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.

 

[Zardnaar]

That is a very astute point. The Romans reduced their dependence on slaves in the early empire period due the 3 major servile wars in the previous century (of which Spartacus was only the last). The with no major conquest in the empire era, slave got too expensive and the security costs too high.

That and after they freed them tax time.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

Sorry but that's not accurate.

It was WotC's D&D team at the time, some of whom are still there.

The minimum people involved are the person who wrote the race details, the person who approved them, the person who did the minstrel art pieces and the art director, as well as whoever did the layout. That's five people, absolute minimum. Having worked in corporate environments where products were created I would say at a dead minimum double that had eyes on that part of the product. Every one of them should have been "uh oh monkey people ". But apparently none of them were. Or if they were, didn't feel they could raise the issue, which is itself major problem and corporate culture one.

I presume the approver was Crawford or Perkins is what you're saying (I can't find the credits page right now)? And the buck definitely stops with whoever was in charge but it's not just on them unless the issue was raised and ignored, which I just do not buy, especially not re the art.

Re: Darrington thankfully I don't see the team they have making a similar mistake, the worst they've done was the pith helm deal AFAIK. But I would laugh of it did happen again thanks to one of Crawford and Perkins. I have previously pointed out Perkins "brought the racism back" with Stradh, after 4E got rid of it (kinda lol) by reverting to 2E lore and l there are other problematic WotC D&D books in that era (Volos particularly).

IIRC, the story at the time was that someone added / edited that information in after the final review. So except for fhe art, it was one person.

That could be a lie of course (or I am remembering incorrectly).

 

[Parmandur]

IIRC, the story at the time was that someone added / edited that information in after the final review. So except for fhe art, it was one person.

That could be a lie of course (or I am remembering incorrectly).

Yup, and they were not definite on who did it after the fact, but Perkins was hinting at a reference to Planet of the Apes he had snuck into the books in previews beforehand...which was the Hadozee weird White Savior backstory in question. Which makes sense he could do it at the last minute, he was the product lead and the offe ding paragraphs are short.

The minstrel Hadoazee art definitely did require more eyes thst should have questioned it.

 

[Zriael]

lol

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

If it turns into some hopepunk mockery of itself, I will laugh for a day straight.

This is what I’m thinking.

They’re definitely gonna try but there’s no way their team is capable of doing Dark Sun any justice.

Thematically it’s just so far out of their reach. Calling it right now, they’re gonna spin it into Captain Planet Land.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

IIRC, the story at the time was that someone added / edited that information in after the final review. So except for fhe art, it was one person.

That could be a lie of course (or I am remembering incorrectly).

EIther way it's a serious problem and a WotC problem because that's a totally abnormal way for a book to be made, and frankly, not very plausible, because layout has to be done after text and art and then after that the book will be looked at by several people before it goes to print. This isn't exactly ctrl+p print lol. I worked at a pretty unprofessional company who created books once but even those cowboys wouldn't have let someone just edit text on a book and send it off to the printer after layout was done. Plus how many people saw that art and thought "seems fine to me" lol? Not just the artist, art director and Perkins.

I'm not saying anyone "lied" but people do often massively simplify stories, especially if the buck stops with them anyway.

Ultimately the proof will be in the pudding. If WotC never have issues like this again, awesome. But the lure of the rakes is mighty...

 

[Parmandur]

EIther way it's a serious problem and a WotC problem because that's a totally abnormal way for a book to be made, and frankly, not very plausible, because layout has to be done after text and art and then after that the book will be looked at by several people before it goes to print. This isn't exactly ctrl+p print lol. I worked at a pretty unprofessional company who created books once but even those cowboys wouldn't have let someone just edit text on a book and send it off to the printer after layout was done. Plus how many people saw that art and thought "seems fine to me" lol? Not just the artist, art director and Perkins.

I'm not saying anyone "lied" but people do often massively simplify stories, especially if the buck stops with them anyway.

Ultimately the proof will be in the pudding. If WotC never have issues like this again, awesome. But the lure of the rakes is mighty...

Guess who did layout for the Spelljammer books...?

But at any rate, this particular issue I don't see happening again: now every line of text has to be approved by two sensitivity readers, so they haven't had any issues on that front in years and I don't see it recurring anytime soon (at least from the D&D Studio directly).

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Guess who did layout for the Spelljammer books...?

But at any rate, this particular issue I don't see happening again: now every line of text has to be approved by two sensitivity readers, so they haven't had any issues on that front in years and I don't see it recurring anytime soon (at least from the D&D Studio directly).

Omg I didn't realise he was such a renaissance man lol. Gotta stop underestimating how many pies he can get fingers in at once!

 

[Parmandur]

Omg I didn't realise he was such a renaissance man lol. Gotta stop underestimating how many pies he can get fingers in at once!

I mean, no joke, thst is part of what Perkins did on his books. And when there is some blank space...well, room for some fun creative writing, what could go wrong...?

 

[Nikosandros]

Guess who did layout for the Spelljammer books...?

I can't find a layout credit on the DDB version. It there one in the printed copy? I don't have access to it at the moment.

 

[Remathilis]

The last time we had this discussion, I thought it might be better to just release this into products that could be in the DM's Guild. I say that because I don't think WotC will really do the world justice. And then when fans of classic Dark Sun complain, it will be their fault. I would say it's better to concentrate on a product line that they can make in the way the fans want.

You still need a baseline product to open it to the DMs Guild.