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.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I think they're about as (un)popular as Wildren that were also in 4e.

How many people actually bought 4e Dark Sun though? If not many people own the book not many people can play the species. The only valid comparison is with other species that only appeared in that book.

Then you have to consider the mechanics and the lore. The appearance isn’t the only reason people choose a species.

 

[Chaltab]

How many people actually bought 4e Dark Sun though? If not many people own the book not many people can play the species. The only valid comparison is with other species that only appeared in that book.

Then you have to consider the mechanics and the lore. The appearance isn’t the only reason people choose a species.

Shardminds weren't from 4E Dark Sun, they were from Players Handbook 3.

They came up here because I mentioned adding them as a faction in my 5e Dark Sun game.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

How many people actually bought 4e Dark Sun though?

IME, it was a lot of people. Not compared to what 5e numbers are likely to look like, of course, but for 4e it was a solid seller (which is better than people like to imagine).

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Shardminds weren't from 4E Dark Sun, they were from Players Handbook 3.

They came up here because I mentioned adding them as a faction in my 5e Dark Sun game.

Don’t matter which book they were in, it’s only comparable to species that were unique to the same book.

PHB3 came out in 2010, during the height of Pathfinder popularity and less than 2 years before D&D Next. I doubt it sold well.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I had never known they were unpopular, TBH. They were at least popular enough to get multiple 5E homebrew conversions.

I always thought they looked neat and I think the AI one there looks pretty generic by comparison.

I admit, I had something much cooler in my head when I started that post, but I couldn't get the AI to cooperate and wound up with something terrible. I should have given up on the post, but I got stubborn and posted it anyhow. I stand by the basic thrust of the post, but I admit my point is killed by my pitiful example.