Wizard Class (DSC)

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In a DARK SUN campaign, magic is irrevocably linked to the environment. The casting of magical spells and the enchantment of magical items draws energy directly from the living ecology in the vicinity, destroying the life there. A wizard is able to capture and master these magical energies, though at the expense of affecting the ecosystem. Wizards can choose the degree to which they damage the environment in their effort to gain mastery of magical energy.
The defiler activates tremendous magical energy without regard to the havoc such actions play on the land. With the casting of each spell, a defiler destroys a portion of the world’s ecosystem, rendering the land dead and sterile. This vicious and brutal method of wielding magic requires little study, and so defilers advance through levels relatively quickly as far as wizards are concerned.
The preserver learns to tap-rather than destroy-magical energies so as to minimize or even cancel the destruction of life. He uses magic in concert with the environment, doing so by balancing his quest for power with in-depth study, which requires that his level advancement proceed slowly.
There are no specialist wizards on Athas. The study of magic has been so restricted over the centuries that wizards have a hard enough time learning spells, let alone specializing in a specific field of study.
Like wizards in other campaigns, Athasian mages are restricted in their use of weapons and armor (as explained in the Player’s Handbook). In this world, a wizard’s spell book is very rare-perhaps found only as an artifact. Instead of a “book” made with flat pages bound along one edge between heavy covers, Athasian wizards write their spells on paper or papyrus scrolls, weave them into small tapestries or the fringes of their robes, carve them into bone staves, or—in extreme cases—use complicated knot and string patterns or stone tablets. All of these collections of spells are referred to as “spell books” and function accordingly.