D&D 5E Wild Speculation: Athas, the World Without Dragons

[Steampunkette]

I don't think you got that one right.
And I'm not even talking about the Weave. The spell itself says it doesn't affect artifacts or a deity's magic. A GM can add whatever other source they think fit the setting, too, obviously.

Fair. The spell does call out that it doesn't affect Gods or Artifacts. But it does apply to Psionics, Nature Magic, Divine Magic, Arcane Magic, Alchemist Infusions, Pact Magic, and all other forms of Magic because it's all one thing: The Weave.

As a side note, the Weave is one way to access raw magic. The gods of the Realms most certainly are not limited by the Weave to tap raw power, let alone Mystra. And mortals can cast magic without the Weave, too, but I'm not going to extend on this one, since you've made it clear you dislike the idea. BTW, I don't care about it, unless magic itself is the plot of a game I run (which, right now, is not).

PHB Page 205. "The Weave of Magic"

It defines -all- magic as reliant on the Weave. That Arcane and Divine are just different ways to access the same thing. In Sage Advice articles, Dan Dillon and others have confirmed that this is how magic works across the multiverse on all D&D Worlds. Dillon, in particular, confirmed that Psionics is magic and thus uses the Weave, too.

On Athas they might not call it "The Weave" but a rose by any other name, y'know?

I had the impression that psionics as a wild talent was the norm for Athas. I could be wrong about "wild talent as a core concept"; I've played in Dark Sun a long time ago, and for a short campaign only. The way I remember it, anyone could potentially have a limited psionic power, and few individuals could really unleash their full potential. In a way, it's similar to Eberron's "wide not high magic". The magewrights have severely limited magical ability, and they cast slower than real mages. Yet anyone can unlock that limited "wild talent", so to say.

Wild talents were common in Athas, but The Will and the Way are also super duper important and are how full on Psionicists worked in the setting.

 

[squibbles]

[...] Wonder if they'll also bring back Battle Dragons, Radiant Dragons, Adamantine Dragons, Elysian Dragons, Arboreal Dragons, Oceanus Dragons, Beast Dragons, Howling Dragons, Styx Dragons, Pyroclastic Dragons, Rust Dragons, Tarterian Dragons, Gloom Dragons, Chole Dragons, Deathmask Dragons, Chaos Dragons, Axial Dragons, Concordant Dragons, and the Frostforged Wyrm...?

Good god. I hope not.

This is probably one of the reasons I like Dark Sun so much. It has one dragon--and his coolness is not diluted by obsessive cosmological spreadsheet filling.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Good god. I hope not.

This is probably one of the reasons I like Dark Sun so much. It has one dragon--and his coolness is not diluted by obsessive cosmological spreadsheet filling.

I personally would be more interested in getting interesting non-draconic planer life along with doing something with the inner planes and far realm.

 

[Leatherhead]

Fair. The spell does call out that it doesn't affect Gods or Artifacts. But it does apply to Psionics, Nature Magic, Divine Magic, Arcane Magic, Alchemist Infusions, Pact Magic, and all other forms of Magic because it's all one thing: The Weave.

This is so surreal. I hate Antimagic Field in part because it doesn't do that.

Psionics that aren't explicitly magical (like psionic spells) ignore it.
Magical-ish powers like a Dragon's breath weapon ignore it.
Ki powers may or may not ignore it depending on how your DM is feeling that day.
The Artificer's Steel Defender still functions in it.
Undead created by the Animate Dead spell still function in it (despite AMF saying otherwise!)
Any power or ability that isn't based on the laws of physics but isn't "explicitly magical" ignore it. Things like Portent, for example.
You could even argue that Lay on Hands works in it based on two different exception clauses!

There are just so many exceptions that it makes it a nightmare to use.

 

[Steampunkette]

This is so surreal. I hate Antimagic Field in part because it doesn't do that.

Psionics that aren't explicitly magical (like psionic spells) ignore it.
Magical-ish powers like a Dragon's breath weapon ignore it.
Ki powers may or may not ignore it depending on how your DM is feeling that day.
The Artificer's Steel Defender still functions in it.
Undead created by the Animate Dead spell still function in it (despite AMF saying otherwise!)
Any power or ability that isn't based on the laws of physics but isn't "explicitly magical" ignore it. Things like Portent, for example.
You could even argue that Lay on Hands works in it based on two different exception clauses!

There are just so many exceptions that it makes it a nightmare to use.

According to Sage Advice, anything which duplicates the effects of a spell (Like Psionicists casting "Detect Thoughts") are subject to antimagic and dispelling like any other spell.

Sounds like your DM just isn't following the current rules as intended.

Though, to be fair, I wouldn't have zombies and skeletons wink out. I'd have them fall over, the magic that animates them stolen... then stand up when it returns.

 

[AverageMojito]

PHB Page 205. "The Weave of Magic"

Oh, that is a nasty sidebar. I see your point. They locked away the lore on how magic used to work in the Realms with that text. But again, all it takes is another sidebar to change things back again, but it doesn't seem to be the direction they're heading.

 

[Ancalagon]

@Mind of tempest beat me to it, yeah.

Though Fizban's isn't canon and is trying to expand the canon so, ymmv on what is and isn't canon after it comes out.

The point remains that it's a bad design decision that curtails narrative variety, not encourages it.

almost any lore decision can curtain narrative variety if you think about it... Like for example, I could come up with an idea that the dragons are the defenders of the prime material plane against incursions from fiends and worse. If I follow your desire to have dragons everywhere, it weakens my narrative.

Every GM has to decide, if it comes up in their game, to ignore or adopt the "official" cosmology.

 

[Bweird]

I like the idea @Charlaquin Athas has no dragons of its own and this leaves a void in the souls of the people there including an absence of Magic.

Rajat created a false approximation of Magic, just like the end result of this was a false approximation of a dragon.

Interestingly there were dragons in Athas other than sorcerer kings. The adventure Black Sands features one such individual.

Sorry… what adventure? Did you mean the Black Spine or Black Flames adventures? If not, where can I find this Black Sands adventure?

 

[TheSword]

Sorry… what adventure? Did you mean the Black Spine or Black Flames adventures? If not, where can I find this Black Sands adventure?

Black Flames… though arguably that adventure could easily have been called Black Sands. Maybe I got it confused with a holiday to Tenerife.

 

[Dioltach]

Athas and Tenerife... actually quite similar. Lots of bald, muscled blokes looking for a fight, grizzled people focused on their single purpose, street markets where strangers try to rip you off, and of course dragon trees!