Using other materials with Dark Sun

[Herzog]

We're preparing to play a 3.5 Dark Sun campaign using the rules from www.athas.org once our current campaign ends.

While researching possible character options, I ran into the following problem:

Athas has no gods. Instead, clerics are 'powered' from elemental or para-elemental planes.
This means they have a very specific set of possible domains (all of which are spelled out in the rulebook downloadable from athas.org)

One of the character options I was looking at was the prestige class 'Walker in the Waste' from Sandstorm.
Sandstorm is a sourcebook that is very applicable to the Dark Sun setting, and my idea was to play a cleric that would slowly turn from surviving in the desert, through becoming one with the desert, to 'worshipping' the desert.

There are two problems with this:

1. The elementals expect their clerics (even the evil ones) to eventually destroy all undead. The para-elementals are less strict, but even they are not known to be 'pro' undead.
2. The prestige class requires you to have spells from the 'Sand' or 'Thirst' domains. Very thematically appropriate but.... not in the list of domains from the Dark Sun campaignbook. I can pick them up as 'regular' cleric (or druid) spells of course, but not being able to pick a domain that would in fact match very well with the setting seems.... odd.

Of course. I can also play something else.
However, I expect to be running in these kind of things more often, because of this simple fact:

The writers of the 3.5 books invested a lot of time and effort to describe a very different setting in 3.5 terms, but neglected to include information on how to incorporate other materials!

My questions:

Do you play Dark Sun using the 3.5 rules?
If so: which 'conversion' are you using?
how do you include 3.5 materials not specific to this setting?
and are there any references you can give me that can help combining the Dark Sun material and other materials?


Any (legal) links to Dark Sun gaming materials for 3.5 are appreciated as well.

(note: I know there is a 4th edition version, and there are AD&D rules. I'm not interested in either as we have already decided to use the 3.5 rules)

thanks in advance.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

You might find some good stuff here: http://www.athas.org/

 

[Siberys]

For #2; The athas.org 3e rules very likely were written pre-Sandstorm. Lack of compatibility there isn't really their fault! Just ask your GM if the Sand and Thirst domains would be okay. No one will stop him if he says yes!

For #1; I'm not very familiar with the Walker in the Waste PrC... Does it turn you undead? If so, reskin or replace that feature with something comparable that wouldn't be unflavorful. Frex, if it changes your type to Undead, just have it change your type to Elemental instead - it has many of the same immunities and resistances, and is directly in line with the flavor you're going for. Maybe you'd need the Native keyword, too, but I can't recall if that's applicable to Elementals or not.

 

[Herzog]

The Walker in the waste capstone ability allows you to turn yourself into a Dry Lich. (after which, according to most rulings I read, you get the Level Adjustment that comes with it).
It also allows you to create Sand Golems and Salt mummies.

It seems to fit rather well with the Silt paraelemental plane, at least in my opinion. I'll take it up with the DM. Maybe he'll allow me to use the 'regular' Silt domains to qualify, and maybe he'll change the capstone to something more fitting to Dark Sun.

As to the 'compatibility' of the athas.org rules: I get that they may have been written before sandstorm, so I don't expect references to specific books.
However, there is no mention at all of how to work with other sourcebooks. It's like the authors expected you to work with the Dark Sun campaignbook and ignore everything else.
I can see how that would be necessary (given how different the setting is to the regular D&D settings) but if that was the case, the least they could have done is mention 'you can't use materials from outside the rules presented here because the setting is very different'.

Of course, the athas.org rules not being official WotC books probably restricted them from even referencing official material. Doesn't make it any easier to work with though.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Are you the player, or the DM?

If you're the DM, it's easy. Either add Sand and Thirst to the Athas.org available domains, or make those domains optional requirements for the PrC.

It's a bit harder if you're the player, but I think it would be easy to convince the DM of that.

As for fighting the undead, I'm not sure where that's going. Maybe you're talking about a lack of turning of the undead, but there's still numerous ways of doing so. (I'd suggest simply picking on any undead you see first.) I vaguely recall there being a pure element spell that replicated holy water (one literally), but I don't know for sure if that's available in 3.x. You could house rule that in though, just replicating the holy water spell.

 

[Samloyal23]

There are no liches per se on Athas, try a t'liz instead...

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Or a kaisharga.

 

[Zardnaar]

I ran 3.5 Darksun a few years ago trying to use Athas.orgs rules. Main problem was they did not deviate to far from 2nd eds rules and converted things over directly so you have high CR creatures with AC 16 or 22 AC as they directly converted 2nd ed ACs to 3rd ed equivalents. Sand and thirst domains make a bit of sense for paraelemental clerics. If you want a hard core 3.5 game allow all spells from level 1-3 and from level 4+ you only have your domain spells and elemental spells to choose from. A fire ceric can only cast divine spells of level 4+ with the fire descriptor etc. Athas.org also was written mostly for 3.0 IIRC.

 

[Samloyal23]

Consider adding some depth to the cultural background of each city or tribe. For instance, Balic has a culture similar to ancient Greece, so give characters from there feats and class options that emphasize that and make sure they use Greco-Roman names. Take a look at the 2E historical reference books for inspiration...