Dragonmarked

[Crothian]

One thing I'd really like to try is set up a campaign where each PC belongs to a different House.

I think that would be cool. Another one is to give all the PCs Abberant marks.

 

[Klaus]

So how do we come about achieving that without the usual House competition. That's cool for NPCs, but not PCs.

I see a Lyrandar Airship Captain, a Deneith Sentinel Marshal... what else?

 

[Deadguy]

A Cannith Artificer specialising in Elemental Binding, and an Orien courier? Between tehm tehy all have a reason to work together.

And don't forget that there's always the milieu of The Twelve - the research and development corporation set up by all the Dragonmarked Houses. These people are supposed to work together.

 

[Klaus]

I'd save Artificer for the Lyrandar Airship Captain, actually. Maybe a Jorasco halfling from Karrnath (the House HQ is in Korth, after all)?

A nice way to put 'em all together is to pit them against the secret polices of the 5 Nations (Royal Eye, Dark Lanterns, etc...).

 

[Andor]

So how do we come about achieving that without the usual House competition. That's cool for NPCs, but not PCs.

I see a Lyrandar Airship Captain, a Deneith Sentinel Marshal... what else?

Well in our local campaign we're elite agents of the 12. All PCs must have a dragonmark or favored in house.

It's also worth noting that for the most part the great Houses don't compete directly. Each has their own area of expertise and they try to avoid stepping on each others toes. There are some overlaps between the houses. Orien and Lyrandar both do transportation. Phiarlan and the other elf one obviously compete. The Dragonmarked book also tries to set up a conflict between Denieth and Tharkash based on Tharkash offering the services of monsterous mercs from Droam. However it is, IMHO, poorly done since the author of the Denieth chapter states that their forces are almost entirely human, which contradicts both the main eberron book and the 5 nations book. By prior cannon Denieth employs both Valenar elves and Darguuns goblinoids in significant numbers.

At any rate I really liked the Dragonmarked book. There is much more info on the houses and plot hooks are sprinkled liberally throughout the book. House Kundarak in particular gets some nifty back story that makes them actually interesting. And there are a lot of feats to make the dragonmarks more atractive. I particularly like one that allows you to spend an action point to activate any of the powers available to a mark of your level. (So if you have the least Mark of the Sentinel you could spend an action point for Protection from Arrows, or Shield Other, or Shield of Faith.)

 

[BadMojo]

Unfortunately there's little proof to support either position (much less something in between) - at least there's little evidence outside of the Dragonmarked product. (I didn't buy it because it didn't have enough information on the dragonmark war).

Maybe not proof, but on re-reading the first Dreaming Dark book, I did notice one thing:

Spoiler-ish stuff:


Lei's reaction to being excoriated is one of shock, as is the reactions of other House members who find out (the Lyrandar heir and the giant owl, for instance). With Lei's uncle being one of the few people she has heard of being booted out, the book makes it sound like a *very* rare occurence. Not really something done lightly and not an action taken against a Marked house member who ignores the wishes of his house and goes off on some wacky adventure. Still, mostly conjecture, I suppose.

 

[Elemental]

Yes, that's right. I'm claiming "bling" for use in D&D to refer to flashy, unnecessary character design options with too much effort to impress and complicate life. Right here. Right now. ... This book of dragonmark feats and spells and prestige classes is so much bling.

Right on! Fight the power, brother!

 

[Vocenoctum]

The novels don't help. In Bakers books the Cannith chick basically seems to have a choice between doing exactly what she's told and being kicked out.

Isn't she kicked out for the death of her fiance?

Either way, Lei is quite different from the normal Dragonmarked member. There's a lot of politics involved in what happens with her.

 

[Klaus]

Isn't she kicked out for the death of her fiance?

Either way, Lei is quite different from the normal Dragonmarked member. There's a lot of politics involved in what happens with her.

Actually...

[sblock]
Lei and her parents are excoriated by Merrix d'Cannith, who raised the suspicion that they (and their research) were connected to the Day of Mourning. Even without proof, a baron of Merrix's level has political clout to make such a thing stick. Merrix did that more to secure his own position as a possible leader of Cannith (whose Patriarch and HQ were obliterated in the Mournland).
[/sblock]

 

[Vocenoctum]

Actually...

I sit corrected.
Either way though, it's obvious that it's not a "typical" even among the House, IMO.