D&D 5E Dark Sun 5E conversion - draft

[toucanbuzz]

Yeah, I'm on the classes now as well a dual-project of converting the monsters. Agreed the volume of arcane archetypes just don't fit Dark Sun, and while admitting there weren't as many classes in AD&D, the only arcane class was the wizard. There's not an eldritch knight or arcane archer around every corner. The one primary class giving me issues on that point is the Bard.

Allow or not allow? Third proposed it fit (they proposed everything fit though...) as a caster who masks her abilities with performance, but the AD&D bard was pretty much the assassin with performance skill.

 

[Charlaquin]

Yeah, I'm on the classes now as well a dual-project of converting the monsters. Agreed the volume of arcane archetypes just don't fit Dark Sun, and while admitting there weren't as many classes in AD&D, the only arcane class was the wizard. There's not an eldritch knight or arcane archer around every corner. The one primary class giving me issues on that point is the Bard.

Allow or not allow? Third proposed it fit (they proposed everything fit though...) as a caster who masks her abilities with performance, but the AD&D bard was pretty much the assassin with performance skill.

The 5e bard is totally different from the Dark Sun bard. If you want to cleave as close to 2e Dark Sun as possible, I would leave the bard class out of it and make minstrels a Rogue subclass. Or even just call the Assassin subclass a minstrel.

 

[toucanbuzz]

Arcane classes have been a task. I want to preserve choice but also preserve flavor. If we have a bunch of arcane spellcasting classes, then it lessens the essence of this setting: magic f***ed the planet up and the only good wizard is a dead wizard.

Yet, if I remove the Bard, Sorcerer, and Warlock, we are left with only the wizard and we've removed all the Charisma-based classes and removed a lot of fun options for players. Later editions rationalized them all away, but each rationalization takes something out of the setting.

So, I'm thinking about keeping most.

Bards become a wizard mutation that found the ability to cast spells when intermixed with music, needing no books. This is not to be confused with the Athasian "Bard," part of a specialized culture in which it is not a surprise, even expected, that even the most poorly dressed minstrel might be a covert agent. The wizards have intermixed into this society, using the role of minstrel favorable to hide their magic. The sorcerer kings are aware of this mutation and tolerate it only when in their control and employ. Any other bards are hunted and outlaws.

Sorcerers I can't justify with my defiling rules, which I'm loathe to dumb down as a centerpiece of Athas. Further, the origins don't fit well. There's only one dragon, wild magic really doesn't fit, divine soul (xanathar) is angels, storm sorcery (xanathar) is more suited for a rainy world. Shadow magic is probably the closest to fitting, but only for those from the Black, making it a good enemy NPC.

Warlocks I can work with. They make great reskinned templars (the sorcerer king can grant powers as it needs), and for players the Great Old One is a dead ringer for Rajaat, the Hexblade (xanathar) sourced from the Gray. The rest, they don't seem to fit the setting (e.g. there are no fey in Athas).

 

[Charlaquin]

Arcane classes have been a task. I want to preserve choice but also preserve flavor. If we have a bunch of arcane spellcasting classes, then it lessens the essence of this setting: magic f***ed the planet up and the only good wizard is a dead wizard.

Yet, if I remove the Bard, Sorcerer, and Warlock, we are left with only the wizard and we've removed all the Charisma-based classes and removed a lot of fun options for players. Later editions rationalized them all away, but each rationalization takes something out of the setting.

This is why I found myself really liking someone’s suggestion earlier to do the opposite of what 4e did with defiling. Instead of preserving being the default and defiling giving you a bonus, make defiling the default and make preserving something you have to pay a cost or accept a drawback to do. I think it’s far more on-theme with the idea that magic destroyed the world. Instead of something extra poweful but evil and addictive, it’s just what casters are used to. You want to preserve nature, you’ve got to make sacrifices.

 

[cbwjm]

For sorcery couldn't some of the later forms of magic found in 2e be used to explain them? I remember that one of the kits had the sun mage who drew upon the sun for their magic. Another tapped into the cerulean storm which might fit the storm sorcerer quite well.

The warlock in 4e could have a pact with a sorcerer king. That might be a good way to include them.

Having said all this, I do feel like not every class (or every subclass) needs to be available in dark sun. I dont think it would matter if there were no charisma casters in a dark sun game, you'd probably still see some characters with a decent charisma score to help cover the social skills.

 

[toucanbuzz]

Attaching version 1.2 that includes the races, classes, defiling rules, new anti-defiler druid spells, wild talents, background and feat adjustments. Apologizes for formatting; it appears GMbinder is limited in that its PDF conversions which look like a PHB do well in Chrome but not Microsoft. I'll try that (later).

I kept the 3rd edition defiling rules, thereby eliminating the sorcerer class (whose archetypes didn't fit anyways) except as an NPC, and attempted to simplify the defiling effect rules as it's just too difficult (and unnecessary) to track defiling each time the caster moves. I opted for a simple "DM assigns a terrain to the casting or combat zone, here's the # of times it can be defiled before it's all gone" plus an optional "exact radius effect" table. The defiling rules are more advanced than I initially desired, but I wouldn't have opted for that route if it weren't such a fundamental trope in Dark Sun. I just wasn't satisfied with defiling as a class, nor as a minor boost because defilers would have been rendered extinct long ago if their boost was so minimal that a sorcerer king was better off with a stable of preservers on retainer.

Again, I am stitching together creative effort from all those who have come before me. I've drawing from the athas.org 3rd edition conversion, the UA stuff, forum discussions, and so on. I've been DMing for 20+ years and cut my teeth on Dark Sun, so when in doubt I defer to making the material as much in line with the original AD&D theme as possible.

The druid beast shape section is incomplete because I haven't finished converting a monster manual. But I'm working on it. The toughest part of monster conversion is assigning an appropriate CR. Online calculators have helped, but it's never an exact science. I'm not satisfied with many conversions I've seen out there because many deviate from the original monster design. But 5th is conversion friendly, so I'm moving along as free time permits.

Finally, I've largely got the equipment and money section done (armor and weapons converted), and the only remainder is special materials.

 

[squibbles]

I'm a big fan of Darksun, but never had a chance to play it. I'd be commenting a bunch more in this thread except that [MENTION=19270]toucanbuzz[/MENTION] and other commentators are clearly much more familiar with the setting than I am.

So... all I've got to say is: keep up the awesome work!

 

[toucanbuzz]

Thanks! There's a lot of nostalgia involved and a desire to "do right" by the setting.

 

[toucanbuzz]

For wholesale criticism and dissemination, the mostly-final version of the 5th Edition Dark Sun conversion. The only part missing is a more complete Druid wildshape chart, which is on the to-do list as part of a monster manual conversion.

Converted to .pdf using Chrome instead of Windows to preserve formatting of the look of a handbook (the index is off in places but I don't have enough programming knowledge to know why). Once it's final, will produce a black and white version for print.

It's been a lot of fun working on this.

 

[Dekker500]

Any chance of seeing the content (even in draft format!) on HomeBrewery (https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/)? It lets you preserve the formatting, but allowing viewers to see the raw text. I'm trying to use bits-and-pieces from your guide in a custom character sheet data file for my group, and it's so much simpler to grab text/tables from raw data than formatted PDFs.

It appears the formatting is already identical!