Best Dragonmark + Guild + Class Combo

[Tokuhara]

So just set up a game for Sunday. DM told me "all books minus Wildmount," and we're starting at level 2 or 3 with an Eldritch Knight, a Druid, and a Cleric. I wanted to play with both a Guild Background (the ones that give you spells from Ravnica) and Dragonmarked Races. So here's my question: what would you guys pick here? I'm leaning towards an Arcane caster and want to get the most bang for my buck with Race/Class/Guild spell selection. I can explain 90% of combos with backstory.

Edit: DM said the main intent of the campaign was to test out some 3rd party (Kobold Press) monsters and compare how they do against normal D&D PCs.

[iTreeby]

Dimir mark of scribing gnome great old one warlock tome of shadows.

All the sneaky mind tricks, advantage on half your saves, have all the rituals.

[Tokuhara]

Dimir mark of scribing gnome great old one warlock tome of shadows.

All the sneaky mind tricks, advantage on half your saves, have all the rituals.

(Do note I'm going to edit my initial prompt after this, because of new-ish info)

I love this, but the game is intended to be vastly more Combat focused and less Intrigue. In an Intrigue game, absolutely a top-notch pick

[Evaar]

I'm not that familiar with all the GGTR tricks, but at a glance I would go with a Mark Of Warding Moon Druid with the Selesnya Initiate background.

Mark of Warding gets you Mage Armor on your animal forms. Selesnya Initiate gets you Warding Bond. So you have much better AC than normal for a Moon Druid, and you gain a way to share your nearly endless well of hit points to the party.

[stoutstien]

I'm not that familiar with all the GGTR tricks, but at a glance I would go with a Mark Of Warding Moon Druid with the Selesnya Initiate background.

Mark of Warding gets you Mage Armor on your animal forms. Selesnya Initiate gets you Warding Bond. So you have much better AC than normal for a Moon Druid, and you gain a way to share your nearly endless well of hit points to the party.

Mark of warding also gets AoA. On a moon druid it is nasty.

[Evaar]

Mark of warding also gets AoA. On a moon druid it is nasty.

Right, thanks, forgot about that bit.

So things can attack you, probably miss, or take damage if they hit, or they can attack your buddy and do half damage. All of these spells work without concentration, you can pre-cast them before wild shaping.

[Tokuhara]

Had considered Warding Abjurer, as well as a Mark of Healing Wizard of some form. Likewise, had considered the Mark of Shadows on a Paladin

[8wGremlin]

I played a fake Druid, was fun.

Mark of hospitality Halfling, hexblade warlock, pact of the tomb, Gruul Anarch.

Dex: 14, Cha: 16
Invocations: beast speech (talk to animal at will) and Agonising blast (cus)
Mark spells: prestidigitation cantrip. You can also cast the purify food and drink and unseen servant spells 1/day each
Spell Level Spells
1st Goodberry, sleep
2nd aid, calm emotions
3rd create food and water, Leomund’s tiny hut
4th aura of purity, Mordenkainen’s private sanctum
5th hallow

Guild Spells:Cantrip - fire bolt, produce flame
1st - compelled duel, speak with animals, thunderwave
2nd - beast sense, shatter
3rd - conjure animals, conjure barrage
4th - dominate beast, stoneskin
5th - destructive wave.

Hexblade Spells:
1st shield, wrathful smite
2nd blur, branding smite
3rd blink, elemental weapon
4th phantasmal killer, staggering smite
5th banishing smite, cone of cold

plus normal Warlock spells, difficulty was picking which spells to have.
But it really shines at level 5 thought.

[Tokuhara]

That's hilarious. 10/10

[iTreeby]

Is it true that the ravnica backgrounds add the spells to your class list not spells known? That makes cleric and druid the best classes to use backgrounds. Have you considered artificer?

Mark of making human artillerist artificer with the boros background. You have a pet turret and lots of magic stuff. Magic stuff is awesome.

[Tokuhara]

Is it true that the ravnica backgrounds add the spells to your class list not spells known? That makes cleric and druid the best classes to use backgrounds. Have you considered artificer?

Mark of making human artillerist artificer with the boros background. You have a pet turret and lots of magic stuff. Magic stuff is awesome.

Yes they do. And while true, we already have one of each, so hence the Arcane target. Had considered Artificer mostly as a Multiclass with Wizard.

Making Human is pretty good, however most of their spells are already on the Artificer list. Granted, free Mending is nothing to sniff at. Boros-ficer is an interesting concept, but to me, Boros screams Battlesmith over Artillerist, with their whole quasi-paladins theme

[Citadel97501]

Other options:
Mark of Warding + Orzhov + Abjuration Wizard...
This gives you an incredibly tough wizard, with High Constitution, Armor of Agathys & Spirit Guardians available on a wizard chassis at level 5.

Mark of Handling + Orzhov + Order Cleric, this gives you powerful summoning through Conjure Animals, or Spirit Guardians with buff/heals as a Lazy cleric.

Mark of Warding + Izzit + War Mage
This would give you some elemental summoning, defensive spells, and the War Mage stuff likely leading to one hell of a God Mage. Golgari would also be a great background instead of Izzit for more god wizard style spells that Druids excel at.

[Tokuhara]

Other options:
Mark of Warding + Orzhov + Abjuration Wizard...
This gives you an incredibly tough wizard, with High Constitution, Armor of Agathys & Spirit Guardians available on a wizard chassis at level 5.

Mark of Handling + Orzhov + Order Cleric, this gives you powerful summoning through Conjure Animals, or Spirit Guardians with buff/heals as a Lazy cleric.

Mark of Warding + Izzit + War Mage
This would give you some elemental summoning, defensive spells, and the War Mage stuff likely leading to one hell of a God Mage. Golgari would also be a great background instead of Izzit for more god wizard style spells that Druids excel at.

I seriously dig the Wizard builds. Kinda love the cleric as well, even with the odd combination. Would've thought Selesnya with Tempest for Handling

Had once built a theorycrafted Mark of Finding Human Azorious Arcana Cleric as kind of a "Magic Gestapo"/Liam Neeson build

Also: Mark of the Sentinel Orzhov Death Cleric is kinda scary. Just...dang son.