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Metamagix the sorcerer has invested in a number of magical tattoos and permanent spells when he is killed. His allies have him Raised. When he returns, are his spells and tattoos functional as normal, or has death destroyed the magical fabric?
Does the answer change if Metamagix has cheap friends and he is Reincarnated into a new body?
What if most of the body was destroyed and Resurrection was used to restore the original body?
Raise Dead (and by extension Resurrection, which functions in most ways as Raise Dead) specifically says that possessions aren't affected, but given that tattoos are explicitly tied to the condition of the body I'm not sure whether they're safe.
For purposes of Raising dead, tattoos and spells would not be considered a "possession".
The method of returning from death would have a huge impact if I was the DM. I'd scale it up depending on which spell the party bought.
Reincarnated = no way for either one.
Raise Dead/Resurrection = tattoos yes, permanent spells no.
True Resurrection = yes to both.
Permanent spells would only work if the spell can target an object. Once someone's dead, they aren't a "creature" anymore. They're just meat. If that meat can carry the enchantment, then it would probably still be there when life was restored.
As for tattoos, they are magic items, and so would still carry magic even after death. Dead skin can be tattooed as easily as live skin.
So, if the body was returned to life, the tatto would still work. However, if it was a case where a new body had to be created (maybe all that could be recovered was a hand or something), then the tattoo would not be recreated with the body. It's not a natural part of someone.
In my games, new bodies even erase old scars. Basically, you're "reborn".
It really depends on how you think the magic inheres and whether such magical effects get tied to the soul or are tied to the body.
Generally speaking, I think everything from Raise Dead to True Resurrection recreate you as you were before you died. So if you have a scar or a tattoo or pierced ears, you'll still have it once you come back.
If you want magical tat removal, you need to remove the skin with the tat and then throw a Regenerate to grow nice fresh new skin. Possibly this could be done with just regular healing magics too, but Regeneration will certainly do it. Regeneration will also remove all scars, breaks, and other assorted modifications, whether accidental or purposeful, at least for the portion regenerated.
A permanent spell should stay on the body, since it's basically no different than a magic item with the "broken" condition which can be fixed with a Make Whole. Follow the same rules with that and see if the caster of the Raise Dead is sufficiently high level to fix the broken permanent body enchantments.
Reincarnation gives you a completely fresh new young body with no scars, no piercings, no tats, and theoretically no belly button since you weren't actually born. Clones, OTOH, should have belly buttons since they're copies of the individual as they were when the sample was taken. This should preserve tats, but I'm not certain about permanent spells. Probably best to make a judgement call with each one.
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8
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If you want magical tat removal, you need to remove the skin with the tat and then throw a Regenerate to grow nice fresh new skin. Possibly this could be done with just regular healing magics too, but Regeneration will certainly do it. Regeneration will also remove all scars, breaks, and other assorted modifications, whether accidental or purposeful, at least for the portion regenerated.
Normal healing definitely works, though unlike a regenerate, it'll probably leave a righteous scar.
Of course the easiest way to remove a magical tattoo would be the spell erase :)