Ah, right, got my wires crossed. I had meant to say I don't like Siberys marks in Epic. But I've pretty much said all I had to say on that a few months back, and I wouldn't want to clutter Omen's thread up with my reasons. If you disagree with my opinion, all I can say is that we have to agree to disagree. I don't see anything wrong with Omen's feats as they are, and I think they're fantastic.
Awesome ideas! I humbly disagree with requiring a PC to be Epic to get a Greater Mark, but that's not my intention for posting on this thread. I want to congradulate you on your efforts and offer some constructive criticism.
Well, from a flavour perspective I don't mind slashing the Epic prereq if it works well in a given campaign. From a design/balance perspective, setting it in Epic allows me to make it more powerful, which is fun.
The Net of Shadows for the Mark of Shadow seems rather hard to pull off. The Wall only lasts for about one round and you only get to make the attack if an enemy blunders into the wall. Unless I'm reading the power wrong, I feel like a DM would have to intentionally "dumb down" an adversary to have it actually decided to walk through a wall of shadows. Also, unless I missed something completely, the wall of shadows doesn't even do anything, like block Line of Sight, before it's attack is triggered.
You are reading it wrong. Well, not completely, but you missed that it also triggers if the enemy starts its turn in the wall: so you can just plump it over a foe and you'll get to make the attack. Now, even if you put it elsewhere it also triggers on an enemy entering the wall, so judicious use of forced movement can make it trigger more than once even in its short lifetime.
(An example comes to mind: an enemy subject to the Net is more likely to miss... then if a Cunning Bard is around, she can slide him out of there - with the relevant feat that she should have anyway - and someone can slide another enemy in there. That requires several hits, of course, but it should be fun when it works.)
Also, minor nitpick on the Mark of Death. I like what you have going for it, but I feel like the names for each of its powers should be reversed. "Life Fades" seems more evocative of dazing a person due to the inevitability of death, and "Flesh Fails" seems more clearly to indicate your body suddenly being vulnerable to more damage from everything.
I think I did have it that way at some point, so I see your point, but ultimately I like the current setup: Flesh Fails because the body "freezes up", while Life Fades because your life force (HPs) drain away.
@Paulos: I was actually thinking of changing Mark of Storm, dropping the second power, Wind Wall, making it available once per day by expending the 1st one, and adding a power of flight. Storm was the 1st Mark I made and I may have been a little obsessed with control at the time.
So you get to make suggestions! And I get to shoot them down. Then pick them up a year later, like I did just yesterday when I took flying off the Mark of Passage. Which reminds me I need to post a changelog of yesterday's rampage: the renewed activity prompted me to take a second, harder look at some of the Marks.
@Paulos: I was actually thinking of changing Mark of Storm, dropping the second power, Wind Wall, making it available once per day by expending the 1st one, and adding a power of flight. Storm was the 1st Mark I made and I may have been a little obsessed with control at the time.
So you get to make suggestions! And I get to shoot them down. Then pick them up a year later, like I did just yesterday when I took flying off the Mark of Passage. Which reminds me I need to post a changelog of yesterday's rampage: the renewed activity prompted me to take a second, harder look at some of the Marks.
I think that's a great idea. My particular PC is a Warden who's tried walls and didn't much care for them, but she definitely thinks being able to do cool/flashy stuff that helps her fit in with House Lyrandar's reputation for haughty self-confidence is very attractive. (like flight, which is always cool, but also particularly suited to airships and elemental galleons, for those who find the need for a faster/flashier way to disembark than everyone else is forced to take.)
I would maybe recommend quicker access to control weather or enhance vessel, since those are the House's trademark services as per their Raincallers and Windwright guilds. Or perhaps a bonus to Nature skill, or some other interaction with the Nature skill (Use in place of Acrobatics as an encounter power, or something like that, emulating your reduction of falling distance by using winds to reduce falling damage vs agility) I think this latter would be flashier than reducing 10' of falling. If keeping the falling assistance, perhaps it could scale per teir or improve with the better Marks.
Those are initial thoughts. Also, does Lyrandar have anything to do with plants and earthbound nature or only the skies and storms?
I don't want to start messing with ritual levels (the "NPCs don't play by PC rules" thing can help explain why it's a House trademark but the PC can't do it yet) - mostly because it's not very sexy - but feel free to do so in your campaign.
I don't think Lyrandar has any link with nature except for the storms. I do like the idea of scaling the reduction. Note that in my head it happens exactly as you describe: you control the air to make a cushion for yourself, so it is flashy. I think of it as a minor Airbending trick if you're familiar with the Avatar the Last Airbender series. I guess I can add a "flavour" write-up if needed, but I like leaving stuff up to people's imaginations.
Changelog - 08/10/2010:
Healing: changed the +1d4 to HPs healed to a straight +2 ; changed the chaining to a No Action ; Chain is burst 4 instead of 3 previously in Epic
Hospitality: increased the resist all (Epic) to 8 ; clarified the weakening caused by StW
Passage: many changes to Burst of Speed: bonus to defenses applies to all OAs, added bonus to jump ; now the bonus scales with the tier. No more flying in epic but from Paragon on once per day BoD can be used to force rerolls of enemy attacks.
Scribing: added comment at the end
Sentinel: changed the bonus from situational +2 to one NAD to a +2 bonus on certain saves
I added a few aberrant powers but that part is still far from done. I'm also thinking on the Mark of Storm flight power (how to make its Paragon & Epic evolutions fun).
"My destiny, too, is written in my dragonmark. Not service to my house, but... something more.”
Most dragonmarked individuals manifest their marks in adolescence, when heirs of the dragonmarked houses undergo a rite called the Test of Siberys. This test puts the young heirs into stressful situations in the hopes that their marks will manifest. Siberys dragonmarks, however, break all the rules.
The magic of a Siberys dragonmark is powerful and fundamentally unpredictable. The mark is larger and more elaborate than the normal mark in its family, but it’s rare for a normal mark to develop into a Siberys mark—more often, Siberys marks appear on older members of the house who were previously unmarked. Even more so than the common dragonmarks, a Siberys mark is viewed as the touch of the Prophecy—a character’s inextricable link to the destiny of the world.
The dragonmarked houses keep a careful eye on members who bear Siberys marks. If a Siberys mark can be used in the service of the house, the house’s leaders are content to let it, but a Siberys heir who does not remain firmly under the house’s control is likely to become the target of assassins.
Immortality Will rejoin the Ring of Siberys and shine forever on the world ? Or will you become the Prophecy itself ?
Your destiny is written in the Prophecy, and it is greater than the short span of your mortal life. As the Prophecy writes itself on your skin, you gain an increasing depth of understanding into its meaning and the various ways it can be fulfilled. What’s more, you begin to understand that while you are a player in a cosmic drama, you are also the playwright, master of your own destiny, and not bound to any single vision of the future, whatever the Prophecy might say.
The Eternal Prophecy: When you complete whatever the Prophecy has in store for you—or whatever destiny you wrote into the Prophecy for yourself—you might disappear from the world for a time. But just as prophetic marks appear written on the bones of the earth, your Siberys mark is a part of the world. The Prophecy is Eberron, Eberron is the Prophecy, and you are equally part of both. If the world needs you in the future, you might choose to manifest once more in flesh forever altered by the mark of the Prophecy on your skin. Dragonmark Exemplar (21st level): If you possess a Greater Mark, increase one ability score of your choice by 2. Otherwise choose a Dragonmark: you gain the corresponding Mark and Greater Mark feats. Either way, you also gain the Siberys Mark corresponding to your Greater Mark.
The first time you get bloodied during an encounter you regain the use of one of your encounter dragonmark powers.
Living Dragonmark (24th level): Once per day when reduced to 0 hit points or fewer, your dragonmark takes a life of its own. It spreads to cover your whole body in a dense pattern and parts of it can even detach from you. You become more attuned than ever to the Draconic Prophecy.
You regain hit points as if you had spent a healing surge. Until the end of your next turn, you can reroll every d20 you roll once and choose either result.
You regain the use of your expended dragonmark encounter powers. Until the end of the encounter you gain a +4 bonus to dragonmark powers attack rolls.
Unveiling (26th level): Once per day you reveal the true power of your dragonmark. You gain the daily utility power of the official Heir of Siberys ED. Changes - Finding, Passage + DeathShow
Finding: Change the target line to: "Target: your prey"
Passage:
Siberys Mark of Passage
Heir of Siberys Utility 26
You bring companions with you on your travels.
Daily ~ Teleportation
Move Action
Personal
Hit: Until the end of the encounter, whenever you teleport any ally adjacent to you can teleport up to the same number of squares as a free action. In addition, you teleport 10 squares.
Death: You gain the Dark Scythe power from the Raven Knight Epic Destiny, except that the 2nd property becomes an encounter power usable as a free action.
Dragonmark Apotheosis (30th level): You become your dragonmark and your dragonmark becomes yourself. Spoiler:Show
Detection: You gain truesight 5. You never take damage from a missed attack. (inspired by: Parable)
Finding: Once per round when you can see your prey and it attempts to move, shift or teleport, as a free action you can make an attack roll based on your highest score with a +9 bonus vs Reflex (even if you are not adjacent to the prey). If it hits, the movement is cancelled and the target is immobilized and cannot teleport until the end of its turn. Handling: Once per turn when an effect targets you, you can choose for it to target one of your chosen beasts (either your beast companion, your mount, one of your summons or a conjuration created by your Dragonmark) in addition to you or instead of you, as long as the beast is within 20 squares of you and you can see it. (source: Beastlord)
Healing: You gain regeneration 15 while bloodied. As a minor action you can transfer this regeneration to an ally you can see (the ally only regenerates while she is bloodied), or take it back. Once per round as a minor action, you can take 20 damage to remove one of the following conditions affecting an adjacent ally: blinded, dazed, stunned or weakened. You must have at least 20 hit points to use this ability, and you can’t reduce this damage by any means. (inspired by: Dreadnought, Virtue's Touch)
Hospitality: Allies within 20 squares of you can, at the beginning of their turn, make a saving throw against one effect that a save can end. On a save, the effect immediately ends, preventing it from affecting them on their current turn. If they fail the saving throw, they still make a saving throw against the effect at the end of their turn. (inspired by: Warden's Font of Life)
Making: You gain an aura 10 that allows you to reshape reality as you see fit. During your turn, you can alter the environment in any of the following ways by spending a minor action:
Permanently transform any squares of difficult terrain within your aura into normal terrain.
Permanently transform any squares of normal terrain within your aura into difficult terrain.
Create breathable air in any or all squares.
Fill 9 unoccupied squares with a solid surface, such as stone or wood. If you fill a square with a solid surface that is not attached to another surface (in other words, you create a stone slab 5 squares up in the air), the surface hovers in place.
(source: Planeshaper)
Passage: You gain a teleport speed equal to your speed. You do not need line of sight to the square you teleport to.
Scribing: Twice per day, you can perform any ritual you have mastered as a standard action. The ritual you perform cannot directly affect an enemy. For example, you could perform Raise Dead and revive an ally who could then rejoin the fight. However, you could not perform Imprisonment, which directly affects an enemy. (source: Magister)
Sentinel: When an enemy hits an ally and either the enemy or the ally is within 2 squares, you can shift 1 square as an opportunity action. If you end up adjacent to either of them, you can choose to let the attack hit you instead. You can take immediate actions and opportunity actions even when dazed or stunned. (source: Ceaseless Guardian)
Shadow: You gain a passive Stealth score equal to 10 + your Stealth modifier. Any creature that has a passive Perception lower than your passive Stealth score, or that has an active Perception check result that does not equal or surpass your passive Stealth score, cannot see you unless you choose to let that creature see you. (source: Thief of Legend)
Storm: You gain a fly speed equal to your speed + 2 and can hover. Additionally, you gain an aura 5: any creature that enters or begins its turn within your aura loses any resistance to lightning or thunder. Whenever you deal damage with an attack, you can choose to have the attack deal lightning or thunder damage instead of its normal damage. (source: Storm Sovereign)
Warding: You and allies adjacent to you gain resist all 6. Death: Whenever you kill a creature, a lich vestige forms from that creature’s corpse. Until the end of the encounter, you treat the lich vestige as if you have it dominated. At the end of the encounter, any lich vestiges that rose to serve you during the encounter are immediately destroyed. (source: Raven Consort)
I really like that ED. Perhaps for Dragonmark Apotheosis for Passage could be static bonus to speed or running enhancement (no attack penalty or no CA), or even a small teleport speed.
Likewise the Storm's flight power could be personal and short (applies to move actions on this turn) at heroic (still potent) and then evolve into a githyanki jaunt, allowing it to affect an ally nearby (maybe even enemy) and go until end of next turn, and then at epic and can be sustained once a day and gain hover. Storm's Apotheosis could gain a fly speed with (hover).
Or perhaps heroic flight power wouldn't quite be real flight yet, but rather like the item that lets you fly some distance if you fall more than 2-4 squares (I forget), so it'd be rather like gliding at that point, then evolving to controllable flight later. I'm pretty sure any marked Lyrandar doesn't necessarily get to fly around as cool as that'd be.
For Apotheosis and Passage, in addition to Paulos's ideas, I'd add a note that says they no longer need Line of Sight for teleportation.
Some minor quibbles: The Siberys Mark traditionally not only didn't require a Greater Mark, but actually required you had no prior mark at all. This changed in 4e, but you still didn't need the Greater Mark. I know the way you wrote this, you need to have prior abilities of the mark to work off of, but it might be doable to just give completely new benefits. Also, in Living Dragonmark, you describe the mark "spread[ing] to cover your whole body". A Siberys Mark already covers your whole body, so this cosmetically already happened permanenty with Dragonmark Exemplar.
I really like that ED. Perhaps for Dragonmark Apotheosis for Passage could be static bonus to speed or running enhancement (no attack penalty or no CA), or even a small teleport speed.
Likewise the Storm's flight power could be personal and short (applies to move actions on this turn) at heroic (still potent) and then evolve into a githyanki jaunt, allowing it to affect an ally nearby (maybe even enemy) and go until end of next turn, and then at epic and can be sustained once a day and gain hover. Storm's Apotheosis could gain a fly speed with (hover).
My first idea was indeed personal flight, then later flight with passenger, but I don't want it to be too close to the githyanki racial power. I won't do the daily sustained flight, because lots of class powers do that already, including the Wind-Rider PP's utility.
Or perhaps heroic flight power wouldn't quite be real flight yet, but rather like the item that lets you fly some distance if you fall more than 2-4 squares (I forget), so it'd be rather like gliding at that point, then evolving to controllable flight later. I'm pretty sure any marked Lyrandar doesn't necessarily get to fly around as cool as that'd be.
Again, "PCs are different" so I don't mind the flight (it's up to DM to deal with that if it bothers them). The gliding sounds intriguing - I'll give it some thought.
Some minor quibbles: The Siberys Mark traditionally not only didn't require a Greater Mark, but actually required you had no prior mark at all. This changed in 4e, but you still didn't need the Greater Mark. I know the way you wrote this, you need to have prior abilities of the mark to work off of, but it might be doable to just give completely new benefits.
I know, I didn't like that constraint in 3.5E. On the other hand I'm not too keen on my own setup (i.e. forced prerequisite) and I'm surprised you're the first one to bring it up. I'll stick to it for now but I do have some solutions in mind, for people who don't like it either:
have the Epic Destiny grant all 3 feats if the character doesn't have them. In that case the benefits should be reduced (perhaps no ability increase at level 21?).
rename the 3 feat levels Least, Lesser, Greater and give out slightly different benefits in the ED that don't depend on the feat powers. That's reasonably easy to do, since currently there's only the recharge, the bonus to attack and 1 level 30 benefit that depend on them.
allow a character to retrain in both the Mark and Greater Mark feats at level 21: that way the Siberys mark can appear suddenly.
Also, in Living Dragonmark, you describe the mark "spread[ing] to cover your whole body". A Siberys Mark already covers your whole body, so this cosmetically already happened permanenty with Dragonmark Exemplar.
Do they? I believe you but I don't remember reading that anywhere. Can you give me a reference?
I believe most of my reference for the size of a Siberys dragonmark is circumstantial, like Forum threads in which Hellcow describes them. However, the character Ashi d'Deneith in Don Bassingthwaite's Dragon Below and Legacy of Dhakaan trilogies is the bearer of a Siberys Mark. When she gets it, it covers her head to toe except for the palms of her hands and a vertical band along her face.
I think the general sizes on bodies are as follows:
Least: About the size of a open hand with splayed fingers. Like a large-sized tatoo on your bicep, or across your scalp.
Lesser: Across your chest or upper back, covers the entire back of your head and shoulders, etc.
Greater: About the size of the front or back of your torso. Would cleanly stretch from the small of your back to your neck. Might curve all the way around one arm and completely over your chest, etc.
Siberys: Everywhere. Limbs, front and back of torso, head, etc.
Then pick them up a year later, like I did just yesterday when I took flying off the Mark of Passage. Which reminds me I need to post a changelog of yesterday's rampage: the renewed activity prompted me to take a second, harder look at some of the Marks.