Session Fifty-Five: Vermin at War

 Note: For those unfamiliar with Dark Sun, psionics are called the Will for wild talents and the Way for trained psionicists.

 The tari raced forward, the swarms of rats rushing in front of the horde. Kalino watched the mob surge toward Kiara and himself. Kiara's breathing was measured and calm, she was obviously well-trained in the templarate of Urik. Kalino could see Shade on top of the cliff, smoothly drawing arrows from his hip quiver and firing them into the oncoming rush of vermin.

Suddenly, the ground erupted in the midst of the rat swarms, tossing chunks of earth and rat corpses through the air. It was obvious hat Julius was using the way and Kalino was amazed at the power the mind could unleash. Kalino was a preserver and could unleash destructive and wondrous energies, but he had to take the power from vegetation and shape it into what he desired. The way didn't work like that and Kalino, in that moment, thought it would be wise to develop his will into the way at a later date. If he survived.
Kalino spotted Mohamed pushing in front of the tari, charging toward Julius' position above him. The undead man had a few arrows sticking out of his body, but the arrows did not impede his movement, nor seem to cause him any pain. He was unarmed, which made Kalino even more uneasy. Foes who chose to be unarmed were generally very powerful and undead were unpredictable.

Athasian Mutations Part Two

In part one of the athasian mutation exploration articles, I created a list of one-hundred appearance mutations. Those mutations had no influence on game statistics or rolls. In part two, I will be writing about beneficial mutations. These mutations will impact the human in a game-related beneficial way. Abilities are not changed, but ability checks may be. Also, it is important to note that the benefit must make sense. For example: A character that has lizard eyes loses all benefits from this mutation when blindfolded. Often, these beneficial mutations will be accompanied by a change in appearance.

It is important that dungeon masters strongly consider the impact granting a player character these beneficial mutations will have on their game. Some of these mutations could make a human player character far more powerful than anticipated. You have been warned.

DM's should feel free to roll 5d10 to determine the beneficial mutations of a human, or human group. Fell free to roll as many times as you wish and alter any mutations as you see fit. Combined with wild talents, this is a good way to surprise a group of player characters with an enemy possessing unexpected abilities.

Session Fifty-Four: Vermin in the Dark

Note: For those unfamiliar with Dark Sun, psionics are called the Will for wild talents and the Way for trained psionicists.

Shade backed away from the cliff edge, as the tari continued shooting arrows at him. He hid in the shadows and waited to see if Alaxander would teleport back up to him. When Alaxander failed to appear, Shade sneaked away along the clifftop.
Meanwhile, Alaxander was goofing off below. He teleported a large rock into the midst of a group of tari, damaging some of them. He got stabbed with a bone tipped spear for his trouble. Mohamed said he could feel where Alaxander had gone and ran around the building to find him. Mohamed had not healed from their last encounter, but did not seem disturbed by his many wounds. Alaxander attempted to summon his mental strength, but was distracted by his fear of the undead. Mohamed then punched Alaxander twice and had obviously been imbued with supernatural strength. Alaxander teleported back to the top of the cliff. He began searching for Shade among the rocks. Alaxander attempted too use the way to dampen the noise he was making, but created a loud boom instead. Knowing he had already been discovered, he used the way to raise his voice and attempted to frighten the tari. Alaxander then used the way to increase the light levels on the top of the cliff to try and find Shade. Alaxander could see a group of tari soldiers and swarms of rats rushing toward him. He tried frightening them away again, by increasing his voice with the way. It did not seem to have the desired effect. The tari had a difficult time striking Alaxander, but one of the rat swarms covered him and wriggled into his armor. He was getting bit and scratched, so he teleported away. He left the rats behind.

The Gorak and his Shadow. A Dark Sun Fable.

A gorak left his lair one evening and was in an extremely good mood. As he ran, the setting sun made his shadow appear very large on the ground. To the gorak, it looked as if he were a hundred times bigger than he really was.
"Look!" exclaimed the gorak proudly, "See how big I am! Who wouls I ever run away from a puny tigone! I'll show him who is the biggest and most ruthless creature in the desert!"
Just then an immense shadow covered him and his shadow. In the next instant, a tigone struck him down with a single blow.