Hello adventurers! Welcome to my spellbook and thank you so much for checking out the third episode of our dwarf sub-races. In any case today we’re gonna be taking a look at the mark of warding dwarf which is found in eberron rising from the last war. The eberron books in general are one of the more touchy supplements in the 5e landscape.
Initially there was a lot of kind of broken mechanics especially as a regard to the warforged. However even the marked races were met with a decent amount of controversy as well and i know a ton of DMs that just staright up don’t allow them in their games. Personally if i’m a dm i don’t really so much care.
That being said, i totally understand why people don’t like them, they’re very similar to the backgrounds from guild masters guide to ravnica in the way that they are kind of the obvious choice if you sit down and go through all of them. Which of course we’re gonna do because i’m insane i guess. In any case let’s move on to their traits here.
Traits
So in addition to the traits you get just for being a dwarf you also get a plus one to your intelligence score and you gain access to warder’s intuition. When you make an investigation check or an ability check using thieves tools, you can roll a d4 and add the number rolled to the ability check.
A couple things worth noting about this, there is no limitation as to how many times you can use it. It doesn’t just reset on a short rest or a long rest it’s always there. Essentially putting you in a much better position especially at those early levels when maybe your proficiency bonus isn’t something you can rely on.
It’s really nice and if you thought that was all which i mean most DM’s would argue it should be, there’s even more yeah…that’s right. Let’s check out its other traits.
Other Traits
So first and foremost you gain access to awards and seals once per long rest you can cast the alarm or mage armor spells with this trait. At third level you can also cast the arcane lock spell with it. Intelligence is your spell casting ability modifier for these spells and you don’t need any material components for them when you cast them with this trait.
Really cool stuff! Alarm is one of the more useful spells in the game at least at early levels before you gain access to things like leomund’s tiny hut, alarm really just helps you protect your camp or whatever area you’re resting in a lot better and mage armor of course one of the more useful combat orientated spells.
Once again especially those early levels where you might not have the best equipment or any equipment depending on what your DM style be. But if you thought that was all you’d be wrong yet again. You also gain access to an extended spell list very similar to the guild masters guide to ravnica books.
In this case you gain access to alarm and armor of agathys at level one, at second level you get access to arcane lock and knock, third level gets you a glyph of warding and magic circle, fourth level leomund’s secret chest and mordenkainen’s faithful hound and at fifth level you gain antilife shell.
Overall almost all of these are just fantastic spells. Especially if you’re let’s say a eldritch knight or something along that line or any gish caster in general. Armor of agathys is gonna help you out tons especially at those early levels of course. Knock is kind of a hit or misspell it’s nice because if you don’t have access to a thief type character or the locks arcane or trapped.
This is a good way to get around it. However with that being said it does alert nearby enemies your presence so man you also gain that plus 1d4 to your thieves tools check so i don’t know how much use knock is going to get. However arcane lock would make for some interesting role play opportunities.
Glyph of warding and magic circle are both dropped at amazing spells. leomund’s secret chest and mordenkainen’s faithful hound are kind of hit or miss but very cool flavor regardless and anti-life shell is of course a great spell. Now let’s move on to my personal thoughts on the mark of warding dwarf.
Thoughts
So as with most supplements with a few very notable ones. There are always going to be some elements of backlash whenever wizards of the coast publishes anything as to potential game breaking exploits or overpowered something or another it happened with eberron, it happened with the guildmaster’s guide to ravnica happens with the variant human all the time and it happens with tasha’s cauldron of everything.
Fact of the matter is i firmly believe that the DM has more tools in their toolbox than the players will ever have in theirs. That being said! All of the marked races or sub-racess i guess technically. They have this weird thing where their power scaling is really good at those early levels but as things progress and as class features become more and more important .
It becomes less noticeable, with that said though the biggest problem that stems from these sub-races is how it makes other party members feel right. To that all i can say is you know just be courteous remember you’re playing a co-op game and make sure everyone feels useful to some semblance or another.
Outside of that though, i don’t have an issue with them overall. The mark of warding dwarf is an incredibly viable choice in my opinion. It’s really nice and it can provide a ton of interesting lore and potential plot development which is especially true if you’re actually staying true to the eberron lore.
Conclusion
In any case let me know what you think of the mark of warding dwarf down beneath in the comments section. Mention any thoughts, questions, comments or concerns you have regarding it and with that being said guys and as always i hope you all have a great day and of course happy adventuring.