Blood Hunter in Eberron: Part 4: Dragonmarked Houses
We’re here, at the (likely) finale of the “Blood Hunter in Eberron” series. We’ve talked locations, we’ve talked races, now it’s time to talk dragonmarked houses.
The Houses are a central part of life in Eberron, and the dragonmarks unique to each House give you slight magical abilities. A dragonmark is a distinctive symbol that appears anywhere on the skin; only twelve dragonmarks are known, and each has a unique design and a unique power. Some players may wish to say that their blood hunter abilities come from a dragonmark instead of the Hunter’s Bane, which I think would actually be really neat! For human and half-orc characters, having a dragonmark means playing a variant version of the race; half-elf characters treat having a dragonmark as a variant race but keep some standard half-elf traits; and dwarves, elves, gnomes, and halflings treat having a dragonmark as playing a subrace. So, what are these abilities, and how can they help a blood hunter?
Mark of Detection: The Mark of Detection is exclusive to half-elves and is associated with House Medani. House Medani members serve as bodyguards and inquisitives.
The Mark of Detection allows you to roll a d4 intuition die and add the result to Investigation and Insight checks. You can also cast detect magic and detect poison and disease as rituals, with Intelligence as your spellcasting ability for these rituals. These are really handy for blood hunters, especially if you’re trying to figure out what happened or what’s going on.
Mark of Finding: The Mark of Finding is available to humans or half-orcs and is associated with House Tharashk. Members of House Tharashk serve as inquisitives, bounty hunters, and prospectors.
The Mark of Finding gives you darkvision. It also allows you to roll a d4 intuition die and add the result to Survival and Perception checks. Finally, you can “imprint” a creature you can see on your mind, allowing you to double the intuition die on Survival and Perception checks to track the imprinted creature and sense its location once you’re within 60 feet of it. This is a great thing for blood hunters because it augments the Hunter’s Bane feature you get at 1st level.
Mark of Handling: The Mark of Handling is exclusive to humans and is associated with House Vadalis. Members of House Vadalis often serve as ranchers and animal trainers.
The Mark of Handling allows you to roll a d4 intuition die and add the result to Animal Handling and Nature checks. You can also use the Help action to aid an allied animal companion or mount within 30 feet of you. You can cast animal friendship once per short or long rest using Wisdom as your spellcasting ability. Finally, when you cast a spell that affects only beasts it also affects monstrosities with an Intelligence score of 3 or lower. These effects aren’t going to be useful for your average blood hunter.
Mark of Healing: The Mark of Healing is exclusive to halflings and is associated with House Jorasco. Members of House Jorasco are often healers.
The Mark of Healing allows you to roll a d4 intuition die and add the result to Medicine checks. You can also use an action and spend one of your Hit Die to heal yourself or a creature you touch. If you’re going to play a healer, this is great, but blood hunters tend to need their Hit Die for healing on short rests, so this might not be the best choice for a blood hunter.
Mark of Hospitality: The Mark of Hospitality is exclusive to halflings and is associated with House Ghallanda. Members of this House are often innkeepers or occupy similar roles.
The Mark of Hospitality allows you to roll a d4 intuition die and add the result to Persuasion checks or ability checks involving brewer’s supplies or cook’s utensils. You also know the cantrips friends and prestidigitation, and Charisma is your spellcasting ability for them. These are handy if you want to play a blood hunter that’s better in social encounters, but overall they’re likely to be less useful to you.
Mark of Making: The Mark of Making is exclusive to humans and is associated with House Cannith. Members of House Cannith are often artisans of some sort.
The Mark of Making allows you to roll a d4 intuition die and add the result to an ability check with any type of artisan’s tools. You know the mending cantrip and gain proficiency with one type of artisan’s tools. You can make a temporary magic item out of common materials that until your next long rest gives you access to a cantrip from the wizard spell list. You can also spend one minute weaving a temporary enchantment into a nonmagical armor or weapon, giving it a +1 bonus to AC if it’s armor or a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls if it’s a weapon. These last two features are neat and would be useful to a blood hunter.
Mark of Passage: The Mark of Passage is exclusive to humans and is associated with House Orien. Members of House Orien are often involved in land transportation.
The Mark of Passage increases your base speed to 40 feet. It also allows you to roll a d4 intuition die and add the result to Athletics checks or ability checks to maintain and operate land vehicles. When you use the Dash action, difficult terrain doesn’t cost you extra movement on that turn. Finally, as a bonus action once per long rest you can teleport up to your base speed to an unoccupied space you can see and you can bring a willing creature of your size or smaller with you. These are handy abilities for a blood hunter to have because of the increased mobility, but there are probably other dragonmarks that are more useful.
Mark of Scribing: The Mark of Scribing is exclusive to gnomes and is associated with House Sivis. Members of House Sivis are often involved in long-distance communication.
The Mark of Scribing allows you to roll a d4 intuition die and add the result to ability checks when you use calligrapher’s supplies or forgery kits, which you also get proficiency with. Once per long rest, you can cast comprehend languages, and you know the message cantrip. You also know an extra language of your choice. These are going to be highly situational for blood hunters and aren’t your best choice.
Mark of Sentinel: The Mark of Sentinel is exclusive to humans and is associated with House Deneith. Members of House Deneith are often mercenaries, bodyguards, or law enforcement.
The Mark of Sentinel allows you to roll a d4 intuition die and add the result to initiative rolls and Perception checks to notice a threat. In addition, you know the blade ward cantrip and can cast shield once per short or long rest. Finally, as an action you can designate an ally as your ward. You have advantage on Insight and Perception checks to identify threats to your ward, and when you are within 5 feet of your ward and your ward is the target of an attack you can use your reaction to swap places with your ward, making you the target of the attack instead. Personally, I like this dragonmark, but it’s probably not the best choice for blood hunters, especially because you’re a glass cannon. That said, any bonus to initiative rolls and noticing a threat is useful, and blade ward and shield might come in handy.
Mark of Shadow: The Mark of Shadow is exclusive to elves and is associated with Houses Thuranni and Phiarlan. Members of these Houses are often spies.
The Mark of Shadow gives you proficiency with a musical instrument or with the Performance skill. In addition, you can roll a d4 intuition die and add the result to Performance or Stealth checks. You know the minor illusion cantrip and use Charisma as your spellcasting ability for it. Once per short or long rest, you can use the Hide action as a bonus action regardless of what cover is available. These traits are useful for sneaking up on monsters and distracting them, so don’t overlook this one.
Mark of Storm: The Mark of Storm is exclusive to half-elves and is associated with House Lyrandar. Members of this House are often sailors.
The Mark of Storm gives you a swim speed of 30 feet. You can also roll a d4 intuition die and add the result to Acrobatics checks or ability checks involving operating or maintaining a water or air vehicle. You have resistance to lightning damage and know the gust cantrip. At 3rd level you can cast gust of wind once per long rest. These are going to be very situational for blood hunters and probably shouldn’t be your first choice unless you expect a lot of sailing to be happening.
Mark of Warding: The Mark of Warding is exclusive to dwarves and is associated with House Kundarak. Members of this House are often security specialists or bankers.
The Mark of Warding allows you to roll a d4 intuition die and add the result to History, Investigation, or Thieves’ Tool checks associated with locks and trap mechanisms. You can also cast the alarm spell as a ritual and at 3rd level you can cast arcane lock once per long rest. These are not your best choice if you’re playing a blood hunter, as the uses are going to be very situational.
