Today we’re giving you some kits that accompany the new Dark Sun races we shared with you last week – specifically, kits for dray, gith, jozhals, Marnitan lizardfolk, nikaals, pterrans, ssurrans, tareks, and tari. You can find kits for rhul-thaun halflings in Windriders of the Jagged Cliffs and we’ll be sharing more kits for the standard Dark Sun races (and classes!) next blog.

Here are two of the kits we’re sharing this week – the jozhal spellfilcher and the pterran market trader. The others are all in the pdf attached at the bottom of the blog. Enjoy!

Spellfilcher

A spellfilcher is a jozhal who has taken his race’s curiosity of and love for magic to an extreme, developing the ability to steal spell energy while it is being gathered by other wizards. Through the powers of an obsidian orb, the spellfilcher steals this energy and uses it for himself. This makes spellfilchers extremely unpopular among the wizards of the Tablelands, but these voracious jozhal don’t really care. Magic is there for the taking and if you can’t hold onto it, you don’t deserve to have it.

Spellfilchers develop these abilities through years of intense study, focusing on arcane theories and the inherent mystical powers of obsidian. They sacrifice a breadth of understanding of magic in order to achieve depth of insight, but consider it worth the sacrifice.

Indeed, so deep is their magical lore that spellfilchers are able to strengthen the jozhal’s innate magic resistance, making themselves even harder to affect with magic. Although only a slight increase, it is enough to give the spellfilcher an edge when combating other wizards – something that happens fairly often, given the spellfilchers’ tendency to steal magical energy right out from under other wizards’ noses.

Despite their abilities, spellfilchers are mistrusted in jozhal society. Jozhals are curious about magic, but also wary of it, and anyone who studies it as deeply as the spellfilchers do is liable to draw suspicion. Their use of obsidian – a known tool of defilers – doesn’t help matters either. Not that the spellfilchers care.

Recommended Weapons: Spellfilchers are not overly concerned with weaponry. They default to the standard wizard weapon list in most cases.

Recommended Non-weapon Proficiencies: Alchemy, knowledge (arcanology), literacy, spellcraft.

Bonus Weapon Proficiencies: None.

Bonus Non-weapon Proficiencies: Craft (gem cutting).

Equipment: Spellfilchers require an obsidian orb worth no less than 100 cp to leech energy from other wizards. They can either purchase one or craft one of their own using their gem cutting proficiency.

Special Benefits

Improved Resistance: The spellfilcher’s highly focused understanding of magic means that his innate magic resistance rises to 15%.
Leech Energy: A spellfilcher is able to leech the life energy gathered by other wizards before they can use it to cast a spell. This requires the spellfilcher to have a better initiative total in the round than the target wizard, and then to hold his action until the other wizard begins casting.
At this point, the spellfilcher rolls a d20. He needs an 11 or higher to leech the energy from a caster of the same level. For every level above him that the target caster is, add one to the number he needs to roll. For every level above the target that the spellfilcher is, subtract one from the number he needs to roll. (In other words, it functions like a dispel magic check.) A roll of 20 is always a success and a roll of 1 is always a failure.
The spellfilcher can use the spell levels of the spell the target wizard was about to cast to power his own spells. He must use the spell levels the next round or they are lost. He can combine these leeched spell levels with his own or use them without tapping his own reserves.
The spellfilcher can attempt to leech energy once per day per point of Insight Bonus and he needs an obsidian orb worth at least 100 cp to do so.

Special Hindrances

School Restriction: What the spellfilcher gains in focus and understanding, he loses in breadth of lore. As a result, each spellfilcher loses access to one school of magic, as chosen by the player. He cannot cast spells or use magic items that rely on this school.

Wealth Options: Standard.

Nomad Trader

Ssurrans of the Scorched Plateau are friendly pack rats who love making deals. They collect anything, behaving more like glorified junk men than dignified agents of a merchant house. Still, they provide a key component to survival on the Scorched Plateau by bringing news and much-needed goods and supplies from one settlement to the next.

The ssurrans have formed a loose confederation of trading houses, though on a less formal and more primitive scale than the dynastic houses of the Tyr Region. The nomad traders are the backbone of this confederation. They are ingenious and dedicated merchants, proud of their expertise.

Lighter and more nimble than most ssurrans (who tend to be somewhat heavy-set), those who have chosen the life of the nomad trader skitter across the parched landscape of the Scorched Plateau, hawking their wares to whomever will buy – and a goodly number of individuals who aren’t sure but agree to a deal just to make the ssurrans go away.

Nomad traders pride themselves on being able to source any item for their clients. They may not have the desired item to hand, but their network of contacts and fellow traders throughout the ssurran confederation and beyond are sure to be able to find what the client is looking for. Whether the client is able to pay the required price is, of course, another matter.

Of all the ssurrans of the Scorched Plateau, the nomad traders are the most likely to travel to other parts of Athas. They cannot resist the lure of a tempting deal or the prospect of new markets at which to play their trade. Do you want to buy?

Recommended Weapons: The nomad trader carries a variety of weapons, partly out of a desire to be well-prepared for any eventuality, partly out of a desire to never throw anything away. Close-quarters, melee, missile – all of these should be represented.

Recommended Non-weapon Proficiencies: Bureaucracy, etiquette, fast talk, gaming, information gathering, knowledge (any), language (modern), navigation, riding (land-based).

Bonus Weapon Proficiencies: None.

Bonus Non-weapon Proficiencies: Appraising, bargain.

Equipment: The nomad trader should be equipped with a bewildering array of gear, from the incredibly useful to the surprisingly pointless. Being able to produce any item on demand is a matter of pride for the nomad trader.

Special Benefits

Improved Bargain: The nomad trader receives a +4 bonus on all bargain non-weapon proficiency checks.
Pack Rat: A nomad trader can source any item of normal equipment from his contacts in 1d4 days. Particularly rare and valuable items add one day to this total.

Special Hindrances

Light Build: Ssurran nomad traders are more lightly built than many other ssurrans. They only receive a +2 natural Armour Class bonus, their claws deal 1d6 damage, and their bite deals 1d3 damage.

Wealth Options: Standard.