Four new classes, each dripping with Dark Sun flavor have dropped on D&D Beyond. Will a campaign setting be coming soon?
Dark Sun is a much-loved and very grim fantasy setting. One of two campaign settings cooked up during the height of 2nd Edition, when the creative team was allowed to basically do what they wanted without upper management getting involved. Which is why Dark Sun hasn’t seen the light of day since a few 3.x books. Until now, when it rears its wasteland fantasy head in a batch of Apocalyptic Subclasses in an Unearthed Arcana.
The New Apocalyptic Subclasses Unearthed Arcana Heralds A Dark Sun Delve
One of the things that makes Dark Sun stand out so much is its dark, apocalyptic take on typical fantasy fare. If you’re unfamiliar with it, it’s a post-apocalyptic world, ravaged by magic. One of the key pillars of Dark Sun is that magic is destructive, reviled, and feared by most people.
Which is going to be interesting, considering that in 5.5E, literally every single class has at least one magic option in one of the subclasses. Fighters have Eldritch Knights. Rogues have Arcane Tricksters. It will be interesting to see how the setting tackles the new rules.
The reason magic is so feared is because in the world of Dark Sun, magic leeches life. Known as defilers, mages can suck the life out of nearby vegetation (which is why most of the world is a desert), and even out of nearby people if they’re powerful enough. And the potent Sorcerer-Kings are powerful enough to have left the world a wasteland where only the cruel survive.
Also the halflings eat people. But why mention Dark Sun at all? Because all four of the new Apocalyptic Subclasses unveiled in the latest Unearthed Arcana are dripping with that campaign setting’s flavor. It’s enough to make you think that there’s some kind of campaign expansion in the works – much like the now-delayed Eberron: Forge of the Artificer.
And with the Forgotten Realms books coming in a couple of months, as well, so far WotC’s track record of taking playtest subclasses and then finding a book for them is pretty good. The Cartomancer (an Unearthed Arcana creation), as well as the whole spate of “Forgotten Realms Subclasses” have all made the jump from playtest to published so far.
It’s just a matter of waiting for the right book. And while there are only four “apocalyptic subclasses” in the latest Unearthed Arcana, it bears mentioning that Dark Sun is more than just a setting for apocalyptic subclasses.
It’s also the campaign setting that reinvigorated and more officially codified Psionics for D&D, which bodes well for the Psionic Subclasses Unearthed Arcana from earlier this year.
Okay But What Are The Actual Subclasses Though
Right, on to the subclasses themselves. We’ll be covering each of these in greater detail. But there are four apocalyptic subclasses all in all that hit home the themes of Dark Sun. Starting with the Circle of Preservation Druid. This subclass highlights the thin sliver of hope in Dark Sun – those who use magic to try to revitalize the ruined world.
The Gladiator Fighter, on the other hand, is a classic fantasy archetype. You can see a lot of gladiator types in the artwork for Dark Sun, in fact. This class is as much performer as they are combatant – this isn’t the first time the D&D team has tried to tackle a gladiator/brawler type in the 5E ecosystem, but hopefully this one sticks.
Meanwhile, the Defiled Sorcery subclass for Sorcerers is as Dark Sun as it gets. These are the defilers. They draw on life energy to fuel their own spells, using their own hit dice or… someone else’s. What could possibly go wrong when you’re playing as one of the main problems of the campaign setting? But that’s a big part of what makes Dark Sun, Dark Sun.
Finally the Sorcerer-King Patron for Warlocks lets you gain eldritch power from the tyrannical masters of the world. In the old lore, some of these Sorcerer-Kings are draconic beings that command magic beyond that of mere mortals. Whatever the case is, these Warlocks gain a portion of the terror and tyranny that transformed the world of Athas.
Check out the Apocalytpic Subclasses Unearthed Arcana today!
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