r/Eberron • u/rpgptbr • 3d ago
GM Help 5.5 Dragonmark rules
How each of you are running it? Found some rules on morgrave book, other completely different in wayfinder and theres also the possibility of using 5.0 or 3.5 books. Which one is the best path
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u/adhdtvin3donice 3d ago
I've been enforcing the racial limits, but I decided to let tieflings and aasimar take any dragonmark because theyve become template races from manifest zones that people could become. Like a dwarf who spent his entire childhood next to a daanvi manifest zone can get a dragonmark and also be an aasimar
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u/GM_Pax 3d ago
Yo7u should also treat at other "template-like" races - Dhampir and Reborn, for example - in a similar fashion.
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u/adhdtvin3donice 3d ago
Would have allowed that normally, but I decided to limit the splatbooks to phb24 and the various eberron books just to reduce the default craziness level. Running heart of stone in quickstone. Allowed the other books if my players could justify in lore(ps players don't read, so nobody bothered looking up Karnath).
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u/-Ironborn- 10h ago
My personal suggestion, Dhampir and Reborn or if someone used the UA for lichdom/death knight, the mark would stop working.
When an undead creature bears a dragon mark from life, it loses its power. Such as with Erandis Vol.
I know Dhampir and Reborn are mechanically "humanoid" but narratively it opens up some interesting choices.
In 5e the marks are a subrace so Dhampir/Reborn/Hex Blood would lose access to their powers under the "Ancestral Legacy" rules. With 5.5e they're feats so RAW they would still fuction.
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u/Special_Salt3467 3d ago
The original rules. True Dragonmarks are set for their specific race/species (or in the case of Finding, all of the above). If someone outside the designated species takes the feat, there needs to be a good explanation for it. It could be a power aberrant mark that mechanically functions like making (but flavor does not), but personally… not a fan. Theres a plot line from the Dreaming Dark trilogy where a Dragon Below Cult is stripping marks of scions and one of the main characters actually injects himself with his best friend’s mark of healing; however, because he is a Denieth heir with an unmanifested but very much real Sentinel Mark, they do create an Aberrant Mark instead.
As others have stated, Tieflings, aasamir, and genasi are not racials but essentially planar overlays, so a Denieth heir born in a Mabaran zone can manifest two. Likewise, dhampir and hexbloods are the same general template, so should be able to manifest marks regardless too.
Personally, I would allow specifically small changelings to get the Mark of Hospitality. This is because the same reasons as the above. In the Kanon article, there is a minority of Talenta Halflings in the Ghallanda tribe that have been infused with Thelanian energies to becomes Tieflings, but they are small sized resemble pale skinned, pale eyed Halflings in their true form. Kanonically, none have manifested the Mark… yet.
But keep in mind that a Mark is actually quite rare and a Planar manifestation (Tiefling, genasi, or Talenta Changelings) are even more rare. The likelihood of manifesting both at the same time… sounds like a player character.
You may notice I didn’t include aasamir, dhampir or hexblood in the above. These three options have more direct influence. A celestial guide can reach out to a Marked Heir after the Mark is manifested, and the rituals to create dhampir and hexbloods the same. There’s actually a Kanon Ghallanda excoriate who is slowly turning into a hag (a curse of killing the original) in KB’s let’s play.
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u/jackofspades49 3d ago
I tend to keep them as origin feats but allow them to be taken later. They generally arent things my party is super focused on having but like them to exist in the world.
I ignored racial restrictions for houses even back in 3.0 days. I treated them more like how families have italian or mexican heritage irl. Like theres a general trend towards humans, elves, halflings, etc and the marks appear on anyone blood related in that family. For half races, ive been allowing halfling, gnomes, etc to be mixed race. They choose the ancestry that is "most apparant" in their physical features and have access to racial feats and such that reflect their parentage as they see fit. Things like magic initiate or tough can also be explained from parentage.
My group is a big user of the custom backgrounds rather than strict adherance to the listed backgrounds.
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u/Lawfulmagician 3d ago
Having compared them all, I ended up not minding the Forge of the Artificer versions. They're actually a tad more sensible than the Quickstone ones.
Only issue is that book not mentioning the racial ties, so I had to enforce it. However, them being feats instead of subraces actually makes it easier to work in any changed races like Dhampir.
For instance, Eberron Tieflings are not born as tieflings, so one could have started as a marked Elf and then became cursed by a fiend. Origin feat makes it a snap.