(A)D&D » D&D 4e - Darksun - News and Background

Ich eröffne mal dieses Topic, damit jeder, der will, aktuelle News und Hintergründe zu dem neuen Darksun Setting für D&D 4e zum Besten geben kann.

Mit einem Ausschnitt eines aktuellen D&DI-Artikels möchte ich hier mal beginnen. Es wird in sieben Sätzen erklärt, wie man sich die Welt Athas vorstellen kann:

Athas in Seven Sentences

The world of the Dark Sun setting is unique. This is not a world of shining knights and robed wizards, of deep forests and holy shrines. Athas draws on different traditions of fantasy storytelling; simple survival beneath the crimson sun is often its own adventure. With that in mind, here are the seven most important things you need to know about the Dark Sun setting:

The world is a desert. Athas is a hot, arid world covered with vast stretches of desert—endless seas of dunes, stony wastes, thorny scrublands, and worse. In this forbidding world, cities and villages can only exist in a few oases or verdant plains. Beyond these islands of civilization is a barren wasteland roamed by nomads, raiders, and hungry monsters.

The world is savage. Life is brutal and short in Athas. The vile institution of slavery is widespread in Athas, and hundreds, perhaps thousands, are sent to their deaths every year in bloody arena spectacles. Metal is quite scarce. Arms and armor are often made of bone, stone, wood, and other such materials, because steel is priceless.

Arcane magic defiles the world. Athas was reduced to a wasteland by the reckless use of arcane magic in ancient wars. To cast an arcane spell, one must gather power from the living world around. Plants wither to black ash, crippling pain wracks animals and people, and the soil itself is sterilized; nothing can grow in that spot again.

Terrible sorcerer-kings rule the cities. The city-states of Athas are ruled by defilers of immense power. These mighty spellcasters have held their thrones for centuries. The sorcerer-kings govern through templars, a class of officials and lesser defilers who can call upon the kings’ powers.

The gods of Athas are silent. Athas is a world without gods. There are no clerics, no paladins, no prophets or religious orders. In the absence of divine influence, people have turned to other sources of power. Psionic power is well known and widely practiced in Athas, while shamans and druids call upon the primal powers of the world—even though the primal spirits of Athas are often wild and vengeful.

Fierce and deadly monsters populate the world. Athas is home to its own deadly ecology. Cattle, horses, camels—none of these animals can be found in Athas. Instead, people tend flocks of erdlus, ride on kanks or crodlus, and draw wagons with inixes and mekillots. Wild creatures such as lions, bears, or wolves are almost nonexistent. In their place are terrors such as the id beast, the so-ut, or the tembo.

Familiar races aren’t what you expect. Many of the fantasy stereotypes don’t apply to Athasian heroes. 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 anyone foolish enough to venture into their montane forests. Each of the major races has adapted to Athas in new and unexpected ways.

> Returning to Athas, Part 1
Design & Development
By Richard Baker and Rodney Thompson

Gleich ein Kommentar dazu von meiner Seite: Insgesamt werden die wichtigsten Aspekte Athas' gut dargestellt. Allerdings fehlen mir Angaben zu den Elemente-Klerikern, bzw. werden diese sogar verneint. Das ist für mich ein wichtiger Aspekt, der mir in der 4e Adaption fehlen würde. Außerdem wird bzgl. Magie nur Schändermagie genannt. Ich hoffe, dass Bewahrer weiterhin berücksichtigt werden.

Elementarpriester wird es definitv geben, das kann ich euch versprechen. Ebenso verhält es sich mit Bewahrern.

Im aktuellen Dragon Magazine wird die Frage der arkanen Magie auf Athas geklärt. Dem Zauberwirker steht es frei, ob er Bewahrer oder Schänder sein will. Er kann sich jederzeit dazu entscheiden Schändermagie zu wirken, wobei der Einsatz einer Daily Power auch einen regeltechnischen Vorteil mit sich bringt.
Desweiteren kann der Zauberwirker seine Kraftquelle auch tarnen und z.B. als psionische oder andere Kraft "wirken". Dazu könnte ein Bluff allerdings notwendig werden, wenn ein Gegenüber der Kraftquelle, als deren Ursprung der Zauber getarnt wurde, mächtig ist.

Doch hier der Auszug aus dem Dragon Magazine #388:

Arcane Magic on Athas
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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.

[size=135]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.

Und noch mehr News...

edit: Datei entfernt. Ist defekt.

Bei mir sagt er bei8m Entpacken immer "die Datei ist fehlerhaft".
Könnt ihr mal testen ob sie bei euch auch Probleme macht?

Kaldur

Stimmt. Wenn ich Zeit habe, werde ich sie ersetzen.

Hier ein neuer Versuch, als PDF scheint's auch zu funktionieren:

Da das Darksun Campaign Setting nun offiziell draußen ist, schließe ich diesen Thread.