Post/Author/DateTime	Post
sdragon1984 01-21-06, 05:14 PM	has anybody ever included power-granting tattoos in a campaign? im thinking almost a la fable, but have the benefits more fitting to d&d... one idea is allowing tattooed characters have either a new feat or a spell-like ability, depending on the tattoo. how would you go about pricing these? obviously where theres tattoos, theres room for tatoo removal (at DMs descretion), so id imagine thatd make the price go lower then if they actually tried to purchase a new feat/spell/spell-like ability, but theres still the problem of pricing those out in the first place.... as for tattoo removal, personally, i think itd be best left completely to DM descretion, but should players be allowed to pay to have one tattoo removed in order to replace it with another? IMHO, the concept of having a PC wake up after a major enemy ambush only to find his tattoo (that the player used for overpowering the character? :p) jaringly absent, is a wonderful idea.......
Mind Rogue 01-21-06, 06:13 PM	What you are asking for sounds similar to an unslotted wondrous item that cannot be lost, stolen, or sold. Start by pricing it as you would a normal wondrous item. Once you have how much it would ordinarily cost, double the price because it has no slot. Presumably, the inability to sell it would be a detriment, but presumably if the character is going to have it scribed onto him, he wants it in the first place, and that along with the fact that it can't be lost or stolen probably outweighs that fact, so no additional price adjustment. You might choose to let it be improved in the normal manner (by drawing additional patterns into the tatoo). For instance, suppose you wanted a tatoo that grants a +2 resistance bonus to all saves. This closely resembles a cloak of resistance +2, ordinarily priced at 4000 gp, so your tatoo costs 4000 gp and 320 Xp to scribe and has a market price of 8000 gp. You might decide that you want to create a special "Scribe Tatoo" feat that has craft wonderous as a prerequisite in order to do this. If you do this, you can probably reduce the price increase to +50% instead of doubling it (which makes the above tatoo of resistance have a market price of 6000 gp). I believe there is actually a sidebar in the DMG that briefly mentions something like this. I suggest you make these tatoos only allow continuous use abilities. Alternatively, if you want one-time use tatoos that are quasi-mobile and disappear after use, you are looking for something like the psionic tatoos in the XPHB, which could easily be adapted for spells.
sdragon1984 01-21-06, 08:47 PM	actually, they can be lost, depending on if the DM would allow that in their game..... i didnt see that sidebar, do you know what page its on? that and, one thing i felt the DMG fell short on was creating wonderous items with abilities that werent already listed in a wonderous item. a tattoo/wonderous item that allows one unarmed strike a day act as either a strike with a vorpal weapon or keen weapon might be fun, but i dont see anything that would allow anything even close to something like that...........
Mind Rogue 01-22-06, 10:46 AM	I'm not seeing the sidebar right now, so it might be possible that they cut it out in the revision. However, pg 285 has a table for estimating the market price of most magic items, and it includes a few lines saying how much to increase its cost if it has an unusual body slot, none at all, if it has multiple abilities, or if it is charged per day.
Benny BBQ 01-22-06, 12:31 PM	There is a fear in Lords of Darkness called Tattoo Magic, that allows you to scribe 3rd- or lower- level spells onto people, letting them use the tattoo when they feel like it. I'm pretty certain that I've seen the feat (and maybe some other material on the topic) somewhere else in snother book (probably related to Forgotten Realms, since they're a part of that setting...). Also, I'd say Mind Rogue's ideas about it all are pretty good; with what the DM's Guide gives us, I feel we can make pretty much any kind of item, now. Have a good one! -Ben
Killermiller 01-22-06, 03:45 PM	In FR Campaign Setting there is something about tattoo magic and there is even a PrC about it but I can't remember it right now.
Realms of Chaos 01-25-06, 08:37 PM	The PrC is called a Red Mage. It is in the DM's Guide. I think that a magic tattoo like the one you suggest could only be eliminated in one of three ways. 1: It gets dispelled or erased. Pretty standard. 2: Being killed and being revived results in a 50% chance of losing the benefits of all tattoos and the chance is raised to 100% if their body was destroyed. 3: A tattoo should rub off 30 days after application to a living creature due to natural wear and tear (using arcane mark as a basis for this). Hindrances to balance it out. 1: The tattoo uses your life force instead of or in addition to standard magic, costing you an amount of xp as if you were creating the tattoo yourself. 2: A tattoo only has effect if it is revealed (possibly restricting armor). 1 can fit on the chest, 1 can fit on the back, and one can fit on each arm, leg, tentacle, etc. Scribing information about a spell should cost twice as much as the gp cost needed to personally create a scroll containing only that spell. feat-granting tattoos should vary in cost based on their usefullness (DM's discretion): for example, a tattoo of alertness may only cost 2,500 gp while a tattoo of improved initiative may cost 4,000 gp. No feats with any form of prerequisite should be allowed as a tattoo. Extra spell slots should cost 1/2 as much as the ring of wizardry keyed to that spell level. That should be a decent basis.
Darth Sephiroth 01-25-06, 11:03 PM	I've done something similar with the Sorcerer class in my campaign world, except that it isn't quite a bonus item, as the Sorcerer gains spells a representation of the spells appears on his skin that glows when the spell is used and remains glowing for the spells duration.
Sae Cael Oanar 01-26-06, 09:26 PM	arent there psionic tattoos or something that let you manifest powers. i have no idea really, but i do recall seeing them. they have like skins you can get too, i think.
Darth Sephiroth 01-27-06, 01:40 AM	TATTOOS Tattoos are single-use “items” containing a spell-like effect that effects only the bearer. Sample tattoos include the following: Broken Arrow Tattoo The bearer of the tattoo, which usually looks like a broken arrow, gains damage reduction 10/+2 against ranged weapons that fire arrows, bolts, or bullets (as per the protection from arrows/bullets spell). The effect lasts for 50 minutes. Type: Tattoo (magic); Caster Level: 5th (arcane); Purchase DC: 20; Weight: —. Bullseye Tattoo The bearer of this bullseye tattoo gains a +20 insight bonus on her next single attack, as per the true strike spell. The attack ignores any miss chance that applies to attacks against a concealed target. Type: Tattoo (magic); Caster Level: 1st (arcane); Purchase DC: 17; Weight: —. Caduceus Tattoo This tattoo is usually shaped like a medical caduceus (a pair of serpents entwined around a staff). Activating the tattoo triggers a caduceus incantation that affects a single target: the bearer or another creature touched by the bearer. The effects are instantaneous, and once the tattoo is successfully created, no skill checks are required to activate the spell and there is no chance of the incantation failing. The magic of the caduceus tattoo immediately ends any and all of the following adverse conditions affecting the target: temporary ability damage (but not permanent ability drain), blindness (including dazzled effects), confusion or insanity, daze, deafness, fatigue, exhaustion, feeblemindedness, nausea, and poison. It also cures up to 150 points of damage. A single tattoo is enough to simultaneously achieve all these effects. The tattoo’s magic also removes negative levels, but it does not restore permanently drained levels. Type: Tattoo (magic); Caster Level: 11th*; Purchase DC: 26; Weight: —. *See the Incantation-Based FX Items sidebar. Tattoo of Spell Resistance This tattoo comes in various patterns, although tribal bands around the forearm or bicep are the most common. The bearer of this tattoo gains SR 21 for 9 minutes once the tattoo is activated. Type: Tattoo (magic); Caster Level: 9th (divine); Purchase DC: 24; Weight: —. Those are some things from Urban Arcana
DrMorganes 01-27-06, 11:10 AM	Tattoos, by definition, are permanently scribed on one's body. It makes little sense to have them wear just because an Arcane Mark fades with time. The two are not the same at all... Psionic tattoos are detailed in the Expanded Psionics Handbook, and are essentially one-shot uses of Level 3 powers and below. They can be transferred to any living creature with a standard action, must be touched (or "tapped") to activate, and disappear immediately upon use. There is some rediuclously high limit on the number a person may have, but the penalty for exceeding this limit is rather harsh: all tattoos activate at once, with the wearer as the target. This has the potential for lethal results. Arcane tattoos are another matter entirely, and one not directly addressed under the core rules. My house rule requires a feat (Scribe Tattoo), allows ONE arcane tattoo per major body area: chest, back, right arm, left arm, right leg, left leg, head. Tattoos MUST be visible to function, which limits their utility for martial classes. Cost is determined using standard magic item creation rules, so it's possible for one mage to scribe a tattoo in one way, costing X gp and another mage to scribe it another way at Y cost. This was decided on player feedback, as some folks wanted more flexibility in what they could do with a tattoo. My primary limitation is that one tattoo can only have ONE spell effect. They may be continuous effects or x uses per day (requiring a standard action to activate).
Arco Versipellis 01-28-06, 11:28 AM	Aside from the items and psionic tattoos already mentioned, the only thinf that come to my mind is the tattooed monk prestige class. It is kinda class speciffic, but you might get soem ideas there.
Herald of Jupiter 01-28-06, 02:22 PM	Dragon Issue 337 has an article on Magical face paint
krichaiushii 01-28-06, 11:15 PM	You can also get rid of pesky magical tattoos on limbs by removing the limbs. Even if the limb is reattached, the magic is gone. At least, that is how I would rule it.
WombleHunter 01-31-06, 12:23 PM	For more temporary magic tattoos, the Create Magic Tattoo spell which appeared in FR somewhere and is now in the Spell Compendium has some nifty abilities. There's no reason you couldn't rule that they take up magic item slots, either; those limits aren't about physical space. A tattoo that granted you permanent darkvision and low-light vision, for example, might be placed on your face, across the eyes - and take your "eyes - lenses or goggles" slot. The problems then are pricing them, and working out how you remove them...