D&D 5E "Doom Sun" − reconstructing a 5e Dark Sun setting for the DMs Guild

[Tales and Chronicles]

Personally, I’d make an Oath of the Templar subclass for paladins and a Sorcerer-King patron for warlocks. If you wanted to do a lot of work, you could make each Sorcerer King a different patron, but I think a single general one would suffice.

Quick'n Dirty Templar Warlock would be:

1: Templar's Decree
Starting at 1st level, you can invoke the power of law to drive an ally to attack. If you cast a spell with a spell slot of 1st level or higher and target an ally with the spell, that ally can use their reaction immediately after the spell to make one weapon attack against a creature of your choice that you can see.

If the spell targets more than one ally, you choose the ally who can make the attack.

1: Extra spells
1: Command, *SK specific spell
2: Hold Person, *SK specific spell
3: Wall of Sand, *SK specific spell
4: Blight, *SK specific spell
5: Circle of Power, *SK specific spell

6: City's Enforcer
Starting at 6th level, your awareness while in the city extends preternaturally. While in an urban environment, you are considered proficient in the Insight, Intimidate and Perception skills, and you add double your proficiency bonus to Charisma (Intimidation), Wisdom (Insight) and Wisdom (Perception) checks, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.

10: Sorcerous Scourge
By pulling from your liege, you can cause your opponent's old wounds to resonate anew. Once per turn, when a creature you can see hits a target with an attack roll, you can use your reaction to force the target to make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, the target becomes vulnerable to one of the damage types dealt by the attack. This vulnerability lasts until the end of the target's next turn and affects the damage dealt by the triggering attack.

You can use your reaction in this way a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

14: Pillar of Domination
As an action, you and up to five creatures you can see within 60 feet of you each gain one extra action to use on your individual turns until the start of your next turn. The action goes away if not used before the end of your next turn. the action can be used only to make one weapon attack or to take the Dash or Disengage action.

Once you used this feature, you must complete a long rest to use it again.

 

[JEB]

We don't know why exactly, but it didn't score well with playtesters apparently and they salvaged what they could into Doomspace.

Let's not assume that scoring poorly with playtesters is the only reason they would have made this change. We know for a fact that Wizards has made other content changes that have nothing to do with playtests.

In any case, I assume there's an interesting behind-the-scenes story, but I'm not sure we'll ever hear it.

 

[Yaarel]

That quote was from the 1991 version. It IS a world without deities. It was not so at its origin. It had gods at one point.

1995 (page 16) says:

"Athas is a world without true gods. As far back as the earliest days of the Green Age, people have believed in gods, but there exists no true gods on Athas. Unlike the other worlds of the multiverse, where true gods do exist, Athas has never had any, and it never will."

Unlike 1991 that is an independent setting, 1995 changes that to connect it to the 2e multiverse. But it sustains the fact: "Athas has NEVER had" gods.

Admittedly it is ambiguous if Dark Sun is somehow part of the multiverse. Nevertheless the setting is strictly nontheistic. The planet came into existence without gods.

 

[Charlaquin]

Quick'n Dirty Templar Warlock would be:

1: Templar's Decree
Starting at 1st level, you can invoke the power of law to drive an ally to attack. If you cast a spell with a spell slot of 1st level or higher and target an ally with the spell, that ally can use their reaction immediately after the spell to make one weapon attack against a creature of your choice that you can see.

If the spell targets more than one ally, you choose the ally who can make the attack.

1: Extra spells
1: Command, *SK specific spell
2: Hold Person, *SK specific spell
3: Wall of Sand, *SK specific spell
4: Blight, *SK specific spell
5: Circle of Power, *SK specific spell

6: City's Enforcer
Starting at 6th level, your awareness while in the city extends preternaturally. While in an urban environment, you are considered proficient in the Insight, Intimidate and Perception skills, and you add double your proficiency bonus to Charisma (Intimidation), Wisdom (Insight) and Wisdom (Perception) checks, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.

10: Sorcerous Scourge
By pulling from your liege, you can cause your opponent's old wounds to resonate anew. Once per turn, when a creature you can see hits a target with an attack roll, you can use your reaction to force the target to make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, the target becomes vulnerable to one of the damage types dealt by the attack. This vulnerability lasts until the end of the target's next turn and affects the damage dealt by the triggering attack.

You can use your reaction in this way a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

14: Pillar of Domination
As an action, you and up to five creatures you can see within 60 feet of you each gain one extra action to use on your individual turns until the start of your next turn. The action goes away if not used before the end of your next turn. the action can be used only to make one weapon attack or to take the Dash or Disengage action.

Once you used this feature, you must complete a long rest to use it again.

Nice! Personally, I don’t think I’d style the sorcerer-king patron as a templar. I’d let that be the Paladin, and make sorcerer-king warlocks their own thing. Paladins swear paths to uphold the divine rule of the living god-emperors. Warlocks perform services for the world’s most powerful defilers in exchange for a sliver of their arcane knowledge. Less of a police force, more of a… priesthood? Or perhaps cult describes it better.

 

[Yaarel]

BTW, can we avoid turning this thread into yet another thread were you explains in huge wall of text of much you know about Norse mythology?

The premise of the thread is super interesting, so an essay on the nature of god/energy/alfar/light elves/norse psionicist/FR gods and they perception in one, real life, mythology/psionic-animistic/not-worship based religion will probably just get in the way of designing a setting meant to be played for fun.

thanks and cheers.

I dislike the Forgotten Realms "gods" and the way D&D portrays gods generally.

For D&D to culturally appropriate and misrepresent my Norse heritage as if Forgotten Realms gods, is highly offensive.

 

[Maxperson]

1995 (page 16) says:

"Athas is a world without true gods. As far back as the earliest days of the Green Age, people have believed in gods, but there exists no true gods on Athas. Unlike the other worlds of the multiverse, where true gods do exist, Athas has never had any, and it never will."

Unlike 1991 that is an independent setting, 1995 changes that to connect it to the 2e multiverse. But it sustains the fact: "Athas has NEVER had" gods.

Admittedly it is ambiguous if Dark Sun is somehow part of the multiverse. Nevertheless the setting is strictly nontheistic. The planet came into existence without gods.

The 1995 version doesn't sustain the fact that Athas never had gods. It recons Athas into never having had gods. The 1991 version has temple ruins and legends of the times when there were gods. I gave you the quote. In any case, it seems 4e went back to the 1991 version and then beefed it up and we don't know about 5e.

 

[Maxperson]

I dislike the Forgotten Realms "gods".

For D&D to culturally appropriate and misrepresent my heritage as if Forgotten Realms gods, is highly offensive.

If I remember correctly, you're Norse? If that's the case, it would be the Norse pantheon in D&D that is misrepresentative, not the Forgotten Realms. The Realms only borrows Tyr from that pantheon.

 

[Yaarel]

If I remember correctly, you're Norse?

Yeah. Norwegian. (Swedes, Danes, and Icelanders are too.)

If that's the case, it would be the Norse pantheon in D&D that is misrepresentative, not the Forgotten Realms. The Realms only borrows Tyr from that pantheon.

The Dark Sun setting is very religious. But it is nontheistic.

Athas isnt about gods. To try to force gods into it undermines the premise of the setting. It is about human(oid)s taking responsibility to make the world a better place. Meanwhile simply surviving is a serious challenge.

To get a better understanding of what nontheistic religions are like, including monism and animism, is helpful to the flavor of the Dark Sun setting.

 

[dave2008]

In sum. According to 5e Spelljammer, the gods are the truth. The inhabitants of Athas Fyreen are ignorant insubordinates who fail to recognize the truth.

Not necessarily true. The could have knowledge of the gods and chose not to worship them.

Also, it is not like "5e Spelljammer" is the truth. It is a truth, not the truth.

 

[Yaarel]

Also, it is not like "5e Spelljammer" is the truth. It is a truth, not the truth.

5e Spelljammer is "Planesjammer".

The ships sail the astral sea. The "islands" sotospeak are where the Celestials and Fiends inhabit. Any objectively existing immortals (asters?) are right there.