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Hello everyone! Thank you all for your interest, and welcome to my newest DARK SUN campaign. I hope we have a long and fun game together.
For those of you who are newcomers to the setting, there are a few important characteristics of this world that set it apart from more conventional campaign settings. These facts are:
1. The World Is Dying. Athas is a planet in decline. Generations of environmental abuse, exploitation, conflict and greed have reduced the world to an almost-barren land of sand, sun and death. The sun burns the world with a blazing red fury that could only come from centuries upon centuries of pain. The harshness of this world is reflected in the sheer toughness, resilience and determination of its inhabitants—on Athas, you grow up sharp, or you don’t grow up at all.
2. The Ones Responsible Are In Charge. The remaining pockets of civilization are ruled by the Sorcerer-Monarchs—beings of unfathomable magical and psionic strength that are said to have existed since the beginning of the land’s decline. They rule their city-states with an iron fist, casting those who transgress against them into slavery and consigning them to death. They are all ambitious, corrupt, and utterly wicked—but some do manage to run a tighter ship than others. Those who reject their rule congregate in the wastes as hunter-gatherer tribes, roaming herdsmen or roving gangs of marauders. Some even manage to find an untouched corner of Athas where they may establish a village, with only their sword-arms and the examples of their leaders to protect them.
3. Resources Are Scarce. Though pockets of greenery, water and even metal remain, the majority of Athas has almost been bled dry of the necessities for survival. An oasis that would be nothing more than a pond on a world like Toril, Krynn or Golarion is a valuable rest stop for even the largest of caravans; an iron mine that yields little more than scraps of the stuff is a prize worthy of going to war for. What metalwork remains on Athas is either securely hoarded away by the Sorcerer-Monarchs and nobles, or languishing in many of the ruins of the past that dot the Athasian landscape.
4. Arcane Magic Is Reviled. Wizardly magic on Athas is not tied to a field of mana that permeates the world, but to the environment—the life force of plants (and in some cases, animals) provides mages with the power necessary to cast their spells. Mages who cast their spells with concern for the environment, taking only the bare minimum they need to work their magic and returning the rest are known as preservers; those who tear the life from the world around them with only concern for their well-being are known as defilers. This distinction is mostly lost on the general public, who (understandably) blame mages for Athas’ miserable state and will sooner see them dead than welcome them as friends or neighbours.
5. There Are No Gods. Athas is a world without gods. Perhaps, in an age gone by, the world once had a pantheon of its own that looked out for its inhabitants, but in the modern day no such deities remain. Paladins also do not exist on Athas—if any did, they succumbed to despair and death long ago, cut off from the deities they once raised their banners for. Now, clerics and druids of this land draw their power from their pacts with the Elemental Planes—the Planes of Earth, Air, Fire and Water. Rarer still are the champions of the paraelemental planes of Sun, Silt, Magma and Rain. Those who swear their faith and allegiance to the Sorcerer-Monarchs of the city-states are granted spells of their own, forming into bureaucratic legions known as templarates to carry out their master’s will—enforcing order, inspiring fear, and if any time is left over in their schedule, managing the city’s daily functions and affairs.
6. Psionics Are Everywhere. In stark contrast to the magic of wizards and priests, just about everyone on Athas has some measure of psionic ability—from the lowliest slave working on a noble plantation to the mightiest Sorcerer-Monarch. Some with the money, time and commitment choose to enroll in psionic academies within the city-states, refining their mental abilities in order to become psionicists. Others are lucky enough to find an independent master, beholden to no intrigues of the cities. Many of the monsters of Athas have evolved their own psionic abilities to better hunt and kill in the wastes.
7. The Races You Know Have Changed. Generations of brutality and struggle have caused the once-familiar races of other worlds to evolve. Dwarves are no longer mountain-dwelling, bearded warriors, but hairless brutes who utterly dedicate themselves to the completion of a single goal. Gone are the (supposedly) long-lived, wise and united elves of old, replaced with lanky, untrustworthy desert runners who race—literally and figuratively—to forever live in the moment with the only love between them reserved for their tribes. The halflings of this world are not shire-dwelling homebodies with only an appetite for the humbler pleasures of life—they are savage hunters and trackers with an appetite for the meat and flesh of those who blunder into their jungle homes. Half-elves rarely find acceptance in either human lands or elven tribes, forcing them to learn the harsh lessons of Athas alone. Gnomes, in their entirety, are extinct. In their place, stranger races have arisen: the slave-bred, enduring half-dwarves known as muls, the towering, mercurial-natured goliaths known as half-giants, and the alien, insectoid warriors known as thri-kreen.
And yet…
8. Heroism Is Still Possible. By the time the campaign begins, something momentous has occurred: the Sorcerer-King, Kalak of Tyr, has been slain at the hands of a slave revolt, and his city of Tyr has thrown off the institution of slavery. For the first time in millennia, the illusion of invincibility the Sorcerer-Monarchs worked so hard to cultivate has been shattered—these tyrants can be felled. They can die.
Character Generation Rules are as follows:
Method: Roll 4d4+4 six times and arrange as you like.
Starting Level: 3rd, or 3rd-equivalent for a multiclass character.
Races: Any from the DARK SUN Campaign Setting book (Original, not Revised): Human, Elf, Dwarf, Half-Elf, Halfling, Half-Giant, Mul, Thri-Kreen.
Classes: Any except Defiler or Templar. Also, Paladins don't exist--in their place is a different martial class, the Gladiator (described in the DARK SUN Campaign Setting book). In addition, I’m allowing the use of the homebrewed kits created by our very own Jesse Heinig: Bards, Clerics, The Enigmatic Sellsword & Dead God Devotee, and the Outworlder & Scholar of War.
Alignments: No Evil alignments. I’m hoping to tell an ‘at least trying to be heroic’ story, and Evil alignments aren’t exactly conducive to such.
Starting Wealth: Refer to the DARK SUN Campaign Setting book, Page 51, for your starting wealth.
Proficiencies: In the Player's Handbook, the number of bonus languages your character gets from high Intelligence instead translate to bonus non-weapon proficiencies.
Psionic Wild Talents: In the DARK SUN Campaign Setting, every PC (that isn’t a psionicist) starts out with at least one psionic power. To determine what your psionic power is (and what prerequisites that come with it, if any), roll for it on the tables in either The Will and the Way if available, or The Complete Psionics Handbook otherwise.
Character Trees: The DARK SUN Campaign Setting encourages players to create up to 3 backup PCs in the event their current one dies, or if they’d prefer to switch over to a new character for a different adventure.
The first adventure of the campaign begins in the southern reaches of the Tyr Region, in a hamlet north of the Road of Legions known as Athena’s Oasis. It was once little more than a nameless ex-slave village, one of many huddled around water sources like overprotective erdlu. That all changed when a half-elven noble of Balic known as Athena Vestang purchased the rights to the land—and, in true Nouveau Riche fashion, forgot about it until recently. In the past few months, the hamlet has grown into a burgeoning client village, and a sandstone manor in the Balician style has been constructed near the oasis that provided for the town’s denizens. Your characters have arrived in Athena’s Oasis on the eve of a celebration of sorts—Lady Athena has invited several of Balic’s patricians and even the hamlet’s citizens to her soirée, provided of course they’re properly dressed.
Here, you can discuss how/if your characters know each other and why they’re at Athena’s Oasis. Perhaps some of you are in the service (willingly or otherwise) of one of Balic’s patricians, and have accompanied your master at their behest. Perhaps you’re an agent of a merchant house who seeks to make a beneficial partnership with Lady Athena—or perhaps a house rogue hired to either humiliate the hostess or ensure she doesn’t survive the party. Or whatever other reason you can come up with.
ABOUT MATURE THEMES & CONTENT: The DARK SUN campaign setting is decidedly darker in tone and atmosphere than most other settings, and as such I wish for everyone here to establish their comfort levels on such topics. Personally, I draw the line at any depictions of sexual violence—especially under the duress of slavery. Any otherwise lewd content may be kept to private messaging or in-game spoiler tabs, depending on player consensus. Are there any topics you would not be comfortable dealing with in the context of this game?
So much I need to learn for this, not the least is how to even make a character for for AD&D. Anyone know of a good SRD style site that would help?
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Here's a quick reference for folks who aren't familiar with DARK SUN's idiosyncratic character types, and who don't have access to the game books.
ABILITY SCORES
DARK SUN uses the same ability scores that you know and love from other editions of D&D and PF: Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution, Charisma. Scores of 15+ tend to give a variety of bonuses. Note that "Dex fighting" isn't really a thing in this edition.
CHARACTER LINEAGES
The types of characters found on Athas have diverged from the depictions in other fantasy settings due to the harsh and bizarre twists of the setting. Your character lineage also affects your choices of classes: Some character types can't pursue certain classes.
In 2nd edition AD&D, nonhuman characters may pursue two or even three classes at once, but their advancement is split between all three (meaning you gain levels very slowly). The DM can give you information about all of the possible combinations. Nonhuman characters also tend to have limits to their advancement: You will eventually "top out," reaching a maximum level. In DARK SUN, any character can advance with no limit as a psionicist, and some other combinations allow unlimited advancement.
HUMAN: Similar to humans that you'd find in any swords & sandals fiction, but in DARK SUN humans sometimes have odd features like ridged ears, strangely-colored eyes, extra fingers and toes, and the like. Humans may pursue any one class.
DWARF: Athasian dwarves are generally completely hairless. They are still short, squat, and very tough. Dwarves of Athas have a focus, a long-term goal to which they are wholly dedicated. A dwarf who dies with an unfulfilled focus becomes undead (a banshee). Dwarves have a few towns of their own and are also found in human settlements; they have no special affinity for living underground. Dwarves must have a minimum Strength of 10 an Constitution of 14. They get +2 Constitution, +1 Strength, -1 Dexterity, and -2 Charisma. Dwarves can be clerics, fighters, gladiators, psionicists, templars, or thieves.
ELF: Athasian elves are nomadic, running from place to place across the desert. They are highly insular and xenophobic, and often devise tests of trust for people that they must deal with from outside of their tribes. Elves often come to cities, set up an "elven market" to sell contraband and stolen goods, and then vanish into the desert a few days later. Since there are almost no forests on Athas, elves have adapted to the deserts.
Elves must have minimum Dexterity 12, Constitution 8, and Intelligence 8. They gain +2 Dexterity, +1 Intelligence, -1 Wisdom, and -2 Constitution. Elves can be clerics, defilers, fighters, gladiators, illusionists, preservers, psionicists, rangers, templars, thieves, or traders.
HALF-ELF: Half-elves are people without a home. They are mistrusted in human settlements and by elf tribes alike, so they spend much of their time learning to survive alone, but also trying to find a family or place to fit in. Half-elves learn survival skills and ways to coexist with the natural world, because they rarely have stable homes.
Half-elves must have a minimum Dexterity of 8. They gain +1 Dexterity and -1 Constitution. Half-elves may pursue any class.
HALF-GIANT: Half-giants are the results of a magical experiment long ago that fused human and giant physiology to create these towering juggernauts. Because they have only existed as a separate people for a few centuries, half-giants have little culture of their own, and they are quick to adapt to other cultures or to follow the lead of other charismatic people. In cities they often fall into roles as bodyguards, jailers, and warriors, but they do have humanlike curiosity and empathy. Half-giants require special clothes, weapons, armor, tools, and lots of food and water due to their huge size, but are extremely tough.
Half-giants have minimum Strength 17 and Constitution 15. They gain +4 Strength, +2 Constitution, -2 Intelligence, -2 Wisdom, and -2 Charisma. Half-giants have a malleable alignment and tend to shift personality when influenced by charismatic leaders. Half-giants can be clerics, fighters, gladiators, psionicists, or rangers.
HALFLING: Halflings live in small tribes in faraway forests. They use simple stone and wood technology and they will hunt and eat other types of people! They are known to be extremely stealthy and excellent at hunting. They rarely interact with the "civilized" world, and many halflings don't know the language or even understand concepts like money. Some are caught and forced to fight, while others discover that they enjoy the comforts of civilization while traveling abroad.
Halflings must have minimum Dexterity of 12 and Wisdom of 7. They gain +2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, -1 Constitution, -1 Charisma, and -2 Strength. Halflings can be clerics, druids, fighters, gladiators, illusionists, psionicists, rangers, or thieves.
MUL: Muls are half-dwarves! They have the height of their human heritage combined with the robustness of dwarven lineage. Muls are most common in cities, where they are sometimes deliberately bred as slaves—a gut-wrenching process, because muls are sterile and the human mothers of muls usually die in childbirth. Muls have incredible stamina and can work or fight for hours or even days before tiring.
Muls must have minimum Strength 10 and Constitution 8. Muls gain +2 Strength, +1 Constitution, -1 Intelligence, and -2 Charisma. They may be clerics, druids, fighters, gladiators, psionicists, or thieves.
THRI-KREEN are hexapedal insect people! Somewhat like 7' tall mantises or grasshoppers, they are supremely evolved for desert survival, with a hardened carapace, claws, incredible leaping ability, extra arms, and (when fully mature) a paralyzing venom in their bite. Thri-kreen don't sleep and require very little water. They are adroit hunters and will kill and eat other thinking entities.
Thri-kreen must have Strength 8 and Dexterity 15. They gain +2 Dexterity, +1 Wisdom, -1 Intelligence, and -2 Dexterity. They can pursue classes of cleric, druid, fighter, gladiator, psionicist, and ranger.
CLASSES
The character classes in DARK SUN are limited by the setting: There are no paladins or sorcerers, for instance.
BARDS are entertainers but also serve as spies and sometimes assassins. Bards in DARK SUN don't have magical abilities, but they do learn to use a variety of dangerous poisons, and can learn to use all sorts of weapons and armor. Bards have access to thief skills, which are considered their own separate special class abilities in this edition: Pick Pockets, Open Locks, Find/Remove Traps, Move Silently, Hide in Shadows, Climb Walls, Detect Noise, and Read Languages.
Minimum scores: Dexterity 12, Intelligence 13, Charisma 15.
CLERICS worship distant and inhuman elemental lords. Each cleric serves one element (earth, air, fire, water) or para-element (magma, rain, silt, sun). The cleric gains spells associated with this element, and learns powers to channel and resist the element. Clerics can use all sorts of weapons, but only if they're made of something associated with the element—a fire cleric uses flaming arrows or obsidian swords, an air cleric uses missile weapons, a water cleric uses bone or wood, an earth cleric uses stone or metal.
Minimum scores: Wisdom 9.
DRUIDS are priests who serve and protect the Spirit of the Land in a particular area with a significant natural feature, like a hot spring, a cave with howling winds, or a mighty cliff with many colors and features eroded into it. Druids can't use armor but can use any weapon. They learn a very wide range of spells, but their priority is always to protect the natural world. Druids must be of NEUTRAL alignment - no deviations.
Minimum scores: Wisdom 12, Charisma 15.
FIGHTERS are warriors and soldiers, often from the city-states and trained for battle in armies. Fighters in DARK SUN can use any weapons or armor, and they also learn to use siege engines, lead military formations, build fortifications, and train people in the use of weapons.
Minimum scores: Strength 9.
GLADIATORS are personal combatants and entertainers, usually fighting in rings or pits for the amusement and betting of spectators. Gladiators can use all manner of arms and armor, and they can specialize in the use of multiple weapons (gaining extra combat bonuses). They also learn to make the best use of their armor and are incredibly tough. They focus on small-group or individual combat, unlike the fighter's focus on warfare.
Minimum scores: Strength 13, Dexterity 12, Constitution 15.
ILLUSIONISTS are wizards who specialize in the use of illusion magic, but as a result they don't learn several other schools: evocation, abjuration, and necromancy spells are all foreign to them.
Minimum scores: Dexterity 16, Intelligence 9.
PRESERVERS are wizards. They practice the responsible use of magic, carefully channeling life-energy to shape spells without harming or killing the environment around them. Most people don't understand this distinction, though, so preservers who are discovered as magicians risk being killed by angry mobs. Preservers are constantly tempted with the possibility of the quicker, easier path to power—defiling.
Minimum scores: Intelligence 9.
PSIONICISTS study the Way, the ability to focus mind and body energies to perform feats of telepathy, psychokinesis, psychoportation, psychometabolism, clairsentience, and metapsionics. They are found throughout Athas, in the cities and the hinterlands; in the cities, there are psionic academies that will perform services and train students for a fee, while in the hinterlands some ascetics and anchorites focus on developing their powers through meditation away from civilization. Psionicsts are mediocre combatants with weapons, but with their powers can often teleport around the battlefield, reshape their bodies into weapons, or take control of their enemies' minds.
Minimum scores: Constitution 11, Intelligence 12, Wisdom 15.
RANGERS are warriors who live in the wild, learning to track and survive in the desert. While they can be found in cities, they often live in small communities or on the road. At high levels, rangers eventually learn a smattering of elemental magic like a cleric or druid.
Minimum scores: Strength 13, Dexterity 13, Constitution 14, Wisdom 14.
THIEVES are rogues and scoundrels. Some steal for a living, some for a thrill; some are opportunitists, while others work for noble houses or merchants to steal valuable items or break into secret places. They are not great fighters but have special thief skills to aid in their larceny: Pick Pockets, Open Locks, Find/Remove Traps, Move Silently, Hide in Shadows, Climb Walls, Detect Noise, and Read Languages.
Minimum scores: Dexterity 9.
TRADERS are rogues who travel from city to city peddling wares, buying low and selling high. They can usually fight well enough to defend themselves, and many traders dream of going from having a small one-person operation to heading a rich merchant house. Traders develop networks of useful contacts, helpful agents, and skill with many languages, as well as some proficiency in the thief skills: Pick Pockets, Open Locks, Find/Remove Traps, Move Silently, Hide in Shadows, Climb Walls, Detect Noise, and Read Languages.
Minimum scores: Intelligence 10, Wisdom 15, Charisma 12.
KITS
In 2nd edition AD&D, kits are modifiers to classes, much like Pathfinder's archetypes. (PF probably got the idea from kits, to be honest.) If you're looking to play a variant on a theme, there's probably a kit for it. If you describe the character you want to play, I might be able to suggest a kit for it. Kits aren't mandatory, though: sometimes a fighter is just a fighter.
PROFICIENCIES
2nd edition AD&D came about at a time when skill systems for games weren't as well-developed as they are now. In this edition, you have two kinds of skills: weapon proficiencies and nonweapon proficiencies. Each character class has a list of which weapons you can learn and how many you learn. You also gain a separate number of nonweapon picks, which you can choose from a very wide range of skills like Survival, Riding, Cooking, Healing, Water Finding, Weapon Improvisation, etc. If you're not familiar with the system, you'll probably need some help picking these out, and the DM can likely give you a list of things that will work for your character concept.
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As an addendum for Proficiencies, multiclass characters gain new weapon and non-weapon proficiencies as the class that gains them the fastest--for instance, a fighter starts with four weapon proficiency slots and gains a new weapon proficiency slot every three levels; they also start with three non-weapon proficiency slots and gain a new one every three levels. A thief starts with two weapon proficiencies and three non-weapon proficiencies and gains new proficiency slots for both every four levels.
A multiclass fighter/thief would therefore gain weapon and non-weapon proficiencies every three fighter levels--not every four thief levels.
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PROFICIENCIES LEARNED BY CLASS
Fighters, Gladiators, and Rangers: 4 weapons, +1 weapon every 3 levels; 3 nonweapon, +1 nonweapon every 3 levels
Illusionists & Preservers: 1 weapon, +1 weapon every 6 levels; 4 nonweapon, +1 nonweapon every 3 levels
Clerics & Druids: 2 weapons, +1 weapon every 4 levels; 4 nonweapon, +1 nonweapon every 3 levels
Bards, Thieves, and Traders: 2 weapons, +1 weapon every 4 levels; 3 nonweapons, +1 nonweapon every 4 levels
Psionicists: 2 weapons, +1 weapon every 5 levels; 3 nonweapons, +1 nonweapon every 3 levels
WEAPONS & ARMOR ALLOWED BY CLASS
Bards: Any weapon or armor (but armor heavier than leather will penalize thief skills).
Clerics: Must use a weapon with a material related to their element. Any armor.
Druids: Any weapon, no armor.
Fighters, Gladiators, and Rangers: Any weapon or armor (some ranger abilities do not function in armor heavier than studded leather)
Illusionists & Preservers: dagger, dart, knife, sling, staff; no armor.
Psionicists: club, dagger, dirk, hand axe, hand crossbow, horseman's mace, horseman's pick, knife, light crossbow, scimitar, short bow, short sword, spear, throwing axe war hammer; padded, leather, studded leather, or hide armor, and small shields.
Thieves: Any weapon; padded, leather, or studded leather armor (studded leather will penalize thief skills), no shield.
Traders: Any weapons; any armor (but armor heavier than leather will penalize thief skills).
NOTE: You use your weapon proficiencies (above) to choose weapons from these lists that you know how to use. You can use other weapons, but you take a big penalty on your attack rolls. (Gladiators take no penalty for using any weapon, though.)
You do not need to use proficiencies to use armor: You can use any of the armor on the list for your class.
* There is an optional rule in the sourcebook Combat & Tactics that lets you spend multiple weapon proficiency picks to use a weapon that normally isn't allowed for your class. Up to the DM. This is usually not a great choice, since wizards and psionicists have crummy attack ratings, so it doesn't matter if you're using a greatsword, you probably won't hit with it anyway.
STARTING WEALTH BY CLASS
Bards, thieves, & traders: 2d6 x 30 ceramic pieces
Clerics & druids: 3d6 x 30 ceramic pieces
Fighters, gladiators, & rangers: 5d4 x 30 ceramic pieces
Illusionists & preservers: (1d4+1) x 30 ceramic pieces
Psionicists: 3d4 x 30 ceramic pieces
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FOR CLERICS!
The weapons they may choose are limited by the element they have pledged their service to. The weapons they may use are as follows:
Earth: Clerics of the Earth have the widest weapon selection to choose from: their weapons must be made of stone, wood or metal because all of these materials originated from within the earth.
Air: Clerics of the Air are restricted to weapons that fly through the air--this means they're limited to bows, crossbows, slings, darts, chatchkas and javelins. Spears are also allowed in a melee capacity.
Fire: Clerics of Fire are limited to weapons that are on fire or otherwise forged in great heat. Their weapons are limited to being obsidian in make--if they're made from any other material, they must be somehow set ablaze if they are to appease their elemental masters.
Water: Clerics of Water are limited to organic materials for their weapons, as water once flowed through them. Weapons of bone or wood are acceptable for them.
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CHOOSING NONWEAPON PROFICIENCIES
This web page has a list of basically every nonweapon proficiency printed for the game.
As you can see, there are a lot. '90s game design.
When choosing proficiencies, remember:
* Picking something from outside of your class costs you an extra pick. For instance, Survival appears on the tables for warriors and rogues, and costs 2 picks. That means if you want to take Survival with a cleric or preserver, you have to spend 3 picks (costs +1 because it's not on the General list or your class list). When in doubt, ask the DM. Some classes get expanded access to multiple lists!
* Literacy (Reading/Writing) is a proficiency, but in most parts of this setting, it is illegal to know how to read and write. "Who's going to know?" you ask. The city's psychic who reads your mind, that's who.
* There are no horses in DARK SUN! Common mounts include the crodlu (like a featherless chocobo), the kank (a large beetle), and the inix (a huge monitor lizard). Elves never use mounts unless they elf is elderly, disabled, or pregnant. Half-giants are too big to ride anything but an inix (or something bigger). Thri-kreen don't use mounts.
* Metalworking is practically a lost art. Most technologies are stone or bronze age.
* You should limit your picks to proficiencies that are sourced from the Player's Handbook, the DARK SUN book, The Will and the Way (a psionic sourcebook) and Defilers & Preservers (a DARK SUN supplement for wizards). Thri-kreen might want a proficiency or two from Thri-Kreen of Athas. As always, the DM has final say.
* When in doubt, ask the DM.
A few notes about specific proficiencies:
* If you take Survival, you pick one terrain type for it (like sandy wastes, stony barrens, rocky badlands, salt flats, mountains, jungles, and steppes). Each time you put another pick into it, you get another terrain. You can only use the skill in terrains you've picked.
* Water Find, by contrast, lets you find water anywhere, but only enough to keep you personally alive. Also it's usually gross.
* Somatic Concealment is a special proficiency that lets you hide your somatic components (gestures) when you cast a spell, so that people are less likely to realize that you're using magic. Probably important if you're a wizard!
* Psychic Defense is a special proficiency that gives you a very basic defense against telepathic attacks. Don't expect it to shield you from more than one or two attacks from a trained psionicist.
Well, you can have up to 3 backup player characters, so you COULD try again...
Remember to add four to all of those totals (you should be rolling 4d4+4 per stat).
In this case, your final stat total should be 17, 14, 15, 18, 15, 10.
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DM, if you want, I can make an Obsidian Portal campaign page, and then put everything on a wiki, so that we can have our own private SRD.
DM, if you want, I can make an Obsidian Portal campaign page, and then put everything on a wiki, so that we can have our own private SRD.
That'd be much appreciated. :)
@TheNine: If you want a stabby elf, here are my recommendations.
In this edition, rangers must be good. This is a holdover from earlier editions, where the ranger was directly inspired by Aragorn, who was a good guy, so of course all rangers had to be good guys.
If alignment is a hurdle and you'd rather be morally flexible, I recommend that you play a multiclassed fighter/thief. That makes you a solid combatant and gives you thief skills. You'll want to use light armor (leather) so that you can use your thief abilities, but you'll be able to learn to use any weapon.
If you don't mind the alignment restriction but you want to combine wilderness skills with sneaky urban abilities, it's also possible to be a multiclassed ranger/thief. Good stealth, strong fighting, plus the ranger's special abilities.
The only issue with being multiclassed is that you'll tend to lag a level behind the rest of the team, but you get all the powers of both classes.
While bards often operate as assassins in DARK SUN, your Charisma score isn't high enough to qualify for that class.
There's also a ranger kit in the Complete Ranger's Handbook for playing the super stealth ranger variant, the Stalker, but they are only allowed to be humans.
Shattered Lands... :D
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The copy of Shattered Lands I got was in a simple jewel case, no manuals or anything--it belonged to my father. I remember first playing it when I was about 5 or 6 years old... that was my introduction to CRPGs and the DARK SUN setting, for better or for worse.
For the longest time, Baldur's Gate and the like didn't catch my attention as much as that game. It really took Planescape: Torment to really convince me to give the rest of the Infinity Engine games a try.
It's my first CRPG love. :)
I'm defnitely going to have to dive into this.
From a cursory glance, Fighter, Druid, and Psionicist look appealing, I'll have to look more closely at racial and class requirements.
Also, Azura, I feel the need to add something to the Mul: they're the only demihuman lineage (that I'm aware of) that has the option of levelling in classes like a human--with unlimited advancement in a single class, and the option of dual-classing later. Otherwise, they're treated as demihumans for the purposes of multiclassing in that they can multiclass, but are subject to level limits.
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Yeah, one of their weird little foibles. It'll show up on the wiki/SRD.
Incidentally, I've started that project. I have a placeholder up and pages for all of the ability scores. Character races are next.
However, I'm going out of town tomorrow and won't be back until Monday, so I probably won't get a lot of work done until next week. Hopefully the stuff I posted here earlier is enough for folks to get started.
Yay!
I put a link to it in the Campaign Info tab.
I'm about halfway through the DARK SUN character races at this point. Right now it's just a copy of the box set text, but later I'll do a merge to include the relevant rules from the Player's Handbook so you will have everything you need in one place instead of having to flip back and forth between multiple sources.
Gotta get some sleep. See folks on Monday!
Pretty sure there's a psionic power that lets you go without sleep...
See ya on Monday!
Yeah, but if you use it, you crash out for days afterward.
(Spouse isn't quite ready to sleep yet.)
Chewing through the remaining races... we'll see if I get 'em done before bed!
@TheNine, as a ranger/thief, your character would start at level 2 in each class. You'd have 2,250 experience points in each class (closing in on level 3 thief!). You'd have proficiency with four weapons of your choice, and three nonweapon proficiencies, plus you'd have some bonus nonweapon proficiencies from your Intelligence score (see the Intelligence page over on the wiki). As an elf, you'd speak (but not read or write) Common and Elvish automatically; you can use proficiencies to learn other languages or to be literate.
Good time to ask how you're handling hit points, DM. We straight up rollin' for everything? Any mulligans?
Regarding HP: Max HP at CharGen, Half + 1 + Relevant CON modifiers for subsequent levels. How's that sound?
I'm good with that. Rolling things like that usually turn out poorly for me...as do rolling stats. Here goes nothing!
Hmm, that actually went fairly well for a change.
Wow, that's pretty good!
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All character races should now be on the wiki, with compiled rules integrating the abilities from the DARK SUN core rule book with the various abilities that they retain from the Player's Handbook (for those that aren't unique to the setting). Enjoy!
Pay particular attention to languages! Halflings and thri-kreen do not know the Common tongue, unless you use a nonweapon proficiency to learn it.
Next up are character classes. Gonna do the psionicist first, since it's the most unusual.
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Thank you very much for your work on the Wiki, Azura. It's really appreciated.
If I were to run more DARK SUN campaigns in the future, may I use it?
This could be interesting. Getting a few ideas but not sure how to go about building from here. I have a good idea of the race and possiblyclass for my first character but don't know where to go from here.
Also, does anyone have a decent character sheet format?
@Drogeney: I could certainly set one up for you. Would you like it in terms of a Paizo alias?
That would be helpful, thank you.
Right then! I'll get working on it and send it over in a PM later.
Thank you very much for your work on the Wiki, Azura. It's really appreciated.
If I were to run more DARK SUN campaigns in the future, may I use it?
Once I have stuff filled out I’ll try to give you admin access.
Once I have stuff filled out I’ll try to give you admin access.Thank you very much for your work on the Wiki, Azura. It's really appreciated.
If I were to run more DARK SUN campaigns in the future, may I use it?
Thanks!
By the way, I posted this in the initial post for the thread, but no one answered it, so I feel it got lost in the shuffle. I'll repost it here, because I feel it's an important question to ask...
ABOUT MATURE THEMES & CONTENT: The DARK SUN campaign setting is decidedly darker in tone and atmosphere than most other settings, and as such I wish for everyone here to establish their comfort levels on such topics. Personally, I draw the line at any depictions of sexual violence—especially under the duress of slavery. Any otherwise lewd content may be kept to private messaging or in-game spoiler tabs, depending on player consensus. Are there any topics you would not be comfortable dealing with in the context of this game?
I'm fine with any of it myself.
Yeah I also prefer to not dwell on torture depictions, I get that enemies might use it, but it doesn’t help me enjoy the narrative so I prefer to leave it to the Empire Strikes Back style if it comes up (when they cart off Han in Cloud City, then change scenes, then he’s brought back).
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Same here. We can keep the worst torture and any depictions of sexual violence out of things, (or offscreen in the case of torture). Anything else I'm good with in spoiler (or PM if someone was uncomfortable with others' interactions).
Darker, grittier Mature themes definitely do have their appeal.
Psionicist class basics are up. There's still a lot to add for it to all make sense, including the psionic power lists, description of how PSPs work, and the tables for psionicist attack rolls and saving throws, but the basics are there so that you can start to understand how the class functions.
Once I finish the psionicist class page, I'll work on a Wild Talents page so that everyone can reference that for their wild talent rolls (using the tables from The Will and the Way), and then I'll try to get the ranger and the thief up for Nine.
I'm definitely considering Psionicist, either Human, or Half Giant, but Gladiator is also a definite possibility.
I'm loving how this is all coming together. :D
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Of note: The organization in the psionicist class chapter of the original Complete Psionics Handbook is pretty bad. For instance, psionic strength points are described as a function of the class, but wild talent characters have PSPs too and need to know how to use them, but if you aren't playing a member of the class you wouldn't know to look there for how PSPs work, yet the wild talent description tells you how many PSPs you get without telling you what they are or how to use them.
I'll probably organize the wiki pages slightly differently, so for instance PSPs will be on their own page so that everyone can reference those rules without having to dig into the psionicist class. Actual text will remain unchanged except for incorporationg errata.