As per your instructions, I have been searching for something which will give you an advantage in your upcoming campaign. I believe, my lord, that what I have found far surpasses anything we may have hoped for. Allow me to begin my story at the beginning.
Approximately two months ago, my agents in Seattle heard a rumor of an enchanter in the Sprawl called Kevin Greymist. These rumors claimed that this man had developed a method of enchanting which would allow even mundanes the use of magic. When I first heard of this, I simply assumed that Mr. Greymist was using yet another form of anchoring, and I was ready to dismiss this story as just another foolish urban myth like so many others I had chased, but something stayed my mind and instead of ignoring the rumor, as I had initially intended, I chose to investigate myself. You can imagine my surprise when I discovered that this man truly was a mere enchanter and could no more cast spells than my cat. He could however use a rather unique form of metamagical conjuring and anchoring which does truly allow mundanes some limited use of magic. Moreover this "tatoo magic" can actually enhance a magician or adept's use of magic. In addition to being able to mimic many of this day's spells, Mr. Greymist has also devised tatoos which can summon enchanted weapons capable of destroying fully armored LTV's, as well as summoning many beasts, both magical and paranormal.
With your permission, I would like to bring Mr. Greymist to the Keep to teach the magicians and adepts in your employ this new form of enchanting. Hopefully, he can show us enough that we may be able to tip the scales more firmly in your favor when the battle is finally joined.
The above was a message that a friend intercepted and sent on to me to post in this archive. Although the message makes it sound like this Kevin Greymist created tatoo magic, in reality it's been around in the NAN and Seattle for three, maybe four years. Although I don't know where it originally came from, some of the rumors I've heard say it's related to the magic used in Atlantis. Whatever it is I'm here to tell you how it works.
There are basically three types of tatoos: creature, power, and weapon. Creature tatoos depict a non-sentient creature, either normal or paranormal, which the wearer can use to summon whatever creature is depicted. Power tatoos are the most varied and flexible of all tatoos. Whatever they depict is representative of the magical effect they can produce. Example: a tatoo shows a man engulfed in flames and produces the same effect as the flame aura spell. There is no rule for what power tatoos look like; as long as the tatoo represents its effect in the user's mind, it works. Weapons tatoos depict any non-technological weapon with various symbolic changes to represent its abilities. As with the power tatoos, there is no set pattern for the representations added to weapon tatoos. (See Appendices A, B, and C for more information)
As with standard methods of enchanting, before you can begin to ground the
magic, you must create its formula and the vessel to hold it.
Creating the formula takes a base time of 28 days and requires a
Magical Theory(Enchanting) test with a target number equal to the desired
Force of the tatoo. Successes from the Magical Theory test
reduce the time to create the formula. Unlike standard
enchanting, however, tatoo magic requires two vessels, the physical vessel
and, of course, the tatoo.
The tatoo must be created using special inks distilled
from various alchemical radicals(the specific radicals required vary with
each tatoo and are left to the GM's discretion, a good rule of thumb is half
a unit of radical substance per force point desired). Special
needles are also required, and must be created for each tatoo.
However, if multiple tatoos using the same formula are to be
drawn, then the needle may be re-used.
The physical vessel is either an artistic representation of the power the
tatoo is to possess, or the actual form the tatoo takes when it is
activated. The higher the Force of the desired tatoo, the more
complex the physical vessel must be.
For creature tatoos, the physical vessel must incorporate some part of the
creature which is to be summoned by the tatoo. If the creature
can be captured alive, then all subsequent tests to enchant the tatoo gain
a -1 bonus. If capturing the creature alive proves too
difficult, the enchanter may create an image of the beast which uses
matereials taken from the body of the appropriate critter. This
image can be in any form, as long as it is made by hand.
Electronic, magical, or mechanically created images do not
satisfy this requirement.
Power tatoos also require a hand-made image, but this image must incorporate
some material related to the power which the tatoo will wield.
For example, to create the above mentioned flame aura spell,
the enchanter might have to draw a picture of a man engulfed in flames with
a pen made from the feathers of a phoenix or re-create an object that had
been destroyed by a fire elemental.
The physical vessel for weapon tatoos is, wonder of wonders, a weapon of the
same type as the weapon which the tatoo will summon. Like the
other vessels, the weapon must be hand-crafted, no shortcuts here.
If there are no enchantments on the weapon, the physical vessel
must incorporate at least one half unit of iron radical per force point.
Each additional enchantment also requires additional material
related to the specific power.(For suggestions on powers and materials for
taoos, see Appendices A and
B)
No matter what kind of tatoo is being created, the enchanter can also add
additional alchemical ingredients to help decrease his target numbers for
enchanting, as well as lowering the final karma cost to bond the tatoo.
By adding a number of units of alchemical radicals from one
arcana equal to the final Force of the tatoo, the enchanter gains a -1 bonus
for all his enchanting target numbers. For two arcana, the bonus
increases to -2, and the final bonding cost is reduced by the Force of the
tatoo. For three arcana, the bonus increases to -4, and the
final bonding cost is reduced by twice the Force of the tatoo.
If the physical vessel is virgin(ref.: Grimoire
2©), the enchanter gains a -1 bonus to his/her enchanting rolls, and
the final bonding cost is reduced by the Force of the tatoo.
A number of units of orichalcum may also be added to the vessel
up to the Force of the tatoo. For each unit of orichalcum added,
the enchanter enjoys either an additional -1 to his/her enchanting target
numbers or a decrease in the final bonding cost equal to the Force of the
tatoo.
The enchanting of the tatoo is a rather lengthy and complicated process.
Once the enchanter has the two vessels created, he/she must
then begin to ground the magic into them within one week. If
the week passes without the enchanter beginning the enchanting process, then
the vessels are both useless and must be re-made. The first step
is binding the necessary magic for the tatoo's abilities into the vessels.
This step shares many similarities to the metamagical ability of
anchoring and uses the same basic rules. Although this step is
similar to anchoring though, it is not. Many of the abilities
tatoos can have cannot be duplicated by spells, therefore, traditional
anchoring cannot be used. Because of this, any full magician,
enchanting adept, or tatooed adept can create
any tatoo. Other adepts may also create tatoos subject to GM's
approval. Having a spell or ability that emulates the power
being grounded (i.e.: knowing the flame aura spell when creating a power
tatoo that produces the same effect)drastically reduces the target numbers
for binding the power to the vessels, cutting them in half.
The base time for the initial binding of a creature tatoo is one week per
Force Point plus an additional week for each power the creature naturally
possesses. A tatoo enchanting test
with a target number equal to the Force of the tatoo plus the number of
powers naturally possessed by the creature is required, and each success
from the test cuts the time required by half. Note that if the
test fails, the enchanter will not realize this until after the full base
time has passed, at which time he/she must begin the process over again.
The time required for the initial binding of a power tatoo is one month plus
two weeks per Force point. The target number for the tatoo
enchanting test is twice the desired Force of the tatoo and successes
decrease the time required in the same way as for creature tatoos.
The time required for weapon tatoos is a base of two weeks plus one week per
Force point with additional time required for each power the weapon is to
possess. The additional time required varies with each power
being added and is cumulative. The tatoo enchanting test target
number is the desired Force of the tatoo plus a modifier for each power
being added. Like the additional time requirement, the target
modifiers vary based on the specific powers being added and are cumulative.
The successes in this test decrease the time to enchant in the
same way as for creature tatoos.
Drain must be resisted after the initial binding. The code is
dependant on the type of tatoo and the exact powers it possesses.
The base drain for a creature tatoo is (F)M for normal critters
and (F)S for paranormal critters. The GM may wish to make the
drain higher for more powerful critters. The base drain for
power tatoos should be figured in the same way as for spells with two
changes. Increase the drain level by one additional level and
use Force rather than Force divided by two. The base drain for
a weapon tatoo is (F)L with increases to the drain code based on the
individual powers that may be added to the weapon.
Once the initial binding is finished, a watcher-like spirit is conjured and
bound to the individual who is receiving the tatoo (See
The Conjuring for more information).
After teh spirit has been sucessfully bound, the spirit, tatoo,
and physical vessel must be boonded to each other and the recipient in the
final phase of the enchanting (see The Final
Binding for more information).
The spirit that is conjured and bound into the tatoo has many similarities
to a watcher (ref. Grimoire 2©), and serves two primary purposes.
Its main purpose is to maintain the power flow to the tatoo's
manifestation so that the wearer does not have to be distracted by
maintaining it. This is also the method which allows mundanes
to use tatoos. The spirit's secondary purpose is to protect the
tatoo, which can be attacked astrally. The spirit may be
summoned at any Force, but it must at least equal the Force of the tatoo.
Like a watcher, these spirits are not extremely bright, but
they are relatively dangerous in astral combat. They do (F+2)M
damage when attacking astrally and can be taught how to mask. If
a mundane is using a tatoo, the spirit is also responsible for activating
the tatoo, using a skill equal to one half its Force, rounded down.
The actual conjuring of the spirit is a bit more complex than summoning a
watcher. The conjuring must begin within an hour of the
successful completion of the initial bonding, and must be successfully
completed within twenty-four hours. The first step in the
conjuration is an astral quest with a Quest Rating equal to the Force of the
spirit. The quest lasts for a number of hours equal to half the
Force of the spirit. When the questor finally reaches the
Citadel, he/she must pit his/her conjuring skill against the Force of the
spirit. Drain must be resisted immediately after the quest ends,
whether it is successful or not. If the quest failed, the
conjurer may re-try the quest at +1 to the rating for as long as he has time
available. If the drain following the quest is enough to knock
the conjurer unconcious, the spirit is freed and returns where it came from.
If the spirit is summoned successfully, it must immediately be
bound to the person who is recieving the tatoo. This requires an
expenditure of karma on the recipient's part equal to the spirit's Force.
Once the spirit is bound, it does not count against the
conjurer's limit on the number of watchers he/she may maintain at the same
time. For a cost of five additional karma and a three-point
increase to the quest rating, the spirit may be given the ability to mask
both itself and the tatoo at the initiate grade of the summoner.
Once the conjuring is completed, the enchanter has twenty-four hours to begin the final phase of the enchanting process. The final phase of the enchanting is the binding of the physical vessel, the tatoo, and the spirit into one cohesive construct which is attached to the recipient's astral aura. It is this construct which allows the tatoo to exist independently of its summoner's magic, and which also serves as its primary defense against astral attack. The final binding is, perhaps, the easiest part of the enchanting process. The enchanter makes a tatoo enchanting test against a target number equal to the Force of the tatoo, and, if this test is successful, the physical vessel disappears and the tatoo glows with bright light for a few moments. If the test fails however, the enchanter has one more chance to salvage his/her work; another test must be made with the target number increased by two. If this test fails, the tatoo is lost beyond repair, and the process must be begun again. Note that if less than a week has passed since the physical vessel was finished, then it can still be used to re-try the enchantment, as can the spirit. If more than a week has passed, the physical vessel must be re-created, but the summoned spirit merely has to be re-summoned, the karma to bond it does not have to be spent a second time. The tatoo will fade within moments of the failure of the final binding and must be redrawn. Whether the test succeds or fails, the enchanter must resist the same drain that he/she resisted after completing the initial bonding. Once the final bonding is completed, the tatoo may be summoned as a complex action by the recipient. The karma cost for the final bonding of any type of tatoo is the same, ten times the Force of the tatoo.
-
Name: The name of the power tatoo
Appearance: This is a suggestion of the appearance of the tatoo.
Requirements: This is a suggestion for ingredients that may be required in the physical vessel oro the tatoo's inks. -
Name:
Appearance:
Requirements:
-
Name: This is the name of the power
Effect: This is what the power does.
Appearance: This is a suggestion of the appearance of a weapon with this power.
Requirements: This is a suggestion of ingredients that may be required in the physical vessel or the tatoo ink.
Force: This is the maximum Force for this power. Not all weapon powers use a Force rating, these weapons will have NA for their Force listing. If a weapon's effect refers to Force, it is refering to the Force of the power, not the tatoo's Force. The power's Force is otherwise independant of the tatoo's Force.
Drain: This is the modification to the enchanting drain code and, if applicable, to the summoning drain code. -
Name: Armor Piercing
Effect: Halves standard impact armor and ignores the effects of hardened armor. Hardened armor still counts as impact armor at its full value however.
Appearance: The weapon is engulfed in flames.
Requirements: A plate of vehicle armor that has been shattered.
Force: NA
Drain: +3 enchanting drain target, +1 enchanting drain level. -
Name: Blood Edge
Effect: Increases the power of the weapon by its Blood Edge Force.
Appearance: Blood is dripping off the weapon.
Requirements: The claws of (Force) paranormal critters atack power is greater than 7.
Force: One half base Force.
Drain: +1 echanting drain level per 2 Force. +1 summoning drain target. -
Name: Dancing
Effect: The wielder of the weapon may, by using a Simple Action, cause the weapon to levitate and fight on its own with a skill equal to the Dancing Force.
Appearance: A pair of wings or a disembodied hand on the weapon
Requirements: A weapon which has caused a moderate or greater wound while being wielded by the magic fingers spell. This power can only be used on melee weapons.
Force: Equal to one half the base Force.
Drain: +1 enchanting drain target for every 2 Force, +1 enchanting drain level for every 3 Force. -
Name: Diamond Edge
Effect: Treat the weapon as if it had been treated with Dikote(ref. Shadowtech©).
Appearance: The weapon is sheathed in crystal.
Requirements: One unit of radical diamond
Force: NA
Drain: +1 enchanting drain level. -
Name: Increased Range
Effect: The weapon may be thrown or shot (Force) times farther than normal. If the weapon is not normally thrown, treat it as a non-aerodynamic grenade for base range. This power may only be used on a weapon which is thrown or shot from a projectile weapon. If it is used on the projectile weapon itself, the weapon may be thrown, but its ammo does not gain the range bonus unless it has the increased range power.
Appearance: A pair of wings on the weapon
Requirements: Feathers from a paranormal critter that flies.
Force: Equal to one half the base Force.
Drain: +2 enchanting drain target for every three Force, +1 enchanting drain level for every six Force. -
Name: Returning
Effect: The summoner can, with a Free action, call the weapon back to his/her hand
Appearance: A pair of wings on the weapon
Requirements: A spell lock holding a Magic Fingers spell?
Force: NA
Drain: +2 drain target for enchanting -
Name: Shadow Weapons
Effect: Creates multiple "shadow" copies of the original weapon when thrown or shot. Treat this as a full auto burst with a number of rounds equal to Force.
Appearance: A shadow of the weapon is just behind the original.
Requirements: One unit of radical quicksilver (mercury) per Force.
Force: Equal to base Force.
Drain: +1 enchanting drain target per 2 Force, +1 enchanting drain level per 5 Force -
Name: Souldrinker
Effect: The weapon rolls its Souldrinking Force in a resisted test against the target's Willpower whenever it breaks the target's skin. If the target fails to acheive more successes than the weapon, then it is permanently and irrevocably killed. This power cannot be turned off; a Souldrinker will always take the life of any living creature from which it draws blood(GM discretion on drawing blood). These weapons are almost always blades, but must have an edge or point on them and must be melee weapons. After a weapon uses its Souldrinking power, it slowly begins to develop a malevolent sentience which feeds on the life it drains. This is a very unbalanced power and is only included in this list for GM's to use for truly evil NPC's, after the weapon becomes sentient, it craves the lifeforce of sentient creatures and will fight its wielder to devour them.
Appearance: The weapon is predominantly black, and includes a skull motif.
Requirements: The hearts of essence-draining creatures, a number of them equal to the Force of the tatoo.
Force: Force is equal to the Force of the tatoo.
Drain: The drain code for enchanting a tatoo with the Souldrinking power is +6 to Drain Target and +3 to the Drain level. The drain level for summoning a Souldrinker is increased by 2. -
Name: Spirit Slayer
Effect: Double the power of the weapon when used against manifested astral entities.
Appearance: the weapon is wrapped in thorns and rowan vines.
Requirements: One unit of radical rowan, and a weapon that has killed a spirit or elemental.
Force: NA
Drain: +2 enchanting drain level -
Name: Two Weapons
Effect: Creates two weapons with identical powers.
Appearance: Two weapons crossed.
Requirements: Two physical vessels must be made and twice the amount of materials must be used.
Force: NA
Drain: +4 enchanting drain target. +1 summoning drain level. -
Name: Vampire Slayer
Effect: If an attack against an essence drainer is successful (causes damage) then a resisted test is made between the Vampire Slayer Force and the essence drainer's Willpower. If the weapon wins, then the essence drainer loses one point of essence for every net success the weapon scored.
Appearance: A black rose is wrapped around the weapon.
Requirements: 1 pint of an essence drainer's blood per Force.
Force: Equal to base Force + 1.
Drain: +1 enchanting drain target per 2 Force, +1 enchanting drain level per 3 Force. -
Name: Vampiric
Effect: For every two boxes of damage done by the weapon, the wielder heals one box. The maximum healing he/she may receive from a single blow is the Vampiric Force.
Appearance: The weapon has a jet black blade.
Requirements: The heart's blood of a vampire.
Force: One fourth base Force.
Drain: +1 enchanting drain level per Force. -
Name: Venom
Effect: The weapon has the Critter ability of Venom(ref. SR2©)
Appearance: Poison is dripping off the tip of the weapon.
Requirements: One unit of blood from a critter with the Venom ability per Force.
Force: Equal to base Force.
Drain: +1 enchanting drain target per Force, +1 enchanting drain level per 2 Force. +2 summoning drain target.
Enchanting a tatoo does not use the standard enchanting skill, it is so
different from traditional methods that a would-be tatooist must learn an
entirely new skill.
This shows where the new skill, called tatoo enchanting, fits into the skill
web.
Summoning a tatoo into existence uses the conjuring skill for creature and
weapon tatoos and the sorcery skill for power tatoos. The target
number for activating a tatoo is equal to one half the tatoo's Force.
When a creature tatoo is summoned, the summoner must resist
(F/2)M drain. The drain for a power tatoo is the same as if it
were a spell being cast, but the drain level is decreassed by one, and the
Drain target modifier is cut in half. The drain for weapon
tatoos is usually (F/2)M, however, some weapon powers will increase the
drain code for summoning the weapon. There is no penalty for
maintaining a creature or a weapon tatoo, but the penalty for maintaining a
power tatoo is the same as that for maintaining a spell.
Tatoos behave rather oddly in astral space. Because they are
constructs using three different forms of existence they cannot be destroyed
very easily. Dispelling has no effect whatsoever on a tatoo.
If someone attempts to dispel the watcher, it uses its bond to
the wearer to remain, and if someone attempts to dispel the tatoo's magic,
its bond to the watcher protects it. The only way to affect a
tatoo is through astral combat, which is a risky proposition, as the tatoo's
magic reacts much like a spell, and the watcher will also take a hand in any
astral combat. If the watcher is defeated astrally, it returns
to the metaplane it came from, but it can be re-summoned and the tatoo
repaired simply by repeating the summoning and bonding of the spirit.
Once the spirit is destroyed, the magic of the tatoo fails and
can no longer be summoned, nor can it be attacked astrally, as its imprint
is too weak to affect any longer. If the tatoo's magic is
destroyed in astral combat however, the tatoo itself will disappear, and it
is permanently destroyed. A note concerning the physical
manifestation of tatoos: critters created by a creature tatoo
heal one box of damage per hour they are inactive. If the
creature is killed while manifested, it cannot be summoned for twenty-four
hours, at which time it will have healed one damage box. A
weapon which is destroyed while physically manifested must be repaired by
hand, it will not heal itself. The physical manifestation of
power tatoos usually cannot be affected, but if it is somehow hurt or
destroyed it must be reaired by hand just like a weapon tatoo.
As far as the tatoo being used to attack someone astrally, this can only be
done if the tatoo is active. A dormant tatoo, like a dormant
focus, does not provide a bridge to the physical plane that can be used to
attack someone. Also note that while some tatoos may be masked,
this masking does not extend to the person wearing the tatoo.
Tatoos affect magically active characters rather oddly. For
every fifteen Force points of tatoos that a magically active character has,
his/her Magic attribute is increased by one. If a character ever
has more Force points of tatoos than four times his/her augmented Magic
attribute, however, he/she permanently loses all other magical abilities
except astral projection, conjuring of watchers, and the ability to go on
astral quests. No mundane can have more than four times his/her
essence in tatoo Forcce points, and no magically active character can have
more than eight times their augemnted Magic attribute in tatoo Force points.
Tatoos also tend to interfere with astral perception, for every
twenty tatoo Force points a character has, increase all astral perception
target numbers by one.
Tatoos also help defend a character, for every twenty-five tatoo Force
points a character has, he/she gains one point of hardened armor.
Appendix E: Character Creation
Creating a tatooed adept character is similar to creating any other magical character. They are Priority B adepts (or 15 points if you use the points system) and spend their Force points on tatoos rather than spells. Note that these tatoos do not cost the character any nuyen, but if he/she wishes to purchase additional tatoos, they must pay one half the tatoo's listed cost. If the GM wishes to allow it, non-tatooed adept characters may also wish to start the game with tatoos, the costs and availability for some tatoos are given below, but the GM may adjust these up or down seems appropriate.