I recently joined a campaign and I rolled a LE wizard that can inscribe magical tattoos instead of making wondrous items.
The other characters of the party are not yet aware of his alignment, and he has no reason to be mean to them.
Seeing him creating a magical tattoo, other members of the party have asked if they can get one too. Provided the right compensation my character is willing to do it, and maybe he can get a hidden advantage in the process.
My idea is to put a curse on the tattoo as a back up plan.
Let's say the big fighter wants a tattoo to fight better, as long as he hits my character enemies that is good, but what happens when he finds out my character is not a good person and tries to attack him? I don't want that tattoo to help him in the beating, maybe some kind of effect can be put on the tattoo, that can activate when needed like "-4 Will save", or that work just when my character is targeted.
I need some ideas of what can be done and how much would such added effect cost.
Any reference is well accepted, but the GM is quite new to the game and uses only Core and APG, so, although a good RP idea, I don't want to stretch the rules to much.
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I suggest strongly that if you have just joined a campaign you make a character that will fit in with the campaign, not plan on PVP.
If you insist though, what you would probably have to do is find a spell effect and figure out what it would cost based upon that effect. The spell would trigger with conditions similar what you could do with a contingency spell. More powerful spells would of course be more expensive (and presumably this would come out of your pocket). Your DM would have to decide the exact price, and could of course simply say no.
Also, anyone else with detect magic would have a fair shot of figuring it out and even if no one figures it out ahead of time, you better hope the effect is pretty strong, otherwise you can pretty much guarantee everyone you have given a tattoo to is going to come after your head.
I'll also note that while this stratagem is fairly evil, it isn't really very lawful.
I'm not sure there's an actual set of rules for what you're trying to do. Tattoo's are usually created as if they were wondrous items. Creating a cursed item is generally a due to a failure in the crafting process. I don't know if you can deliberately fail a roll like that to create a cursed object.
While it's possible to make a "deliberate" cursed object (Let's say, trying to enchant a ring with a time stop constant spell is an attempt that will fail), the curse is random. If you really want to do that, go instead for a Geas-Quest, casted while he sleep via Dream, with a trigger like "consider me a good person until I die", then cast on him a suggestion: "forget your dream", just to be sure. When he stops considering you a good person, he will start getting heavy malus everywhere, so you can kill him or promise him to remove the curse if he does what you say. Such combo is difficult to realize, assuming that you have to convince the GM that Geas-Quest has only a verbal component, so it can be considered a "message". But again, you'll find difficult to hide that.
Do you want to win against the fighter? Cast a contingency with invisibility, run and plane revenge.
I have to agree with both DJ: a PVP situation is only good for the gaming group if it adds something to the story and the group dynamic. Does the GM think it's a good idea? Nothing wrong with leveraging a little power against the group if it comes to that, but only if it's fun and interesting for everyone.
I also agree with Aboniks: a cursed item NEVER works in your favor, however, it can be engineered to work in YOUR favor. Wondrous Item- Contingency and Curse and Whatever Regular Enchantment. Mind you, a clever wizard may be able to detect the "hidden" nature of the tattoo for the character in the future. Such is the risk a wizard takes on the path to power, imho.
Well, I don't intend to go PvP. I am trying to role playing my character and imagine what he would do. As I said, It is a back up plan in case things go south. I think such fore-planning suits an high intelligence wizard.
I know wizards can go different ways to sway people and party members, but I was trying to fit this plan in the tattoo thing, since that is what my character does and party members are offering themselves to undergo the process.
From Core:"Cursed items are almost never made intentionally". I read that as implying that sometimes they are made intentionally.
So, back to the question: any idea of what sort of effect would be smart to create?
While it's possible to make a "deliberate" cursed object (Let's say, trying to enchant a ring with a time stop constant spell is an attempt that will fail)...
Ooh. That's an angle I hadn't considered. Nice.
So, back to the question: any idea of what sort of effect would be smart to create?
Honestly I'd go about this a different way, "Cursed Items" are governed by some some rules that would make your original approach expensive, uncertain, and potentially dangerous to your character.
What you might do is use the tattoos as parts of a contingency spell cast on yourself, instead: "If anyone who I have placed a magic tattoo on attacks me, then X spell goes off." (Read up on contingency to see how it works.)
As for what spell X should be, that's up to you. Any of the "mass" spells seem like good choices. (cause fear, suggestion, modify memory, hold person, etc)
At lower levels, rather than a mass spell, pick something that will only stop/delay/charm the specific person that attacks you.