Aberrant Dragonmarks, Aberrant Blood

[Xuldarinar]

Simply to pose a few questions, strictly academic.

In the web supplement Eberron Expanded - Lords of Madness (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebee/20050704a), it is established that Aberrant Dragonmark can be substituted for Aberrant Blood to meet the prerequisites of aberrant feats, and in of itself becomes an aberrant feat.

1. If Aberrant Dragonmark is treated as an aberrant feat, does one also treat feats that require/build upon Aberrant Dragonmark as aberrant feats? If so, would this be limited to feats such as Mark of Madness and Lesser Aberrant Dragonmark that strictly require it, or would one extend this to ones true and aberrant dragonmarks can qualify for, only being aberrant feats if Aberrant dragonmark was used for the prerequisite?

2. Are Aberrant Dragonmarks necessarily eberron specific or could one use them outside of eberron, perhaps as one way the far-realm could manifest it's influence?

3. Is there any, non-homebrew, source of aberrant feats besides Lords of Madness, Dragon Magazine 359 (Mourning Mutate), and Any/All Aberrant Dragonmark feats?

[Pluto!]

1. If you're looking for the RAW answer, nothing has been written to indicate that feats with Aberrant Dragonmark as a prereq are either counted as Aberrant feats for the purposes of prerequisites or effects that count the number of a character's Aberrant feats. But if you're looking for opinions, I wouldn't hesitate to allow feats with an Aberrant Dragonmark to count as Aberrant feats, but probably wouldn't let feats that can benefit other types of dragonmarks - I don't think it would make a lot of sense for a Siberys mark, for instance, to provide support to a character's Aboleth-modified bloodline.

2. Dragonmarks are pretty deeply tied to Eberron, and using them nods to that setting specifically, but crunch-wise, there are a ton of other effects that are basically identical (Communicator, Antagonist, various heritage feats). I see no reason not to strip the mechanics and reuse them in a different setting, and only the reason of their clear Eberron origins not to use them in another setting with their canned flavor explanations.

3. Not to my knowledge.

[Xuldarinar]

1. If you're looking for the RAW answer, nothing has been written to indicate that feats with Aberrant Dragonmark as a prereq are either counted as Aberrant feats for the purposes of prerequisites or effects that count the number of a character's Aberrant feats. But if you're looking for opinions, I wouldn't hesitate to allow feats with an Aberrant Dragonmark to count as Aberrant feats, but probably wouldn't let feats that can benefit other types of dragonmarks - I don't think it would make a lot of sense for a Siberys mark, for instance, to provide support to a character's Aboleth-modified bloodline.


That is a fairly reasonable way to approach it. Thank you. I mainly wanted to see what someone else thought on the matter.



2. Dragonmarks are pretty deeply tied to Eberron, and using them nods to that setting specifically, but crunch-wise, there are a ton of other effects that are basically identical (Communicator, Antagonist, various heritage feats). I see no reason not to strip the mechanics and reuse them in a different setting, and only the reason of their clear Eberron origins not to use them in another setting with their canned flavor explanations.


True, fortunately sometimes it is fairly simple to re-flavor things.



3. Not to my knowledge.

Well, maybe someone else will know of something.