D&D 5E Darksun Version 4.0

Introduction
What is Darksun? Darksun was a world invented for 2E AD&D that came out in 1991. It was a ruined world where water and metal were scarce, and evil had already won. It was very gritty with PCs that were more powerful than the PHB equivalents (ability scores, races, start at level 3) but you tended to be less powerful via your equipment (non metal weapons, less magic items than default D&D). The world was not a nice place as such with the ruined environment, psionics, slavery and a lack of knowledge about the world and magic being prevalent themes. Sorcerer Kings ruled city states and one of the most powerful creatures ever printed for D&D, The Dragon was the settings big boss. Athas only had 1 full powered Dragon whoise stats were only beaten in 2E terms by the most powerful avatars of the most powerful Forgotten Realm Deities. In 5th ed terms think of Tiamats stats combined with level 20 (or 30) spellcasting and psionics. The Dragons 2E stats were more powerful than Tiamats avatar.

The world was also a lot more restrictive and different than other worlds even by the standards of the time. Things like Spelljammer and Forgotten Realms existed which were a lot more sandbox than Darksun while other setting like Dragonlance and Greyhawk were not quite as open as Spelljammer and the Realms. This conversion focuses on the original 1991 boxed set essentially ignoring the original TSR metaplot and the 4E version. THis is the orignial Darksun

http://www.rpgnow.com/product/17169/Dark-Sun-Boxed-Set-2e?it=1

or

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17169/Dark-Sun-Boxed-Set-2e?it=1

The Conversion

So why ignore the latter material? IMHO a DM can easily add that stuff back in but back the main reason is that back in day the original designers of Darksun moved on to new projects and towards the end of the product line freelancers were brought in with no quality control as TSR was in the process of going under. This is how we ended up with surfing Druids on Athas. Also the original Darksun adventures are also heavily railroaded, often of low quality, and the epic rules in Dragon Kings were almost unplayable. The events of the Prism Pentad also revealed a bit to much of the past to fast and to early and if the world was to be a better place the events of that plotline should have been accomplished by PCs not NPC Mary Sues. Alot of TSR worlds fell victim to heavy handed metaplotlines that often blew up the world the Dragonlance setting being a prime example. In effect I am rebooting the setting back to the original time frame. If you liked the old metaplots its easy enough to add it back in for your home games and using the 4E timeline means advancing it by a few days or months. Either way its your Darksun IMHO Kalak doesn't have to die or the players could have a hand in disposing of him.

Why the 4E conversion is being ignored? Basically I think they messed up the conversion and that the 4E rules were not suited for Darksun anyway. Things such as healing surges for example and adding all of the PHB races to the world and cutting things like elemental clerics probably due to the amount of work required to make 4 new elemental cleric subclasses. The rigid 4E power sources also played a part as well as it was to hard to change a clerics power source from divine to primal I suppose where 2E was a lot less restrictive on where clerics power could come from. Additionally they sort of went with a sandbox generic feel with a touch of Arabian Nights which I felt missed the entire point of the setting and races like Dragonborn should either not be allowed or only allowed if the PCS complete the City by the Silt Sea adventure. A new races should be a major event on Athas and the reward for that adventure can be the PCs can roll up PC of that race their old NPCs discovered. The key difference was the 4E designers rewrote Darksun to fit the 4E PHB, the 2E designers rewrote the PHB to fit Darksun. And that falls into the 4E was not suited for a good Darksun conversion or at least an easy Darksun conversion mechanically (requiring large rewrites of the classes) or thematically (healing surges and sandbox).

The Exclusions

Just because something is new doesn't mean it should automatically be excluded from Darksun but it doesn't mean it should be automatically allowed either. Darksun was never a sandbox setting and that was a major point of difference with the more gneric D&D settings. I take kind of a minimalist/originalist take of the setting. The mechanics can change of course but you should make an attempt to faithfully convert the themes and feel of a setting that more or less define the setting. For example the 2E Barbarian was a good fit for the 2E Darksun despite not being in the 2E Darksun rules. Some of the new classes (and returning classes) of the last 25 years do not really fit into Darksun or if its plausible they exist should be NPC only. Other races and classes are to good at getting around the themes of feel of the setting, Warforged being a prime example as they can ignore things like water requirements. Note some things could exist but should be NPCs.

Arcane Spellcasters That Are Not Wizards

A major theme of Darksun was the binary nature of Arcane magic. You were simply a defiler or a preserver but all of them were wizards. The 2E Bard for example cast spells but the class was changed to be more of an Assassin than a spellcaster on Darksun. Pact magic on Darksun was explicitly the elemental clerics which excludes the modern warlock thematically. 4E did let the Sorcerer Kings act as patrons for Warlocks and used them as Templars but this also contradicts the 2E cannon, lore and theme of the setting that being arcane magic is rare and hard to learn. There are other things on Darksun that could perhaps have have special servants but they fall into the villain category and would be so rare even the Sorcerer Kings themselves would not know about them so should not be available for PC play in any event as it contradicts the murky past theme of Darksun. Sorcerers being a bit more of a variant wizard are a stronger case for inclusion into Darksun but the 5E PHB ones do not fit thematically (wild mages were not recommend for DS in 2E, traditional Dragon bloodlines do not exist on DS). Non PHB sorcerers also do not make for great fits on Darksun (storm, divine soul). IMHO the duality and struggle of preservers and defilers (as wizards) is to major a theme IMHO to water down with more options for PCs.

Monks
Monks kind of existed in 2E but they were more a title than a class like the christian Monks. Monks also get round the inferior materials rules 2E used and the class was not in the 2E PHB so I think they are not a good fit for the setting.

Paladins.
Paladins do not exist on Athas either. A lack of gods and the harshness of the setting excluded them. Even with the rules loosing up with Paladins alignment the devotion the class requires has evaporated from DS IMHO.

Subraces.
Darksun did not use subraces as such and the 5E ones do not really fit the setting anyway. In very late Darksun metaplot new Halflings were added and stated out along with ancient elves predating the modern Athasian which were not statted out. Much like the Dray those races were not players options in the original Darksun material and should be either NPCs or rewards for the PCs discovering cultures left over that predate modern Athas.

General Guidelines on New Races/Classes.
As I said before just because something is new doesn't mean it is excluded from Darksun as long as it doesn't contradict the themes of the setting (environment, magic being hard, psionics, etc). A Yuan Ti Pureblood (Volos Guide) PC on Athas makes more sense than a Drow for example as it is reptilian, Yuan- Ti exist, and its psionic. Some races do not exist full stop except as undead (Orcs, Goblins, Gnomes) or are otherwise unavailable to be PCs (Lizardmen being "extinct"). Just because you can justify some things doesn't mean you should (my Drow is an off world visitor, my Half Orc has been in stasis for 2000 years). Generally inherently magical races with spell like abilities should not exist on Darksun or at least be available as a PC race. Some races could be added if PCs complete certain adventures (City by the Silt Sea, Mindlords of the Last Sea, Windriders of the Jagged Cliff's come to mind). Such PCs should be reward races and unique to your group which I think is a good thing if you want to include them. Alot of those adventures and sets came towards the end of TSR's life where things really fell apart.

Ideally the PHB races would be rewritten along with a Air, Earth, Fire, Water domains for clerics. For now the following is good enough for placeholder rules. Darksun does not use subraces there are no hill and mountain Dwarves for example. Kreen and Half Giants are a work in progress but likely they will be slightly more powerful than the PHB races but the other races will get an ASI/feat to compensate and CRs of the MM critters can be lowered by 1 (the MM critters are slightly easy anyway lets face it). There are 11 classes and 8 races to pick from.

Starting Characters

PCs on Darksun are tougher than characters from other worlds. All Athasian PCs start at level 3 and gain a bonus ability score increase. Half Giants do not gain an additional ability score improvement.

Races
The following races are allowed on Darksun. Other races and sub races are unavailable for PCs as they either do not exist on Athas or are unknown to the world at large.

Elf The Wood Elf from the PHB is allowed on Athas. They receive +1 intelligence instead of +1 wisdom

Dwarf. The Hill Dwarf is the Athasian Dwarf.

Halfling. The Stout Halfling represents the Athasian Halfling.

Half Elf. Half Elves Exist on Athas.

Humans.

Athasian humans get +2 to two ability scores of their choice and +1 on two other ability scores of their choice. They also gain proficiency with a skill of their choice.

Half Giant
Ability Score Increase Half Giants gain +4 strength, +2 constitution and -2 intelligence, -2 wisdom and -2 charisma.
Age Half Giants live to around 200 years of age.

Alignment Half Giants may change their alignment when they complete a long rest. They tend to have the same alignment as the strongest or most charismatic individual they associate with.

Size Half Giants are usually between 10-12 feet tall. They are large sized.

Durable Your hit point maximum increases by 2, and it increases by 2 every time you gain a level. Additionally when you spend a hit dice to regain hit points Half Giants may roll an additional dice.

Oversized Weapons. Half Giants may treat weapons with the two handed property as if they had the one handed weapon property.

Mul
Ability Score Increase Muls gain +2 strength, +1 constitution

Age Mul’s live to around 120 years of age.

Alignment Any

Size Mul’s are medium sized.

Great Endurance: Advantage on constitution checks

Relentless Endurance (as half orc)

Brutal Attack (as half orc savage attack)

Natural Athlete: You have proficiency in Athletics

Thri Kreen
Ability Score Increase Your dexterity score increases by 2, your wisdom score increases by 1.

Speed 40’

Claws Your Claws are natural weapons you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with them you deal slashing damage equal to 1d6+ your strength modifier instead of the usual bludegeoning damage.

Exoskeleton Your exoskeleton is durable and thick. When you aren’t wearing armor your AC is 13+ your dexterity modifier.

Extra Limbs You may draw an additional item per round and hold an additional two items, weapons or one two handed weapon.

Flurry As a bonus action you may make a claw or weapon attack against adjacent opponents.

Sleepless Kreen do not need to sleep but still need to rest.

Thri Kreen Weapons Training you are proficient with the Chatkas (treat as dart), and the Gythka (treat as a glaive).

Languages. Common, Kreen

Classes
The following Classes and archetypes are allowed. Multiclassing is allowed on Athas.

Barbarian The Berzerker archetype is allowed on Athas.

Bard The PHB Bards do not exist on Athas. They are Rogues: Assassins.

Cleric.
Athasian clerics draw their power from the elements. The elements grant the following domains.
Air. Tempest,
Earth. Nature, Stone
Fire. Flames, Light
Water. Healing, Water
The Flames, Stone, Water domains are found in En5ider 65 Priests of Elemental Power.

Druid
Druids may be land Druids and select Desert, Grasslands or Swamp as options. Forest Druids are rare and tend to be halflings or from Gulg or Nibenay. They draw their power from Spirits of the Land.

Fighter The Athasian Fighter is the Battlemaster. At higher levels Fighters often lead armies on the world of Athas.

Gladiator The Gladiator is a Champion fighter. Gladiators may add the perform skill to their list of skills thay can choose.

Ranger The Hunter Ranger is allowed on Darksun.

Mystic. The Mystic class (Unearthed Arcana article) is allowed on Darksun.

Templar Templars are servants of the Sorcerer Kings. They must be of non good alignment. They are treated as Clerics with the War Domain.
Rogue

The Thief is allowed in a Darksun game.

Wizard Wizards are allowed on Darksun although they are hunted by Templars and shunned by the general populace who blame them for the state of Athas. They follow the defiling rules.

Athasian Currency.
The world of Athas is poor in metal. The ceramic piece is used as currency and an item in the PHB that costs 15 gp for example costs 15 cp instead. Items made out of metal however cost the the PHB price. Athasians use substitutes where they can and if one can find 100 ceramic pieces equal 1 gp. A smaller coin known as a bit is also minted, there are 10 bits to a Cp. A real gold coin is worth 100 Cp.

Athasian Equipment Inferior Materials

Athasian armor tends to be lighter than the equivalent on other worlds. Rather than metal plates substitutes of wood, bone, chitin, or stone have been used. Padded, leather and hide are unchanged. Scale is made out of the hardest materials Athasians can substitute such as pieces of Mekilot hide or hardened carapace. A chain shirt is a scale shirt and is made out of scales and offers less protection than a full suit of scale armor. Breastplate, Half Plate and all the heavy armor’s have no substitutes and are very rare and expensive to acquire. Chainmail for example costs 100gp or 10 000 Cp assuming you could even find a suit for sale. Athasian equivalents are identical to the PHB ones but are -1 AC and allow +1 dex modifier. For example plate armor on Athas is AC +7 with a dexterity modifier of +1.


Athasian weapons are usually made out of inferior materials such as stone, bone or wood. A wooden club still functions the same but a sword is often made out of obsidian for example. Weapons made out of inferior materials reduce the damage by one dice (1d8 becomes 1d6, 1d6 becomes 1d4 etc). Weapons made out of Substituted materials cost half the listed PHB price (in ceramic pieces). Weapons made out of wood such as bows, clubs and staves function normally. Ammunition however deals reduced damage, a fire hardened arrow is not as good as steel. Additionally if you roll a 1 on the attack roll the weapon breaks after it deals damage.

Some weapons such as a chatka or gythka are made out of alternative materials and are treated as metal objects. At the DMs discretion inferior weapons my impose disadvantage to hit depending on the situation a wooden sword vs metal armor or a critter with strong natural armor (AC 17+ excluding dexterity bonus).

World of Athas

Resting
Athas is a harsh world and the following variant rules are used. After a long rest you do not regain any hit points. You regain a maximum of a single hit dice with a long rest. Short rest abilities that restore hit points (such as a fighters second wind) may be used a maximum of twice per long rest.

Extreme Heat
Athasians are treated as adapted to hot climates (DMG pg 110). However once the temperature gets over 130 degrees the extreme heat rules apply to Athasians.

Foraging ( DMG pg 111)
The default DC for Atha’s is limited and very little (if any) food and water sources (DC 20). Abundant food is very rare and mostly limited to the fields of the city states or village, an oasis, the Crescent Forest/Ridge, a Druids grove or the private gardens of a Sorcerer King (DC 10). Limited food (DC 15) is rare is and located in places such as scrub lands.
Certain places in Athas are DC 25 for survival checks such as the Sea of Silt, various salt flats and similar terrain. Attempts to forage in defiled land automatically fail.

Water Needs ( DMG pg 111)
Atha’s counts as hot so water needs are doubled.

Defiling
Wizards and other arcane spell casters draw their power from the plant life of Athas. Any arcane spellcaster can chose to defile but Preservers run the risk of becoming a defiler should they do it too much. All player character spellcasters start the game as preservers.

When an arcane caster casts a spell they can chose to defile as a bonus action. Defiling enhances a spells power and the spell is treated as though it is cast in a higher level spell slot. A defiled spell creates a circle of ash 5’ wide per level of the spell. Any living being caught in the circle of ash has disadvantage on all skill checks until the end of their next turn. In addition plant based beings take 1d8 points of damage per level of the spell.

Defiling leaves behind a tell-tale circle of ash and the average Athasian can recognise the ash circle with a DC 10 intelligence (arcana) check as they have likely hears myths and tales about destructive and evil magic. Clerics, Defilers, Druids, Preservers, have advantage on the roll while Defilers, Templars and servants of the Sorcerer Kings automatically make such a check.

Each time a spellcaster defiles they must make a DC 15 intelligence save. Failure indicates that they lack the required knowledge and skill required to be a preserver and the spell caster becomes a defiler. Defilers no longer have the choice to defile or not and every spell they cast defiles creating a circle of ash. A defiler also finds it harder and harder to gather the extra arcane power and may only enhance a spell via defiling once per short rest. Defilers cannot be of good alignment and any good aligned preserver becoming a defiler changes alignment.

Defilers are generally hunted down and put to death by the populace of Athas. Anyone seen defiling is generally treated as a Defiler. Defilers either hide their power, have a powerful patron for protection or dominate a slave tribe or group of bandits. At the DMs option a defiler has disadvantage on any persuasion rolls they make especially a known defiler.

Athasian Encounters
Athas is a brutal world. For purposes of constructing encounters lower the CR of opponents by 1. Darksun does not use the 6-8 expected encounters of the core rules.

Optional Rules

Feats
Feats are not recommended on Athas. If they are allowed the following feats do not exist on Athas and may not be selected.

Healer
Inspirational Leader

These 2 feats do not fit the theme of Athas.

Optional Races
The following races are optional on Athas. Other creatures from the PHB and Volos Guide should not be used on Athas as they either do not exist (Gnomes, Orcs, Goblinoids) or are not suitable as PC races for various reasons.

Aarakocra
Aarakocra are scattered around the Tyr regions. They often settle mountain ranges and islands in the Sea of Silt and the Forked Tongue.

Dragonborn (Dray)
Dray are not recommend as a starting race. This is because Dregoth and his forces are unknown to the world at large and because of Atha's unique take on Dragons. Unless the PCs have completed the City by the Silt Sea adventure or a variant of it Dray should not be available as a PC race IMHO. If you must and need an origin story.

A small settlement of Dragonborn in a hidden village named Dragons Bluff. Dragons Bluff is located 50 miles to the east of the ruins of Giustanel and overlooks the Sea of Silt. Dragonsbluff contains around 100 inhabitants The inhabitants of Dragonsbluff have been there for several hundred years and have forgotten their origin and have mutated from the other Dray. They do not have the colouring of the PHB Dragonborn. Alternatively Dragonsbluff has been wiped out an any PC Dray are sole survivors.

Goliaths
Goliaths primarily inhabit remote regions of the Ringing Mountains. They are a magical fertile offshoot of Half Giants that originally hail from Urik as Hamanu tried to create a rapid breeding slave race derived from Half Giants. They sometimes act as go between with traders wanting to try their luck with the Halflings of the forest ridge.

Pterran (to be converted). Pterran hail from beyond the Tyr region and the village of Lost Scale. A reptillain race they are very rare in the Tyr region.

Kenku Kenku exist on Atahs and use their abilities of trickery and imitation to acquire resources from other races. They are occasionally found I the cities of the Tyr region. They are a delicacy to the Halflings of the Forest Ridge.

Yuan Ti Pureblood
The Yuan Ti of Athas exist under cites such as Tyr and occasionally a pure blood will be sent out as a spy or explorer. The occasional Pureblood will also go into exile for various reasons.

Hey cool, you are at it once more [MENTION=6716779]Zardnaar[/MENTION]. But you still stick to the 1 die lower mechanism for inferior weapons. Since you got a closed world because you are using 2e as a Framework, why don't you use the inferior = normal die / metal is 1 die higher role instead? It works consistent with Magic weapons made from inferior material and does not give RAW wooden Clubs and Quarterstaves an additional Advantage over the (for Quarterstaffs) already existing unbalance (Quarterstaff = 1d8 Spear = 1 d8)

It does not hurt anything because no weapons will be from the outside, but it pushes the metal weapon = the least form of a Magic weapon Agenda that 2e had.

Also it does not make things overcomplicated for 1d4 weapons.

Several more modern weapons like Rapiers crossbows and two handed swords should not exist in Darksun anyway, and in the case of a rapier you could not make that from bone or Obsidian or Wood.

double post

Coroc said:

double post

Click to expand...

Agree about certain weapons being unavailable but RAW they were allowed. Also Athas has special material which may allow it like Agfari Wood. I have seen IRL sharpened wooden weapons in New Zealand where I live as the Maori used them and they can kill you and open you up.

I'm still not 100% sold on the reduced damage thing, still tweaking things might just go for a simple -1 to hit and damage rather than the 2E version which was all over the place.

I don't really like the metal weapons are better thing I prefer the inferior material approach and I think -1 or -2 might be enough of a penalty/easy to do.

[MENTION=6716779]Zardnaar[/MENTION] It requires more math at the table, and with ba -1 damage is negligable but -1 to hit is a tough Cookie.

The way i would do it:

eg. dagger (Bone Obsidian flint) 1d4 (Steel 1d6)
Spear bone Stone etc 1d8 (steel 1d10) compare this one with quarterstaff 1d6 (my houserule) 1d8 RAW

But your rule is

either Spear inferior 1d6 compare with qarterstaff RAW 1d8 or
Spear inferior 1d8-1 compare with quarterstaff RAW 1d8

See where the Problem is? "Oh a spear with a bone tip razorsharp, i better remove it so i got a quarterstaff for more damage and it will not break on a 1"

With Magic weapons the next Problem:

Magic Spear+1 Obsidian 1d8-1 +1 eventually only +0 to hit because inferior, it does as much as a metal spear with your rule.

With my rule it would do 1d8+1 =2-9 but with +1 to hit ok the metal spear would do 1-10 but without +1 to hit that is far more balanced.

Of course with Magic weapons breakage reule should not apply

Coroc said:

[MENTION=6716779]Zardnaar[/MENTION] It requires more math at the table, and with ba -1 damage is negligable but -1 to hit is a tough Cookie.

The way i would do it:

eg. dagger (Bone Obsidian flint) 1d4 (Steel 1d6)
Spear bone Stone etc 1d8 (steel 1d10) compare this one with quarterstaff 1d6 (my houserule) 1d8 RAW

But your rule is

either Spear inferior 1d6 compare with qarterstaff RAW 1d8 or
Spear inferior 1d8-1 compare with quarterstaff RAW 1d8

See where the Problem is? "Oh a spear with a bone tip razorsharp, i better remove it so i got a quarterstaff for more damage and it will not break on a 1"

With Magic weapons the next Problem:

Magic Spear+1 Obsidian 1d8-1 +1 eventually only +0 to hit because inferior, it does as much as a metal spear with your rule.

With my rule it would do 1d8+1 =2-9 but with +1 to hit ok the metal spear would do 1-10 but without +1 to hit that is far more balanced.

Of course with Magic weapons breakage reule should not apply

Click to expand...

I dont mind quarterstaves and clubs being better but I think I will just go with -1/-1 and roll all the inferior materials into one grouping.

Inferior weapon: roll 2 damage dice and discard highest roll. Like disadvantage, right?