Enchanted Tattoo
 

A living subject's own skin can be put under any enchantment that doesn't require a specific base item or the solid ground. (I.e. you will need to enchant the higher level of slippery floor and forget about Pentagram or Staff. Though there are wizards who glue actual powerstones to their foreheads.)

The enchanter needs the Master Tattoo Artist mundane skill (3 skill points for heroes, but doubled to 6 for wizards of course) and each tattoo covers about the same area as the subject's handprint.

The subject's skin then counts as a magic item for Detect Magic, etc. and the rule of five applies. I.e. no more than five enchanted tattoos (double the cost for each additional tattoo) and no more than four other magic items.

Conceal only works if you cover up the tattoo with clothing.

Wishing for a +1 attribute boost puts a mark that is very distinctive from the tattoos the Wizard's Guild uses so be sure to ask to put it in an area that's easy to hide rather than your hand or forehead.

Re: Enchanted Tattoo
 

Very nice!

Re: Enchanted Tattoo
 

This is a great idea; I've toyed with several mechanisms for having living beings be enchanted. The functional result is not significantly different from creating a magic item that you wear, so I don't see any reason why it should be viewed as changing the game or providing an unfair advantage. But it is intrinsically cool, and we should all take every opportunity to make the game more intrinsically cool

Re: Enchanted Tattoo
 

Does Mr. Roarke know about this? Was the real magic of Fantasy Island Tattoo himself?

Kidding aside, very nice.

Re: Enchanted Tattoo
 

The Halfling Wizard did it by taking ST as his dump stat.

Re: Enchanted Tattoo
 

In Smallville (2001) There was a gang that used kryptonite-laced agents to make tattoos. This gave the tattooed ones the Power of Phasing through Walls. It gave them several minutes time to pass through solid objects, but you had to be clear of objects when it phased in or you would end up having body parts stuck there. As I recall, it would work a couple of times before you needed to have a new Kryptonite tattoo. I could see that eventually, you'd be full body tattoo.

Which reminds me of The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury. Some of the tattoos had the power of clairvoyance.

Also reminds me of Conan The Barbarian movie. Conan dead (crucified on The Tree of Woe) and the wizard painting symbols on him. This could easily be changed to tattooing. The entire body is tattooed with runes. Then the Revival spell (ITL p 33) done. So I'm wondering if an Alchemist could create the Alchemical pigments for Revival (ITL p147). Since it will use tattooing to help carry the spell, perhaps the Alchemy cost and the actual Spell costs be reduced drastically as they would empower each other. However, a Preserve Corpse spell would be needed to extend that Hour limitation on Revival spell.
If the figure does Revive, it now plays the rest of the campaign with full body tattoo.

Re: Enchanted Tattoo
 

Now I want Word of Command believe as a tattoo on my forehead.

Flip your hood back and say "These are not the droids you're looking for."

Re: Enchanted Tattoo
 

Reminds me of the Dragon Clan from Legend of the Five Rings CCG. They had tattooed monks with cool powers derived from the tattoos.

I played the tattooed dragons a lot.

Sadly, WoC bought it and ruined it.

Re: Enchanted Tattoo
 

Okay, WOC Believe on forehead, staff and black robes with hoods that only show their eyes, what else do the Wizards In Black have?

Re: Enchanted Tattoo
 

Can't you already do Words of Command anywhere even without special tattoo magic?

Re: Enchanted Tattoo
 

Yes. So this is shading towards standard. How would you arm WG enforcers?

Re: Enchanted Tattoo
 

What's a WG enforcer, for what enforcement?

When the Wizards' Guild has wanted to use force, it's usually meant a WG official considers the task and available wizards or known affiliate guild wizards, and tries to get the wizards they pick to take on the task, usually just assigning funds and perhaps some security guards unless the task seems to call for specific equipment. The assigned wizard(s) then tend to act on their own discretion, perhaps with guidance or aid from the assigning official, which often includes hiring specific agents for the task.


In a RAW campaign with powerful wizards and un-house-ruled demons, demons would tend to seem like a good choice for enforcer, probably aided by some equipment from the demon handoff armory.

"Demon, deliver this order to comply to Pompom the wizard in Bolors, and ask for and return with his reply."

"Oh, he said 'make me?' Go use this explosive gem and this summon gargoyle gem on Pompom, them come back and let us know how it went."

But I tend to find that power rather too simple, effective, and immediate for routine use, so I prefer to house rule the Demons for that and other reasons.

Re: Enchanted Tattoo
 

This sounds like something I posted to the old Brainiac TFT list some years back.

(Checks) Yes, back in 2007:
https://tft.brainiac.com/archive/0701/msg00004.html

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The idea has been rattling around in my brain for a while, and I've just been inspired to write something out. My aim, with the following, is to produce something that will be interesting and useful to characters (PCs and NPCs) who have specialized needs wrt magic items, or who just find the concept especially nifty for roleplaying reasons. At the same time, however, I didn't want to create something so good that every character would rush to get a magic tattoo or three.

MAGICAL TATTOOS FOR TFT

NEW SPELLS:
IQ 14
MARTIAL ARTIST TATTOO ENCHANTMENT
Adding a martial artist tattoo to a character has the same cost and time requirements as adding an additional +1 bonus to a weapon or suit of armor via the Weapon/Armor Enchantment spell.

A Martial Artist Tattoo can only be placed on a character with the Unarmed Combat I talent. If the character loses the talent, the tattoo remains, but doesn't function. If the character regains the talent, the tattoo starts working again.

A character can have up to five Martial Artist Tattoos. Each tattoo gives a +1 to either the character's unarmed combat adjDx, his unarmed combat damage, or to his natural armor. A bonus to adjDx or damage only applies to those attacks where the UC I talent gives a bonus. A bonus to armor is not cumulative with any protection from armor worn, although it is cumulative with the armor protection of a ready shield.

A set of Martial Artist Tattoos counts as a single magic item under the Rule of Five. It reduces the number of other magic items (or equivalents) that the character can use by one. It also increases the cost of any other magic tattoos according to the usual doubling rule.

IQ 16
TATTOO OF OBEDIENCE
This spell enables a wizard to place a Tattoo of Obedience on a subject/victim. This requires 1 day in a wizard's lab, 15 St, and one Fear potion ($150). It also requires that the subject/victim be present and either willing or subjugated. When the tattoo is created, the creator must make a Rule concerning who the bearer must obey. E.g. "any female," "the creator of the tattoo," "any member in good standing of the Wizard's Guild," "any person within the walls of Castle Yod," or the like.

The bearer of a Tattoo of Obedience must obey any command given him by another figure who (a) meets the requirements of the tattoo's Rule, (b) can be heard by the bearer, and (c) speaks in a language that the bearer himself knows how to speak. (Note that a command in Sorcerer's Tongue will be understood but won't invoke obedience unless the tattoo bearer can speak it himself.)

If the bearer wishes to resist a command, he gets a 3d roll vs adjIQ to do so. If obeying the command would be immediately fatal, or if the command requires obedience continued obedience after leaving the command-giver's presence, then the bearer gets a second roll vs IQ. (Special case: The bearer does not get any rolls to resist commands against removing the tattoo. Standard practice is to give such commands as soon as the tattoo is in place.)

A Tattoo of Obedience counts as a magic item for the purposes of the Rule of Five. Unlike other magical tattoos, it will function even if covered or concealed.

IQ 18*
LESSER MAGICAL TATTOO ENCHANTMENT
A lesser magical tattoo works just like an enchantment created by the Lesser Magic Item Creation spell. It has the same cost and time requirements. However, a tattoo cannot be made if the Lesser Magic Item enchantment requires a specific sort of underlying object.

Each Lesser Magical Tattoo counts as a single magic item under the Rule of Five. It reduces the number of other magic items (or equivalents) that the character can use by one. It also increases the cost of any other magic tattoos according to the usual doubling rule. For example, if a character got three Magical Tattoos, the second one would cost twice normal, and the third one would cost four times normal. Furthermore, the character would only be able to use two additional magic items, rather than the normal five.

*Note: In my campaign, I've reduced Lesser Magic Item to IQ 15, so the Lesser Tattoo spell would be IQ 15 as well.

IQ 20
GREATER MAGICAL TATTOO ENCHANTMENT
This spell works like the Lesser Magic Tattoo Enchantment spell, only applying to enchantments that require the Greater Magic Item spell to put on items.

GENERAL NOTES ON MAGICAL TATTOOS:
A magical tattoo can be made to temporarily stop working by any spell or magic that will either temporarily stop the corresponding magic item from working or that will temporarily prevent a wizard from casting spells (e.g. the Magebinding spell).

A magical tattoo can be made to permanently stop working by any spell or magic that will disenchant the corresponding item, e.g. a Dissolve Enchantment spell. However, the tattoo will still count as a "magic item worn" for the Rule of Five unless physically removed.

Physically removing a tattoo inflicts 3 dice of damage. This is reduced to 2 dice if a Physicker spends 5 minutes removing the tattoo, or to 1 die if a Master Physicker spends 1 hour removing it. If the figure removing the tattoo knows the appropriate tattoo creation spell, the damage is reduced by 2 points. (E.g. to 2d-2 if removed by a Physicker who knows the appropriate spell.) Physically removing the tattoo also destroys its magic, if it wasn't already de-enchanted.

As an option, the GM may allow a called shot (or critical hit) to destroy a tattoo. Roll 3 dice, and on a result less than or equal to the damage taken by the tattooed character, the tattoo is destroyed.

With the exception of a Tattoo of Obedience, a magical tattoo will only provide its benefits if clearly visible on exposed skin. (I.e. not covered by clothing, armor, make-up, etc.) A partially covered tattoo will function if visible enough to be seen and recognized (GM's discretion as to how much exposure this requires.)

A character who knows the appropriate tattoo creation spell will be able to recognize a visible tattoo on a 3-die roll vs IQ. A character who knows only that the tattoo is magic will successfully guess its nature on a 6-die roll vs IQ.
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Re: Enchanted Tattoo
 

TFT has several main mechanisms for creating magic effects (casting a spell, making a magic item, creating a potion or scroll) and I think it would be great to have other ones.

If the tattoo is permanent and gives you a capability then it sounds like it might be similar in effect to making a magic item which you can't drop.

If the tattoo is expended when used then it sounds like it might be similar in effect to the Vancian magic of D&D, or to scrolls, depending on what kind of limit there was on tattoos.

But a tattoo system that was an alternative to regular magic and had its own advantages and disadvantages, but was balanced overall, that could be a lot of fun.