Has anyone done a Dark Sun conversion?
The link above has some ideas. I wouldn't mind seeing some other input on a newer page from Dark Sun fans.
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I am starting a campaign in 4th Edition because the Dark Sun stuff is already there and the Essential line impressed me so I want to give it a chance but the big problem I have with 4th Ed. is its importance on movement and a lot of the powers deal with movement, so depending on how effectively I can abstract those effects we will either stay with it or switch to pathfinder.
I link had some good ideas but I think people over complicated it at points. In my personal opinion, I do not think the races need re-statted, they just need re-flavored.
Anyway, I really like the Dragon #315 rules for defiling. Does the negative effects stack? Because if so, I think -4 to con is a little harsh. I really like that system though, I was thinking about doing something quick and easy like;
Defiling Magic
The caster who chooses to defile instead of preserves drains the life force from the land and enemies as well as allies close by.
* The casters effective caster level is considered to be 2 levels higher then it actually is to determine spell effect, range, DC, etc.
* Starting at level 1 and increasing every three levels, the Defiler deals 1d4 points on negative energy damage to all living creatures and destroys the land and plant life surrounding him, making it infertile and nothing with grow for years. This effect starts in a 5ft. square at the defilers feet at first level and increased by 5 ft. for every three levels afterward. (For example a 9th level Wizard who is a defiler would deal 4d4 points on negative energy damage and kill plant life out to a 15 foot radius.
athas.org is a good resource for 3rd edition conversion. From there can convert to PF fairly easily.
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Here is what I have so far. Oh, I checked out Athas.org and there is not much on there.
Half-Giants:
Ability Modifiers: +2 Strength, +2 Constitution, -2 Intelligence (Half-Giants are strong and healthy but are dim witted).
Size: Medium
Speed: They have a base speed of 30ft.
Giant’s Blood: Half-Giants count as both Giants and Humans for any effect related to race.
Mountain Folk: +2 bonus to all checks to resist difficult terrain
Stones Endurance: +1 Natural Armor Bonus
Tenacity: Half-Giants receive a +2 bonus to Will Saves
Languages: Goliaths begin play speaking Common and Giant. Goliaths with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Halfling, Orc, and Terran.
With DM’s Approval: You can replace Stones Endurance with;
Powerful Build: The Half-Giant is considered “large” for the purposes of grapple attacks, swallow whole effects, and other such effects. The Half-Giant can also use weapons that are large.
Mul's:
Ability Modifiers: +2 Strength, +2 Dexterity, -2 Charisma (Mul’s are strong and quick but aren’t very friendly)
Size: Medium
Speed: They have a base speed of 30ft.
Dwarven Blood: Mul’s count has both humans and dwarves for any effect related to race.
Hardy: Mul’s gain a +2 racial bonus on saving throws poison, spells, and spell-like abilities.
Tireless: Mul’s only require have has much rest to benefit from the effects of a full rest.
Languages: Mul’s begin play speaking Common and Dwarven. Mul’s with high Intelligence can choose from the following; Giant, Gnome, Goblin, Orc, Terran, and Undercommon.
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Thri-Keen:
Ability Modifiers: +2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, -2 Intelligence (Thri-Keen are quick and willful but their alien minds make it hard to relate to human society)
Size: Medium
Speed: They have a base speed of 30ft.
Dark Vision: Thri-Keens of Dark Vision out to 60ft.
Strong Legs: Gain a +2 racial bonus on all Acrobatics Checks
Hard Carapace: +1 bonus to natural armor
Monstrous Build: Thri-Keen posses two pairs of arms, one stronger main pair and a weaker secondary pair. They can take Multiattack, Multiweapon Fighting, Improved Natural Attack, and Improved Natural Armor monster feats. These are not bonus feats but must be purchased separately.
Natural Weapons: They have four claw attacks that deal 1d4.
Languages: Thri-Keen and Common. Thri-Keen with high Intelligence can chose from Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Giant, Goblin, and Undercommon
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I'm several sessions into running a Pathfinderised Dark Sun campaign. You can look at my house rules doc here
It's a mix of Athas.org, the Paizo Dragon Magazine attempt at Dark Sun 3.5, some of the original 2e AD&D setting, and my own tweaks. Also borrowed some house rules from Kirthfinder.
With Dreamscarred Press' Psionics Unleashed, Pathfinder GMs can really make a go of Dark Sun.
...and if you do find it useful and use it, do let me know how it pans out for you. I still consider it a work in progress, and will be testing the defiler rules soon.
I remember playing the original DS when it came out way back when, and I finally broke down and bought the 4th Ed version of the setting, and I want to convert many of the newer ideas and such over to PF.
As I make progress, I will let be happy to post things as they are finished. I like the way the races are shaping up by your version. Right now I am mainly just doing broad strokes to see what will need a new set of rules, and what can simply be moved over as is.
I remember playing the original DS when it came out way back when, and I finally broke down and bought the 4th Ed version of the setting, and I want to convert many of the newer ideas and such over to PF.
As I make progress, I will let be happy to post things as they are finished. I like the way the races are shaping up by your version. Right now I am mainly just doing broad strokes to see what will need a new set of rules, and what can simply be moved over as is.
I wouldn't mind seeing that. It's hard to fit in some traditional 2nd Edition things over to 3.X. The hardest to balance out, at least for me, is thri-kreen with a half-giant a second. Purests do not like the idea of a medium sized half-gaint.
I wouldn't mind seeing that. It's hard to fit in some traditional 2nd Edition things over to 3.X. The hardest to balance out, at least for me, is thri-kreen with a half-giant a second. Purests do not like the idea of a medium sized half-gaint.
I agree with you there.
The way I've squared it so far in my campaign is to spread the thri-kreen abilities out over several levels. They are less unbalancing when you have to wait until level 7 or so for them to kick in.
Totally agree with you on the half-giant. I went with the 3.x standard and made them medium for balance reasons, but I just can't reconcile a medium-sized half-GIANT! What I'm inclined to do right now is to keep all that, but make them occupy a 10' x 10' space on the tactical map, but with a reach of 5'. This way, they are big, but they are more balanced.
With the advantages both these races get however, I've also applied some penalties in the form of cost of armor. Bipedal, medium humanoid armor requires some conversion cost for thri-kreen, and half-giants just can't wear it. They have to pay for large-size armor.
I have a few more ideas to toss around about thri-kreen (mantis warriors to avoid intellectual property issues).
- Don’t allow them to take the Multi-Weapon Feat or fight with weapons in all four hands. They couldn’t do this in 2nd Edition, even though there were several creatures with multiple arms that could.
- Don’t allow them to wear armor at all or restrict them to light armor. If you go with the no armor option, you could have their carapace set up something similar to the Warforged.
- Have a Class Restriction or two. Monk and Wizard come to mind. You could possibly have an innate Spell Failure as well and they would have to take a feat to become either of these classes (similar to the Warforged).
- Naturally Illiterate. They don’t have an actual written language, if I recall, and use picture-glyphs, similar to primitive man.
- Delay their poison to 5th level or so (I believe you mentioned this).
- Have their 1st level a generic “monster” level (similar to a warrior or other NPC class).
I don’t think you should be too worried about it being complex. Dark Sun was more of an advanced setting with advanced creatures. I also believe that when a traditional monster becomes a Playable Race, it shouldn’t be as simple as choosing an elf or dwarf.
I've got a thri-kreen player in my group. Here are my observations so far.
I followed the Pathfinder ethos of eliminating effective level and monster level penalties and instead imposed roleplaying demands or equipment penalties (increased armour cost to account for atypical body shape as mentioned above).
I gave a +3 natural armour bonus, but not stackable with worn armour. I'm still debating whether to lift the stacking restriction given standard natural armour rules and the lack of availability of heavy armours in the campaign. But I will wait to assess combat survivability.
The Multi-weapon feat is not so much of problem once you factor in all the penalties, and recall that 2e didn't allow multiple attacks for non-fighters whereas even wizards get multiple attacks in 3.x.
Poison delayed to 7th level.
And ultimately, the DM has the power to adjust the Challenge Rating of encounters. Even if a race-type would effectively be +1 or +2 in 3.5 you can increase the CR in Pathfinder to take greater PC power into account.
Personally, I felt that the those various abilities were an important part of the feel of kreen. I didn't like the feel of the 4e version for that reason, though I understood it from a strict balance point of view. A DM also needs to weigh what the kreen gets versus what all other PC races get in their particular campaign.
I think its also important to note that my group are primarily roleplayers and not power-gamers, almost all are DMs but care less about optimisation than I do when I'm a player. They have avoided some power combos in favour of their own vision of what's fluff consistent for their PCs. Adjust the bonuses available to your player's dispositions.
I too am currently running a DS game, using a mix of the stuff at Athas.org, Dragon #315, 2nd AD&D setting stuff and a healthy pinch of homebrew.
I took all the core races (well the ones that exist on Athas anyhow) and added an additional +2 to their primary stat and mixed up their racial abilities to bring them in line with their traditional Dark Sun counterpart. Personally an Athasian whatever should be bit more powerful than their race from another setting, this can lead to the CR system being skewed somewhat, but as long as you apply the same basic rules to baddies and creatures, it fits...plus remember when taking a typical creature from the bestiary and transporting it to Athas, givee it spike and psionics! :P
(oh and who ever did the Mul up thread, + to Con not dex, muls are greatly prized for their ability to trudge on and survive when lessers have long since perished), oh and take Draconic off the available language list would be my other suggestion.
as for Half-giants. They need to be large, if you are worried about balance, take into consideration their need for double everything. If you play the survival aspect of DS as it should be (which is to say a constant threat, greater than even the claws of the Dragon), that big bonus to strength does little against the ravages of heat and thirst.
Currently my group is looking a little wary about having to travel with the half-giant in their party, just for his water consumption alone. Sure in a fight he's great in a fight(a great big target), but Athas isn't only about what you can fight with your chahulaks! On top of double the cost of weapons, armor and other gear, you'll find the smaller races can outpace and outlast a half-giant rather easily.
In my games I've pretty much used the Athas.org 3.5 conversion of the big brutes and am happy with their role in the party and the world.
Thri-Kreen can be used as is from the 3.5 Psionic book, if you start at the typical DS 4th level, their number of psionics and bonuses mesh well with losing out on two class levels, and though I believe those powers continue to remain useful despite higher levels, I will revaluate once the levels begin to stack up to make sure the kreen don't fall behind do to those two levels they lack.
As for thri-kreen gear, its expensive and hard to come by, by the time they can find someone who makes kreen gear, the rest of the party may already have better or even magical gear, allowing the kreen to keep pace.
I suggest homebrewing some heat exposure rules, if you don't have access to Sandstorm. Wearing armor in Athas is a danger all its own*, and this should be taken into account in game. Again Athas.org has rules for this, though I tweaked them somewhat to fit more with my vision and desires. This will lead to less than optimal feats like Skill Focus: Survial, Toughness, Endurance and Great Fortitude to look a hell of a lot more attractive, and skills like Survival and Craft become almost manditory.
*One danger in this though, is that unarmored characters are the norm. Magic is rare and dangerous, and while psionics can provide some protection, not every character will have the handful of protective powers. This leads to characters who are easy to hit, and thus hurt. I already include rules for dodging and blocking from Trailblazer, but given the nature of the world, I've also included a Parry combat reaction to give characters another chance at saving their bacon. (BAB + Dex. mod + any attack bonuses + size bonus) Also, I suggest the PF beta rule of allowing players to add their Con. Score to their starting hit points, and I always give max hp per level anyways, and still the fights are quick, lethal and brutal...so it fits with my vision of Dark Sun quite well :P
as for Half-giants. They need to be large, if you are worried about balance, take into consideration their need for double everything. If you play the survival aspect of DS as it should be (which is to say a constant threat, greater than even the claws of the Dragon), that big bonus to strength does little against the ravages of heat and thirst.
Currently my group is looking a little wary about having to travel with the half-giant in their party, just for his water consumption alone. Sure in a fight he's great in a fight(a great big target), but Athas isn't only about what you can fight with your chahulaks! On top of double the cost of weapons, armor and other gear, you'll find the smaller races can outpace and outlast a half-giant rather easily.
What did you end up with for half-giant stats? And I am sure if you ask 20 Dark Sun fans on conversions you'll get 20 different answers. We all have our reasons for enjoying the setting. I'm not going to pick apart your conversion, I just want ideas out there.
no problem, the more ideas floating about the better.
Half-Giant: +8 Str, -2 Dex, +4 Con, -2 Int, -2 Cha
+2 Natural Armor, Darkvision 60ft, Base Speed 40 ft, Large Size, Axis Alignment (ze Germans!), Great Consumption (needs double the amount of food and water)
Level Adjust +2
(originally Athas.org had their penalties all at -4, with all the same abilities listed, I find that limited them waaaaay too much, so I reduced the penalties to -2, they are slow and ponderous, not brain dead with three left feet.
I've played with the Psionic Handbook version of Half-Giants in Dark Sun games, and their lack of largeness always bothered me. Reading the novels or source material I found that Half-Giant lacked any of the "umph" that the Half-Giant of Athas needed. When I read a section saying that Hamanu has 1000 Half-Giant warriors with heavy lances and I think of the medium version, I just shrug and go on, not really impressive, it could just as easily be a human army that put their +2 into strength and you have a better warrior anyway, but with the above, which mimics the original version of the Half-Giant, I go "whoah! do not F with them!" which IMO, is how it should be. Of course this makes party balance a tad trickier, but I think the level adjust and consumption balance out nicely.
some other houserules I'm using in my Darksun game
~Trailblazers Action Point system: I use this in all my PF games now, just too useful and gives the party a little bit of ability to control their fate
~Hardness as DR: one thing I've never liked about DS is that while metal weapons and armor are supposed to be these great and rare things, their usefulness is actually quite limited. Metal armor in particular is more hinderance than anything, so to kind of patch that I came up with Hardness as DR rules. Basically you compare the Hardness of the striking weapon against the Hardness of any armor the opponent has, if the armor has a higher Hardness, the opponent gains DR equal to the difference, not to exceed 5 and cannot reduce the damage to less than 1. For Natural Armor, you use the Natural Armor value as its Hardness, for Force Effects, you use twice the AC value as Hardness, while unarmed attacks have an effective Hardness equal to 1/2 the value of their damage dice maximum result (thus a D8 has an effective Hardness of 4, D10 has a Hardness of 5 and so on...)
~Heat Stroke and You!: Armor provides a penalty to Fort saves vs. Heat Stroke equal to its Armor Check Penalty +2 for full suits of armor, with an additional +2 for metal armor. The Fort DC depends on the temperature band, DC 15 for hot, DC 17 for severe, DC 19 for extreme heat. A character needs 1 gallon of water to stave off dehydration, but a character can drink an additional gallon of water to gain a +2 bonus to Fort saves vs. Heat Stroke (this pretty much takes into account the normal rules for increased water consumption, without the assumption that characters have more water to drink, so rationing becomes an option and a mechanic to support it)
~Trailblazers Combat Reactions: love this system, as it forces players to keep up with combat despite it not being their turn, plus it makes Aid Another and actual useful tactic, instead of something only the rogue does when facing an elemental or ooze. In addition, do to the armorless nature of DS, I've added a Parry Combat Reaction. Pretty much an opposed attack roll, though using Dex instead of Str to determine the total bonus, as well as some pluses for size and the use of shields.
~Weapon Proficiency: seeing that a lot of the flavor of Athasian combat comes from its plethora of exotic weapons (which if using the Athas.org stuff, there are also about 40 exotic weapons), I felt the standard PF way of proficiencies lacked a great deal, so taking a small step backwards, I let players pick the weapons they are proficient with (like 1 & 2AD&D)characters with a full base attack bonus get 8 choices at first level, 3/4 BAB get 4 and 1/2 get 2. All characters are automatically proficient with all simple weapons, but exotic weapons count as 2 choices. Fighters may also pick an entire weapon group to be proficient with at first level and may pick an additional group every time they would gain Weapon Training. Finally, characters may pick up another proficiency every time they gain another BAB.
I've used similar rules in the past and I've found it to work wonderfully as WP: Exotic is a wasted feat in pretty much everyone's estimation and a bonus it gives all players more options when designing their characters.
How, may I ask, are you handling defiling?
I use the terrain modifiers as presented at Athas.org for Caster Level and Save DC, plus the defiling penalties against living creatures in the defilement radius (-1 to all actions, like a lesser form of sickened)
in addition though, any metamagic feat can be applied to a spell by drawing off more lifeforce from the area. The terrain modifiers apply a "energy pool" that can be used to augment spells, so an area with abundant plant life for example provides 2 points (normally a +2 modifier to caster level and Save DC), instead these points can be used to substitue for the spell level increase normally needed for a metamagic, so a caster could instead Empower a spell for free. For a preserver, this increases the spell casting time as if applying a metamagic feat to a spontaneous caster, defilers just eat up the land, making the land infertile and unable to provide ANY spell energy. You can draw upon more power by increasing the radius of the defilement (by an additional increment as demanded by the spell [5 x spell level]), or for preservers, by spending additional actions, 1 per additional spell level you want to augment. So if in the abundant area you wanted to Maximize a fireball, you could spend two (1 for applying the metamagic, +1 additional for tapping the extra energy) rounds tapping, uping the bonus to +3 and using that in place of the three level adjustment Maximizing normally takes. while a Defiler could instantly ash a 30 ft radius (15ft for the fireball + 15 ft for the extra defiley goodness), to throw the same maximized fireball, but now he'll have to move from that ash pit or suffer from the decreased casting as their is no more life energy in the area to throw his spells.
Metamagic feats are altered to decrease the energy needed to apply the metamagic by 1 level, and you cannot apply a metamagic feat to a spell before hand, so everyone playes like a sorcerer/bard in that regard (Which I should also note, there are not sorcerers or spellcasting bards in my version of darksun).
How, may I ask, are you handling defiling?
I still like the ideas in Dragon Magazine #315. The idea that Perservers have to take the time and learn metamagic feats fits the Role Play element pretty well. Orginally there were no mechanical advantages to playing a perserver (or Role Play advantages because most commoners didn't know the difference and didn't care).
I agree with no sorcerers on Athas. I've seen some people use Sorcerers as defilers and wizards as perservers. This implies that Sorcerers don't take the time to learn their spells, trying to stick with the original fluff that Defiling was the quick and easy path.
Bards are another issue. I've seen a version on athas.org that combined the Bard with the Alchemist, which fits the original idea pretty well. I'm going with Bards are more like the shadow mages found in the Perserver's and Defiler's guide. They draw their magic from the Black which allows them to keep their mysterious role. I would also allow the Alchemist in Dark Sun if you stick with the traditional bard.
How, may I ask, are you handling defiling?I still like the ideas in Dragon Magazine #315.
I've tentatively adopted the Dragon #315 rules as well, though I noted that the raw mechanic as it stands allows defilers to assuming the taint of their defiling points instantly (since it doesn't specify how long it takes to assume the taint, the only times provided are for cleansing the points). I've ruled that one has to be inactive for 10 minutes per defiling point to assume the taint or else it just gets to be too overpowered.
One issue I had with the Dragon #315 system was that a defiling radius, and defiling itself, only manifested with metamagic feats. I felt that some of the original fluff/mechanic of defiling ash occurring with any defiling spell needed to be incorporated, so the terrain radius multipliers are the sum of the spell level plus defiling points spent.
I've also banned sorcerors in my campaign and use the Athas.org bards.
Well, I'm curious to hear how people's Dark Sun campaigns fare. It takes a bit of work to Pathfinderise Dark Sun, but so far its working well.
I've found that its fairly easy for players to avoid the inferior weapons penalties by picking native Athasian weapons. Athas.org is a little vague on where and when it doesn't apply. For example, chatkcha's are implied to have regular damage even when made from stone or bone, but then what about dasl chatkcha's which should be treated like steel which implies regular damage? I've considered dasl simply conferring a +1 to damage since magic items are rare in my campaign. A +1 to attack can still be gleaned from having a masterwork dasl chatkcha.
I've found that its fairly easy for players to avoid the inferior weapons penalties by picking native Athasian weapons. Athas.org is a little vague on where and when it doesn't apply. For example, chatkcha's are implied to have regular damage even when made from stone or bone, but then what about dasl chatkcha's which should be treated like steel which implies regular damage? I've considered dasl simply conferring a +1 to damage since magic items are rare in my campaign. A +1 to attack can still be gleaned from having a masterwork dasl chatkcha.How, may I ask, are you handling defiling?I still like the ideas in Dragon Magazine #315.
since chatkcha are normally made from dasl according to fluff, you could treat it like a steel weapon in regards to being made out of anything else, so bone/stone would give the appropriate penalties to attack and damge.
so far my game is going great. I'm running the group through 1st thru 4th level in mini-episodes. Basically short one nighters that showcase an aspect of Athas, then let them level up and fastforward a bit to the next. Once they hit 4th the real game begins.
I've done this since half of my players are new to Athas and I don't want to dump them into an experienced character without knowing anything of the world.
At first they were younger versions, students of a secluded school/orphanage reared by a dwarf hero past his prime who was grooming slaves and other outcasts into the heroes of tomorrow. The school also guarded a site of mysterious magical power, that we'll get to in a bit. The first session saw them take part in a mock combat against one of the schools instructors and several higher classmen playing the part of raiders. This is how the game started, them immediately thrust into combat and the players had no idea it wasn't for real. Considering the encounter was beyond Epic in challenge, they did really good, dropped all of the opponents, though the instructor took out the last of them, he dropped due to Bleed (his berry juice sack ran out).
Afterwards they were introduced to the true purpose of the school, which is to guard said site of mystical importance, took the oath, joined a brotherhood, all is good.
Next they were taken into the desert on some survival training, ran afoul a tyr storm and had a great session of them working together to survive the onslaught (Wind mechanics...WEEEE!!!) Returning to the school they continued their training and were introduced to a High Senator of Tyr who used to travel with the dwarf. They had words concerning the mystical site, made the characters nervous.
Next session a real raiding party, composed of Half-Giant raiders and other nasties assaulted the school for real, led by the High Senator. Seems they had cause to be nervous. Most of the school was slaughtered in the attack and the dwarf, upon failing his focus, became a banshee. The group was taken as slaves along with the handful of other survivors and trekked to Urik by the mercenaries hired by the Senator.
Now they languish in the slave pens under an arena in the new city of Euranos, client village of Urik, where they are being forced to fight for their very survival against all manner of beast and humanoid. They also seem to be sharing a cell with the murdered champion of the arena, as he visits them nightly, offering up his advice and tips for their fighting as well as pining for his next days fight that will see him earn his freedom.
In that time, they've made their way from slave fodder by fighting bravely in the arena against much better gladiators, to slave gladiators, having successfully taken down a B'rohg gladiator as well as winning a even number match against gladiators set up on a hill (terrain modifiers and climbing rules for the win!)
They have a few more fights ahead of them, before the end of this chapter, which will also give me the opportunity to try out some new rules (a shout out to Evil Lincoln and his Brutal Maneuver house rules) which I think will go great with the viscious combat of Athas.
Sounds fun - are you using the Ether_Drake rule mix or one of your own?
Made a Dark Sun Wizard over HERE! Let me know what you think!
RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32
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I've been mentally playing around with the idea of Pathfinder Dark Sun for a while now, juts haven't sat down and typed up anything. Here's my current brainstorm:
Extend the point buy table to 19 (21 points) and 20 (26 points). Default point buy should probably be 25, Athas is a high powered setting.
Because I want "real" half-giants and thri-kreen, I'm tempted just to make every race nearly 20 points in the race builder. Yes Large size is powerful, but in Dark Sun you're supposed to look at your starting character and think "wow this one's awesome" and then be disabused of the notion in actual play.
I've given the most thought to classes:
Bard: I want to strip out their spellcasting, and give them extracts instead. Probably also poison use.
Cleric: thinking about not using them - no gods. To get elemental priests, I'm actually thinking oracles with the elemental themed mysteries would work better. I'm not sure about paraelemental priests; I'm almost thinking witches reflavored to divine casting might work there.
Inquisitors - seem to be a good fit to be templars.
I'm thinking all arcane casters should be prepared - no sorcerers; also summoner I'm not sure fits Athas's "closed to other planes" vibe.
No gunpowder so no gunslinger.
No paladins - tradition on this one.
Barbarian, fighter, ranger, rogue, cavalier, druid, and monk should pretty much work as written.
Not sure about magus; I'd probably allow it as the fighter/wizard multiclass was viable in 2e. They would still have to use the preserving/defiling rules, whatever I end up using.
I know this isn't exactly what you are asking for, but I did convert Thri-kreen, Half-giant and Muls in my "Savage Species" conversion here: Bestiary Levels v22
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As a huge fan of Dark Sun myself, I highly suggest you guys check out The Ultimate Gladiator that was just released by TPK Games.
It's a 42 page sourcebook on the alternate fighter gladiator class, built on the talent framework, allowing you to build all sorts of different fighting styles. There's eight archetypes and a ton of talents, feats and traits.
Dark Sun meets Pathfinder anyone? ;)