The new Dungeons & Dragons rules presented in the first One D&D digital toolset offer players the chance to introduce races from the Dark Sun campaign setting into D&D 5e. Dark Sun takes place on the world of Athas, which is different from the other D&D campaign worlds in a number of ways. Athas is a desolate world, as spellcasters have to drain the energy from plant life to power their spells, leading to a world where the familiar D&D races are much different, as they now struggle to survive in a land with swiftly dwindling resources.
The D&D 5e Player's Handbook features the half-orc and the half-elf as options for playable races, but the first Unearthed Arcana article on D&D Beyond features new rules for characters whose parents belong to different races. The One D&D playable race rules now allow players to create a character with the mechanical traits of one race, such as a dragonborn's breath weapon and elemental resistance, but with the physical traits of another, such as an elf. This means that there are many new possible combinations of playable races in the game, though this is still considered to playtest material, and it might be changed when it appears in the revised Player's Handbook in 2024.
Wizards of the Coast has revealed that the last of the announced returning classic campaign settings will be Planescape in 2023. This means that it's unlikely that the Dark Sun campaign setting will be revived for D&D 5e, though this edition still has years of life left in it, so the door is always open. The Dark Sun campaign setting had many races and monsters that were unique to the world of Athas and have yet to appear in D&D 5e, though the Spelljammer setting has included Dark Sun content recently, such as defiler magic. The new One D&D playable race rules offer plays the chance to bring some of the Dark Sun races into D&D 5e, either as part of homebrew settings or by including them in the main campaign worlds.
Dark Sun's Mul Race Are The Progeny Of Humans & Dwarves
In many D&D campaign settings, there are strong bonds between the human and dwarven races. Dwarves are noted for their undying loyalty, honor, and enmity towards the goblinoid races, which would make them natural allies for the other humanoid races. The D&D dwarves have the greatest smiths and access to the most durable metals, which means they have the capacity to create the best equipment in the game. This means humans and dwarves are also likely to have strong trade relationships and will have reason to be in regular contact. It bears mentioning that everything above need not be true in every D&D homebrew or official setting, as some fantasy franchises have taken a different approach with dwarves, such as the ones in Dragon Age, who often treat honor as a front for political reasons, similar to the Klingons from Star Trek.
The fact that humans and dwarves often have close relationships means that romance between the two peoples is a possibility, and in the world of Athas, there were human/dwarven offspring. In Dark Sun, this race was called the mul, and they were human-sized beings with the incredible durability of dwarves. In Dark Sun, many mul are born into slavery, as they're prized for their fighting ability as gladiators. In the other D&D campaign worlds, mul could exist anywhere at any time, depending on the setting.
Dark Sun's Elfling Race Are The Progeny Of Elves & Halflings
The elfling race didn't appear in any of the Dark Sun D&D setting sourcebooks. Instead, the lone elfling was actually a character from the Tribe of One trilogy of Dark Sun novels by Simon Hawke. This singular elfling was Sorak, a child of an elf and a halfling, who was burdened with the destiny of finding the Sage, who was one of the few people attempting to turn into a mighty Avangion, in the hope of saving the world of Athas.
The fact that there was only one elfling in D&D, and he was very much a special case, means that D&D players have a lot of scope for creating something unique with an elfling character. In the case of an elfling in D&D, the halflings are known for having good relations with the other humanoid races, even the withdrawn ones, like the elves, so there are plenty of opportunities for romance to blossom between elves and halflings. An elfling player could easily take the traits of an elf and apply to them a small humanoid, or give a halfling's traits to a medium-sized creature, though the Halfling Nimbleness ability wouldn't be as useful. As a D&D novel character with a narrative role, Sorak had all kinds of special abilities, powerful allies, and magic items that most low-level characters wouldn't have, so he doesn't work as a baseline for introducing elflings to other settings. That means players have total freedom for defining elflings in their own campaigns.
Dark Sun's Half-Giants Can Use The Properties Of Humans & Goliaths
There have been instances of humans breeding with giantkin in the history of D&D, as was the case with half-ogres, but a half-giant is something that's a little more unfeasible. In the original Dark Sun campaign setting from AD&D, the half-giants are the result of magical experiments performed by the sorcerer-kings of Athas, in order to create armies of powerful warriors that could maintain control in their cities. When the Dark Sun campaign setting was brought into D&D 4e, the half-giants were used as a template for bringing the goliath race into Athas.
In D&D 5e, the half-giants could be the offspring of humans and goliaths. The goliath race is known for being elusive and residing in the wilderness, which often pigeonholes them into certain character types, even though adventurers in D&D are known for being exceptional individuals and not tied to the norms of their people. A half-giant can have the mechanics of the goliath, yet maintain the traits of a large human. The fact that a new Dungeons & Dragons book about giants is coming in 2023, called Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants, means that more giant-themed content is on the way, and there would be more of a reason to roll up a half-giant character.