Dark Factions

Dark Factions
Author(s)	Luke Johnson
Artist(s)	Various
Pages	224
Publisher(s)	White Wolf, Incorporated
Publication date	May 14, 2008
Retail price	US: $34.99
ISBN 10	ISBN 1588464466
ISBN 13	ISBN 9781588464460

Dark Factions is a source book for the World of Warcraft RPG. The book was released on May 14 2008.

Book description

Crush the Alliance AND Horde!

Naga and satyrs stir in dark places. Goblins invent crazy devices. The Atal'ai summon a bloodthirsty god. Azeroth is home to more than just the Alliance and Horde.

Discover eight new races and fifteen factions. New game elements — classes, spells, technological devices, and the like — further enhance these characters.

• Contains eight new races, including naga, pandaren and satyrs.
• Contains nine prestige classes, including the brewmaster, death knight, and naga anomaly.
• Includes variant classes, racial iconic classes, and creature classes, allowing you to play just the sort of character you want.
• Brims with new feats, spells, magic items, technological devices, and other abilities and items to decimate your opponents.
• Contains information on the fifteen factions unaffiliated with the Alliance or Horde, including their leaders and strategies, narrated by famed dwarven explorer Brann Bronzebeard.
• Includes two adventures to challenge heroes of any affiliation.

Dark Factions is a supplement for the World of Warcraft Roleplaying game.

ISBN: 978-1-58846-446-0

Interview

From...

BlizzPlanet Luke Johnson Q&A: World of Warcraft RPG: Horde Player Guide:

Dark Factions is unofficially subtitled the "Independent Player's Guide", because it's like the Alliance and Horde Player's Guides, but for independent factions and races...One of the races we cover is the pandaren. You'll see the pandaren written up as a new race, as well as at least one racial iconic class for them: the Wardancer. There's also a couple prestige classes designed with pandaren in mind. A Pandaren prestidge class is the Brewmaster, based on the hero unit in Warcraft 3. The other one is called the Pandaren Transcendent. Here's a quote:

"These are the pandaren's ultimate heroes: Spiritual avatars capable of summoning vast storms of lighting, smashing mountains with their terrible fists, and breathing winds into existence."

By the way, I should mention that Dark Factions isn't quite set in stone; everything I mention about it could, theoretically, change.-Luke Johnson, 2006-11-08

Table of Contents

Listed below are articles confirmed to be in the book. (Note that some of the page numbers might be slightly off.) Template:Col-start

• Introduction 4
• Chapter 1: New Races 6
• Dragonspawn 6
• Dwarf, Dark Iron 8
• Murloc 10
• Naga 12
• Pandaren 15
• Quilboar 17
• Satyr 19
• Tuskarr 21
• Vital Statistics 24
• Chapter 2: Class Options 25
• Equipment 25
• Variant Classes 26
• Aquatic Druid 26
• Druid of the Nightmare 26
• Martial Enchanter 27
• Dark Inscriber 27
• Arcane Alchemist 28
• Elementalist 29
• Contender 30
• Lone Wolf Runemaster 31
• Dungeoneer 31
• Aquatic shaman 32
• Shadowmage 32
• Racial Iconic Classes 32
• Goblin Tinker 33
• Naga Mage 34
• Priestess of the Tides 34
• Pandaren Wardancer 35
• Quilboar Thornweaver 35
• Satyr Hellcaller 37
• Creature Classes 38
• Dragon 39
• Flamewaker 41
• Nerubian 43
• Sea Giant 46
• Vital Statistics 48
• Feats 50

• Steam Armor KnackTemplate:Cite

• Chapter 3: Prestige Classes 54
• Brewmaster 54
• Death Knight 57
• Dragonsworn 60
• High Divinist 63
• Naga Anomaly 66
• Pandaren Transcendent 69
• Scarlet Battle Mage XX
• Scarlet Inquisitor XX
• Subversive XX
• Vindicator 81

Template:Column

• Chapter 4: Magic 84
• Independent Faiths 86
• Azshara 86
• Hakkar the Soulflayer 86
• The Old Gods 88
• Xavius 88
• The Pantheon of the Zandalar Tribe 89
• The Cult of the Damned 89
• Spells 89
• Arcanist Spell List 89
• Mage Spell List 90
• Necromancer Spell List 90
• Healer Spell List 90
• Druid Spell List 90
• Priest Spell List 90
• New Healer Domains 90
• Spell Descriptions 91
• New Magic Items 95

• Mithril SpursTemplate:Cite

• Armor 95
• Rod 95
• Wondrous Items 96
• Set Items 98
• Chapter 5: Technology 100
• Races and Technology 100
• Tech-Mods 101
• Steam Armor Enhancements 103
• Technological Devices 104
• Chapter 6: History and Culture 112
• Dark Iron Dwarf History 112
• Dark Iron Dwarf Culture 113
• Goblin History 114
• Goblin Culture 115
• Naga History 118
• Naga Culture 119
• Quilboar History 120
• Quilboar Culture 121
• Satyr History 121
• Satyr Culture 122
• Tuskarr History 122
• Tuskarr Culture 123

Template:Column

• Chapter 7: The Factions 124
• The Argent Dawn 124
• The Atal’ai and Hakkari 127
• The Cenarion Circle 129
• The Cult of the Damned 131
• The Dark Horde 133
• The Darkmoon Faire 136
• The Defias Brotherhood 139
• The Dragonflights 142
• The Earthen Ring 148
• The Explorers’ League 150
• The Farstriders 152
• The Scarlet Crusade 154
• The Syndicate 158
• The Thorium Brotherhood 160
• The Twilight’s Hammer 162
• The Zandalar Tribe 166
• Chapter 8: Dark Warriors 169
• Argent Dawn Forces 169
• Atal’ai and Hakkari Forces 170
• Cenarion Circle Forces 171
• Cult of the Damned Forces 171
• Dark Horde Forces 172
• Dark Iron Dwarf Forces 173
• Darkmoon Faire Forces 173
• Defias Brotherhood Forces 174
• Dragon Forces 175
• Dragonspawn Forces 175
• Earthen Ring Forces 177
• Explorers’ League Forces 177
• Farstrider Forces 178
• Goblin Forces 178
• Murloc Forces 180
• Naga Forces 180
• Pandaren Forces 181
• Quilboar Forces 183
• Satyr Forces 183
• Scarlet Crusade Forces 184
• Syndicate Forces 185
• Thorium Brotherhood Forces 186
• Tuskarr Forces 187
• Twilight’s Hammer Forces 187
• Zandalar Forces 188
• Chapter 9: Creatures 190
• Arachnathid 190

• Arachnathid Earth-BorerTemplate:Cite
• Crystal ArachnathidTemplate:Cite
• Overlord ArachnathidTemplate:Cite

• Clockwerk Goblin 192
• Couatl 193
• Dragon, Chromatic 194

• Chromatic Whelp
• Chromatic Drake

• Dragon Turtle 196
• Hobgoblin 197
• Makrura Prawn 198
• Mur’gul 199
• Nerubian 202

• Nerubian worker
• Nerubian spiderlord

• Pandaren 204
• Snap Dragon 205
• Spiderling Swarm 206
• Tube Wyrm 207
• Tuskarr 207

Template:Column

• Chapter 10: Adventures 209
• Goldknuckle 209
• The Lost Idol 217
• Index of Tables
• Table 1–1: Racial Ability Modifiers 6
• Table 1–2: The Wyrmkin 8
• Table 1–3: The Dark Iron Dwarf 10
• Table 1–4: The Murloc 12
• Table 1–5: The Naga 15
• Table 1–6: The Pandaren 17
• Table 1–7: The Quilboar 19
• Table 1–8: The Satyr 21
• Table 1–9: The Tuskarr 23
• Table 1–10: Random Starting Ages 24
• Table 1–11: Aging Effects 24
• Table 1–12: Random Height and Weight 24
• Table 2–1: Weapons 25
• Table 2–2: The Red Dragon Whelp 41
• Table 2–3: The Flamewaker 43
• Table 2–4: The Nerubian 46
• Table 2–5: The Sea Giant 48
• Table 2–6: Random Starting Ages for Creature Classes 48
• Table 2–7: Aging Effects for Creature Classes 49
• Table 2–8: Random Height and Weight for Creature Classes 49
• Table 2–9: Feats 50
• Table 3–1: The Brewmaster (Brw) 56
• Table 3–2: The Brewmaster’s Drunken Style 56
• Table 3–3: The Death Knight (Dkn) 59
• Table 3–4: The Dragonsworn (Dgs) 62
• Table 3–5: High Divinist (Hdv) 65
• Table 3–6: The Naga Anomaly (Nga) 69
• Table 3–7: The Pandaren Transcendent (Pat) 71
• Table 3–8: The Scarlet Battle Mage (Sbm) XX
• Table 3–9: The Scarlet Inquisitor (Siq) XX
• Table 3–10: The Subversive (Sbv) XX
• Table 3–11: Subversive Spells XX
• Table 3–12: The Vindicator (Vin) 82
• Table 4–1: New Magic Armor 95
• Table 4–2: New Rod 95
• Table 4–3: New Wondrous Items 96
• Table 5–1: New Tech-Mods 102
• Table 5–2: New Steam Armor Enhancements 103
• Table 5–3: New Technological Devices 104
• Table 9–1: The Mur’gul 201

• Mur'gul Necromancer

Monster Guide References

This is a list of things that differ from the index list. What exists below are material that may have been removed or moved to a future sourcebook.

• Mur'gulMG 5, 209

• Mur'gul Shadowcaster (doesn't appear in Dark Factions, may have become the "mur'gul necromancer".)

• Items

• Chain Mail Barding of SpeedTemplate:Cite

Hinted at for future supplements;

• Forgotten oneTemplate:Cite (Found in a list of monsters in Monster Guide, not in Dark Factions maybe in a future book.)
• Spell Breaker (class mentioned in Monster GuideTemplate:Cite)
• Blood elf, Racial Levels: Unlike humans and some other races, blood elves can take a few levels in “blood elf” as a class to develop their racial qualities more fully. See a future supplement for this class.Template:Cite

Missing information

This section represents info mentioned and given game but not seen in the book. Perhaps these were cut from the initial document, or planned to be included in a future book.

• Faceless onesTemplate:Cite

A history of delays

• First announced; 06 Nov 2006
• World of Warcraft: Dark Factions Copyright 2006, Blizzard Entertainment.Template:Cite
• World of Warcraft: Dark Factions Copyright 2007, Blizzard Entertainment.Template:Cite
• World of Warcraft: Dark Factions Copyright 2008, Blizzard Entertainment.Template:Cite

Until the recent announcement regarding the upcoming release, rumors have been circulating that the World of Warcraft RPG, White Wolf/Arthaus line, may have been canceled due to poor sales and other factors. Dark Factions has been pushed back multiple times, and no new information has been released by the editor and authors for several months following the book's first announcement. This has led many to speculate that the book may have actually been canceled, and some of the artwork has been leaked to the internet before the release of the book, which has been interpreted as evidence of the cancellation. Some believe that the artists released it, in order to get their artwork to the public any way they could, as it would not see publishing.[1]

The book may have been on extended hold in preparation for the release of Wrath of the Lich King. This is especially interesting since the official release date has been set to June 2008, but a recent comment by Mike Chaney, a veteran author currently working for White Wolf on other projects, seems to indicate that all work on the book has already been completed.

From the White Wolf Forums:

Dark Factions is currently at press and is coming out shortly, although I can't recall what the official release date is....I'm still having problems remembering that its now 2008 as it all just kinda blurs together these days.

From the White Wolf Forums:

Hey guys!
So, after a long, looooooong wait, we have a release date for Dark Factions! It will be in stores in June of this year: a real, live, hard-bound book.
I don't know about you, but this makes me happy.
Hopefully I'll remember to post some previews and such as the release approaches.

- Luke Johnson, 2008-01-23

Gallery

• 

  The Darkmoon Faire.

• 

  The Argent Dawn fight the Undead.

• 

  Onyxia - human and dragon forms.

• 

  Pandarens trancendents showing off their elemental martial arts.

• 

  A member of the Scarlet Crusade kicks some butt.

• 

  Twilight Ritual

• 

  Pandaren vs Satyr

• 

  The Argent Dawn and the Scarlet Crusade.

• 

  A member of the Defias Brotherhood assaults a peasant.

• 

  Brewmaster

• 

  The Argent Dawn fight the Undead.

External links

• Scrolls of Lore Review of Dark Factions by Warlock

Template:Cat/book