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View Full Version : Homebrew dragonmark: PEACH and input needed



classy one
2011-05-18, 12:45 PM
I need everyone's advice on making a new true dragonmark for my Eberron campaign. This a more advanced development, the short version is that the all kalashtar party has restored the draconic prophecy to Sarlona by breaking Saridor and the Gem dragons out of Reidrian indoctrination. Now the heroes are rewarded with a true dragonmark, the first since House Vol's and the Mark of death's collapse.

As those of you know, dragonmarked houses are economic powerhouses in Eberron, each with a near monopoly on a certain market. The dragonmark I had in mind; the Mark of Counseling will be for counseling. Things like psychiatrist issues, self help, marriage counseling, kicking addictions etc. I am going for PLA that heal or improve metal and/or mood conditions. Of course, this is after they fend off the Twelve in what could be the 3rd war of the Mark.

Here's what I have so far, mainly need help with the least and lesser dragonmarks. Format is the same as that found in ECS. I need to narrow down the least mark to only 3 but can't make up my mind on which to drop since they all seem so appropriate.

Mark of Counseling
The Mark of Counseling grants its user with the ability to detect and heal aliments of the mind. They deal with a wide selection of personal and interpersonal issues, and are often hired as marriage counselors, life coaches, psychiatrists, and sometimes inspirational speakers. The Mark of Counseling is not well established outside of Sarlona and have yet to have an enclave in Khorvaire, despite the need for their services.

House: House Shath is a family of Kalashtar and other psionic races (mostly humans with the wild talent feat, Maenad) from the Eastern continent of Sarlona founded only a few months ago. Born out of rebellion to Reidan mind control, members of this House have been instrumental in breaking the centuries of Reidrian indoctrination. A job they continue to perform to this day. Unlike other dragonmarked Houses, House Shath is currently non-profit and work mostly by a barter system or via donations. This is in large part because Reidia has no currency system to speak of. This may change once a critical mass of people break out of indoctrination, but until then House Shath is happy to work just to undermine the Dreaming Dark. As a young dragonmarked House, not many unmarked members exist, much less take an active role. Those few that exist are mostly administrative in nature, although some younger members seem to be talented in mundane counseling.

Marks: The Mark of Counseling grants the following benefits.

Least: Psionic Charm 1/day, telempathic projection 1/day, suggestion 1/day or serenity 1/day; +2 on sense motive checks and +1 power point reserve.

Lesser: Modify Memory 1/day, or thoughtsoothe (FoE) 1/day

Greater: Mind Probe 1/day, or Mind Switch 1/day

Siberys: Psychic Chirurgery 1/day

If anyone has any pictures or drawing of psychedelic tattoos, that would be great too.

Pyromancer999
2011-05-18, 02:06 PM
NOOOOOO!!! I got beaten to it!...Heh. Actually, I had an idea for a very similar Dragonmark, which I was going to call the Mark of Psyche, although these were going to be spies that were usually paired up with Mark of Shadow Dragonmarked during the War of the Mark. Love the crunch. However, the fluff has some issues:

-Dragonmarks mostly originate way back when. These things are marks representative of the Draconic Prophecy.
- As big as a rebellion is, not exactly the kind of thing that creates a Dragonmark. Also, if you want to get picky, no one knows just how Dragonmarks were created, just that they have to do with the Prophecy.
-All True Dragonmark houses are of one race only, and one that can breed and pass it on. Hence, Elans won't work, and I don't think that Humans with Wild Talent would quite fit the job, so, just make it Kalashtar.

classy one
2011-05-18, 10:51 PM
NOOOOOO!!! I got beaten to it!...Heh. Actually, I had an idea for a very similar Dragonmark, which I was going to call the Mark of Psyche, although these were going to be spies that were usually paired up with Mark of Shadow Dragonmarked during the War of the Mark. Love the crunch. However, the fluff has some issues:
considering there are already 2 houses involved with spycraft, I'd say Mark of Psyche might be a bit redundant. Still I am glad that I am not the only one to think of this. Now to address your fluff concerns.



-Dragonmarks mostly originate way back when. These things are marks representative of the Draconic Prophecy.
dragonmarks are not representative of the Draconic prophecy, it is the Draconic prophecy on mortal flesh.


- As big as a rebellion is, not exactly the kind of thing that creates a Dragonmark. Also, if you want to get picky, no one knows just how Dragonmarks were created, just that they have to do with the Prophecy.
"No one knows" is code for DM makes it up. It isn't "just a rebellion". Sarlona is many things, the birth place of humanity and Kalashtar, the seat of psionic power, a stagnant society and a void in the Draconic Prophecy. In my campaign, it is also where gem dragons were first created. The rebellion was just the catalyst to try and solve the various mysteries surrounding the continent. It's rather convoluted so I just gave a summary.

-All True Dragonmark houses are of one race only, and one that can breed and pass it on. Hence, Elans won't work, and I don't think that Humans with Wild Talent would quite fit the job, so, just make it Kalashtar.
one house has both humans and half orcs (House Tharashk). But you are right Elans don't technically breed. I'll take them out. Kalashtar pass on "Kalashtarness" in a strange fashion. If a male Kalashtar mates with human female, only his sons would be Kalashtar while the daughters would be human. This is because the Quori Spirit only passes down to the same sex offspring.


There was a power that let you enter peoples' dreams and heal emotional wounds, but I can't find it in any of my books. If this sounds familar to anyone reading this please let me know as I would love to include this.

classy one
2011-05-19, 09:27 AM
Hmm also need a mascot. Here are the candidates I had in mind:

Couantl: this is the front runner of the lot for several reasons. First, it's psionic, cool looking and regal and good in alignment which matches the feel of this house. Second, it is native to Sarlona since the first age. Third, I have gem dragons created as mixtures of metallic, chromatic and couantl DNA. And finally they were key players in discovering the Draconic prophecy. Only thing keeping me from picking them is that they are held in high regard by even the dragons and using them as the crest of the house may be considered pretentious and provoke an attack.

Ruby dragon: relevant in the same way as the couantl, but especially poignant since the PCs freed Saridor (the proto-gem dragon). In fact they even rode on his back during the rebellion. The main drawbacks is that it could be confused for a red dragon, drawing ire from them and a ruby dragon is unique rather than type of gem dragon. Most Houses use non-unique magical creatures as their symbol, plus the church of Saridor might object to their god being used as a symbol for commerce.

Thought eater/slayer: another psionic creature but this one is not nearly as awe inspiring as the mythic couantl or a Draconic god. In fact, the ethreal platypus is kind of cute and might just be the image to draw in the masses. Just look at that thing!
http://www.thearchnemesis.com/images/Thought%20Eater.jpg
The drawbacks are many. Like it's a silly monster, it has nothing to do with mental health (quite the opposite) and the 3rd Ed version is not cute. At all.

Su-monster: basically a Psionic monkey. Fairly obscure creature but seems to fit the House symbol theme that the other Houses have going for it.

Thats all I got right now. Again your help is welcome.

classy one
2011-05-19, 08:43 PM
Some changes made:

the least dragonmark also grants one PP so that whoever takes it will automatically be psionic.

Took Elans out since they don't breed and are immortal. Plus Elans are basically Inspired but without the huge CHA boost and dual mind feature. Rather inappropriate. Thanks to Pyro for pointing that out.

Help still needed in the following areas:
General PEACH would be great. Even if it just to say no changes are needed.

The least dragonmark needs to be trimmed down to 3 PLA. This is more a traditional thing, since no least dragonmark has more than 3 PLA to pick from. I do feel that all of them are great for mental health counseling though.

House mascot still needed. I think I might just go with the couantl give. The lack of feedback. I liked the su monster too but I can't find it anywhere. Was it a webenhancement?

I know there is a power the invades dreams and allows you to fix things or really mess them up. I have no idea I read it but if someone could provide me the info I'd be grateful.

Prime32
2011-05-19, 08:47 PM
one house has both humans and half orcs (House Tharashk). But you are right Elans don't technically breed. I'll take them out. Kalashtar pass on "Kalashtarness" in a strange fashion. If a male Kalashtar mates with human female, only his sons would be Kalashtar while the daughters would be human. This is because the Quori Spirit only passes down to the same sex offspring.An interesting way to do this would be:

The kalashtar didn't develop a dragonmark. One of their quori now has a dragonmark. Kalashtar descended from that quori's first host can tap into its powers indirectly.

classy one
2011-05-19, 10:23 PM
An interesting way to do this would be:

The kalashtar didn't develop a dragonmark. One of their quori now has a dragonmark. Kalashtar descended from that quori's first host can tap into its powers indirectly.

That is an interesting idea. But instead of just one Quori line I could make it 6-8 lines. This will make the House instantly have high numbers needed to be competitive and withstand the possible third war of the mark. Question is which Quori to include?

Pyromancer999
2011-05-20, 01:59 PM
considering there are already 2 houses involved with spycraft, I'd say Mark of Psyche might be a bit redundant. Still I am glad that I am not the only one to think of this. Now to address your fluff concerns.

Psyche is usually referred to as the mind. And what are they healing? The mind. They're getting into that thing knee-deep.


There was a power that let you enter peoples' dreams and heal emotional wounds, but I can't find it in any of my books. If this sounds familar to anyone reading this please let me know as I would love to include this.

I know of a dreamwalking spell, but not of any powers like that. Maybe that's why.

cooperflood
2011-05-21, 03:26 PM
The least powers should all be 1/day. Only cantrips are 2/day.

Autohypnosis doesn't fit with the description of the house. Everthing the skill does is internal, where as the house is all about influencing/understanding/helping others. Diplomacy or Sense Motive seem like much better fits.

Serenity and Charm are good fits for what your trying to achieve, but I would make Empathy the third option. It's a good fit from a flavor stand point, plus I'm a fan of having at-least one option which isn't save reliant. Thus making the mark a good choice for a larger number of characters.

Don't like psychometry, I don't see how it fits the house at all. If you want a second greater choice I would go with Break Enchantment.

Finally a house with this set of abilities would be natural integrators and spy masters. Their publicized abilities may very well be "counseling and psychiatry", but they will make far more money gathering information and delivering false information.

classy one
2011-05-22, 12:05 AM
The more I look at psychometry the more I agree with you Cooperflood. Might put in mind switch instead. I have never heard of break enchantment as a psionic power though.

Autohypnosis was the closest I could find to actual hypnosis. But you might be right in saying sense motive would be better, I wanted a skill that was more proactive.

There is a 3rd lvl power called thoughtsoothe found in faiths of Eberron that can heal insanity and confusion. Might take out implanted suggestion and put that in.

Been flipping through Dragonmarked today and there are 3 feats for each dragonmark that expanded the amount of SLA. I can take scraped PLA and put them in there.

As for them being mindspies, I understand that there are already two houses that do this. My new house will in fact cause both houses of the mark of shadow to join back together because they worry about upholding their monopoly over the info market. Depending on how the PCs deal with situation it might trigger a full out war of the mark or just the mark of counseling vs mark of shadows. Or best case sensorio, they are acceTed into the 12 right away.

DracoDei
2011-05-22, 10:30 AM
There is a 3rd lvl power called thoughtsoothe found in faiths of Eberron that can heal insanity and confusion. Might take out implanted suggestion and put that in.
Neither of those are in the SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powerList.htm), right?
Lacking more detailed descriptions this sounds like a complete no-brainer. Switch SOMETHING out for Thoughtsoothe, or add it. Match made in Celestia.

classy one
2011-05-23, 10:33 AM
Neither of those are in the SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powerList.htm), right?
Lacking more detailed descriptions this sounds like a complete no-brainer. Switch SOMETHING out for Thoughtsoothe, or add it. Match made in Celestia.
I put thoughtsoothe in. It is just too perfect for what I have in mind.


Thoughtsoothe
..........
You forge a minor telepathic link with other beings within
range, broadcasting soothing thoughts to counteract
negative emotions. You can include or exclude from this
broadcast any creature you can see, as well as any creature
that you know or know of.
Creatures affected by this power gain a +4 morale
bonus against fear effects.
At any time during the power’s duration, you can
choose to trigger its secondary effect. This immediately
ends the power’s duration, but also instantly removes any
fear effects currently affecting the power’s targets. It also
removes the confused and fascinated conditions from any
of the power’s targets.
The kalashtar use this as part of their meditative
rituals during the Void of Taratai to bolster each other’s
emotional and psychic strength.
Gives a boost to save against feat effects for 10 min/ML or you can end it to remove and fear, confuse or fascinated conditions alreayd in place instantly. Handy to have when fighting dragons (which my PCs may end up doing).

Delegreg
2011-05-23, 11:00 AM
Watch out for possible abuse of the Syberis Mark.

Psychic chirurgery allows psions to copy powers to/from other psions.

A party full of kalashtar psions could basically learn all of each other's powers (including discipline-only powers).

Picture a group of psions starting each encounter by creating an equal group of Astral constructs, and you're one sad DM...

Maybe specify that only the "psychic healing" aspect of chirurgery can be used ?

classy one
2011-05-23, 12:40 PM
Watch out for possible abuse of the Syberis Mark.

Psychic chirurgery allows psions to copy powers to/from other psions.

A party full of kalashtar psions could basically learn all of each other's powers (including discipline-only powers).

Picture a group of psions starting each encounter by creating an equal group of Astral constructs, and you're one sad DM...

Maybe specify that only the "psychic healing" aspect of chirurgery can be used ?


Yeah I thought about doing that, but decided that it's just part of the game. The Siberys mark of making has true creation afterall. Besides, the imprint psionic powers ability is not nearly as bad as the permenant tattoos of psyreform all of them have.


Still no one willing to weigh in on what the mascot of this house should be? Do the feathered serpents win by default?