prepping for Dark sun..

[reiphil]

In preparation for Dark sun, I will be cleaning this board of anything non relevant. Save anything you want to. THis will be cleared in a week!

[Joseph Barros]

I don't like clearing out old stories and characters, so rather than slash and burn I "archived" the old stuff into a sub board, so even if it is inactive it can still be referred to as necessary.

[reiphil]

thanks!

[reiphil]

Dark Sun Encounters will be starting in 2 weeks on WEDNESDAY at the guild. 6/9. Encounters start at 5pm.

Feel free to come by.

[kumatsu]

Hmm... that's finals week, but I should be able to come the following weeks assuming I stick around for the summer, which is my current plan.

[gabe]

Nice little intro to dark sun, and funny too! Not sure if it'll change much by release, but for a newcomer like me who has no experience with Dark Sun its pretty handy.

www.wizards.com/DnD/podcasts.aspx

Dark Sun podcast. WOOH.

[redbstrd]

If it's useful, I have almost the entire line of Dark Sun products (if not all of them) so far.

[reiphil]

May 28, 2010 11:22:16 GMT -8 redbstrd said:

If it's useful, I have almost the entire line of Dark Sun products (if not all of them) so far.

May or may not be. Not sure that they are going to and not going to bring back in the Dark Sun 4e PHB.

[frobones]

So many ways to make an "Arcane Archer"...

(Elf Rogue, Ranger, Skirmishing Warlord, Seeker) X (Wizard, Sorcerer, Artificer, Bard, Warlock)

20 different combinations o.O... I must try and decide which one is the most fun to play.

[reiphil]

May 28, 2010 1:00:53 GMT -8 gabe said:

Nice little intro to dark sun, and funny too! Not sure if it'll change much by release, but for a newcomer like me who has no experience with Dark Sun its pretty handy.

www.wizards.com/DnD/podcasts.aspx

Dark Sun podcast. WOOH.

I really recommend you guys listen to at least the first one. Talking about the background, how magic works, how magic is treated, etc.

For example how "Preservation" Magic is quite different than "Defiler" Magic, how practicing magic outside of the knowledge of the sorceror kings is illegal, etc.

[frobones]

Heh, I picked a fine time to take interest in the Wizard class.

[frobones]

Found this nice summary on webs about Dark Sun - Halflings seem really scary now:

Welcome to Athas: A Quick Player’s Primer

The world of the Campaign Setting is unique in several ways. Many familiar trappings of the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game are missing or turned on their heads. Athas is not a place of shining knights and robed wizards, of deep forests and divine pantheons. To venture over the sands of Athas is to enter a world of savagery and splendor that draws on different traditions of fantasy and storytelling. Simple survival beneath the deep red sun is often its own adventure.

Newcomers to Athas have many things to learn about the world, its people, and its monsters, but the following eight characteristics encapsulate the most important features of the DARK SUN campaign setting.

The World is a Desert: Athas is a hot, arid planet covered with endless seas of dunes, lifeless salt flats, stony wastes, rocky badlands, thorny scrublands, and worse. From the first moments of dawn, the crimson sun beats down from an olive-tinged sky. Temperatures routinely exceed 100 degrees by midmorning and can reach 130 degrees or more by late afternoon. The wind is like the blast of a furnace, offering no relief from the oppressive heat. Dust and sand borne on the breeze coat everything with yellow-orange silt. In this forbidding world, cities and villages exist only in a few oases or verdant plains. The world beyond these islands of civilization is a barren wasteland roamed by nomads, raiders, and hungry monsters.

The World is Savage: Life on Athas is brutal and short. Bloodthirsty raiders, greedy slavers, and hordes of inhuman savages overrun the deserts and wastelands. The cities are little better; each chokes in the grip of an immortal tyrant. The vile institution of slavery is widespread on Athas, and many unfortunates spend their lives in chains, toiling for brutal taskmasters. Every year hundreds of slaves, perhaps thousands, are sent to their deaths in bloody arena spectacles. Charity, compassion, kindness—these qualities exist, but they are rare and precious blooms. Only a fool hopes for such riches.

Metal is Scarce: Most arms and armor are made of bone, stone, wood, and other such materials. Mail or plate armor exists only in the treasuries of the sorcerer-kings. Steel blades are almost priceless, weapons that many heroes never see during their lifetimes.

Arcane Magic Defiles the World: The reckless use of arcane magic during ancient wars reduced Athas to a wasteland. To cast an arcane spell, one must gather power from the living world nearby. Plants wither to black ash, crippling pain wracks animals and people, and the soil is sterilized; nothing can grow in that spot again. It is possible to cast spells with care, avoiding any more damage to the world, but defiling is more potent than preserving. As a result, sorcerers, wizards, and other wielders of arcane magic are generally reviled and persecuted across Athas regardless of whether they preserve or defile. Only the most powerful spellcasters can wield arcane might without fear of reprisals.

Sorcerer-Kings Rule the City-States: Terrible defilers of immense power rule all but one of the city-states. These mighty spellcasters have held their thrones for centuries; no one alive remembers a time before the sorcerer-kings. Some claim to be gods, and some claim to serve gods. Some are brutal oppressors, where others are more subtle in their tyranny. The sorcerer-kings govern through priesthoods or bureaucracies of greedy, ambitious templars, lesser defilers who can call upon the kings’ powers.

The Gods are Silent: Long ago, when the planet was green, the brutal might of the primordials overcame the gods. Today, Athas is a world without deities. There are no clerics, no paladins, and no prophets or religious orders. In the absence of divine influence, other powers have come to prominence in the world. Psionic power is well known and widely practiced on Athas; even unintelligent desert monsters can have deadly psionic abilities. Shamans and druids call upon the primal powers of the world, which are often sculpted by the influence of elemental power.

Fierce Monsters Roam the World: The desert planet has its own deadly ecology. Many creatures that are familiar sights on milder worlds have long since died out or never existed at all. Athas has no cattle, swine, or horses; instead, people tend flocks of erdlus, ride on kanks or crodlus, and draw wagons with inixes and mekillots. Wild creatures such as lions, bears, and wolves are almost nonexistent. In their place are terrors such as the id fiend, the baazrag, and the tembo.

Familiar Races Aren’t What You Expect: Typical fantasy stereotypes don’t apply to Athasian heroes. In many DUNGEONS & DRAGONS settings, elves are wise, benevolent forest-dwellers who guard their homelands from intrusions of evil. On Athas, elves are a nomadic race of herders, raiders, peddlers, and thieves. Halflings aren’t amiable river-folk; they’re xenophobic headhunters and cannibals who hunt and kill trespassers in their mountain forests. Goliaths—or half-giants, as they are commonly known—are brutal mercenaries that serve as elite guards and enforcers for the sorcerer-kings and their templars in many city-states.

[kore]

Here is a summary of arcane magic in 4e Dark Sun (sourced below):

Arcane Magic

On Athas, arcane magic draws on the vitality of plants, animals, and minor primal spirits. But if a practitioner draws too deeply, the life form fueling the spell might be damaged or destroyed. This act of destruction is called defiling. The greater the spell, the more widespread the damage is. Defiling is a major cause for the world’s foul condition. Other power sources do not have this corrupting effect on the environment.

An Athasian spellcaster has a choice between defiling and preserving. Defiling is easy and intoxicating, but it destroys or damages the life from which a spell draws power. Preserving is difficult and requires care, and it avoids harming the world around the caster. When you begin as a spellcaster, you might dabble in both arts, or you could let your morals or needs dictate your choices. Eventually, your use or rejection of defiling defines you as a defiler or a preserver.

Defiling and Preserving

When you use any arcane power, you can choose to defile, destroying mundane plant life within at least 1 square of you. When you use a daily arcane attack power, the damage to the world extends out a number of squares equal to half the level of the power you use. This destruction does not normally affect creatures or terrain, though defiled squares might become defiled terrain (described in the Dark Sun Creature Catalog) at the Dungeon Master’s discretion. You are considered to be preserving unless you choose to defile.

If you have at least one arcane daily attack power, you gain the arcane defiling power.

Arcane Defiling: Arcane Feature
You draw upon the vitality of nearby life to fuel your magic, heedless of the harm you cause to the land and your allies.
At-Will
Arcane, Necrotic
Free Action
Personal
Trigger: You make an attack roll or a damage roll as part of an arcane daily attack power. Effect: You can reroll the triggering roll but must use the second result. In addition, each ally (willing or unwilling) within 20 squares of you takes necrotic damage equal to half his or her healing surge value. This damage ignores immunities and cannot be reduced in any way. Special: You can use this effect once for any arcane daily attack power you use, affecting any single attack roll or the damage roll for that power.

The Defiler’s Path

The easiest and most expedient path to power is defiling. Characters can use arcane defiling to alter the outcome of their most powerful spells by ruthlessly drawing vitality from nearby life forms. Many defilers destroy their surroundings even when performing minor spells. They relish the rush of power and the intimidating effect.

Defiling transforms small plants and vital nutrients in the soil into ash. Larger plants blacken and become brittle, often dying days later. The residue of these destroyed life forms is inert, leaving defiled lands barren and scarred for decades. Creatures with whom a defiler shares a mental or an emotional connection, such as allies or slaves, are wracked with pain as a defiler draws power. The most powerful defilers can use the act of defiling as a weapon, harming those with whom they share no connection.

The Preserver’s Path

Preservers believe that preserving is its own reward, given the state of the world. Through discipline, a preserver draws arcane power carefully instead of tearing it from the environment. Thus, a preserver can use spells without harming plant life. After finishing a spell, a preserver returns any excess energy to the environment. The most committed preservers eventually give up the ability to defile.

Disguising Arcane Powers

Arcane magic is illegal and can attract hostility, so a spellcaster often needs to conceal its use. When you use an arcane power without using arcane defiling, you can disguise the magic as another type of power, such as primal or psionic. Most people can’t distinguish between types of magic. The Dungeon Master might require a Bluff check to disguise arcane magic when it is performed in the presence of enemies familiar with psionic or arcane power, such as templars, defilers, or nobles. If a spellcaster is defiling, he or she cannot disguise the arcane magic because of the visible effect on the environment.

www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/dramp/2010June

[frobones]

Just for Phil...

Taken from Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mul_(fantasy_race)#Mul):

Muls are the sterile, mixed-breed offspring of humans and dwarves in the Dark Sun campaign setting. The term mul is derived from "mule" which are sterile hybrids, and as such the word is meant to be pronounced in the same manner (rhyming with "rule" rather than "dull").

[Joseph Barros]

May 28, 2010 16:16:17 GMT -8 reiphil said:

May 28, 2010 11:22:16 GMT -8 redbstrd said:

If it's useful, I have almost the entire line of Dark Sun products (if not all of them) so far.

May or may not be. Not sure that they are going to and not going to bring back in the Dark Sun 4e PHB.

It will likely be like Forgotten Realms in which the time line is advanced and there are new developments and small tweaks.