Most of it will be pretty simple with the only real problem being classes. In Dark Sun power sources are very important so we'll approach the problem in terms of power sources. In 4e roles are very important so we'll address that as well.
First there is martial. Dark Sun had the following martial classes: Fighter, Gladiator, Thief, Bard, and Ranger*
*The Ranger also had elemental powers but they were minor, not tied in with any of the stories or other fluff, and can be simulated well enough with a multiclass into cleric.
The DS Gladiator can be covered by the 4e fighter. The DS fighter can be covered by the 4e fighter and the 4e warlock. The DS thief and bard can be covered by the 4e Rogue and with a paragon path for the bard. The ranger can be covered by the ranger.
Looks like there are no problems with Martial. We have a defender, a leader, and two strikers.
The next powersource is Psionic. Since we don't have rules for psionic I think that we'll leave it alone for now. However roles are pretty important. In DS psionic battles last for many rounds, tying up characters on a 1 for 1 basis. Telepaths might be Defenders!
The next power source is Arcane, though in Dark Sun it is something different, life energy. Wizards would be one class, I've heard the idea of Defiling and Preserving being implements which sounds pretty cool. I'm sure that we could come up with lots of interesting encounter and utility powers related to the life energy. Maybe you can draw energy to get healing surges back. Note the Druids get their energy from Athas, and so they could be considered Arcane in DS.
The troublesome power source is Elemental (Divine). Let's review the Divine classes from DS:
Cleric: decent combat ability (martial weapons), almost no ability to heal, various attack spells mostly with single targets. Either 4 or 8 (if you want to include paraelementals) subclasses.
Templar: good combat ability, weaker magic, extremely wide range of spells, mostly NPC anyway.
Druid: decent combat ability, knows far more spells than the cleric, but fewer than the templar
Ok so looking at roles, Druid should be a Leader. What should the cleric(s) be? Strikers? Controllers? Definitely not leaders, as DS clerics were almost useless when it came to healing. Oh sure, whatever we build would have some healing ability, just not much. Templars are a little tricky. They start off as warriors but end up as versatile spellcasters. Maybe they should be strictly NPC only. If a player really wanted to be a Templar the 4e Paladin would work well enough
So hmmm.... maybe rename the 4e cleric class to druid, rename the 4e warlock class to cleric, reflavor powers as needed.
various attack spells mostly with single targets.
Striker seams right.
Star Pact = psychotransportation, maybe telepath.
something like that?
Give each element two or three class features, each with a keyword name. Maybe each (some?) of the class features would be tied to a particular ability score, thus your second and tertiary scores would be determined by element. Then make up a bunch of powers, each of which would have a number of these keywords. Whenever you use a power with a specific keyword you trigger your matching class feature. The class features would be very powerful and so you would almost always select matching powers. Here is an example:
Sun Clerics would have a keyword called "Ray", the target(s) of a Ray is blinded (save ends)
Water Clerics would have a keyword called "Gush", the target of a gush is pushed one square by heroic powers, 2 by paragon, and 3 by epic.
Then there could be a power called Focused Blast or something like that. It would be Wis vs Ref ranged and hit two targets and deal something like 1d12 damage. It would have the Ray and Gush keywords, so when the Sun cleric uses it he blinds the target, and when the Water cleric uses it he knocks the target back. If the Earth cleric uses it there is no special effect, it just deals the 1d12 damage.
Ok now let's do the numbers. It looks like we need about four choices per level. We can drop that down to three, since they already are getting to choose between 8 elements/paraelements. Basically we need one power per keyword, per level. So at each level we have 24 keywords to divide up among however many powers we design. If we design six powers each would need four keywords, meaning that each power is usuable by about half of the elements. I think that that is doable.
So, at first level, instead of Lance of Faith, you could change it to Bolt of Water/Fire/Air/Earth (based on what type of cleric you are). Then, just change the Keyword Radiant to Water/Fire/Air/Earth to match, make the change the damage in the Hit section of the power, and you'd have a power for any of the elemental clerics to use. Also, you'd keep the balance.
Same could be done for Sacred Flame, changing the Radiant in the Keyword, the Radiant damage in the Hit section, and change the name to Something to match for Air/Earth/Water, along with changing the fluff description.
I think this'd save a ton of work on the conversion side, and would have the intended balance (which might not be balanced, in the long run, but it would be the intended level).
-HariMonk
Paraelementals were not in the original boxed set. The only mention of paraelemental clerics in the Prism Pentad were Sun Clerics. (and crunchwise they were actually fire clerics!) Elemental clerics are woven into the fluff everywhere, for example in Nibenay Earth and Water are the religions of the landowners, where Air and Fire are the religions of the masses.
If paraelementals are removed it makes designing the elemental clerics a little easier. The paraelemental powers can be divided up among their parent elements.
If removing Sun clerics seems to be too much of a problem, just remember that they are NPCs (meaning monsters) and that Sun is an NPC only powersource, which also includes Sadira after her transformation among other things.
can anyone make a strong argument for keeping the paraelemental clerics in the game?
Paraelementals were not in the original boxed set. The only mention of paraelemental clerics in the Prism Pentad were Sun Clerics. (and crunchwise they were actually fire clerics!) Elemental clerics are woven into the fluff everywhere, for example in Nibenay Earth and Water are the religions of the landowners, where Air and Fire are the religions of the masses.
If paraelementals are removed it makes designing the elemental clerics a little easier. The paraelemental powers can be divided up among their parent elements.
If removing Sun clerics seems to be too much of a problem, just remember that they are NPCs (meaning monsters) and that Sun is an NPC only powersource, which also includes Sadira after her transformation among other things.
Doesn't bother me, I dumped the paraelemental clerics long ago.
I've been reading my 4e rules and DS fluff a little more and I've decided to make the Cleric a controller.
I will probably change a few (not many) of the wizard spells to make them slightly less elemental focused. For some I will change the damage types, but for others I'll just convert spells from the DS source books. This will help make them different from Clerics.
The Paladin will be modified and end up as a Psychic Warrior. I was looking through his powers and a lot of them could easily be reflavored. He will be a warrior who enhances his own powers while praying on the mental weakness of his foes. I wish that I had The Will and the Way with me right now. I think I know where it is though.
The Warlock will be modified and end up as the Psion.
The Cleric will be modified and end up as the Druid.
Templars will be monsters.
That gives me 9 classes, two for every role except striker.
As for defiling, well...
Preserving will use the default rules
Preservers will be allowed to defile to gain special benefits
Preservers who defile will end up becoming defilers, and then NPCs.
I'm thinking that defiling will defile the following number of squares:
at will: 1
encounter: 9
daily: 25
You would have to kill that many squares, so initially it is basically a close burst but then as you further defile you increase the defiled area by figuring out the squares.
Defiling causes pain (not damage) so an Int vs Fort attack that causes everyone in the radius except for the defiler to lose a healing surge might work. Epic defilers would be dealing damage also.
Implements will be removed, which the special exception of obsidian orbs for epic casters, which allow wizards to pull energy from animals in addition to plants. I'll make it up to them somehow.
Oh and wizards will have Bluff and Streetwise on their skill list and get an extra trained skill. Bluff will allow them to practice Somatic Concealment, so that they can cast their spells without being revealed as a wizard. Wizards will also be the only class to get Literacy as a free feat.
The "illegal spell components" fluff will refer to rituals.
the trick is to make it tempting without it being gamebraking. I was considering something like
you may spend 1 healing surge to cause one target struck by a at-will 1st level wizard power to suffer max damage from the attack. this is not considerd a critical hit and the wizard may wait to spend the surge till after they have hit the target.
The defiler may spend a healing surge as a minor action. to recover a wizard encounter power they have already used this encounter. if this power is not used by the start of the wizards next turn the power is lost.
A defiler may spend two healing surges to do the same with a daily power.
then besides the dead plants and hate you get for being a defiler there should be some sorta cost.
each time a wizard defiles to gain any of these benefits he must roll a saveing throw with a bonus on his save equal to his wisdom modifier and a negitive on the save equal to the number of healing surges he has spent defileing in the last week.
if he fails the wizard becomes a defiler.
this is just one way it could go.