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]

Now, if the players are going to be good guys, how will they react to templars and defilers joining the party? I suspect the outcome will be an outbreak of PvP. I would be inclined (assuming a heroic game) to make these monsters to be fought, not something you can play as. I would have defiling as something PCs can choose to do though - even heroes can be tempted by expediency.

Agreed. Personally I’d view this as a matter for session zero. You have that conversation about what sort of campaign the DM expects to run on the grimdark to hopepunk scale, and talk about how (for instance) having a defiler and a Druid PC in the same party is fundamentally incompatible, and so on. No different from the session zero for any other game, really. Hell, the ‘what happens is a PC turns defiler?’ question is no different to what Star Wars gaming groups have been discussing amongst themselves since time immemorial about PCs turning to the dark side.

Maybe there’s some groups who’d see Dark Sun and immediately look to find some far-flung village and go all Lord Humongous on it. That play style is not for me, but don’t let my opinions harsh your vibe. But that’s a conversation to have BEFORE the campaign starts.

 

[Staffan]

As an aside, does anyone else suspect that the biggest initial backlash against Nu-Dark Sun will be focused on the Art?

One of the things I always thought was weird about Dark Sun is how it's a desert setting named after the merciless sun beating down, and yet pretty much everyone looks very WASPy, with maybe a tan if they're lucky. The survival adaptions that lead to everyone having higher stats apparently didn't include melanin.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

That's simple. Don't buy it. Pretend like the book doesn't exist. Then your precious ideas about how Dark Sun should be can be maintained.

No one has to buy these setting books. If (general) you do... knowing full well you aren't going to like the result... it means that you are just slapping yourselves in the face for no good reason other than wanting to make yourself upset. But that's not WotC's responsibility to keep you from doing that.

But, you see, if the players who like Dark Sun allow the book to be published, then people might like Dark Sun being this way, which means they'll learn to like Dark Sun wrong. That can't be allowed. Nobody can like Dark Sun for wrong reasons. They have to like it for the right reasons, or not at all. How can people enjoy Dark Sun if they're having badwrongfun with it???

 

[Retros_x]

Why is there a need for a 'new take'. Its a pre-existing entity, its got a pre-existing tone, presentation, and so on.

You can always take the new mechanics and use old flavor and lore. A new take is needed so we don't gloat all the time in old creations that are getting reheated and -hashed without any new influence. I will always prefer new takes over repetition and never understand how fandoms enjoy wallowing in their old mud. Why do they need new books/movies/games who tell exactly the same? They can just enjoy the old stuff, nobody forces them to buy the new takes.

 

[Zardnaar]

One of the things I always thought was weird about Dark Sun is how it's a desert setting named after the merciless sun beating down, and yet pretty much everyone looks very WASPy, with maybe a tan if they're lucky. The survival adaptions that lead to everyone having higher stats apparently didn't include melanin.

Tbf it took tens of thousands of years for skin to go pale. Turned up about 10000 years ago iirc.

Darksun has been in its current state about 2000 years. Plausible they are lighter skinned so I'm not sure if it would work that way in reverse.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Tbf it took tens of thousands of years for skin to go pale. Turned up about 10000 years ago iirc

It might be faster to go in the other direction though, since it’s reverting to original colouration.

But if we are being sciency, a red star emits a lower proportion of its energy in the UV part of the spectrum, even if it’s a giant, so paler skin might still be beneficial to produce sufficient vitamin D.

 

[humble minion]

Tbf it took tens of thousands of years for skin to go pale. Turned up about 10000 years ago iirc.

Darksun has been in its current state about 2000 years. Plausible they are lighter skinned so I'm not sure if it would work that way in reverse.

I suspect skin cancer is rampant on Athas though!

(especially as the prevailing fashion seems to be mostly skimpy leather straps and loincloths - presumably that's what happens when your primary domesticated animals are bugs or lizards and don't have fur or wool to make fabric out of...)

 

[Remathilis]

If you are being dropped points for it, are you still wanting to do the right thing? Doing the right thing when there are no negative consequences is easy.

Too me, this harkens back to players who intentionally playing weak characters in a campaign or characters who can't pull their own weight. I don't want to derail the conversation with that, so I'll just link you to a well thought out essay.

You asked how DS promotes heroic play, ChatGPT says '...

And right there I stopped reading.

 

[Remathilis]

The general idea of using the rules to enforce any particular play style or approach to morality has become controversial because it obviously flies in the face of player agency. Some OSR fans scorn modern play styles, but ironically they actually share a focus on player agency which was probably not present at many tables back in the day, when DM power was king. EGG used the AD&D class and race rules to enforce his ideal fantasy archetypes, and the alignment system to keep player characters (and arguably the players themselves) in line. If people think alignment is too restrictive, 1E Oriental Adventures had an honor mechanic loosely based on the bushido warrior code and East Asian social class systems. Your honor score went up and down in accordance with your actions, and if it fell to zero the character was permanently removed from play. Note that honor was distinct from alignment, so you could play an evil character while maintaining a decent honor score.

This sort of thing is unfashionable today, and maybe for good reason. I do not expect the Coastal Wizards to put behavior mechanics in 5E Dark Sun, but it would be interesting if they did

I don't expect it either, and I actually prefer the modern take where mechanics do not straightjacket a character but do provide shaping and form for them. I would not want Ravenloft to reprint Powers checks again (and yes some people did abuse them to intentionally turn evil, but it was often a screw you act of revenge knowing they were going to lose that character anyway. Why not go out with a bang?) and it works because they removed both carrot (evil magic is more potent) and stick (using it is a fast trip to a new PC).

 

[Alzrius]

There was a dragon magazine article that came out that mimicked the metamagic effects we saw arcane casters get in 3.5e. I can't remember the precise issue, but it had all kinds of effects you could apply to the spell when defiling, and your casting time decreased as well.

That was in issue #315.

The idea that there might be other dragons (even fully transformed ones) came fairly early on in the product line. Dragon Kings (essentially a level 20-30 expansion for Dark Sun) presents the process of transformation as an option for any character with sufficient levels in the right classes, and has this to say:
View attachment 415431

Don't forget about Graytch, another dragon (25th-level) from the rare set of the 1993 AD&D trading cards series.

Graytch, Dragon from the TSR trading cards

Found here. Is there any further information about this guy?

arena.athas.org