[DF] Tattoos you have to earn

[Greg 1]

What are some tattoos that DF characters might have to earn the right to?

Here are some examples of tattoos and requirements. I'll leave aside the questions of whether the tattoos give magical benefits!

Skull with teardrop: Kill someone.

Flaming skull with teardrop: Kill someone with fire.

Skeletal dragon with teardrop: Dragon-slayer.

Phoenix carrying skull: Die.

Flaming tongue: Speak with a demon.

Axe and tankard: A dwarf bought you a drink, with no ulterior motives. The dwarf was not buying a round, nor were they otherwise obliged to buy you a drink.

Smashed rock carved with horns: Destroy an altar to an Orcish god.

Smiling figure waving pitchfork: Save a village.

Eight legs and fangs: Be bitten by a giant spider.

Eight legs and two round eyes. Bite a giant spider.

[Donny Brook]

I don't play DF, so a basic question for me is do tattoos grant some special status or abilities?

[Greg 1]

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

I don't play DF, so a basic question for me is do tattoos grant some special status or abilities?

DF makes no reference to tattoos. But they could!

[Anders]

If you want to make it a perk, make it give +2 to one Influence skill in the right situation. E.g., the orc-destroying one gives +2 to Intimidate versus orcs.

But the effect is magical, so unless you've actually done the deed the tattoo won't do squat.

[The Colonel]

Presumably some aspect of a reputation would count here?

[Anders]

Sounds eminently reasonable.

Edit: Except that Reputation is, for some reason, not part of Dungeon Fantasy.

[Eric Funk]

Originally Posted by Anders

If you want to make it a perk, make it give +2 to one Influence skill in the right situation. E.g., the orc-destroying one gives +2 to Intimidate versus orcs.

But the effect is magical, so unless you've actually done the deed the tattoo won't do squat.

But also +2 toward any negative reaction, such as they would be at +2 to plans try to kill a person /with/ that tattoo...

(Consider precedent of Dragon hide armour wearer meeting a dragon of that colour...)

[Varyon]

The Kelsheen Mark in Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire is restricted to those that have done a great service to all of orckind; it's typically only found on the greatest orc heroes, although Dominic's father is a (perhaps the) rare human specimen with one, for his work brokering peacetalks between rival clans IIRC.

The Queen's Tattoo in Girl Genius is similar, but for the British rather than orcs (while the Jagermonsters are arguably orc-adjacent, they seem to favor impressive hats over tattoos or the like). The character who earns one during the story does so by capturing an individual responsible for attacking and commandeering one of the Royal Navy's ships (in this case, a "Sea Serpent" - a submersible in the shape of, well, a giant sea serpent). It's noted that the ladies - or at least ladies of a certain orientation (the character in question is female) - find it rather attractive. One presumes there are other ways to earn it in service to Queen and Country.

In The Deathworlders, Gaoians who lose limbs in combat, when they have new ones grown and attached, typically have the junction between the original limb and the newly-grown one cold-branded, which shows up better than tattooing when you're covered in fur (it causes the fur that grows from the brand to come grow in all white). IIRC, one of the human characters has his ankle similarly tattooed when he finally deigns to have his foot regrown rather than relying on a fragile prosthetic.

While not a tattoo, in the book Starship Troopers, mobile infantrymen who have successfully performed a drop into a hostile area (and lived to tell the tale) are permitted to wear a skull earing, optionally with a number of bones dangling from it to denote surviving more drops. Having a tattoo of some sort instead would certainly work.


All of the above could certainly be appropriate for DF - cultural-specific tattoos for service to said culture (which would come with a reaction bonus from members of said culture and those who respect it*, reaction penalty from those who despise it), memorial tattoos of a sort to remember the losses of limbs, eyes, etc (since regenerated), and marks for the successful delves an adventurer has made it through. You could also have tattoos to remember fallen allies from such delves.

*Note this can include enemies of that culture, if they still have a lot of respect for it. For that matter, some cultures may well have respect for those who have managed to slay a large number of their own forces, meaning such tattoos wouldn't call for a reaction penalty (there might even be a bonus), although if things do come to combat, an individual from such a combat-oriented culture may well favor going after you as a way to prove themselves. Or just to collect a heftier bounty - the webcomic Shades of Gray (unrelated to the book series with a similar name) had the warriors in the battles between angels and demons (which were all one-on-one by common agreement) wear tokens taken from their enemies' bodies - claws from demons, feathers from angels - to denote their kills, and the number of said tokens on the body of a slain foe was used to determine how much their bounty was worth, at least in Hell (Heaven had a purely status-based "economy" without formal tokens of exchange, but slaying a demon with a lot of kills presumably elevated one's status more than slaying a newbie). Tattoos could be used similarly, although it would probably call for either skinning the target or bringing in their corpse for verification.

[ravenfish]

Originally Posted by Greg 1

Phoenix carrying skull: Die.

Phoenix carrying a skull with a teardrop: die, taking a foe with you.

Skull with two teardrops: kill someone, have them come back to life for whatever reason, and kill them again.

Originally Posted by Greg 1

Axe and tankard: A dwarf bought you a drink, with no ulterior motives. The dwarf was not buying a round, nor were they otherwise obliged to buy you a drink.

Okay, I know this is a fantasy game, but let's try to stay vaguely within the realm of plausibility.

[johndallman]

Shield with blazon: Set up a realm.

Shield with blazon and teardrop: kill a realm's ruler.

Shield with blazon and fire: destroy a realm.