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(This is tongue-in-cheek, statements exaggerated for comedic effect)
TL,DR: What Healer type fits this LE-ish party and Dark Sun’s lack of Gods? How can I find ways to enjoy Dark Sun when I don’t enjoy super-dark settings?
My GM and online party I’ve gamed since June 2020, with has Started GateWalkers in Dark Sun. We have a weird Shedule. The main GM works on a Cruise Ship with a 4-month on board with weak internet, 2-month off in Brazil or Florida. Our group formed while the Cruise industry was suspended for the Pandemic. He usually runs a Very strongly story-based Eberron 5e game. While he’s on the cruise, other players take turns running different games. Two weeks ago, we started GateWalkers, moved into the Dark Sun setting.
I am not a fan of Dark Sun. It seems to be trying to out-edge WH40k, which is another setting I dislike. Slavery is common, life is short, no clerics, magic drains the world of life, and most importantly, all the different ancestries hate each other with good reason. Also, I purchased a box set PDF for the 2e setting, and it was clear that everything important was done by NPCs in the book series. PCs should be the Heroes of an RPG setting. I expressed my hesitation to the GM, who assured me I could be a shining light in the darkness. Thinking of the desert setting, I suggested a gunslinger, while the other players asked about Psychic, Magus, and rogue. Seeing as there was no healer, no divine magic, and no guns, I was talked into moving my concept to a chirurgeon alchemist. This was my first mistake.
My second mistake was being Chaotic good, a shining Beacon of light. I build a CG Elf Alchemist, taking ancient elf into wizard. Her backstory involves falling for a Human and having a half-elf child. Her tribe banished her for such an act, and now that both are dead, she’s out to join them in a way that strikes back at the ones who make the world so harsh. Her missing moment was with her family and a glimpse of a better world. Wraith deviant ability
My party members:
Strat, a Tiefling Human magus, Targe. LN, bordering on LE. Loves gladiator combat. No deviant ability. Intelligence caster. Defiler, which means his magic withers plants and curses the land nigh-permanently.
Tik-Tak’Cha, a Thri-kreen (Kashrishi)) psychic, TN. Very inhuman. Refuses to wear armor. No Deviant ability. Intelligence caster.
Skreeh, a ratfolk (Ysoki) Rogue, NE. Filth-lover. No deviant ability. Spec’d for Intelligence.
There’s some problems here, right? I’m sticking with CG, but I change my deviant background to the new Runner background in Firebrands, which fits elves of dark sun. We have two 18 Intelligences, two 14’s, and little or no Wisdom or Charisma. Should be fun! Because Dark Sun only has a few languages, and we are so focused in intelligence, the GM lets us take extra lores instead of languages.
Session one, we are escorting a caravan to Nibel or something. We’ve known each other for a few weeks now in-game. Caravan is attacked by elves, who avoid attacking me, but refuse to talk. We kill them easily. I mix it up with bombs, arrows, and my corset knife. The Rogue and Magus flank, and the Psychic provides ranged artillery. Easy fight.
Outside the city, we met the guy who is working on investigating the gates, a big dwarf with a gem in his forehead and psychic powers. He wants us to use a big party to slip through another gate in the city center. Now, we need to get inside the city. A city which has banned elves, despite having an elf market deep within it. I suggest Star Trek IV’ing my ears, but that won’t work because none of us is trained in disguise. We spend half an hour discussing it. Strat will distract the guards with a conversation on gladiator lore, and I will cling to the underbelly of the cart. We get in.
Session two is two weeks later, since we are switching between LANCER and Dark Sun. We find lodgings in the city, as they are crap, we keep watch during the night. During my watch, I steal a fruit. On the next day we investigate the city. The Rogue makes contact with another ratfolk, who doesn’t trust him because he’s too clean. The psychic looks at two temples of psychic power. The Magus scouts gladiator combat. I fail. We take a look at the gate, which is right next to the slave market. We decide to stealthily rush the gate during the parade.
Night of the parade goes very well, until the parade is attacked by Raptors from the Black. I crit my recall knowledge, so I learn they are a mishmash of 2e and 4e and PF2 rules. They have teleport 120 feet and AoOs, and weakness to cold iron. The Raptors are attacking the parade members (mostly slave!), but are just out of ray of frost range, and the rest of the party doesn’t want to engage, so we run on in.
Passing through the gate, we see an eye of a strange creature, which “chooses” to send us to a hilltop a day’s march from the city. Remember the Lores instead of languages rule? The Magus took Lore (far ones) or (GOO’s) or something. He rolls a natural 19 on his check and he knows the name of the eye we saw. The GM says this could change the course of the adventure and that’s where we stop.