E and 4E), and female Mul NPCs (in 2E and I presume 4E). It wouldn't make any sense, either, it's not like there are only male Mules (where the name comes from) or other infertile hybrids. Female Muls are just as strong as male ones, there's absolutely nothing to suggest otherwise. Again, your logic fails (which seems a weird thing to make up, given it's not in the books), because female Mules (again where the name and concept derive from) are used just as much as male ones.

There's absolutely no indication that all Thri-Kreen are female, either, and indeed, in usual 2E style Thri-Kreen are referred to as "him".

Halfelves, was the animal companion a 4e thing?

No, it's 2E thing, and it's a surprisingly big deal.

 

[Coroc]

That's actually correct yes.



No that's wrong on both counts.

There are even pictures of female Muls (in 2E and 4E), and female Mul NPCs (in 2E and I presume 4E). It wouldn't make any sense, either, it's not like there are only male Mules (where the name comes from) or other infertile hybrids. Female Muls are just as strong as male ones, there's absolutely nothing to suggest otherwise. Again, your logic fails (which seems a weird thing to make up, given it's not in the books), because female Mules (again where the name and concept derive from) are used just as much as male ones.

There's absolutely no indication that all Thri-Kreen are female, either, and indeed, in usual 2E style Thri-Kreen are referred to as "him".



No, it's 2E thing, and it's a surprisingly big deal.

got that with the muls and kreen wrong bec of the ds Computer game from ssi eventually but oddly i imagine having read it somewhere, maybe I discussed the game with some buddy

 

[dave2008]

Yup. Psionics is Dark Sun's thing.

How so? Does removing the psionics change anything else about the setting? It feels pasted on to me, but I could be wrong.

 

[TwoSix]

Can you take the psionics out of DS? I ask because I have always been interested in the setting since see Brom's wonderful artwork; however, I despise psionics. Would it really make a difference if I just removed that aspect?

I mean, you'd need to retcon some stuff, but sure. It's not as integral to the themes and tropes of the setting as some people are saying.

If anything, I think it helps play up the defiler/preserver divide a bit more forcefully. It makes more sense for people to try and use arcane power if there isn't another avenue to pursue. If you wanted to keep some of the "mind flavor", you could just say that mental spells, like divination and enchantment, aren't subject to defiling and preserving because the energy for the spell comes totally from the caster.

Hmm...might need to think about this some more. Interesting idea.

 

[dave2008]

Can you take the gods out of the Forgotten Realms? Can you take the dragons out of Dragonlance?

I mean, yeah, you can. But they're huge focus of the setting. And Psionics is more foundational and central to the lore of Dark Sun than the gods are to the FR. So it would be a bizarre thing to do and none of the lore of that setting would make much sense, but... nobody can stop you?

So is it just lore? It is not likely I would use much of the existing lore if I played DS so that doesn't concern me. I seems to me tacked on (but like I said I am not familiar) just to make DS different. I prefer the other conceits of difference in the setting.

From the Dark Sun wiki:

Dark Sun's designers presented a savage, magic-ravaged desert world where resources are scarce and survival is a daily struggle. The traditional fantasy races and character classes were altered or omitted to better suit the setting's darker themes. Dark Sun differs further in that the game has no deities, arcane magic is reviled for causing the planet's current ecological fragility, and psionics are extremely common

I like everything except that last bit. So let me clarify my question a bit. I know I can run a game in DS without psionics. However, I want to know buying any DS books is worth the effort? Are the mechanics of a.."savage, magic-ravaged desert world where resources are scarce and survival is a daily struggle...has no deities, arcane magic is reviled ." so tightly woven with psionics that I can't easily untangle them? No of those things don't need psionics, IMO, but does DS weave psionics into them so much that it would be difficult to remove them?

And yes, if I played in the FR I could verify easily play without the FR gods.

 

[TwoSix]

Halfelves, was the animal companion a 4e thing?

Just a 2E thing. It could be dropped without too much hassle. Maybe a racial feat?

 

[TwoSix]

I like everything except that last bit. So let me clarify my question a bit. I know I can run a game in DS without psionics. However, I want to know buying any DS books is worth the effort? Are the mechanics of a.."savage, magic-ravaged desert world where resources are scarce and survival is a daily struggle...has no deities, arcane magic is reviled ." so tightly woven with psionics that I can't easily untangle them? No of those things don't need psionics, IMO, but does DS weave psionics into them so much that it would be difficult to remove them?

I'm not as familiar with all of the 2e material, but at least in 4E, there was nothing that absolutely required psionics.

 

[dave2008]

It's vital to the world's background, and literally every character had those in the prior editions.

If it just lore, that is not an issue for me.

Dark Sun is influenced heavily by Planatary Romance like John Carter of Mars, it's an integral part of the package.

I know JCoM, but what does Planetary Romance have to do with psionics?