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The general rule of thumb is that, if you can create it with the Character Builder, subject to Dark-Sun-specific restrictions, the character is legal. If you're not using the character builder, use the standard chargen rules in the PHB (22-point-buy, 100gp for equipment), but also choose a Dark Sun character theme. The specific restrictions beyond this are:
1. STARTING LEVEL
All characters begin at level 1, with zero experience points. [This rule may be relaxed as the campaign progresses, but it's the law for now.]
2. ALTERNATIVE REWARDS
The Waste will use the alternative rewards system outlined in the DMG2 (p. 138). As magical items are scarce on Athas, all PCs will receive inherent bonuses to certain statistics, and "vanilla" magic items are basically unavailable. This means that you will receive the following automatic enhancement bonuses (cumulative):
Attack rolls and damage: +1 at levels 2, 7, 12, 17, 22, and 27
Defenses (AC, Fortitude, Reflex, and Will): +1 at levels 4, 9, 14, 19, 24, and 29
If you are using the Character Builder software, there is an option you can tick on the same screen where you set your character name to keep track of these bonuses.
While the Character Builder does not support this, your character will also gain +1d6 damage on a critical hit each time her attack bonus/damage advances, unless you have an item or boon that gives you a different critical effect.
3. PERMISSIBLE CLASSES
Divine classes are banned. Divine feats, boons, and other options are not available. The G-ds of Athas are silent.
Artificers are banned - magic is too distrusted and powerful on Athas for arcane magic to have become a science.
Assassins are currently banned, as the DMs have become convinced that the class is overpowered. We will be willing to reconsider this should the class be substantially altered (e.g., when the Essentials Assassin is finalized).
All other classes are available.
All feats, powers, and other options associated with a banned class are banned.
Note on Warlocks: Dark Pact Warlocks *are* permitted, though they do not revere Lolth (who does not exist) - their allegiance goes straight to dark powers of the earth and the demons who infect Athas' elemental chaos. The Dark Pact was not initiated by the Drow (who likewise do not exist on Athas) but is rumored to have its roots in Green Age demon worship. Infernal Pact Warlocks are also permitted - there is a legendary city of Devils in The Gray, trapped there when the gods were destroyed.
Swordmages, while not "core" material, are permitted. Like other arcane classes, they are rare and mistrusted.
4. PERMISSIBLE RACES
Dragonborn (Dray), Dwarf, Eladrin, Elf, Genasi, Gnoll, Goliath (Half-Giant), Half-Elf, Halfling, Human, Kalashtar, Minotaur, Mul, Thri-Kreen, Tiefling
- Dragonborn: Known on Athas as "Dray," they tell stories of being created as a master race but cast into the wastes by their creator. They are relatively rare and mistrusted as sorcerers and disreputable individuals who will lie, cheat, and make any deal for power.
- Dwarf: Proud and beardless, Athasian dwarves tend to devote their lives to a particular project, and take oaths very seriously. They once had a mighty civilization, but now are scattered through human lands, and have lost most of their culture - most are proudly illiterate, and no one alive on Athas can read the ancient Davek script.
- Eladrin: Long ago, the Eladrin ruled a nearby mystical realm known as the "Land Within the Winds." Now that Land is nearly gone and the few Eladrin that remain are wanderers. Most have renounced forever the arcane magic they blame for the destruction of their home.
- Elf: Hardy elves lope across the desert between the cities, bringing trade goods to all and trusted by none. You'll never see an elf ride unless she's very ill, but you'll see them do almost anything else to make a few coins.
- Genasi: Known as "half-elementals," Genasi are exceptionally, exceedingly rare, and their communities are generally found far from human lands, in environments only they can survive.
- Gnoll: Savage tribes of Gnolls are the scourge of isolated villages, as they can live off the land, or cannibalism when even that fails, and are driven by worship of mad primordial beings - perhaps the same that gave Tieflings their dark power. Some few Gnolls are able to control their bloodlust long enough to take up a life of bloody mercenary work.
- Goliath: "Half-Giants," as they are known on Athas, are the result of an ancient cross-breeding program by the Sorcerer-Kings (no one in particular takes the credit). They live mostly in the cities, but some feral tribes inhabit the Ringing Mountains. Half-Giants are known for their mercurial personalities - swinging from joviality to insane rage in a matter of seconds. Bred as a servitor race, many latch on to stronger personalities and imitate them.
- Half-Elf: Humans don't trust elves. Elves know that you can't trust *anyone* who isn't part of your tribe. Where does that leave half-elves?
- Halfling: Halflings are very rare in the civilized lands, but their tribes hunt the mystical cliff-top forests that ring the known world. An ancient race, they are known for worshipping primal spirits, extreme xenophobia, and cannibalism.
- Humans: The great human empire? You're looking at. Humans are the dominant race in most areas, and are the most common race to encounter among the ranks of the Sorcerer-Kings' Templars.
- Kalashtar: There are no true Kalashtar on Athas. However, some isolated sects of psionic masters have been known to produce strange children. These rare psionically-evolved individuals use Kalashtar stats, but would think of themselves as human.
- Minotaur: Minotaurs are rarely seen, but are sometimes encountered with giants. Whether they are some natural offshoot of the beast-headed giants or remnants of a less-successful beast-head version of the Half-Giant program, no one knows. Bull-headed minotaurs are the most common, but there are others (stats are the same).
- Mul: Half-Giants were magically conceived, but the Sorcerer-Kings have more brutal methods for creating these sterile half-breeds of Dwarf and Human. They are prized as soldiers and gladiators for combining the best traits of both races: anger, endurance, wit, strength and cruelty.
- Thri-Kreen: The mantis warriors hunt. The mantis warriors are unconcerned with your human cities. The mantis warriors enjoy when you give them things to hunt. The mantis warriors are loyal to the clutch. Are you my clutch?
- Tieflings: In a world where no one trusts anyone and love can seem a strange fable, the savage tieflings have the distinction of being nearly universally hated. Some tribes of the deep desert have made pacts with dark, evil powers of the wastes. For their loyalty, they have been transformed - Tieflings are haunted by the cost that will come due.
All other races are banned.
5. BACKGROUNDS
You may use backgrounds. Only General backgrounds or Dark Sun backgrounds are permitted.
6. FEATS AND OTHER OPTIONS
The following feats are banned:
- Feats specific to a banned class or race (including multiclass feats for banned classes).
- Feats with the Divine keyword.
- Feats specific to another campaign setting (e.g., Dragonmark feats), with the exception of Kalashtar-specific, Genasi-specific, and Dark Pact-specific feats. Use discretion here, and in doubt ask a DM - e.g., feats related to Dal Quor may need to be "reskinned" for Dark Sun Kalashtar.
Characters allowed to choose powers from another class (e.g., Half-Elves) may not choose powers from banned classes, or any power with the Divine keyword.
Paragon paths that include powers with the Divine keyword are banned.
7. WILD TALENTS
All PCs may have one wild talent, rolled randomly (you're on your honor to roll randomly).
8. STARTING FACTION AFFILIATION
If you choose the Templar theme for your character, you begin with a starting affiliation of Templar (Tyr): 1. If you choose the Veiled Alliance theme, you start with Veiled Alliance: 1. Otherwise, you starting affiliations are zero.
9. GEAR AND OTHER STUFF YOU CAN BUY
You may not start with any rituals that use Religion as the only key skill, or which create, purify, or otherwise provide food and/or water.
No one likes tracking ammunition. If you pay 5x the starting cost for some thrown weapon or type of ammunition, you count as having "many" of them, and we will not track ammunition from there.
1. STARTING LEVEL
All characters begin at level 1, with zero experience points. [This rule may be relaxed as the campaign progresses, but it's the law for now.]
2. ALTERNATIVE REWARDS
The Waste will use the alternative rewards system outlined in the DMG2 (p. 138). As magical items are scarce on Athas, all PCs will receive inherent bonuses to certain statistics, and "vanilla" magic items are basically unavailable. This means that you will receive the following automatic enhancement bonuses (cumulative):
Attack rolls and damage: +1 at levels 2, 7, 12, 17, 22, and 27
Defenses (AC, Fortitude, Reflex, and Will): +1 at levels 4, 9, 14, 19, 24, and 29
If you are using the Character Builder software, there is an option you can tick on the same screen where you set your character name to keep track of these bonuses.
While the Character Builder does not support this, your character will also gain +1d6 damage on a critical hit each time her attack bonus/damage advances, unless you have an item or boon that gives you a different critical effect.
3. PERMISSIBLE CLASSES
Divine classes are banned. Divine feats, boons, and other options are not available. The G-ds of Athas are silent.
Artificers are banned - magic is too distrusted and powerful on Athas for arcane magic to have become a science.
Assassins are currently banned, as the DMs have become convinced that the class is overpowered. We will be willing to reconsider this should the class be substantially altered (e.g., when the Essentials Assassin is finalized).
All other classes are available.
All feats, powers, and other options associated with a banned class are banned.
Note on Warlocks: Dark Pact Warlocks *are* permitted, though they do not revere Lolth (who does not exist) - their allegiance goes straight to dark powers of the earth and the demons who infect Athas' elemental chaos. The Dark Pact was not initiated by the Drow (who likewise do not exist on Athas) but is rumored to have its roots in Green Age demon worship. Infernal Pact Warlocks are also permitted - there is a legendary city of Devils in The Gray, trapped there when the gods were destroyed.
Swordmages, while not "core" material, are permitted. Like other arcane classes, they are rare and mistrusted.
4. PERMISSIBLE RACES
Dragonborn (Dray), Dwarf, Eladrin, Elf, Genasi, Gnoll, Goliath (Half-Giant), Half-Elf, Halfling, Human, Kalashtar, Minotaur, Mul, Thri-Kreen, Tiefling
- Dragonborn: Known on Athas as "Dray," they tell stories of being created as a master race but cast into the wastes by their creator. They are relatively rare and mistrusted as sorcerers and disreputable individuals who will lie, cheat, and make any deal for power.
- Dwarf: Proud and beardless, Athasian dwarves tend to devote their lives to a particular project, and take oaths very seriously. They once had a mighty civilization, but now are scattered through human lands, and have lost most of their culture - most are proudly illiterate, and no one alive on Athas can read the ancient Davek script.
- Eladrin: Long ago, the Eladrin ruled a nearby mystical realm known as the "Land Within the Winds." Now that Land is nearly gone and the few Eladrin that remain are wanderers. Most have renounced forever the arcane magic they blame for the destruction of their home.
- Elf: Hardy elves lope across the desert between the cities, bringing trade goods to all and trusted by none. You'll never see an elf ride unless she's very ill, but you'll see them do almost anything else to make a few coins.
- Genasi: Known as "half-elementals," Genasi are exceptionally, exceedingly rare, and their communities are generally found far from human lands, in environments only they can survive.
- Gnoll: Savage tribes of Gnolls are the scourge of isolated villages, as they can live off the land, or cannibalism when even that fails, and are driven by worship of mad primordial beings - perhaps the same that gave Tieflings their dark power. Some few Gnolls are able to control their bloodlust long enough to take up a life of bloody mercenary work.
- Goliath: "Half-Giants," as they are known on Athas, are the result of an ancient cross-breeding program by the Sorcerer-Kings (no one in particular takes the credit). They live mostly in the cities, but some feral tribes inhabit the Ringing Mountains. Half-Giants are known for their mercurial personalities - swinging from joviality to insane rage in a matter of seconds. Bred as a servitor race, many latch on to stronger personalities and imitate them.
- Half-Elf: Humans don't trust elves. Elves know that you can't trust *anyone* who isn't part of your tribe. Where does that leave half-elves?
- Halfling: Halflings are very rare in the civilized lands, but their tribes hunt the mystical cliff-top forests that ring the known world. An ancient race, they are known for worshipping primal spirits, extreme xenophobia, and cannibalism.
- Humans: The great human empire? You're looking at. Humans are the dominant race in most areas, and are the most common race to encounter among the ranks of the Sorcerer-Kings' Templars.
- Kalashtar: There are no true Kalashtar on Athas. However, some isolated sects of psionic masters have been known to produce strange children. These rare psionically-evolved individuals use Kalashtar stats, but would think of themselves as human.
- Minotaur: Minotaurs are rarely seen, but are sometimes encountered with giants. Whether they are some natural offshoot of the beast-headed giants or remnants of a less-successful beast-head version of the Half-Giant program, no one knows. Bull-headed minotaurs are the most common, but there are others (stats are the same).
- Mul: Half-Giants were magically conceived, but the Sorcerer-Kings have more brutal methods for creating these sterile half-breeds of Dwarf and Human. They are prized as soldiers and gladiators for combining the best traits of both races: anger, endurance, wit, strength and cruelty.
- Thri-Kreen: The mantis warriors hunt. The mantis warriors are unconcerned with your human cities. The mantis warriors enjoy when you give them things to hunt. The mantis warriors are loyal to the clutch. Are you my clutch?
- Tieflings: In a world where no one trusts anyone and love can seem a strange fable, the savage tieflings have the distinction of being nearly universally hated. Some tribes of the deep desert have made pacts with dark, evil powers of the wastes. For their loyalty, they have been transformed - Tieflings are haunted by the cost that will come due.
All other races are banned.
5. BACKGROUNDS
You may use backgrounds. Only General backgrounds or Dark Sun backgrounds are permitted.
6. FEATS AND OTHER OPTIONS
The following feats are banned:
- Feats specific to a banned class or race (including multiclass feats for banned classes).
- Feats with the Divine keyword.
- Feats specific to another campaign setting (e.g., Dragonmark feats), with the exception of Kalashtar-specific, Genasi-specific, and Dark Pact-specific feats. Use discretion here, and in doubt ask a DM - e.g., feats related to Dal Quor may need to be "reskinned" for Dark Sun Kalashtar.
Characters allowed to choose powers from another class (e.g., Half-Elves) may not choose powers from banned classes, or any power with the Divine keyword.
Paragon paths that include powers with the Divine keyword are banned.
7. WILD TALENTS
All PCs may have one wild talent, rolled randomly (you're on your honor to roll randomly).
8. STARTING FACTION AFFILIATION
If you choose the Templar theme for your character, you begin with a starting affiliation of Templar (Tyr): 1. If you choose the Veiled Alliance theme, you start with Veiled Alliance: 1. Otherwise, you starting affiliations are zero.
9. GEAR AND OTHER STUFF YOU CAN BUY
You may not start with any rituals that use Religion as the only key skill, or which create, purify, or otherwise provide food and/or water.
No one likes tracking ammunition. If you pay 5x the starting cost for some thrown weapon or type of ammunition, you count as having "many" of them, and we will not track ammunition from there.
Last edited by dhlevine on 2010-11-15, 17:27; edited 8 times in total (Reason for editing : updated feats, added wild talents, added notes on warlocks, updated races, added notes on rituals, allow swordmages, update on ammo, banned assassins, allowed gnolls, fixed omission of genasi from race list)
