Any thoughts?
Then with the players cook up some rule about overheating in the sun, cracking in cold nights, things like that.
Basically, just because you don't need to eat or drink doesn't mean you won't need to buy Survival Days. If the dangers of Athasian travel are important for your campaign, I'd definitely incorporate something like this.
-O
So I will incorporate the body overheat rule for the shardmind. Shardmind player is very easy going, and this will also appease the vocal anti sharmind player.
Thanks
The lack of a need to eat and drink will likely be some advantage, but only for a few levels. If your Darksun campagin remains perpetually about avoiding dehdration and starvation it will get really old really fast. By mid heroic at the latest characters should have significant resources, a base of operations, etc. I am not saying the the environment should become insignificant, but an endless series of excuses about why the characters have to cross wilderness without proper supplies is going to get stale, fast.
I also agree that while the shardmind may not need to eat or drink, they still need clothing, shelter, water to cool themselves with, etc. They may even have other needs that standard humaniods don't. A pile or rocks held together by psychic forces might need to clense and lubrcate its joints, would still need a sun visor to avoid blindness, still want a tent, fuel for a night time fire, oil for the lamp, etc. Survival days cover much more than food and water, they represent being well supplied with all needs for wilderness travel, food, water, shelter, fuel, medicine, clothing, etc. I would still have the character pay for survival days
Instead, what ends up happening with the group is the shardmind is almost always stuck on lookout patrol at night (he and the thri-kreen like to have staring contests) and his gear ends up being half in part for the rest of the group.
So sure, he doesn't need actual sleep and he never has to eat or drink, but that just means he's got to do a bigger share of drudgery for the folks that do.
The way I brought shardminds into the world of Athas was to have them be living constructs created by the planet itself. They are a race born of the world looking to be healed. As such they go out to find out why the world is the way it is and what they can do to fix it. The shardmind in the party is a member of the veiled alliance for that very reason - overthrowing the sorcerer-kings goes a pretty long way towards fixing the planet.
It's basically a spin on the gate thing that all shardminds are supposed to have once been a part of that they are all seeking in some way to restore. So instead of the gate that was meant to permanently lock out the primordials, it's the planet itself they're seeking to restore.
Personally I wouldn't want to see Shardminds or Warforged in my campaign - nor a whole bunch of other races (drow, wilden, gnomes, etc) that weren't around back in the old Dark Sun setting.
I want to see the party being the core races - humans, dwarves, elves, mul, thri-kreen, half-giants - but I could possibly be willing to concede one non-standard race if suitably convinced.
master psionicists wish to become beings of pure thought. those who tire of this existance, re-enter physical form by manifesting in a crystalline (or obsidian) body, though they're mind-wiped by the process.
The shardminds would be allowed, however if it is not a normal race in your campaign then travelling to other cities would provide some possible encounters. If you think about some crystalline creature coming into a city or village, there is bound to be some fanatical group that wants to pull them apart to see what they are made of or the general public may just consider it an unnatural abberation that needs to be destroyed. So you could make up some really good gaming sessions just revolving around those ideas. Just be careful that you do not draw this out into a prolonged "they are out to get me" type of a campaign, since that would get old really quick. You probably just want to make sure the player makes a note that travelling to village or city "X" is not healthy for him!
Survival for him would be easier without the need for food and water, but like the prior posts they can overheat easier and the sandstorms can still erode and cause pits in rock so he still has to be careful.
My DM liked the idea I brought to him about my shardmind but living constructs as player races pretty much break the rules from the get-go, no matter if sun sickness applies. I agreed and decided to go the elan route. My psion was a guardian of the last sea, trapped in an obsidian orb for 9000+ years until circumstance or fate allowed her to escape and accidentally create a perfect, immortal body. I only hope my DM allows the Psionic Incarnate paragon path. :P
Now that I've played DS for awhile, I cannot imagine what I was thinking in wanting to play a shardmind. I now think living constructs would take away the fun of Dark Sun. As a shardmind, you wouldn't be able to experience the desperation and need for even the basic necessities the rest of the world experiences. However, I think with enough resources and ingenuity, PCs can achieve a state where such needs become mere memory (ie belt of nourishment, ring of sustenance, Psionic Incarnate, etc) But of course, it is all up to the DM.
The way I see it, mechanically the advantage of not eating and drinking (+5 to Endurance checks) is offset by overheating penalties (-5 to Endurance checks, as rocks would have no cooling mechanism like sweat), so no bonus overall. Survival days is food and water for most folk, but for constructs I'd say it'd be materials needed to deal with the fatigue and overheating much more easily.
- Wilden
- Gnomes
- Changelings
- Minotaurs
- Warforged
- Devas
- Tieflings
That being said. I allow one of my players to be a shardmind. Here is the backstory I gave to him in order to justify his being pulled into Athas. As far as he knows, he is the only one of his kind and resembles a polished black obsidian humanoid. He keeps himeself fully wrapped at all times to avoid curious interest by the xenophobic Dark Sun city-state residents.
Background and Motivation:
Pain. In the countless epochs of time in which you had existed in the firmament in inner plane of earth, living in Shardia, the paraelemental city of crystal you had never had the opportunity to experience pain. And then the demon came. The outsider tore through the crystal caverns of Shardia and a creature of Crystal Wings, and a long crystal neck, with a gaping crystal maw of razor sharp crystal teeth, and grasping crystal claws descended upon you. A claw outstretched and pierced into your crystalline form, shattering your body where the claws entered. The creature flapped its crystal wings mightily and leaped up into the firmament with you in its grasp. As it passed through the shattered hole through which it came, you felt sudden and intense agony as if you were summarily being shattered with a massive hammer, and ground into fine dust. This agony was only a precursor to real pain as you entered the portal. The disparate pieces of you blew in a planar wind, searing agony across the span of your existence. You finally emerged, ripped into the gray. Your body had coalesced again, this time in the form of blackest earth. Your captor, no longer crystalline, had taken on a wavering, black form, even darker against the darkness above. The immense pain had passed, replaced with an incredible weakness. You could do little but flop about in the creature’s claws as it made its way across the barren and black landscape. In Shardia, light permeated the crystal, scintillating across the eternal cavern through the crystal; in this place there was no light, only blacker shades of night.
You had the sensation of falling, and then the sensation of wet. Pain ignites anew, as your changed body endlessly is permeated by the foul water. Only your head remains above the surface of the shadowy lake, as your body is engulfed in searing agony. The bonds, holding your new, loose form together, are saturated with the liquid, causing pain that makes you feel as if you would go mad.
You see the shadowy creature return, again and again, dropping more figures into the pool. The sound of silent moaning permeates the darkness of the shadow as the tortured souls are left to torment in a semi-solid agony. You join in the silent lament of your people, torn from Shardia and forced to suffer in this place.
Abruptly, during this timeless torture, you sense the feeling of this wetness being drawn away, as your head is sucked under the surface of the pool. All sound and feeling ceases to exist for you as you slowly start to lose a sense of being. Movement and thought reduces to near nothing and you can scarcely determine if you are alive or dead.
Shadowy outlines are visible through a haze of smoky glass. A gradual sound or sensation of pounding enters your consciousness as the figures move in and out of your field of view. You gradually begin to see more clearly as the forms get closer and closer. You become acutely aware of them hitting your physical form and can feel irritating chipping and chiseling across your body. The smoky glaze is removed from your vision and you witness flesh, and air, and stone, and fire for the first time. Your field of vision can see down and to the side and you see the form of a body taking shape, carved out of an enormous piece of giant glassy rock of the deepest black.
A voice enters your head as the creatures break and chisel your body free from the block of obsidian. "You are now my servant, I found you and cultivated you, and have finally made you whole upon this plane of existence to serve me, and my needs" A robed figure enters your field of view, but you recognize the shape of the maw protruding from the cowls of the robe. A familiar clawed appendage, now flesh instead of crystal raises to point at you. "You will learn in time how to mine what I desire and procure with thought, that which I need to achieve power" The figure makes a gesture with his claw, and the other creatures pick you up and carry you through a corridor that leads to a sun-bathed obsidian dais. You are placed on the dais and feel a soothing warmth spread thoughout your body as the sun beams upon your black and chiseled form. The sunlight intensifies and you hear chanting in the background. You feel yourself begin to rise, faster and faster before hurtling toward the source of the light. The last thing you hear, searing your mind is the furious lament of the creature who summoned you "No! You are Mine…………!"
You don’t know how long you have laid there, only that you are extremely weak and unable to move. You can sense the life-giving energy of the sun, but it is outside of your reach and you have not the strength to move. A dark, hardness, rough to the touch blocks the light from reaching you. You pass in and out of consciousness, growing ever weaker as time goes on. You scarcely open your eyes anymore, and when you do the visions they relay to you become dimmer and less defined. You can feel your life force draining.
The next time you open your eyes, you find yourself looking into the eyes of a curious and surprised half-elf.
As did others, I immediately thought of an obsidian body... which is a very cool visual. And could lead to some very interesting encounters, as obsidian is a prized resource on Athas. Just picture the shardmind being chased across the barrens by a gang of pick-wielding miners.
What came to mind was a mul, lost in a sandstorm, who wandered out into the sands. On the horizon he saw what seemed to be a tower and headed towards it. In his delirium he stumbled and sliced his hand on an exposed shard of obsidian. He lacked the strength to stand back up, and faded into and out of consciousness. He had flashes of what he thought were dreams. His hand turning into smoky black stone. Then his whole arm. He awoke, alive, and amazingly was not hungry nor thirsty. Looking down he was stunned to see it had not been dreams... his entire body was now formed from obsidian. In the way of all Athasians, though, in quick order he gathered himself and realized that he was now more suited for survival. His mul stubborness remained, and he summoned it as he started the long walk back to civilization. He couldn't help but wonder how he would be received... even by those who had known him his whole life. Well, that was a question for another day.
However Shardmind and Warforged both are still vulnerable to disease and thus would need to use something to avoid sun sickness. Plus both species would look rather out of place, although a Warforged might be able to pass as a heavily armored soldier in a town depending how closely his/her external appearance could match that of a full suit of say bone armor. And discovery to what they are would be bad as how many Templars would resist the 'reward' they might get for presenting a shardmind or warforge to their superiors and say 'Look what I found this has to be worth something right?' (reasons could range from 'these things don't die of old age' so can take advantage of that' to 'how can we create and control an army of these things') Fortunately with the proper clothing it is not hard to conceal what species they are as long as they don't do anything to draw too much attention to themselves.
and because they are so different so unique they can't stay to long
in one place.
I stole an idea from this forum and made a few special modification of my own
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back during the green age criminals were punished by putting them into large obsidian orbs
and those orbs would do many of the tasks slaves do now.
but that was thousands of years ago and many were destroyed due to neglect but some
after many years under the dark sun some regained Sentience
Using the remnants of the orb and the surrounding enviroments gained
the humanoid look they have.
there are so few they have become a great commodity
and many will go to great lengths to obtain one.
Really the downside of being on the run not knowing who to trust
out ways the benifits