How I'll be handling the Mark of Death [Archive] - Wizards Community

How I'll be handling the Mark of Death [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
twoDtwenty
11-08-04, 03:21 AM After a fairly exhaustive search resulting in a lot of irrelevant threads I finally stumbled upon this one.

http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=315851&page=1&pp=30&highlight=dragonmark+death

Feeling that the suggested powers for the Mark of Death were a bit underpowered, or underversatile in comparison to the other existing marks I set about broadening the range of potential powers. It definitely seemed to me that the mark would be associated more with the undead than with the restoration of life as that would overlap some with the Mark of Healing. Despite being able to find any reference directly linking the moons to the existence of dragonmarks I opted to have the Blood of Vol's necromancers use powerful magics to gather bits of the destroyed satellite and assemble them into a partial moon deep beneath the peaks of the Ashen Spires in Karrnath, further cementing the Blood of Vol Cult's foothold in the region. As the moon is only partially reconstructed new marks have only appeared in close proximity to the mountains, and the Cult makes a special effort to abduct and induct any infant with a Mark of Death (Vol is immediately aware of the conception of any Elf or Half-Elf that will have the child and often has the mother abducted before childbirth to later induct or slay and animate.) My PC's will begin their upcoming campaign investigating one of these abduction and the campaign should largely revolve around the Blood of Vol Cult with brief interuptions to keep them on their toes.

Mark of Death
The Mark of Death bestows powers relating to interaction with the undead. The only place the Mark of Death can be found (at this moment in the campaign) is within the ranks of the Blood of Vol Cult.
House: The elves, half elves, and half dragon elves of the House of Vol operate in secret. They intend to muscle into the undertaking business after they have built up enough power to once again negotiate their way inside the royalty of Karrnath, through guile if possible and domination if necessary.
Marks: The aspects of the Mark of Death grant the following benefits.
Least: Deathwatch 1/day, Cause Fear 1/day, or Command Undead 1/day; +2 to intimidate skill checks (+4 if the Mark has been identified by the target, but only the first time a target identifies the Mark.) Bearers of the Mark of Death exude an aura of lifelessness that unnerves even the most morbid of necromancers (reflected in the intimidation bonus.) Those who can identify the Mark as that of the House of Vol are further unsettled because of the significance of the once dead Mark's return, this increased terror only applies the first time a Mark of Death is identified.
Lesser: Desecrate 1/day, Speak with Dead 1/day, or Halt Undead 1/day; If a lesser Mark is the first mark identified by a potential target of intimidation, the one time modifier is +6 instead of +4.
Greater: Animate Dead 1/day, Death Ward 1/day, or Halt Deathless 1/day; If a greater Mark is the first mark identified by a potential target of intimidation, the one time modifier is +8 instead of +4.
No syberis has been found to date.

Constructive criticism is welcomed, flaming will be met with equally flame filled retaliation.
Hanuman47
11-08-04, 01:52 PM I like this idea of linking the return of the Mark of Death with the return of the missing moon. To expand on it further, perhaps the Mark cannot become fully active until it resumes orbit - for right now only the least mark appears, and is only active in relatively close proximity to the reconstructed moon. The master plan is to get the moon back up into the sky, at which point the Mark will reclaim its powers, and woe to the enemies of Vol on that day!

Some obvious questions/adventure seeds:

1) Where are the pieces coming from? I might point out there is a huge inland sea in Xen'drik which Hellcow has said wasn't always there and that it is the result of some sort of catastrophic event. Could this sea be the final resting place of the lost moon's fragments? Perhaps the PCs should inquire a little more closely into the motives of their mysterious sponsor willing to fund their expedition farther into Xen'drik than anyone has penetrated before.

2) Assuming the moon can be reassembled, how in the world do you get it back into orbit? Perhaps some dread eldritch machine, assembled from bits of forgotten giant artifacts.

3) How will the Chamber and the Aereni react to this plan? What steps will the Blood of Vol be willing to take to prevent that from happening?

Lots of potential adventure!
Tengu1958
11-08-04, 06:20 PM As the moon is only partially reconstructed new marks have only appeared in close proximity to the mountains, and the Cult makes a special effort to abduct and induct any infant with a Mark of Death (Vol is immediately aware of the conception of any Elf or Half-Elf that will have the child and often has the mother abducted before childbirth to later induct or slay and animate.) My PC's will begin their upcoming campaign investigating one of these abduction and the campaign should largely revolve around the Blood of Vol Cult with brief interuptions to keep them on their toes.

I don't have my rulebook with me. But I don't think infants have dragonmarks. I am under the impression that they appear later in life. Of course that does not mean Vol is unable to identify children of potential.
twoDtwenty
11-09-04, 12:29 PM After a further cursory examination of the CS, I don't find any reference to specifically when a Dragonmark manifests, but they are allowed to be taken as a feat after 1st level so I will presume they could manifest at any time over the course of a characters life. That being said, Vol now knows exactly who has the potential to manifest the Mark, and she sends her minions to abduct them either as infants or before their birth (this is actually the premise for the campaign kickoff.)

The other questions I had left largely untouched, having only the first chapter of the campaign well defined and the second is still a jumbled mess of storylines and faction reactions. Chapter I being basically a guided thread revealing to the characters that their patron group, the Cult, is indirectly connected to the return of the Mark and the consequent abductions (the PCs will never know they are being guided, this is a skill I have long since mastered... the illusion of free will.) Chapter II is a much more integrated web of possibilities, with multiple possible patrons (as the PCs may choose to distance themselves from the BoVC after they begin to make the connection between the Order of the Emerald Claw,) myriad quests of distraction, and faction positioning based on who the party gets information to and how they present the information.

The moon, I suppose would have been gathered from a thousand different locations primarily around the equatorial regions, possibly involving an alliance with the sahaguin. I like the idea of using the ancient artifacts of the giants, possibly remanufactured or being used in a fashion not originally intended; possibly having the moon reassembled in pieces and then transported through other planes to deposit in near orbit, also requiring artifacts beyond the scope of modern artificers. Without knowing who the PCs will be attaching themselves to, or what later motivations they might have I am a bit hesitant to put too much detail into Chapter II, and am thoroughly avoiding Chapter III when I intend to send the PCs on a sojourn into lands more dangerous than Karrnath... Xen'Drik or the upper reaches of Khyber I'm thinking, but if I take an extraplanar route to returning the astral sattelite interplanar travel is certainly a possibility. The Karrnathi factions (or at least those with a presence in Karrnath) that I thought would be most interested in information involving the rise of the House of Vol were the Blood of Vol Cult and Order of the Emerald Claw (as they are involved in the plot as adversaries,) Kaius III, The Twelve (or perhaps soon the Thirteen depending on how the information comes to them and whether the PCs succeed at stopping the House of Vol from returning to power,) The Chamber (which I think will want to keep the dragons dirty laundry hidden,) The Church of the Silver Flame, House Deneith and Jorasco (and the other houses with lesser establishments in the area,) and The Sovereign host (particularly the clericies of Aureon, Dol Arrah, and Onatar), along with some of the Dark Six (although I feel they would not make appropriately heroic patrons for the PCs.) Am I missing any key players in the big dance about to unfold?... and where exactly is this inland sea supposedly caused by a catastrophic event?
Hanuman47
11-09-04, 01:16 PM But I don't think infants have dragonmarks. I am under the impression that they appear later in life.
My understanding is that while they most frequently manifest during adolescence, they can appear anytime earlier or later. I would imagine that actually being born with them is pretty rare, and probably a BIG DEAL.

... and where exactly is this inland sea supposedly caused by a catastrophic event?
Look at Xen'Drik, about 1/3 of the way north of the southern edge. It looks like two separate continents, but Hellcow has said it's all Xen'Drik and that some major event was responsible for the current rift. The idea of the moon crashing is my own interpretation, but it does explain a lot in my mind.
twoDtwenty
11-09-04, 01:30 PM Look at Xen'Drik, about 1/3 of the way north of the southern edge. It looks like two separate continents, but Hellcow has said it's all Xen'Drik and that some major event was responsible for the current rift. The idea of the moon crashing is my own interpretation, but it does explain a lot in my mind.
Thats what I was thinking, but without clear labeling I didn't want to jump to conclusions. I have far too many maps with unlabeled sections that I assumed were one place and later discovered were either not supposed to have existed at all, or were missing a label categorizing them as something else. Imagine my embarrasment when a better map of the realms was unveiled and I learned my Evermeet was actually the Moonshaes... I just switched their positions despite the protests of the party rules lawyer, but it certainly did leave me with a slight feeling of sheepishness.
WynnHuntr2
11-09-04, 09:10 PM All in all I like it. Kudo's.
Phaide
11-29-04, 08:32 PM Remeber that scientists believe an asteroid roughly two miles in diameter wiped out the dinosaurs. Amoon crashing in to the planet would kill the planet. Now granted, this is a fantasy campaign, but still.
nyysjan
11-30-04, 03:08 AM I think that the dinosaurs started dropping off about 10 million years before the asteroid

anyway nice idea about the moon and the mark
Marshall Stone
11-30-04, 03:25 AM First: Nice idea about re-making the moon.

Second: It might be that not the entire moon fell to khorvaire. I keep picturing this Bugs Bunny cartoon where the moon exploded leaving only a sliver of the moon that Bugs is hanging onto with one hand, and yelling into a radio in his other hand to get him out of there.
In a similar vein what if part of the moon fell to Khorvaire and the other part got broken up but still in the general vicinity of each other and masked by the ring of Siberys. So that if one were able to get up there they'd see the sing of Siberys and just off and the left, so to speak, they notice this other little bit of floating rocks that couldn't be seen from a perspective on Khorvaire. Then all it would take is an Eldritch machine to reform those bits, and then another Eldritch machine that would draw the two parts together above Khorvaire once again.
floydthegnome
11-30-04, 05:31 PM After a fairly exhaustive search resulting in a lot of irrelevant threads I finally stumbled upon this one.

http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=315851&page=1&pp=30&highlight=dragonmark+death

Feeling that the suggested powers for the Mark of Death were a bit underpowered, or underversatile in comparison to the other existing marks I set about broadening the range of potential powers. It definitely seemed to me that the mark would be associated more with the undead than with the restoration of life as that would overlap some with the Mark of Healing. Despite being able to find any reference directly linking the moons to the existence of dragonmarks I opted to have the Blood of Vol's necromancers use powerful magics to gather bits of the destroyed satellite and assemble them into a partial moon deep beneath the peaks of the Ashen Spires in Karrnath, further cementing the Blood of Vol Cult's foothold in the region. As the moon is only partially reconstructed new marks have only appeared in close proximity to the mountains, and the Cult makes a special effort to abduct and induct any infant with a Mark of Death (Vol is immediately aware of the conception of any Elf or Half-Elf that will have the child and often has the mother abducted before childbirth to later induct or slay and animate.) My PC's will begin their upcoming campaign investigating one of these abduction and the campaign should largely revolve around the Blood of Vol Cult with brief interuptions to keep them on their toes.

Mark of Death
The Mark of Death bestows powers relating to interaction with the undead. The only place the Mark of Death can be found (at this moment in the campaign) is within the ranks of the Blood of Vol Cult.
House: The elves, half elves, and half dragon elves of the House of Vol operate in secret. They intend to muscle into the undertaking business after they have built up enough power to once again negotiate their way inside the royalty of Karrnath, through guile if possible and domination if necessary.
Marks: The aspects of the Mark of Death grant the following benefits.
Least: Deathwatch 1/day, Cause Fear 1/day, or Command Undead 1/day; +2 to intimidate skill checks (+4 if the Mark has been identified by the target, but only the first time a target identifies the Mark.) Bearers of the Mark of Death exude an aura of lifelessness that unnerves even the most morbid of necromancers (reflected in the intimidation bonus.) Those who can identify the Mark as that of the House of Vol are further unsettled because of the significance of the once dead Mark's return, this increased terror only applies the first time a Mark of Death is identified.
Lesser: Desecrate 1/day, Speak with Dead 1/day, or Halt Undead 1/day; If a lesser Mark is the first mark identified by a potential target of intimidation, the one time modifier is +6 instead of +4.
Greater: Animate Dead 1/day, Death Ward 1/day, or Halt Deathless 1/day; If a greater Mark is the first mark identified by a potential target of intimidation, the one time modifier is +8 instead of +4.
No syberis has been found to date.

Constructive criticism is welcomed, flaming will be met with equally flame filled retaliation.
I've handed it out to a player who took the abberrant mark feat. It was fun and great.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
twoDtwenty 11-08-04, 03:21 AM	After a fairly exhaustive search resulting in a lot of irrelevant threads I finally stumbled upon this one. http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=315851&page=1&pp=30&highlight=dragonmark+death Feeling that the suggested powers for the Mark of Death were a bit underpowered, or underversatile in comparison to the other existing marks I set about broadening the range of potential powers. It definitely seemed to me that the mark would be associated more with the undead than with the restoration of life as that would overlap some with the Mark of Healing. Despite being able to find any reference directly linking the moons to the existence of dragonmarks I opted to have the Blood of Vol's necromancers use powerful magics to gather bits of the destroyed satellite and assemble them into a partial moon deep beneath the peaks of the Ashen Spires in Karrnath, further cementing the Blood of Vol Cult's foothold in the region. As the moon is only partially reconstructed new marks have only appeared in close proximity to the mountains, and the Cult makes a special effort to abduct and induct any infant with a Mark of Death (Vol is immediately aware of the conception of any Elf or Half-Elf that will have the child and often has the mother abducted before childbirth to later induct or slay and animate.) My PC's will begin their upcoming campaign investigating one of these abduction and the campaign should largely revolve around the Blood of Vol Cult with brief interuptions to keep them on their toes. Mark of Death The Mark of Death bestows powers relating to interaction with the undead. The only place the Mark of Death can be found (at this moment in the campaign) is within the ranks of the Blood of Vol Cult. House: The elves, half elves, and half dragon elves of the House of Vol operate in secret. They intend to muscle into the undertaking business after they have built up enough power to once again negotiate their way inside the royalty of Karrnath, through guile if possible and domination if necessary. Marks: The aspects of the Mark of Death grant the following benefits. Least: Deathwatch 1/day, Cause Fear 1/day, or Command Undead 1/day; +2 to intimidate skill checks (+4 if the Mark has been identified by the target, but only the first time a target identifies the Mark.) Bearers of the Mark of Death exude an aura of lifelessness that unnerves even the most morbid of necromancers (reflected in the intimidation bonus.) Those who can identify the Mark as that of the House of Vol are further unsettled because of the significance of the once dead Mark's return, this increased terror only applies the first time a Mark of Death is identified. Lesser: Desecrate 1/day, Speak with Dead 1/day, or Halt Undead 1/day; If a lesser Mark is the first mark identified by a potential target of intimidation, the one time modifier is +6 instead of +4. Greater: Animate Dead 1/day, Death Ward 1/day, or Halt Deathless 1/day; If a greater Mark is the first mark identified by a potential target of intimidation, the one time modifier is +8 instead of +4. No syberis has been found to date. Constructive criticism is welcomed, flaming will be met with equally flame filled retaliation.
Hanuman47 11-08-04, 01:52 PM	I like this idea of linking the return of the Mark of Death with the return of the missing moon. To expand on it further, perhaps the Mark cannot become fully active until it resumes orbit - for right now only the least mark appears, and is only active in relatively close proximity to the reconstructed moon. The master plan is to get the moon back up into the sky, at which point the Mark will reclaim its powers, and woe to the enemies of Vol on that day! Some obvious questions/adventure seeds: 1) Where are the pieces coming from? I might point out there is a huge inland sea in Xen'drik which Hellcow has said wasn't always there and that it is the result of some sort of catastrophic event. Could this sea be the final resting place of the lost moon's fragments? Perhaps the PCs should inquire a little more closely into the motives of their mysterious sponsor willing to fund their expedition farther into Xen'drik than anyone has penetrated before. 2) Assuming the moon can be reassembled, how in the world do you get it back into orbit? Perhaps some dread eldritch machine, assembled from bits of forgotten giant artifacts. 3) How will the Chamber and the Aereni react to this plan? What steps will the Blood of Vol be willing to take to prevent that from happening? Lots of potential adventure!
Tengu1958 11-08-04, 06:20 PM	As the moon is only partially reconstructed new marks have only appeared in close proximity to the mountains, and the Cult makes a special effort to abduct and induct any infant with a Mark of Death (Vol is immediately aware of the conception of any Elf or Half-Elf that will have the child and often has the mother abducted before childbirth to later induct or slay and animate.) My PC's will begin their upcoming campaign investigating one of these abduction and the campaign should largely revolve around the Blood of Vol Cult with brief interuptions to keep them on their toes. I don't have my rulebook with me. But I don't think infants have dragonmarks. I am under the impression that they appear later in life. Of course that does not mean Vol is unable to identify children of potential.
twoDtwenty 11-09-04, 12:29 PM	After a further cursory examination of the CS, I don't find any reference to specifically when a Dragonmark manifests, but they are allowed to be taken as a feat after 1st level so I will presume they could manifest at any time over the course of a characters life. That being said, Vol now knows exactly who has the potential to manifest the Mark, and she sends her minions to abduct them either as infants or before their birth (this is actually the premise for the campaign kickoff.) The other questions I had left largely untouched, having only the first chapter of the campaign well defined and the second is still a jumbled mess of storylines and faction reactions. Chapter I being basically a guided thread revealing to the characters that their patron group, the Cult, is indirectly connected to the return of the Mark and the consequent abductions (the PCs will never know they are being guided, this is a skill I have long since mastered... the illusion of free will.) Chapter II is a much more integrated web of possibilities, with multiple possible patrons (as the PCs may choose to distance themselves from the BoVC after they begin to make the connection between the Order of the Emerald Claw,) myriad quests of distraction, and faction positioning based on who the party gets information to and how they present the information. The moon, I suppose would have been gathered from a thousand different locations primarily around the equatorial regions, possibly involving an alliance with the sahaguin. I like the idea of using the ancient artifacts of the giants, possibly remanufactured or being used in a fashion not originally intended; possibly having the moon reassembled in pieces and then transported through other planes to deposit in near orbit, also requiring artifacts beyond the scope of modern artificers. Without knowing who the PCs will be attaching themselves to, or what later motivations they might have I am a bit hesitant to put too much detail into Chapter II, and am thoroughly avoiding Chapter III when I intend to send the PCs on a sojourn into lands more dangerous than Karrnath... Xen'Drik or the upper reaches of Khyber I'm thinking, but if I take an extraplanar route to returning the astral sattelite interplanar travel is certainly a possibility. The Karrnathi factions (or at least those with a presence in Karrnath) that I thought would be most interested in information involving the rise of the House of Vol were the Blood of Vol Cult and Order of the Emerald Claw (as they are involved in the plot as adversaries,) Kaius III, The Twelve (or perhaps soon the Thirteen depending on how the information comes to them and whether the PCs succeed at stopping the House of Vol from returning to power,) The Chamber (which I think will want to keep the dragons dirty laundry hidden,) The Church of the Silver Flame, House Deneith and Jorasco (and the other houses with lesser establishments in the area,) and The Sovereign host (particularly the clericies of Aureon, Dol Arrah, and Onatar), along with some of the Dark Six (although I feel they would not make appropriately heroic patrons for the PCs.) Am I missing any key players in the big dance about to unfold?... and where exactly is this inland sea supposedly caused by a catastrophic event?
Hanuman47 11-09-04, 01:16 PM	But I don't think infants have dragonmarks. I am under the impression that they appear later in life. My understanding is that while they most frequently manifest during adolescence, they can appear anytime earlier or later. I would imagine that actually being born with them is pretty rare, and probably a BIG DEAL. ... and where exactly is this inland sea supposedly caused by a catastrophic event? Look at Xen'Drik, about 1/3 of the way north of the southern edge. It looks like two separate continents, but Hellcow has said it's all Xen'Drik and that some major event was responsible for the current rift. The idea of the moon crashing is my own interpretation, but it does explain a lot in my mind.
twoDtwenty 11-09-04, 01:30 PM	Look at Xen'Drik, about 1/3 of the way north of the southern edge. It looks like two separate continents, but Hellcow has said it's all Xen'Drik and that some major event was responsible for the current rift. The idea of the moon crashing is my own interpretation, but it does explain a lot in my mind. Thats what I was thinking, but without clear labeling I didn't want to jump to conclusions. I have far too many maps with unlabeled sections that I assumed were one place and later discovered were either not supposed to have existed at all, or were missing a label categorizing them as something else. Imagine my embarrasment when a better map of the realms was unveiled and I learned my Evermeet was actually the Moonshaes... I just switched their positions despite the protests of the party rules lawyer, but it certainly did leave me with a slight feeling of sheepishness.
WynnHuntr2 11-09-04, 09:10 PM	All in all I like it. Kudo's.
Phaide 11-29-04, 08:32 PM	Remeber that scientists believe an asteroid roughly two miles in diameter wiped out the dinosaurs. Amoon crashing in to the planet would kill the planet. Now granted, this is a fantasy campaign, but still.
nyysjan 11-30-04, 03:08 AM	I think that the dinosaurs started dropping off about 10 million years before the asteroid anyway nice idea about the moon and the mark
Marshall Stone 11-30-04, 03:25 AM	First: Nice idea about re-making the moon. Second: It might be that not the entire moon fell to khorvaire. I keep picturing this Bugs Bunny cartoon where the moon exploded leaving only a sliver of the moon that Bugs is hanging onto with one hand, and yelling into a radio in his other hand to get him out of there. In a similar vein what if part of the moon fell to Khorvaire and the other part got broken up but still in the general vicinity of each other and masked by the ring of Siberys. So that if one were able to get up there they'd see the sing of Siberys and just off and the left, so to speak, they notice this other little bit of floating rocks that couldn't be seen from a perspective on Khorvaire. Then all it would take is an Eldritch machine to reform those bits, and then another Eldritch machine that would draw the two parts together above Khorvaire once again.
floydthegnome 11-30-04, 05:31 PM	After a fairly exhaustive search resulting in a lot of irrelevant threads I finally stumbled upon this one. http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=315851&page=1&pp=30&highlight=dragonmark+death Feeling that the suggested powers for the Mark of Death were a bit underpowered, or underversatile in comparison to the other existing marks I set about broadening the range of potential powers. It definitely seemed to me that the mark would be associated more with the undead than with the restoration of life as that would overlap some with the Mark of Healing. Despite being able to find any reference directly linking the moons to the existence of dragonmarks I opted to have the Blood of Vol's necromancers use powerful magics to gather bits of the destroyed satellite and assemble them into a partial moon deep beneath the peaks of the Ashen Spires in Karrnath, further cementing the Blood of Vol Cult's foothold in the region. As the moon is only partially reconstructed new marks have only appeared in close proximity to the mountains, and the Cult makes a special effort to abduct and induct any infant with a Mark of Death (Vol is immediately aware of the conception of any Elf or Half-Elf that will have the child and often has the mother abducted before childbirth to later induct or slay and animate.) My PC's will begin their upcoming campaign investigating one of these abduction and the campaign should largely revolve around the Blood of Vol Cult with brief interuptions to keep them on their toes. Mark of Death The Mark of Death bestows powers relating to interaction with the undead. The only place the Mark of Death can be found (at this moment in the campaign) is within the ranks of the Blood of Vol Cult. House: The elves, half elves, and half dragon elves of the House of Vol operate in secret. They intend to muscle into the undertaking business after they have built up enough power to once again negotiate their way inside the royalty of Karrnath, through guile if possible and domination if necessary. Marks: The aspects of the Mark of Death grant the following benefits. Least: Deathwatch 1/day, Cause Fear 1/day, or Command Undead 1/day; +2 to intimidate skill checks (+4 if the Mark has been identified by the target, but only the first time a target identifies the Mark.) Bearers of the Mark of Death exude an aura of lifelessness that unnerves even the most morbid of necromancers (reflected in the intimidation bonus.) Those who can identify the Mark as that of the House of Vol are further unsettled because of the significance of the once dead Mark's return, this increased terror only applies the first time a Mark of Death is identified. Lesser: Desecrate 1/day, Speak with Dead 1/day, or Halt Undead 1/day; If a lesser Mark is the first mark identified by a potential target of intimidation, the one time modifier is +6 instead of +4. Greater: Animate Dead 1/day, Death Ward 1/day, or Halt Deathless 1/day; If a greater Mark is the first mark identified by a potential target of intimidation, the one time modifier is +8 instead of +4. No syberis has been found to date. Constructive criticism is welcomed, flaming will be met with equally flame filled retaliation. I've handed it out to a player who took the abberrant mark feat. It was fun and great.