can you write symbol spells on your own body?


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion


I was thinking having a "looking at activates" symbol on the palm of your hand that you can show to your enemies would be useful. Not sure if just raising your hand and showing it would be a standard or free action though. Does anyone know?


I know that Baba Yaga has three symbols of death on her body, don't recall offhand what the statblock said happens though, or if she can activate them as free/standard action by removing clothes/raising hand or what have you.
Hopefully that helps (granted a cr 30 creature is not great precedent, but...)


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As a GM I've definitely always ruled no.

Mostly because I had a player who was like, "I cover everyone in the party in symbol spells using my leftover spell slots from adventuring each day. And then everyone obscures the symbols under their cloaks."

Walking into a boss fight and everyone pulls off their cloaks and the enemy is hit with like 10 different symbol spells...

After that I ruled that they had to be affixed to a non-movable surface.


Considering two of the material components of symbol spells are poisonous it would be reasonable to assume it cannot be placed on a living creature. Since the spell glows when activated it seems reasonable that the phosphorus is white phosphorus.


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Dryad Knotwood wrote:

I know that Baba Yaga has three symbols of death on her body, don't recall offhand what the statblock said happens though, or if she can activate them as free/standard action by removing clothes/raising hand or what have you.

Hopefully that helps (granted a cr 30 creature is not great precedent, but...)
If you look at the relevant ability description (Link to her on Nethys, it's under "Permanent Spells"), it actually implies that inscribing Symbol spells on people is not possible normally.
Baba Yaga's statblock wrote:
Baba Yaga has also devised a way to inscribe symbol spells upon her person.

As in, she found a way, but it's far from something anyone could do.

(Also, she has 4 or 5 symbols of death, depending on weather the "soles of her feat" are one or two. But usually you probably only have to roll against those on her chest, shoulder blades, and on her head, since she's standing on the last one/two.)


What about write on your clothes? I know it says you can't put them on an item and use it offensively but I would think you could still write one on your clothes somewhere where it can be hidden (in your armpit maybe?)


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Technically, it only really prevents "Activating a touch-triggered symbol by using it to touch someone", but a Hat of Symbol of Death seems similarly abusable.

Still, if it allows me to inscribe a Symbol of Debauchery on my underwear…


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Baba Yaga is also quite possibly the most powerful statted thing in the entirety of pathfinder.

She has the ability, Queen of Witches, meaning she knows all wizard spells, all witch spells, and can create arcane versions of any divine spells she wants. She can also create her own artefacts.

The things she can do are pretty much as far from the standard as a character can be.

A lv20/Mythic10 PC is CR25. She is CR30.

Thats the gap we're working with. And yes CR is a loose marker at best, but she's pretty much the most deserving of the CR30 of any creature.

So my point is, yes perhaps its possible but generally "Baba Yaga can do it" isn't a very compelling argument unless you're a caster, casting 9th level spells already.

Add to that, symbol spells components are poisonous and I kinda feel like any symbol you put on your skin is gonna get rubbed off real quick, cause skin is folded and moving and stretching and bending.

My solution would be some kind of metal or stone or wooden tablets you could incorporate into your armour or cloak or whatever, which house the symbols. If you really had your heart set of this kind of thing.


Chromantic Durgon <3 wrote:
The things she can do are pretty much as far from the standard as a character can be.

Especially since her write-up specifies that writing Symbol spells on her body is something she "found a way to do", not something that can be done by default.


Claxon wrote:

Walking into a boss fight and everyone pulls off their cloaks and the enemy is hit with like 10 different symbol spells...

After that I ruled that they had to be affixed to a non-movable surface.

I think that I would allow it on certain large, flat surfaces. The kind of image I would go for would be some kind of siege weapon that is a large board on wheels that you roll up to the fight.

This would allow it to be brought out by enemies for a nice scene when the party is defending a castle from an army... while still being too impractical for the party to use it day to day. It would be a nice, obvious tell that would make people think "what are they doing with that, and why is it covered in a cloth? Should I throw a fireball at that?"

The number one requirement for the surface would be "larger than a tower shield, so no, you can't just wield it".


I've always read the term "surface" to mean some immovable flat piece of terrain such as a wall, floor, or ceiling. This lets you avoid weirdness with portable create pit spells on rugs and such.

I could see the surface being something portable, but I also think that folding or rolling the symbol would "destroy the surface" triggering and destroying the symbol.


lemeres wrote:
Claxon wrote:

Walking into a boss fight and everyone pulls off their cloaks and the enemy is hit with like 10 different symbol spells...

After that I ruled that they had to be affixed to a non-movable surface.

I think that I would allow it on certain large, flat surfaces. The kind of image I would go for would be some kind of siege weapon that is a large board on wheels that you roll up to the fight.

This would allow it to be brought out by enemies for a nice scene when the party is defending a castle from an army... while still being too impractical for the party to use it day to day. It would be a nice, obvious tell that would make people think "what are they doing with that, and why is it covered in a cloth? Should I throw a fireball at that?"

The number one requirement for the surface would be "larger than a tower shield, so no, you can't just wield it".

*casts enlarge person on the tower shield fighter*

There's always a bigger tower shield.


I'm sure a symbol spell on a shield was a thing in a module in AD&D. Too long ago, I couldn't give you a name.

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