I’ve been looking for guidance on what statblocks for typical preservers and defilers might look like at levels 1, 5, 10, 15, and 20. Unfortunately, the wizards in Faces of the Deadlands are necromants, so they do not preserve or defile.
Does the Pristine Tower team have any statblocks for generic NPCs like this?
Clarification: I want the statblocks for both preservers and defilers, so that I might see how they differ stereotypically.
The statblocks between a preserver and a defiler don’t differ at all in 3.5 - they’re both of the Wizard class.
It’s only the rules for casting spells that will change (in particular, the power of the spells, as defiler spells are more powerful than preserver spells) and, of course, the fact that nature is affected around the profaner.
If I go back to the Athas.org player’s manual for 3.5, it says on page 64:
“Unlike previous editions of Dark Sun, defilers and preservers are not implemented as separate classes. Instead, the labels “defiler” and “preserver” refer to how an arcane spellcaster chooses to gather energy for his spells. Whether to defile or not is a choice faced by all arcane spellcasters, though some defilers are so far gone that they can no longer not defile when spellcasting. For the full rules on defiling and preserving, see Chapter 6.”
For this reason, I invite you to read chapter 6 of the manual to understand how arcane magic has been handled for DarkSun 3.5 and how the differences between defiling and preserving are managed.
They might differ when considering feats and spells, as the Path Dexter/Sinister feats are limited to Preservers & Defilers respectively, and grant particular bonuses on certain schools of spells, so that’ll likely drive spell choices and supporting feat choices (a wizard with a bonus on evocation apells will be more likely to take Maximize Spell & Spell Focus (evocation) than SF (Diviniation)).
And that’s before a conversation about defiler Raze feats or PrC’s.
But, yes, a stripped down Preserver & Defiler are basically identical before choices start getting made.
It was these, among the others that you mentioned, that I was thinking. Arch Defiler PrC is quite a commitment to defling, and I wonder how common that is among defilers. Would path sinister/dexter be almost obligatory?
No more so than Empower Spell amongst Evokers ‐ yes? No? Varies by DM? 