PDA

View Full Version : Mark of Xoriat (balance question)



Benejeseret
2010-11-18, 12:52 PM
I am creating a character for an upcoming Eberron game and have become completely inspired with a concept, but need some advice...

Character Basics

Background: A young Seren Barbarian outcast who was in training to be a Dragonspeaker and to prophet of the Dragon Prophecies. During an initiation ritual of deep meditation his mind followed a thread of the Prophecies to Xoriat. What he found was true freedom; the ability to see the Prophecies in their grandeur without the restrictions of sanity marring the interpretations.

Xoriat left its Mark upon the young Prophet in the form of a twisting, purple Dragonmark appearing to be crawling out of his left eye.

Human (Seren)
Barbarian1//Warlock1 (Gestalt)
Str14 Dex10 Con14 Int14 Wis10 Cha16

Whirling Frenzy variant, Dragon Totem Variant Barbarian
Voice of Madness as warlock invocation

Feats:
Aberrant Dragonmark (Cause Fear), Mark of Madness, Mark of Xoriat, BlindFight (B)

Flaws:
Dark Premonitions - (HB) Every 1d6 nights he suffers from dark dreams that leave him fatigued all of the next day. The DM may force a dream upon him, but it should reveal part of the Prophecy (symbolic or literal) that will come to fruition the coming day.

Future advancement:
Will progress toward Child of Khyber prestige class. Future feats will include Quicken Dragonmark (making least/lesser/greater marks swift actions)



Is Mark of Xoriat too powerful? My worry is that getting DR5/bys is too much at a low level and will ignore nearly all damage CR1-3 monsters will dish out.

Without my Flaw, Mark of Xoriat can still be reached by Lvl 3...which is still pretty early for DR5.

Am I missing requirements? Is it not as big a deal as I seem to think?

Skorj
2010-11-18, 01:06 PM
At level 1, DR5 is extreme (though "level 1 Gestalt" is a bit different from "level 1"). At level 3, it depends on the campaign IMO. In my campaigns enemy casters are common, and DR5 at level 3 would merely be powerful - and powerful melee characters are a good thing, really.

WinceRind
2010-11-18, 01:34 PM
Your character idea seems pretty cool...

As for the mark, while having DR5 at level 1 would be significant, you can always find a way around it with your DM if either of you feel it would be a gamebreaker this early.

Maybe make it scale with level, starting at DR1 or DR2 at level 1 and fully maturing by whatever level.

At least that's what I'd do as a DM.

Benejeseret
2010-11-18, 03:31 PM
I recently read:

Storm Dragon: The Draconic Prophecies, Book 1

Whose main character Gaven is the basis for the idea (granted, mine is far darker)

________________

I guess my point was that (gestalt aside and irrelevant) ANY normal lvl 1 human character can get Mark of Xoriat DR5/bys with a single UA flaw (or maybe other loopholes?).

A normal character lvl3 can get it with no variants or UA in play - sheer Eberron as published material.

________________

I plan to start with no armor which should balance the DR5/bys a bit....but that is me purposely underplaying his potential.

________________

Take this a step farther and I could take Greater Resiliency and make that DR6/bys...and since I could possibly take a 2nd flaw that makes DR6 at level 1.

Fawsto
2010-11-18, 03:44 PM
DR 5 is good against critters. Awesome, really.

The thing is, if your DM knows what to throw at you to chalange that, it will become useful, only.

I am DMing a Eberron myself, and most meleers you will ever find will have one or two levels on ToB classes... That means a lot of touch attacks and "bye bye DR" manouvers and other damage boosters that will punch right trough any DR that is not above 10.

While not overpwering, your character would have a comparative advantage over other characters, since an enemy would always have to 2hand you or use a ToB manouver to ever hope scratching your skin.

And there is Byashik.

I would not wander around the Shadow Marshes or the Eldeen Reaches if I were you. If a Druid is bad, an angry, aberration-killing-freak Druid is so very much worse...

Good Luck

edit: do not spend so many feats on that DR. It is the smae as putting all your eggs inside the same basket. Invest a little on your offensive abilities. You could be a gret debuffer once you learn chain blast or something like that. Remember, your Barbarian side will eventualy get a small DR for itself, which will give you a very small defense agains byashik. Also, you have a d12 HD. There is no more need for DR, seriously. Unless, of course, you can pump it past DR 10/something obscure, like Rakshasas with their DR 15/piercing AND good.

AslanCross
2010-11-18, 06:38 PM
Just an aside: Where's Mark of Xoriat from? It sounds awesome and might fit with some NPCs in a campaign I'm planning.

Fawsto
2010-11-18, 07:00 PM
It's from Eberron - Dragonmarked

The book that tells stuff about the dragonmarked houses. It requires 2 feats to qualify, however.

Hopefully helpful,

Fawsto.

AslanCross
2010-11-18, 09:07 PM
Thanks, thought it would be from there.