Shibboleth Brand Items

[Daspolo]

So I have an idea for a set of two items, that are primarily used to allow pc's and npc's to silently and reliably show their allegiance to a specific group (think, thieves guild). They operate like a brand on the skin, that can only be seen by people who are wearing the same brand, to everyone else, its invisible. To elaborate

Quote:

Shibboleth Tattoo Cloth

This cloth when placed against the skin and activated by a pass phrase, creates a mark identical to the one on the cloth. This mark is invisible to all that do not similarly have this mark, to those who have this mark, it appear as a faint glowing blue that passes through clothing. This mark can be removed at any time by saying a second passphrase. The mark hides from divination magic that would otherwise reveal it (detect magic, see invisibility) unless the caster can overcome a caster level check (dc 20).

The cloth and mark will remain magical until the next full moon, after which the cloth will disintegrate, and the mark will disappear

Quote:

Shibboleth Brand

This functions identical to the shibboleth tattoo cloth, with the following changes. First, the mark is bright gold to those who can see it. Next it is completely permanent, and can only be removed with powerful magic. The passphrase to remove it will only render it invisible to all parties, and can be made visible again with the first passphrase. Further, the caster level DC to see it increases to 25, and when it is made fully invisible, this increases further to 35. The wearer of this mark can always see another's mark of the same type, even when his mark is hidden.

So basically, the cloth tattoos will be passed around to associates every month, and the password will be changed each time as well. But leaders and people of great import will have the permanent brand instead.

Does this seem like a good item, and is there anything that jumps out at you all as a problem?

[Mike J]

How do these interact with divination magic beyond detect magic and see invisibility?

The brand can only be removed with powerful magic - this is often specified (wish, miracle, etc.)

Otherwise, it looks pretty good. Something to think about: Who is creating the Shibboleth Tattoo Cloths, how do they know what the symbol looks like, and how much is an organization spending to create the cloths for their members each month? That could be a lot of magic item creation.

You may just want a single branding item and eliminate the cloths. With one password, the item can mark someone permanently. With another password, the brander can cause the mark on anyone to be removed. The organization has one such object and can revoke membership with a word. Temporary stuff like the cloth can be problematic. If you want two types of brands (permanent & temporary), have the item able to make a temporary brand that vanishes with the next full moon (or whatever).

Cool idea, though.

[Chris Mortika]

Mike, I see where you're coming from, for efficiency, but for story opportunities (PCs getting a limited window of opportunity to infiltrate the Guild...) I think the cloths work better.

There might also be a second command phrase, that the guild members at large don't know about, which allows the Headmasters to track anyone with the cloth, or to inhibit healing spells from working...

[Daw]

Can the cloths be cheated by using UMD?
Nothing should be foolproof.

[Daspolo]

Oh yeah, the cloths can be activated with UMD. The brand too if you can get a hold of it.

As to other divination magic, I'd say that true sight could see the Mark of the tattoo cloth. It can see the brand if it isn't hidden, but have to bypass the caster check if it was.

Removing the brand is wish or miracle or similar magic.

[Daw]

Can the brand or mark be made invisible or undetectable to other branded/marked peoples.

[Daspolo]

The golden brand can with the second password. But I haven't built a way to make the lesser blue one invisible. But I guess that other illusions could work on top of it. So a disguise self spell could make it hidden, but only the greater brand can be hidden under it's own power.

[Daw]

Actually, they would reasonably limit the invisible oversight functionality to branded,