D&D 4E How would you re-envision Darksun with 4e?

[Sitara]

Umm, dragons are not unique to darksun. 8|
Dragons changing shape are also not unique. Its a staple of dnd.

Don't get me wrong, it was executed well, but its still "Another way to put dragons into a setting that really doesn't need 'em" kinda thing IMO. Basically instead of powerful wizards becoming liches, they become dragons in darksun. Ho-Hum.

@Ehplim: I actually agree with that. elves,halflings and dwarves really should be out. (though the DS take on halflings was interesting ) I would keep Muls in though; just make them a staple race instead of dwarf/human byproduct. Or they could remain dwarven/human hybrids, except that dwarves were wiped out with the other races by the champions (i.e. orcs, kobolds, etc)

 

[Elphilm]

I would keep Muls in though; just make them a staple race instead of dwarf/human byproduct.

I like Muls as well. In my hypothetical homebrew they would simply be a race of humans bred for gladitorial combat - in other words, eugenics done Dark Sun style.

 

[Steely Dan]

I like Muls as well. In my hypothetical homebrew they would simply be a race of humans bred for gladitorial combat - in other words, eugenics done Dark Sun style.

Yeah, they could be humans mutated by the Pristine Tower.

 

[vagabundo]

Since this thread I have read through the Dark Sun original set, I had never gotten around to playing it. WOW. Dark Sun is cool.. Now I have to try and tempt my players with it.

The adventures all seem very metaploty. I would have prefered if there was some generic adventures in the setting as presented before they started changing things through the adventures.

 

[glass]

Umm, dragons are not unique to darksun. 8|
Dragons changing shape are also not unique. Its a staple of dnd.

Point out where I said that they were? DS's take on powerful users of dark magic and 'dragons' is, however. EDIT: And DS dragons can't change shape -the metamorphosis is one way.

Don't get me wrong, it was executed well, but its still "Another way to put dragons into a setting that really doesn't need 'em" kinda thing IMO. Basically instead of powerful wizards becoming liches, they become dragons in darksun. Ho-Hum.

Its not 'putting dragons in'. Its putting in something that makes sense in the context of the setting (which you yourself admit was well done), and calling them 'dragons' because in plain English it fits (despite having nothing to do with regular D&D dragons).


glass.

 

[Raduin711]

*shrug* So do the same thing with Dark Sun. Get rid of all the accumulated world-background, toss Rajaat and the Champions, and give the sorceror-kings a new back story. Ditch elemental clerics--they were a crude hack to cover for the fact that you had to have a healer class in 2E. Incorporate some of the 4E cosmology, or make up a totally new one. Even the original boxed set, cool though it was, need not be copied over wholesale.

If thats how you want it. Personally I'm not ready to give up on Athas yet.

 

[Raduin711]

People are taking this 'power source' thing way out of line. Seriously, they are only meant to organize, categorize and describe certain class abilities thematically so they are easier to design and differentiate.

Basically, just think of them as sets of kEwl abiliTieZ. (i.e. fighter combat maneuvers)

Anyhow, the 4E druid is rapidly becoming much much different from the DarkSun druid. Heck, did the DarkSun druid even shapshift? (can't recall...though I do know they were much strongly tied to one particular elemental of their choice)

I don't think we know enough about power sources to say one way or another how a power source affects the character. In the case of Dark Sun, arcane magic works differently. Does this mean a new power source (because all classes that use arcane magic on athas will have to approach arcane magic this way) or does it mean different class abilities? It really is too early to say.

Druids in DS weren't elementally tied. They didn't shapeshift (at least without use of the spell), but then again, neither did druids in any other setting. Adding shapeshifting abilities and paring down the spellcasting isn't killing other settings that have been around since 2nd, so neither should it hurt dark sun. (You don't hear FR fans complaining about this... why should we be concerned?)

There is a race of beings on athas called pyreen who were pacifistic, nature-loving, shapeshifting beings who, if you saw their native form, would look like a mixture between all the races all at once. It is possible that these beings taught the Druids their natural ability. In fact, I believe Rajaat was a pyreen himself who wasn't so peace-loving.

There were clerics in Darksun who were tied to a particular element, rather than a god. More rarely there were paraelemental clerics, and four paraelementals. These were Sun (fire, air) Silt (water, earth) Magma (fire, earth) and Rain (water, air). The motivations of the elementals and paraelementals are somewhat different, and somewhat debatable. My understanding is that the elementals want to see Athas restored with it's elemental on top as the most powerful. (though it is hard to imagine a restored athas with Fire as the most powerful element...) Paraelementals want athas to remain as it is, with the exception of Rain.

 

[Spatula]

The adventures all seem very metaploty. I would have prefered if there was some generic adventures in the setting as presented before they started changing things through the adventures.

Yeah, that was a complaint of mine as well. There aren't many published DS adventures that don't revolve around the whole dragon-avignon thing, or follow the prism pentad novels.
The big epic adventure (the one where all psionics are shut down, I forget the name) is really cool, though, although thri-kreen and psionicist PCs do get rather screwed by it.

 

[Spatula]

Druids in DS weren't elementally tied.

They don't worship an element in its purest form, but their spells were tied to the "element" of their guardian land.

They didn't shapeshift (at least without use of the spell), but then again, neither did druids in any other setting.

Um what? AD&D druids have always been able to shapeshift.

 

[Najo]

Yeah, that was a complaint of mine as well. There aren't many published DS adventures that don't revolve around the whole dragon-avignon thing, or follow the prism pentad novels.
The big epic adventure (the one where all psionics are shut down, I forget the name) is really cool, though, although thri-kreen and psionicist PCs do get rather screwed by it.

Only two or three of the 14 different adventures dealt with dragons or avangions.