The Burnt World of Athas

The official Dark Sun website

Site back up

We just renewed our domain. Apologies for worries and inconveniences to any fans trying to access the site during the renewal process. Everything is fine now.

4e Dark Sun in 2010

Wizards of the Coast has announced that they will publish a 4th edition Dark Sun campaign setting.

To all athas.org current and former members and fans that have supported Dark Sun over the years - Good work! We did it, we kept Dark Sun alive, we grew its fanbase. Finally Dark Sun is resurrected!

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4spot/2009August

4e Psion in Dragon

[Requires a D&D Insider subscription]

WotC has released a preview of the 4e Psion, which will appear in next year’s PHB3. You can find it here: http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drfe/20090707

Status update

We are currently discussing how to revitalize the Secrets of the Dead Lands project, probably the most ambitious project at athas.org to date.

We will break this down into a series of smaller projects to make it more manageable.

  • An adventure
  • A rules and NPC guide (3.5)
  • A guide to the undead kingdoms
  • A city-state accessory

That´s it for news for now.

technical difficulties

Sorry folks, having some issues with the server at the moment. The main site seems to be okay (now) but the arena is still having some issues.

update: arena is fixed.

Feedback forms

Thanks to everyone for submitting feedback through the feedback forms on the site. Do know that we read all your comments, even if we do not have the resources to respond by e-mail. I notice several comments are posted in the form of a question. If there is something you wish to discuss in public, I suggest posting in the Arena.

Login issue fixed

We´ve fixed the login issue affecting the Arena which some of you have experienced lately. Apologies for the inconveniences.

Terrors of Athas 3.5 Illustrated

We are pleased to announce the release of the illustrated version of Terrors of Athas for the 3.5 rules set. Special thanks to Dawnstealer for the huge amount of art contributions and Grummore for the layout job done incorporating the pictures into the document. <p>

As a side note, we have also increased the number of creatures with Power Resistance or psionic immunity. These include Aviarag, Braxat, Cistern Fiend, Drakes, Gaj, Guardian, Id Fiend, Golems, Obsidian Retriever, Psionic Cats, and a few other creatures. </p><p>

Download the illustrated version of Terrors of Athas. </p>

Playtest Report bug fixed

There was a bit of a formatting error that snuck into one of the playtest reports – it confused the autoformatter. I’ve fixed the playtest report generator so that it won’t choke on bad data, and the page should be alive again

Dark Sun 3r7

We are proud to announce the release of the 7th and final version of the Dark Sun Core Rules. The final rules set is massively 314 pages, almost three times as large as the previous iteration. It has been many hours of blood, sweat and toil for the project team led by Bruno, and they deserve the applause of an arena filled with spectators. You will find that not only have the existing chapters been expanded and improved upon; we have also included several new chapters to enhance your Athasian experience.

The Races and Classes chapters have undergone some changes. You will find that thri-kreen and half-giants no longer have racial hit dice, and there have been significant revisions to the DS specific classes, i.e. bard, gladiator and templar. One of the key features of the new gladiator is Gladiatorial Performance, which is an arsenal of different abilities unlocked by the gladiator’s level and Perform progression. Templars now have access to all spells on their spell list, vastly improving their versatility, and they gain domains from the Player’s Handbook depending on their Sorcerer-Monarch. Bards also have a few new tricks up their sleeves centered around speed, poisons and secrets. We have also included a selection of prestige classes, which provide additional information and supersede the versions found in the Prestige Class Appendices.

The Magic and Psionic chapters have been greatly expanded. We have converted a lot of second edition spells and powers, in addition to writing brand new ones, and all spells and powers include illustrative descriptions. Cleric domains have been revamped, with the biggest change being that armor proficiencies are no longer tied to domains, but part of the core cleric class, and overall the domains should be more balanced now. The Magic and Psionics chapter now also features information on the Athasian cosmology. Feats and Skills are in new chapter called Heroic Characteristics, and include a great number of new feats along with updates such as language revisions, expanded use of the Warcraft skill, and Survival skill modifiers when foraging for food and water on Athas. Equipment has been expanded to include chapters on magical and psionic items – and the artifacts of Athas, such as the Dark Lens.

For those fans who have requested more setting specific information, your prayers have been heard. The Core Rules now include a chapter on the city-states and other important locations – including Kurn, Eldaarich and Saragar. We have also included a chapter with suggestions for how to play games set in other eras of play, such as the Blue Age and the Green Age. You will also find stats on key DS personas such as Agis, Rikus and Sadira of Tyr, and a host of generic and sample NPCs for added DM convenience. DMs will also note that the Monsters chapter has a completely new and extended format, and the selection of monsters will be familiar to those who own the original Dark Sun campaign boxed set. There is also a new chapter with information on important organizations such as the Order and the Veiled Alliance. Finally, we have included a chapter on how to run Athasian campaigns in the atmosphere we believe defines Dark Sun.

While we start the process of illustrating the final version of Dark Sun 3 Core Rules, we encourage you to provide feedback through the playtest form on the athas.org website. We are primarily interested in reports on typos and such; the rules set will not be altered at this point – you had the previous six revisions to suggest changes to that.

Download DS3 R7