Can Spellscars fit Dark Sun? - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Can Spellscars fit Dark Sun?

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
tavitin
Aug 03, 2010 12:58:11 Can Spellscars fit Dark Sun?

Houserule it to be another 'chacater theme' maybe?

Characters with spellscars can 'detect' defilers instead of plague creatures?

All spellscarred powers are arcane, thus giving the option to defile for any power source?

I find spellscars very attractive, their feeling are extremely cool and role playing spellscarred characters are always fun experiences.
#2
smeej
Aug 03, 2010 13:25:43
I'm sure you could houserule spellscars as being an effect of someone being defiled. You can even just call it being "corrupted" or "defiled". Look at the recent article about The Dragon's Altar, I imagine you can reflavor all that he defiles and the effects it has on people as spellscarring. People caught between two warring sorcerer-kings could be spellscarred, or a wizard who had to draw energy out of himself could develop them like some sort of Sith.

That said, a spellscarred individual would probably be hated by almost everyone. I imagine the VA could look past it but I imagine they would largely live in spellscarred communities if it was a widespread enough phenomenon.
#3
tavitin
Aug 03, 2010 13:28:52 I see, and as theme option?

All themes grant encounter powers, so picking a spellscarred encounter power lvl 1 wouldn't change much right?
#4
smeej
Aug 03, 2010 13:41:34 Yeah, that's easy. It won't scale like other theme powers but maybe you can just swap it out once per tier. It wouldn't key off Primary Attribute like other powers either.

But yeah, anyone can be spellscarred. I think being being hurt by magic more than fits the themes of the setting.
#5
tavitin
Aug 03, 2010 15:48:09 I was crunching a plot line:

Spellscars appear when a certain individual is defiled, but has a certain resistance to it (not-explained).

When a normal individual would get killed by a certain degree of defiling, this 'resistance to defiling folk' would survive and acquire a spellscar.

I intend to make defiling MUCH MORE POWERFUL in my personal DS campaign, but i'll use the standard rules for defiling because "its harder to defile spellscarred ones", so instead of dying horribly when defiled upon, the characters (having a spellscar) would be delt half-a-surge necrotic damage and the defiler would get only a reroll...
Like: "damn, my defiling is not working! I used to consume whole droves in the forest and i'm only getting this?! Better than nothing though..."

Also, the SK's would try to hunt down such individuals, they don't want the characters to be seen as a symbol of hope for the common folk to rebell, they don't want more places like Tyr, one is already too much...
#6
ian.thomson
Aug 03, 2010 17:36:01 I think I'll allow it if a player wants it, but I'm probably not going to advertise it.

Some other possibilities:
-Experiment by a sorcerer king (perhaps Dregoth), or heck, maybe the Veiled Alliance
-Unusual school of magic (secret VA techniques, defiler school, something), perhaps approved by the SKs for public use (guild techniques)
-Fallout from Kalak's failed attempt to become a dragon
#7
smeej
Aug 03, 2010 17:44:46
Yeah I'd probably just make the PC come up with an explanation for what it is. Going to do something similar for dragonmarks.
#8
ian.thomson
Aug 03, 2010 17:58:31
If they were called something other than "Dragonmarks," I'd probably lump them in with spellscars. With dragonmarks, I'm probably going to go with "ancient noble house that once served the Dragon, got psionic boone from it," if one of my players really wants one.
#9
bfishy
Aug 03, 2010 18:01:03 might even be a result of living too close to sunwarped flats or sunwarped areas of the wastes?
#10
smeej
Aug 03, 2010 18:49:22

If they were called something other than "Dragonmarks," I'd probably lump them in with spellscars. With dragonmarks, I'm probably going to go with "ancient noble house that once served the Dragon, got psionic boone from it," if one of my players really wants one.

Yeah, that's really the only way to make it have any sense. Or the marks can be related to the different city-states / sorcerer-kings, depending on where you're going with the game.

Then again dragonmarks are mysterious and can mean whatever we want.
#11
awaken_D_M_golem
Aug 05, 2010 16:38:13 Mechanically (as in game rules in isolation) ... they are probably in.

I cite the Eberron Players Guide as a parallel.
It has very early on, a list of stuff about Eberron,
including an:
"if it's available in a D&D book, it's available here"
... type thingy.

No Deities in Dark Sun is well known.
What other specific restrictions have been listed so far ?

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 tavitin Aug 03, 2010 12:58:11	Can Spellscars fit Dark Sun? Houserule it to be another 'chacater theme' maybe? Characters with spellscars can 'detect' defilers instead of plague creatures? All spellscarred powers are arcane, thus giving the option to defile for any power source? I find spellscars very attractive, their feeling are extremely cool and role playing spellscarred characters are always fun experiences.
#2 smeej Aug 03, 2010 13:25:43	I'm sure you could houserule spellscars as being an effect of someone being defiled. You can even just call it being "corrupted" or "defiled". Look at the recent article about The Dragon's Altar, I imagine you can reflavor all that he defiles and the effects it has on people as spellscarring. People caught between two warring sorcerer-kings could be spellscarred, or a wizard who had to draw energy out of himself could develop them like some sort of Sith. That said, a spellscarred individual would probably be hated by almost everyone. I imagine the VA could look past it but I imagine they would largely live in spellscarred communities if it was a widespread enough phenomenon.
#3 tavitin Aug 03, 2010 13:28:52	I see, and as theme option? All themes grant encounter powers, so picking a spellscarred encounter power lvl 1 wouldn't change much right?
#4 smeej Aug 03, 2010 13:41:34	Yeah, that's easy. It won't scale like other theme powers but maybe you can just swap it out once per tier. It wouldn't key off Primary Attribute like other powers either. But yeah, anyone can be spellscarred. I think being being hurt by magic more than fits the themes of the setting.
#5 tavitin Aug 03, 2010 15:48:09	I was crunching a plot line: Spellscars appear when a certain individual is defiled, but has a certain resistance to it (not-explained). When a normal individual would get killed by a certain degree of defiling, this 'resistance to defiling folk' would survive and acquire a spellscar. I intend to make defiling MUCH MORE POWERFUL in my personal DS campaign, but i'll use the standard rules for defiling because "its harder to defile spellscarred ones", so instead of dying horribly when defiled upon, the characters (having a spellscar) would be delt half-a-surge necrotic damage and the defiler would get only a reroll... Like: "damn, my defiling is not working! I used to consume whole droves in the forest and i'm only getting this?! Better than nothing though..." Also, the SK's would try to hunt down such individuals, they don't want the characters to be seen as a symbol of hope for the common folk to rebell, they don't want more places like Tyr, one is already too much...
#6 ian.thomson Aug 03, 2010 17:36:01	I think I'll allow it if a player wants it, but I'm probably not going to advertise it. Some other possibilities: -Experiment by a sorcerer king (perhaps Dregoth), or heck, maybe the Veiled Alliance -Unusual school of magic (secret VA techniques, defiler school, something), perhaps approved by the SKs for public use (guild techniques) -Fallout from Kalak's failed attempt to become a dragon
#7 smeej Aug 03, 2010 17:44:46	Yeah I'd probably just make the PC come up with an explanation for what it is. Going to do something similar for dragonmarks.
#8 ian.thomson Aug 03, 2010 17:58:31	If they were called something other than "Dragonmarks," I'd probably lump them in with spellscars. With dragonmarks, I'm probably going to go with "ancient noble house that once served the Dragon, got psionic boone from it," if one of my players really wants one.
#9 bfishy Aug 03, 2010 18:01:03	might even be a result of living too close to sunwarped flats or sunwarped areas of the wastes?
#10 smeej Aug 03, 2010 18:49:22	If they were called something other than "Dragonmarks," I'd probably lump them in with spellscars. With dragonmarks, I'm probably going to go with "ancient noble house that once served the Dragon, got psionic boone from it," if one of my players really wants one. Yeah, that's really the only way to make it have any sense. Or the marks can be related to the different city-states / sorcerer-kings, depending on where you're going with the game. Then again dragonmarks are mysterious and can mean whatever we want.
#11 awaken_D_M_golem Aug 05, 2010 16:38:13	Mechanically (as in game rules in isolation) ... they are probably in. I cite the Eberron Players Guide as a parallel. It has very early on, a list of stuff about Eberron, including an: "if it's available in a D&D book, it's available here" ... type thingy. No Deities in Dark Sun is well known. What other specific restrictions have been listed so far ?