[Dark Sun] Need help with a character concept...

[calypso15]

Well, see, that's the thing.

If he's setting his game before the Prism Pentad novels, then that's not necessarily the case.

If he's setting his game during the Prism Pentad novels, then it's pretty much up in the air as to who's in charge of the city, seeing as the political situation was very unstable at the time.

If he's setting it after the novels, then the group in power is pretty firmly ensconced, but are under more or less constant attack from those outside the city.

No idea :/ It was refered to, in my presence, as Tyr, the Free City, if that helps at all. From what I gathered, they no longer raise people as slaves to fight in the pit, they don't toss people in there as punishment, etc. If you're fighting in the pits, it's because you want to be.

I'm thinking I like the idea of the character tiring of the ruthless calls for death from the crowd. I think he'll know exactly how many men he has killed, and keep a count. So, he decided to leave that for something more productive/lucrative/something. But what? I mean, do you just leave the pits and say "I think I'll become an adventurer!"

Calypso

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

No idea :/ It was refered to, in my presence, as Tyr, the Free City, if that helps at all. From what I gathered, they no longer raise people as slaves to fight in the pit, they don't toss people in there as punishment, etc. If you're fighting in the pits, it's because you want to be.

AHAH!

Here we have some useful info.

Tyr became the Free City during the events described in the Prism Pentad series of novels.

To paint the events with a very broad brush, a group of slaves assassinated the "Sorceror King" Kalak - on his way to becoming a dragon - during a gladiatorial match, and then proceeded to lead a slave revolt.

This resulted in the creation of a Senate, populated by former slaves, nobles, and the occasional templar, which now features its own form of in-fighting and power-mongering.

Depending on where you are in the timeline, certain Senators may or may not be currently in power. Some of the more famous ones are:

• Sadira, a half-elf sorceress and ex-slave
• Rikus, a mul ex-gladiator
• Tithian, a former high templar of Kalak
• Aegis of Asticles, a nobleman

Directly after the assassination of Kalak, the other city-states of the area sought to exploit the perceived weakness of the now-leaderless city. Rikus led a gladiator army against the forces of Hamanu of Urik which was largely slaughtered, lacking the discipline of a true standing army and the magical strength to combat Hamanu's Templars. The Shadow King of Nibenay, and his army, was also involved, somehow, but I don't particularly remember that bit.

The situation has stabilized somewhat since then ...

 

[ErickArnell]

So, character concepts:

Reasons for adventuring: as a mul, looking for dwarf and human parents? (worked for me)

Looking to make money guarding caravans across the wastes (oldie but a goodie)

Races:
I personally love the mul race (stoic and stocky like dwarf, tall like human), but I love goliaths (Races of Stone) too, so there you go.

Multiclass Psiwarrior/gladiator or fighter might work well, regardless of race.

 

[Storyteller01]

That would be what happened to Hamanu, the Lion of Urik, not Tyr.

So what happened to him? Near as I remember, ne was the closest to 'good' the dragon got (more Lawful I guess).

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

So what happened to him? Near as I remember, ne was the closest to 'good' the dragon got (more Lawful I guess).

Well ...

Spoilers:

Spoiler

He gave up his eternal life for his city, destroying the reborn Rajaat*. The spirit of his city - more specifically, the druidic spirit of his city, its genius loci - preserved him, and allowed him to glimpse the glory of Urik some thousand years in the future.

* - I don't remember if it was exactly Rajaat, or was somone Rajaat had chosen as a new champion and dragon (Tithian, maybe?). It's been awhile since I read that book.

 

[irdeggman]

Hard to give recommendations without knowing how much of the Athas.og stuffhe is using (IMO it is mostly better than the drag. mag stuff).

There are a lot of dark sun specific weapons and materials that are useful.

You gave a brief listing of books allowed, none of which included the exp psionics book so it appears as if the info you were given doesn't include that. IMO bad move on the DM since Dark Sun basically recreated and defined the psionics rules in 2nd ed.

IMO what you need to know about the setting specifically is that it is very harsh and dry. There is a shortage of metal hence the alternate material types (bone, obsidian, etc.- these are fairly well explained in the athas.org document - again I don't know how much of that supplied).

For a melee close in fighter type I would recommend a kreen. If you are not an experienced role player though I wouldn't go there. Kreen are great for role playing but are challenging to play.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

You gave a brief listing of books allowed, none of which included the exp psionics book so it appears as if the info you were given doesn't include that. IMO bad move on the DM since Dark Sun basically recreated and defined the psionics rules in 2nd ed.

I think it's allowed:

For Gladiator, he's using the one from Sword and First. That's the only thing from splat-books allowed (Besides XPH of course).

 

[Shadowdweller]

I'm allowed to use PHB, DMG, and some stuff he's pulled and house-ruled from Athas.org.

I take it you've browsed some of the information at www.athas.org?

I can't remember which one it is, but as I recall there's a publication with some really fantastic roleplaying recommendations for the basic races.

 

[Runesong42]

O yeah,
If you want some ooey-gooey character goodness, see if your DM will allow you to freely multi-class monk and build yourself a Monk/Psiwar, or if you're thinking duelist then absolutely go Rogue/Soulknife. You'll thank me for it later. *LOL*

 

[calypso15]

O yeah,
If you want some ooey-gooey character goodness, see if your DM will allow you to freely multi-class monk and build yourself a Monk/Psiwar, or if you're thinking duelist then absolutely go Rogue/Soulknife. You'll thank me for it later. *LOL*

Cool, thanks for the suggestions. I'm still not sure what got him into adventuring, perhaps it would be one of the few fields in which his skills would also be applicable, and he has to eat somehow.