Eberron: Favorite Dragonmarks?

[Yakmala]

Sadly, my first Eberron character met with an untimely death and I'm thinking of creating a Dragonmarked character next. The stories behind the Houses are great, so from a roleplaying perspective, these are all fine choices, but from a mechanics standpoint, it feels like some races are more hindered than others by having the Dragonmark in place of their standard racial abilities.

My first thought was a Dragonmarked Half Orc bounty hunter from House Tharashk, hunting down criminals from The Last War, but it felt like you had to give up too much of what defined a Half Orc [Relentless Endurance and Savage Attacks in particular] for some limited Ranger-like abilities. Just being a regular Half Orc Ranger or Rogue Scout seems like the best of both worlds.

On the other hand, my second thought, Mark of Hospitality, seems great! You keep all all the primary racial abilities of a Halfling [Lucky, Brave, Halfling Nimbleness] get to keep the Lightfoot's Charisma bonus and, in exchange for losing Naturally Stealthy, pick up two fun cantrips and extra skill with Persuasion checks and brewing/cooking. The Mark of Healing is a similarly good trade off. Swap a point in Con for Wis, lose poison resistance and pick up better medicine skill, the Spare the Dying cantrip and a once per rest emergency heal.

Which Dragonmarks do you feel are fun to play and a fair exchange for what you are giving up? And which ones, if any, would you boost to Greater Dragon Mark down the line?

[Desteplo]

Abherrant was fun
-I played a drunken master monk, picking that up for a constitution based burning hands (classic fire breath) as well as poison spray (alcohol breath)

-was going for a Jackie Chan vibe and I used the poison spray mostly for environmental testing but it fit thematically

It’s like magic initiate but you can use it on more styles of play (since druids and clerics neither get a lvl1 area fire spell, using con from the sorcerer list gave me that niche result I was looking for)

[Blood of Gaea]

Mark of Sentinel is pretty crazy. You get +1d4 to notice a threat, can declare yourself as your ward, meaning you have advantage on all insight and perception checks to see a threat to yourself.

Mark of Detection would also be a perfect fit for an inquisitive rogue.

[RedMage125]

Sadly, my first Eberron character met with an untimely death and I'm thinking of creating a Dragonmarked character next. The stories behind the Houses are great, so from a roleplaying perspective, these are all fine choices, but from a mechanics standpoint, it feels like some races are more hindered than others by having the Dragonmark in place of their standard racial abilities.

My first thought was a Dragonmarked Half Orc bounty hunter from House Tharashk, hunting down criminals from The Last War, but it felt like you had to give up too much of what defined a Half Orc [Relentless Endurance and Savage Attacks in particular] for some limited Ranger-like abilities. Just being a regular Half Orc Ranger or Rogue Scout seems like the best of both worlds.

On the other hand, my second thought, Mark of Hospitality, seems great! You keep all all the primary racial abilities of a Halfling [Lucky, Brave, Halfling Nimbleness] get to keep the Lightfoot's Charisma bonus and, in exchange for losing Naturally Stealthy, pick up two fun cantrips and extra skill with Persuasion checks and brewing/cooking. The Mark of Healing is a similarly good trade off. Swap a point in Con for Wis, lose poison resistance and pick up better medicine skill, the Spare the Dying cantrip and a once per rest emergency heal.

Which Dragonmarks do you feel are fun to play and a fair exchange for what you are giving up? And which ones, if any, would you boost to Greater Dragon Mark down the line?

Man, I wish I could find someone near me who was runnign 5e Eberron. I've loved the setting since 3.5e (have all the 3.5e books in print), and ran it a few times, but never got to be a player in it. Which is a shame, since I have so many great character concepts for it.

I've always toyed with the idea of a Phiarlan Elf Rogue trained in Perform, who has a career as a singer in Sharn, but also does Intelligence work for the Shadow Table. Looking at WGtE, I think greater Dragonmark would be good at higher levels.

In 3.5e, the only time I ever wanted to play a halfling was a Mark of Hospitality halfling, but that was because the Lesser mark could call up a Leomund's Secure Shelter (imagine summoning a whole house as a standard action, lol). I don't normally like the Small races, tho, don't know if I want one in 5e. So none of the halfling or gnome marks ever really appeal much to me.

The WGtE does, however, present an option that would make House Vadalis seem actually cool. Also make me want to play a druid (I don't normally). The idea that ALL of your druidic powers come from a deeper connection to your mark instead of faith. Imagine a druid who has no aversion to metal armor or weapons, and uses his power over nature for profit instead of protecting it. Not so sure about the Greater mark for that one.

Another idea that worked for me in 3.5e that would translate well into 5e would be for an Aberrant marked warlock. From the Aashta family of House Thrashk, his parents were part of a Cult of the Dragon Below. He was conceived durng one of their rituals, and the cult intended for him to be their "dark messiah" to release the Overlord they worshipped. This was basically them making the pact that grants him his powers (fiend pact). The taint of this twisted his birthright, however, and when he did manifest a dragonmark, it was aberrant. When he came of age, they intended to induct him into the cult, but he was horrified, and he fled, becoming an adventurer. He's never outed his family, however, and they of course, are not obvious about why they want him to return, but they're looking for him. For his part, knowing where his powers come from, he believes his soul is tainted and that he is damned. But he tries to do some good with them.

Mark of Detection and Making would both go well with the current Artificer playtest. And both would work well with the greater version, too. I think Cannith Artificer is almost cliche, though. But the powers work so well.

I like the idea of a Kundarak dwarf whose job it is to break into vaults (even Kundarak ones) for the purpose of improving the house's locksmithing abilities. I think there was a Prestige Class for this in 3.5e (Silver Key, maybe?). Whether this would work best as a Rogue or an Artificer, I do not know. But the Greater Mark of Warding is pretty good.

Huh...I was never into the Marks of Passage or Sentinel before, but looking at them again...Mark of Passage (and greater version) would be great for a Rogue or Monk. Lot of good synergy there. Greater Sentinel isn't that great, but the regular one would be good for a lot of heavy-armor warrior characters, fighter, paladin, etc. Which I don't usually play, but could be great. Especially when you know the attack that targetted your ward will miss you.

The Mark of Storm and greater version are great abilities...but I just don't feel like I want to make a character for them. Storm Sorcerer seems like a cool option, but some of the abilities become redundant.

Now if only someone in my part of southern California was running 5e Eberron...