Is Dark Sun Coming To D&D?

WotC staff are dropping cryptic hints about campaign settings again! A couple of week ago it was Spelljammer; this time, it's Dark Sun. At Gary Con this year, during a D&D panel, WotC's Mike Mearls said of the psionic Mystic class -- "we don't need that class until we do Dark Sun."

He followed it up with with the usual note that he can't make product announcements and that all settings were part of the multiverse. You can hear the seminar on the Plot Points podcast. "Ben recorded a seminar wherein six game designers who worked on Dungeons and Dragons (Skip Williams, Jon Pickens, Zeb Cook, Ed Stark, Steve Winter, and Mike Mearls) talk about game design. During the talk, current lead designer Mike Mearls may very well have let slip what the next classic D&D game world he will be reviving next!"

Dark Sun was a campaign setting released back in the 1990s, and was a post-apocalyptic desert world called Athas, with psionics in abundance and dark survivalist themes. It made a reappearance in 2010 for D&D 4E.

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[Kobold Avenger]

They haven't been that forthcoming on the progress of either the Mystic or Artificer classes, or even the now variant Ranger yet. I feel that all of those are due for at least another iteration of the public playtest part of the cycle.

 

[Eltab]

You can build a 'psionic' character by carefully picking Wizard spells. And of course you can re-fluff anything into whatever you want.

But I'd like to see a class that is built to work well with whatever the psionics rules are, and fits smoothly into Dark Sun.

 

[Jester David]

The mystic also has a strong role in Ravenloft.
Sounds like we shouldn't expect a Mystic update anytime soon.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Mike also namedropped Dark Sun in his latest Happy Fun Hour as he was going over the final 1st draft of the Warlord subclass. He said that the Warlord would most likely appear alongside something like Dark Sun (and Birthright) where armies clashing and having tactical leaders on the front line would be an important thematic idea.

So it gives support to the idea that whatever the multiversal upcoming product is, they are thinking about how all these additional player options would fit inside their settings.

 

[Irda Ranger]

I agree with the poster above arguing for Psionic sub-classes. I'm fine with having a dedicated Psion class, but there should be psionic equivalents to the Eldritch Knight and Arcane Trickster.

Sort of unrelated, but I hope the 5E Dark Sun bases the Templars off of the Warlock instead of the Cleric. Each Dragon-King could be a unique Warlock patron.

 

[jimmifett]

Meh, Eberron or Bust

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Meh, Eberron or Bust

Don't worry next interview there will be cryptic hints dropped about the Artificer, and how it doesn't need to be done until Eberron comes out...

 

[iserith]

I would definitely run some Dark Sun after my Planescape campaign ends if they gave us the requisite races and classes. We would need some rules for defiling as well. Planescape will wrap up in 6 months, so I hope they get on it!

 

[tgmoore]

How long have they been hinting at new 5E material for a Campaign setting other than Forgotten Realms? Give us something already!

 

[Kobold Avenger]

I just checked when a version of the Mystic was last released, and it's March of last year...

As for Dark Sun I think the only races they need to work on is the Thri-Kreen and the Mul, everything else they can sort of use existing races (like Goliath for Half-Giant like they did in 4e) or add new subraces to Elves, Dwarves and Halflings.