My previous post on the topic, dating back well over a year ago, hinted at a series of new posts on Athas. I’m trying to get into a rhythm of posting more often, let’s see where we will get.
I’ve been working on my own players guide to Athas for quite some time. Besides the obvious things like the races being present (and, spoiler alert, those who have been exterminated) and how they are somewhat different then your regular PHB races, I’ve brought in some new things. They all concern spellcasting of some sort: the Cleric Elemental Domains, Psionics and Defiling/Preserving.
I plan to do a small post on all three and I’ll start with defiling/preserving in this post.
How do spells work on Athas?
First off, let’s start with some basic concepts and how I plan to apply them to my campaign setting. Magic has corrupted the lands of Athas. In a normal D&D campaign, a wizard would get the fuel for their spells from some mystical power, a wind of magic, etc. For playing purposes, it’s just there and usable at a somewhat infinite usage. On Athas, Arcane magic is fueled by life force, mainly plant life.
But what about Paladins, Clerics, and Druids! They use Divine Magic. Well, you are right, dear reader, but the gods are cut off from Athas. Either through some battle with the elementals or because of events cutting Athas off most planes of existence, the Gods of D&D have no influence on Athas. The Clerics, Paladins, Druids revere on of the elementals (good/neutral) or para-elementals (evil) As such, divine magic has been renamed Elemental Magic, but works more or less like the PHB rules.
Thirdly, there are Psionics on Athas. In fact, there is a lot of it. Psionics are fueled with inner strength, so by the manifester herself. As a quick overview, the classes are powered by these three sources (arcane, elemental and psionics)
| Class | Magic Source |
| Artificer | Arcane (Preserving or Defiling), or perhaps elemental? (discussion pending) |
| Barbarian | If a magic power is present, it would most likely be psionic or elemental |
| Bard | Arcane (defiling) or perhaps Psionics? (discussion pending) |
| Cleric | Elemental |
| Druid | Elemental |
| Fighter | If a magic power is present, it will most likely be psionic |
| Monk | If a magic power is present, it will most likely be psionic or elemental |
| Paladin | Elemental |
| Psionicist | Psionics |
| Ranger | Elemental |
| Rogue | If a magic power is present, it will most likely be psionic |
| Sorcerer | Arcane (Defiling) |
| Warlock | Arcane (Defiling / Sorcerer-King for Templars) |
| Wizard | Arcane (Preserving or Defiling) |
The Bard and Artificer are still subject to change because I’m still not sure in what way they would operate within Athas. Athassian Bards are assassins, poisoners, and in previous editions they where portrayed as a rogue subclass. Most 5e conversions I’ve seen so far, just eliminate the PHB bard class entirely and add a new Rogue subtype. I however, want to keep the PHB classes available as much as possible. Obviously, trying to boost morale on a crowd by singing a song while all life around you whither and dies, might not work as well. So trying to use the PHB Bard class should be something to be discussed with your DM. One idea I’m discussing is having the Bard class use psionics as casting source. I will try and discuss this on a new post on Psionics. This also makes it more clear that the 5e bard is not just a singer/musician as in older editions. Bards can be so much more through their traditions that it feels a shame to just junk it.
Artificer is a class that didn’t exist in the previous editions in Athas. It’s a strange class for Athas in multiple ways. In default, I feel it’s a class that highly depends on tinkering things, usually with metal. Athas is scarse on metal, so that might not work. This would really depend on the subclass and how the player and the DM see it work within the world. A suggestion I got was to use elemental power source, and that could definately make sense. However, there are still a lot of details to work out. I will try and discuss this on a new post on Elemental Magic.
Other half-casters with specific subclasses will need to be discussed on a per case basis. Some might be psionics, some might be elemental, and some will remain arcane and have to live to deal with the tough choice between preserving and defiling…
Magic Source: Arcane
As mentioned, arcane magic is fueled by life force. This means you need to draw magic from life, for instance plants, in order to cast an arcane spell. Pulling the life force from the land will leave the it defiled for decades to come, nothing will grow there for a long time. This is in fact what made Athas into a desert. (albeit on a larger scale) It is also why spellcasters are so hated.
A spellcaster that draws magic from the land is called a defiler. Defiling is not only frowned upon, but usually enough reason to be attacked, lynched, killed, or worse: turned in to the templars of the local Sorcerer-King.
A wizard, who has learned to use magic through study, can also learn to cast her spells on a preserving manner. Instead of recklessly drawing power from plants around, she draws slower and from a greater distance and returns unused lifeforce back into the plants. By casting in that manner, the plants survive and the land is not defiled. Most people living in Athas will, however, not be able to tell the difference and respond to this the same as with defilers.
Defiling should be something that should be used cautiously, but should also be very tempting to use. If it was easy to just preserve, the worlds wouldn’t be in such a mess. Greed and Power should favor the defilers. Also, once hooked onto defiling, it should be difficult to stop doing it.
On the other hand, preserving should not be penalized that much that a player character won’t do it at all. It should be a choice for a wizard when casting each spell, gaining a bit extra by being less carefull or sticking to the rules set to themselves.
In my mind, preserving is something you have to learn from the start of your journey into Arcane Magic. If you get your arcane powers from another source (a patron, spontanous casting) I feel that you are unable to minutely control that flow to preserve. So as a rule of thumb, all Arcane (full or half) casters that learn magic through study have the option to preserve. Other classes do not. This should stick as close as possible to the AD&D boxset of the Dark Sun campaign.
Preserving as a mechanic
These rules are assuming a player character is a preserver by default. Most D&D players are de facto good characters, trying to rid the world of evil/injustice/etc. So casting in a preserving method should be as close to default as possible. However, I do want defiling to be as tempting as possible, so I am going to nerf preserving just a bit.
Preserving is just like spellcasting as stated in the PHB, except they spend a little more time gaining the required energy:
When casting a spell in a preserving manner, any spell with a casting time on one bonus action, or one action, also required using your full movement to carefully summon the required energy.
You can summon the energy and save it for use untill the end of your next turn. Saving energy for your next turn requires your concentration. You are able to use this energy on your readied action or reaction if you have means to cast a spell as a reaction. (For instance, with the war caster feat) If you don’t spend the energy it is lost. From a mechanical perspective, the time to draw the energy doesn’t take longer when you plan to cast a higher level spell. As a flavor, a caster could describe the amount of energy she’s gathering and holding at the ready as a visual queue to friends or threat to enemies. If a lower level spell is cast, or none at all, the left over energy is being return to the plants with no harm done to them.
If a spell has a casting time of more then one action, it requires a full extra turn of casting time.
Defiling as a mechanic
Defiling, depleting the life force around the caster is a choice for classes that study in order to learn magic. Other classes, like a sorcerer have never truly learned to control the intake of energy and can only defile. Some wizards sometimes have to make a difficult choice of defiling. Or they do it because they can. A true preserver will never defile, even if it means saving their own lives or those they love. They believe defilers are monsters that need to be removed from the world.
When casting a spell in a defiling manner, an amount of land will simply wither and die. To put this into a mechanic, you would destroy a certain amount of life around yourself depending on the spells level. Firstly, the land would become tainted with defilement, but perhaps it can still recover in a few years. If a spell is cast again on that piece of land, it will be defiled.
The higher the level, the greater the reach of defilement. But also, the more barren the environment, the greater the reach. If you don’t have any non-defiled ground withing 30ft, you can’t get contact with enough life-force to power your spells and nothing happens. You will loose your action trying to cast, but you will not loose the spell slot. You can’t cast a preserving spell from such a position either.
Cantrips do not cause defilement, but can’t be cast from defiled ground.
| Spell level | Lush | Fertile | Infertile | Barren |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 20 |
| 2 | 5 | 10 | 20 | 40 |
| 3 | 5 | 10 | 20 | 40 |
| 4 | 5 | 10 | 20 | 40 |
| 5 | 10 | 20 | 40 | 80 |
| 6 | 10 | 20 | 40 | 80 |
| 7 | 15 | 30 | 60 | 120 |
| 8 | 15 | 30 | 60 | 120 |
| 9 | 20 | 40 | 80 | 160 |
Casting multiple spells from the same location
If a sorcerer would stand on fertile land to cast Magic Missile, a first level spell, she would taint the ground she is on. A second casting of the spell will defile the ground entirely, making it visually ashen and unusable to get energy from. If she would cast another magic missile, she would create a circle of 5 ft of tainted ground, outside of the defiled ground, making a circle of 10 ft around the sorcerer’s feet. If she would then cast Scorching Ray, a second level spell, she would be standing in 10ft defiled ground, surrounded by 5ft of tainted ground.
Lastly, if she would then cast a fireball, the iconic third level spell, 15 ft would be defiled, followed by 10 ft of tainted land.
Variant: defiling cantrips
Cantrips do defile when using this variant, on the place (ie. square) the caster is on. When casting a 3rd cantrip on the same spot, apply the defilements rules as a 1th level spell. In effect, 6 cantrips on a single spot will defile 10 ft. of infertile land.
Variant: simplified defiling
These rules can become quite tedious to administrate for players and DM’s alike. An alternative ruling would be to give pieces of land a certain number of magic source points worth of energy.
My advise is to use the spell points to create a mapping between magic source points and spell slots. When the land’s points is spent, the ground is defiled and the caster needs to move to more fertile land. The DM would then give hints on how depleted the surrounding ground is. This would make DM more in control and could fudge the numbers a bit for a more entertaining or challenging encounter.
Defiling power
When casting a defiling spell, you can choose to gain defiler power points as shown in the table on the right. The defiler power points can used for metamagic effect to be applied on this spell:
- Distant Spell (1 point)
- Empower Spell [use your casting ability modifier instead of cha] (2 points)
- Quickened Spell (3 points)
Any unused power points are stored in seperate pool that can contain as much points are your proficiency bonus. Any points gained and not stored or used directly are lost.
All stored points are lost after a short or long rest.
As exception to the normal Metamagic rules, you are allowed to apply mutliple meta magic effects to your defiling spell. in the process)
| Spell level | Defiler power points |
| Cantrip | 0 |
| 1 | 0 |
| 2 | 0 |
| 3 | 1 |
| 4 | 1 |
| 5 | 2 |
| 6 | 2 |
| 7 | 3 |
| 8 | 3 |
| 9 | 4 |
Sorcerer’s Font of Magic
If the caster has the sorcerer’s Font of Magic feature, she can use the stored points on known sorcerer meta-magic features, but not to gain new spell slots.
For example, if you cast a 5th level spell in a defiling manner, you can apply 2 points on meta magic features listed above, or store it to apply on the defiler-, or your sorcerer meta-magic feature list on a future spell. You could also apply one point on applying the Distant Spell metamagic effect, and store the other in your defiler power point pool.
You can only use the stored points on the meta-magic effects you have gained through the sorcerer class ability, or on the defiler meta-magics list. If a meta-magic effect is on both, you can pick the version (and costs) of it.
Defilers Taint
| Spell level | Defiler taint points |
| Cantrip | 1 |
| 1 | 2 |
| 2 | 4 |
| 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 8 |
| 5 | 10 |
| 6 | 12 |
| 7 | 14 |
| 8 | 16 |
| 9 | 18 |
If you cast a defiling spell, you gain a number of defiler taint points as shown in the table on the left. If you chose to gain a metamagic empowerment, add the number of power points gained (even if you didn’t use them) to your total of taint points.
After a long rest, if the number of defiler taint points are higher then your casting ability + charisma, you must either resist or assume the defiler’s taint feature. So for instance, if sorcerer Grifan has casted three level 1 spells, two level 2 spells, one level 3 spell, and one level 4 spell she would have 28 defiler taint points. If she has a charisma of 16, she would be safe from the taint. (cha + cha = 32).
If she opted to gain the metamagic power on all of her spells, she would have 36 defiler taint points and had to resist or assume the defiler’s taint.
If she was a wizard with cha of 8, she would have (int + cha) 24 and had to resist or assume as well.
Resist the defiler’s taint
If you resist the defiler’s taint, you exchange some of your own life’s energy to resist the negative energies that comes with defiling. Add one level of exhaustion. You do not remove a level of exhaustion this long rest.
Assume the defiler’s taint
If you assume the defilers taint, you gain one level of the Defiler’s Taint feature as described below. While you have this feature, you cannot cast preserving spells like before. If you wish to preserve, make a saving throw with your casting ability (DC 10 + your defiler’s Taint level). If you fail, you cast the spell in a defiling manner. You can’t apply a meta-magic effect to this spell.
Eliminating Defiler’s Taint levels
It is possible to remove the defilers taint. This takes time in meditation depending on the location. Time spent meditating can be split into segments of at least two hours at a time. You do not gain the benefit of a short or long rest while meditating.
If you meditate with assistance of a willing druid of sufficient power, the times are halved. Remember that a druid won’t be willing easily.
| Terrain vegetation | Meditation time per defiler’s taint level |
| Lush | 4 hours |
| Fertile | 8 hours |
| Infertile | 16 hours |
| Barren | 32 hours |
Defiler’s Taint Feature
When you gain a defiler’s taint level, the effects stack and are as follows.
| Defiler’s taint level | Effect |
| 0 | No effect |
| 1 | Your body constantly gives out a penetrating odor, you get disadvantage on stealth checks. Perception checks against you have advantage if smell is used. |
| 2 | Your skin starts turning pale and people can clearly see you dabble with defiling magic. You get disadvantage on all charisma-based skill checks and saves. |
| 3 | The taint is starting to affect your mind, you get disadvantage on intelligence and wisdom skill checks and saves. You also get disadvantage on saves to cast in a preserving manner. |
| 4 | Continious defiling is taking its toll on your body. You get disadvantage on constitution-based skill checks and saves. |
| 5 | You die and become a t’Liz (undead defiler) under control of the DM. |
So what do you think of this setup? Am I over complicating things, is this to unbalanced to the point of breaking D&D? Let met know in the comments! I might change the post if I have new ideas, feedback or whatnot. I’ll keep a list of updates below if any.
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