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ghost_warlock
2006-07-31, 10:22 AM
I came up with this while at work, what do you think? Is it at all balanced? Overpowered? Just about right?

Scribe Tenacious Tattoo
You can create powerful psionic tattoos that don't fade after a single use.
Prerequisites: Craft Dorje, Scribe Tattoo.
Benefit: You can create a tenacious tattoo of any power you know and that targets one or more creatures. Scribing a tenacious tattoo takes one day for each 1,000 gp in its base price. The base price for a tenacious tattoo is its manifester level X the power level X 1,000 gp. To create a tenacious tattoo, you must spend 1/25 of this base price in XP and use up raw materials (special inks, masterwork needles, and so on) costing one-half the base price.
When you create a tenacious tattoo, you make any choices that you would normally make when manifesting the power. When its wearer physically activates the tennacious tattoo, the wearer is the target of the power.
A newly created tenacious tattoo has 50 charges.
Any tenacious tattoo that stores a power with an XP cost also carries a commensurate cost. In addition to the costs derived from the base price, you must pay the XP when creating the tenacious tattoo.
A tenacious tattoo counts as one psionic tattoo for the purpose of how many psionic tattoos a character can have at one time. See below for rules detailing the use of a tenacious tattoo.

Tenacious Psionic Tattoos
Tenacious tattos are designs scribed on the skin of that manifest powers on their wearers. Each tenacious tattoo contains a single power and has 50 charges when created, each charge expended allows one use of that power. The wearer doesn't get to make any decisions about the tattoo's effect - the manifester who scribed it has already done so. For example, a tenacious tattoo of body adjustment is designed to heal the wearer.
Tenacious tattoos can vary in size, but each tenacious tattoo counts as one tattoo against the character's total number of psionic tattoos. Attempting to add more than this maximum causes all previously scribed tattoos to simultaneously activate. A tenacious tattoo fades away after use.
Physical Description: A typical tenacious tattoo is a colorful pattern of tiny, intersecting lines within a larger design. This design can be as simple as a circle or a star, or as complex as an artist wishes to make it. Once it is scribed, a tenacious tattoo's design does not change. A tenacious tattoo usually covers an area of skin no more than 5 inches in diameter (larger ones could be designed, but would have no added effect). A tenacious tattoo is physically indistinguishable from a normal psionic tattoo.
Scribing and Transferring Tenacious Tattoos: The manifester level of a tenacious tattoo is typically the minimum manifester level required to manifest the power, and powers stored that can be augmented are not augmented when stored in a tenacious tattoo. A tenacious tattoo's wearer cannot augment the power contained in the tenacious tattoo. However, tenacious tattoos can be created at a higher manifester level than required to manifest the power. In this case, the tenacious tattoo that holds an augmentable power is augmented, to the limit of the manifester level and the power's augmentatation maximums, if any. The manifester level of a tenacious tattoo cannot be more than five higher than the minimum manifester level to use the power it contains.
A tenacious tattoo inscribed on a wearer is potentially more mobile than a mundane tattoo. As a standard action, the wearer can will the tattoo to move to a different part of his body or onto the skin of any willing (or unconscious) living creature he touches. If the wearer of a psionic tattoo is rendered unconscious or is slain, another sentient creature can touch the tattoo while willing it to leave the previous wearer and apply itself to the new creature as a standard action. Tenacious tattoos cannot overlay each other or psionic tattoos.
Identifying Tenacious Tattoos: In addition to the standard methods of identification, the wearer of a tattoo can concentrate on it and attempt to gain some sense of how it would feel if activated. A successful DC 13 Intelligence check provides a hint to the tenacious tattoo's effect. For instance, a tenacious tattoo of body adjustment may give the character a brief feeling of health and well-being.
Activiation: A tenacious tattoo produces its effect when touched by its wearer and willed to do so. This activity, called "tapping" the tattoo, is a standard action that provokes attack of opportunity. A tenacious tattoo fades away after 50 uses.
The following rules govern the use of tenacious tattoos.
* A creature mus have an appropriate physical surface on which to scribe the pattern (thus, incorporeal creatures or creatures with impermanent flesh, such as fire elementals, cannot use tenacious tattoos).
* Tapping a tenacious tattoo provikes attacks of opportunity. A successful attack (including grappling attacks) against the wearer forces a Concentration check. A wearer who fails this check cannot concentrate effectively on the tattoo to use it. The tattoo remains untapped, and the wearer can make another attempt. However, the wearer of a tenacious tattoo can attempt to tap his tenacious tattoos defensively to avoid provoking an attack of opportunity. This functions just like manifesting a power defensively (including gaining the benefits of the Combat Manifestation feat, if the wearer has that feat).
* A character can trigger the effects of another's tennacious tattoo if the other wearer is unconscious. It is a full-round action to find, touch, and concentrate on an unconscious creature's tattoo in order to tap it.

Lord Iames Osari
2006-07-31, 03:12 PM
Looks fine to me.

Pirata
2006-07-31, 04:48 PM
It's like a dorje, but in a form of a tattoo (with the tattoo limitations still), and a bit more expensive for that...

I think it's pretty balanced. But since I'm not a psionic expert (played only once) that could be some exploit using feats and other things that I'm unaware of.

Fax Celestis
2006-07-31, 04:55 PM
Since it's basically a dorje with the limitations of a tattoo, I'd actually make it cost a little less, either gold-wise or xp-wise.

Conversely, you could forego the charges and make it usable 1/day or something, but you'd have to up the cost for that. Or perhaps make it worth half a tattoo slot or something.

And could one scribe a "tenacious crawling tattoo"?

jdrich
2006-07-31, 06:05 PM
Far too weak, really.

Dorjes don't provoke an AOO when used. Tattoos do. You can sell a Dorje, and while you can sell a Tattoo, that's a bit more personal and there will be less of a market.

Also, having 50 charges for something that you're going to want to augment again in 3-4 levels is really overkill.

For a better solution, you might want to see the special The Mind's Eye Christmas edition for 2003, which details different ways to create persistant tattoos.

ghost_warlock
2006-08-01, 11:46 AM
Crawling tattoos are Universal items so you can't scribe a tenacious crawling tattoo.

Hmmm...re-reading this, it doesn't really do what I intended it to do.

*Goes to do some editing* :)

The Demented One
2006-08-01, 12:34 PM
For the one/day use idea, I'd suggest looking at Eberron's minor schema for pricing. Double the cost since it's use activated, and Bob's your uncle.

ghost_warlock
2006-08-02, 10:02 AM
and Bob's your uncle.
Um, not sure I'm following this...my uncles are actually Pat, Dean, and Mark (at least the ones I acknowledge as my relatives).