D&D 5E DnDBeyond leaks Dark Sun?

[grimslade]

Athas will never be a utopia. It is a fundamentally broken world. This is not solarpunk. It shouldn't be. To quote the cinematic masterpiece Roadhouse, "... is like putting an elevator in an outhouse. It don't belong." It does a disservice to a good solarpunk setting and to Dark Sun.
Does Dark Sun need to brood all the time in misery? No. There are points of light. The PCs and the people of Athas can make more and make those points glow brighter. There are smaller villages and areas beyond the despotic reach of the Sorcerer Kings. The City-States are bureaucratic machines, after all, lots of cracks to fall between.
The key to Dark Sun is that magic is not the solution. It is the problem. The central tenet is Rajaat taught the SK how to defile. How to steal the life of the planet to give vast power. Even preservation magic destroys, it just allows the earth to recover. To have magi-tech in Dark Sun is to pour kerosene onto a bonfire.
A bright optimistic setting deserves to have a foundation that leads to that setting. Shoehorning a bright optimism into Dark Sun (Bright Sun) does a disservice to the stories that could be told with the existing setting.

 

[Charlaquin]

If anyone is worried about WotC avoiding mentioning slavery in products, the neogi are explicitly called "slavers" in the Spelljammer adventure.

And based on the response to that, I’d bet they steer clear of discussing slavery in the future. Not that the response was unwarranted, mind. But I think the lesson WotC is more likely to learn is “avoid the subject” rather than “hire sensitivity readers.”

 

[Yaarel]

By the way, according to the 1dd playtest, we technically have all of the 2e core Dark Sun races. Half races choose one parentage for the stats, and blend both parents for the appearance.

One D&D
• Human
• Dwarf
• Elf ( = wood elf)
• Elf, half ( = wood elf or human)
• Giant, half ( = ... human)
• Halfling
• Mul ( = dwarf or human)

Spelljammer
• Thri-kreen



Balancewise, the 1dd elf is ... "fair" ... compared to the other 1dd races. I have mixed feelings. For me, the Spelljammer astral elf is the right amount of design space, with its Misty Step pro times per day (compare 4e eladrin), plus cantrip plus fluid proficiency swaps. (And I would love to swap out its darkvision.) In comparison, the 1dd elf with its minimal level 1 features and its delayed magic feels meh. Dragonborn fans have a similar reaction when comparing the Fizbans dragonborn to the 1dd dragonborn.

Of course, the 1dd divinely-ordained racism flavor for each race is unhelpful.

In any case, the athas elf is a wood elf, and the speed features are appropriate. Possibly, include a way to swap out elven trance for something like immunity to nonmagical fire and cold.

Mechanically, the 1dd method for mixed-races, is to pick one parentage for the mechanics, and both parentages for the narrative. A half-elf can stat either wood elf or human, and a mul either dwarf or human.

A half-giant can stat human, and narrate as partly giant. There is no playable giant race yet, but the human parentage is available for mechanics. Pick a feat that exhibits giant traits.

Of course, I rather a giant race, for Large and larger. Personally, I find reflavoring a goliath less satisfying because a giant is a manifestation of nature − not a brute per se. Elemental magic (cliff, frost, storm, fire) is central to the concept, and other forms of magic are too.

To be fair, the two races of Dark Sun giants are peculiar. The humanlike giants are very low Intelligence (yikes! dark skin), mercurial personalities, where alignment depends on daily mood, and behavior alternates hospitably polite to violently savage. The beast-head giants are smarter.

Wielding magic is a reallife archetype of a giant (at least where I come from). Making both kinds of athasian giants adept psionicists helps achieve the feel nature being magic in a Dark Sun way. Normally, I prefer psionic avoid elemental, but I like when psionic nature beings wield elemental. They actually are the elements, and their minds more in tune with elements.

I would lose the low Intelligence brute trope. I strongly prefer Intelligent giants that are actually high Intelligence with vast memory while simultaneously childlike, naive, and gullible. This character concept is a 5e personality flaw, not an ability score dump. Also lose how beast-heads value the humanlikes who disrespect them. These kinds of so-called "fun" personalities get D&D into perennially embarrassing and concerning situations.

Spelljammer supplies the thri-kreen, but the Spelljammer design space is more powerful than 1dd races.



Mentioned as 2e Languages
• Aarakocra ( = MMM)
• Yuan-ti ( = MMM)
• Gith ( ≈ githzerai? = MMM)
• Kenku ( = MMM)

• Ettercap ( =MM)
• Genie ( = MM) ( ≈ genasi? = MMM)
• Giant (?)

• Anakore
• Belgoi
• Braxat
• Goblin Spider
• Jozhal
• Meazel



4e introduces other races in thoughtful ways, like eladrin ( = high elf) in vestiges of the positive material plane, dragonborn as resulting from a sorcerer king experiment, and so on.

 

[darjr]

I think DarkSun needs to be the Rogue One of settings.

Everyone and everything is doomed. No chance to fix things. How you deal with that is the campaign, in my opinion.

 

[Yaarel]

Everyone and everything is doomed. No chance to fix things. How you deal with that is the campaign, in my opinion.

Maybe for a one-off.

I couldnt do it for an entire campaign.

 

[Mecheon]

Everyone and everything is doomed. No chance to fix things. How you deal with that is the campaign, in my opinion.

Doesn't match how its been presented historically. Dark Sun has generally been the "These jerks are making the world worse and if you can survive it, you can make it better" setting

 

[darjr]

Doesn't match how its been presented historically. Dark Sun has generally been the "These jerks are making the world worse and if you can survive it, you can make it better" setting

I saw it as doing the right thing regardless, and trying to fix things, yea. Still ultimately doomed though.

 

[overgeeked]

If anyone is worried about WotC avoiding mentioning slavery in products, the neogi are explicitly called "slavers" in the Spelljammer adventure.

How big a part of the new set is the neogi slaving? Is it mentioned once in a line tucked away somewhere? Only in the description of the neogi? Or is it a central piece of the setting as a whole? Because in Dark Sun, slavery is a bit more than a throw away line in one monster’s stat block.

 

[overgeeked]

I saw it as doing the right thing regardless, and trying to fix things, yea. Still ultimately doomed though.

It’s got to have at least a touch of hope otherwise there’s no point. If that hope is the PCs, that’s fine. If the PCs fail, that’s fine. Because if there’s no hope at all? Then the PCs will just not care and murderhobo their way around the setting. That’s not what I’m interested in.

 

[Remathilis]

If anyone is worried about WotC avoiding mentioning slavery in products, the neogi are explicitly called "slavers" in the Spelljammer adventure.

Give Twitter time and they'll bemoan that too.