So this Sunday I am running a Dark Sun game updated to Pathfinder using a combination of other peoples' conversions and my own house rules. I felt set but two of my players have got me questioning details I haven't covered yet: the witch and the psychic classes from Occult Adventures.
1.) With the witch I actually have a player interested in playing one which I have no problem with. However, after showing her a website with most of the rules we will be asking she asked me if witches can defile and I kind of went blank. In my head, I imagined witches on Athas make pacts with the subtle spirits of the land like druids do, except witches don't really pledge themselves to defend the land as much as uses rites that appease it, thus 'buying' their magic.
Do to this I am tempted to say they can't, yet I can also see witches that learn rights to steal magic instead. Heck, I had a villain planned that was just doing just that. And defiling seems like the best way to represent this, though I still am not sure. Thoughts?
2.) I had another player looking into the psychic detective archetype for the investigator when he asked me how I was going to handle the occult classes. I said that there an option for players, however not actually psioncists (in my games Magic is always a work of someone acting as a conduit for outside power and then shaping it- in psychic magics case they tap into the residual psionic power that bleeds into the air from all thought).
He said he figured that but was curious how they fit into Athas- were they accepted professions, like wilders and clerics? Were they considered dangerous like arcane casters? Was psychic magic an old method of spellcasting or something new, possibly developed do to the high amount of psionic creatures? In the general scope of the Tablelands how did they fit in?
I told him I would get back to him on it after I had gotten advice. Thinking it over I personally like the idea that it is a new form of magic that is just starting to gain momentum. However I don't know how else to ease into the setting to do it justice, such as how well it is accepted (though I do like the idea of the Templers in Draj becoming occultists with the Icon-bearing archetype to make up for the loss of their Sorcerer-King); suggestions?
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As for the witch, that might be a class that's just not really ideal for Dark Sun. Since all arcane magic uses the life force of Athas and its creatures as fuel, there aren't any spirits involved as depicted by the patron idea of the witch class. Obviously you can change that in your game an make it fit no problem, but I'd be hesitant to create such a bridge between arcane and divine magic since it is an iconic cornerstone of the entire setting.
Personally, I'd say that witches must decide to preserve or defile same as wizards to, and I'd write up a list of creepy and appropriately strange familiar creatures a witch can choose from.
Can't say anything about the psychic though, haven't read that class yet. I'm also preparing a Dark Sun game that'll probably start in a few weeks and we're going to use Ultimate Psionics.