Dragon mark feats

KaasManiak

First Post

• Jun 26, 2011

• #1

Hello,

i'm the DM of my group and now one of my players asked me the following question:

"Is it okay to use a dragonmark feat out of the Eberron Players Handbook?"

We are playing the normal DnD setting so my first answer would be no.

How do you guys think about these feats?

It's 'Mark of Warding' btw.

Greetings,

KaasManiak

 

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Legend

Supporter

• Jun 26, 2011

• #2

In my opinion, the dragonmark feats are stronger than regular feats, because there is an implicit roleplaying contract that comes when using them in the Eberron setting. That's why they were made a bit stronger... because there was an expectation of duty on the part of the PC who took it within Eberron, because having a dragonmark has a pretty substantial story requirement. And if you allow them to be used outside of Eberron without requiring the person with the mark to have the same duties and responsibilities that an Eberron character does... then you are allowing the PC to be slightly overpowered compared to your other PCs.

 

KaasManiak

First Post

• Jun 26, 2011

• #3

Thanks for the quick answer.

I didn't now there were such expectations in the Ebberon setting.

Quess it's best to not allow my player to use the dragonmark feats.

 

Dice4Hire

First Post

• Jun 26, 2011

• #4

My inclination would be to keep them in the setting they belong in also.

 

Pentius

First Post

• Jun 26, 2011

• #5

Well, it's definitely your call, but if you let them have one, it's not going to be the end of the world. I've seen DMs that let them be used outside of Eberron and those that don't, but it is usually more of a "Do I feel these fit the flavor of my campaign?" question than one of balance. Dragonmarks do carry a roleplaying obligation in Eberron, but this does not, and imo is not intended to, balance the feat. Roleplaying restrictions don't balance mechanical strengths. Dragonmark feats are limited by allowing a character to have only one, much like multiclass feats.

 

D

drothgery

First Post

• Jun 26, 2011

• #6

Well, if you want to put the Dragonmarked Houses (or analogous organizations) in your setting (it wouldn't be hard to drop them into generic D&D PoL-land), then it might well be okay to allow the feats. They're on the strong side (or at least some of them are), but not extremely so, and if your player is taking a Dragonmark feat because they enhance his or her character concept, then I'd be inclined to let them take it, drop in a House Kundarak analog, and be happy for a ready-made plot hook.

 

fuzzlewump

First Post

• Jun 26, 2011

• #7

You can disallow it or make all of the feats available to everyone. Mark of Healing in particular is great for most any healer, Mark of Storm + Lyrandar windrider PP is great for lightning based builds. I'm pretty sure one one of the Marks gives you full ritual casting plus a little something else. Better than the ritual casting feat hands down.

 

D

drothgery

First Post

• Jun 27, 2011

• #8

fuzzlewump said:

You can disallow it or make all of the feats available to everyone. Mark of Healing in particular is great for most any healer, Mark of Storm + Lyrandar windrider PP is great for lightning based builds. I'm pretty sure one one of the Marks gives you full ritual casting plus a little something else. Better than the ritual casting feat hands down.

Click to expand...

Mark of Scribing effectively gives you Ritual Caster + Linguist + a +2 to Diplomacy + 1/2 cost for making scrolls. But

• except in highly specific situations, extra languages aren't all that useful
• most characters that want to use rituals are going to take classes that get ritual caster for free (PHB1 wizard and cleric builds, PHB 2 druid builds, and all artificer, bard, invoker, and psion builds)
• even at half cost, ritual scrolls are too expensive to use a lot

 

Nemesis Destiny

Adventurer

• Jun 27, 2011

• #9

I allow their use in my homebrew game, and IME it doesn't really upset balance. Some players take them and some don't, but it isn't super-noticeable.

I usually leave it up to my players on how to flavour them, but for the viking-flavoured game I'm running right now, I just renamed/flavoured them as "Rune-marked" feats, and they are a sign from the Norns that the bearer has a destiny that sets them above the common folk (for good or ill), or something along those lines.

 

keterys

First Post

• Jun 27, 2011

• #10

Mark of Storms can be used for some overoptimized combos - Mark of Healing and Mark of Warding are very valuable for all leaders and all defenders, respectively.