Hawke
Explorer
I think Dark Sun always allowed for lots of freedom of creatures. I mean so many odd creatures exist there, trying to figure out a reason for RaceX to be there (even if you stick with the alien last of your kind schtick) is pretty easy and less offensive than perhaps other settings. I felt the bizarreness of the world creature-wise wasn't from disallowing things, but from 1) allowing strange things and 2) taking the traditional and making it strange. So, throwing in mentions of 4E races could easily fit that.
The key restriction is ideology - those dark terrible things exist making it harder for your typical adventuring party to operate as in other games. Even benign things in other worlds - like magic - can be hostile and scary.
That said, I was never on board with the idea Paladin's couldn't exist ever no way no how on Athas... sure, a world where open goodness would mean quick slaughter - but considering you can take a godless world and figure out a cool way to include Clerics, I always thought the right player (or designer) could include paladins in a neat way. Never ran into a player interested in playing on in my games, though.
The key restriction is ideology - those dark terrible things exist making it harder for your typical adventuring party to operate as in other games. Even benign things in other worlds - like magic - can be hostile and scary.
That said, I was never on board with the idea Paladin's couldn't exist ever no way no how on Athas... sure, a world where open goodness would mean quick slaughter - but considering you can take a godless world and figure out a cool way to include Clerics, I always thought the right player (or designer) could include paladins in a neat way. Never ran into a player interested in playing on in my games, though.