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.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

"What's dark sun?"

The answer is different today, then i you ask that question after a hypothetical hopepunk retcon is unleashed on the world.

Mad Max: Fury Road is "hopepunk" so that's not the chilling threat you seem to think:

Hopepunk - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

"We can make a better world" is literally at the core of Dark Sun. It's part of the 2E starting adventure lol. Kalak dies and he doesn't come back. The revolution has begun.

(Hopepunk is mostly just grimdark where the heroes can win anyway. Some people use it to mean Star Trek-type utopias but there's no punk there so that's a misuse. I think you might be confusing it with solarpunk, which is more utopian.)

My fear is actually that they are too afraid to even do that.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Gladiator looks fun and flavorful. I don't care particularly if it's exactly as powerful as Battlemaster or any other subclass. Close enough is good enough.

Yeah, especially when it's pretty much universally agreed that the Battlemaster is OP - they simply couldn't tone it down for 2024 without ruining what makes it so popular - it's versatility is exactly what is wrong with it. Its existence is what makes it so damn hard to design good Fighter subclasses. The problem is not with the Gladiator as presented here, it's with the Battlemaster itself.

 

[pukunui]

My thoughts on the subclasses:

Circle of Preservation: This druid isn't a preserver. They aren't "preserving" the land. They're rejuvenating / revitalizing it. This should be called the Circle of Rejuvenation instead. Or something like that. Also, I don't like that it's a cube. That shape feels too artificial to me. A sphere (or emanation) would be my preference. In terms of the mechanics, though, I like those just fine. I just hope that an actual "preserving" mechanic is available to all spellcasters.

Gladiator: I still have my AD&D 2e black faux-leather Dark Sun Complete Gladiator's Handbook! I appreciate the nod to that book here, and this subclass looks like it could be fun to play. I think it would be nicer if they could just add their Cha mod to their AC all the time, and maybe get some Improvised Weapon attack booster, or be able to dual-wield a trident and a net more easily or something. Maybe some sort of "rally the crowd" kind of ability?

Defiled Sorcery: I hope this is presented as like uber-defiling and that there is "ordinary" defiling that all spellcasters must contend with. Mechanically, this is a great evil-energy subclass that feels like it's how the Sorcerer-Kings would've got their start way back when ...

Sorcerer-King Patron: Is this the new templar? I don't know how I feel about making this a PC option. I'd much prefer to keep anyone allied with the Sorcerer-Kings as antagonists. Mechanically it's fine, though, I guess.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Having ran it. It really really was.

I've run it, too. The only thing that stood out to me as particularly different from the original was Female Solamnic Knights - and that didn't bother me. So what.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Preserver Druids are likely going to represent the entirety of the Preservers. No more difficult decision on whether to Preserve or Defile for Arcane Spellcasters. No. That would be too much power and consideration. Too many moral quandries. DRUIDS are now the Preservers.

Defiler Sorcerers are likely going to represent the entirety of the Defilers. See above.

This would be pretty weaksauce. But equally I'm with Defiling/Preserving being a subclass thing, not a per-spell thing (just not something unique to one class each). I played a lot of Dark Sun in 2E. No Preserver ever, ever defiled. So it doesn't need to be per-spell.

@overgeeked The real threat isn't "inverting" Dark Sun. It's turning it into a generic D&D setting with a lot of deserts. That's not an inversion. It's like 60 to 90 degree turn.

 

[bedir than]

My thoughts on the subclasses:

Circle of Preservation: This druid isn't a preserver. They aren't "preserving" the land. They're rejuvenating it. This should be called the Circle of Rejuvenation instead. Or something like that. Also, I don't like that it's a cube. That shape feels too artificial to me. A sphere (or emanation) would be my preference. In terms of the mechanics, though, I like those just fine. I just hope that an actual "preserving" mechanic is available to all spellcasters.

Gladiator: I still have my AD&D 2e black faux-leather Dark Sun Complete Gladiator's Handbook! I appreciate the nod to that book here, and this subclass looks like it could be fun to play. I think it would be nicer if they could just add their Cha mod to their AC all the time, and maybe get some Improvised Weapon attack booster, or be able to dual-wield a trident and a net more easily or something. Maybe some sort of "rally the crowd" kind of ability?

Defiled Sorcery: I hope this is presented as like uber-defiling and that there is "ordinary" defiling that all spellcasters must contend with. Mechanically, this is a great evil-energy subclass that feels like it's how the Sorcerer-Kings would've got their start way back when ...

Sorcerer-King Patron: Is this the new templar? I don't know how I feel about making this a PC option. I'd much prefer to keep anyone allied with the Sorcerer-Kings as antagonists. Mechanically it's fine, though, I guess.

Emanation feels much better for the Druid. Great comment.

 

[pukunui]

Emanation feels much better for the Druid. Great comment.

Thanks. Exactly. I like that emanations are a thing now, and this rejuvenated space feels like it would work best as something that is emanating from the druid themselves, not just a random space where they've plonked down a magical area effect.

 

[Scribe]

Hopepunk is mostly just grimdark where the heroes can win anyway.

As an eternal adherent of grimdark, the idea that THAT is what hopepunk is, makes it simply anathema to me anyway.

I'm sorry I'm this way.

 

[Steampunkette]

This would be pretty weaksauce. But equally I'm with Defiling/Preserving being a subclass thing, not a per-spell thing (just not something unique to one class each). I played a lot of Dark Sun in 2E. No Preserver ever, ever defiled. So it doesn't need to be per-spell.

I played a Preserver who Defiled... and never forgave themself for it. Great bit of character story, there, where they defiled in order to save a life and take revenge on a Templar who was a major thorn in our side for months.

 

[MGibster]

Why? If Ravenloft and Dragonlance showed anything, there is just no WAY they do Dark Sun in a way to satisfy anyone.

But it's all right now
I learned my lesson well
You see, you can't please everyone
So you got to please yourself

Trying to please everyone is a fool's errand as some people are always going to be unhappy. As someone who was resigned to WotC avoiding Dark Sun like the plague for the next decade or so, I'm pleased to see it's likely to be a reality soon. I hope it's not as disappointing as Spelljammer. Even if it is, it's okay if it isn't for me.

I get it, its a lost cause, the battle is already over and nobody cares, but if there is a setting that is LESS appropriate for 'modern D&D' than Dark Sun, I dont know what it is, but they are going to mutilate and retcon it anyway until it fits and is child friendly.

I'm willing to wait and see what they do. Personally, I think a lot of D&D players will be just fine with a lot of what made Dark Sun so great in the 1990s. Obviously it's going to be different, and that's fine, but I think D&D players might be receptive to a darker setting. Curse of Strahd, probably the best campaign for 5E, has tons of content every bit as dark as Dark Sun and for the most part it doesn't seem to upset people.

I mean I suspect this will be toned-down as hell but there exists a small possibility that WotC, having turned around enough that they already changed their mind on doing Dark Sun, may have decided to go for a least a partially "proper" Dark Sun (probably minus slavery but that's been a given and is easily replaced with brutal oppression and indentured servitude/serfdom and so on).

Just do what a lot of European board games do and call them "workers."

Help me understand, because I feel like I'm missing something. How does refining Dark Sun take away anything from you? I'm an old school fan, started in '81, and I've never felt that something was taken away from me when it changed down the road. If something went a direction I didn't really like, I just kept playing the version I did like.

Honestly, it's been so long since I've ever read a Dark Sun book there's so much I don't remember. At this point I'm just running off vibes. Personally, I don't object to changes to the setting. It'll be 2026 soon and most of the people playing D&D won't be the same who were playing in the 1990s. There's really no skin off my nose if it's a bad setting.