1) Weather Control Ritual (PHB2) - I assume most people add this to the list of rituals allowed by the mark? It's a pretty obvious thing, with the Raincaller's Guild and all.
2) Fly Speed Increase - Do you HAVE to have a Fly speed first (I assume you do) or does this grant you a Fly speed of 1 (assuming your default fly speed is zero)? Before the May errata, that would have meant you'd have to take a double move just to keep moving, but now you could fly (really slowly) if the rules assume a default fly speed of 0 for characters. I don't see it as game breaking to let a guy fly with the mark, with that speed it's not like you'll be zooming all over the map anyway.
3) I see a lot of people talking about the Mark reducing falling damage. Is that errata I missed, or just a really common house rule?
Thanks folks.
2) I would rule that the increase does not mean that it goes from 0 to 1, but instead any time that you gain a fly speed, it is increased by one.
3) I am not sure where that comes from.
I personally consider it an oversight that Control Weather wasn't included in the ritual list.
Here's a repost of my personal dragonmark house rules, though these are of course house rules.
A dragonmark is more than a feat. When I have a dragonmarked character, I use the dragonmark to explain many aspect of that character's abilities. So: You are a Lyrandar Storm Sorcerer. You take the Mark of Storm, and it essentially tacks Gust of Wind onto your existing powers. One way to look at this is "I was a sorcerer before, the Mark just makes me a slightly better sorcerer."
I go a step farther. In my opinion, you are a sorcerer BECAUSE of the mark. When you blast your foes with thunder or lightning, when you fly, you are using the powers of your mark. And as such, every time you get a new thunder/lightning/flight power, your mark IS growing in power.
It's a purely cosmetic flavor point. My point is that any time you use a power that is affected by a mark, you could look at it as "My mark just turned on and gave me a bonus" - or you can look at it as drawing on your mark to use the power at all.
Now, as for different levels of mark... once you accept my approach to marks and powers, you can still have your least, lesser, and greater marks. They're just not as sharply defined. The size of the mark reflects the powers that it grants you. What are those powers? The powers that you possess. Thus, as you gain levels and gain more powers, it seems perfectly reasonable for your mark to grow. As such, the marks we are used to may be hard points - the "Lesser" mark we know is level 8 - but it means that it can grow more organically, so that at 6th level your mark is larger than it was at 1st level but not quite at the official "Lesser" size.
Rituals... I have a number of house rules for dragonmarks and rituals.
* If you can use a ritual due to the possession of a dragonmark, you do not actually need a ritual book for it, nor can you actually cast it using a ritual book. You perform the ritual through the power of your dragonmark.
* You begin with training in up to three 1st level rituals associated with your dragonmark. To perform others, you must be trained by someone with the same mark who is familiar with the ritual. This typically costs the same amount as buying the ritual. So you buy it once, but then it's a part of you.
* To perform a dragonmarked ritual, you either use the normal components or dragonshards. Residuum is the finest grade of processed dragonshard, and as such is the fuel of the magical economy.
* If you are performing a dragonmarked ritual in a house enclave and have access to house facilities, the component cost is reduced by 10%. Enchant Magic Item, Brew Potion, and similar rituals that create permanent items with a monetary value are excluded from this. Use common sense.
* The Mark
* On its own, the Mark of Scribing grants access to the following rituals:
-Amanuensis
-Arcane Mark
-Comprehend Languages
-Fool's Speech
-Planar Sending
-Precise Forgery
-Scribe
-Secret Page
-Sending
-Telepathic Bond
-Use Scroll
It then allows the bearer to use ritual scrolls and books in his possession as if he had the Ritual Caster feat. Essentially, the above rituals are powers of the mark that can be unlocked, while the other power of the mark is to let the bearer interpret rituals.
The point here is that rituals are a form of science that has evolved over the course of centuries. The "rituals" granted by a mark are something different - they are powers channeled through the mark. The Sivis gnomes were doing Sending long before the ritual allowed other wizards to do it... and the ritual was essentially developed in imitation of the dragonmark power.
A house rule that can make the game more interesting is to restrict critical rituals to dragonmarks. The world is a very different place if you HAVE to have the Mark of Healing in order to perform Remove Affliction or Cure Disease, if you have to have the Mark of Passage to teleport, and so on. Suddenly it's very clear why the houses have the power they do - and having marked characters in your party becomes quite powerful. I prefer this, but it's not for everyone; it does make the setting quite different from core.
The feat states "You gain a +1 speed when flying." Therefore, you have to BE flying in order to use it - so no, it is not supposed to give you a fly speed by default.
I personally consider it an oversight that Control Weather wasn't included in the ritual list.
Cool! Thanks for responding!
I see we have similar thgouhts on Dragonmarks, though you went further on restricting what many consdier to be the most overpowered Dragonmark (Scribing). Why that has not gotten offical errata yet, I have no idea.
I think the reason Control Weather was not on the mark in the book was because it included Rituals from only that book and PHB 1 (I assume to avoid that, "Forcing me to buy books" feeling).
This is what I do with the Dragonmarks in my game, it's a bit shorter and still explains why the Houses have their advantage.
Dragonmark Rituals: Rituals obtained via a Dragonmark must still be paid for to learn (but a discount may be available via your House with a Diplomacy roll). Rituals (granted by the mark) over 10 minutes to cast can be performed via Dragonmark once per day without components by spending 2 healing surges. Rituals of 10 minutes or less to perform can be performed via Dragonmark by spending a healing surge without components witout limits (other than available healing surges). Focus items are still required in all cases.
It's simple and elegant. Yeah, a mark of making can make one 'free' magic item a day. Explains their profit margins. Mind you I use the Inherent Bonuses from page 138 of DMG2, so other than their properties, magic items are less valueable, but because the properties are valueable, the level 1-5 ones are really common (also, because that is the level range of most non-adventuring Cannith members). Lesser rituals are far easier to do. Feel free to borrow or modify for your own use, if you like.
I'm also fond of 'Page 42' effects related to the Dragonmark. It might work, it might not, but you can try it if it's in theme.