Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana Dragonmarks

[collin]

The dragonmarks where already in the free area of D&D Beyond.

Good to know. Thanks!

 

[Phazonfish]

3) It doesn't say the spell fails if you are reduced to zero hp. Wait till you are down to 1hp, then let rip with a level 9 suicide Thunderwave? For added cheese, combine with Relentless Endurance.

When you cast a spell with your aberrant mark, you can use one of your Hit Die to increase the spell's level by 1.

Just a level 2 Thunderwave.

 

[Leatherhead]

It is interesting that Dragonmarks are a variant race or a Subrace instead of a feat. It gives people a reason not to use the normal Variant Humans at least.

I do not care for the idea of Intuition Dice. This bonus stacking on skills is out of hand. Not only can you get Ability score mod bonuses, and Proficiency bonuses, and Expertise, and Advantage, and a re-roll from Lucky(feat), and re-rolls from (bountiful)Luck/y(Halfings) and a bonus die from Guidance, and a bonus die from Bend Luck, and a bigger (and scaling) bonus die from Bardic Inspiration, but now you can also throw an (also scaling) Intuition die on top of the pile of bonuses you get for a skill check.

Can we bring this back to sanity? Everyone was all "Whoa, this (Dis)Advantage mechanic is great: Tossing out all the bloated math from stacking bonuses and keeping stuff fast is the best!" back in the beginning of 5e, do you all remember that? DCs don't even go above 30 in this edition! We should do something like: (Dis)Advantage and the normal Proficiency+ability mod math stays put. Expertise replaces the ability score mod. You get ONE bonus die (from any source) per roll. And one Re-roll per roll. And even that's a lot.

I'll take a deeper look at the marks themselves later. Right now I got a happy fun hour to watch.

 

[Zaukrie]

Frankly, I like that in some worlds, only certain races have certain powers. It is part of what makes the world unique and interesting.

I also am glad more people are going to play test this material, and I hope to see Eberron printed again at some point.

 

[castlewise]

These seem all over the place power wise. One gives you the ability to get any wizard cantrip and free +1 (temporary) magic items and another gives you some ability bonuses and the friends and prestidigitation cantrips. The greater dragon marks are similar, some of them give you 7th level spells that wizards don't get until 13th, or let you cast greater restoration without the diamond, while others give you 4th level druid spells or control water. I don't hate it, and its got lots of flavor but it seems like there might be char op issues.

 

[Remathilis]

I do not care for the idea of Intuition Dice. This bonus stacking on skills is out of hand. Not only can you get Ability score mod bonuses, and Proficiency bonuses, and Expertise, and Advantage, and a re-roll from Lucky(feat), and re-rolls from (bountiful)Luck/y(Halfings) and a bonus die from Guidance, and a bonus die from Bend Luck, and a bigger (and scaling) bonus die from Bardic Inspiration, but now you can also throw an (also scaling) Intuition die on top of the pile of bonuses you get for a skill check.

How many of those are you REALLY going have going at the same time though? Its a very niche build you're discussing. It requires you to be a rogue or bard (expertise) or some other corner-case that grants Expertise, have advantage, be at least 4th level (for Lucky), and be friends with a halfling (bountiful luck), a bard (inspiration, since you can't inspire yourself if you ARE a bard), a wild mage sorcerer, and cleric/druid/someone with magic initiate feat (guidance), and they all have to use their abilities to help you on the skill you happen to have your intuition dice in.

Actually, that's not a niche build, that's a niche PARTY. And for what? A couple bonus re-rolls, and a couple 1d4s added to it (plus the scaling bardic die). Its a trick that requires an entire team to pick exactly the right combo of skill-pumping abilities and then dump them all on the one PC. For one skill check. You think that's bad, don't check out what a well-optimized party can do to aid the team fighter in combat!

The reality is that few, if any, PCs are going to have more than two of these effects going at any given time. Even if the perfect storm hits and a PC somehow gets a 40 on a skill check, think of how many resources were wasted to do so. Let the guy beat the DC by 20+; its not like he's any more successful for beating a skill check by 2 or 22.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

I think this system can set a good example for how to handle the bloodlines in the Birthright setting.

 

[dwayne]

I am waiting for the psionics options for classes the mystic is kind of lame, and if they are going with the thing that psionics is like Ki then having soul knife under thief should be an option. Spread it out and use the base classes for some of the psionic ones, but a psion i think they should look to India and use that culture as a way to do a pure psion class with subs under it based of pasted information. The yogi comes to mind and the dual mind and the telekanetic, pyrokasnetic cryokanetic, and so on.

 

[DerekSTheRed]

I think this system can set a good example for how to handle the bloodlines in the Birthright setting.

That was my thought as well. When Rich Baker did his Q&A for enworld he said as much.

 

[Blue]

As someone who's preparing to run an Eberron campaign, I'm glad to see this article, as it means I can make this information easily available to my players without them having to purchase the Wayfinders Guide. Between that and the already published Races article, most of the essential player-facing material is now freely available.

Just be careful, because if they are putting it out UA that means they are looking for feedback to revise it.

 

[Blue]

How many of those are you REALLY going have going at the same time though? Its a very niche build you're discussing. [...]

Actually, that's not a niche build, that's a niche PARTY.

Well, considering the historical precident we have from 3.0 and 3.5 when different named bonuses would stack, players will go really far out of their way to get them. And with bounded accuracy meaning that the modifiers and DCs are in a more constrained range, every +1 means more in 5e so you don't need too many sources. 2-3 on a roll will make a big difference.

Do I think it will make difference at every table? No, not at all. Though a simple guidance or bless + bardic inspiration is likely something that a good number of tables could pull off.

Do I think that some parties will have lots of different type of numerical buffs / advantage? That I do as well.



And for what? A couple bonus re-rolls, and a couple 1d4s added to it (plus the scaling bardic die). Its a trick that requires an entire team to pick exactly the right combo of skill-pumping abilities and then dump them all on the one PC. For one skill check. You think that's bad, don't check out what a well-optimized party can do to aid the team fighter in combat!

The reality is that few, if any, PCs are going to have more than two of these effects going at any given time. Even if the perfect storm hits and a PC somehow gets a 40 on a skill check, think of how many resources were wasted to do so. Let the guy beat the DC by 20+; its not like he's any more successful for beating a skill check by 2 or 22.[/QUOTE]

 

[Li Shenron]

As others have said, they wanted to playtest this material as widely as possible.
But it is unfortunate that they didn't let people know they were going to after releasing the book, or some people might have waited to buy.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think they said the Eberron pdf is a LIVING document that will be updated after gamers feedback, unlike printed books.

So they wanted to sell it straight away but then they will publish stuff to UA, get feedback, update the pdf book, and anyone who has bought it will receive the update for free. Who bought the book is not really penalized.

Others can just use the UA, but as usual these may not be the final versions after all.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Just a level 2 Thunderwave.

Quite right, I was in error.

Then the wording even more strongly implies the ability to learn aberrant spells higher than level 1.

Thunderwave still looks like the best spell to pick for this (assuming your character is melee).

 

[MarkB]

Just be careful, because if they are putting it out UA that means they are looking for feedback to revise it.

And the way to provide that feedback is by using those rules in actual play.

 

[Jester David]

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think they said the Eberron pdf is a LIVING document that will be updated after gamers feedback, unlike printed books.

So they wanted to sell it straight away but then they will publish stuff to UA, get feedback, update the pdf book, and anyone who has bought it will receive the update for free. Who bought the book is not really penalized.

Others can just use the UA, but as usual these may not be the final versions after all.

That's how I read it. We get the stuff now, but people who own the PDF will see the revisions.
Probably.
Updating stuff like that has never been WotC's strong suit.

 

[Tallifer]

Not sure if anyone has mentioned it yet, but the Tome Show podcast has a fascinating new interview with Keith Baker and Ruty Rutenberg all about Eberron, the Wayfarer's Guide, Dragonmarks and several upcoming pdfs.

http://www.thetomeshow.com/

 

[Blue]

And the way to provide that feedback is by using those rules in actual play.

Oh sure, I wasn't say don't use it. I was saying that what your players can get for free will likely be out-of-sync with what's in the final of the Wayfarer's Guide. So it won't stay useful down the road as a resource for them that's free.

By all means play with it - that's a lot better then the theorycrafting that I'm sure much of the surveys will be.

 

[Plaguescarred]

I like how Dragonmarks connect with races either as variant races or subraces options.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Paladin has the Mark of the Sentinel. Riding into battle, he designates his warhorse as his ward. The orcs shoot arrows at the horse, so they switch places...

 

[MechaTarrasque]

Paladin has the Mark of the Sentinel. Riding into battle, he designates his warhorse as his ward. The orcs shoot arrows at the horse, so they switch places...

[MENTION=88539]LowKey[/MENTION] would probably say something about natural selection.....

I admit I did think about this as a "fix" for the BM ranger (or an earlier thought about adding warding bond to the ranger spell list), but I think that would just lead to requests for the heavy armor proficiency ranger....