Sure, I think it would work if the vigilante's identity was already compromised, but that'd be more the vigilante's fault than anything. If someone were to put arcane marks on people's foreheads without any prior suspicion, that person would already be a bit of a loony himself.
I think the idea that arcane mark can be used in this way is fine, since a regular person has no reason to do that unless they're already suspecting the social identity.
Arcane Mark isn't permanent on people.
Meh, still spell + silent spell + sleight of hand, you can definitely cast it on someone without them knowing, I think the better defense is if they have incentive to do this to you, you probably already made a mistake.
Seems like pretty clear-cut metagaming. It's like going up to someone you just met and asking them if you can draw a symbol on their forehead in permanent ink. Nobody would submit to that.
Let's just say that Vigilante tends to want to be a more common race, preferably human. Since even gnomes are by comparison, rare.
Even worse if you happen to love in a Hamlet and also be the only Wayang in town, it won't take people very long to figure out who the mysterious "Night Goblin" is.
Seems like pretty clear-cut metagaming. It's like going up to someone you just met and asking them if you can draw a symbol on their forehead in permanent ink. Nobody would submit to that.
People do that at raves/parties all the time, at least on their hand.
Heck, Disney/Univeral studios/etc put a mark on your hand sometimes to enter. Any of these could have secretly been an arcane mark.
I have a character who uses Stealth and Slight of Hand to arcane mark people all the time. He's paranoid and once had a shapeshifter stalking him, so he wants to make sure everyone is who they seem to be.
He uses the marks as a scrying focus, and if he meets with someone, he uses the marks to make sure that if he talks to them later, that they are the same person, and not something else pretending to be them.
In a world where shapeshifters exist, arcane mark is a pretty good way of making sure the people you trust are really the people you trust.
Seems like pretty clear-cut metagaming. It's like going up to someone you just met and asking them if you can draw a symbol on their forehead in permanent ink. Nobody would submit to that.
That would be weird. But pretty much every Magus puts Arcane Mark on opponents as a way of spammming Spellstrike. (Except for Hexcrafters who usually use the similarly problematical Brand cantrip.) If a Vigilante goes up against a Magus, there is a decent chance that they will be marked.
Seems like pretty clear-cut metagaming. It's like going up to someone you just met and asking them if you can draw a symbol on their forehead in permanent ink. Nobody would submit to that.People do that at raves/parties all the time, at least on their hand.
Heck, Disney/Univeral studios/etc put a mark on your hand sometimes to enter. Any of these could have secretly been an arcane mark.
Well, I suppose I was thinking more in context of "You meet someone on the road who helps you fight monsters. What do you do?" "I brand him."
Maybe in the course of fighting, sure, but outside of a context where it's warranted (because most things have a context where they're warranted or expected) I would say, yeah, most people would be opposed to being stamped for little to no reason. But an adventuring party running around marking everything and everyone probably would be asked to knock it off.
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Isnt this kind of part of the trope anyways? Zorro was caught because of a distinctive cut, Spider man was found out because of a cut too and i am sure there are many others i cant remember off the top of my head.
Like a boy with a lightning bolt on his forehead in his secret persona of H.P. as a troll living under his uncle's stairs, but when he dons his Robes of Wizardry and wields his Wand of Power, he becomes "The Boy Who Lived"!
I would say that you don't actually need any mark. The second time this random gnome shows up after the original gnome disappeared it's enaugh t give him -500 to bluff his way out.
Hiding your identity from the group is nightly impossible.
That said, I could definetly see reach spell Brand or Arcane Mark as a good way to identify some vigilantes.
The group would have to be pretty poorly made to fall for this...
Perception skill? Where did that gnome go, where did the new one come from?
I wouldn't call it metagaming to just assume the 'new guy' IS the 'old guy'.
That being said, if I was the gnome and someone started reaching towards my head, I would question that. With my sword. In their face.