D&D General Eberron: Mark of Death

[doctorbadwolf]

So one of the fun “missing thirteenth piece of a bakers dozen” things in Eberron is the Mark of Death. No one even knows what it did when it existed, and now it’s gone.

But the Dragonmarks are part of the Draconic Prophesy, and so perhaps the Mark of Death will return.

If so, what will that look like?

Well, every mark is useful and we know that the mark of death was too. We also know that the elven bloodline that bore it were necromancers. So, useful, non-inherently-destructive necromancy seems like a good fit.

Spells

• Spare the Dying - originated with the mark but has expanded beyond it over time
• Speak With Dead - I’d suggest that death marked elves could do this with less restriction
• Gentle Repose - Goes hand in hand with the two above
• False Life - Preservation a la GR but for the living. The mark doesn’t heal but it does preserve
• Maybe some higher level summoning of spirits spells? Maybe even spells thought of as binding spells that started as Mark of Death spells to keep the dead around after death, “bound” to something?

Skills (every mark has skills associated that marked heirs are just better at. Some ideas)

• Death Saving Throws - a twist on the theme
• Checks to examine or determine details about the dead/corpses? They make great morticians and medical examiners?
• I’m at a a loss here, but it should be reasonable that it’s intuitive for the Dragonmarked heir, and it should lend itself to a type of profession ideally

Other thoughts? Anyone done this in their game?

 

[mellored]

Well, every mark is useful and we know that the mark of death was too. We also know that the elven bloodline that bore it were necromancers.

Do we know that? Some alt history speculation.

Perhaps the mark made it easy to become undead.
When you die, you become an undead. Perhaps you slowly decay into one while still alive, and also infect the mark on others.

It was the families around those with the mark got into necromancy in order to tame their decaying loved ones, control their undead urges and preventing the spreading and destroying everything. Only to ultimately need to destroy and bury all those with the mark, purging them and all information about them, hoping their loved ones rest remains undisturbed.

But hidden in deep caches, are the remains of those with the mark. Any unwitting adventurer might stumble upon the sealed tomb and release the plague again. Just touching the ash will bestow the mark, and the slow plague begins again.



But if you want to go along with the UA, necromancer spells and +1d4 to death saves sounds good.

 

[pukunui]

Do we know that? Some alt history speculation.

Yes, Keith has said that the Mark of Death had useful abilities.

The Mark of Death was a “true” dragonmark, as opposed to an aberrant dragonmark. There are two things that distinguish these. First, they can be passed to offspring. Second, the true dragonmarks are almost universally constructive as opposed to destructive. There are a few marks with powers that can be used in an aggressive fashion, but the point is that the pure marks are things like making, healing, hospitality – productive, positive things. Meanwhile, aberrant marks are either destructive or in some way disturbing (for examble, Brom’s regeneration in The Son of Khyber, which is a form of healing but essentially reincarnates instead of healing, which can have unpleasant results).

My point is that the Mark of Death should be about interacting with death and the undead, but I wouldn’t make it about KILLING, because that’s an aberrant path. Things like speaking with the dead; animating the dead; controlling or even laying undead to rest; these all fit. It could be that a dragonshard focus item could be created that would harness that power in a destructive fashion – but that’s not the innate power of the mark.

Perhaps the mark made it easy to become undead.

When you die, you become an undead. Perhaps you slowly decay into one while still alive, and also infect the mark on others.

It was the families around those with the mark got into necromancy in order to tame their decaying loved ones, control their undead urges and preventing the spreading and destroying everything. Only to ultimately need to destroy and bury all those with the mark, purging them and all information about them, hoping their loved ones rest remains undisturbed.

But hidden in deep caches, are the remains of those with the mark. Any unwitting adventurer might stumble upon the sealed tomb and release the plague again. Just touching the ash will bestow the mark, and the slow plague begins again.

That’s a neat idea but doesn’t fit with the established lore about true dragonmarks – namely, how they are passed on and that they don’t work if you’re undead.

That’s Vol’s whole schtick – her mother turning her into a lich deactivated her Mark of Death, and she’s been trying to find a way to reactivate it again ever since. (Yes, she had an uber mark but I think that’s beside the point.)

As an aside, I note that Keith says in that article that Vol would’ve been turned into a lich while she was still a teenager, so she should still look like an undead teen. I’ll have to remember that for my Vecna Vol: Eve of Ruin remix.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Do we know that? Some alt history speculation.

Yep, we do.

Perhaps the mark made it easy to become undead.
When you die, you become an undead. Perhaps you slowly decay into one while still alive, and also infect the mark on others.

Breaks canon, as has been pointed out.

But if you want to go along with the UA, necromancer spells and +1d4 to death saves sounds good.

It's a true Dragonmark, not an abberant mark, so it has to follow the same pattern as the others.

That’s Vol’s whole schtick – her mother turning her into a lich deactivated her Mark of Death, and she’s been trying to find a way to reactivate it again ever since. (Yes, she had an uber mark but I think that’s beside the point.)

As an aside, I note that Keith says in that article that Vol would’ve been turned into a lich while she was still a teenager, so she should still look like an undead teen. I’ll have to remember that for my Vecna Vol: Eve of Ruin remix.

Yep, and she wants to be alive, which is why unlike Keith i think she would look like a beautiful elf teen with draconic features like rad horns, rather than a normal lich. She would want to look like that, so she would, because she is insanely powerful.

I actually have plans relating to using her as a tragic figure, and it will be up to the player characters (especially the Karnathi BoV Paladin who may gain the Mark of Death soon) whether she can be redeemed and possibly be resurected without the apex dragonmark that made her too dangerous to live.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Well remember Lich so she’s decayed since her death cause she’s very old now. I think her current look as Lady Illmarrow is solid.

 

[pukunui]

Well remember Lich so she’s decayed since her death cause she’s very old now. I think her current look as Lady Illmarrow is solid.

She might have decayed but she won’t have aged. Plus, she can always glamer herself to look alive. If Valindra Shadowmantle can do that, then surely Vol can too.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Well remember Lich so she’s decayed since her death cause she’s very old now. I think her current look as Lady Illmarrow is solid.

As a powerful Lich, her look is entirely up to her, to be fair.

 

[Baron Opal II]

So one of the fun “missing thirteenth piece of a bakers dozen” things in Eberron is the Mark of Death. No one even knows what it did when it existed, and now it’s gone.

But the Dragonmarks are part of the Draconic Prophesy, and so perhaps the Mark of Death will return.

If so, what will that look like?

I always considered the Mark of Death to be in some ways the Mark of Hospice. You sense when death is near, the body, mind or both failing, and you can ease the patient's passing. Not hasten, but ease. Suffering is mitigated or removed. After that, then you can speak with dead, animate dead, repair undead, &c. Being the Mark of Death, but not Dead, makes me focus on the transition.

Now, the bearers were targeted, so it's not wholly benign and downright creepy. Even so, the marks of Healing and Death may have worked together in the past more harmoniously.

 

[Staffan]

Now, the bearers were targeted, so it's not wholly benign and downright creepy. Even so, the marks of Healing and Death may have worked together in the past more harmoniously.

This seems unlikely, given that the line of Vol was exterminated approximately 2600 years ago, and the dragonmarked houses didn't really start any large-scale cooperation until the War of the Mark about a millenium later. Not to say there might not have been occasional cooperation between individuals, but my impression is that the elves descended from Qabalrin culture were fairly isolationist and didn't really do any large-scale expeditions to Khorvaire.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I always considered the Mark of Death to be in some ways the Mark of Hospice. You sense when death is near, the body, mind or both failing, and you can ease the patient's passing. Not hasten, but ease. Suffering is mitigated or removed. After that, then you can speak with dead, animate dead, repair undead, &c. Being the Mark of Death, but not Dead, makes me focus on the transition.

I like that, but other than medicine checks I don’t know how to model that “hospice care” aspect.

Now, the bearers were targeted, so it's not wholly benign and downright creepy. Even so, the marks of Healing and Death may have worked together in the past more harmoniously.

The bearers were targeted because of the breeding of dragonmarked heirs with dragons to create an Apex Dragonmark that was potentially so powerful it would have made Erandis Vol a godlike being had she not been killed. The entire line was wiped out because otherwise they might just do it again.

So the mark itself wasn’t the reason.