Dungeons & Dragons Releases New Unearthed Arcana Subclasses, Strongly Hinting at Dark Sun

Wizards of the Coast has released four new D&D subclasses for playtesting, all of which have heavy thematic ties to the post-apocalyptic Dark Sun setting. The four subclasses, released as "Apocalyptic Subclasses," include the Circle of Preservation Druid, the Gladiator Fighter, the Defiled Sorcerer, and the Sorcerer-King Patron Warlock. Although not stated outright, the Gladiator and Sorcerer-King Patron are explicit nods to the Dark Sun setting, set in a ruined world ruled by Sorcerer-Kings where gladiatorial fights were common.

The Circle of Preservation Druid creates areas of preserved land that grants buffs to those who stand upon it. The Gladiator adds secondary Weapon Mastery properties to their attacks, with bonus abilities. Notably, the Gladiator uses Charisma as its secondary stat. The Defiled Sorcerer can expend its hit dice to amp up damage to its attacks and can also steal the life of its targets to deal additional damage. The Sorcerer-King Patron gains a number of abilities tying into tyranny and oppression, with the ability to cast Command as a Bonus Action without expending a spell slot, causing targets to gain the Frightened Condition, and forcing those who attack them to re-roll successful attacks.

The survey for the subclasses goes live on August 28th.

 

[Remathilis]

Most of them aren’t warriors though, they’re politicians first and foremost. Warlock is perfect in that regard. Most Paladin powers seem very counter to the idea of a SK’s Templar, lay on hands, aura of protection, heavy armour, martial prof. Nah.

Why Not Both .gif

I've always been a fan of more than one way to skin a concept, so the Legions of Templars could contain scheming magicians who swore pacts to the SK and your fanatical warriors who swore an oath to them. Your Tarkin/Vader breakdown.

 

[TheSword]

Why Not Both .gif

I've always been a fan of more than one way to skin a concept, so the Legions of Templars could contain scheming magicians who swore pacts to the SK and your fanatical warriors who swore an oath to them. Your Tarkin/Vader breakdown.

They absolutely can be. Luckily NPCs stand outside concepts like class which is great.

I usually run the defilers as whole separate to the templars. Who hate and fear them both for the power their master has permitted them to wield and the free rein they are given. I like the approach that a Templar would gladly see a defiler fall if they could be sure of not getting caught. Not a sure thing given the psionic power of the SKs

As an aside if Tarkin is your Templar then Galen Erso is your PC Templar.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

"The perfect dictatorship would have the appearance of democracy, a prison without walls in which the prisoners would not dream of escape".

Some tyrants are enoughly smart to pretend to be the defenders of the freedom and saviors of the people, and more one believes him. In the real life some "good" people work for a tyrant because they sinceretly think their "leader" is a patriot hero or like this.

Finn, from Star Wars third trilogy, could be an example of "nice guy who before worked for the bad guys".

The videogame "Injustice: God among us" shows examples of "good guys" who ally with the "evil" Superman because they hope this would be the best for the world peace.

* With some little retouchs the planes of the dreams could be added to DS cosmology. Usually it is like a virtual simulation where dreamers can watch collective memories by previous dreamers, style social networks. The bad new is the sorcerer-kings have rewritten the collective memories about the past for propaganda purposes. The PCs can live adventures in the dream plane using an avatar or incarnation, like a second playable character within a videogame.

* Other idea is near the end of the green age a lot of different sentient species arrive to Athas. Then Rajaat chooses more champions to terminate those "new intruders" but this changes everything. One of the new chosen champions warns his no-human lover, and this the rest. Then the no-halflings use special planar gates to be evacuated toward other celestial bodies within Athaspace. Rajaat doesn't mind too much because the evacuation is a faster and cleaner option. If the champions don't need to hurry don't use so much defiling magic and more green zones are "forgiven" (at least because later these could be used for agriculture). After the rebellion of the champions there are more city-states. Other secondary effect is the creation of "husks", like souless clones. These are created like adult bodies but their life expentancy is too short. The adventage is if the "cortical stack" is extracted and implanted into a new "husk" this will remember her "previous life". At least the "husks" are useful for "ritual sacrifices" and the cortical stacks can be reimplanted again.

 

[Autumnal]

've always been a fan of more than one way to skin a concept, so the Legions of Templars could contain scheming magicians who swore pacts to the SK and your fanatical warriors who swore an oath to them. Your Tarkin/Vader breakdown.

I’m a big fan of in-world groups that lie across class lines, and vice versa. This sounds very pleasing.

 

[Remathilis]

I’m a big fan of in-world groups that lie across class lines, and vice versa. This sounds very pleasing.

Same. I can absolutely see agents of the sorcerer kings using conquest paladins, Sk warlocks, shadow monks, and assassin rogues, etc as agents for different missions. Allows for a variety of different NPCs types to battle and the ability to build PC Parties if you want to play the baddies instead.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

5e doesn't nPCs with class levels, I guess because enemy spellcasters spend all the spells in only one encounter and this could break the power balance, but I dare to say in 5e factions whose agents can be "different" are wellcome.

I guess if WotC wants to add some touch of metaplot in the sourcebooks, this will be in the adventures, because here players would rather to avoid possible spoilers.

* Other idea is other continents and civilitations could survive the cleasing wars. How? The defilers earns a special "taint". Then other spellcasters could create a new spell or power "invisibilty against defilers" and thanks this defilers couldn't sense the areas protected by this effect. A defiler, even a sorcerer-king, who tried to use his power would be tricked and he only watch ruins and desert. The sad part is these zones could be conquered by fiends later. The irony is the fiends learnt a worse version of defiler magic that drained other fiends, but "poisoned" for no-fiends. Then they suffered their own version of ""mutually assured destruction".

 

[Zardnaar]

According to (rather thin) canon, the process that granted the sorcerer-monarchs the ability to grant their templars spells can't be repeated, so the Avangion from Arcane Shadows and Dragon's Crown can't do it (I'm blanking on his name at the moment). I believe that Oronis might be able to since he was one of the OG sorcerer-monarchs, but it would also make sense that he lost that ability during his redemption period where he became a preserver and re-advanced as an avangion.

He can still grant spells to Templars.

In 3E we had a good aligned Templar serving him.

 

[Zardnaar]

Did you miss the part where I mentioned being indoctrinated into Nibenays cult from childhood? That's not "signing up" that's "being signed over".

Edit: No you didn't. Look, if you have decided all templars must be extra-evil, all well and good. You can feel that way if you want. I think there is definitely room for a lot more nuance.

Templars don't have to be evil. Some didn't have much choice raised in templar orphanages.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

There is a premise that interests me quite a bit and that is that of heroes gradually ascending towards divinity. The "aspirant" would be a little like the living idols from al-Qadim but working like the "spellpool" from the prestige class "Mage of the Arcane Order". Maybe a low-level believer couldn't cast a healing spell but she could craft a magic healing balm, enough to help local population.

* I need a good reason to explain why elans, dromites, maenads, synads, or xephs should be allowed in Athas 5e. Maybe they are from other celestial bodies within the Athasphere.

* Should the "Grey" and the "Black" to be retconected to be more "playable", offering possibilities to be explored by the PCs?

* A new idea is the concept of a city or region being "teletransported" toward an infernal plane, and some times this can return to the material plane. Then let's imagine the champions of Rajaat did horrible things during the cleasing wars causing important cities or regions being sent to an infernal demiplane, but after certain circustances the descendents of those populations can return to the material plane to rebuild their civilitation.

 

[rabindranath72]

Same. I can absolutely see agents of the sorcerer kings using conquest paladins, Sk warlocks, shadow monks, and assassin rogues, etc as agents for different missions. Allows for a variety of different NPCs types to battle and the ability to build PC Parties if you want to play the baddies instead.

In my 3.0 Dark Sun games Templars were always Sorcerers first, but they often multiclassed as psions and some other class depending on their role.