D&D 5E [Poll] Are Dragonmark races allowed in your game?

[doctorbadwolf]

Not typically, since they’re a specific element of the Eberron setting and I don’t typically run adventures set in Eberron. If I was running a game set in Eberron, I would allow them.

It’s kinda like asking if you allow characters from Krypton in your game… Krypton doesn’t exist in most D&D games I’ve run, but if it did I would certainly allow characters to be from there.

I don't actually think it is like asking that. A mark of making human is just a human lineage that has magical crafting powers. That isn't at all the same as asking if you allow characters from a specific place.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Anyway, yeah I allow them in all my games, regardless of setting. they're just members of their race with a magical lineage that has a theme. Saying no to a mark of Scribing Gnome would feel like saying no to someone asking if their Gnome could be vaguely Irish inspired. I just cannot fathom how such a thing could "not fit thematically" in most worlds. None of the themes of Eberron are baked in to the subraces in such a way that they can't be reflavored just as easily as imagining Forest Gnomes as coastal nomads in your world.

 

[Charlaquin]

I don't actually think it is like asking that. A mark of making human is just a human lineage that has magical crafting powers. That isn't at all the same as asking if you allow characters from a specific place.

A mark of making human is a human lineage with magical crafting powers in the same way that a Kryptonian is a humanoid lineage with flight, super strength, and eye beams. You certainly can boil it down to that if you want to, but both do have specific setting lore attached that you have to remove to do so. Dragonmarks are a thing in the setting, tied to certain houses, like krypton is a thing in the DC universe setting.

 

[Arilyn]

It's only come up in my Eberron game, but I'd allow it in other campaigns, no problem. May require some re-fluffing is all.

 

[turnip_farmer]

Anyway, yeah I allow them in all my games, regardless of setting. they're just members of their race with a magical lineage that has a theme. Saying no to a mark of Scribing Gnome would feel like saying no to someone asking if their Gnome could be vaguely Irish inspired.

I find it simpler to just say no to gnomes.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

A mark of making human is a human lineage with magical crafting powers in the same way that a Kryptonian is a humanoid lineage with flight, super strength, and eye beams. You certainly can boil it down to that if you want to, but both do have specific setting lore attached that you have to remove to do so. Dragonmarks are a thing in the setting, tied to certain houses, like krypton is a thing in the DC universe setting.

But the actual mechanics of the game don't interact at all with the dragonmarked houses. They're just organizations in one setting that has dragonmarks. They could just as easily be "people with Sentinel" houses, that wouldn't make the Sentinel feat inappropriate for other settings. You don't have to remove anything. You just use the thing without using it's setting lore associations. They're generally like the Bladesinger.

In Krynn, I'd tie them to either different gods, or to places in the world, or perhaps to heroic lineages (which would then tie back to gods that blessed those lineages).

In Forgotten Realms, I'd play around with dragon gods, or make them tied to the Chosen, possibly something that sometimes occurs when the Chosen have children, or the same as Krynn.

In my own Space Fantasy! setting dragonmarks are a sign tht someone is born with the ability to use Arcane Magic, and thus become a Witch. SOmething like being born Force Sensitive in Star Wars, except you are physical marked, and there is an association with the Great Wyrms, which are cosmic dragons of such incredible age that many have slumbered for so long that planets have formed around them, while others have shed their body and become stars, and still others have ascended into apotheothis, but the greatest of which are the first minds which created the cosmos itself, beginning with The Mother of All, Tiamat, and her twin, He Who Calms The Storm, Bahamut. I haven't worked out all the details, but there are 13 dragons associated with mortal magic, one of whom is lost to history and who is the death of stars.

None of that requires any work on the mechanics, and is instead just about changing the lore, just like we all do with other elements when making our own campaign.

 

[Bolares]

I don’t typically run adventures set in Eberron.

Boooooo

 

[Bolares]

Voted yes... because I always play in Eberron (is this cheating?)

 

[Charlaquin]

But the actual mechanics of the game don't interact at all with the dragonmarked houses. They're just organizations in one setting that has dragonmarks. They could just as easily be "people with Sentinel" houses, that wouldn't make the Sentinel feat inappropriate for other settings. You don't have to remove anything. You just use the thing without using it's setting lore associations. They're generally like the Bladesinger.

Oh, you can absolutely do that, just like you could allow super-strong flying people with eye lasers and call them something other than Kryptonians. I just have no desire to do that. I think dragonmarks are a cool setting element of Eberron, which ought to have a mechanical expression in games set there. But I don’t feel any need to reskin them in order to port the mechanics to other settings. I prefer to build mechanics around the lore rather than vice versa.

 

[Charlaquin]

Boooooo

Hey, don’t get me wrong, I think Eberron is awesome! It’s just… Awesome for other DMs to run, and me to play in. I prefer to run my own games in homebrew settings. Or Dark Sun.