5e D&D DS Homebrew

Rules 5th Edition D&D
#21

I’m rather hesitant on paladins. Their core concept - swearing an oath to a higher ideal, setting aside personal concerns to serve a greater cause - is very much at odds with Dark Sun’s brutal struggle for survival. Warlocks make perfect sense to me, since Sorcerer Kings make perfect Otherwordly Patrons - they’re not gods, but they grant power. I’ve made archetypes fitting the different Sorcerer Kings, or at least my interpretations of them. Half of all the templar’s additional spells match to give them a sense of continuity.

The one thing that would have gotten me interested in 4e was Dark Sun, but it was a bit late to really get in interested. I agree that hitting the archetypes is important, but 4e’s structure is so different that it doesn’t really compare with the example IMHO, but the goal should be the same.

Using the 2e/3.x smash up that 5e is, Warlock is perfect as a class for Templar, with backgrounds filling in the pieces that you’re referring to. Noble or acolyte for a traditional Templar. “Moon Priest” is the Warlock Archetype for Tectuktitlay (I’ve typed that name enough in the past few days that I can remember how to spell it, lol), and I assigned them Moon Beam as a 2nd level expanded spell option with this in mind. Backgrounds cover the rest - a royal defiler would be Wizard with the Defiler archetype and the either Noble or Sage background. Same goal, but a different system or a different route.

#22

Screw the Paladin core concept, this is Dark Sun: shave that Dwarf’s beard and turn the idea on its ear.

Keep the basic framework and reskin the rest!

#23

I may do just that, but it’s outside the scope of this document. “Bring Dark Sun to 5e” means mostly sticking with archetypes with no real changes to the base classes themselves. I would really like a total conversion for Dark Sun, and there are some people who’ve made them, but I figured that starting small before going big is a better, and, more importantly IMHO, more accessible way to get people familiar with 5e into Dark Sun.

The dwarf is a perfect example. The dwarf is a mutant, hairless creature, but it’s still recognizable as a dwarf to some degree. They’re still, at their base, the stoic, enduring, “children of stone” that dwarves are generally portrayed as, but warped in significant ways. Elves are still carefree and whimsical, but they aren’t the good-natured forest guardians typically imagined. In fact, one could even imagine a more traditional elf from the Green Age that become Athas’ modern elves after completely failing to defend their lands and their way of life.

Carrying this over to classes, Clerics are still priests of a faith, but instead of gods, they’re elemental shamans who worship an element that has no significant dogma or ideology, instead being grounded in the physical world. Mystics are imbued with inner power, just like Sorcerers normally are, but instead of being a special creature with with some unusual external magic imbedded in it, Mystics learn to harness a power that is ubiquitous in creatures on Athas and almost anyone can learn, with training. Warlocks still receive tutelage and power from powerful, inhuman patrons, but instead of strange, eldritch creatures locked on other worlds or in other planes, they are the mighty rulers of their cities and physical present, only a few miles away.

What you’re describing is more like thri-kreen to me. I love thri-kreen, but there’s no existing base to lead people to them, unlike elves or dwarves. There’s no real way to take the base Paladin class and preserve the core for Dark Sun. However, I am interested in the idea of using the Paladin framework for a Psychic Warrior base class, and it’d be an easier conversion than turning the Bard into an Athasian Bard. I posted a write up for an Athasian bard class in this forum, and feedback is welcome. It’s notably different than the original Athasian bard with its psionics, but given how common psionics are, I didn’t feel that it was a problem, and its powers are bent to poison, mental manipulation, subterfuge, and trickery.

#24

What I mostly meant by that post was yes, tear down Paladin and make it Psi-Warrior (and maybe War Templar, if you want).

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#25

I’ve made some updates and created a cleaner, more professional version with the help of Home Brewery:

https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/FngNifD6NZN3

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