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

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Dark Sun is not FR, the core books present the FR cosmology as a starter set of assumptions because it hews closest to "classic fantasy" assumptions. The Grey is the Grey, the Black is the Black. I will say I like how 4e incorporated "the lands between the wind" for the feywild and some of the primordial/god lore as possible backgrounds, but Dark Sun is explicitly not a setting that's intended to feature great bouts of planar travel.

The original core books build off the standard AD&D cosmology, not so much FRs. There is mention of the four elemental planes with the cleric, there is mention of the Positive and Negative planes in the section on Battling Undead in Dark Sun.

I asked Troy about where the inspiration for The Gray and The Black came from as they were not mentioned in the original books. He admitted that cosmology was never considered by the original design. They needed the setting isolated from the rest of the AD&D settings simply to prevent the powerful Dark Sun characters from getting into the other AD&D settings. So voila, planar isolation by game rule necessity.

The Gray and The Black came up later as Troy was writing the novels and he felt he needed to handle an afterlife in some way for the novels (The Gray) and a place where Rajaat was imprisoned that existed outside of the world (The Hollow, inside The Black).

 

[Maxperson]

I'm going technically disagree; it's a default assumption about the Multiverse of D&D, but it's not a rule, its lore/fluff. There are no inherent rules in the game directly tied to the concept of the Weave, it is merely the default assumption to explain how magic works. (Akin to the Great Wheel being the default assumption of how the Multiverse is arranged).

Less Rule As Written, more Default Lore Concept.

Fair enough. That's where the talk of the weave with regard to Athas is coming from, though.

 

[SkidAce]

I'm going technically disagree; it's a default assumption about the Multiverse of D&D, but it's not a rule, its lore/fluff. There are no inherent rules in the game directly tied to the concept of the Weave, it is merely the default assumption to explain how magic works. (Akin to the Great Wheel being the default assumption of how the Multiverse is arranged).

Less Rule As Written, more Default Lore Concept.

I was going to type a long post, but @Remathilis said it better this time.

None of my worlds have a "W"eave, unless you want to try to convince me that my "Theory of Cosmic Ethereal Density" which as the density varies the strength of magic varies is actually the Weave in disguise.

Also, my psionics work even in magic dead zones (unless specifically creating a spell i.e. somehow trying to summon magic).

 

[cbwjm]

I'm also one of those who doesn't bother with the weave. It's a story telling component for the FR, not something necessary for other worlds, definitely nothing like it in my homebrews. There a caster is drawing directly on raw magic to shape into a desired spell effect.

 

[Maxperson]

None of my worlds have a "W"eave, unless you want to try to convince me that my "Theory of Cosmic Ethereal Density" which as the density varies the strength of magic varies is actually the Weave in disguise.

That's exactly what the section about "The Weave" is saying. It's not saying that there is some sort of weave around every setting. It's saying that every setting has some sort of interface between the casters and the raw magic of the universe. For yours it's the Cosmic Ethereal Density. For FR it's The Weave. For Athas it could be DIT(Defilement Institute of Technology).

 

[SkidAce]

That's exactly what the section about "The Weave" is saying. It's not saying that there is some sort of weave around every setting. It's saying that every setting has some sort of interface between the casters and the raw magic of the universe. For yours it's the Cosmic Ethereal Density. For FR it's The Weave. For Athas it could be BIT(Defilement Institute of Technology).

Anecdotal: Well except for Chaos magic, those wacky folk try to manipulate chaos/possibility through sheer force of will.

 

[Steampunkette]

It's not just special locations. Every freaking rock formation has one. That means every a desert with 7 "stretches"(no idea how much desert constitutes a stretch) and 3000 rock formations in it will have a minimum of 3007 spirits. I live in California which is mostly desert. There are MANY rock formations within just a few miles of my house. And those are just examples. A ravine in the desert would be sufficient to have its own spirit. A grouping of 12 hills in the desert will have 12 more spirits.

Ehhhh...

I think that takes it a bit too far. The first paragraph states "Unique geographical formations". Oases on Athas are pretty unique no matter how many of them there are because of how rare they are compared to everything else.

But "Every Rock Formation" would mean that you couldn't walk 100ft without passing a pile of rocks with it's own druid protecting it. Or, at least, having enough of a spirit that a druid -could- protect it.

And considering that Athasian Druids don't just protect their feature, but also the surrounding region with an ever-widening radius based on their level, I think the more appropriate interpretation is that the spirits are tied to the Unique ones, but those spirits look over the whole area and work with, or through depending on perspective, druids to tend them.

(I wrote this post hours ago but the site went down so here it is, belatedly)

 

[Steampunkette]

Heh.

Once one asks, "How do thoughts create energy?" "What is this energy?" "Where does this energy come from?" "How do thoughts inside ones skull create this energy at a distance?"

The answer goes back to, mind is everywhere.

How do thoughts create energy? They create energy in the way Psionic Powers do.

What is this energy? Psionic Energy.

Where does this energy come from? From the Psionicist's convictions.

How do thoughts inside one's skull create this energy at a distance? Because it's a Supernatural Power that ignores the laws of Physics.

No. The mind is not everywhere.

Supernatural abilities shouldn't HAVE a defined source like you and modern WotC are trying to stuff in. Because then it's just Physics and it becomes natural and normal rather than Supernatural. If a natural force exists and the mind just interacts with that force then Psionics are no different than walking over and picking the object up with your hand to impart kinetic energy on it.

Magic isn't Magic if it's just well understood and easily defined Physics... it's just Physics.

 

[cbwjm]

I do wonder, if the designers create a psion class, if it will use similar mechanics to the warrior and rogue subclasses with the psi-dice. It sort of makes sense that they would so as to have a unifying mechanic but they'd also need something else to keep them competitive with other classes, otherwise they don't have enough dice to keep up. I'd hope to see the psi-dice as a component.

 

[Maxperson]

Ehhhh...

I think that takes it a bit too far. The first paragraph states "Unique geographical formations". Oases on Athas are pretty unique no matter how many of them there are because of how rare they are compared to everything else.

But "Every Rock Formation" would mean that you couldn't walk 100ft without passing a pile of rocks with it's own druid protecting it. Or, at least, having enough of a spirit that a druid -could- protect it.

And considering that Athasian Druids don't just protect their feature, but also the surrounding region with an ever-widening radius based on their level, I think the more appropriate interpretation is that the spirits are tied to the Unique ones, but those spirits look over the whole area and work with, or through depending on perspective, druids to tend them.
(I wrote this post hours ago but the site went down so here it is, belatedly)

It's quoted from the 2e Darksun book. Every rock formation. I think it's safe to assume that there are greater and lesser spirits, and the druids would serve the greater ones.