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• Apr 20, 2025

  Let's Read the Dark Sun Creature Catalog: Dwarf

  

  This post is part of a series! Click here to see the rest.

  It’s customary for Fourth Edition monster books to include entries for playable species. After all, they may show up as enemies or allies. In this book, they also serve to flesh out some of the Dark Sun-specific story of each species. As you can see from the illustration, dwarves here are a little different.

  The Lore

  Dwarves probably had a pretty typical culture in Athas’ distant past, as the book says they ruled “great mountain kingdoms”. However, the genocidal wars of the Red Age pretty much destroyed their civilization. While modern-day dwarves are still extremely resilient and dedicated workers, the knowledge of reading and writing the Dwarven language has been lost. While you can still find Davek runes in their ruins, no one alive knows how to read them.

  The book kinda conflates this with dwarves not knowing how to read at all, and therefore not knowing any magic, but that’s a giant leap that I think is incorrect. Dwarven writing is a lost art, but Common and a lot of other languages still have written forms and magic lore doesn’t have to be encoded in Dwarven. I’d say dwarves are as likely to be literate and to know magic rituals as any other person in this setting.

  True, when you’re talking about typical civilians that’s still not very likely, but Dwarven PCs and major NPCs will still be literate. And it does sound flavorful for modern dwarven culture to include an element of pride about not needing magic to do their work.

  Dwarves are a fairly common people. Every city state has hundreds or thousands of dwarven laborers and artisans, both free and enslaved. They also live in small communities in the wastes, some of which are also mining camps. Whether your interaction with them is peaceful or violent depends entirely on the behavior of the PCs and on the objectives of that specific group.

  The Numbers

  Despite the differences, Athasian dwarves are still Medium Natural Humanoids with a ground speed of 5 and Low-Light Vision, just like the ones from the PHB. They retain the PC traits that make them hard to move: Stand the Ground and Steady-Footed, which reduce forced movement by 1 and let them roll a save against being knocked prone, respectively. They also have +5 to saves against poison.

  Earlier editions spent a lot of time describing how each dwarf had an obsessive focus on one kind of task, to the point where it restricted their actions. That makes an appearance here but it’s not as dominant as before.

  Dwarf Conscript

  Technically a civilian, the conscript still has a body hardened by countless hours of heavy labor, and will not hesitate to pick up weapons in defense of their mine or their home. This is a Level 2 Brute with 47 HP, wearing hide armor and wielding a Dark Sun polearm known as a “gouge”, which is basically a sharpened shovel.

  The gouge is a standard brute attack, but if it scores a critical hit it also pushes the target 1 square and knocks it prone.

  The conscript also has a Singular Focus minor action that’s the last vestige of the 2e rules. This lets the conscript choose an enemy as the target of their focus, and gain +5 damage against that enemy while they remain the conscript’s focus.

  The power recharges when the chosen enemy drops to 0 HP, and it lasts until the end of the encounter or until the conscript uses it again. It makes the conscript punch way above their weight class when attacking their chosen enemy, and is a very nice incentive to behave obsessively in a fight. Since they can only switch focus when the previous enemy dies, targeted enemies should keep away to make the conscript waste actions chasing them.

  Dwarf Sunpriest

  Modern dwarven religion venerates primal spirits and elementals, particularly those associated with the sun. Sun priests are venerated spiritual and political leaders among them, and often lead other dwarves into battle when necessary.

  The Sunpriest is Level 5 Artillery with 52 HP and the Leader tag. They wear hide armor and wield a mace in one hand and a totem in the other. Their basic melee attack is a Burning Mace that deals fire damage, and their main ranged attack is a Bright Ray (ranged 10) that deals radiant damage and inflicts a -2 attack penalty on the target for a turn.

  Once per encounter they can apply a Sun Blessing to an ally within 5 squares. That ally regains 10 HP, deals 5 extra fire damage with their attacks for a turn, and any enemy that hits them in the same time span takes 5 fire damage. Praise the sun!

  Dwarf War Chief

  Despite the name, not all war chiefs are commanders, but they’re all renowned champions. They’re Level 6 Elite Soldiers with 144 HP.

  The war chief fights with a Greatclub made from giant bone, and its basic attacks grant them 5 temporary HP. Their Spinning Club maneuver (recharge 5+) attacks enemies in a Close Burst 1. If it hits an enemy marked by the war chief, that enemy is immobilized until the start of the warchief’s next turn.

  And how do they mark enemies? Via Battlefield Focus, a minor action that lets them automatically mark up to 2 enemies within 10 squares. It recharges when one of these enemies drops to 0 HP.

  If a marked enemy adjacent to the war chief moves, shifts, or makes an attack, Brutal Club gives the dwarf a basic attack against them as an interrupt, which also immobilizes for a turn on a hit. This triggers even if the enemy attacks the war chief, and even if the enemy makes one of those moves that doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks. This means it’s more powerful than a PC fighter’s Combat Challenge.

  Encounters and Final Impressions

  Dwarves can be part of any encounter group whose theme is “a bunch of people”, be they villainous, allied, or bystanders. Dwarven communities, like everyone else, also domesticate a number of Athasian beasts that might see use in a fight.

  I like these stat blocks! They’re low-level but each has some very interesting tricks they can use. The “focus” powers ended up being more useful than I thought at first.

• Apr 16, 2025

  Let's Read the Dark Sun Creature Catalog: Drake

  This post is part of a series! Click here to see the rest.

  The Lore

  Athas only has one dragon: The Dragon of Tyr. He’s the setting’s main bad guy, over and above the Sorcerer-Kings. As such, he’s immensely powerful, intelligent, and evil. Prime Final Boss material!

  However, you might not want to wait until your PCs are level 30 demigods before they can fight a nasty giant lizard with elemental powers. That’s where Drakes come in.

  Athas has a lot of things that would be called drakes in standard 4e, but here the name refers to something else entirely. The things Athasians call “Drakes” are, essentially, nonsapient dragons. They fulfill many of a dragon’s narrative functions. They’re big and tough enemies that make splendid boss fights for high-Paragon or low-Epic parties. There are several types associated with different elements. They lair in areas dominated by their associated element and possess psychic powers that let them summon and control orbs of that element from the Elemental Chaos. They even have a hoarding instinct!

  The roles they don’t fulfill are those of being a Machiavellian plotter or a big player in regional politics, which are things you’d expect a powerful enough dragon to be. They’re animals, not people. A text box informs us drakes were written this way because the Dark Sun setting is very geographically limited, and has a relatively small number of movers-and-shakers who are all accounted for. Adding an arbitrary number of traditional sapient epic dragons to this mix would wreck the setting’s delicate equilibrium, and that’s a job for the PCs.

  Another consequence of drakes not being sapient is that there’s no guarantee their hoards will be valuable. There might be some good loot there, but it’s going to be mixed with a mountain of trinkets and souvenirs that are merely shiny or pretty.

  The Numbers

  All drakes presented here are Huge Elemental Beasts with the Reptile tag, and a tag corresponding to their associated element. They all have a Bite and a Claw that act as basic attacks, and the signature Drake’s Fury power that lets them spend a single action to use two Claws against one target and a Bite against a different target.

  Their elemental orb powers are area attacks that create a hazardous zone in the affected area, but their exact powers vary with each stat block. They always have a Bloodied Response reaction that lets them immediately rechage and use an elemental power when first bloodied.

  The same text box that discusses why drakes are nonsapient tells us we can take any dragon from other books and add them as drakes in Athas by declaring them nonsapient. Good candidates include brown, gray and red dragons from the chromatics; adamantine, iron, and orium dragons from the metallics; and any of the catastrophic dragons. You might want to change the appearance of the metallics too, since their default coloration stands out too much.

  Water Drake

  

  Water drakes like to lair in oases. A possible sign of their presence is the total absence of the small animals that usually live in such an environment. If you find such a place, you should either keep moving or be very, very sneaky when filling your waterskin.

  This crocodile-looking beast is a Level 18 Solo Controller with 680 HP. It has Resist 10 Cold, a ground speed of 8, and a swim speed of 12. It’s Aquatic, meaning it can breathe underwater and gets +2 to attacks against non-aquatic creatures in underwater combat.

  The drake’s elemental attack is an Orb of Elemental Water, which is a fireball-sized area attack (area 2 within 10, recharge 5+). It comes in two versions:

  • The boiling orb deals fire damage despite being made of water, and creates a damaging zone that lasts for the rest of the encounter or until the drake uses another boiling orb.

  • The ice orb deals no immediate damage, but inflicts ongoing 20 cold damage and restrains (save ends both). It creates a zone that repeats the orb’s attack against any creatures start their turn in the zone and are not restrained. Again, this lasts until the end of the encounter or until the drake uses another ice orb.

  Yes, this means the drake can have both a boiling and a frozen zone in place simultaneously, though I’d rule they can’t overlap.

  The drake’s other power is Psionic Clone (minor action, recharge 4+), which lets it create a duplicate of itself on a solid or liquid adjacent space in the map. The copy can acts independently and can take a full turn on an initiative count 10 lower than the original’s. It has all the original’s stats and powers with the following exceptions: it only has 1 HP; and it shares the original’s recharge roll for its powers instead of having its own. If the original has any spent powers when it uses this power, the copy’s powers will also start out spent.

  The water drake’s Bloodied Response recharges both the Orb and Psionic Clone, letting the drake use both as a free action right then and there. Double the orbs, double the fun.

  Fire Drake

  

  The flavor text here has a fire drake living inside an active volcano and worshipped as a god by a halfling tribe, who try to sacrifice a human to it only to be eaten along with the intended victim. Cliches aside, this shows us you can find fire drakes in volcanos and other such places.

  Fire drakes are Level 20 Elite Lurkers with 298 HP, a Speed of 9, and Resist 15 Fire.

  The drake’s bite does standard damage for its level. The claw is a little weaker but grabs on a hit. Drake’s Fury works as normal.

  The creature’s Orb of Elemental Fire (recharge 5+) is an Area Burst 1 within 10 that deals fire damage and creates a damaging fire zone that lasts until the end of the encounter or until the drake casts another orb. While it waits for the power to recharge, it can use minor actions to move the existing magma zone 4 squares. The drake’s Bloodied Response recharges this orb and lets the beast use it immediately.

  The fire drake’s last power is not elemental: it’s Living Shield, an opportunity action that lets the beast use a grabbed victim as a shield if anyone other than that victim damages it. This makes the victim take half of the attack’s damage, with the other half still affecting the drake.

  There’s nothing terribly lurkery about the fire drake. With that grab and the mobile zone, you could have made it a controller instead.

  Air Drake

  

  Air drakes live in tall mountains and canyons. They love to hunt animals and people who try to walk the precarious passes of these places, knocking them down with their wind powers and devouring the tenderized remains. They’re Level 22 Elite Skirmishers with 404 HP, a ground speed of 8, and a flight speed of 10.

  These creatures deal extra damage when they have CA on an enemy, and this bonus increases when they’re bloodied. Their physical attacks are otherwise pretty standard for a drake.

  Their Orb of Elemental Air has a wider radius than usual (area burst 3 within 10), and deals untyped damage on a hit. On a hit it also slides the targets 5 squares, and creates the usual damaging zone. The zone cannot be moved, but slides targets 3 squares when it damages them. This recharges when the drake is first bloodied, but it has to be used during the drake’s actions after this.

  When pressured, the drake can use Wind Veil as a minor action (recharge 4+). This lets it shift its speed and gain concealment against non-adjacent enemies until the end of its next turn. Bloodied Response recharges this, and lets the creature use it immediately.

  It felt odd for Bloodied Response to be such a defensive power here… but then I saw that it’s because the drake can use Control the Wind as a reaction when damaged. This is a Close Burst 5 vs. AC that deals the same damage as the bite to the triggering enemy, and lets the monster slide the target 3 squares. Exceptionally, this slide can be vertical, which means the target will take a bit of fall damage when it falls back to the ground… or a lot of fall damage if tossed diagonally into a chasm. A merciful GM could probably still allow the usual save vs. hazardous terrain to let the victim cling to an edge before being tossed.

  Earth Drake

  

  A spicy bullette with earth control powers. Earth Drakes are Level 24 Elite Controllers with 456 HP, a ground speed of 8, and a burrow speed of 6.

  Their physical attaks work as usual. Their Orb of Elemental Earth is an Area 1 within 10 attack vs. Fortitude. It damages and restrains (save ends) on a hit, deals half damage on a miss.

  The resulting zone is difficult terrain, and the drake can use minor actions to make secondary attacks against anyone inside. This deals a tiny bit of physical damage and knocks the target prone. This is what Bloodied Response recharges, but it’s not the only thing that happens when the earth drake is bloodied.

  You see, when that happens the drake Expands. It goes from Huge to Gargantuan, pushing any targets that were adjacent to it out of its new occupied space. While this lasts (until the end of the drake’s next turn), the drake’s melee reach improves from 3 to 4, it gains +2 to AC, and anyone hit by its attacks is immobilized.

  When someone damages the drake it can use Immovable Stone as a reaction, ignoring up to 4 squares of forced movement and using its bite against the attacker.

  Encounter and Final Impressions

  Since Athasian Drakes lack sapience, it’s harder to justify them being accompanied by minions. However, all but the Water Drake are elites, which means it’s very easy to set up an encounter against a mated pair of them. It might also be possible to add elementals of an appropriate level to any drake encounter as extra minions or regulars. The beasts wouldn’t be interested in eating them.

  Overall I like their mechanics. Taking one of these drakes and turning them into a sapient dragon for outside of Dark Sun is as easy as taking a foreign dragon and turning it into an Athasian Drake.

• Apr 11, 2025

  Let's Read the Dark Sun Creature Catalog: Dragonborn (Dray)

  

  This post is part of a series! Click here to see the rest.

  Despite the title of their entry, these Dragonborn are not a new addition. Dark Sun is one of two 2e settings (that I know of) that had draconic humanoids in it since its initial publication.

  The Lore

  Despite using dragonborn stats for the PC version, these are not the same dragonborn as the ones from the standard Points of Light setting. Athasian dragonborn are known as Dray, are lankier than the standard variety, and have a completely different origin.

  The Dray species was created by the sorcerer-king Dregoth to be his perfect servants and minions, but he was dissatisfied with the result and cast most of them out of his city-state of Giustenal. Those he allowed to stay kept serving him until the other sorcerer-kings banded together to destroy Dregoth and his city.

  Today’s Dray are descended both from the outcasts and from the survivors of Giustenal’s destruction. Their total population is relatively small and few people know of their existence. Their communities are either small scattered tribes in the wastes or the rare enclave embedded in a larger settlement.

  Their reputation among those who know about them is as slavers and sorcerers. Not All Dray (TM) deserve this reputation… but a significant majority of them do. They practice defiling magic and slavery, and frequently act as mercenaries for other groups who are okay with this. In this, they continue the cycle of abuse, inflicting on others what their creator inflicted on them.

  The Numbers

  Dray, like standard dragonborn, are Medium Natural Humanoids with a Speed of 6. They can use a Dragon Breath once per encounter, a Close Blast 3 vs. Reflex that deals some sort of elemental damage and whose details vary with the stat block.

  You can easily use standard dragonborn stat blocks from the other monster books as more dray varieties if you need to.

  Dragonborn Slaver

  These assholes roam the desert looking for easily taken captives that they can sell to the sorcerer-kings in exchange for money and prestige. They’re frequently found in mixed-species slaver parties as their rank-and-file muscle.

  Slavers are Level 16 Minion Soldiers that fight with Bastard Swords which damage and mark for a turn on a hit. Their Dragon Breath deals lightning damage and marks (save ends).

  They’re tougher than your average minion too - the first time they drop to 0 HP, their Determined Defender trait lets them recover, clear any effects on them, and get back on at the start of their next turn. This makes them more willing to risk harm when surrounding the PCs.

  Dragonborn Scorned Champion

  A few dray take pride in being scorned by their creator, making that part of their identity. I’m guessing these are the nicer ones, since it would make sense for them to reject the ways of the sorcerer-kings. The Scorned Champion is an example of someone who might rise to lead a community of these Dray. Still, he’s sensitive to anything he perceives as a challenge to his position, and is quick to strike down the source of that challenge.

  The Scorned Champion is a Level 16 Skirmisher with 151 HP. This cocky fighter’s Bravura Poise acts as an aura (1) that forces enemies inside to grant combat advantage. He fights with a scimitar that damages the target and lets him shift 1 square on a hit. The Dray Fury special attack (recharge 4+) lets him shift his speed and strike twice with the scimitar at any point during this movement. His DragonBreath can exclude one creature of his choice from the blast, and deals fire-and-lightning damage. Finally, his Unstoppable Force power lets him immediately end any Slow or Immobilize effect on him once per round.

  Dragonborn Defiler

  Drays like this one go in the other direction - they look fondly upon the past when they could walk the streets unchallenged, openly displaying their arcane might. They want the power to do that again, and see defiling as the quickest way to get there.

  The Defiler is Level 18 Artillery with 129 HP. They use daggers as weapons and implements, and the damage roll on this attack has a funky format that mixes physical and cold damage. Their basic ranged attack is a Dragonfear Ray (ranged 10 vs. Will) that deals psychic damage and causes the target to take 5 damage each time they damage the defiler or one of its allies, until the end of the target’s next turn.

  Their dragon breath has been corrupted into a Defiling Breath (close blast 5 vs. Reflex) that deals immediate and ongoing cold-and-necrotic damage (save ends). While at least one target is taking this ongoing damage, the defiler has +2 to all attacks and +5 to all damage rolls. This recharges if the defiler misses every target with the power, so it will keep doing it until it hits someone.

  Once per encounter the defiler can cast Flight of Dragons as a move action, allowing every ally within 5 squares to fly 5 squares, and flying 10 squares itself. It doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks when it leaves its starting square, but obeys the rules normally from that point on.

  As a minor action it can also use Hurled Dragon Breath (recharge 5+) to do just that with a less corrupt form of its breath. This is either a Close Blast 5 or an Area 2 Within 10, both targetting Reflex. It deals cold damage on a hit.

  Dragonborn Atavist

  Dray like this one prefer to focus on the bestial nature of their dragon heritage, using ritual techniques to tap into that inner beast and bring it forth during combat. Why use weapons when you have the power of a dragon at your disposal? This one’s a Level 19 Brute with 220 HP and Resist 10 Acid.

  Their basic attacks are a strong Bite and a slightly less strong claw, both of which deal ongoing acid damage on a hit (save ends). Draconic Fury (recharge 5+) lets them use both attacks with one action, or even engage in a classic claw/claw/bite routine if they’re bloodied.

  Their dragon breath, as you might expect, does acid damage.

  Encounters and Final Impressions

  It seems the only stat block here that’s actively Evil is the Defiler - everyone else is unaligned, even the slavers. I’m not sure I agree with that last part, but I suppose you can use the slaver stat block for a more conventional non-evil warrior.

  I’m glad the game gives us some tools to stat up a non-evil group of Dray. PCs have to come from somewhere, and it’d get a little samey if all of them were nonconformist rebels fleeing their evil upbringing.

• Apr 8, 2025

  Let's Read The Dark Sun Creature Catalog: (Not) The Dragon of Tyr

  At this point in our read-through of the Dark Sun Creature Catalog, it the next entry in the book would be the Dragon of Tyr. As I mentioned in the corresponding RPG.net thread, however, the Dragon’s touches upon the setting’s deepest secrets. These only appear at the very end of the Dark Sun Campaign Setting book, which forum user zedturtle is reading in another thread. I don’t want to spoil him ahead of time.

  The other reason for this is that the Dragon of Tyr is a singular character and a very important one in the setting, so he should really be over on the Personages section of the book.

  For both of these reasons, I’m discussing the Dragon at the end of this Let’s Read.

• Apr 3, 2025

  Let's Read the Dark Sun Creature Catalog: Dagorran

  

  This post is part of a series! Click here to see the rest.

  The Lore

  Dagorrans are carnivorous reptilian quadrupeds the size of large dogs. They can track prey by its “psychic scent”, which they can memorize either through direct contact or by stumbling into a creature’s psychic trail (i.e. through psychometry). Once a dagorran has its chosen prey’s scent, they will chase it relentlessly, across great distances, until they catch it.

  In the wild, these creatures live in wide-ranging packs. Dagorran packs sleep for a handful of hours every couple of days, and spend the rest of their time on the hunt. They only stay at a single place for a while when they have to rear their young, but as soon as the pups can run with the pack they’re on the move again. Unlike some of the other magical beasts in the book, dagorran packs don’t cooperate with other predators.

  Young dagorrans are sometimes captured and trained by templars, who prize them as peerless trackers and use them to track fugitives or wanted dissidents. They’re much better at this job than cilopses, who must lay eyes on the prey to start tracking and can only follow the trail for a short time.

  The Numbers

  Dagorrans share some similarities with baazrags (dog-like pack hunters) and with cilopses (favored templar pets), but they’re a lot more dangerous with levels in the mid-Paragon tier. They’re Natural Magical Beasts so we can consider them sapient, though I guess their thought processes are pretty alien. The creatures can understand Common, and they can communicate telepathically with other dagorrans but not with anyone else.

  They have a ground speed of 8, low-light vision, and the Psychic Scent signature trait. This is a minor-action power that lets them choose a living creature or its tracks within 10 squares of the dagorran. The dagorran can ignore any level of concealment or invisibility on its chosen target, and knows the creature’s location until it either dies or the dagorran uses the power again. No wonder templars like them.

  Dagorran Mindhound

  These robust specimens charge in packs to surround and distract their chosen prey, opening them up for attack by their sneakier relatives (below). They’re Level 16 Brutes with 194 HP.

  Their only attack is a bite that does respectable brute-tier damage, but that and Psychic Scent are enough to make them a threat.

  Dagorran Ambusher

  These sneaky specimens move a bit ahead of the pack and position themselves for an ambush, striking once their beefier relatives (above) begin their own part of the attack. They’re Level 17 Lurkers with 132 HP.

  Ambushers deal extra psychic damage against any creature that cannot see it. This trait is somewhat confusingly named Combat Advantage. I mean, if you cannot see the ambusher you will most likely be granting it CA, but if you can see it you won’t take bonus damage even if you’re granting it CA for other reasons.

  That difference will soon cease to matter, however, because their bite makes them invisble to the target for a turn on a hit. If they’re too far away to bite, they can use their standard action to Fade to Nothingness and become invisible either until they attack, or until the end of their next turn.

  It’s a classical lurker setup, but the rider on their bite attack means that they can keep biting you with bonus damage for as long as they keep hitting.

  Encounters and Final Impressions

  Dagorran encounters are simple. A wild pack is an all-dagorran encounter. You can also find one or two of them as part of a Paragon-tier templar encounter.

  Dagorrans feel a lot more “dog-like” than baazrags lore-wise, but not mechanics-wise as they lack the ability to knock people prone or any Pack Tactics style power. I think they work better as pets brought in by mixed humanoid encounter groups, since those can be more varied than a wild pack. A chase scene or skill challenge involving dagorrans is a much more drawn-out affair than one involving cilopses, as the PCs will likely have to kill or discourage the dagorrans before they can attempt to lose their pursuers.

  I did find a bit surprising that they’re mid-Paragon monsters, but their stat blocks are simple enough that you could reduce their level by 10 or so and still have them work just fine as Heroic threats.

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