My comment probably belongs under the Dark Sun Heresy thread, but I don’t use perservers or defilers in my DS. When I have sorcerers at all (sometimes I say there are psions only when I want a more Sword and Planet feel to my game) then sorcerer’s magic is not a list of discriminate packet of tidy spells but rather the conjuring of [Lovecraftian] Outer Beings to do their bidding – the more powerful the sorcerer the more powerful the creature they summon. The risks and downsides of being a sorcerer (and what makes the populace burn them at the stake when they find them):
- The creature summoned has a chance of turning on the caster
- Even if the creature obeys the summoner, once they have completed the task they may not return to their place of origin but instead stay to wreak further havoc on Athas
- The very process of contacting these creatures may drive the sorcerer mad
This way, instead of merely making the world more barren than it already is, it helps explain why in such a barren world there are so many nasties running around preying on everyone.