Dark Sun Dwarf Cleric Help

[Grimmjow]

Hey guys. I'm going to be playing a Dark Sun game with my friends. The get to be a player this time instead of the DM. The character I'm playing is a Dwarf Cleric of Pelor. The problem is the gods are dead not talking to the people of Athes.

I've already decided that my Dwarf will have been in the desert, near death, and Pelor will have saved him, but he had to serve Pelor until death. Pelor will have instructed him to bring life back to the barren desert in his name. Pelor has not told the dwarf who he is yet and never showed himself to me. He talked in the back of my head and i agreed, the next thing i know, i'm alive and have a small sun in my hand (my holy symbol). My character doesn't know that he has been given the power of a god, all he knows is he now has powers like nothing Athas has ever seen, and he can almost bring people back from the dead, (designed to be a healing "nuke").

He has began to work on his two quests. 1) keep his promise, bring life back to Athas and 2) find out who this power came from.

I'm looking for different things to do to my character. What can i do with my powers? How should my charter behave? Should he begin to understand the greater depths of Pelor's wish's? What else am i missing?

Also, form a meta game perspective, what kind of powers/feats should i take to be the best healer ever?

-Thanks guys!

 

[Dice4Hire]

There are not really supposed to be any divine characters on Dark Sun at all, so you are well into house-rules territory and can do whatever you like. Ask your DM.

As for being the best healer, I would suggest a cleric/warlord hybrid. They get lots of great healing powers.

 

[Herobizkit]

Some ideas:

- be a Druid or a Shaman. They are more thematically appropriate to the campaign setting... and would likely be a better fit for your 'chosen' story.

If you are a Cleric of Pelor, perhaps you're a planar traveller who has been 'cast out' of his regular world... only to find that Pelor isn't there waiting for him. That's pretty torturous for a Cleric... but then the spirits of Athas call to you and turn you into a healer. Regardless...

- See if your DM will allow you to take the Primal Guardian theme. You are now a sworn defender of life, using healing magic to safeguard the healthy natural sites from the defilers and the like.

For "the best builds evar" and one that might suit you, check here: A Cleric (Templar) Handbook

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I've got both a cleric and paladin in my Dark Sun campaign. They're flavored as primal though. This probably doesn't help your situation much, as your character is devoted to Pelor.

There have been a few Dark Sun adventures that mentioned interplanar invasions. One involving githyanki.

 

[Rune]

I'd have a detailed talk with your DM about just why s/he's running Dark Sun, anyway.

Dark Sun is a dying world, a world largely without hope. It is a world in which heroes stand in defiance of this, but will probably fail to change the paradigm in any meaningful way (although they may create and then fill a power vacuum, the they probably won't be able bring life back into the world). At least, that's what I always got out of it.

That said, the absence of deities is pretty much a crucial element of the paradigm. In Dark Sun, life is brutal, and there is no higher power to turn to for help. And no escape to other worlds that do have such higher powers.

If this is a theme that your DM is aiming for, the character you suggest will pretty much wreck it.

Also, I'd check with your DM to see if playing a dwarf is even an option, as, traditionally, they don't exist (except, of course, as Muls).

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Dwarves have always existed on Athas. They just don't have any hair (unless they're part of the Abyss series). They also turn into banshees if they break their focus.

 

[Grimmjow]

okay ill try to respond to as many as i can.

My DM is okay with me being a Cleric. There is not going to be any divine interaction between me and Pelor, and the reason i want to be a cleric is because of the healer's lore to buff my healing, along with the power of life domain. I want my dwarf to to stand out, which is why im making him a cleric. I know i wont be able to restore the desert to a more fertile land, those are just the orders of a god of hope, who has lost hope. He is beginig to take desperate messures to try to bring hope and life back to a place where they dont exist.

How would he go around, not knowing where these strange powers came from, and or who gave them to him.

And yes dwarves do exist in Athas. If you look at the races of Athas, dwarf is number two.

 

[bganon]

Actually, what bugs me more than a Cleric in Dark Sun is this: you're presenting a sun god as some kind of source of life and fertility - on a scorched desert world.

Now, maybe Pelor really does exist on Athas, and he really does support life and healing and all that. But your character using blinding sunlight to heal people and fertilize the desert is going to seem really weird to just about everyone in the setting. Athasians want water a whole lot more than they want more sun.

 

[Herobizkit]

Pursuant to that, maybe the OP's Dwarf only THINKS he's doing Pelor's work, when the motivator is actually something far more sinister...

 

[Obryn]

You can try and reflavor a Cleric on Athas as being one of the classic Elemental Priests. If you're a Para-Elemental Cleric of Sun ... well, they're supposed to be evil mostly, but your work is done for you. Otherwise, changing a few keywords here and there should do the trick.

-O