D&D 5E 5e has everything it needs for Dark Sun

[Steampunkette]

Dark Sun needs a Psionic Class.

Not -just- some subclasses for Rogues, Sorcerers, and Fighters. Not -just- Wild Talents. But all three.

It's -the- setting for Psionics.

It'll also need a whole lot of different systems and class changes. Bards, for example, aren't spellcasting minstrels in Dark Sun. They're Assassins. You'd need more than a "Subclass" to take away their spellcasting and put Extracts into play. Travel mechanics that actually matter, or at least a way to make food/water much more narratively important and impactful. Defiling and Preserving wouldn't just be Wizard Subclasses. Preserving takes -longer-. 2e Spellcasting had each spell take a number of initiative counts equal to it's level before it went off, remember? Preservers spent WAY MORE TIME casting a spell before it finally took effect.

Part of why Defiling was so attractive. It was -faster- and ensured your enemies were still in Fireball Formation when the spell went off.

Honestly... 5e would need a big book to bring Dark Sun back in a meaningful way.

 

[TheSword]

Yeah I think you could release a curse of Strahd style dark sun book in July with what we have + a Wild Talent feat and some more psionic spells. Same number of monsters as in Tomb of Annihilation.

The follow it up a year or two later with a full sourcebook to Athas... a la Van Richten’s Guide.

That would be my preferred way too.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Honestly... 5e would need a big book to bring Dark Sun back in a meaningful way.

Unfortunately though for your needs... I don't suspect WotC would have any intention of bringing Dark Sun back in a "meaningful" way. At least not how you are defining it.

They might bring back a version of Dark Sun... one that introduces the basic tropes and locations at a baseline level for the tens of thousands of players out there that know absolutely nothing about it, but that's really it. And that shouldn't be any surprise, because that's really been the standard for everything in 5E-- easily digestible D&D that doesn't go too deep, because most players do not need it. And then they leave that depth for the other companies and people out there on DMs Guild who feel like they really need that depth.

 

[the Jester]

With the release of Tasha's Cauldron of Everything several months ago, I've come to the conclusion that 5e has everything it needs to release Dark Sun.
The common refrain is we need a dedicated Psion class - Humbug, I say. The interesting part of Dark Sun psionics was always their widespread presence, not the Masters of the Way. Dedicated power users are far more interesting along the Defiler/Preserver axis, as that plays into the core themes of the world. Masters of the Way... Just kind of skip over that, especially without extremely restrictive effect lists for what psionics can do.

Sorry, but no. Without robust psionics rules- and 5e absolutely doesn't have robust psionics rules- 5e does not have what it needs to do Dark Sun well. The little bit of psionics we have seen is not enough to do widespread psionics, especially for pcs.

 

[Sithlord]

Unfortunately though for your needs... I don't suspect WotC would have any intention of bringing Dark Sun back in a "meaningful" way. At least not how you are defining it.

They might bring back a version of Dark Sun... one that introduces the basic tropes and locations at a baseline level for the tens of thousands of players out there that know absolutely nothing about it, but that's really it. And that shouldn't be any surprise, because that's really been the standard for everything in 5E-- easily digestible D&D that doesn't go too deep, because most players do not need it. And then they leave that depth for the other companies and people out there on DMs Guild who feel like they really need that depth.

How many Tarzan movies even remotely resemble the Tarzan Edgar rice Burroughs wrote. Same with Conan. I just hope to find ideas to mine. By the way i would kill to see movies that would really stick with to the source material. Ain’t going to happen.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

You REALLY need a different psionic system other than just spells, but with a minor trapping difference. Arcane magic is basically an anathema to life in Dark Sun. You can channel it inward to drain yourself or let it leach from the environment, but psionics needs to be structurally different in implementation and scope to justify the changes required for preserving and defiling and the baggage than wizards need to deal with. Elemental clerics need to be very limited in spell selection. Magic in general needs to be toned down for the setting to work well IMO (ie, no tiny hut, no create water, etc).

 

[ChaosOS]

I'll agree with the notion that survival rules might legitimately be a bigger barrier to good 5e Dark Sun - spell bans aren't a terribly novel idea but work just fine, but you need to figure out what to do with things like Outlander.

However, I stand by that "Elemental Cleric" and "Assassin Bard" could just be subclasses. I'll go one further - "Defiler Wizard", with non-defiler wizards thus being cast as preservers.

 

[Rikka66]

Mearls mentioned the whisperer bard was intended to be the Dark Sun version. I think anyone expecting them to flip multiple classes on their heads and make multiple new ones is setting themselves up for a monumental disappointment.

 

[Weiley31]

They were on the right track with the Psi-Talent Die in the one UA, despite possessing the strangest quirk ever in regards to what you wanted to roll. Tasha's may not be the right track, but I still like the Psi-Energy Die. I still think that 5E's Psionics should develop alongside your class and it something that could've been achieved if they focused on each of the classes getting a set of Talents that corresponds to the class they are assigned to.

With that being said, the free Player's Guide to the World of Xoth actually has a Defiler style Druid subclass which has a kind of Defiler effect. Also if you need a Blighter of Tharizadun druid, that too. Soooooooooo that's kinda of an unofficial fixish for that. look I never said I was ever full of good ideas.

D&D 5E - Free 60+ page Guide to Sword & Sorcery for 5E D&D

The Player's Guide to the World of Xoth is a free PDF with more than 60 pages of sword and sorcery material for fifth edition that allows you to play in adventures inspired by the stories of Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith. Venture in the footsteps of Conan the Cimmerian, Satampra Zeiros...

www.enworld.org

As for the Psionics, well...............There's always this for now.

The Korranberg Chronicle: Psion's Primer - A Complete Psionics System - Dungeon Masters Guild | Dungeon Masters Guild

The Korranberg Chronicle: Psion's Primer - A Complete Psionics System - Open your Mind's Eye with The Korranberg Chronicle - Psion's Primer A Complete Psionics System Within this book's pag

www.dmsguild.com

 

[Steampunkette]

Mearls mentioned the whisperer bard was intended to be the Dark Sun version. I think anyone expecting them to flip multiple classes on their heads and make multiple new ones is setting themselves up for a monumental disappointment.

Oh, I don't -expect- them to flip a whole bunch of classes on their heads. Far from it.

I would expect a 256 page book, like Ravenloft, with new mechanics, one race and a few "Reskin these Race" options, possibly a class, and a world overview.

Some of those new mechanics and descriptions would have to be:

1) Resource Management of Water: This is a -key- theme and driving motivator for many Athasian characters and even campaigns. Without a solid system to make it narratively and mechanically important, without being odiously so to the point people ignore it outright, Dark Sun will lose more bite than a defanged vampire.

2) Defiling and Preserving: Like water management, Defiling is an important narrative function of the setting. Up to and including breathtakingly large areas of Dead Zones. Perhaps a system where Preserving involves expending Hit Dice and eventually Hit Points to cast Arcane Spells stronger than Cantrips? Could have Water use restore hit dice expended in this manner, so that Arcane Casters are resource-hogs in the party! Then have Defiling do no harm to the caster, but it cannot be used in Dead Zones. Toss in a stigma tracker for defilement and voila!

3) Guidelines for appropriate characters in a Dark Sun campaign. Not just "You shouldn't play Paladins" but also Athasian Class Definitions to show that Bards aren't colorful musicians but are instead assassins so players recognize the shift in class fantasy. Possibly with a "Spell-less Bard" variant tested in UA, or rules for Bards being Defilers/Preservers, too! Toss in the Elemental Cleric subclass, have Warlocks find Athasian-Appropriate patrons (Or get their power from Sorcerer-Kings like Paladins), stuff like that.

4) Race options. Dragonborn as Dray, Mul as a Dwarf or Human Subrace or Lineage, Goliath Half-Giant subrace, perhaps. Gonna need to do a full Thri-Kreen, possibly with subraces.

5) Psionics. Either a full Psionics class, or turn Warlocks into Psionicists by making their only available Patron on Athas "The Will and the Way", introducing a Power Points mechanic to make their spellcasting and invocations -slightly- more flexible, and call Eldritch Blast "Mind Blast". The subclasses and the Wild Talents can stay as they are, of course.

While they -could- pawn this work off onto the DM's Guild and say "Just use this unofficial psionics class as official psionics for 5e" I highly doubt any company would be willing to do something like that. And without these things? It just wouldn't -be- Dark Sun.

I'd also like to note about the Korranberg Chronicles Psionics: The Empath is Yoda, and the Icon is a random character from a Persona game. The way they present psionics is very narrowly shaped by these ideas, and doesn't exactly "Fit" with Dark Sun's traditions. Honestly it doesn't even really fit Eberron's traditions, either. Don't get me wrong, though. I do -like- the ideas they've got for psionics. Might even suggest someone reframe the Icon character class into a "Truenamer" Vestige-Manipulator class 'cause that's kinda what it screams, to me.

Just don't think they're what Athas needs.