Inscribe Magical Tattoo

[Aquifn]

Can you ink a belt of +2 strength, and then later improve it to +4?

[Chromnos]

Absolutely. They use the same rules as craft wondrous items. You just subtract the cost of the original +2 tattoo from that of the new +4.

[Aquifn]

This feat is bloody expensive for less slots. Seems like everything it can do, ion stones inside wonderous items can do (sans rings).

Are you able to apply the normal class/skill discounts?

how exactly do skill discounts work when building items? This item requires 1 rank in arcane knowledge! And then what, works if they have it? How do you determine which skill/rank is fair?

[Chromnos]

The feat cost itself is just 5 skill ranks in craft calligraphy and 5th level caster. Not too bad, so maybe I'm misunderstanding what you mean RE bloody expensive. I suppose due to the fact that you need a new skill at high ranks?

To my knowledge, if you make a magic item which requires a specific skill to activate, then you can reduce the cost by 10 percent. This particular rule appears to be somewhat contentious and I've seen GMs house rule it out.

[Aquifn]

I meant expensive for the actual crafting costs, compared to just taking wonderous item for crafting. I understand they can't be stolen, but they can't be sold or traded for something different either.

Flavorful though

[Chromnos]

Anyway, i've seen no hard and fast rule on skill ranks required but a good house rule of thumb is caster level.

[Chromnos]

Ah. Yeah. The items themselves are high cost due to the fact that they're considered slot less. I suppose you could ask your game master to consider them occupying a slot. That way you couldn't have an armband item + an arm tattoo in the same slot. A reasonable house rule.

You could also make the tattoo race and skill specific for -40 percent. But the book notes that this is with GM approval as a caveat.

[Aquifn]

Its strange, they aren't slotless really. They're more.... additional slots. Maybe he'd be game for x1.5 vs x2.

I like the skill rank needs to match caster level thing. That makes sense.

[Chromnos]

The cost of adding an additional single ability to a dedicated item is + 50 percent. Doubling a slot could arguably be more due to the fact that the tattoo + item could each conceivably come with multiple abilities. It's all house rule land at this point in any case.

[Chromnos]

Magical tattoos, in my book, get props for cool factor ;)

[Aquifn]

Yup! Glowing tattoos of awesome for the win