Author Topic: A Player's Guide to Dragonmarks  (Read 60100 times)

Offline Sinfire Titan

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A Player's Guide to Dragonmarks
« on: November 12, 2011, 09:47:14 PM »


The following guide is designed to help players who wish to optimize a concept that is largely regarded as underpowered. Dragonmarks as a whole are not exactly the best option for your feats but they hold a deal of flexibility that is unprecedented in most other feats, easily on par with the Domain Devotion feats presented in Complete Champion.

Most min-maxed characters are very feat-starved, and Dragonmarks do not provide a significant boon to warrant deviating from your projected build to take one. However, a player with a high degree of system mastery could use Dragonmarks to fit in with a low-powered group more easily.

With that said, Dragonmarks are not ungodly weak. Eberron expanded upon this concept so heavily that the concept is easily workable in a Tier 3 campaign or lower, and it is entirely possible to play a Tier 1 character that spends his feat allotment on Dragonmark-related abilities without hindering his power significantly. However, I do not personally recommend using Dragonmarks with a spellcasting character (Warlocks and DFAs notwithstanding).

This handbook intends to help players augment their concept to the point where it is practical for play, which is the definition of minmaxing itself. The concept itself may not be the best there is, but it is a workable concept that can be a valuable tool to the party and the campaign itself.
« Last Edit: November 21, 2011, 10:34:01 PM by Sinfire Titan »
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Offline Sinfire Titan

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Re: A Player's Guide to Dragonmarks
« Reply #1 on: November 12, 2011, 09:47:25 PM »
The Dragonmarks

Dragonmarks are setting-specific feats designed to provide flavor for the setting, a set of spell-like abilities for the player, and a mechanic for the DM to provide plothooks or other miscellany to the players. Dragonmarks are unusual in that they are the most heavily supported non-Core feat tree in 3.5, and as a result have numerous applications that can be of great value to a player using them.

There are thirteen types of Dragonmarks each of which comes in four levels of power. The first three levels can be accessed by feats while the last requires a prestige class, however a character cannot gain a Dragonmark unless he is a specific race (each of the Core races has a Dragonmark related to it, and it is possible to use Reincarnation to bypass this restriction, also two magical locations can grant Aberrant ones to people who don't qualify). Take the racial prerequisite into careful consideration as it sometimes means playing a subpar race for your class. More importantly the caster levels of your Dragonmarked SLAs tend to be very low. Keep this in mind as you will be very vulnerable to dispel checks.

Finally, when you gain a Dragonmark, you have to choose what SLA you get from it. This part is important, as several of them offer very useful options.

The thirteen Dragonmarks are:

True Dragonmarks
(click to show/hide)

Aberrant Dragonmarks
(click to show/hide)
« Last Edit: August 18, 2013, 03:35:11 AM by Sinfire Titan »
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Offline Sinfire Titan

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Re: A Player's Guide to Dragonmarks
« Reply #2 on: November 12, 2011, 09:47:42 PM »
Feats to Consider

To save space, I'm only listing the feats that are worth using. All but one can be found in Dragonmarked, and that one can be found in PGtE.

(click to show/hide)

Dragonmarked Items

There are a handful of items that can help a Dragonmarked character, and a good number of them are cheap.

(click to show/hide)

Dragonmarked Spells

The entire concept of using your Dragonmark as a spell component was not introduced until Dragonmarked, and as a result there isn't much. I'm just going to list notable spells here, and avoid the ones that can only target creatures that have a Dragonmark.

(click to show/hide)
« Last Edit: August 18, 2013, 02:52:44 AM by Sinfire Titan »
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Offline Sinfire Titan

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Re: A Player's Guide to Dragonmarks
« Reply #3 on: November 12, 2011, 09:48:06 PM »
Prestige Classes

As I said in the OP, the Eberron setting provided a massive amount of support for Dragonmarks. Amongst this support is prestige classes that focus on improving your Dragonmarks or providing abilities that use your Dragonmarks and their SLAs.

The following sources have prestige classes that either require a Dragonmark or improve upon their abilities.

  • Eberron Campaign Setting
  • Dragonmarked
  • Sharn, City of Towers
  • Magic of Eberron
  • Explorer's Handbook

Dragonmarked Heir
(click to show/hide)


Heir of Siberys
(click to show/hide)


Black Dog
(click to show/hide)


Blade of Orien
(click to show/hide)


Cyre Scout
(click to show/hide)


Deneith Warden
(click to show/hide)


Duraak’ash
(click to show/hide)


Medani Prophet
(click to show/hide)


Nosomatic Chirurgeon
(click to show/hide)


Shadow Hunter
(click to show/hide)


Silver Key
(click to show/hide)


Storm Sentry
(click to show/hide)


Unbound Scroll
(click to show/hide)


Vadalis Beastkeeper
(click to show/hide)


Cannith Wand Adept
(click to show/hide)


Alchemist Savant
(click to show/hide)


Cataclysm Mage
(click to show/hide)


Child of Khyber
(click to show/hide)

« Last Edit: November 23, 2011, 12:25:32 PM by Sinfire Titan »
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Offline Bastian

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Re: A Player's Guide to Dragonmarks
« Reply #4 on: November 18, 2011, 07:54:44 AM »
a character cannot have a Dragonmark unless he is a specific race
That is no longer true. Read the Reincarnation in Eberron sidebar here.

Offline nijineko

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Re: A Player's Guide to Dragonmarks
« Reply #5 on: November 18, 2011, 10:48:18 PM »
please add the cataclysm mage prestige: they are able to manifest pretty much any dragonmark they desire, and change it once a day, iirc.

Offline PlzBreakMyCampaign

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Re: A Player's Guide to Dragonmarks
« Reply #6 on: November 20, 2011, 01:04:35 PM »
a character cannot have a Dragonmark unless he is a specific race
That is no longer true. Read the Reincarnation in Eberron sidebar here.
There is a campaign (and setting) specific magical location (no cost given) that will help out. Reasonable pricing would be 2-8k. As written it appears free, but I haven't tallied up the treasure compared to WBL to give an exact estimate, especially considering that most optimized groups blow through written campaigns even if severely underleveled.

Aren't there any good ways to boost aberrant dragonmarks? Those two PrCs have tough entry requirements

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Re: A Player's Guide to Dragonmarks
« Reply #7 on: November 20, 2011, 09:02:32 PM »
mark of Detection is awesome.  Dragonmarked has a feat that lets you use it to negate all miss chance.  much better than that feat that requires mageslayer.

EDIT: Link for child of Kyber? didn't find it.
« Last Edit: November 20, 2011, 09:04:15 PM by Satori »

Offline Garryl

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Re: A Player's Guide to Dragonmarks
« Reply #8 on: November 20, 2011, 09:48:59 PM »
mark of Detection is awesome.  Dragonmarked has a feat that lets you use it to negate all miss chance.  much better than that feat that requires mageslayer.

EDIT: Link for child of Kyber? didn't find it.

Child of Khyber

Offline Sinfire Titan

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Re: A Player's Guide to Dragonmarks
« Reply #9 on: November 21, 2011, 10:30:40 PM »
Aren't there any good ways to boost aberrant dragonmarks? Those two PrCs have tough entry requirements

Other than what's in Dragonmarked or in PGtE, not really. At least not that I'm aware of.

On the bright side, I have a new house rules for Eberron campaigns.
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Offline nijineko

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Re: A Player's Guide to Dragonmarks
« Reply #10 on: November 22, 2011, 12:52:41 AM »
Aren't there any good ways to boost aberrant dragonmarks? Those two PrCs have tough entry requirements

Other than what's in Dragonmarked or in PGtE, not really. At least not that I'm aware of.

On the bright side, I have a new house rules for Eberron campaigns.

cataclysm mage in the prestige section, please?

Offline Sinfire Titan

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Re: A Player's Guide to Dragonmarks
« Reply #11 on: November 22, 2011, 12:27:00 PM »
cataclysm mage in the prestige section, please?

I saw that the first time. I will get around to it.
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Offline nijineko

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Re: A Player's Guide to Dragonmarks
« Reply #12 on: November 23, 2011, 12:32:39 AM »
sorry, didn't mean to pester. and thank you.

Offline Sinfire Titan

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Re: A Player's Guide to Dragonmarks
« Reply #13 on: November 23, 2011, 12:38:42 AM »
sorry, didn't mean to pester. and thank you.

Looking the class over, I don't particularly like it for a Dragonmark concept. 9 levels of nothing, three opportunities to get yourself killed, and otherwise mediocre abilities for a 1/day Greater or lower Dragonmark power just does not strike me as worth while when you are a spellcaster.
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Offline nijineko

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Re: A Player's Guide to Dragonmarks
« Reply #14 on: November 23, 2011, 12:49:34 AM »
i know, right? let's turn virtually every dragon in the game specifically and actively against my character, just so i can stick it to them once a day, with not nearly enough survivability gained from the class to actually have a chance of pulling it off....

still, despite it's likely foredoomed status, it might float the boats of those who just have to have any dragonmark they want, or those who are really into the storyline.... worth a mention at least.

Offline Sinfire Titan

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Re: A Player's Guide to Dragonmarks
« Reply #15 on: November 23, 2011, 11:37:19 PM »
And with that, this handbook is finished (except for online articles, which I don't want to sift through because you can't search them easily the way you can an OCR PDF).
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Offline PlzBreakMyCampaign

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Re: A Player's Guide to Dragonmarks
« Reply #16 on: November 23, 2011, 11:57:53 PM »
Dragonmarked has a feat that lets you use it to negate all miss chance.  much better than that feat that requires mageslayer.
Where? I check looked through them...

Also any way to gain a siberys level for aberrant dragonmarks?

Offline Sinfire Titan

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Re: A Player's Guide to Dragonmarks
« Reply #17 on: November 24, 2011, 12:06:18 AM »
Dragonmarked has a feat that lets you use it to negate all miss chance.  much better than that feat that requires mageslayer.
Where? I check looked through them...

Also any way to gain a siberys level for aberrant dragonmarks?

Eye of Medani, and they never printed Siberys Aberrant marks (but if they did, they would have been called Khyber marks). I'm sure they felt having a 9th level Save or Die effect that anyone could get their hands on was just too powerful, but they were just fine with giving people Minor Creation as a Standard action at the cost of a feat and a level in a PrC.

As much as I love Eberron, the "balancing point" WotC used for the Dragonmarks is incomprehensible. I'm going to enjoy tweaking with these feats and PrCs as much I can.
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Offline Bastian

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Re: A Player's Guide to Dragonmarks
« Reply #18 on: November 24, 2011, 08:31:57 AM »
And with that, this handbook is finished (except for online articles, which I don't want to sift through because you can't search them easily the way you can an OCR PDF).
So you can't look at the specific bit that I linked you right to and told you where in the article it was? :eh I'll make it easy for you.
Quote
a character cannot have a Dragonmark unless he is a specific race
That is no longer true. Read the Reincarnation in Eberron sidebar here.
Quote
Reincarnation in Eberron

Powerful druids possess the ability to reincarnate those who fall in battle. This power is not often called into play; many druids respect the natural cycle of life, and furthermore, with their general lack of interest in material possessions, few druids have immediate access to the rare and expensive oils and unguents that are required to perform the ritual. However, if a champion dies a truly unjust death or falls while performing a great service to the wild, a druid may choose to call his spirit back to the world of the living.

The following table includes changelings and shifters, along with shifted weights reflecting the roles of races in Eberron -- such as the strong druidic ties of the orcs. You cannot be reincarnated as a warforged, although a warforged can be reincarnated as a member of another race. Kalashtar are not on the list, but if this table generates a result of "human" when used on a kalashtar spirit, the character will instead return as a kalashtar. A kalashtar who returns as any other creature loses her bond to her quori spirit, which can be a terribly traumatic experience.

d%   Incarnation   Str   Dex   Con
01-03   Bugbear   +4   +2   +2
04-08   Changeling   +0   +0   +0
09-15   Dwarf   +0   +0   +2
16-22   Elf   +0   +2   -2
23-24   Gnoll   +4   +0   +2
25-31   Gnome   -2   +0   +2
32-37   Goblin   -2   +2   +0
38-42   Half-elf   +0   +0   +0
43-49   Half-orc   2   +0   +0
50-56   Halfling   -2   +2   +0
57-61   Hobgoblin   +0   +2   +2
62-71   Human   +0   +0   +0
72-73   Kobold   -4   +2   -2
74-78   Lizardfolk   2   +0   +2
79-88   Orc   +4   +0   +0
89-98   Shifter   +0   +2   +0
99   Troglodyte   +0   -2   +4
100   Other   ?   ?   
A character who possesses a dragonmark will keep his dragonmark even in his new form. However, he cannot pass the dragonmark to his descendants. So reincarnation makes it possible to find an orc with the Mark of Storm, but this will not produce an entire dynasty of dragonmarked orcs.

Offline Sinfire Titan

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Re: A Player's Guide to Dragonmarks
« Reply #19 on: November 24, 2011, 02:21:42 PM »
And with that, this handbook is finished (except for online articles, which I don't want to sift through because you can't search them easily the way you can an OCR PDF).
So you can't look at the specific bit that I linked you right to and told you where in the article it was? :eh I'll make it easy for you.


I saw that, just forgot to edit it in.
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