Hello, SV.
Welcome to Athas, where the sun lights the world on fire with dawn; where the breeze chars the flesh from your bones; where the seas are of cloying dirt and dust; and where, above all things, there is but one must. One need. One rule that governs this barren, scorched husk of a planet and everyone on it.
Your task, then, is simple.
Survive.
This task, straightforward though it may be, is nothing to be scoffed at. The world is a dangerous place, where compassion is more often than not a one-way ticket to the grave.
In the sole cities of the world life is difficult at best under the iron fist of the aeons-old sorcerer-kings. Feuding merchants, trader-dynasties wage petty wars against corrupt nobles; and all are careful of rousing the ire of the cruel templars, zealous warrior-priests of the kings.
Life outside the Tyr region is yet harder. Ancient ruins of a gentler time dot the cragged landscape - not all of them empty. Bands of marauders roam the wastes, butchering and robbing without remorse. For the countless slaves of Athas, days spent outside the squalled metropoli is only marginally better.
From the Sea of Silt, to the Crimson Savanna: the world is long dying.
1. Be good to each other! Many threads on this site become endless fonts of salt and frustration; these things are understandable and tolerable to an extent, but I don't want my thread to be a headache for anyone! Be cool, be courteous, be kind.
2. This game will not be especially crunch-heavy, but it is a game; you play games to have fun, not to win. I want you voting and participating and talking so that you have fun.
3. If you are detracting consistently from the fun of the thread, you may be asked to leave. I am DM, QM, and my Rule 0--though I dearly hope that I must never invoke it--is law. Don't make me do this.
4. If you feel like something I've done is unreasonable, please, by all means let me know! I welcome any and all criticism - so long as it doesn't become a detraction or distraction.
5. No. Fucking. Metagaming. If I catch you doing this I will eject you from my thread and print out a copy of the char's sheet so that I may FORCE FEED YOU IT WHEREVER YOU MAY LIVE.
You may now post and vote - and feel free to ask questions!
One knows what they're doing and is well aware of the consequences, and the other is going on instinct and often doesn't. Well, that's a mostly silly fluff reason, anyway, and not entirely true. Oftentimes wizards don't look that far ahead to realize the consequences of their actions either, especially on Athas where they wrecked the world through terrible abuses to both magic and nature.
Mechanically, Wizards can learn and create spells and theoretically have no limit to the amount they can have, while Sorcerers have a set number of spells they learn through instinctual exploration of the magic in their blood.
So! I might as well put this out there - you're voting for, at present, your Class! Going forward the next vote shall find, among other things, what your Archetype is. If you pick a Fighter, you get to pick between three options! You have the Gladiator, born and raised in the slave-pits as a spectacle fighter; you have the Battle Master, a Fighter of more erudite persuasion; and then you have the Champion.
They kill shit really, really hard.
Not all of the standard 5E Player's Hand Book options are available on Athas. There are no deities left, as far as anybody knows, so Clerics worship certain Elements instead (one of which, I tell you now, will be Death - so if you want to be a necromancer, that would be your ticket!).
Because that's arcane magic, and metals are extraordinarily rare on Athas; the entire conceit of the Eldritch Knight is that they have arcane bonds with magic weaponry, two things that are are very bad and very rare on Athas. I decided, then, not to allow either.
But hey if you want to be hated by everyone for using arcane magic go right ahead and be a Wizard
This dead and dying world cries out for retribution, for those who would stand against the filth that has overtaken all that was once pure and beautiful. The strong prey upon the weak, and none step forth to bring reprisal for the sake of the fallen. This is a realm that has forgotten justice, and with its absence cruelty and horror run without opposition. Truly, these are the end of days.
BUT JUSTICE HAS NOT FORGOTTEN THEM, AND WITH OUR COMING WE SHALL BRING FURY LIKE THE WORLD HAS NEVER KNOWN! LET US RIDE FORTH ON THE WINGS OF VENGEANCE, AND REMIND THE PEOPLE OF ATHAS THAT EVEN NOW THERE WILL BE A RECKONING!
