Dragonmark of Death

[Regitnui]

Not sure if this goes here or in the homebrew section, but anyway, here goes.

Now, the Mark of Death in the Eberron setting is one of those great mysteries, something we'll never get an answer to. However, the Mark of Death plays a minor role in my campaign, but not an antagonistic one. Keeping in mind that it is a necromantic mark, and that therefore it would have power over death, and also that dragonmarks aren't usually aggressive I came up with the following powers for the Mark:

Least: Gentle Repose 1/day, Death Watch 1/day, +2 on intimidate checks

Lesser: Death Ward 1/day, Speak with Dead 1/day

Greater: Raise Dead 1/day

Siberys: True Resurrection 1/day

Now, a Macguffin Girl NPC in my campaign has the Siberys Mark, so I'm now wondering what effect 'True Resurrection' has on a Lich. Specifically the lich Erandis Vol.

[Jeff the Green]

If they're willing, it restores them to life.

[Flickerdart]

True Resurrection does nothing to a lich if said lich is still alive (well, undead). Once you destroy it, casting the spell on it will offer the creature that the lich was in life (not the lich itself) an opportunity to come back to life.

[Regitnui]

Ah! So, if Lady Vol were to have this dragonmarked character cast true resurrection on her, she would lose all the experience (not XP. Memories and suchlike.) of however many years she's been (un)dead, and remember only her life while she was alive, correct?

And gameplay-wise, does that affect the character mechanically besides losing the undead creature type?

[DeltaEmil]

Ah! So, if Lady Vol were to have this dragonmarked character cast true resurrection on her, she would lose all the experience (not XP. Memories and suchlike.) of however many years she's been (un)dead, and remember only her life while she was alive, correct?No, she wouldn't lose any memories.
And gameplay-wise, does that affect the character mechanically besides losing the undead creature type?She would lose her increased stat modifiers that resulted from being a lich. And all that other stuff, like Damage Reduction, paralyzing touch and so on.

[Regitnui]

That's very interesting. Thank you everyone.

No comments on the suite of powers I picked for the Dragonmark of Death?

[DeltaEmil]

It's okay. Alternatively, you might want to make it more about creating undead-stuff and killing, instead of resurrecting and protecting from some negative energy stuff, since Vol was apparently turned into a lich by her mom through the mark. Stuff like energy drain, or one of those spells like ghoul gauntlet, which slowly turns a creature into a ghoul, create undead, or something like that.
But then again, that doesn't mean that the dragonmark of death should only be about creating undead and killing or so. Your campaign, your interpretation.
The speak with dead ability looks fitting either way.

Should no player character be going to have the dragonmark of death, you could handwave what the dragonmark does, and call it a day.

[Regitnui]

It's okay. Alternatively, you might want to make it more about creating undead-stuff and killing, instead of resurrecting and protecting from some negative energy stuff, since Vol was apparently turned into a lich by her mom through the mark. Stuff like energy drain, or one of those spells like ghoul gauntlet...

The handwave I have for the turning into a lich thing is that the Vol family had developed some items to channel their dragonmark in unusual ways, much like the modern Dragonmarked houses. It would certainly explain why nobody can find Lady Vol's phylactery, and why she doesn't wake up near it when destroyed.

And Ghoul Gauntlet? Where's that spell from?

[DeltaEmil]

It's in Libris Mortis. You might find a more updated version of that spell, with other undead-creating spells in the book Spell Compendium.

[GreenSerpent]

An interesting twist on it might be that there's actually two Dragonmarks of Death. The "normal" one, and the "variant" one.

The normal one gives the healing-and-ressurection associated powers you listed above, but the rarer and much more dangerous variant one is far closer to an aberrant mark - all the abilities it grants are related to the creation of undead.

Or perhaps there's an item that can twist a Dragonmarks power like that (a draconic artifact perhaps?). That'd be an interesting twist too.

[Regitnui]

That that I came up with was the 'normal' dragonmark. Lady Vol is half-dragon, so her dragonmark has the potential to warp reality. An article I found said that raising an entire battlefield's worth of undead with a wave of her hand wasn't just possible, it was outright expected.