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.

 

[humble minion]

This thread has shown me a lot of people apparently have either forgotten or homebrewed what preserving and defiling meant.

To be fair, in The Verdant Passage novel, which I’m fairly sure was the second ever Dark Sun product after the original box (correct me if I’m wrong), Sadira is written as nominally a preserver, but one who lapses into defiling at times of stress, desperation etc.

Even TSR, that early in the game line, couldn’t agree on what defiling and preserving meant. It’s not real surprising there’s different views and recollections among the players 30 years later!

 

[Kurotowa]

Indeed. I can’t remember if I got Dark Sun: Shattered Lands or the OG Dark Sun box set first. I have the latter still but haven’t read it properly since I first got it in the mid-90s. Back then, my only experience actually playing Dark Sun was via the Shattered Lands game, which I found so difficult that I never completed it.

Man, they were pretty hard weren't they? I don't have very clear memories of back then, but I do recall making a cheesy Thri-kreen Fighter with a ton of natural weapon attacks just to get through some of the early parts.

 

[Charlaquin]

Maybe so, but it's thematically more satisfying to say, "I'm trying to preserve, but the temptation to get extra power via defiling is tempting" than it is to say, "I have to intentionally tie one arm behind my back in order to be a good person". Maybe it's my Star Wars addled brain, but I find it easier to understand "the Force is primarily the Light Side, but the temptation to quicker power lies in the Dark Side" than it is to say "The Force is primarily Dark, so I have to hold back to avoid being corrupted"

Yeah, it’s the Star Wars brain poison talking. Arcane magic in Dark Sun is a very on-the-nose allegory for fossil fuels, and fossil fuels aren’t a temptation to ultimate power, they’re a basic everyday convenience we take for granted and will very much feel like tying one hand behind our back to wean ourselves off of (which is why it’s becoming so doubtful we ever will). Or, if you like, imagine a world where the dark side has won, and every force user is introduced to it first, as a matter of course, such that sticking solely to the light side would very much feel like tying one hand behind your back so you can be a good person. Making the baseline level use of magic automatically defile is how you would replicate that feeling via gameplay.

 

[Charlaquin]

you could always change the baseline, the preserving casting is the one you are used to while defiling is automatically upcast

But that wouldn’t create the same visceral feeling that walking the responsible path requires real, meaningful sacrifice. If giving up defiling just brings you to the normal, expected level of power, then it fails as an allegory. It’s just “the dark side is a path to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.” Which is fine for a simple morality play like Star Wars, but doesn’t hit the way Dark Sun can and IMO should.

 

[Chaltab]

But that wouldn’t create the same visceral feeling that walking the responsible path requires real, meaningful sacrifice. If giving up defiling just brings you to the normal, expected level of power, then it fails as an allegory. It’s just “the dark side is a path to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.” Which is fine for a simple morality play like Star Wars, but doesn’t hit the way Dark Sun can and IMO should.

It sounds like you're saying that Preserver spellcasters should be weaker than in D&D baseline, but that would require the game math to be reworked around it. The reason Preservers use the basic rules is so that everything still maths right. Defiling gets you more power quicker, at the cost of your health and the health of the world.

 

[pemerton]

From what we see, here, Defiling and Preserving have been made into Archetypes. There's no reason to assume it will also be a standard game mechanic, as well. Because it would be confusing to have the same name for the same concept used in two different places.

So that, right there, is pretty ironclad that we won't see Defiling/Preserving as a standard function of Arcane Magic. ESPECIALLY since they made Preservation a -Druid- Archetype...

Isn't this just replicating - or (if one thinks it's not a full replication) alluding to - the role of druids in AD&D Dark Sun as guardians of little areas of greenery? Instead of Preservation, just call it Circle of the Guarded Lands.

Everyone is a Preserver at all times unless you WANT extra power, and then you can Defile, instead.

Defiling, in 4e, was a straight up boost to your damage instead of a constant baseline of the game's expectations.

In 5e, it looks like it'll be a specific subclass of Sorcerers that Wizards and other arcane spellcasters won't interact with. They'll get bonuses from their subclass, like any character, with the ability to Defile for even more power.

<snip>

There's literally no reason to believe they'll turn around and say "All -Wizards- and other Arcane Spellcasters Defile at all times with no power gain, but also you can choose to Preserve and it'll make your spells weaker." which is what the structure was in the original setting.

The important aspect of the fiction is GONE.

The fiction is: Divine and Nature Magic do not harm the world. Arcane Magic harms the world, inherently, and must be used in specific and careful ways to avoid doing that harm.

Wizards will not defile by default and have to work to preserve. Nor will Sorcerers. Or Arcane Knights. The message of "You have to be careful with arcane magic" is gone.

Instead you must CHOOSE to Defile. You must make the active choice to BE a Defiler. And ONLY Sorcerers can ever CHOOSE to Defile.

It's a very different message. It has trappings, but the underlying narrative, that Arcane Magic is inherently destructive, is gone.

In fact, if it were up to me, casting spells normally would cause incidental cosmetic damage to the surrounding environment, and “preserving” would require restraining your own power in some way, like a reverse-upcasting mechanic. Then casting classes would have defiling subclasses that allow them to weaponize the incidental destruction caused by their spellcasting and/or “overclock” their spells at the cost of increasing the incidental environmental damage.

Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s any world where WotC goes in that direction for official Dark Sun. The idea that you have to willingly nerf yourself just to not cause harm by using this power that the normal course of play has made you grow accustomed to having unlimited access to just doesn’t scream “fun” for a general audience. I do think that’s exactly why it should work that way, as it would truly express the thematic messaging in a visceral way through gameplay. But it’s too unpalatable for WotC’s purposes.

If giving up defiling just brings you to the normal, expected level of power, then it fails as an allegory. It’s just “the dark side is a path to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.”

Maybe so, but it's thematically more satisfying to say, "I'm trying to preserve, but the temptation to get extra power via defiling is tempting" than it is to say, "I have to intentionally tie one arm behind my back in order to be a good person".

What if as you say, baseline arcane doesnt harm the world, and defiling does, giving more power.

Kinda telling statement that they ruined their world anyway.

To me, there seems to be a lot of "this amp goes to 11" in these posts.

If I have two options - (1) wield X power, and preserve; or (2) wield X+Y power, and defile - then it's true that, by choosing to preserve, I'm choosing to weaken myself. The fact that the option to defile is presented as a power-boost on a PHB baseline class doesn't change the structure of the choice. And the fiction of the setting can be whatever you want: if it is written that defiling is the default, and a caster has to choose to forego that power in order to preserve, then that's that.

(Also, what @occam posted upthread.)

 

[Charlaquin]

It sounds like you're saying that Preserver spellcasters should be weaker than in D&D baseline,

Correct.

but that would require the game math to be reworked around it.

Well, yes, but actually no. Because if the game math was adjusted to account for preserving being weaker than baseline 5e magic, then preserving wouldn’t be a real sacrifice. It would just be a generally lower-power game. I’m sure this is an unpopular take, but I think preserving should hurt. It should be a genuine handicap, and it should feel pretty much thankless to willingly place that handicap on yourself - actively making life in a harsh world even harsher, when you have the ability not to right there at your fingertips at all times. All you have to do is let a few plants die. They were probably going to die anyway, what’s the big deal? You know not enough people are going to make this same sacrifice to make a large-scale difference so all you’re really doing by holding back is virtue-signaling.

That’s the way power actually corrupts. Not by offering you your hearts desire if you sacrifice an innocent baby, but by making you feel reliant on it, and like choosing not to rely on it is a fruitless symbolic gesture that just makes your life worse for no benefit.

The reason Preservers use the basic rules is so that everything still maths right. Defiling gets you more power quicker, at the cost of your health and the health of the world.

Right, which is why I recognize there’s no world in which WotC goes this route. It wouldn’t make for very enjoyable gameplay. It’s not supposed to. Sticking to preserving being a terrible experience would, in my preferred approach, be a feature, not a bug.

 

[pemerton]

Correct.

<snip>

Right, which is why I recognize there’s no world in which WotC goes this route.

Nor did TSR.

 

[Charlaquin]

Nor did TSR.

I’m aware. But, if all we’re trying to do here is recreate what TSR already did, I don’t see the point. 2e Dark Sun still exists for those who want it, 3e Dark Sun still exists for those who want it but don’t want to give up having a unified action resolution mechanic, and 4e Dark Sun still exists for those who want a sleeker, fresher take. If Dark Sun is going to be adapted again, I think the opportunity should be taken to update not just the rules system, but the way it expresses its core themes. In 1991, making people feel empowered for caring about the environment was a meaningful cause on its own. In 2025, people are feeling the direct impacts of the changes we have wrought on the environment. The messaging needs to move on from “give a hoot, don’t pollute” to “we’re going to have to start giving up things we’ve gotten used to taking for granted, just to keep things from getting worse as quickly.”

 

[Charlaquin]

This thread has shown me a lot of people apparently have either forgotten or homebrewed what preserving and defiling meant.

I mean, I’ll gladly admit that my take is both quite radical and decidedly non-canon. But I think it’s the right answer to how to update Dark Sun for modern sensibilities, without watering down its fundamental character. It’s not really the hopepunk angle others have advocated for, though I do think there is room for elements of that. But, fundamentally my stance is that If the critique of OG Dark Sun was that it was all edge no point, the solution is not to file down the edge, but to hone it into a point.