Eberron mark

Duncan Wynn Jr. · Sep 27, 2018

I'll be starting a Eberron campaign in a few months and one of my players wants to play a elf with the Mark of Death ( MOD) , so I've been looking into it. To that end , I'm reading Matt Forbeck's Lost Mark trilogy. In the first book Marked For Death Teoma , a changeling working for the Blood of Vol after kidnapping Esprë the bearer of the mark , in the warforged city of Construct , tests her to see if Esprë has the MOD by pushing Esprë where upon Esprë , drawing on her mark , manifests a spell that sheaths her hands in blood red energy. Any insight on which spell or SLA that is?

MarkB · Sep 27, 2018

Something like ghoul touch would probably work thematically, the visual effect being just for flavour. However, that spell didn't make it into 5e.

Duncan Wynn Jr. · Sep 28, 2018

Hadn't thought of that one, thanks! Looked it up and ghoul touch is usually green. If the blood red energy is just a visual effect, that opens up a slew of options: Slay Living, Vampiric Touch, Chill Touch, Inflict Wounds or Enervation. Since Esprë wasn't a experienced adventurer at that point, my money would be on Inflict Wounds or Vampiric Touch .

Duncan Wynn Jr. · Sep 28, 2018

According to Keith Baker, though, the MOD was one of the pure marks so a openly destructive power would be rather odd . I'll see if the rest of the Lost Mark trilogy sheds any light on this.

jgsugden · Sep 28, 2018

You'll find no official answers - intentionally. Keith has states that there will be no official supplement with answers to this question.

Eberron is filled with mysteries. It is intentionally plagued with story hooks that have no resolution stated. This is done to allow each DM to resolve them for their game in a unique way... and to prevent players from going to a message board and finding the answer to the mystery in their adventure. If you're a DM - be creative and go big with the msyteries you choose to solve. If you're a player, get excited about having true mysteries to embrace in Eberron.

Gradine · Sep 28, 2018

I used the Mark of Death in one of my campaigns, and I tried to make the powers as "productive" as possible, though I had five players and they each had it with a different suite of powers centered around a theme (Caretaker, Master, Hunter, Protector, Speaker). So I had spell-like abilities like deathwatch, create undead, speak with dead, etc, though I ultimately had to dig into more destructive powers at times (at least, in terms of destroying the undead).

Duncan Wynn Jr. · Oct 2, 2018

jgsugden said:
You'll find no official answers - intentionally. Keith has states that there will be no official supplement with answers to this question.

Eberron is filled with mysteries. It is intentionally plagued with story hooks that have no resolution stated. This is done to allow each DM to resolve them for their game in a unique way... and to prevent players from going to a message board and finding the answer to the mystery in their adventure. If you're a DM - be creative and go big with the msyteries you choose to solve. If you're a player, get excited about having true mysteries to embrace in Eberron.

Yes , Baker states in his MOD article on his site that there`s no canon info on the MOD , which I`d agree with except for the Lost Mark trilogy. Since WotC published it , that makes it canon . Thus far (110 pages into Road To Death , the second one.) , it seems that Forbeck didn`t get the memo as he makes it clear that Espre`s mark is the MOD. From descriptions when Espre used her mark , it has chill touch and Vampiric Touch . This is solid insight into the Mark of Death. I`ll report back as I discover more .

jgsugden · Oct 2, 2018

Duncan Wynn Jr. said:
Yes , Baker states in his MOD article on his site that there`s no canon info on the MOD , which I`d agree with except for the Lost Mark trilogy. Since WotC published it , that makes it canon . Thus far (110 pages into Road To Death , the second one.) , it seems that Forbeck didn`t get the memo as he makes it clear that Espre`s mark is the MOD. From descriptions when Espre used her mark , it has chill touch and Vampiric Touch . This is solid insight into the Mark of Death. I`ll report back as I discover more .

You can go with that approach, but Baker still seems to be granted complete control over the development of the IP. As such, I'd consider the Forback novels - which contradict his statement - to be non-canon specifically because they violate Baker's statements abou what a mark should do. I never read the books, but from the summaries I see, they are in contradiction to the statements of Baker and thus are not part of the setting as officially released.

TiwazTyrsfist · Oct 3, 2018

Personally, I would look at the Death Domain in the DMG and the Grave Domain in (I think) Xanathar's. These should give you idea's for death thematic spells to select for MoD.

It's been a while, but in regards to the Mark of Death novels:
[sblock]
I'm pretty sure that in the last book it's revealed that her mark is a Kyber mark, not a true mark.
[/sblock]

Either way, the official stance at least back in 3rd was that any Eberron story material, including both Novels and Adventures were only in continuity with things SPECIFICALLY in the same continuity line with them. Nothing advanced the time line, and anything that "Solved" or "Answered" one of the setting mysteries (Mark of Death, Truth behind the Mourning, Any of the mysteries related to the Gods, etc) was NOT a Canon Across The Board answer, and that if the line had continued with full support, separate published adventure paths would have provided DIFFERENT answers to the same mysteries.

Duncan Wynn Jr. · Oct 3, 2018

TiwazTyrsfist said:
Personally, I would look at the Death Domain in the DMG and the Grave Domain in (I think) Xanathar's. These should give you idea's for death thematic spells to select for MoD.

It's been a while, but in regards to the Mark of Death novels:
[sblock]
I'm pretty sure that in the last book it's revealed that her mark is a Kyber mark, not a true mark.
[/sblock]

Either way, the official stance at least back in 3rd was that any Eberron story material, including both Novels and Adventures were only in continuity with things SPECIFICALLY in the same continuity line with them. Nothing advanced the time line, and anything that "Solved" or "Answered" one of the setting mysteries (Mark of Death, Truth behind the Mourning, Any of the mysteries related to the Gods, etc) was NOT a Canon Across The Board answer, and that if the line had continued with full support, separate published adventure paths would have provided DIFFERENT answers to the same mysteries.

Source please.

Eberron mark

Duncan Wynn Jr.

First Post

MarkB

Legend

Duncan Wynn Jr.

First Post

Duncan Wynn Jr.

First Post

jgsugden

Legend

Gradine

The Elephant in the Room (she/her)

Duncan Wynn Jr.

First Post

jgsugden

Legend

TiwazTyrsfist

Adventurer

Duncan Wynn Jr.

First Post

Similar Threads