SOURCE: Eberron – Rising From The Last War

Rating the Benefits of Greater Aberrant Powers

Benefit #1 – 

From level 10, a character with an Aberrant Dragonmark has a 10% chance of manifesting Greater Aberrant Powers. These manifest as an Epic Boon, which can be randomly determined or chosen by the GM as normal.

The list of Epic Boons is long, containing options that are both monstrously powerful, as well as thematically appropriate and incredibly fun. While the random chance aspect is harsh, if your GM allows these and you roll one up, expect to run riot with it.  

Benefit #2 – 

As a price for their Epic Boon, a character loses an amount of maximum HP equal to a roll of a hit die + their Con Bonus. 

This is the main downside for manifesting a level 20 ability at level 10. Losing a level’s worth of HP. 

Is this worth it? Unless your GM is incredibly mean, almost all of the time, the balance leans heavily towards yes.

Mechanics and Requirements

Understanding How It Functions

Greater Aberrant Powers aren’t a feat. Instead, they’re a buff gained, at random, by characters who have the Aberrant Dragonmark Feat and have reached at least level 10. 

Gaining Greater Aberrant Powers isn’t a set thing. Instead, at your GM’s discretion, a character has a 10% chance to gain this power at level 10, then another flat 10% chance again at every further level up if they didn’t gain a boon the first (or fifth, or ninth…) time. 

If a character is lucky enough to gain Greater Aberrant Powers, then they gain an Epic Boon. This is a major spike in power, as Epic Boons are generally only ever available to characters at level 20; at the end of their career, with no further levels to take or power to gain. We’re talking adventurers who can comfortably cross planes to deal with existence-level threats and swat aside Elder Dragons before breakfast. These powers are built for them, and this feature gives that power boost to characters as low as level 10. 

If a character is lucky enough to manifest Greater Aberrant Powers, they gain one of the Epic Boons listed in chapter 7 of the DMG. As mentioned, this can either be randomly generated, or chosen by your GM.

The list of boons is extensive; with 26 options suitable for every character type and gaming situation. Here’s the full list, with a breakdown of how powerful each option is as a general guide. 

Epic Boons Breakdown

Boon of Combat Prowess

After missing with an attack, choose to hit instead. Comes back on a short rest. 

Simple, but powerful. Characters with big single swings, like the Rogue’s Sneak Attack or Paladin’s Smite, are the best users. It’s worth noting that these are attack rolls, so spells that make attack rolls to hit also qualify. 

Boon of Dimensional Travel

Cast Misty Step as an action, once per short rest. 

Once, this might have been good. Now, with the wealth of available content, including feats and races that do exactly this thing, it’s not great. Certain races (Eladrin especially…) can even teleport multiple times per day as a bonus action, which is outright better. 

Boon of Fate

When a creature within 60ft makes an attack roll, ability check, or save, add or subtract a d10 from that roll. Comes back on a short rest. 

Adding or subtracting up to 10 from a roll is a monstrous boost, and this can be used on basically anything any action another creature (but not you) takes.

Spiking an enemy’s saves into the ground or boosting essential attack rolls are the obvious uses, but this can and will be used multiple times per day, every day.  

Boon of Fortitude

+40 HP. 

Yes, that’s all it does. Still, increasing a level 10 character’s total HP by around 50% or more is a ridiculous amount of survivability. If you’re lucky enough to get this early on an appropriate character, expect to have a higher total HP than many of the bosses you face. 

Boon of High Magic

Gain a level 9 spell slot, if you already have one. 

Yes, your character has to be at least level 17 and a spellcaster for this to be applicable, but considering every spellcasting class only gains one level 9 spell slot per day, this is a truly obscene amount of power. 

Boon of Immortality

Stop aging. Literally nothing can age the character further, and the character also can’t die from old age. 

This is almost entirely a fluff benefit. There are very few campaigns where immunity to aging will have any meaningful effect. Still, this is a wonderful capstone for a character to gain, and it’s also good if you don’t want your campaign derailed by a lucky roll on the Greater Aberrant Powers table. 

Boon of Invincibility

Once per short rest, after taking damage from something, reduce that damage to 0. 

Best saved for unlucky critical hits or those gigantic blast spells that roll high, but are just as useful against the last hit that would drop a character to 0 hp. The fact this can be used multiple times per day makes it especially powerful. 

Great on literally any character. Especially funny on a Half-Orc, who can already essentially do this once per day as part of their racial bonuses. 

Boon of Irresistible Offense

The character can ignore the damage resistances of any creature. 

Ignoring what is a 50% reduction in damage is powerful, and this works with literally any damage a character deals. Weapon attacks, unarmed strikes, and spells, all qualify. Still, at the level this is gained, most characters should have a way around resistances, either magic weapons or the appropriate feats. 

Also, if for any reason you don’t want to absolutely murder what you’re hitting, this is phrased as “can ignore” so, for example, a mind-controlled PC could choose for their allies to still have resistance against their attacks. If that ever comes up. 

Boon of Luck

Add a d10 to any roll you make, once per short rest. 

Differs from the boon of fate as it can only be used on you, and only on positive rolls. That makes it substantially worse, but this still has a place for characters who really need certain attacks to land, hold concentration on key spells, or guarantee a pass on a key save. 

Boon of Magic Resistance

Permanent advantage on saves against spells and other magical effects. 

In certain campaigns, this is absolutely broken, but the effectiveness is balanced around how often you face relevant enemies. Still, at the level this is available, spells and magical effects are alarmingly common, making this one of the most powerful general choices. 

Boon of Peerless Aim

+20 to hit on one ranged attack, once per short rest. 

The hit bonus essentially guarantees that the attack this ability is used on lands, even through debuffs like disadvantage and the -5 from the Sharpshooter feat. 

Still, one attack, once per short rest, which has to be ranged, is an awful lot of hoops to jump through. The boon of luck is much more generally useful, as is the boon of combat prowess, which just hits, with no questions asked. 

Boon of Perfect Health

Permanent immunity to diseases and poisons, plus advantage on all Constitution saving throws.

Disease and poison are infrequent threats in most 5e campaigns, but when they come up, they can be crippling, so smugly announcing your immunity is a solid boon. 

Advantage on Con saves, on the other hand, is incredible. Many powerful disables target Con, and possibly more importantly, maintaining Concentration on spells is also a Con save, meaning this boon is doubly amazing for spell-slinging characters, many of which pick up feats just to help with spell concentration.  

Boon of Planar Travel

Pick one of the planes of existence. As an action, cast Plane Shift without needing material components or spell slots, to move to or from that plane. The ability refreshes on a short rest. 

This is awesome thematically, and incredible if you’re playing a character that fits the theme, such as a thief who can step into the ethereal plane, or a caster who can comfortably retreat to the elemental plane of water to recuperate and rearm. 

However, this ability can only be used on your character itself and doesn’t have serious mechanical benefits, besides being really really cool. 

Boon of Quick Casting

Choose a spell of level 1, 2, or 3 that has a casting time of 1 action. The spell changes to have a casting time of a bonus action. 

Essentially the Quicken Metamagic, with some limits bolted on. Takes a little work to be strong, but incredible in certain builds. 

Examples include a permanently Quickened Fireball, which can be thrown out in the same turn as a cantrip, or when taking the Dodge action for increased toughness. Alternatively, a Hexblade Warlock could attack with their weapon, while casting Armor of Agathys as a bonus action to stack temp HP and damage. 

Boon of Recovery

As a bonus action, heal half your HP total. Unlike many boons, this one refreshes on a long rest, meaning it’s once per day only. 

At level 10, a Barbarian can expect to have around 100 HP. Healing half of that, after an enemy has gruelingly carved through it all, is very strong, and only gets stronger as a character levels up and keeps stacking HP. 

Boon of Resilience

Permanent resistance to damage from non-magical slashing, bludgeoning, and piercing damage. 

Even at high levels, many enemies still deal physical damage with their standard attacks. Resistance to most of the damage that a character might face effectively doubles their HP total.

This boon is useful on literally anyone, from the gigantic walls of meat and HP, like the Fighters, down to the vulnerable wizards, who are suddenly tanking ax hits to the face like they were nothing.   

Boon of Skill Proficiency

The character gains proficiency in all skills. 

Unfortunately, most of the characters who want skill proficiencies will already have what they need, and characters without a lot of skills naturally, who might appreciate this, won’t be very good at them. While this is a cool boon in concept, the execution is a little short. 

Boon of Speed

Increase walking speed by 30ft, and once per short rest, Dash or Disengage as a bonus action. 

For many characters, this effectively doubles their base movement speed. It gets ridiculous on Monks and Barbarians, who already have built-in speed boosts as class abilities. 

While it’s not the flashiest, increases in movement speed are genuinely useful, making positioning correctly in combat a thing of the past. 60ft of speed also makes a character essentially impossible to outrun under standard circumstances and makes difficult terrain a non-entity. 

The bonus action to dash or disengage, like a budget Rogue’s Cunning Action, is just the icing on the cake. 

Boon of Spell Mastery

Pick one 1st-level spell from the Warlock, Sorcerer, or Wizard spell list. The character can cast that spell an infinite amount of times per day. 

WotC was very careful to pick spell lists with no healing options, stopping the party from fully healing after each encounter. But there are still some incredible options here. 

Defensively, Absorb Elements and Shield are absolute standouts, halving elemental damage or adding +5 AC as a reaction, respectively. Armor of Agathys is also nice, as a +5 THP shield that’s going to be permanently up, plus damage. 

Offensively, 1st level spells aren’t going to be powerful at this level. Hex is always strong, though, and debuffs like Cause Fear aren’t terrible. 

And of course, there’s always Silvery Barbs. Giving an enemy disadvantage on a roll, and an all advantage on a roll, every single turn, as a reaction, is a guaranteed way to make your GM cry. 

Boon of Spell Recall

Once per day, pick a spell you know, and cast it. 

This is similar to the Boon of High Magic. Realistically, you’re going to cast one of your highest level spells using this, but it’s nice to have the lower-level slot open if you need it. 

Non-magic users need not apply. 

Boon of Fire Soul

Complete immunity to fire damage, and cast Burning Hands at will. 

Immunity to a damage type is great. Especially the most common damage type in 5e. That’s nice, though fire resistance is easy to acquire. 

Unfortunately, the second part of this boon sucks. At any level you can access this, Burning Hands is less powerful than attacking or casting a cantrip, so probably won’t ever be used.

Boon of the Night Spirit

Permanent invisibility with infinite uses, the only restriction being you must be in dim light or darkness, is a hell of an ability. Not only do many areas the party operates in already fall under these parameters, but it’s incredibly easy to set up even in broad daylight. 

Better, though, is the fact that this version of invisibility comes with its own list of removal triggers: Taking an action or reaction. Note this doesn’t say Bonus Action, so characters with useful bonus actions can freely use them to play merry havoc with the world to their heart’s content. 

Boon of the Stormborn

Complete immunity to two damage types, plus the ability to throw out a Thunderwave at will. 

Similar to the Boon of the Fire Soul, the damage immunity is great, especially if you know this is good for your particular campaign and enemies. The spell sucks. 

Boon of the Unfettered

Spend an action to automatically escape grapples or other forms of restraints, plus advantage on any checks against being restrained in the first place. 

I mean, if you’re playing a pro wrestling campaign, this is incredible. For most characters, this isn’t going to occur anywhere near often enough for it to be better than anything else on this list. 

Boon of Truesight

The character gains 60ft Truesight (shocking, yes.)

For many characters, seeing through illusions and invisibility without a save is useful, but won’t come up too often. however, there’s a bias to abilities like these that make them feel useful, as long as it’s occasionally used to find something. Are we saying you should intentionally include a secret for your player to find with their shiny new magic eyes? Yes. Yes, we are. 

Boon of Undetectability

A huge boost to stealth checks and complete immunity to divination magic is perfect for sneaky characters and genuinely handy to have on anyone else. 

Stacking this with other buffs (Expertise, Pass Without Trace, etc) can turn a character into a literal ghost. While it’s unlikely to affect combat for anyone not playing a Rogue, the out-of-combat benefits are colossal. A character with this boon might as well be invisible. And that’s before they cast Invisibility on themselves…

Strategies for Maximizing Greater Aberrant Powers Effectiveness

With 26 options that cover every single aspect of the game, it’s hard to give specific advice regarding effective builds and character synergy between Epic Boons and anything else. No matter what you’re building, there’s something here that’s going to be incredibly effective.  

What works for one particular character is going to be far less useful for another. The quick and easy way to explain this is with an example: What does the Barbarian do with a Boon of Quick Casting? Absolutely nothing is the answer. 

In the same way, a player running a Divination Wizard focused on controlling the battlefield is either going to laugh bitterly or throw their dice at the GM who tells them they now have the Boon of Fire Soul, and can now freely cast a spell they haven’t used for ten levels. 

Still, realistically, a GM who allows Greater Aberrant Powers into their game has probably (hopefully) taken all of this into account. Stapling yet another level of randomness onto this ability is a terrible, awful idea that no one should ever pursue. 

If your GM is allowing your character to have these powers, then no randomness is allowed. The feat is already random enough, so what you get should be entirely in your GM’s hands. Here’s why:

• Useful and effective: No chance of gaining a bunch of incredible buffs that your character literally can’t use
• Easier to balance: Knowing how a boon will interact with a build makes it much easier to account for and helps to balance encounters against the increase in party strength
• Thematically appropriate: A good GM might be able to take the fact that a character has an Epic Boon, and tie it directly into their campaign. Or at least create an interesting side quest to show off these new powers.  

Potential issues with Greater Aberrant Powers

As it turns out, a character suddenly manifesting some great and terrible supernatural ability isn’t all fun and games. The Boons granted here aren’t a guarantee. Instead, as we’ve already mentioned, they’re a random buff that has a very real chance of not being granted at all. 

Before giving a player the hope of manifesting Greater Aberrant Powers, sit down and have a serious talk about expectations and what they might do to your game. 

Unbalanced Effects 

Epic boons are designed around the concept that only level 20 characters have them, and are balanced around the idea and power of appropriate CR 20 encounters.

Certain boons are incredibly powerful, especially stacked with certain classes and builds. 

Some of the resilience-focused builds can effectively make a character unkillable to equivalent CR encounters unless they just stand around trading attacks and eating damage for free. 

In the same way, being able to guarantee hits, or irresistibly lower a major enemy’s saving throw and make sure a disabling effect goes through, can shut out an encounter, especially against big single enemies. 

Special Snowflakes and Party Balance  

Seems obvious to say, but one character gaining a shiny and unique superpowered ability can make the rest of the party feel less useful. 

While a player lucking out on that 10% roll and gaining a massive boost of power to their character is a serious feelsgood moment for them, among the rest of the party, envy is the obvious outcome. 

While it might not come immediately, as it slowly becomes obvious that one character now stands head and shoulders above the rest, expect other players to dissent. At best, they’ll come to you and ask for their own cool things to play with. 

At worst, expect undercurrents of resentment and a slow, gradual loss of interest as the focus inexorably shifts. 

If a player insists, 1. Tell them no. You’re the GM after all. 2. Give them a boost that’s fun and thematic more than powerful. Plane shifting or immortality aren’t likely to break a game open in the same way as permanent Quickened Spells, but they feel impactful and awesome. 

Chance, RNG and Special Never Happening

We’ll say it outright. Leaving a potential character benefit purely to RNG, especially a benefit of this level of power, is awful game design. 

As cool as it sounds to have to roll for power, 10% is not a high chance. Even if a character climbs to the heady heights of level 20, there’s a not insignificant chance that they never manifest their Greater Aberrant Powers. 

A roughly 35% chance. That’s big. 

That means, for every three characters that have the chance for an Epic Boon, one out of the three will never gain them. If your GM is permissive enough to give everyone the chance at a boon, in an average party, at least one person is missing out. 

On top of that, the way the boons are distributed means that one character might gain their boost at level 10, while another sits and waits, and waits, and waits again, finally getting their boon at level 19. 

So, ask yourself, how long does it normally take to gain 9 levels? How many sessions of play is that? How many weeks, or months, of play, without an epic boon to call your own?

Our advice, if you’re insistent on running Epic Boons at non-epic levels, is to remove that element of RNG. Make it a consistent thing. Potentially even give every PC an Epic Boon. Then step back, take a long hard look at your creations, and wonder just how you’re going to balance the whole thing.

Final Thoughts on Greater Aberrant Powers

Greater Aberrant Powers is a great idea in theory, with a seriously epic thematic hook to go alongside the epic boons that they grant. But we have one big piece of advice if you’re considering introducing this to your campaign. 

Don’t do it. 

Seriously. The number of issues this feature can trigger isn’t worth the potential upsides. Between jealousy, balance issues, and awful awful RNG, Epic Boons, especially at this level, delivered in this way, are a bad idea. 

Whether you’re a player or GM, if the Aberrant Dragonmark feat is in your game, it’s best to sit down at the table and discuss expectations. And hey, if people disagree, you can always send them to this article!