D&D 5E 5e Eberron dragonmarks?

[Remathilis]

I don't see a problem with using feats.

Not everyone who is a member of a house has a mark nor is every scion marked. A mark could manifest itself at 4th level; at that point, the prophecy has favored you enough to grant you a mark.

NPCs? They have a mark or they don't. They're NPCs.

My only cavaet is to keep the marks to the particular races: no balance reason why, but I dislike the "elf manifests mark of healing" idea of 4e. YMMV.

My current idea, btw, was to make least marks a cantrip and two 1st level spells. Hadn't gone beyond that.

 

[Remathilis]

Something like this?

Dragonmarked
The prophecy smiles on you, for you have manifested a dragonmark of one the twelve houses.

Prerequisite: Appropriate dragonmarked race.

You manifest a mark on your body: a glowing rune in the shape of one of the twelve dragonmarks. With it comes
greater understanding and magical power, but also responsibility to the family who also shares your mark. You gain proficiency with a certain skill, tool, or languages, can use a cantrip at will (Charisma is your caster stat) and can cast one first and one second level spells once per day each.

Mark	House	Race	Proficiency	Cantrip	Spells
Detection	Medani	Half-elf	Perception	Guidance	Detect Magic, Detect Thoughts
Finding	Tharashk	Half-orc, Human	Investigation	Light	Identify, Locate Object
Handling	Vadalis	Human	Animal Handling	Druidcraft	Animal Friendship, Animal Messenger
Healing	Jorasco	Halfling	Medicine	Spare the Dying	Cure Wounds, Lesser Restoration
Hospitality	Ghallanda	Halfling	Persuasion	Friends	Purify Food and Drink, Protection from Poison
Making	Cannith	Human	Artisan’s Tools (your choice)	Mending	Repair Damage*, Magic Weapon
Passage	Orien	Human	Survival	Mage Hand	Longstrider, Misty Step
Scribing	Sivis	Gnome	Any two Languages	Message	Illusionary Script, Magic Mouth
Sentinel	Deneith	Human	Insight	Blade Ward	Shield, Warding Bond
Shadow	Phiarlan or Thuranni	Elf	Stealth	Minor Illusion	Disguise Self, Darkness
Storm	Lyrander	Half-elf	Acrobatics	Shocking Grasp	Fog Cloud, Gust of Wind
Warding	Kundarak	Dwarf	Perception	Resistance	Alarm, Arcane Lock

Repair Damage is basically Cure Wounds but only effects constructs.

 

[MarkB]

Something like this?

That looks pretty good.

For the Mark of Scribing, I'd suggest granting Calligraphy as a tool skill - then allow it to be used for the creation, examination and verification of most forms of documentation (including forgery, if so inclined).

 

[Wrathamon]

I really like the background idea as the Dragonmarks are so much more then just a magically tattoo. They can't make it part of the feat rules as those are optional and it would force people to play with rules they might not want to play with.

Eberron is optional, as are house ruled dragonmarks ... so letting them be like feats is fine.


Trading a +1 Ability boost for a Dragonmark ability would work out pretty good.

I wouldn't tie it to backgrounds ... my background is I am a soldier of the last war, but, I want him to manifest a mark. The mark should be tied to Race (like it was in 3e, I agree I disliked the 4e inclusive approach) and it should be an option under Races that can manifest a Mark. They can trade a +1 ability adjustment to gain a dragonmark. Humans obviously have an advantage, but that is good since everyone feels that the human default isnt that great. Every time you get an ability score adjustment you can advance your Mark to gain more abilities/ uses of your mark.

You could also just call them Dragonmark Feats and you can choose one at character creation (like the above poster has listed a pretty good set of mark types)

You could also have aberrant marks for other races to pick from.

I do know that Keith Baker has said he was never happy with how Dragonmarks were designed mechanically in 3rd edition.

 

[Wrathamon]

Mark of Making can also Unmake ... I would add in the Cause Damage to constructs. It could even be like a Cleric destroying undead.

 

[Darrius_Adler]

Back during the playtest I had a discussion about Dragonmarks on the main WotC forums but this site will not let me post the link unfortunately.

The main ideas I posted to be kicked around were these:

Feats:

Greater Dragonmark

You gain one of the strongest abilities associated with your dragonmarked house. You also gain the ability to use your Least and Lesser Dragonmark powers an extra time per day. You must have the Lesser Dragonmark to take this feat.

Least Dragonmark

You gain one of the weakest abilities associated with your dragonmarked house.

Lesser Dragonmark

You gain one of the moderate abilities associated with your dragonmarked house. You also gain the ability to use your Least Dragonmark power an extra time per day. You must have the Least Dragonmark to take this feat

Dragonmarks:

All who have the marks receive the benefit for the level of mark they are taking and become trained in a skill associated with the house. As these are spell-like abilities they do not require any materials or focus items.

Mark of Healing

You bear the dragonmark of House Jorasco. You gain the following benefits:

• Trained in Medicine

Least Mark:

• Cure Wounds 1/day

Lesser Mark:

• Lesser Restoration 1/day

Greater Mark:

• Heal 1/day

Mark of the Passage

You bear the dragonmark of House Orien. You gain the following benefits:

Trained in Survival

Least Mark

• Dimension Leap 1/day (Able to teleport your movement speed in distance)

Lesser Mark:

• Dimension Door 1/day

Greater Mark:

• Teleport 1/day

Mark of the Sentinel

You bear the dragonmark of House Deneith. You gain the following benefits:

Trained in Perception

Least Mark:

• Mage Armor 1/day or Shield of Faith 1/day

Lesser Mark:

• Protection from Energy 1/day

Greater Mark:

• ???

Mark of the Shadow

You bear the dragonmark of House Phiarlan and House Thuranni. You gain the following benefits:

Trained in Performance (House Phiarlan) or Stealth (House Thuranni)

Least Mark:

• Darkness 1/day, Disguise Self 1/day or Minor Illusion 2/day

Lesser Mark:

• Major Image 1/day

Greater Mark:

• Scrying 1/day

Mark of the Storm

You bear the dragonmark of House Lyrandar. You gain the following benefits:

You are capable of controlling Elemental Galleons and Air Ships

You have Advantage on all test related to Balance

Least Mark:

• Gust of Wind 1/day

Lesser Mark:

• Sleet Storm 1/day

Greater Mark:

• Control Weather 1/day

Many felt 3 feats was too high a cost for so little use so I suggested the stacking advancement like it was in 3.5 for uses increasing for each feat:

Least Dragonmark: Least Ability: 1/day

Least and Lesser Dragonmark: Least Ability: 2/day / Lesser Ability: 1/day

Least, Lesser and Greater Dragonmark: Least Ability: 3/day / Lesser Ability: 2/day / Greater Ability: 1/day

After that this was the final Feat idea I tossed out before going to run Eberron with the playtest materials:

Dragonmark

Taking this feat you select one of the Dragonmarks appropriate to your race and gain the following abilities based on your level. Each day you can use one of your available abilities. These are considered spell-like abilities and do not require focus items or materials to use them. They are considered to be cast at base level of the spell and DC for the save against a mark is 8 + Cha Modifier + Proficiency Bonus. Your abilities are based on your character level, see chart below:

Character Level:

1st: You gain your house training bonus or skill (there is no limit on using your training item) and select one ability from the Least list for your mark.

6th: You select one ability from the Lesser list for your mark

9th: You select one ability from the Greater list for your mark


Powerful Dragonmark

You must have the Dragonmark Feat to take this. You gain two more daily uses of your Dragonmark.

Hope maybe some of this will be helpful for someone here.

 

[MarkB]

Back during the playtest I had a discussion about Dragonmarks on the main WotC forums but this site will not let me post the link unfortunately.

The main ideas I posted to be kicked around were these:<snip>

Thanks - it's good to see another take on this.

I think your approach would work well if feats were still equivalent to 3e feats power-wise, but 5e feats are much heftier, and I think these - even the revised ones - don't really match up, especially the Least ones.

One way to balance that is the same way that WotC has balanced less-powerful feats - by including a +1 ability-score boost in the package.

I'd suggest going the other way, though, and significantly bolstering the benefits provided by a dragonmark to match 5e feat power levels.

Keith Baker mentioned in his Eberron thread that he was never fully satisfied with 3.5e's execution of dragonmarks, so this would be an ideal time to revise them into something a little more chunky, something that would provide a really significant bonus to a House member's ability to carry out that House's speciality.

 

[Darrius_Adler]

Thanks - it's good to see another take on this.

I think your approach would work well if feats were still equivalent to 3e feats power-wise, but 5e feats are much heftier, and I think these - even the revised ones - don't really match up, especially the Least ones.

One way to balance that is the same way that WotC has balanced less-powerful feats - by including a +1 ability-score boost in the package.

I'd suggest going the other way, though, and significantly bolstering the benefits provided by a dragonmark to match 5e feat power levels.

Keith Baker mentioned in his Eberron thread that he was never fully satisfied with 3.5e's execution of dragonmarks, so this would be an ideal time to revise them into something a little more chunky, something that would provide a really significant bonus to a House member's ability to carry out that House's speciality.

All of these feats were based on the final playtest packet trying to balance along the lines of the Magic Initiate and the greater versions of that feat so they could use some tweaks to fit them to the current scheme, a +1 to Stat of your Choice could be a good perk in there as the Dragonmarks are a boon to whomever has them and doesn't necessarily have to be specific stats. The other way I could see with this is each house having a selection of 2 - 3 stats which the bonus could be applied to.

Another potential idea could be that Dragonmark spells are always cast at maximum possible effect based on level, so count them as being cast through the highest level slot allowed for your level based on the wizard or cleric spell table.

And yet another possibility as I am brainstorming, Dragonmarks recharge on a short rest letting them be used multiple times per day given breaks.

 

[Darrius_Adler]

Ok, after a little thinking what about something like this:

Dragonmark

Taking this feat you select one of the Dragonmarks appropriate to your race and gain the following abilities based on your level. Each day you can use one of your available abilities. Your Dragonmark recharges after a short or long rest. These are considered spell-like abilities and do not require focus items or materials to use them. They are considered to be cast at the level indicated on the chart below and DC for the save against a mark is 8 + Cha Modifier + Proficiency Bonus. Your abilities are based on your character level, see chart below:

Character Level:

1st: You gain your house training bonus or skill (there is no limit on using your training item) and select one ability from the Least list for your mark.

6th: You select one ability from the Lesser list for your mark

9th: You select one ability from the Greater list for your mark

[table="width: 500, class: grid"]
[tr]
[td]Character Level[/td]
[td]Spell Level[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]1-2[/td]
[td]1st[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]3-4[/td]
[td]2nd[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]5-6[/td]
[td]3rd[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]7-8[/td]
[td]4th[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]9-10[/td]
[td]5th[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]11-12[/td]
[td]6th[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]31-14[/td]
[td]7th[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]15-16[/td]
[td]8th[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]17-20[/td]
[td]9th[/td]
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[/table]

This allows dragonmarked people to use their abilities decently often if they have time to rest and that is helpful for the NPCs of the houses as well as the PCs.

 

[jadrax]

Another potential idea could be that Dragonmark spells are always cast at maximum possible effect based on level, so count them as being cast through the highest level slot allowed for your level based on the wizard or cleric spell table.

Have you considered using the same Slot Level table as Warlocks, which caps at 5th level spell slots at level 9?