D&D 5E Assuming Dark Sun is on the horizon, what are your worries?

[Remathilis]

I think this is likely to be mostly true, with some exceptions, like I think instead of recycling Goliaths they will just go a Half Giant race. So I think it will be a compromise between 4e Darksun and 2e Darksun.

I think so too, but statistically I don't expect them to be too different from goliath's or minotaurs.

That said, I expect they will use the 4e method and have a home for most-if-not-all of the PHB classes and many of the races plus the DS exclusive ones. I expect variant rules for nonmetal armor that doesn't change AC values, defiling/preserving as an option for all casters, etc. Lastly, the psionics rules will be fleshed out and the new spells will round out the list. That plus world info and monsters would fill a Rising from the Last War sized tome.

 

[Arnwolf666]

When I played a game of 2E dark sun with a PC with a 24 strength I knew that game was broken. And a 24 Strength in 2E was a lot more than 5E. So I hope they do a better job mechanically than 2E. I doubt they can do a better job thematically.

 

[toucanbuzz]

For the sake of argument, I worry they'll water it all down to a Forgotten Realms high fantasy desert adventure, reskinning medium-sized goliaths as half-giants and like 4E allowing everything in because they want to appeal to as broad a purchasing class as possible.

I worry they'll provide superficial lore for the sake of space and encourage people who want lore to simply buy older-edition material, ensuring that interest in Dark Sun with newer players is muted.

 

[jayoungr]

I'm worried it won't be supported, like Ravnica wasn't.

Ravenloft wasn't "supported" either. I wouldn't expect more than one book per setting, at least until they run out of settings.

 

[neogod22]

Ravenloft wasn't "supported" either. I wouldn't expect more than one book per setting, at least until they run out of settings.

I don't even count that as Ravenloft. That was just the "Curse of Strald" campaign. There was nothing in the book for doing anyrhing outside of the campaign.

 

[PsyzhranV2]

6) Big fundamental issue, 5E is about pretty much everything being compatible and only individual DMs saying no. DS, however, says no to vast chunks of stuff. No to loads of monsters, including D&D classics. No to loads of subclasses and subraces. No to some spells. No to entire concepts (gods, for example). It would be incompatible with virtually all WotC released adventure paths and some entire books. This again might lead WotC to just change DS, making it something else entirely, as it would be so much easier and potentially more profitable than not doing so.

I can see certain classes and subclasses being a problem, along with the limited spell selection, but as for the issue of certain core races not being playable and the lack of explicit divinities, isn't that the same situation as Ravnica? And I believe that turned out okay? Nobody was really raging about not being able to play a gnome or dragonborn in that setting.

 

[gyor]

I don't even count that as Ravenloft. That was just the "Curse of Strald" campaign. There was nothing in the book for doing anyrhing outside of the campaign.

I agree 100%

 

[Remathilis]

I can see certain classes and subclasses being a problem, along with the limited spell selection, but as for the issue of certain core races not being playable and the lack of explicit divinities, isn't that the same situation as Ravnica? And I believe that turned out okay? Nobody was really raging about not being able to play a gnome or dragonborn in that setting.

Ravnica didn't outright ban any spells or subclasses, and the racial limits came down to "other races are unknown unless they traveled there magically". You're not likely to meet any native dwarves or dragonborn, but nothing if stopping them if the DM wants.

Dark Sun, at it's most conservative possible approach, bans most of the core classes and/or limits them to 1-2 subs tops. It additionally bans most races and makes the few remaining need specific DS variants or subraces. And that ignores races from Volo and other sources.

A Dark Sun that closely resembles the Ravnica model would have most of not all the classes and some of the races with the option to expand as desired. I think WotC will be a little not conservative than Ravnica, but far less than people in this thread want.

 

[tetrasodium]

I think that Rising showed that WotC learned their lesson from 4e & accepted that not every setting needs to be lore/tone compatible so I'm not too worried about the lore aspects. With that said, my fear is that they will not include meaningful rules for overland travel & equipment damage like can be found in Darker Dungeons (the first is goodm, the second is good but imo too insignificant at needing a 1)

 

[Larnievc]

One thing I've always thought would be better is if the distances were MUCH longer from place to place. In my mind's eye I'm thinking x5 the distance between places.

And then say that you cannot recover HD out in the desert under normal circumstances. Back in the day my players (to be fair we were only about 19 odd) thought northing of walking half the way across the map.

Boy howdy, I surely like to finish the Dragon Crown module.