Introduction

Beneath a crimson sun lie wastelands of majestic desolation and cities of cruel splendor, where sandal clad heroes battle ancient sorcery and terrible monsters. This is Athas, the world of the DARK SUN campaign setting, a dying planet of savagery and desolation. Life hangs by a thread in this barren land, it is unforgiving to the weak, and now it is up to you to write your own story in blood and glory.

8. Familiar races and classes aren't what you expect

Typical fantasy stereotypes don't apply to Athasian heroes. In many fantasy settings, elves are wise, benevolent forest-dwellers who guard their homelands from intrusions of evil. On Athas, elves are nomadic herders, raiders, peddlers, and thieves. Halflings aren't amiable river-folk; they're xenophobic headhunters and cannibals who hunt and kill trespassers in their mountain forests. New races thrive here: the monstrous half-giant, the insectoid thri-kreen, the half-breed mul. There are no paladins, bards serve as assassins, and the mental force of psions can be found even amongst the lowliest beggar and slave.

Dwarf Names

Names are granted by the clan leader, the uhrnius, after completing one's first focus. Dwarves do not have a surname and like many on Athas prefer just one name, using a town (Drog of Kled) if distinction is needed.

Male Names: Baranus, Biirgaz, Bontar, Brul, Caelum, Caro, Daled, Drog, Fyra, Ghedran, Gralth, Gram, Jurgan, Lyanius, Murd, Nati, Portek, Rkard, Sa’ram, Sult, Veso.

Female Names: Ardin, Erda, Ghava, Greshin, Gudak, Lazra, N’kadir, Palashi, Vashara.

Dwarf traits

Dwarves are nonmagical by nature and tend to shun arcane casters. Their wardenss lean towards steady earth and avoid chaotic air, and they take to psionics with a vengeance. Dwarves leave villages at times to further a focus and to search for ancient dwarven ruins. They are highly prized as mercenaries because once contracted, their loyalty will never change.

Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2, and you choose to increase your Strength or Wisdom by 1.

Age. Dwarves mature around age 35 and live up to 250 years, though the dangers of Athas often claim them well before this time.

Alignment. Dwarves tend lawful and good to neutral. Their devotion to an established hierarchy in villages means they tend to follow rules even to the point of ridicule.

Size. A typical dwarf stands about 4 ½ to 5 feet tall and weighs 200 pounds. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 feet. You are not slowed by wearing heavy armor.

Darkvision. Despite living aboveground, your heritage allows you to see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if in bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Dwarven Focus. When making an ability check or saving throw directly related to your Focus, you are considered proficient.

Dwarven Resilience. You have Advantage on poison saves and resistance to poison damage.

Tool Proficiency. You gain proficiency with the artisan's tool of your choice: smith's tools, brewer's supplies, or mason's tools.

Dwarven Toughness. Your hit point maximum increases by 1 and it increases by 1 every time you gain a level.

Languages. You can speak Common and Dwarvish. Your character might be able to read Dwarvish with an appropriate background. Dwarves keep a long and proud oral history, and they have an old written language mostly used for writing history that they will never share to outsiders. Their native language is deep and throaty, full of guttural sounds and harsh exclamations that cause most non-dwarves to get raw throats if spoken for long.

Elf Names

Naming of young runners is a sacred responsibility, given after the first interesting thing the child does while learning to run. With the right name, an elf child can grow to greatness, but the wrong name may cause one to vanish in the wastes. A child’s name can be changed because of an extraordinary deed performed during the rite of passage. Elves take the surname of their tribe.

Male Names: Botuu (Water Runner), Coraanu (First Elf, the Warrior Thief), Dukkoti (Wind Fighter), Haaku (Two Daggers), Lobuu (First Runner), Mutami (Laughs at Sun), Nuuko (Sky Hunter), Traako (Metal Stealer).

Female Names: Alaa (Bird Chaser), Ekee (Wild Dancer), Guuta (Singing Sword), Hukaa (Fire Leaper), Ittee (Dancing Bow), Nuuta (Quiet Hunter), Utaa (Laughing Moon)

Tribe (Clan) Names: Clearwater Tribe (Fireshaper, Graffyon, Graystar, Lightning, Onyx, Sandrunner, Seafoam, Silverleaf, Songweaver, Steeljaw, Wavedivers, Windriders clans); Night Runner Tribe (Dark Moons, Full Moons, Half Moons, Lone Moons, New Moons, Quarter Moons clans); Shadow Tribe; Silt Stalker Tribe (Fire Bow, Fire Dagger, Fire Sword clans); Silver Hand Tribe; Sky Singer Tribe (Dawnchaser, Dayjumper, Twilightcatcher clans); Swiftwing Tribe; Water Hunter Tribe (Raindancer, Poolrunner, Lakesinger clans); Wind Dancer Tribe (Airhunter, Breezechaser clans)

Elf traits

Elves tend to any profession and trade that let's them act freely. This makes them poor students of the rigorous study of psionics, and rarely does anything but Air draw them to become a Warden.

Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2, and you choose to increase your Intelligence or Charisma by 1.

Age. Elves reach physical maturity at the same rate as humans but must pass the tribe’s rites of initiation before being recognized as adults, typically around 20. Elves can live to 140 years.

Alignment. Elves tend chaotic because of their love of freedom, variety and self-expression. They tend neutrality, though they tend good (self-sacrifice) when the tribe is concerned. Although they will steal everything in sight, they are not murderous and avoid unnecessary violence.

Size. A typical elf stands about 6 1/2 to 7 1/2 feet tall and around 175 pounds. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 35 feet.

Burst of Speed. Your heritage allows you to move in sprints. When you move on your turn in combat, you can double your speed until the end of the turn. Once you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you move 0 feet on one of your turns.

Elven Resilience. You are conditioned to the extreme weather of the wastelands and have advantage on all saves against extreme heat and cold.

Mask of the Wild. You can attempt to hide even when you are only lightly obscured by terrain, weather, or other natural phenomena.

Elf Run. You add your Constitution score to the number of miles you can travel in a day. You have advantage on forced march saves.

Languages. You can speak Common and Elvish. Each tribe has a distinct dialect. The language is filled with short, clipped words, run with a rapid staccato pace difficult for others to pick up. They disdain the slow, tedious languages of others but condescend to learn Common. Elves that learn other tongues hide it to gain advantage.

Roleplaying an Edhel

You don’t consider yourself a separate race. You pride yourself on your self-reliance and refuse patronizing offers to help you. You'll do fine on your own, thank you very much. Take any chance to show humans you're just as talented as them or elves you're just as clever. If others view your attempts as irrational, well, they get to be wrapped in the blankets of racial acceptance. You're left out in the cold. Praise should be viewed with suspicion because no one hands that out without an angle in mind. Other edhel don't interest you by default. Just because they have the same ears doesn't mean you suddenly have anything in common. In an adventuring group, you don't need charity and don't need someone else to cook your food or take your watch.
This does not mean you'll never form a lasting friendship. But it's hard to get over a lifetime of being on the outside and being constantly reminded of that. This is why you feel affinity with the beast. They're simple. They don't judge, and they don't act with malice.

Goliath

“Mind of a child, strength of three grown men. I’ve seen a goliath tear the walls out of a building because he wanted a better look at the tattoos on a mul inside.” – Daro, human trader

Legend holds in ages past a sorcerer king or queen used wizardry to beget a union of giant and human to make a race of powerful slaves. Whatever the truth, the goliath (half-giant) race has thrived, able to reproduce with one another, and are sought out as gladiators, soldiers, guards and mercenaries across the tablelands.

Because of their artificial origins, there is no goliath culture, tradition, or homeland. They readily imitate customs and cultures of those they admire or associate with. They are very imitative, eager to fit into a world that is not built for their size. One observing a dwarf quarry might watch for a time then try his hand at it, moving on if he does not excel at it.

Goliaths on Athas

A goliath is indeed a half-giant. It is not the competitive, mountain-dwelling, pebble-skinned goliath of standard D&D settings.

Big and strong

Goliaths are enormous individuals, generally 10 to 12 feet high and weighing in upwards of 1600 pounds. Though they have human features, these tend to be exaggerated in some ways. Skin tones range from light tan to deep brown, like sand. They vary in hair color and tend to wear whatever hair style or fashion they currently are emulating. Absent that, their giant heritage makes for thick hair amenable to braids. There is no economy for goliath stature, so their clothing would likely consist of several human-sized articles of clothing stitched together. A tavern would charge extra for filling enough plates for a goliath sized appetite, and any armor would have to be specially crafted. Most nobles, templars, and merchant houses feel the investment is worth the return when they have 1500 pounds of enforcement at their command.

Impressionable

The strongest warriors on Athas, goliaths seem content to dwell in humanity’s shadow and drift towards charismatic leaders of all races. For example, if a goliath village is near elven raiders, they are likely to emulate the guerilla tactics of the elves. However, this innate need to fit in is more than a whim. It is inherent to the goliath's creation. A goliath farmer's village might be raided, and he may soon adopt the morals of the invaders because they seem to know what they're doing.

Alignment on a Whim

One axis of your alignment will be fixed and the other subject to change based on influential events or persons around you that you find a reason to emulate or admire. You will try out their morals or philosophies and perhaps stick with it for a time if you're good at it. This does not mean goliaths are unreliable - the influence must be strong for them to change, and they have a core philosophy that is fairly unchanging. A goliath soldier might see a dwarven cleric of the sun and be impressed by her unflappable devotions. He may try shaving himself and praying to the sun until he finds he cannot stare at the sun without hurting his eyes and cannot make fire appear.

This can make role-playing a goliath a challenge.

Goliath Names

Slaves are given human names while free goliaths will take names based off the adopted culture. See other races for name suggestions.

Goliath traits

Goliaths inherit a solid balance of their giant and human lineages.

Ability Score Increase. You have 4 points to split between your Strength and Constitution scores. Your Strength score may reach a maximum of 22 instead of 20. Your Intelligence and Wisdom scores are decreased by 2 each.

Age. Goliaths mature around 24 years of age and can live up to 220 years.

Alignment. Your alignment may fluctuate as described in Alignment on a Whim. You begin with one fixed alignment axis (good-neutral-evil or lawful-neutral-chaotic) that will never change. The other axis may change depending on who you are emulating. Subject to DM approval, when imitating a charismatic leader, select an appropriate Ideal or Flaw and replace your current one. If the new Ideal is tied to a non-fixed axis of your alignment, change that aspect of your alignment.

Size. A typical goliath stands 10 to 12 feet tall and weighs 1,600 pounds. You occupy a 10-foot by 10-foot space and have a 10 foot reach. Your size is Large.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 35 feet.

Giant Body. You cannot wear ordinary gear sized for smaller creatures such as boots, gloves, and backpacks. All clothing, armor, meals, and lodging cost double for you.

Large Hands. You may wield versatile and two-handed melee weapons with one hand.

Colossal Endurance. Your immense body mass allows you to occasionally shrug off injury. When you take damage, you can use your reaction to reduce that damage by your Constitution score. After using this trait, you cannot use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Giant’s Toughness. Your hit point maximum increases by 2 and it increases by 2 every time you gain a level.

Languages. You can speak Common.

Hin traits

Hin traits reflect their savage nature.

Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2 and your Wisdom score by 1.

Age. Hin reach adulthood at the same rate as humans and live to be about 120 years old.

Alignment. Hin tend towards law and neutrality. Uncomfortable with change, hin tend to rely on intangible constants, such as racial identity, family, clan ties and personal honor. Hin generally have little understanding of the morals of the big people.

Size. Hin average around 3 ½ feet tall and 50 to 60 pounds. Your size is Small.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 feet.

Hin Nimbleness. You can move through the space of any creature that is of larger size than yours.

Savage Attacks. When you score a critical hit with a melee attack, you can roll one of the weapon's damage dice one additional time and add it to the extra damage of the critical hit.

Fury of the Small. When you damage a creature at least one size larger than you with an attack or spell, you can cause the attack to add extra damage equal to your level. Once you use this trait, you cannot use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Languages. You can speak Hin and Common. Your culture uses drawings and tales rather than a written language. Hin rarely teach others their language, but some individuals of the Tablelands have learned the wild speech. Hin found in the Tablelands learn Common to survive, but it is generally unknown past the Ringing Mountains.

Mul names

Muls are given names, and for gladiators, Draji names with harsh tones are favored to strike fear. Lacking families, a mul might use a place for a surname, such as “Mersten of Nibenay.”

Male Names: Aram, Athalak, Borthomar, Bost, Darok, Darus, Durn, Eben, Erekard, Gard, Harask, Marok, Morg, Rikard, Sanozar, Tomak, Uskan, Zedath, Zorus.

Female Names: Aisa, Aivel, Brithis, Callia, Demosis, Elina, Faivel, Himithis, Laivi, Mersten, Narisel, Raina, Reshel, Saditha, Tirshel, Uisel, Zerima.

Mul traits

The mul is bred for physical attributes but can inherit a parent's quick mind. A mul cannot be an arcane caster, having inherited their dwarven heritage.

Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2 and your Constitution and Wisdom by 1.

Age. A mul ages like humans, tending to reach adulthood a year or two year earlier and given their lot in life rarely reach the age of 85.

Alignment. Muls tend towards neutrality with respect to good and evil, but run the gamut with respect to law or chaos. Many lawful muls adapt well to the indignities of slavery, playing the game for the comforts that they can win as valued slaves. A few ambitious lawful muls use the respect won from their fellow slaves to organize rebellions and strike out for freedom. Chaotic muls, on the other hand, push their luck and their value as slaves to the breaking point, defying authority, holding little fear for the lash.

Size. A typical mul is 7 feet tall and weighs over 250 pounds. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Relentless Endurance. When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead. Once you use that trait, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.

Inexhaustible. You have advantage on Forced March saves and all saves to resist non-magical exhaustion. If you spend 1 minute focusing yourself, you can remove one level of non-magical exhaustion. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.

Languages. You can speak Common plus a language of your choice.

Ssurran

As lizard folk of the desert, they have adapted to the heat of the Athasian day and are active even during the blazing mid-day heat. Ssurran are usually found in nomadic tribes or settlements, and infrequently in the city-states.

Reptilian Mindset

As a people, they tend to be practical-minded survivalists, and they do not differentiate between male and female outside of reproduction. Ssurran thought and desires are driven by a different set of principles than those of warm-blooded creatures, and their emotional spectrum largely revolves around taking cues from other races. If a ssurran and a human see a megapide, the human will feel fear and react accordingly. The ssaurran will see that the megapide is something dangerous and to be avoided if possible. The ssuarran is not afraid of the monster, it understands that it is fearsome and react accordingly. They do not get 'angry' at another creature, they are aggressive toward prey they want to eat, creatures that threaten them, etc. 'Pleasure' is safety, security and access to more situations that are helpful or benign.

It's no wonder that the warm-blooded races describe the ssurran as lacking emotion and empathy. Everything is a matter of utility and survival. To the ssurran, a fallen comrade was once a fierce warrior, but now the body is a source of food. However, ssurran recognize and respect the emotions of others and know that even though the fallen mate is more useful as meat, this would provokes aggression in the other humanoids and makes them less helpful in battle.

Ssurran Names

Ssurran tend to use names granted by the tribe that are descriptive of one's deeds or actions. For example, Ketesk may translate to 'sand-colored', a name given to a tribe member who's role is to lie just beneath the sand before ambushing an animal.

Ssurran Names: Achuak, Aryte, Baeshra, Darastrix, Garurt, Irthos, Jhank, Kethend, Korth, Sosj, Liztrix, Mirik, Othokent, Sauriv, Throddin, Thurkear, Usk, Valignat, Vargach, Vethika, Vyth.

Ssurran Traits

Your ssurran character has the following traits:

Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2 and your Wisdom score increases by 1.

Age. Ssurran reach maturity by 14 years and rarely live longer than 60 years.

Thri-kreen names

The Kreen language is very different from those of the other intelligent races. They have no lips or tongues, and so cannot make the same sounds humanoids make. Kreen language is made up of clicks, pops, or grinding noises. They do not distinguish male and female names.

Names: Cha'ka, Chuka-tet, Drasna, Drik-chkit, Hakka, Ka'cha, Ka'tho, Klik-chaka'da, Lakta-cho, Qhak'cha, Qhik-ik-cha, Sa'Relka, T'Chai, Tak-tha.

Thri-kreen traits

Kreen physiology gives it several natural advantages that compensate for not being able to utilize items commonly worn by other races.

Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2, and your Wisdom score increases by 1.

Age. A thri-kreen is born from an egg and becomes fully mature at 6 years. They demonstrate no effect of aging until they reach the end of their life cycle around 30 years. Sensing their death, such thri-kreen go on a final hunt.

Alignment. Most Thri‐kreen are chaotic, acting in whatever fashion benefits the pack mentality, and this rarely leads them to philosophies of good and evil.

Size. A typical thri-kreen is 7 feet tall, 11 feet long, and weighs 450 pounds. Unlike other races, variation in height and weight is nominal and a few inches or pounds at most. You occupy a 10 foot by 10 foot space and have 5 foot reach. Your size is Large.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 feet.

Carapace. Your chitinous plates provide a natural armor class of 13 + Dexterity modifier. You cannot wear armor but you may carry a shield.

Thri-kreen Physiology. You only require 1 gallon of water per week. You cannot swim. You cannot wear items fitted for humanoids (boots, armor gloves/gauntlets, helmets/hats or robes); however you can wear bracers, cloaks/capes, and rings.

Sleepless. You require no sleep and are immune to sleep effects. You need only 4 hours of light activity to gain the benefits of a long rest. You are not required to make saves for a Forced March.

Thri-kreen Weapon Training. You are proficient with the gythka, chatkcha, and your claws and bite.

Claws. Your claws can be used to make a single natural attack for 1d4 + Strength modifier slashing damage. At 5th level, this increases to 2d4.

Bite. Your bite can be used to make a natural attack for 1d4 + Strength modifier piercing damage. At 5th level, you add thri-kreen venom to your bite. A target must make a Constitution save or be poisoned for 1 minute; if failed by 5 or more, the target is paralyzed for the duration. The target repeats the save at the beginning of its turn to end the effect. The DC is 8 + proficiency bonus + Constitution modifier.

Additional Arms. You have two ancillary arms below your main ones. Each of these weaker arms can hold items but not effectively wield weapons or shields. You may use your extra arms to stow or retrieve one item each turn without using an action and may freely swap items between your arms without using an action.

Leap. At 3rd level, your legs have grown powerful enough to jump 50 feet forward or 20 straight up, without a running start. You cannot jump backwards.

Naturally Psionic. A Thri-kreen psion's Psi Point maximum increases by 2 and by another 2 at 5th level. A non-psion Thri-kreen gains an additional Wild Talent at 1st level and a third at 10th level.

Languages. You can speak Thri-Kreen and Common. Thri-Kreen is a language composed of clicks and whirring, antennae movements, and pheromone emissions that non-kreen find too difficult to interpret and impossible to duplicate. When you speak other languages, you use a high-pitched voice.

Barbarian

Most barbarians hail from slave tribes and hunter-gatherer cultures from beyond the Tablelands. Life among slave tribes is often brutal and short. A barbarian might be a sole survivor of a raid or monster attack. She might be an exile or returned to her tribe to find it gone. Barbarian hin tribes that draw power from the spirits can be found in the forest ridge, and no matter their location, all share a common manifestation of fury. For some, it comes from within, amplified by horrific life events, and for others, it may come from unity with ancient spirits, contacted through rituals whose ways are documented only in oral tradition, to be lost if the tribe is ever lost.

Use the default rules for barbarians unless a change is indicated below.

Changes

Path of the Totem.

• Replace Bear with Klar, a massive Kodiak bear with chitinous plate on the back, a stub tail that helps it balance when standing, and covered in thick sandy fur. It is one of the most feared predators in the land.
• Replace Eagle with Kes-trekel, a deadly carrion bird with black plumage and crimson red head whose croak is considered a harbinger of death.
• Replace Wolf with Dagorran, a fearsome frog-like reptilian pack hunter able to track prey psionically for days or week without relenting.

Path of the Storm Herald (Xanathar)

• No changes to Desert.
• Replace "Sea" with "Air." At 6th, replace breathe underwater and swim features with “you take half damage from falling.” At 14th, replace “struck with wave” with “struck by a powerful gust of wind.”
• Replace "Tundra" with “Mountains.” At 3rd level, change “icy spirits” to “earthen spirits.” At 6th, replace resistance to cold with force. Replace immunity to extreme cold with “gain advantage against effects that would knock you prone.” Replace make ice with “as an action, you can touch sand or silt and turn a 5 foot square of it into a solid, non-difficult terrain that can support any amount of weight for 1 minute. At 14th, replace “magical frost” with “magical stone.”

Path of the Zealot (Xanathar)

Does not exist.

Prohibited Classes

The Artificer, Bard, Cleric, Paladin, Sorcerer, and Warlock do not exist as player classes in Dark Sun. The Paladin was removed in the original AD&D setting as this is not a world of gods and divine warriors. The Warden class is akin to the traditional Cleric, though a Warden draws its power from nature and not a divine source. The sorcerer, with its arcane bloodline does not fit into the makeup of Athas. The otherworldly patrons that power a Warlock do not exist in this Dark Sun setting.

Warden (Cleric)

There are no clerics that inhabit the wastes of Athas. No one prays to patron deities, for they have no deities. Instead, some people beneath the dark sun pledge themselves to the very powers that dwell on the elemental planes, learning rituals that allow them to wield the power of the wind, rock, rain, and blazing sun. Like the Athasian deserts, the elemental powers are neither benevolent nor malevolent, caring only that their natural forms are preserved in the material world. Those who tap into those elemental powers coursing through the world are called Wardens.

The Wardens who harness the power of the elements are a varied lot. Some teach crop rotation in order to protect and restore the earth of the harsh planet. Others command the power of flame for little more than vengeance’s sake. Whatever their motivations, each warden is bound and sworn to preserve her patron element in the physical world.

Use the default rules for clerics unless a change is indicated below.

Trickster (the elusive wind) Domain Spells

Trickster Storm Strike: replace poison damage with lightning damage.

Fire Wardens

Fire is the feared domain of destructive power, rarely seen as nurturing and life-giving. Most fire wardens are impulsive and destructive like their element, and seen as madmen who randomly destroy precious organic material. Yet, fire wipes away the old so the land can grow back stronger. They sometimes jest “to destroy the world is to destroy the defilers,” and no one is quite sure if they are truly joking. Fire wardens are expected to preserve Athas so it can be destroyed again and grow back stronger. They encourage the growth of forests, cities, and fields. This pact leads them to directly oppose all defilers and sorcerer kings, but their ways are too eccentric to form lasting alliances with druids, who share the same goal.

Fire is a destroyer and creator. Choose from the Light (sun) or Forge (Xanathar) domains, adjusted as follows:

Knowledge (the water within) Domain Spells

Channel Nature's Essence. Modify Knowledge of the Ages. You may also gain proficiency with a weapon or armor that you touch.

Visions of the Past. Modify: object reading also functions as an identify spell.

Athasian spell names

THe following spell names are different from those in the PHB to reflect the forces of nature rather than divine power. Also, add the listed spells to the Cleric spell list in the PHB.

Druid

Unlike Athasian wardens, druids are solitary creatures. They live off the land, within the land, and they have sacrificed their entire lives for the land. But, unlike wardens, druids concentrate their considerable abilities in a single area: their guarded lands. A barren stretch of desert, a sparse section of scrub land, or perhaps a oasis, that is the home of the druid, and his source of power. One small preserve, protected from the dark magic of the defilers.

They are the bane of sorcerer kings, eternally at war with them, but hunted to small enough numbers to no longer be considered a viable threat. The few druids bide their time, training and rebuilding their ranks. It is said one day the druids will rise from the earth with their fallen brothers and erase the sorcerer kings from Athas.

Use the default rules for druids unless a change is indicated below.

Archetype Changes

Circle of Land. The terrain of Athas is much different than that of most D&D worlds. Remove Arctic, Coast is renamed Oasis, Forest includes jungles, Grassland includes savannah, scrublands, and verdant belts, Swamp includes mud flats and salt marshes, Underdark is renamed Cave.

Circle of the Moon. No changes except to Wild Shape beasts.

Circle of Dreams (Xanathar). Does not exist.

Circle of the Shepherd (Xanathar). Remove all references to Fey. Modify Speech of the Woods. Remove ability to understand Sylvan. Modify Spirit Totem. Rename Bear as Klar (see barbarian), Hawk as Kes’trekel (see barbarian), and Unicorn as Spirit of the Land. A Spirit of the Land is an enigmatic force that infuses particular lands. Only a select few druids know how to tap into the energies of these silent, ancient powers.

Wild Shape forms

Wild Shape and Psionics

The challenge rating of beasts include their innate psionic abilities, which are assumed when the druid takes that form.

Fighter

The fighter is universal no matter what world she may be found. Most serve as gladiators, soldiers, merchant guards, or mercenaries. Most gladiators are slaves, but some can make a lucrative living as freemen, training a stable or earning prizes. The city-states rely on slave conscripts for the bulk of their forces, but all maintain a core of elite, trained soldiers such as the all-female Shadow Consorts of Nibenay or Urik’s Obsidian Guard. The merchant houses employ their own armies to protect trade, including well-trained cavalry and foot soldiers. Nobles keep their own bodyguards and small forces, considered a fairly easy job since most nobles are content to avoid conflict. Soldiers of fortune can be found in all settings, and a few have united to form small units operating from fortified bases, such as the Black Reavers outside of Urik.

Fighters function as in the PHB with changes as below:

Archetype Changes

Arcane Archer, Eldritch Knight, Gunslinger, and Samurai (Xanathar) Do not exist.

Gladiator

Gladiators are slaves of the city-states or merchant houses, specially trained to participate in brutal physical contests for the enjoyment of the masses. Disciplined in many diverse forms of hand-to-hand combat and skilled in the use of dozens of different weapons, gladiators are among the most dangerous warriors on Athas.

Gladiators are specialized warriors trained for combat in the arenas. They are skilled in the use of many obscure weapons and combat techniques, including those peculiar to specific combat games and exhibitions popular among the general populace.

Gladiatorial Stunts

The stunts are presented in alphabetical order.

Ambush. When you make a Dexterity (Stealth) check or an initiative roll, you can use one gladiatorial stunt to add your Charisma modifier to the roll, provided you aren’t incapacitated.

Brace. When a creature you can see moves into the reach you have with the melee weapon you’re wielding, you can use your reaction to use one gladiatorial stunt and make one attack against the creature, using that weapon. If the attack hits, add your Charisma modifier to the weapon’s damage roll.

Cheap Shot. On a hit, you can expend one stunt to force the target to make a Constitution saving throw. On a failure, the target has disadvantage on all Saving Throws until the end of your next turn.

Cleave. When you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can expend one gladiatorial stunt to attempt to damage another creature with the same attack. Choose a number of creatures equal to your Charisma modifier that are within 10' of the original target. If the original attack roll would hit the additional creatures, they take damage equal to your Charisma (Performance) modifier. The damage is of the same type dealt by the original attack.

Cover Strike. When you are hit with a melee weapon and you have a shield in one hand and a melee weapon in the other, you can expend one stunt to use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against the attacker that hit you. Add your Charisma modifier to the damage roll.

Disarming attack. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one gladiatorial stunt and force it to drop one item of your choice that it’s holding. You add your Charisma (Performance) modifier to the attack’s damage roll, and the target must succeed on a Strength saving throw or it drops the object you choose. The creature must spend its next action picking up the object, if it chooses so.

Evasive footwork. When you move, you may expend one gladiatorial stunt and add your Charisma (Performance) to your AC until you stop moving.

Feinting attack. You can expend one stunt and use a bonus action on your turn to feint, choosing one creature within 5 feet of you as your target. You have advantage on your next attack roll against that creature, if you choose to attack on your next turn. If that attack hits, add your Charisma (Performance) modifier to the attack's damage roll.

Hamstring. On a successful attack, add your Charisma modifier to the damage roll. You can expend one stunt to force the target to make a Constitution saving throw or have its speed reduced by half and the target can take no reactions until the end of your next turn.

Menacing attack. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one stunt to attempt to frighten the target. You add your Charisma (Performance) modifier to your attack’s damage roll, and the target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be frightened of you until the end of your next turn.

Parry. When another creature damages you with a melee weapon attack, you can use your reaction and expend one stunt to reduce the damage by your Charisma (Performance) modifier + your Dexterity modifier.

Pushing attack. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one stunt to attempt to drive the target back. You add your Charisma (Performance) modifier to your attack’s damage roll, and if the target is Large or smaller, it must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be pushed up to 15 feet away from you.

Quick Toss. As a bonus action, you can expend one gladiatorial stunt and make a ranged attack with a weapon that has the thrown property. You can draw the weapon as part of making this attack. If you hit, add your Charisma modifier to the weapon’s damage roll.

Reverse End.* When you take the Attack action with a weapon that has the reach property, you can expend one stunt to use a bonus action to make an attack with the opposite end of the weapon. Use the same ability modifier as the primary attack, dealing is 1d4 bludgeoning damage. The target must also make a Constitution save or lose its reaction until the end of your next turn.

Trip attack. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one stunt to attempt to knock the target down. You add your Charisma (Performance) modifier to your attack’s damage roll, and if the target is Large or smaller, it must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.

Fighting Style

At 2nd level, you adopt a particular style of fighting as your specialty. Choose one of the following options. You can’t take a Fighting Style option more than once, even if you later get to choose again.

Expert Brawler

At 2nd level, your intense training in unarmed combat has rewarded you with combat skills that make great use of your unarmed strikes. While you’re unarmed or wielding simple melee weapons that don’t have the two-handed or heavy property, you are not wearing medium or heavy armor or wielding a shield, you gain the following benefits:

• When you use the Attack action with an unarmed strike or a melee weapon on your turn, you can make one unarmed strike as a bonus action.
• You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the attack and damage rolls of your unarmed strikes.
• You roll a d4 in place of the normal damage of your unarmed strikes.
• If you score a critical hit with an unarmed strike, the target must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.

The damage of your unarmed strikes increases to d6 at 9th level and to d8 at 13th level.

Gladiator Archetype

At 3rd level, you choose an archetype that you strive to emulate in your combat styles and techniques. Choose Arena Champion or Pit Fighter, all detailed at the end of the class description. The archetype you choose grants you features at 3rd level and again at 7th, 10th, 15th, and 18th level.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature. A goliath can increase their Strength score to 22.

Additional Fighting Style

At 10th level, you can choose a second option from the Fighting Style class feature.

Riposte

Starting at 15th level, when a creature misses you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against it. If you hit, you add your Charisma (Performance) modifier to the attack’s damage roll.

Are You Not Entertained?

At 18th level, when you kill a creature or score a critical hit, you can use your reaction to select one creature within 60' of you. You force that creature to make a Charisma saving throw or be unable to take any actions until the end of your next turn. One a successful save, the creature is unable to take bonus actions or reactions.

Pit Fighter

Pit fighters tend to be some of the strongest, toughest, and most dangerous adversaries in the arena. Battling for survival has been the only constant in their violent lives; they have little to lose or gain except their lives. Usually regarded as property to be bought and sold, these brutal warriors have nothing to fear and always lunge into battle.

Extra Gladiatorial Stunts

You gain three additional gladiatorial stunts, suited to your archetype.

Counterattack. When a creature misses you with a weapon attack, you can expend one gladiatorial stunt to attempt to knock the creature prone. The target must make a Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. This ends the creature's turn.

Furious attack. Immediately after you take the Attack action on your turn, you can expend one stunt to make two unarmed strikes as a bonus action.

Lunging strike. On your turn, you can expend one trick to make a long jump and attack immediately with a melee weapon. If you hit, you add your Charisma (Performance) modifier to your attack’s damage roll.

Adrenaline Rush

At 7th level, you get short boosts of stamina as your endurance begins to wear down and defeat is imminent. At the start of your turn, if you have no more than half of your hit points left, you can use your bonus action to regain hit points equal to 1d8 + your Constitution modifier. You don’t gain this benefit if you have 0 hit points. You can use this feature again after you finish a short or long rest.

Eye for an Eye

Starting at 10th level, when you take damage from a creature that is within 5 feet of you, you can use your reaction to make an unarmed attack against that creature. You must have a free hand.

Iron Will

At 15th level, you gain advantage on saving throws against being frightened. Additionally, your unrelenting will keeps you fighting despite grievous wounds. If you drop to 0 hit points while in combat and don’t die outright, you can make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. If you succeed, you drop to 1 hit point instead. Each time you use this feature after the first, the DC increases by 5. When you finish a short or long rest, the DC resets to 10.

Dauntless

Your hulking body intimidates others. Starting at 18th level, you are immune to being frightened and gain proficiency in Intimidation. If you already have proficiency with this skill, double your proficiency bonus.

4

GLADIATOR | THE CLASS

Monk

There are no monasteries on Athas. Rather, a style of fighting emerged from the gladiator pits in response to a demand for unarmed combat, and from those combatants, nobles and templars bred in psionic abilities to create masters of the body. Due to their popular crowd appeal, enough have been granted freedom that they have spread out and trained others, or sought greater fame and fortune in the sands. A master monk is as rare as steel and just as dangerous.

Psionic monk gladiators are considered by their owners to be less trouble than a true psion because their powers tend to stay restricted to the physical form. A monk who displays a greater array of powers might be put down instead.

Monks function as in the PHB with changes as below:

Archetype Changes

Way of the Shadow, Way of the Cobalt Soul, Way of the Drunken Master, Way of the Four Elements. Do not exist.

Way of the Kensei becomes Way of the Nomad with the following changes:

• Replace 'Kensei' with 'Nomad'.
• Way of the Brush provides proficiency with painter's supplies, not calligrapher's supplies.

Psion

Psionics are a daily part of life in Athas and all living creatures will have exposure to it. It is not unexpected that the local smith might have some latent talent to bend leather in a particular way that improves the product. Even the beasts of the desert likely have some ability that improves their survivability. Every sorcerer king and most merchant houses keep a stable of powerful psionic users on staff, and in cities those who display a greater degree of power are carefully watched for signs of disloyalty.

Every city has psionic trainers and schools of study, and it is said there is an Order of mindbenders powerful enough to challenge a sorcerer-king, though if such an Order exists, its agenda has yet to be known. All races accept and have affinity for psionics. Even so, laws of the cities take into account psionic powers. Crimes committed by a compelled person are punished as if the psionic user committed them, and mind-reading against non-slaves is forbidden.

When people learn to use psionics, they're taught to create a nexus - a point in the center of their beings where physical, mental, and spiritual energy can be harnessed. It is the union of these powers that allows mindbenders to perform the remarkable feats they're capable of.

While many beings can discover the strength of the Will within themselves, most who go on to study the Way require guidance from a teacher. There are schools of the Way in every city of Athas, and merchant houses and noble families often pay dearly to have their scions educated by the best. Rarely, the academies waive tuition for a promising student of the free classes. Slaves are never formally instructed in the Way.

In addition to the formal schools, there are wandering teachers or tribal elders who take it upon themselves to instruct those who show promise. Even field slaves may be instructed by an older, wiser slave in secret sessions. Most of these tutors can't provide the quality of training that a formal curriculum can, but some wandering masters are very capable and can provide an unrivaled education in the psionic arts.

Psionics

As a student of psionics, you can master and use psionic talents and disciplines, the rules for which appear at the end of this document. Psionics is a special art that involves tapping into the mind's true power, distinct from magic.

Psi Points

You have an internal reservoir of energy that can be devoted to psionic disciplines you know. This energy is represented by psi points. Each psionic discipline describes effects or augmentations you can create with it by spending a certain number of psi points. Psionic talents and the at-will effects of lesser disciplines require no psi points.

The number of psi points you have is based on your psion level, as shown in the Psi Points column of the Psion table. The number shown for your level is your psi point maximum. Your psi point total returns to its maximum when you finish a long rest. The number of psi points you have can't go below 0 or over your maximum.

Psi Limit

Though you have access to a potent amount of psionic energy, it takes training and practice to channel that energy. There is a limit on the number of psi points you can spend to activate a psionic discipline.

The limit is based on your psion level, as shown in the Psi Limit column of the Psion table. For example, as a 3rd-level psion, you can spend no more than 3 psi points on a discipline each time you use it, no matter how many psi points you have.

Psionic Ability

Intelligence is your psionic ability for your psionic disciplines. You use your Intelligence modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a psionic discipline or when making an attack roll with one.

Discipline Rules

The following sections go into more detail on using a discipline. Psionic disciplines aren't magical, but they function similarly to spells.

Psionic Orders

Each Order discipline (sometimes called Greater disciplines) has several ways you can use it, all contained in its description. The discipline specifies the type of action and number of psi points it requires for each power. It also details whether you must concentrate on its effects, how many targets it affects, what saving throws it requires, and so on. Greater disciplines were each discovered by different orders and tend to reflect their creators' specialties.

Order of the Shaper

The Shaper takes what is in his mind and gives it physical form in the outside world. Shapers create weapons and constructs of a shimmering, ethereal energy that they can control. No mereconjurers borrowing the powers of other planes, a Shapermanifests things from nothing but their own mind, weavingtheir creations into existence through the exertion of rawpsionic power and imagination.

Order Disciplines

Each Order discipline is associated with a Psionic Order. These may be switched out with a different Order Discipline whenever the Psion gains a new Psion level.

Nomadic Mind

Greater Discipline (Seer)

You dispatch part of your psyche into the ether, the collective vista of minds and knowledge possessed by living things.

Dream Stride (3 psi; conc., 1 hr.). As an action, you separate your spirit from your body. Your spirit appears next to you as a ghostly, translucent copy of your physical form. This separation lasts until your concentration ends. During this time, you are deaf and blind with regard to your own senses; instead, you can see through your spirit's eyes and hear what it hears. Your spirit has the same senses that you do, and also has darkvision and can see into the Ethereal Plane out to 60 feet. You control your spirit telepathically. Your spirit is incapacitated and cannot interact with anything for the duration, with the exception that it can't move through creatures, objects, or other physical barriers. Your spirit has a flying speed of 30 feet, and it can hover.

Your spirit's AC equals 10 + your psionic ability modifier. If your concentration ends or an attack hits your spirit, your spirit returns to your body, and the effect ends. Your spirit ignores all other damage and effects.

Psychic Speech (5 psi). As an action, you attune your mind to the psychic imprint of all language. For 1 hour, you gain the ability to understand any language you hear or attempt to read. In addition, when you speak, all creatures that can understand a language understand what you say, regardless of what language you use.

Watchful Eye (7 psi; conc., 10 min.). After concentrating for 10 minutes, as an action, you can manifest the abilities of the scrying spell.

Third Eye

Greater Discipline (Seer)

You create a third, psychic eye in your mind, which you cast out into the world. It channels thoughts and knowledge back to you, greatly enhancing your senses.

Tremorsense (2 psi; conc., 1 hr.). As a bonus action, you gain tremorsense with a radius of 30 feet, which lasts until your concentration ends.

Piercing Sight (3 psi; conc., 1 min.). As a bonus action, you gain the ability to see through objects that are up to 1 foot thick within 30 feet of you. This sight lasts until your concentration ends.

Truesight (5 psi; conc., 1 min.). As a bonus action, you gain truesight with a radius of 30 feet, which lasts until your concentration ends.

Order of the Empath

Mantle of Fury

Greater Discipline (Empath)

You allow the primal fury lurking deep within your mind to burst forth, catching you and your allies in an implacable bloodthirst.

Aura of Bloodletting (5 psi; conc., 1 min.). As a bonus action, you unleash an aura of rage. Until your concentration ends, you and any ally within 60 feet of you has advantage on melee attack rolls.

Unstoppable Onslaught (6 psi; conc., 1 min.). As a bonus action, choose up to three allies you can see within 60 feet of you. Until your concentration ends, a melee weapon deals one extra die of its damage when you or a targeted ally hits with it. Additionally, you and the targeted allies gain advantage on Strength checks and saving throws until your concentration ends.

Mindless Charge (7 psi; conc., 1 min.). As a bonus action, choose up to three allies you can see within 60 feet of you. You and each of the targeted allies gain an additional action to use on each of your respective turns before your concentration ends. A creature can use that action only to make one weapon attack or to move up to its speed toward a hostile creature that it can see.

Mantle of Joy

Greater Discipline (Empath)

You tap into the joy within you, radiating it outward in soothing, psychic energy that brings hope, comfort, and good health to creatures around you.

Soothing Presence (1-7 psi). As a bonus action, choose up to three creatures you can see within 60 feet of you. Each target gains 3 temporary hit points per psi point spent on this effect.

Comforting Aura (5 psi; conc., 1 min.). As a bonus action, you emanate an aura of comforting energy until your concentration ends. Each non-hostile creature within 30 feet of you (including you) can roll a d4 when making a saving throw and add the number rolled to the total.

Beacon of Recovery (6 psi; conc., 1 min.). As an action, you emanate an aura of soothing energy until your concentration ends. Each non-hostile creature within 30 feet of you (including you) has advantage on saving throws against effects that inflict any of the following conditions: blinded, deafened, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, poisoned, and stunned.

Yoke of Despair

Greater Discipline (Empath)

You have learned to harvest seeds of despair in a creature's psyche, wracking it with self-doubt and inaction.

Overwhelming Sorrow (3 psi; conc., 1 min.). As an action, you attempt to inflict one creature of your choice that you can see within 60 feet of you with overwhelming sadness. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or fall prone, becoming incapacitated and unable to stand up until your concentration ends. A creature with an Intelligence score of 4 or less isn't affected.

At the end of each of its turns, and each time it takes damage, the target can make another Wisdom saving throw. The target has advantage on the saving throw if it's triggered by damage. On a success, the effect immediately ends.

Wracked with Doubt (5 psi; conc., 1 min.). As an action, you can force up to six creatures you can see within 60 feet of you to make Charisma saving throws. A creature with an Intelligence score of 4 or less isn't affected. On a failed save, a target can't use reactions, its speed is halved, and it can't make more than one weapon attack on its turn. In addition, the target can take either an action or a bonus action on its turn, not both. These effects last for 1 minute. A target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

Crushing Despair (7 psi). As an action, you choose one creature you can see within 60 feet of you. It must succeed on a Charisma saving throw, or it is incapacitated and has a speed of 0 for 1 minute. It can repeat this saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

Order of the Shaper

Nomadic Arrow

Greater Discipline (Shaper)

You imbue a ranged weapon with a strange semblance of sentience, allowing it to unerringly find its mark.

Speed Dart (1-7 psi). As a bonus action, you imbue one ranged weapon you hold with psionic power. The next attack you make with it that hits before the end of the current turn deals an extra 1d10 psychic damage per psi point spent.

Seeking Missile (2 psi). When you miss with a ranged weapon attack, you can use your reaction to reroll the attack roll against the same target.

Faithful Archer (5 psi; conc., 1 min.). As a bonus action, you imbue a ranged weapon with a limited sentience. Until your concentration ends, you can make an extra ranged attack with the weapon at the start of each of your turns (no action required). If it is a thrown weapon, it returns to your grasp each time you make any attack with it.

Nomadic Step

Greater Discipline (Shaper)

You exert your mind on the area around you, twisting the ethereal pathways you perceive to allow instantaneous travel.

Step of a Dozen Paces (1-7 psi). If you haven't moved yet on your turn, you take a bonus action to teleport up to 20 feet per psi point spent to an unoccupied space you can see, and your speed is reduced to 0 until the end of the turn.

Transposition (3 psi). If you haven't moved yet on your turn, choose a willing creature you can see within 90 feet of you. As a bonus action, you and that creature teleport, swapping places, and your speed is reduced to 0 until the end of the turn. This power fails and is wasted if either of you can't fit in the destination space.

Nomad's Gate (7 psi; conc., 1 hr.). As an action, you create a 5-foot cube of dim, gray light within 5 feet of you. You create an identical cube at any point of your choice within 1 mile that you have viewed within the past 24 hours. Until your concentration ends, anyone entering one of the cubes immediately teleports to the other one, appearing in an unoccupied space next to it. The teleportation fails if there is no space for the creature to appear in.

Psionic Restoration

Greater Discipline (Shaper)

You wield psionic energy to cure wounds and restore health to yourself and others.

Mend Wounds (1-7 psi). As an action, you can spend psi points to restore hit points to one creature you touch. The creature regains 1d8 hit points per psi point spent.

Restore Life (3 psi). As an action, you touch one creature that has died within the last minute. The creature returns to life with 0 hit points and is stabilized. This power can't return to life a creature that has died of old age, nor can it restore a creature missing any vital body parts.

Restore Vigor (5 psi). As an action, you can touch one creature and choose one of the following: remove any reductions to one of its ability scores, remove one effect that reduces its hit point maximum, or reduce its exhaustion level by one.

Astral Warband

Greater Discipline (Shaper)

You use psionics to create astral allies and to control the battlefield terrain.

Astral Vanguard (2+ psi) When you use Replicate, you can create one additional Astral Construct per 2 psi points you spend. The additional Astral Construct(s) is created and can be controlled with the same action (commands still only affect one Astral Construct of your choice). Each additional construct lasts until the start of your next turn and are able to be sustained.

Shape the Battlefield (5 psi, Conc, 1 hour) It takes you one uninterrupted minute to shape the terrain of an area up to 100' square. The area will look, sound, smell, and even feel like some other sort of terrain. Similarly, you can alter the appearance of structures, or add them where none are present. The discipline doesn't disguise, conceal, or add creatures. You can additionally create up to five hazardous spaces on the ground that are 5 foot squares. These can be fires, spikes, biting mouthes, or whatever you choose, but regardless of its form if a creature takes 4d4 + 4 psychic damage when it enters the effect's area for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there. Each of these hazards must be at least 10 feet from another hazard.

Lesser Disciplines

Each lesser discipline has a base power that you can activate at will. When you activate the effect, but before any of its effects occur, you can spend psi points to augment the power in some way as described below the power, except when the discipline states that it works differently. You can only spend psi points on one augmentation at a time.

Dissolve the Flesh

Lesser Discipline

You focus on the matter making up one creature within 60 feet of you. The target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw, or you destabilize its body, and the target begins to dissolve away. The target takes 1d10 necrotic damage, and it can't regain hit points until the start of your next turn. If the target dies to this damage, its body fades away into nothingness, leaving behind its equipment and items.

This discipline's damage increases by 1d10 when you reach 5th level (2d10), 11th level (3d10), and 17th level (4d10).

When you use this discipline, you can also spend psi points to augment the effect, choosing from the options below.

Thought of Unmaking (2 psi; conc., 1 min.). On a failed save, the target continues to dissolve over time. Until your concentration ends, the target can't regain hit points, and whenever the target takes damage that isn't psychic damage for the first time on a turn, it takes an additional 1d4 necrotic damage.

Semi-Corporeal Form (3 psi; conc., 1 min.). On a failed save, the target deals only half damage with weapon attacks that use Strength until your concentration ends. The target can make a Constitution saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success.

Fragile Existence (5 psi). On a failed save, the target has disadvantage on Strength, Constitution, and death saving throws until the end of your next turn.

Force Punch

Lesser Discipline

As an action, you can attack one creature you can see within 120 feet of you with a hand crafted from telekinetic energy. The target must make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, the target takes 1d6 force damage, and if it is Large or smaller, you can move it up to 10 feet in a straight line in a direction of your choice. You can't lift the target off the ground unless it is already airborne or underwater.

The discipline's damage increases by 1d6 when you reach 5th level (2d6), 11th level (3d6), and 17th level (4d6).

When you use this discipline, you can also spend psi points to augment the effect, choosing from the options below.

Push (1-7 psi). On a failed save, the target takes an additional 1d6 damage per psi point spent, and you can move it an additional 10 feet per point spent.

Crushing Bludgeon (2 psi). On a failed save, the target is also knocked prone if it is Huge or smaller, and it can't stand up until the end of your next turn.

Tear the World (5 psi). Each creature of your choice within 20 feet of the target must also succeed on a Strength saving throw or be affected by the discipline. You must move each affected creature in the same direction as the original target.

Hypnotic Pulse

Lesser Discipline

As an action, you sear one creature within 60 feet of you with an ebony ray of psychic compulsion. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the target takes 1d4 psychic damage, and it must use its reaction to move up to 5 feet in a direction of your choice.

This discipline targets more creatures when you reach higher levels: two creatures at 5th level, three creatures at 11th level, and four creatures at 17th level.

When you use this discipline, you can also spend psi points to augment the effect, choosing from the options below.

Soul Break (2 psi). On a failed save, a target is charmed by you until the end of your next turn.

Daggers of Pain (3 psi). On a failed save, a target has disadvantage on the next saving throw it makes before the end of your next turn.

Psychic Enervation (5 psi). On a failed save, a target suffers one level of exhaustion. Any levels of exhaustion caused by this effect go away after 1 hour.

Inertial Screen

Lesser Discipline

As an action, you create a 10-foot-by-10-foot vertical panel of force centered on a point you choose within 90 feet of you. It can't cut through a creature's space when it appears. This screen appears to be a transparent wall that slightly shimmers when light hits it. It is 6 inches thick, and creatures and objects have difficulty passing through it. The screen provides half cover against attacks and effects that pass through it, and the barrier's space is difficult terrain for any creature passing through it. The screen fades away at the start of your next turn.

This discipline creates more barriers when you reach higher levels: two panels at 5th level, three panels at 11th level, and four panels at 17th level. Each panel must be contiguous with at least one other panel.

When you use this discipline, you can also spend psi points to augment the effect, choosing from the options below.

Through the Walls (2 psi). One side of the screen that you choose has no effect. Creatures don't gain cover from attacks and effects that pass through this side and come out the other side, and creatures that pass through this side of the screen have their movement unaffected.

Mind Shroud (3 psi). One side of the screen that you choose displays an image of your choice. This image is static and can't change, and it heavily obscures everything behind it. Viewers behind the image can see through the screen as normal.

Kinetic Trawl

Lesser Discipline

As an action, you throw out a 5-foot-radius net of constricting force at a point within 60 feet of you. Each creature in the area must make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, a creature's speed is reduced by 10 feet until the start of your next turn.

This discipline's radius increases by 5 feet when you reach 5th level (10 feet), 11th level (15 feet), and 17th level (20 feet).

When you use this discipline, you can also spend psi points to augment the effect, choosing from the options below.

Telekinetic Bombard (1-7 psi). On a failed save, a creature takes 1d8 force damage per psi point spent.

Gravity Well (2 psi). On a failed save, a creature is also knocked prone.

Telekinetic Clasp (3 psi). Creatures in the targeted area automatically have their speed reduced by 10 feet. On a failed save, a creature is restrained until the start of your next turn.

Mind Thrust

Lesser Discipline

As an action, you target one creature you can see within 90 feet of you. The target must succeed on an Intelligence saving throw or take 1d8 psychic damage.

This discipline's damage increases by 1d8 when you reach 5th level (2d8), 11th level (3d8), and 17th level (4d8).

When you use this discipline, you can also spend psi points to augment the effect, choosing from the options below.

Psychic Spear (1-7 psi). On a failed save, the target takes an additional 1d8 psychic damage per psi point spent.

Mental Trauma (3 psi; conc., 1 min.). On a failed save, the target can't benefit from resistance to psychic damage until your concentration ends. During this time, whenever the target takes psychic damage for the first time on a turn, it takes an additional 2d6 psychic damage.

Psychic Overload (5 psi). On a failed save, the target is also stunned for 1 minute. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success.

Psionic Shield

Lesser Discipline

As an action, you protect yourself or an ally within 30 feet of you with a veil of psychic energy. Attack rolls against the target have disadvantage until the end of your next turn.

This discipline's range increases by 10 feet when you reach 5th level (40 feet), 11th level (50 feet), and 17th level (60 feet).

When you use this discipline, you can also spend psi points to augment the effect, choosing from the options below.

Scripture of Steel (2 psi). The target also gains advantage on attack rolls for the duration.

Submerge the Will (3 psi). The target also gains advantage on saving throws for the duration.

Power of One (5 psi). For the duration, allies within 10 feet of the target also gain the same protection, and the original target gains advantage on ability checks and immunity to being charmed or frightened.

Psionic Weapon

Lesser Discipline

As a bonus action, you can imbue psionic energy into a one-handed melee weapon you are holding. For 1 minute, the weapon can't be forced from your grasp, and you can choose to use a d8 instead of the weapon's normal damage die. The weapon is also considered magical, if it wasn't already. This effect ends if you activate it again or if you let go of the weapon.

While this effect persists, you can also spend psi points to augment the effect (no action required), choosing from the options below.

Winged Weapon (1-7 psi). When you activate this discipline, you can choose to seize control of the weapon using telekinesis. For the duration, the weapon doesn't require a free hand to use, and its reach increases by 5 feet per psi point spent. Attacks with the weapon are treated as if they were made with one hand for the purpose of the versatile property. Lethal Strike (1-7 psi). When you hit a creature with an attack made with this weapon, you can force it to make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the target takes 1d6 force damage per psi point spent.

Revealing Strike (2 psi). When you hit a creature with an attack made with this weapon, you can highlight the target's weaknesses. The next attack roll made against the target before the end of your next turn has advantage.

Psychic Grip

Lesser Discipline

You attempt to grasp a creature in telekinetic energy and hold it captive. As an action, choose one creature that is no more than one size larger than you that you can see within 30 feet of you. The target must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be grappled by you for 1 minute, until your concentration ends, or until the target leaves your reach, which is 30 feet for this grapple.

Psychic Inquisition

Lesser Discipline

As an action, you beguile one non-hostile humanoid you can communicate with via telepathy. You have advantage on all Charisma checks directed at the target for 1 minute or until your concentration ends. When the effect ends, the creature knows it was influenced by you.

When you use this discipline, you can also spend psi points to augment the effect, choosing from the options below.

Read Thoughts (2 psi). For the duration, you can read the surface thoughts of the target—its basic emotional state, and what it is primarily thinking about at any given moment.

Subtle Influence (3 psi). Once before your concentration ends, you can force the target to make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the target beliefs your last statement to be true, or pursues one course of action that you suggest to it. The chosen statement or course of action must be reasonable and not destructive in any way. If you concentrate for the discipline's full duration, this effect lasts for 1 hour. The target doesn't automatically learn it was influenced by you unless your concentration breaks prematurely.

Ransack Mind (5 psi). For the duration, you probe the target's mind. The target must remain within 30 feet of you, and you must be able to see it. If you reach the discipline's full duration, the target must make three Intelligence saving throws, and you learn information from it based on the number of saving throws it fails. You learn its key memories from the past 12 hours with one failed save, the past 24 hours with two failed saves, or the past 48 hours with three failed saves.

Psychic Leech

Lesser Discipline

As an action, you can target one creature you can see that you can communicate with via telepathy. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the target takes 1d4 psychic damage, and you can add a d4 to the next Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma check or saving throw you make before the end of your next turn.

This discipline targets more creatures when you reach higher levels: two creatures at 5th level, three creatures at 11th level, and four creatures at 17th level.

When you use this discipline, you can also spend psi points to augment the effect, choosing from the options below.

Intellect Leech (2 psi). On a failed save, a target can't take reactions until the end of your next turn. During this time, it must subtract a d4 from any Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma saving throw it makes before the end of your next turn.

Unconscious Assault (3 psi). On a failed save, a target is also incapacitated until the end of your next turn. If a target was already incapacitated, it also suffers disadvantage on its next saving throw against the effect causing that condition.

Emotion Leech (5 psi; conc., 1 min.). On a failed save, you establish a conduit to a target's mind. Until your concentration ends, when such a target takes damage for the first time on a turn, you regain hit points equal to your psionic ability modifier. If a target is frightened, the healing gained from it is doubled.

Psychic Phantoms

Lesser Discipline

As an action, you plant a false belief in the mind of one creature that you can see within 60 feet of you. You can create a sound or an image. Only the targeted creature perceives the sound or image you create, and it persists for up to 1 minute.

If you create a sound, its volume can range from a whisper to a scream. It can be your voice, someone else's voice, a creature's roar, a musical instrument, or any other sound you pick. It continues unabated throughout the duration, or you can have it repeat at different times before the effect ends.

If you create an image, it must fit within a 5-foot cube and can't move or be reflective. The image can't create any effect that influences a sense other than sight. The image disappears if the creature touches it.

The maximum size of an image (a 5-foot cube) you create increases by 5 feet when you reach 5th level (10 feet), 11th level (15 feet), and 17th level (20 feet).

When you use this discipline, you can also spend psi points to augment the effect, choosing from the options below.

Phantom Foe (2 psi; conc., 1 min.).* The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or become frightened by the illusion until your concentration ends. The frightened target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

Sense Minds

Lesser Discipline

You can concentrate on stretching your senses outwards for 1 minute. If you concentrate for this full duration, you become aware of the presence of each creature within 60 feet of you that has an Intelligence score of 4 or higher; this awareness lasts until the end of your next turn. The awareness can penetrate barriers, but 2 feet of rock, 2 inches of any metal other than lead, or a thin sheet of lead blocks you. You know the distance and direction to each creature, but can't sense anything else about it. A creature protected by a mind blank spell, a nondetection spell, or similar effects can't be perceived in this manner.

When you use finish concentrating on this discipline, you can also spend psi points to augment the effect, choosing from the options below.

Extend Senses (1-7 psi). The range of this discipline increases by 60 feet per psi point spent.

Find Creature (2 psi; conc., 1 hr.). If you sense a creature using this discipline, you can use your reaction to hone in on the target's location. You always know the target's location until your concentration ends, but only while the two of you are on the same plane of existence. During this time, the target can't become hidden from you, and if it's invisible, it gains no benefit from that condition against you.

Thought Interloper (5 psi; conc., 10 min.). The awareness granted by this discipline instead lasts until your concentration ends. During this time, you can overhear any telepathic conversation happening within the discipline's range. The creature that initiated the telepathic conversation makes a Wisdom (Insight) check against your discipline save DC when telepathic contact is first established. If the check succeeds, the creature is aware that something is eavesdropping on the conversation. The nature of the eavesdropper isn't revealed, and you can't participate in the telepathic conversation unless you are within 30 feet of a creature, you can see the creature, and you are aware that it is a participant in the conversation.

Psionic Bolt

Lesser Discipline

As an action, you target one creature within 60 feet of you with a bolt of psionic energy. The target must succeed on a Intelligence saving throw or take 1d8 psychic damage.

This discipline's damage increases by 1d8 when you reach 5th level (2d8), 11th level (3d8), and 17th level (4d8).

When you use this discipline, you can also spend psi points to augment the effect, choosing from the options below.

Arcing Bolt (1-7) psi. The bolt jumps from the first target to another creature within 20 feet of it. For each psi point spent on this power beyond the first one, a bolt jumps from the last creature in the chain to a new creature within 20 feet of them. A creature can't be targeted by more than one bolt. Any creature targeted by a bolt must also make an Intelligence saving throw against this discipline. On a failed save, a target takes an additional 1d6 damage per psi point spent on this power.

Mental Deadening (3 psi). If the target has an Intelligence score of 10 or lower, it has disadvantage on the saving throw, and on a failed save, suffers disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks until the start of your next turn.

Nervous System Malfunction (5 psi). On a failed save, the target's speed is halved and it has disadvantage on ability checks until the end of its next turn, and at the end of its next turn, it takes 3d8 psychic damage plus an additional 1d8 psychic damage for every 5 feet of movement it used during its turn.

Nomad's Travel

Lesser Discipline

As an action, you teleport up to 15 feet to an unoccupied space that you can see.

This discipline's range increases by 5 feet when you reach 5th level (20 feet), 11th level (25 feet), and 17th level (30 feet).

When you use this discipline, you can also spend psi points to augment the effct, choosing from the options below.

Feather Step (2 psi). If you teleport into the air with this discipline, you gain a flying speed equal to your walking speed until the end of the turn; you fall if you end your turn in the air and nothing else is holding you aloft.

Speed of Thought (3 psi). You activate this discipline using your bonus action, rather than your action.

Dimensional Stowaway (5 psi). You can bring one willing creature within 5 feet of you with you when you teleport. Additionally, you needn't be able to see the targeted destination; you can choose a destination that you can visualize or describe by stating its distance and direction from you. If you would arrive in a place already occupied by an object or a creature, you and any creature traveling with you each take 4d6 force damage, and the discipline fails to teleport you.

Celerity

Lesser Discipline

You channel psionic power into your body, honing your reflexes and agility to an incredible degree. The world seems to slow down while you continue to move as normal.As a bonus action, your walking speed increases by 10 and you gain a +2 bonus to AC until the end of your next turn.
When you use this discipline, you can also spend psi points to augment the effect, choosing from the options below.

Agile Defense (2 psi) You take the Dodge action as part of this discipline.

Surge of Speed (3 psi) You can spend 3 psi to gain the following benefits until the end of the current turn: you add another 10' to your walking speed, you don’t provoke opportunity attacks, and you have a climbing speed equal to your walking speed.

Surge of Action (5 psi). You can Dash, Disengage, or make one weapon attack as part of this discipline.

Denial

Lesser Discipline

As an action, target one creature to make a Charisma save to nullify a creature's abilities. On a failed save, the creature takes 1d4 psychic damage and becomes disoriented- it must subtract a d4 from its attacks and ability checks, and Constitution saves until the end of your next turn.

Aura of Denial (2 psi) The effects above extend to a 30' sphere centered on you and lasts until the start of your next turn.

Muffled Psychic Field (3 psi) As a reaction, when a creature within 60' of you uses a psionic power, it must make a contested Psionics check against you. If it fails, the psionic effect fails.

Restore Psyche (5 psi) Remove all psychic effects in a 30' radius.

Psi Crystal

Lesser Discipline

You gain the ability to impart part of your mind into crystal. You can expend 2 psi points to cast the find familiar spell but your familiar takes on the statics of a psi crystal (below) and the material component required is a crystal worth 10 gp instead of the normal material components. The Psi Crystal gains your mental stats. You can use Psionic Disciplines without a range of Self through your Psi Crystal is if you were standing in its location. If the psi crystal is destroyed, you gain its memories as your own. While you have a Psi Crystal active, as a bonus action, you can deactivate it to regain 2 expended psi points.

When you summon a Psi crystal, you can store a fragment of your personality. You can use your reaction to shatter the crystal and apply one of the following effects:

Calloused When you make a saving throw against the Frightened condition, you can use your reaction to shatter the crystal to gain advantage on the save.

Cunning When your Psi Crystal is within 30 of you and a creature comes within 5 feet of you, you can use your reaction to shatter the crystal releasing that emotion and immediately move your movement speed away from the creature without taking an attack of opportunity.

Cruelty When your Psi Crystal is within 30 feet of a creature that takes damage, you can use your reaction to shatter the crystal releasing that emotion and causing the creature to take additional damage equal to your twice your Psion level.

Sympathy When your Psi crystal is within 30 feet of you and another creature, if that creature takes damage, you can use your reaction to shatter the crystal releasing that emotion and granting the creature resistance to that damage and reduce whatever damage it takes by your Psion level.

Psionic Talents

Psionic talents are minor abilities that require psionic aptitude but don't drain a psionicist's reservoir of psionic power. Talents are similar to lesser disciplines and use the same rules, but they lack the ability to be augmented in any way.

Desiccate

Psionic Talent

As an action, you attempt to forcibly remove the moisture from one creature you can see within 60 feet of you. The target must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the target takes 1d8 necrotic damage, and unless the target doesn't require water to sustain itself, it also suffers disadvantage on saving throws against exhaustion and on all ability checks until the end of your next turn.

This talent's damage increases by 1d8 when you reach 5th level (2d8), 11th level (3d8), and 17th level (4d8).

Dream Blade

Psionic Talent

As a bonus action, you manifest a sword of psychic energy in your hand. This magic sword lasts for 1 minute or until you dismiss it using your bonus action. It counts as a simple melee weapon with which you are proficient. It deals 1d6 psychic damage on a hit and has the finesse and light properties.

This talent's damage die increases by one size when you reach 5th level (1d8), 11th level (1d10), and 17th level (1d12).

Parlor Tricks

Psionic Talent

As a bonus action, you use Prestidigitation.

Energy Beam

Psionic Talent

As an action, you target creature or object you can see within 120 feet of you. Make a ranged psychic attack against the target. On a hit, the target takes 1d6 psionic or force damage (your choice).

The talent's damage increases by 1d6 when you reach 5th level (2d6), 11th level (3d6), and 17th level (4d6).

Far Hand

Psionic Talent

As an action, mage hand

Guided Opportunity

Psionic Talent

As an action, choose one creature you can see within 30 feet of you. You implant a psychic beacon within the target, instinctively guiding the next attack made against it. If an ally of yours attacks the target before your next turn, the first attack roll is made with advantage.

This talent targets more creatures when you reach higher levels: two creatures at 5th level, three creatures at 11th level, and four creatures at 17th level. Each beacon is independent and is tracked individually.

Mind Meld

Psionic Talent

As a bonus action, you can communicate telepathically with one willing creature you can see within 120 feet of you. The target must have an Intelligence of at least 2, otherwise this talent fails and the action is wasted.

This communication can occur until the end of the current turn. You don't need to share a language with the target for it to understand your telepathic utterances, and it understands you even if it lacks a language. You also gain access to one memory of the target's choice, gaining perfect recall of one thing it saw or did.

Minor Creation

Psionic Talent

As an action, you conjure a nonliving, nonmagical object that is small enough to be carried in one hand. The object lasts for 1 minute or until you dismiss it using a bonus action. The object can be a trinket or some other discrete item worth 2 gp or less. At the DM's discretion, you may be allowed to summon a set of multiple smaller items, such as a bag of ball bearings or a fishing tackle kit.

If you activate this talent multiple times, you can only maintain the existence of three conjured objects at a time.

Precognitive Insight

Psionic Talent

As an action, you cast the guidance cantrip.

Project Senses

Psionic Talent

Over the course of a minute, you touch a Small or smaller object that isn't being worn or carried and concentrate on projecting your mind into it. For 10 minutes, or until your concentration ends, you can use your action to project one of your senses through the object, and continue to do so until you use your action to return to your normal senses. You choose this sense from the following list when you activate this talent: sight, hearing, or smell. While projecting this sense through the object, you benefit from it as though you were in the object's space, and you can't use it in your own space until you return to your normal senses.

This talent ends early if the object is ever more than 300 feet from you. Additionally, the object has a slight shimmer while you are projecting one of your senses through it. This shimmer can be noticed if a creature's passive Wisdom (Perception) score or active Wisdom (Perception) check meets or exceeds your discipline save DC.

Telekinetic Projectile

Psionic Talent

As an action, you use telekinesis to hurl an object that is 1'x1'x1' or smaller from your hand. Make a ranged psychic attack against a creature or object within 60 feet of you. On a hit, the target takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage.

This talent's damage increases by 1d6 when you reach 5th level (2d6), 11th level (3d6), and 17th level (4d6).

Telepathic Imprint

Psionic Talent

As an action, you cast the encode thoughts cantrip, found on page 47 of Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica.

Temporal Acceleration

Psionic Talent

As a bonus action, you alter the flow of time around you to improve your mobility. For the rest of your turn, your walking speed increases by 10 feet, and the first time you stand up this turn, you do so without expending any of your movement if your speed is greater than 0.

Read Aura

Psionic Talent You gain the ability to psionically see a creature's aura. By spending 1 psi point you can determine if a creature is under the influence of magic and what school it is, or if a creature is under the influence of psionics. A shape shifter or disguised creature makes a Charisma (Decepction) check against your Psionics save, on failure you can see their true nature in their aura.

Empathy

Psionic Talent You can psionically link yourself to other creatures. As a reaction to a creature taking psychic, necrotic, or radiant damage you can grant them resistance to the damage taken, but take damage equal to the damage they take (after resistance).

If the damage would inflict any further negative status effect on the target, you can choose for that effect to affect you instead.

Psionic Aegis

Psionic Talent

As a reaction, you surround yourself with a swirling shield shield of fire, ice, or lightning. You gain temporary hit points equal to your Psion level. Creatures that strike you while you have these temporary hitpoints take 1d4 damage of the shield type chosen.

Once you use this talent, you cannot use it again until you complete a short or long rest.

Kinetic Slam

Psionic Talent As an Action, you send out a wave of force in all directions. All creatures within 30' of you must make a Strength Save or take 1d10 force damage and either be pushed 5' straight back or be knocked prone, your choice.

Mental Image

Psionic Talent As an action, you can project an image (silent image) into the mind of 1 person. This increases to 2 creatures when you reach 5th level, 3 creatures at 11th level, and four creatures at 17th level.

Mind Rider

As an action, you can touch a willing creature to see through its eyes and hear what it hears for the next hour, gaining the benefits of any Special Senses that the creature has. During this time, you are deaf and blind with regard to your own Senses. You can end this effect at any time. While this is active, the creature has advantage against being charmed or frightened.

Ranger

The wilds of Athas are a treacherous place, and the skills of a ranger are most often learned as a guide, hunter, or scout for a military operation. Rangers are found in every race, most prominently among hin. To the ranger, the seared lands are not an enemy but a well respected adversary. Rangers generally are on good terms with druids, and it is from a druid mentor that a ranger likely has experienced contact with a Spirit of the Land that can bestow upon her certain powers.

Rangers function as in the PHB with changes as below:

Favored enemies. Remove celestials, dragons, and fey.

Natural Explorer. Replace terrain with Sandy Wastes, Stony Barrens, Rocky Badlands, Salt Flats, Scrub Plains, and Silt. Forest may be added at DM discretion but is virtually unknown to any but halflings.

Difficult terrain does not slow the ranger's travel but still affects their companions. The ranger gains advantage on navigation checks, not automatic success.

When you forage, you find an amount of food and water as if the terrain were 1 step better on the food/water availability chart in Part 8: Survival rules.

Spell changes. The spell goodberry does not exist.

Wizard

Arcane magic is outlawed in every city-state. In secret, wizards still study the arcane arts, drawn to it even at the risk of their lives, from small cabals to isolated ancient text study. Wizards are universally distrusted, for while one may profess to not defile, the temptation will always be there, to gain greater power "just this once" and "for the greater good." To the druid or elemental cleric, there is no greater affront than seeing the precious life of Athas turn to ash, justified for a brief need.

PC wizards are likely revolutionaries, naturally in opposition to sorcerer kings. They must take extreme steps to hide their nature, including from their own companions. If you play a wizard, think about a "cover story." Many wizards pretend to be psions or wardens.

Wizards function as in the PHB with changes as below:

• Add Sleight of Hand to list of skills from which to choose.

The find familiar spell summons creatures native to Dark Sun. All creatures have AC12, 4 hit points, 20' movement, and no save bonuses or penalties. The list can include but is not limited to:

• Critic lizard (a tiny, colorful reptile that senses danger, expects food after fights, is jumpy and paranoid)
• Hurrum (flightless beetle that constantly produces a pleasing humming noise while cooling itself, dies in direct sunlight and likes to hum songs you are thinking about)
• Jank (gold furred ferret-like mammal with poisonous spurs, likes to stuff its mouth pouches and play with objects in your packs)
• Kes'trekel (grotesque red-heaeded carrion bird; pecks at corpses and squawks at injured allies)
• Kivit (gray-furred feline that secretes venomous musk to ward off predators, hates being inside and musk spell intensifies when upset)
• Wrab (black-scaled winged serpent that senses emotional states, often trained for diplomatic encounters, likes to lick blood from your wounds and wrap around your arm when you attempt to persuade others, fly)
• Z'tal (chirping feathered lizard often used as food, gets alarmed when party members stray and often bumps into your leg)

Preservers and Defilers

Athas is a wasteland because spells are powered by living matter - plants - and centuries of wars involving the sorcerer kings, the Dragon, and constant defiling has leeched the world dry. While sorcerer kings maintain gardens and hunt defilers, they still keep some on hand as a necessity. Wizards who defile can draw great power from plant life but in return will permanently reduce every tree, shrub, even underground root in the area to ash that never can again support life. This eventually leaves a taint on the wizard that can be sensed by those attuned to such things like druids. Preservers are wizards who have, at the cost of greater power, devoted themselves to taking only what is needed, from further sources until the spell can be powered. They also devote their lives to destroying defilers. Nevertheless, the temptation will always be there, to defile "just this once." To most preservers, there is no middle ground. Once a defiler, always a defiler, and better to die than cross that line. To some, when looking death in the eye, the decision becomes that much harder.

Defilers of Athas

When an arcane caster invokes a spell, she draws upon the life energy of Athas. Most casters are trained to take only what is needed because any more kills plant life and renders the area barren for centuries. Every spellcaster is aware she is limiting herself by voluntarily limiting her casting in this way. With any spell, she can cast off her self-imposed restrictions in exchange for a rush of power. In doing so, she marks herself as a defiler - an enemy of the land. Doing so is an evil act, but many a good-hearted caster has found herself facing impending doom and reconsidered this stance.

Purging Defiler Points

A defiler has two options to purge points and remove the negative effects of defiling- either by 'Assumng the Taint' or meditation. In most preserver circles, it is considered better to die than defile, and even if one can remove the taint of defiling, that person will be seen as a defiler ("once a defiler always a defiler.")

Combating Defilers: New Druid spells

Suggested Characteristics

Due to the need to have the attention of the crowd, gladiators tend to have flamboyant and forceful personalities. Sometimes they get compassionate and thoughtful, other times they become self-interested and self-reliant.

Feats

Each character gets one feat at 1st level. Some characters may get additional feats due to their race or class, and Feats are available as an alternative to Ability Score increases at levels 4, 8, 12, 16 and 19.

Only PHB Feats are available. Almost all of the Feats in the other sourcebooks do not square with this campaign's approach to Feats.

Weapons and Armor

New Weapon Description

Images of some weapons can be found here.

Alhulak. A blunt grappling hook attached to 5-7 feet of rope with a 2 foot-long handle. The bladed head is commonly carved from mekillot bone while the handle is wood or bone.

Cahulak. A pair of alhulak heads tied to either end of a 10-12-foot rope. As a melee weapon, the wielder holds one blade cluster in each hand and swings them in unison or succession at the foe. Used this way, the wielder can strike with the off-hand as a bonus action and the weapon has reach. As a thrown weapon, it tangles around the target like a Net (no effect on Huge or larger, DC10 Strength check to free self or another) and causes 1d6 damage when the blades strike.

Carrikal. The sharpened jawbone of a large creature lashed to a haft, forming a sharp club with two forward facing heads.

Chatkcha. This small 3-bladed crystalline throwing wedge is made exclusively by thri-kreen in a secret process carefully guarded by them. In their language, it means “rememberer-who-ends-knowledge,” reflecting it ends awareness by killing and remembers to return to its thrower. Due to its spin it will return to a proficient thrower if it misses.

Datchi club. A 4-foot-long head made of dried insect hide or roots is attached to a 3-foot-long handle, with teeth or claws embedded in the head, enabling it to create horrible wounds. It is a crude, common weapon used in the arena.

Dejada. A long, scooped basket is worn on the arm and used to propel 2-inch ceramic or stone projectiles called “pelota” at high rates of speed.

Dragon Paw. Popular in arenas, this is a 6-foot-long pole with a blade on either end. Proficiency allows the wielder to strike with the off-hand as a bonus action.

Gouge. Worn in an over-the-shoulder harness, this is commonly found in the Nibenese infantry. A wide blade is mounted to a 3-foot-long wooden shaft that requires two hands to wield. One hand goes on a small bar and another on a grip at the rear of the shaft to increase thrust. The weapon is wielded much like a shovel.

Gythka. A thri-kreen polearm with wicked crystalline blades at each end, wielded like a quarterstaff with the ability to strike with the off-hand as a bonus action. Like the chatkcha, its manufacture is a closely guarded racial secret.

Impaler. Developed for the arenas, this is a T-shaped weapon with two blades mounted parallel atop the end of a 4-foot shaft. It is swung like a pick.

Lotulis. Crescent blades with barbed spikes near the points and mounted at either end of a long shaft make this a nasty melee weapon.

Quabone. Common arena weapon made from 4 identical shanks lashed together to form a symmetrical, sword-length rod.

Singing Sticks. A carefully crafted and polished thin club, often used in pairs, drawing their name from characteristic whistling noises when used.

Talid. Also known as the “gladiator’s gauntlet,” this is made of stiff leather with metal, chitin, or bone plating on the hand cover and along the forearm. Spikes protrude from the knuckles and along the back of the hand. A sharp blade runs along the thumb and there is a 6 inch spike on the elbow.

Trikal. Three blades radially project from the business end of a 6 foot shaft. A series of sharp, serrated edges line the shaft below the blades while the far end of the weapon is weighted to balance it.

Tortoise Blade. A short, sharp blade attached to the shell of a desert tortoise. It straps to the forearm and provides protection like a buckler with +1 to armor class. It cannot be combined with a shield (the better bonus applies), but if a pair are worn, their effects stack to a maximum of +2.

Wrist Razor. Several blades fastened to a strip of leather and lashed onto the forearm.

Forearm Axe. Strapped to the forearm like a buckler, the forearm axe resembles a double-headed battleaxe, with the wearer's arm serving as the haft of the axe. You may continue to use your hand normally, but you cannot attack with the forearm axe and a wielded weapon in the same hand in one round. Your opponent cannot use a disarm action to disarm you of a forearm axe.

Gouge.

Forearm Axe

Medium Armor

More protection with less flexibility, more often used in cities than in the direct sun but also built with ventilation in mind allowing some to avoid overheating during exertion.

Hide. Crude but flexible enough for use in the sun, favored by many warriors. Types: tembo, kank, kirre, mekillot.

Bonemail. Stiff leather jackets adorned with small disks or squares of horn, bone, or wood. The kank and the cilops have hard body parts ideal for such coats.

Scale. A heavy coat with carru leather leggings and overlapping scales of a beast. Types: Scorpion, mekillot.

Shell. Fitted inix or mekillot shell pieces worn over supple leather. Legs and arms are left vulnerable but the vital organs are protected and movement unhampered.

Chitin. Shaped chitin plates covering most of the body except the leg, which is protected by simple graves held by leather straps.

Heavy Armor

Years of experimentation and clever crafting methods have led armorers to develop ingenious air ventilation and circulation methods allowing alternative armors to be worn in the heat of Athas, albeit with some drawback.

Baazrag Bone. Hardened leather with thick baazrag bones, the few bones aside from drakes that can withstand the process, sewn in it. While appearing massive and imposing, it is the least practical of the heavy armors.

So-ut mail. The scales of a so-ut are attached to a layer of quilted fabric worn underneath to prevent chafing and cushion blows. The hard scales provide superior protection to traditional scale armor.

Mastyrial. The chitinous shell of the mastyrial is valued for its protective qualities. When supplemented with a backing of leather over cloth padding, it serves as a superior armor.

Braxat plate. Braxat shell makes excellent armor plates that can be shaped to fit the body and interlocked. Thick padding underneath cushions attacks, and buckles and straps evenly distribute the weight.

Shields

Shields are made from a variety of materials, ranging from thick beetle shells to mekillot plates to reinforced bark.

Buckler. Small shield strapped to forearm. As an action or bonus action, you can don or doff the buckler by flipping it around, allowing you to quickly switch between fighting styles or to free up a hand for casting. A shield normally takes 1 action to doff or don.

Shield. Standard one-handed device varying in material and shape.

Pavise. This convex shield is designed to stand alone on the ground. It takes an action to place or pick up a pavise. When placed, you lose the AC bonus but gain 1/2 cover if standing or 3/4 cover if prone behind it. A placed pavise provides no protection against melee attacks.

Tower shield. Standing nearly as tall as a person, this shield grants the wielder a +2 bonus to Dexterity saves that does not stack with cover. You can also use this shield in conjunction with the Dodge action to keep your dodge benefits even if stunned or movement is reduced to 0.

Adventuring Gear

Adventuring gear is presumed to be made of non-metal components unless impossible (e.g. a lock), in which case the item costs the listed full listed GP price as normal.

Other

Giant Hair Rope. Made from the near-unbreakable hair of giants, this rope has Hardness 5 and 2 damage to cut.

Tack, Harness, and Vehicles

Description

Barding. A mount's defense can be reinforced by covering it with barding. Made of leather pads with bone, chitin, or wood plates, barding increases a mount's Armor Class by 2.

Chariot. A chariot is a lightly armored vehicle constructed of wood, chitin and hardened leather, designed for riding and combat. Two people can ride a chariot. A creature riding a chariot has half cover against attacks from the front or the sides. Crodlu and kanks can be used to pull a chariot.

Howdah. A howdah is a frame with seats designed to be mounted on the back of an inix or mekillot. A normal howdah is made of a light wooden frame while a war howdah is constructed of much sturdier materials and offering half cover against any attacks from outside. An inix howdah can hold up to four people. A mekillot howdah can be constructed in a more elaborate affair; it often contains two levels and can accommodate up to sixteen people. Anyone riding in a howdah is considered to be at rest and shaded.

Wagon. A wagon is the simplest form of transportation. Crodlus or kanks can be used as beasts of burden for the normal versions. An open wagon is a little more than a wooden box on four wooden wheels while an enclosed ensures its riders are unaffected by weather. An armored caravan wagon requires two mekillots to pull, has multiple rooms on multiple levels, and can carry a cargo of 15,000 pounds of goods, up to 50 fully armed warriors, 25 slaves in transit, and a handful of merchants, nobles, or other travelers. The defense balconies in an armored caravan wagon provide half cover against any attacks from outside. Anyone riding an enclosed or armored caravan wagon is considered to be at rest and shaded.

Poisons of Athas

Poison Description

These are commonly encountered market poisons and are not considered a full list of all available poisons in Athas. Those with skill in gathering components may harvest and develop less-commonly seen poisons.

Assassin bug (injury). The poison of the male assassin bug causes a flesh-numbing sensation that ends with a stiffness of the victim's limbs. The target must make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or have disadvantage to all Dexterity-based saving throws and checks for 1 minute.

Bleached inix slumber (ingested). Made from mixing sun bleached inix bone and epserweed sap, this poison is typically mixed with spiced wine. This poison is typically used by bards and templars as a preliminary attack before ambushing rival noble houses, templar officials, or Veiled Alliance cells. The target must make a DC 16 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned and unable to use psionics or cast arcane spells for 1 minute. Those who fail the saving throw by 5 or more are also unconscious and may be awakened by taking damage or if another creature uses an action to shake them awake. At the end of each of its turns, the target repeats the saving throw to be able to use psionics and cast arcane spells again.

Blight (injury). This poison made from undead extract disrupts the central nervous system's ability to communicate between the brain and the muscles, thereby causing paralysis. A target must make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or become paralyzed for 1 minute. The poisoned creature can attempt a saving throw at the end of each of its turns to end the effect.

Cactus venom (injury). When correctly harvested and refined, the venom contained in the tiny sac at the base of a hunting cactus' spine can be made into a fast-acting paralytic agent, distrupting the victim's central nervous system. The target must make a DC 14 Constitution save or be poisoned for 1 minute. The poisoned creature is also paralyzed. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns to end the effect.

Gaj poison gas (inhaled). This noxious gas clogs the victims breathing conduits, making it difficult to breathe as well as causing nausea and blurred vision. Additionally, a painful tingling of the skin occurs where the gas touches exposed flesh. A creature must make a DC 16 Constitution saving throw or take 14 (4d6) poison damage and have disadvantage on all attacks, saving throws, and abilty checks for 1 minute on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Gold scorpion (injury). The poison of the gold scorpion is extremely potent for its tiny size, causing muscle spasms and loss of strength more commonly associated with much larger poisonous creatures. The target must make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or take 13 (2d12) poison damage, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Hypnotic brew (inhaled). This is a tasteless, odorless mixture of herbs commonly peddled in Bard’s Quarters. It is typically used by bards and mindbender to “soften up” a target before attempting to manipulate or manifest a power. The target must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or suffer a 1d4 penalty modifier to saving throws against psionic effects for 1 minute.

Id fiend essence (contact). A combination of an id fiend's blood and cranial fluid can be reduced through a slow boil into a pinkish fluid that, when absorbed by a targets' skin, causes frightful visual hallucinations. If left unchecked, these hallucinations can send the victim into blind panic, fleeing from the unseen assailants that harass and threaten him. A creature subject to this poison must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution save or be frightened for 1 minute. The creature can attempt a save at the end of each of its turns to end the effect.

Kivit musk (ingested). When ingested, the refined extract from a kivit's musk gland causes constant stomach pain accompanied by sporadic vomiting and diarrhea, the effects sometimes lasting for hours on end. The target must make a DC10 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 8 hours.

Mastyrial poison (injury). The poison from a desert mastyrial causes internal hemorrhaging, resulting in painful splotchy bruises appearing all over the victim's skin, body chills, and possible bleeding from bodily orifices. A target must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or take 24 (7d6) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Mulworm Poison (contact). Those who simply come into contact with mulworm poison suffer a severe rash; a far worse fate awaits those injured by the poison, which attacks the body's immune system, causing a debilitating inability to defend itself from other infections. A creature subject to this poison must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or take (3) 1d6 poison damage and have disadvantage on saves against poison and disease. The poisoned creature must repeat the saving throw every 24 hours, taking (3) 1d6 poison damage on a failed save. Until this poison ends, the damage caused by the poison cannot be healed by any means. After one successful save, the effect ends.

Purple grass extract (ingested). Made from the purple grass that grows outside of Urik, this poison both damages the victim, and inebriates them. This poison is not commonly used, but herders and gatherers know to avoid it in the areas around Urik. Bards have recently been attempting to find uses for this poison, given the long period of intoxication that follows. Anyone ingesting the plant, which tastes like a delicious dry wine, has their teeth and lips stained purple for 1d8 days. A target must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or take 22 (4d10) poison damage and be poisoned for 24 hours in an intoxicated condition. A target that makes the save takes (2) 1d4 points of poison damage.

T'chowb ichor (contact). The lymph nodes and enlarged sweat glands found in the hands of the t'chowb can be used to create a viscous contact poison that, like the touch of the creature itself, drains the victim of his wits. A creature subject to this poison must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or have his Intelligence reduced by (2) 1d4 points. The poisoned creature must repeat the saving throw every 24 hours and have his Intelligence reduced by (2) 1d4 points on a failed save. Until this poison ends, the reduction cannot be healed by any means. A creature whose Intelligence reaches 0 dies. After one successful save, the effect ends and the points are fully restored after a long rest.

Athasian Trinkets

% Roll Item

• 01 A faro needle
• 02 A scrap of rasclinn hide
• 03 A thri-kreen antennae
• 04 A roc feather fan
• 05 A shard of obsidian with a tiny skull inside of it
• 06 A necklace made with gith fingerbones
• 07 A wyvern’s stinger
• 08 A small bag containing the complete skeleton of a snake
• 09 A dried esperweed flower
• 10 A bone insignia of rank from Yaramuke
• 11 A hardened sand painting depicting a gladiator match
• 12 A leather amulet with a strange rune on it
• 13 A vial that contains silt from the bottom of the silt sea
• 14 A crystal eye from a crystal spider
• 15 A dried out hurrum beetle that hums
• 16 A coin made from carved carapace
• 17 A small set of bones, looks like a complete humanoid, very small
• 18 A rough stone statue of a crodlu
• 19 A treasure map written on parchment with names of places you've never heard of
• 20 A broken bone heartpick inscribed with the history of a long dead Tarek tribe
• 21 A lock of giant hair
• 22 A small wooden statue of a small hin-like creature you've never seen before
• 23 A ring made of agafari wood
• 24 A petrified Kes'trekel egg
• 25 A smooth cylinder made from dasl
• 26 A small rock that was once part of a stone elemental
• 27 A vial with the saliva of an id fiend
• 28 A hardened bone slave's collar
• 29 A scroll with a spell written incorrectly on it
• 30 An ock'n shell
• 31 A small gem that holds the Focus of a dwarf
• 32 Half of templar's amulet depicting the sorcerer-king Hamanu
• 33 A tuft of hair from a feylaar
• 34 A piece of supple leather with the image of a forest on it
• 35 An aarakocra feather
• 36 A glass jar with tentacles in a pickling fluid
• 37 A whistle made of bone
• 38 An elven rattle made from a tortoise shell
• 39 A jankx spur
• 40 A tooth from a water drake that always has condensation on it
• 41 An agafari wood needle
• 42 A bone key of Balican design
• 43 A hin war fetish with dried blood on it
• 44 A broken pterran thanak
• 45 A wooden toy in the shape of a mekillot
• 46 A mummified hand of a thrax
• 47 A holy symbol of an elemental priest of water
• 48 A sharpened feather
• 49 A tkaesali head formerly owned by a disgraced Nikaal
• 50 A perfectly round black obsidian orb 2" in diameter with a small chunk taken out of it
• 51 A ceramic coin minted by a long dead merchant house
• 52 A fire drake scale that is always warm to the touch
• 53 An inert Psionicus
• 54 The tip of a kirre's horn
• 55 A small piece of bronze hammered into the form of a bearded dwarf's head
• 56 A 6" piece of cha'thrang tether
• 57 A small wooden top, when you spin it you hear the rushing wind, but no one else does
• 58 A piece of crystal that lightly vibrates
• 59 A templar amulet from the city of Kalidnay
• 60 A tiny sketch of a small humanoid the likes of which you've never seen
• 61 An erdlu beak with string tied to it, to make a mask
• 62 A dried out kank honey globule
• 63 A crystal with a face that bears uncanny likeness to you etched inside of it
• 64 A glass bead, hardened by psionics
• 65 A small stone box with unknown ashes in it
• 66 A small wooden sailcart toy
• 67 A pouch filled with defiler ash
• 68 A small sundial
• 69 An incense holder carved in the likeness of a silt
• 72 A broken jade disk inscribed with the image of a Draji templar holding up a heart
• 73 An Athasian sloth's tooth carved with the image of a hin village on it
• 74 A small orange flag with crossed carrikals in black on it
• 75 A gord with dried herbs
• 76 A small piece of leather which holds several small pieces of dried sap
• 77 A broken M'Ke trade coin
• 78 A ceremonial dagger given to free a gladiator slave from Tyr
• 79 A cracked belgoi's bell
• 80 A rusted scale
• 81 An Urikite beard ring
• 82 A skull of a Pristine Tower warped creature
• 83 A wooden box filled with leaves from the Crescent forest
• 84 A silk veil
• 85 A wooden plate with a drawing of the Sunrise on it
• 86 A small stone statue taken from a building in Nibenay
• 87 A flask with water from the Lake of Golden Dreams
• 88 A small bottle with sand from the Black Sand region
• 89 A piece of ceramic with the image of silk skimmer on it
• 90 A skull carved from lava rock
• 91 An ancient coin from Giustenal
• 92 A faded writ of trade from Kurn
• 93 A drumstick from the forgotten city of Eldaarich
• 94 A stone tablet with names of ancient knights
• 95 A clay tablet with unknown runes on it
• 96 A bone plate with images of Ral & Guthay etched on it
• 97 A yellow scrap from an Urikite Templar's cloak
• 98 A ceramic disk in the shape of the sun
• 99 An arrowhead made by a dead elven tribe
• 00 A small iron hammer made by an ancient dwarven clan

Equipment Packs

Most people avoid cumbersome equipment packs in the heat of the desert. Still, some items are vital for one's travels to such inhospitable lands. The packs available to characters include:

Bard's Kit (40cp). Includes a backpack, bedroll, 2 costumes, 5 candles, 5 days of rations, a waterskin, and a disguise kit.

Burglar's pack (8 cp). Includes a backpack, 10 feet of string, a bell, 5 candles, a bag of bone caltrops, a fire kit, a bone grappling hook, 2 flasks of oil, and a waterskin. The pack also has 50 feet of hempen rope strapped to the side of it.

Dune Trader's pack (8 cp). Includes a backpack, an abacus, a blanket, a lamp, a flask of oil, a pouch, a sack, a merchant's tunic, 2 ceramic vials, and two waterskins.

Noble's pack (37 cp). Includes a chest, 2 cases for maps and scrolls, a set of fine clothes, a vial of ink, an ink pen, a lamp, 2 flasks of oil, 5 sheets of parchment, a vial of perfume, sealing wax, and soap.

Nomad's pack (4 cp). Includes a blanket, a set of desert clothes, a fire kit, a small knife, a signal whistle, a two-person tent, and two waterskins.

Traveler's pack (10 cp). Includes a backpack, a bedroll, a set of desert clothes, a fire kit, 5 days of ration, 5 torches, and four waterskins.