Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Emirikol 01-30-05, 11:36 AM	My player wants to be a dragonmarked heir and have the Favor in House feat. How do I answer his questions below? thanks, jh > The only down side I see is not being as strong a fighter type, but the role playing possibilities appear to have alot of potential, particularly having to have the Feat Favor in House to qualify. Now being a member of the House Deneith via the Dragonmark how would that play out as being from Argonessen? What reasonable favors do you think could be called in from the House? Supply discounts; IE weapons, Armor, Adventuring type stuff?
Cairn Stone 01-30-05, 11:59 AM	My player wants to be a dragonmarked heir and have the Favor in House feat. How do I answer his questions below? thanks, jh > The only down side I see is not being as strong a fighter type, but the role playing possibilities appear to have alot of potential, particularly having to have the Feat Favor in House to qualify. Now being a member of the House Deneith via the Dragonmark how would that play out as being from Argonessen? What reasonable favors do you think could be called in from the House? Supply discounts; IE weapons, Armor, Adventuring type stuff? Is the character going to be from Argonessen? Or from the Seren Island? I didn't think the dragons of Argonessen allowed lesser races to enter their continent, though you can of course change that for your game if you wish. The Serens would probably be the only exception, though I imagine allowing a Seren into Argonessen should be very rare if at all(aside from Totem Beach). They act as a buffer between Argonessen and the world as far as I have read. Also, since House Deneith doesn't have a presence in Argonessen, how is this character going to be both born into the House and from Argonessen? How is that explained? The book states that only one person who has attempted to negotiate with the Serens has ever returned. It also states the dragonmarked houses have not had much luck trading or dealing with the Serens. Just a few things to ponder. As for what reasonable favors, the feat description pretty much says it all. You can get information, equipment on loan, documents, that sort of thing. I had a player who tried to abuse this feat, so be careful that rolling "favor" checks does not replace good roleplaying. That's all I've got for now.
Just another user 01-30-05, 12:10 PM	Maybe he is from argonessen but his parents were from Khorvaine, thier ship, with him and his parent aboard, sink near the shores of Argonessen, he was brought to land by the waves, alone, found by one of the Seren tribe and adopted. Nobody in the tribe ever told him nothing until this strange mark than nobody else in the tribe had, appeared on his bodyNow he is travelling to Khorvaine to find more about his origins and his parents. Barabarian/Dragonmarked Heir. Cool!!! :D
Gurv 01-30-05, 12:21 PM	Is the character going to be from Argonessen? Or from the Seren Island? I didn't think the dragons of Argonessen allowed lesser races to enter their continent, though you can of course change that for your game if you wish. The Serens would probably be the only exception, though I imagine allowing a Seren into Argonessen should be very rare if at all(aside from Totem Beach). They act as a buffer between Argonessen and the world as far as I have read. The ECS lists Argonnessen as a region of origin on page 24. The human barbarians inhabit the northern coast, the southeast of Khorvaire, and the Seren islands. There are feats that require a character to be from there to take them. I don't think a character would be from the interior though. How he went from being from a barbaric culture to a favored member of House Deneith must be an interesting story. To the original question, I would say that the feat could be used to do exactly what it says. The only way that the feat varies from house to house is in what focus the house has. Weapons and armor discounts from House Deneith make the most sense, and information related to protecting things would be the easiest for them to get. Plus, a House generally has the mean to put the character up for a while, and act as a character witness should it become neccesary.
MarkB 01-30-05, 12:58 PM	The Argonessen+Dragonmark thing is a little tricky. One possibility might be to compromise on the Seren isles - have House Deneith having sent out an expedition there some time ago to try and recruit Serens as mercenaries. They met one of the less receptive Seren tribes, who fulfilled their duty by destroying the expedition, all but one young child whom they adopted into their tribe. When, as a young man, he manifested a Dragonmark, he was banished (dragons are touchy about Dragonmarks, and probably wouldn't want their bearers breeding with the dragons' Seren tribes). The tricky thing here is making him Favoured in House - how and why would a person from Argonessen, with no direct connection to the House, come to be particularly favoured within the house? Really, this sort of thing is for the player to come up with as backstory, and the DM to validate or ask him to modify. As for what favours the player can ask for, don't miss out Deneith's primary functions - supplying bodyguards and mercenaries. If the party need some extra muscle (cannon fodder) for a particularly tough assignment, or need a garrison to keep the local village safe from bandits while the party go and flush out the bandit camp, a Favoured House Deneith member can call in a favour to get them cheap.
Cairn Stone 01-30-05, 01:22 PM	As for what favours the player can ask for, don't miss out Deneith's primary functions - supplying bodyguards and mercenaries. If the party need some extra muscle (cannon fodder) for a particularly tough assignment, or need a garrison to keep the local village safe from bandits while the party go and flush out the bandit camp, a Favoured House Deneith member can call in a favour to get them cheap. Ah, good point. And to Gurv: Yeah, certainly not from the interior.
Splendide 01-30-05, 05:42 PM	Easy as. He got kidnapped as a kid by an agent of one of the Seren tribes, at the beset of a Dragon who saw the child as an important player in the prophecy. He was raised as a barbarian with this strange mark, and was either revered or feared for his unusual background. Eventually he left for whatever reason (sick of being different, find real parents, got bored, compelled by archmage, Seren women are hairy, etc) and found House Deneith. Then the scenario is this a) he has found his real family, and they're influential OR b) his real family disappeared in mysterious circumstances, the Deneith knew them well, and feel a mite of collective responsibility for his well-being. Of course a side-effect might be that a Dragon is unhappy with him leaving Seren, but hey.
Emirikol 01-31-05, 06:12 PM	So, are there any concrete rules for what the benefits are, or is it more circumstantial role-playing? jh
Gurv 01-31-05, 06:23 PM	So, are there any concrete rules for what the benefits are, or is it more circumstantial role-playing? jh Pretty much circumstantial. I'd tend to be pretty lenient with it though. He spent a feat on it. To me that means he isn't merely liked by people in the House. To me, it means he has pull. He is someone you don't want to cross. That doesn't mean he can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. Generally, the best thing to do is ask yourself: "Do I want the players to accomplish this"? If the answer is "Yes, I figured they would get that done somehow", then let the feat work. It has a built in limit on how often it can be used already. Basically, it is a bit of a shortcut to getting things done. As long as it doesn't shortcut around something you specifically want them to do the hard way, just set a DC and have him make the check if thats what he wants to use the feat for.
MarkB 01-31-05, 06:26 PM	So, are there any concrete rules for what the benefits are, or is it more circumstantial role-playing? Pretty much circumstantial, I'm afraid. The feat could do with some more solid guidelines, but with the large variety of Houses and services offered, it would be near-impossible to quantify meaningfully. Just go with what feels right. One guideline I'd suggest is, when the player asks for something useful, come up with three alternative responses - "minimal help", "help as requested" and "better than asked for" - and set them DCs separated by 5 - i.e. DC 15, 20 and 25 if the player is asking for something unusual but not unreasonable. Then, when he makes his Favour check, you've got a range of responses ready depending on how well he rolled.
Mumbasa 02-26-05, 03:08 PM	Hi all my character is the character in question. I have read the thread and want to thank everyone for their advice and insight first off. I have read the info in the ECS book, and a fair amount of Mr. Bakers Dragonshards but I was wondering if there was any more info regarding the Argonnessen. Also I was wondering if Knowledge Dragons shouldnt be a class skill for a character hailing from the Dragon Island? I appologize if I missed a thread w/ the above info. please point me to in the right direction. Thanks
Siberys 02-26-05, 04:32 PM	That'd be Knowledge (Arcana). That covers dragons.
Demon in Shades of Gray 02-26-05, 11:00 PM	Hi all my character is the character in question. I have read the thread and want to thank everyone for their advice and insight first off. I have read the info in the ECS book, and a fair amount of Mr. Bakers Dragonshards but I was wondering if there was any more info regarding the Argonnessen. Also I was wondering if Knowledge Dragons shouldnt be a class skill for a character hailing from the Dragon Island? I appologize if I missed a thread w/ the above info. please point me to in the right direction. Thanks Other than what's in the book and the single Serens Dragonshard, there's not much on the barbarians. Which leaves a lot of leeway for some killer role-playing >)~ As far as justification for the Favored in House feat, nothing could be simpler. Anyone raised by the hardy barbarians of the Dragon Coast is bound to have talent. They've been raised by the most dangerous group of humans yet discovered. Surely they've picked up quite a bit of useful info and power while there. I can easily see a person with so much potential coming under the wing of a powerful member of a Dragonmarked house, especially if said barbarian (not the class, necessarily, but the distinction) has evidenced a dragonmark of their own.
Gurv 02-26-05, 11:53 PM	The Serens/Argonessen are the guardians of the dragon continent. The first line of defense against short-lived, quick-acting, reckless humanoids. You have to get through them before you can encounter the dragons...and be crushed instantly, of course. Naturally, House Deneith and all the rest think they can get away with it, learn some draconic secrets, etc. Humans always think they rate higher than those who came before them. If the House discovered that one of their own, one of their dragonmarked own, had been raised by that culture, you can be sure that he would get the royal treatment. Once they've shown him what civilized life can be, he will learn that being part of such an important family comes with responsibility. If his knowledge of the nature of Argonessen's defenses can be used to reduce Deneith casualties and improve the chances of a project's success, then he'll have to take up that responsibility.