Best Spells to Tattoo on Yourself

[St Fan]

The Complete Arcane, in its "Alternative Spellbooks" section, offers the option for an arcane caster to tattoo part of his spell repertoire over his or her body. It's more expensive than a standard spellbook and the available space is limited, but it makes it very unlikely to lose those spells.

Now, my question is, which spells do you think should be prioritized for tattooing?

There are of course some no-brainers:

The read magic spell would be pointless; all wizards know it by heart.
Domain Wizards better pick all their domain spells to make sure their bonus slots are always filled.


Otherwise, the one situation where tattooed spells are valuable would be, of course, being separated from your spellbook (and probably the rest of your equipment) and very likely to be imprisoned. In such circumstances, what are the spells that would really come in handy?

[Aracor]

Teleport comes to mind if you're high enough level. The ultimate get out of jail free card.

[Gruftzwerg]

Teleport comes to mind if you're high enough level. The ultimate get out of jail free card.

I agree, all you need is Teleport.

If you have to much gold, you could go for Wish/Miracle.

And if you are a Sorcerer, (Greater) Arcane Fusion is the way to go. With any one of these two you have the most flexibility.

[St Fan]

Sorcerers have no need for a tattooed spellbook.

Place being limited, aiming for high-level spells from the get-go may not be the best strategy.

And situations when you're separated from your spellbook may not always be limited to imprisonment.

I'm thinking about spells countering the downside of such a situation, like summon component if you're also short of a component pouch (and don't have Eschew Components).

Granted, spells with the greater versatility should be prioritized, such as shadow conjuration.

[loky1109]

Otherwise, the one situation where tattooed spells are valuable would be, of course, being separated from your spellbook and very likely to be imprisoned. In such circumstances, what are the spells that would really come in handy?

No spells if I don't want to lose part of my skin when somebody imprisones me.

[Stoic]

While Teleport is normally an awesome pick (& I would still take it anyway), if you are imprisoned inside a Dimensional Locked area I would want Polymorph & Greater Invisibility as a backup.

[Maat Mons]

Ideally, you’d be an Eidetic Wizard, and have no need of a spellbook. Failing that, you could be a Geometer, so all your spells take up only one page, regardless of level. Maybe also add in Arcane Shorthand, to double space efficiency.

I’s say Archivists are more in need of this, since there’s no Eidetic Archivist. Unfortunately, there’s also no divine equivalent of Geometer.

I could have sworn there was an ink published somewhere that’s only visible in the dark. Supposing I imagined that, maybe some other sort of invisible ink, as long as you personally can see it.

A Boccob’s Blessed Book stored in a Possum Pouch is another possibility. Alternately, an Aureon’s Spellshard could fit inside a body cavity. It’s the size of a fist. And if you put the spellshard in a lead container, you don’t have to worry about Detect Magic.

[Amidus Drexel]

I'll suggest remove curse, break enchantment, and dispel magic, to help remove effects that might prevent you from teleporting to somewhere safer.

Fly, stone shape, passwall, and gaseous form might help you get out of certain kinds of cells that block teleportation magic.

[Zombulian]

You'd need to be an Archivist (or a Wizard with some access to the Clr spell list) but if you can get away with doing scarification braille tattoos you could scribe Remove Blindness/Deafness just in case you catch a case of no-see.

[St Fan]

Ideally, you’d be an Eidetic Wizard, and have no need of a spellbook. Failing that, you could be a Geometer, so all your spells take up only one page, regardless of level. Maybe also add in Arcane Shorthand, to double space efficiency.

I’s say Archivists are more in need of this, since there’s no Eidetic Archivist. Unfortunately, there’s also no divine equivalent of Geometer.

I could have sworn there was an ink published somewhere that’s only visible in the dark. Supposing I imagined that, maybe some other sort of invisible ink, as long as you personally can see it.

A Boccob’s Blessed Book stored in a Possum Pouch is another possibility. Alternately, an Aureon’s Spellshard could fit inside a body cavity. It’s the size of a fist. And if you put the spellshard in a lead container, you don’t have to worry about Detect Magic.

Eidetic Wizard is good only if you don't want a familiar or some other, more interesting ACF. Tattooing spells only cost money, not a feat or class feature.

Of course, a Geometer would get a lot more out of it. Same with Arcane Shorthand, although as a GM I wouldn't allow those two techniques to be used in tandem (which makes Arcane Shorthand more interesting than Book of Geometry only for the 0th or 1st-level spells).

There is however one method that beat all of the aforementioned: having two levels of Chameleon. Then you can pick Spell Mastery as your bonus feat every morning, selecting whatever spells you need. (Although, from the text of the feat, I have doubts it would work for an archivist.)