Dark Sun: Dwarves and Muls

The Dwarves are always a cool race to play in standard 4e. Strong and hardy, few parties don't include a dwarf anchoring the group. When it comes to Dark Sun though, I generally see dwarves fall by the wayside and be replaced by Muls.

Muls in Dark Sun are a dwarf/human hybrid who are bred mainly for slave labor. This means not only are they as hardy as dwarves, but they also have the versatility of humans.

In Dark Sun, Dwarves get essentially deflavored while Muls get all the cool, "never say die" type skills. Dwarves get their beards taken away, and since they are in a metal-scarce world, they get their black smithing taken too. Dwarves are relegated to being engineers, which is cool for an npc, but not really useful for a player. Oh, and there aren't any Dwarven cities or fortresses. So no "Ironforge".

Dwarves do have a lame addition that is a holdover from the AD&D days of Dark Sun. Dwarves have a "obsession" of sorts that represents their tenacity. This is borderline useless and more of an individual role playing thing.  

Muls on the other hand are an oppressed race who are literally bred for slavery. They have the same racial modifiers as dwarves and get to choose whether they select from human or Dwarven feats. I've never seen a player pick a Dwarf in Dark Sun, rather, they'll choose a Mul and pick from the Dwarf feats. 

In the end, I kind of feel bad for Dwarves in Dark Sun, but at the same time, I don't because WOTC just made Muls much more attractive. 

Dark Sun: Dragonbron AKA The Dray

The Dragonborn (not to be confused with the one from Skyrim...) are one of the cooler and strongest races in 4e. Not only is their Dragon's Breath encounter power really cool, but they tend to make the best martial class characters and even make for great paladins. My favorite 4e PC was a Dragonborn Blackguard who hated Bahamut for abandoning him and became a dragonslayer.

In Dark Sun, the Dragonborn are referred to as Dray. They are clan-based and were created by a sorcerer king in order to be sorcerer warriors. Already, you see a marked difference. The Dray on Athas are the primary sorcerers, being born out of magic and being principally skilled in it. Because they live on the fringes of society and are very powerful arcane users, they are usually sought after by nobles to serve as mercenary magicians.

In a party, a Dray brings a host of possibilities, including being on of the races where being an arcane user slips right into the story. The Dray could be an exalted dignitary, an ambassador between nobles and sorcerer kings, he could be an outcasted clan member who now sells his skills to the highest bidder, or he could be a mafioso in a corner of Balic focusing in the slave trade and money-lending. 

It's really interesting how the changes in Dark Sun force you to take a different look at these races. I normally would never play an arcane Dragonborn, but now it makes so much sense that I can't imagine playing a non-arcane Dray.