Eberron: Rising from the Last War changed several options that appeared in Wayfinder’s Guide to Eberron. We’ve talked about the changes to the changeling, shifter, and warforged; now let’s talk about the changes to the dragonmark options.

These updates have rolled out to Wayfinder’s Guide to Eberron, so you’ll notice that Wayfinder’s rules text now matches Rising from the Last War’s text. You can still access the older versions of the dragonmarks and the Eberron races in the Unearthed Arcana articles: Dragonmarks and Eberron Races.

Much like the race option changes, these mechanics are largely trimmed-down versions of what originally appeared in Wayfinder’s. The setting information in Rising from the Last War is expanded on from what was in Wayfinder’s. For example, Rising provides additional information for the leaders of each dragonmark house and their headquarters.

Interestingly enough, the character suggestions in Wayfinder’s are absent in Rising.

Taking a dragonmark works the same way it did Wayfinder’s; it replaces your subrace, acts as a variant, or replaces certain racial traits.

The Dragonmark Quirk table has seen some edits to clarify mechanical effects (how close a creature has to be to qualify as “nearby,” how far the light emits), and some more options have been added.

The House Agent background seems largely the same, though it doesn’t appear in the UA article. It did lose a few personality trait options in the editing process, it seems.

Feat changes

Another major change to note is that the Greater Dragonmark feat is nowhere to be found in Eberron: Rising from the Last War. Previously, the Greater Dragonmark feat would increase the bonus a dragonmarked character would receive to certain skill checks, boost one of their stats, and grant additional spells.

The Aberrant Dragonmark feat remains mostly the same. However, you can no longer burn a hit die to boost your dragonmark spell’s power. Whenever you cast the 1st level spell you get from the mark, you expend a hit die and roll it. If the result is even, you get temporary hit points, and if it’s odd, someone around you (or you, if no one’s nearby) takes damage.

There’s a new option for aberrant dragonmarks now. The DM can choose whether this option applies. Greater Aberrant Powers kicks in at 10th level, giving the character a chance to gain an epic boon (found in chapter 7 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide).

Epic boons can be pretty serious—they’re presented as options for character advancement beyond 20th level. For example, the Boon of Skill Proficiency grants proficiency in every skill, and the Boon of Peerless Aim allows you to add 20 to your ranged attack rolls once per short rest. The aberrant dragonmark feat does come with a flaw, though, so this could be a way of rewarding a player who’s dealt with the complications of such a thing.

Overall Changes

The text for dragonmark characters no longer refers to an Intuition die, the d4 they get to add to certain skill checks. This appears to be because the Greater Dragonmark feat, which increased that die, is cut from Rising.

Some dragonmarks were changed more than others. Overall, each dragonmark now has these features:

Ability score increase

Some of these changed, like the Mark of Detection and Mark of Finding, and some, like the Mark of Hospitality, remained the same. This is worth paying attention to if you’re moving from Wayfinder’s to Rising, since your stats might have shifted around—some changed the stat they applied to even if they didn’t change the value.

“Intuition” feature

Though Intuition dice are not outright mentioned, every dragonmark still adds a d4 to certain skill checks.

Additional features

The Mark of Finding now manifests in humans and half-orcs, so it now grants Darkvision as an additional feature.

Some additional features granted by dragonmarks are pared down from Wayfinder’s, like the Mark of Handling’s The Bigger They Are feature, which now specifies that it applies only to speak with animals and animal friendship.

Spells

Each dragonmark allows the character to cast spells through their mark. If you’re already a spellcaster, your dragonmark also allows you to add certain other spells to your spell list. Many dragonmarks grant another spell once the character reaches 3rd level.

Thanks for reading! What do you think about the changes to dragonmarks in Eberron: Rising from the Last War? If you are using the Wayfinder’s Guide to Eberron, is your group planning on shifting over to the new mechanics or keeping the old versions? I’d love to hear your thoughts!