tattoos [Archive] - Wizards Community - Pages Merged by Solauren

tattoos [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
0dan
04-22-08, 09:35 PM 1) are tattoos permanent? or 1 shot use?
2) how do you "activate" a tattoo? do you just think about it? does it take up a move equivalent action?
3) where in the book does it explain these things? i can't seem to find it.
4) if i select vigor, how many times can i add 5 more hp to the tattoo?
GuyrtheadamantineOne
04-22-08, 09:51 PM 1) are tattoos permanent? or 1 shot use?
2) how do you "activate" a tattoo? do you just think about it? does it take up a move equivalent action?
3) where in the book does it explain these things? i can't seem to find it.
4) if i select vigor, how many times can i add 5 more hp to the tattoo?

1) They're sticky potions, so 1 use.
2) They're sticky potions, so its a standard action which provoques an attack of opportunity, while touching them.
3) Here on the SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/items/psionicTattoos.htm).
4) By paying more to enhance its manifester level.
0dan
04-22-08, 09:57 PM thank you very much. much appreciated. :cool:
AntiDjinn
04-22-08, 10:03 PM Think of a tattoo as a potion you can't drop or break. To activate it you just touch it and will it to activate (see page 170 of the XPH).

As for using more points of Vigor in a single tattoo, normally points spent to augment or metapsionic a power never change its level. Items are an exception: A tattoo can not hold a power above 3rd level or its equivalent in points (5 points). So a 5th level manifester can create a tattoo with 5 points of Vigor (can grant 25 temporary hit points once). The cost to create is the same as scribing a tattoo with a 3rd level power. Presumably, higher level tattoos take more expensive ink, or just require more ink.
crizh
04-23-08, 03:31 AM @Antidjinn

This may be true for Dorje's and Psicrowns, depending on how you want to read the conflicting rules on the matter. AFAIK, however, this does not apply to any other form of Psionic Item.

IMNVH opinion that rule is Lame. The pathetic justification is solely based on augments raising DC's like Heighten Spell would and does not take any account of powers that do not possess saves.

The fact is, the EPH disagrees with itself on the subject, the errata doesn't fix it and the maths is repeatedly wrong. I don't use it and I can't imagine why anyone who wasn't a sadist or a psi-hater would.
CrimsonDeath
04-23-08, 12:04 PM Also, the rules for augmenting powers in items, as they're written (according to the example provided), result in characters crafting items with effective power levels higher than they're capable of manifesting.
Wharin
04-23-08, 01:31 PM I wonder if recipients of psionic tattoos have to make sure to wash it at least 4 times a day and rub Bericare or some other ointment on it for like 4 days and then a high quality lotion after that for the next 2 weeks.
AntiDjinn
04-23-08, 01:38 PM See page 41 of the XPH. A tattoo is used as the example. It is on the same page where it says metapsionics never change the level of a power. Just a few inches under that it says that the effective level for determining if it comes in under the limit is based off the equivalent point cost. One way around this would be to get several tattoos at a lower level, though 5 1st level tattoos of Vigor do not function the way a single 5 point tat does.

This is one area where the XPH screwed up, but it is in the rules in black and white and has not been errataed. If they felt they needed hard limits on what could be stuffed in a particular item, then they should have set total power point per charge or use instead of this effective level nonsense. That way, they could have avoiding stating that added points never change a power's level then on the same page giving an example where they do.
AntiDjinn
04-23-08, 01:44 PM I wonder if recipients of psionic tattoos have to make sure to wash it at least 4 times a day and rub Bericare or some other ointment on it for like 4 days and then a high quality lotion after that for the next 2 weeks.
The process must be very different from getting a real world tattoo. There is no mention of impairment or intense itching while the site is healing, or even a healing period at all. The text also doesn't mention how peeved the user will be to have to use (and loose) a tattoo after enduring the pain of having it scribed into his flesh. I can only conclude that the artist actually scribes on a dead or unconscious body he keeps in his parlor, then using the rules for transfer of a tattoo from one person to another, has the client take up the tattoo fully healed and ready for use.
InkBlot
04-23-08, 01:53 PM AntiDjinn, that's what I figured too. The tattoo artist scribes it on dead flesh, then transfers it. I even took it to it's logical extreme as a DM, and gave the PCs a book with leather pages with some low-level tattoos scribed in it. Unfortunately, none of the PCs took Scribe Tattoo, so the power book was soon tossed away.
Wharin
04-23-08, 02:26 PM Man... I got to work on my snarkiness... its just not shining bright as it could be.

Yeah, I figured that whatever a psionic tattooer does to ink said tattoos is vastly different from real life. I can't help but wonder if he doesnt just draw on the guy with a pen and then just sort of, like, psionically press it down, or something that doesn't involve trauma to the skin.
CrimsonDeath
04-23-08, 03:41 PM Well, since a corpse is technically an object, if you can scribe a tattoo onto a corpse and then transfer it off, there's no reason you couldn't just scribe it onto a table and then transfer it off. Which avoids making less sense when you consider that skin is not required for a creature to wear a psionic tattoo, only a corporeal, non-amorphous surface (such as the composite plating of a Warforged).
InkBlot
04-23-08, 05:16 PM It's a bit unclear what the XPH means by "an appropriate physical surface on which to scribe the pattern." The examples it gives aren't very good. I don't believe a psionic tattoo can be worn by a creature entirely made of something which can't be inked normally, such as a psicrystal. A psicrystal is phyiscal, but it doesn't have any appropriate surfaces.

That's just my take on it. Your DM may vary.

I allow warforged to get tattoos on their wooden/fibrous parts.
GuyrtheadamantineOne
04-23-08, 05:23 PM So warforged in your campaign can have less tattoos?:confused:

This thought made me cry. (I love them, even more with the Mind's Eye's expansion, which we brought to 3.5 ruleset.)
crizh
04-23-08, 05:50 PM See page 41 of the XPH. A tattoo is used as the example. It is on the same page where it says metapsionics never change the level of a power. Just a few inches under that it says that the effective level for determining if it comes in under the limit is based off the equivalent point cost. One way around this would be to get several tattoos at a lower level, though 5 1st level tattoos of Vigor do not function the way a single 5 point tat does.

This is one area where the XPH screwed up, but it is in the rules in black and white and has not been errataed. If they felt they needed hard limits on what could be stuffed in a particular item, then they should have set total power point per charge or use instead of this effective level nonsense. That way, they could have avoiding stating that added points never change a power's level then on the same page giving an example where they do.

OK, firstly, that's Metapsionics not augmentation. Secondly, like you say, immediately after stating that Metapsionics don't modify Power Level. Thirdly, and my personal favourite, a mere page after.

If a dorje is crafted with concussion blast augmented by spending 6 additional power points, the minimum effective manifester level for the purpose of determining cost would be 6th (the power level remains unchanged at 2nd) and the dorje would create concussive blasts that deal 5d6 points of damage with a base save DC of 15

[edit] I should point out that I have read Concussion Blast recently and that in my opinion it only goes to show that Mr Cordell should take less drugs. Or more, depending....
Moosh Nailo
04-23-08, 06:07 PM For more tattoo goodness (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20031225a)
InkBlot
04-23-08, 10:35 PM So warforged in your campaign can have less tattoos?:confused:

This thought made me cry. (I love them, even more with the Mind's Eye's expansion, which we brought to 3.5 ruleset.)

Warforged in my games can have 20 tattoos, just like anybody else. The twenty-tattoo-tops rule never had anything to do with the size of the tattoos.

I always imagined that the psionic tattoos would each take up, on average, a one inch square. You could certainly squeeze 20 square inches onto a warforged wooden parts. You could also justify it by saying they use smaller tattoos, or that the tattoos autopsionically change size in proportion to the available surface area of the person wearing them.
GuyrtheadamantineOne
04-23-08, 10:55 PM For more tattoo goodness (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20031225a)

Exactly the article I was refering to. Thanks!

Warforged in my games can have 20 tattoos, just like anybody else. The twenty-tattoo-tops rule never had anything to do with the size of the tattoos.

I always imagined that the psionic tattoos would each take up, on average, a one inch square. You could certainly squeeze 20 square inches onto a warforged wooden parts. You could also justify it by saying they use smaller tattoos, or that the tattoos autopsionically change size in proportion to the available surface area of the person wearing them.

I see your point. I must say its quite the opposite on my side of the track. Psionic tattoos are pretty large, but blend their lines and traits seamlessly on the joints to form a bigger image, one that take a smaller space than the sum of them all. (Still, I almost always depict psionic tattoos as weird dragonmarks-ish meshes of lines, as it fit more the ''psionic circuit'' theme in my head, so it might not work everywhere.)

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
0dan 04-22-08, 09:35 PM	1) are tattoos permanent? or 1 shot use? 2) how do you "activate" a tattoo? do you just think about it? does it take up a move equivalent action? 3) where in the book does it explain these things? i can't seem to find it. 4) if i select vigor, how many times can i add 5 more hp to the tattoo?
GuyrtheadamantineOne 04-22-08, 09:51 PM	1) are tattoos permanent? or 1 shot use? 2) how do you "activate" a tattoo? do you just think about it? does it take up a move equivalent action? 3) where in the book does it explain these things? i can't seem to find it. 4) if i select vigor, how many times can i add 5 more hp to the tattoo? 1) They're sticky potions, so 1 use. 2) They're sticky potions, so its a standard action which provoques an attack of opportunity, while touching them. 3) Here on the SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/items/psionicTattoos.htm). 4) By paying more to enhance its manifester level.
0dan 04-22-08, 09:57 PM	thank you very much. much appreciated. :cool:
AntiDjinn 04-22-08, 10:03 PM	Think of a tattoo as a potion you can't drop or break. To activate it you just touch it and will it to activate (see page 170 of the XPH). As for using more points of Vigor in a single tattoo, normally points spent to augment or metapsionic a power never change its level. Items are an exception: A tattoo can not hold a power above 3rd level or its equivalent in points (5 points). So a 5th level manifester can create a tattoo with 5 points of Vigor (can grant 25 temporary hit points once). The cost to create is the same as scribing a tattoo with a 3rd level power. Presumably, higher level tattoos take more expensive ink, or just require more ink.
crizh 04-23-08, 03:31 AM	@Antidjinn This may be true for Dorje's and Psicrowns, depending on how you want to read the conflicting rules on the matter. AFAIK, however, this does not apply to any other form of Psionic Item. IMNVH opinion that rule is Lame. The pathetic justification is solely based on augments raising DC's like Heighten Spell would and does not take any account of powers that do not possess saves. The fact is, the EPH disagrees with itself on the subject, the errata doesn't fix it and the maths is repeatedly wrong. I don't use it and I can't imagine why anyone who wasn't a sadist or a psi-hater would.
CrimsonDeath 04-23-08, 12:04 PM	Also, the rules for augmenting powers in items, as they're written (according to the example provided), result in characters crafting items with effective power levels higher than they're capable of manifesting.
Wharin 04-23-08, 01:31 PM	I wonder if recipients of psionic tattoos have to make sure to wash it at least 4 times a day and rub Bericare or some other ointment on it for like 4 days and then a high quality lotion after that for the next 2 weeks.
AntiDjinn 04-23-08, 01:38 PM	See page 41 of the XPH. A tattoo is used as the example. It is on the same page where it says metapsionics never change the level of a power. Just a few inches under that it says that the effective level for determining if it comes in under the limit is based off the equivalent point cost. One way around this would be to get several tattoos at a lower level, though 5 1st level tattoos of Vigor do not function the way a single 5 point tat does. This is one area where the XPH screwed up, but it is in the rules in black and white and has not been errataed. If they felt they needed hard limits on what could be stuffed in a particular item, then they should have set total power point per charge or use instead of this effective level nonsense. That way, they could have avoiding stating that added points never change a power's level then on the same page giving an example where they do.
AntiDjinn 04-23-08, 01:44 PM	I wonder if recipients of psionic tattoos have to make sure to wash it at least 4 times a day and rub Bericare or some other ointment on it for like 4 days and then a high quality lotion after that for the next 2 weeks. The process must be very different from getting a real world tattoo. There is no mention of impairment or intense itching while the site is healing, or even a healing period at all. The text also doesn't mention how peeved the user will be to have to use (and loose) a tattoo after enduring the pain of having it scribed into his flesh. I can only conclude that the artist actually scribes on a dead or unconscious body he keeps in his parlor, then using the rules for transfer of a tattoo from one person to another, has the client take up the tattoo fully healed and ready for use.
InkBlot 04-23-08, 01:53 PM	AntiDjinn, that's what I figured too. The tattoo artist scribes it on dead flesh, then transfers it. I even took it to it's logical extreme as a DM, and gave the PCs a book with leather pages with some low-level tattoos scribed in it. Unfortunately, none of the PCs took Scribe Tattoo, so the power book was soon tossed away.
Wharin 04-23-08, 02:26 PM	Man... I got to work on my snarkiness... its just not shining bright as it could be. Yeah, I figured that whatever a psionic tattooer does to ink said tattoos is vastly different from real life. I can't help but wonder if he doesnt just draw on the guy with a pen and then just sort of, like, psionically press it down, or something that doesn't involve trauma to the skin.
CrimsonDeath 04-23-08, 03:41 PM	Well, since a corpse is technically an object, if you can scribe a tattoo onto a corpse and then transfer it off, there's no reason you couldn't just scribe it onto a table and then transfer it off. Which avoids making less sense when you consider that skin is not required for a creature to wear a psionic tattoo, only a corporeal, non-amorphous surface (such as the composite plating of a Warforged).
InkBlot 04-23-08, 05:16 PM	It's a bit unclear what the XPH means by "an appropriate physical surface on which to scribe the pattern." The examples it gives aren't very good. I don't believe a psionic tattoo can be worn by a creature entirely made of something which can't be inked normally, such as a psicrystal. A psicrystal is phyiscal, but it doesn't have any appropriate surfaces. That's just my take on it. Your DM may vary. I allow warforged to get tattoos on their wooden/fibrous parts.
GuyrtheadamantineOne 04-23-08, 05:23 PM	So warforged in your campaign can have less tattoos?:confused: This thought made me cry. (I love them, even more with the Mind's Eye's expansion, which we brought to 3.5 ruleset.)
crizh 04-23-08, 05:50 PM	See page 41 of the XPH. A tattoo is used as the example. It is on the same page where it says metapsionics never change the level of a power. Just a few inches under that it says that the effective level for determining if it comes in under the limit is based off the equivalent point cost. One way around this would be to get several tattoos at a lower level, though 5 1st level tattoos of Vigor do not function the way a single 5 point tat does. This is one area where the XPH screwed up, but it is in the rules in black and white and has not been errataed. If they felt they needed hard limits on what could be stuffed in a particular item, then they should have set total power point per charge or use instead of this effective level nonsense. That way, they could have avoiding stating that added points never change a power's level then on the same page giving an example where they do. OK, firstly, that's Metapsionics not augmentation. Secondly, like you say, immediately after stating that Metapsionics don't modify Power Level. Thirdly, and my personal favourite, a mere page after. If a dorje is crafted with concussion blast augmented by spending 6 additional power points, the minimum effective manifester level for the purpose of determining cost would be 6th (the power level remains unchanged at 2nd) and the dorje would create concussive blasts that deal 5d6 points of damage with a base save DC of 15 [edit] I should point out that I have read Concussion Blast recently and that in my opinion it only goes to show that Mr Cordell should take less drugs. Or more, depending....
Moosh Nailo 04-23-08, 06:07 PM	For more tattoo goodness (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20031225a)
InkBlot 04-23-08, 10:35 PM	So warforged in your campaign can have less tattoos?:confused: This thought made me cry. (I love them, even more with the Mind's Eye's expansion, which we brought to 3.5 ruleset.) Warforged in my games can have 20 tattoos, just like anybody else. The twenty-tattoo-tops rule never had anything to do with the size of the tattoos. I always imagined that the psionic tattoos would each take up, on average, a one inch square. You could certainly squeeze 20 square inches onto a warforged wooden parts. You could also justify it by saying they use smaller tattoos, or that the tattoos autopsionically change size in proportion to the available surface area of the person wearing them.
GuyrtheadamantineOne 04-23-08, 10:55 PM	For more tattoo goodness (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20031225a) Exactly the article I was refering to. Thanks! Warforged in my games can have 20 tattoos, just like anybody else. The twenty-tattoo-tops rule never had anything to do with the size of the tattoos. I always imagined that the psionic tattoos would each take up, on average, a one inch square. You could certainly squeeze 20 square inches onto a warforged wooden parts. You could also justify it by saying they use smaller tattoos, or that the tattoos autopsionically change size in proportion to the available surface area of the person wearing them. I see your point. I must say its quite the opposite on my side of the track. Psionic tattoos are pretty large, but blend their lines and traits seamlessly on the joints to form a bigger image, one that take a smaller space than the sum of them all. (Still, I almost always depict psionic tattoos as weird dragonmarks-ish meshes of lines, as it fit more the ''psionic circuit'' theme in my head, so it might not work everywhere.)