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View Full Version : Help with Dragonmarks and Misc? (4e)



Drenn
2010-06-13, 03:18 PM
Greetings.

Okay, so I'm DMing for a group that, with the exception of one person, has never played any sort of D&D before, including myself. We've been playing for nine or so months, and its going pretty well, but one of my players is the sort who buys every new book, reference guide, ect. and got a hold of Eberron. It's a new toy, and, before I knew it, most of the party had built new characters almost all of which had Dragonmarks.

I was caught between papers at the time and didn't think too much of it, but afterward I started reading up on it at the prompting of my players and realized I was in a bit over my head. I was wondering if anyone could help me figure out how to fit/balance these characters with the rest of the party and the world they live in.

A couple questions I had specifically were:

a) People who know about Dragonmarks are supposed to get super excited about them whenever they encounter them, but is there a valid reaction besides "I will imprison you and possibly skin you alive so that I may study these markings more in depth"?

b) Dragonmarked characters are somewhat more powerful or skilled then those without them, and I feel that its unfair to those players who actually stuck with the characters they have. Is there a good way to keep the party internally balanced?

c)My Dragonmarked characters tend to be more of the "roll playing" variety than the "role playing" sort. I'm trying to combat that a little bit by making them live with the consequences of having dragonmarks (other than improved stats) without making the story suddenly all about them. Any ideas?

Any other tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Sir Homeslice
2010-06-13, 03:27 PM
a) Hero worship, indifference, surprise, apathy, flat out worship, cautious wariness, etc.

b) Let me throw something back at you.

Characters with weapon focus in the weapon they use are somewhat more powerful then those without them, and I feel that its unfair to those players who actually stuck with the characters they have. Is there a good way to keep the party internally balanced?

Characters with more HP are somewhat more powerful then those without them, and I feel that its unfair to those players who actually stuck with the characters they have. Is there a good way to keep the party internally balanced?

Characters with higher defenses are somewhat more powerful then those without them, and I feel that its unfair to those players who actually stuck with the characters they have. Is there a good way to keep the party internally balanced?

Characters with a striker-focus are somewhat more powerful then those without them, and I feel that its unfair to those players who actually stuck with the characters they have. Is there a good way to keep the party internally balanced?

c) Beats me.

kieza
2010-06-13, 03:56 PM
a) People with dragonmarks are almost all affiliated with the Dragonmarked Houses, which are huge in industry. So, if someone in the know sees a dragonmark, they know that the person is probably rich, influential, and/or powerful. They might respond by trying to scam them, ingratiate themselves with them, sell them something, etc.

b) The players did take the feat in order to have the marks, right? If so, they paid the price for it. Some people think that dragonmark feats are more powerful than others, but if you're serious about having the feat impact how they interact with NPCs, that evens it out in my opinion.

c) If the players have different marks, maybe their houses get upset that their rising stars are hanging out with competitors, and try to get the players to split up. Or, perhaps they don't mind so long as the players still come in to the office and work for the House when they're needed. Use the marks as the basis for quests: the House calls on them to perform services, gets them involved in intrigues, tries to dictate what they do, etc. Or other houses approach them with business deals (shady or otherwise) or people approach them in the streets as representatives of their house, forcing them to take on a client.

Steveotep
2010-06-13, 05:56 PM
Are you running an Eberron game? The Dragonmarked Houses are a major part of the setting as they control trade and industry, so adding them to another world is going to make great changes to the world and the Houses. This could be a lot of work for you, the DM.

One option is to have Dragonmarks but no Houses, maybe the PCs are the first to develop these new powers and the campaign revolves around finding out why they have been marked in this way.

Another option is to say: "No Eberron stuff. This is not an Eberron game." As DM it is a good idea to only allow extra rules you are familiar with and approve of.

Kurald Galain
2010-06-13, 06:03 PM
While yes, dragonmark feats are noticeably stronger than other feats, the results are not game-wreckingly unbalanced if some party members have them and others don't; I wouldn't worry about it overly much. That said, a simple fix would be to have a dragonmark require two feats rather than one, or to give the non-markees a free skill training and skill focus feat.