A strange sort of Rant - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

A strange sort of Rant

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
PJammaGod
Apr 08, 2010 22:28:31 I don't normally bother reading through the Dungeon Digital Magazines, I prefer to craft my own nasty things to inflict upon my various Eberron adventuring parties. But at the behest of a friend who said the series of articles on Fairhaven were quite well written (and they are), I actually went through my back catalogue and was pleasantly surprised...

... until I came upon the article in Dungeon 173 (December). Now I know it's four months late for such a rant but heck, I'm stuck at home with the left-overs of a Tiamat cursed Migraine, what else is a man to do?

The article is actually well done, for the most part, great stuff on Kreelo and the Dark Dagger gang. My two hearts however skipped a synchronous beat when I started reading up on Torven the Ageless.

A Vampire Medani whom still has access to his Dragonmark...

I'll let that one sink in for a couple of seconds.

We've got a full write-up on an NPC, whom while initially a cool idea kinda spits upon what is nearly six years of established lore. Heck one of THE key villains and story threads of Eberron is the Blood of Vol and Erandi's obsession with reacquirring her Mark of Death powers even though she is undead.

"As an undead being, Erandis cannot use her mark"

That's a direct quote from page 250 of the ECG (first column, halfway down the page). It's also the central theme of the Blood of Vol story arc. Erandis would really like to have her mark back and functional, she's after whatever artifacts, Quabalrin Vampires or lost Bloodline Scions she can get her hands on to achieve such a goal. But here we have a Vampire Medani who can use his mark just dandy, living the high life in Fairhaven. Heck he's even a member of the Cult of Life (a shard branch of Blood of Vol, scrubbed up to look nice for the ignorant Aundarians).

Seriously guys! If Vol knew this guy was here she'd have had his skin flayed and turned into a nice tidy cover for the DMG 3. He's an active and well known member of the Cult of Life, which means he's part of the "Super Secret Conspiracy" clique of the Blood of Vol. There is now way she could have missed something like this. He can't exist as he is because undead can't use their Dragonmarks (you need to be alive to use them, go figure) and because even if he did somehow have access to the Mark of Warning, Erandis would have him strapped down to a table, laughing in a suitably machiavellian fashion.

So yeah, I'll hop off my pulpit now and go nurse my aching head. Sorry 'bout the rant but yeah, this really stuck out for me (four months on, yeesh I'm slow sometimes).
#2
Bly2729
Apr 08, 2010 23:11:06 The way I read it his Medani abilities (Portents, Scion), could apply to the mundane observation skills any Medani worth his salt would hone to quasi-supernatural levels.

Also according tp Faiths of Eberron, a Thief of Life is not necessarily undead although they mimic many of the traits the undead and vampires.

At the very least, maybe he's one of those Twilight vampires who can see the future anyways, Dragonmark aside. There be evil and corruption even Vol would not interfere with even after 2600 years.
#3
durskut
Apr 14, 2010 12:06:00 I'd just file it under, "Things I know to be wrong" and move on from there. If it ever comes up I'll let people know about these things, but won't really make an effort to correct them. I'll just be a little disappointed in the person who wrote it.
#4
ChrisTheS
Apr 14, 2010 14:43:27 Or you could say he's developed other abilities to compensate for the loss of his dragonmark powers.
#5
AvonRekaes
Apr 15, 2010 13:55:52
It could be that sufficiently-quenched vampires are "alive" enough to temporarily make use of their dragonmark, if they have one. In the same way that blood-engorged vampires can actually produce children with living people. which isn't just a thing in DnD. Alucard from Casltevania and Vampire Hunter D (though granted, are basically two interpretations of the same character), are half-vampires, born from a human and a pretty notoriously successful vampire.

Vol could have come to this conclusion centuries ago, and went through enough experiments that by now she's confident there's no further knowledge to be gained from "studying" vampires with dragonmarks.
#6
Hellcow
Apr 17, 2010 10:01:05
It could be that sufficiently-quenched vampires are "alive" enough to temporarily make use of their dragonmark, if they have one.

It's certainly an interesting idea. The basic premise of the Blood of Vol is that there's a spark of the divine in our blood, and that the undead are ultimately limited because they have lost that. You could certainly make the case that fully-fueled vampires can temporarily regain that... though it fades with the blood. This makes the Seeker practice of blood donations all the more important for dragonmarked vampires.
#7
Centauri
Apr 17, 2010 19:41:32 Apart from the reference in the section about Vol, where does it actually say undead can't generally use a dragonmark? Maybe only the Mark of Death can't be used when you're dead, because maybe its powers (which to my knowledge have been left entirely for DMs to work out) only matter if you have living flesh, just as the Mark of Storm doesn't really do much if you don't use lightning or thunder powers and can't fly. Maybe Vol does know about this guy, considers going after him, and does a major facepalm when she realizes it's not because she's dead that she can't use her mark, it's because [fill in the blank] and the PCs are just the people to help her out of her predicament.
#8
Madfox11
Apr 19, 2010 3:57:21
It's certainly an interesting idea. The basic premise of the Blood of Vol is that there's a spark of the divine in our blood, and that the undead are ultimately limited because they have lost that. You could certainly make the case that fully-fueled vampires can temporarily regain that... though it fades with the blood. This makes the Seeker practice of blood donations all the more important for dragonmarked vampires.

In myths there are all kinds of vampires/undead with very specific diets. What if this particular vampire needs blood from House Medani to use his dragonmark?
#9
Hellcow
Apr 19, 2010 8:43:56
In myths there are all kinds of vampires/undead with very specific diets. What if this particular vampire needs blood from House Medani to use his dragonmark?

Certainly. This in turn could even mean that Erandis thinks there's a chance she could regain her mark temporarily through the same method... but she'd need the blood of a living person with the Mark of Death to accomplish it. So the vampire means nothing to her; she figured this out a thousand years ago, but unless someone develops the mark anew, there's nothing she can do.
#10
DoctorBadWolf
May 07, 2010 14:21:59 Well, this is certainly useful information to add to my idea for a character who manifests the Mark of Death, and has to deal with Vol because of it. :P

#11
skritz_the_lizardmen
May 07, 2010 16:35:25 I would say this is just another proof of how they messed up Eberron. Just retcon this guy out of the picture.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 PJammaGod Apr 08, 2010 22:28:31	I don't normally bother reading through the Dungeon Digital Magazines, I prefer to craft my own nasty things to inflict upon my various Eberron adventuring parties. But at the behest of a friend who said the series of articles on Fairhaven were quite well written (and they are), I actually went through my back catalogue and was pleasantly surprised... ... until I came upon the article in Dungeon 173 (December). Now I know it's four months late for such a rant but heck, I'm stuck at home with the left-overs of a Tiamat cursed Migraine, what else is a man to do? The article is actually well done, for the most part, great stuff on Kreelo and the Dark Dagger gang. My two hearts however skipped a synchronous beat when I started reading up on Torven the Ageless. A Vampire Medani whom still has access to his Dragonmark... I'll let that one sink in for a couple of seconds. We've got a full write-up on an NPC, whom while initially a cool idea kinda spits upon what is nearly six years of established lore. Heck one of THE key villains and story threads of Eberron is the Blood of Vol and Erandi's obsession with reacquirring her Mark of Death powers even though she is undead. "As an undead being, Erandis cannot use her mark" That's a direct quote from page 250 of the ECG (first column, halfway down the page). It's also the central theme of the Blood of Vol story arc. Erandis would really like to have her mark back and functional, she's after whatever artifacts, Quabalrin Vampires or lost Bloodline Scions she can get her hands on to achieve such a goal. But here we have a Vampire Medani who can use his mark just dandy, living the high life in Fairhaven. Heck he's even a member of the Cult of Life (a shard branch of Blood of Vol, scrubbed up to look nice for the ignorant Aundarians). Seriously guys! If Vol knew this guy was here she'd have had his skin flayed and turned into a nice tidy cover for the DMG 3. He's an active and well known member of the Cult of Life, which means he's part of the "Super Secret Conspiracy" clique of the Blood of Vol. There is now way she could have missed something like this. He can't exist as he is because undead can't use their Dragonmarks (you need to be alive to use them, go figure) and because even if he did somehow have access to the Mark of Warning, Erandis would have him strapped down to a table, laughing in a suitably machiavellian fashion. So yeah, I'll hop off my pulpit now and go nurse my aching head. Sorry 'bout the rant but yeah, this really stuck out for me (four months on, yeesh I'm slow sometimes).
#2 Bly2729 Apr 08, 2010 23:11:06	The way I read it his Medani abilities (Portents, Scion), could apply to the mundane observation skills any Medani worth his salt would hone to quasi-supernatural levels. Also according tp Faiths of Eberron, a Thief of Life is not necessarily undead although they mimic many of the traits the undead and vampires. At the very least, maybe he's one of those Twilight vampires who can see the future anyways, Dragonmark aside. There be evil and corruption even Vol would not interfere with even after 2600 years.
#3 durskut Apr 14, 2010 12:06:00	I'd just file it under, "Things I know to be wrong" and move on from there. If it ever comes up I'll let people know about these things, but won't really make an effort to correct them. I'll just be a little disappointed in the person who wrote it.
#4 ChrisTheS Apr 14, 2010 14:43:27	Or you could say he's developed other abilities to compensate for the loss of his dragonmark powers.
#5 AvonRekaes Apr 15, 2010 13:55:52	It could be that sufficiently-quenched vampires are "alive" enough to temporarily make use of their dragonmark, if they have one. In the same way that blood-engorged vampires can actually produce children with living people. which isn't just a thing in DnD. Alucard from Casltevania and Vampire Hunter D (though granted, are basically two interpretations of the same character), are half-vampires, born from a human and a pretty notoriously successful vampire. Vol could have come to this conclusion centuries ago, and went through enough experiments that by now she's confident there's no further knowledge to be gained from "studying" vampires with dragonmarks.
#6 Hellcow Apr 17, 2010 10:01:05	It could be that sufficiently-quenched vampires are "alive" enough to temporarily make use of their dragonmark, if they have one. It's certainly an interesting idea. The basic premise of the Blood of Vol is that there's a spark of the divine in our blood, and that the undead are ultimately limited because they have lost that. You could certainly make the case that fully-fueled vampires can temporarily regain that... though it fades with the blood. This makes the Seeker practice of blood donations all the more important for dragonmarked vampires.
#7 Centauri Apr 17, 2010 19:41:32	Apart from the reference in the section about Vol, where does it actually say undead can't generally use a dragonmark? Maybe only the Mark of Death can't be used when you're dead, because maybe its powers (which to my knowledge have been left entirely for DMs to work out) only matter if you have living flesh, just as the Mark of Storm doesn't really do much if you don't use lightning or thunder powers and can't fly. Maybe Vol does know about this guy, considers going after him, and does a major facepalm when she realizes it's not because she's dead that she can't use her mark, it's because [fill in the blank] and the PCs are just the people to help her out of her predicament.
#8 Madfox11 Apr 19, 2010 3:57:21	It's certainly an interesting idea. The basic premise of the Blood of Vol is that there's a spark of the divine in our blood, and that the undead are ultimately limited because they have lost that. You could certainly make the case that fully-fueled vampires can temporarily regain that... though it fades with the blood. This makes the Seeker practice of blood donations all the more important for dragonmarked vampires. In myths there are all kinds of vampires/undead with very specific diets. What if this particular vampire needs blood from House Medani to use his dragonmark?
#9 Hellcow Apr 19, 2010 8:43:56	In myths there are all kinds of vampires/undead with very specific diets. What if this particular vampire needs blood from House Medani to use his dragonmark? Certainly. This in turn could even mean that Erandis thinks there's a chance she could regain her mark temporarily through the same method... but she'd need the blood of a living person with the Mark of Death to accomplish it. So the vampire means nothing to her; she figured this out a thousand years ago, but unless someone develops the mark anew, there's nothing she can do.
#10 DoctorBadWolf May 07, 2010 14:21:59	Well, this is certainly useful information to add to my idea for a character who manifests the Mark of Death, and has to deal with Vol because of it. :P
#11 skritz_the_lizardmen May 07, 2010 16:35:25	I would say this is just another proof of how they messed up Eberron. Just retcon this guy out of the picture.