Ooh, for org (at least the commune level ones) tats, was the idea to have the powers be unique? Having the power and weight be tied together in special cases seems perfectly fine by me (bluh, not that I'm the arbiter of these things!). If the powers aren't going to be unique, will there be some unknown perk to org tats over normal ones? It would be nice to be able to vaguely plan ahead so we don't double up somehow.

This would be excellent and I thank you profusely for considering.

As an aside, this is also the sort of thing that I think leads to a lot of disagreements. You see us all saying "significantly recode the skillset" but we're only seeing "minor change to the design of the skill." We don't know how it's coded, so it's hard to tell what is minor and what isn't, so when you ask for minor changes to tweak a skill, there's not a whole lot we can do other than guess whether or not something is feasible.

From what I understand, the perk is that guild/org leaders can scribe the tattoos instead of looking for a monk tattooist. Also, they'll be restricted to just guild/org members.

My personal opinion is that this is the better implementation, as having unique powers for each org tattoo would likely be far too hard to balance.

The main concern I have with the guild tattoos is where they go and whether they can be broken down into multiple parts. One of the more common "advancement systems" I have seen is the multiple path type, if the guilds could divide their total weight amongst a series of tattoos this could be a nice reward for completing the paths. (For some reason the first image that came to mind was the Researchers branding people with their degrees)

Though how much that is used would be dependent on the power and tattooist monks would likely only accept it at full power anyway.

Curious. How will Org/Guild tattoos be different? Or will they be the same? If they are in fact the same.. I'm not seeing the point. Other than the fact that someone other than tattooists can ink them. Would be nice if they were different, somehow.


If they have the same powers as normal ones. Then what is the point of not just going to look for a regular tattooist? Would they just be for the extremely lazy? Why even call them Org tattoos then? Not everyone would want the same ones.. which means alot of org tattoo designs.. I got a headache.

Guild tattoos wouldn't have their own powers. I was thinking that the first guild tattoo they get would give a big guild rank bonus (one time only).

Guilds would be able to buy as many tattoos as they want (or that they can afford). It's up to the guild to agree with the tattooist on the weight and likewise what policies/goals they make on when someone gets any particular tattoo.

They wouldn't be different. They would be mostly for RP really. You tell me if that's something you would want!

Feel free to suggest a way to make them more unique; keep in mind there's an issue of balance and coding resources (simplicity is best).

They are different, they're guild specific, and they're wonderful tools for guild RP. For example, if you see someone with a tattoo of the Loving Radiance, you know he's a Celestine that has deepbonded with Raziela.

Also, not all orgs have access to org tattooists, or even tattoo cartels (Gaudiguch and Hallifax), and we don't know how long it would be before Estarra releases monks for the two cities.

Edit: About the only thing I can possibly think of is really minor little things that matter only for that particular guild, such as, say a tattoo for Illuminati that hides transformation for that particular body part even without wearing your Transmology robes.

So it's basically a single pattern on a single body part, with a single benefit that all guild members will have access to. That sounds pretty cool to me! It sounds like a neatly customizable 'guild solidarity' kind of thing. Will they vanish on a person who gets one and quits the guild?



I think this will alleviate a lot of the concern voiced so far.

Any chance furred races will get an option to hide all tattoos, like Quettle?

Correct. They will vanish if a person quits the guild. Also, if they're still in the guild and want it removed, they would have to go to a tattoo artist (guild leaders wouldn't be able to lift tattoos if they don't have the tattoo skillset).

I love the idea of guild tattoos as described, but my worry is, if we're going to have to choose whether to use some of our available 759 points of weight on a really really cool guild tattoo with no associated power or benefit, or on some DMP, who's going to choose the former?

But maybe I misunderstood and guild tattoos don't use up the weight quota? That would be really cool: if these kinds of status-symbol, RP-encouraging things go against a totally different pool (or no pool at all) from the powers-and-perks stuff, then for once we wouldn't be forced to choose between meaning and tactics.

Er, they'd still have powers, just be guild-specific (so only your guild can have them)...

Or you can simply design your own Raziela tattoo. Then you can have someone submit it and get the weight and power you want without wasting a tattoo spot or weight on something you probably don't?

I know it sounds great for RP. But for people who know what they want it really just seems like an unnecessary and forced waste of my weight and tattoo space if it's just a regular tattoo. Though I'm sure there are people who like the idea and would use it.

They would have weight that counts towards the total weight. They'd also have a preset power set by the tattoo designer (DMP or whatever the guild wants).

I'm sure you can do that. But this particular tattoo of Raziela can only be inked on Celestines who have deepbonded with Raziela. It's a unique marker, an identifier, a 'guild tabbard' of sorts. It can be used to signify rank, position, speciality, role, achievements and many other possible uses.

Maybe in terms of combat effectiveness, this isn't going to be the best unless the guild commissions multiple versions of the same tattoo so that you can choose which power you want for that particular guild tattoo. So maybe, if the Celestines are rich enough, they can commission 9 versions of the Raziela tattoo for each DMP type.

In all honesty, I expect that we will find that people cannot really justify org tattoos.

If they were a zero weight thing that is only cosmetic then they will be used, but if it means more moving of things just so you can have it then it's probably going to go underused.

For Saran right now, I'm looking at a cutting buff going from hands to arms to chest because it's the only way I like the mental image. This moves my total chest weight down so I have to make up the loss somewhere else. At the moment I'm moving it to my waist and slotting in half of a 100 weight tattoo there which continues on my legs. I have 59 weight left which is feet, wrists, ankles, face, neck, toes and fingers.

If the guild tattoo was 10 on the chest then I could rearrange the cutting buff and move some of the weight onto my wrists. But I'd need to know that before I made everything and so on...

edit: It might be different for people who don't create their own set of tattoos, but I know it would be an awkward position to be in if I were asked to have one (or more) of my tattoos removed so that my guild could put one on me with a power I may not want or already have (requiring the removal of a second existing tattoo.

I have to agree with above comments:
Eh... that sounds like you either make it so no one gets any tattoos before the guild tats come out or they double up or risk having to do them all over. I'd way prefer them to be outside the weight system or have some side unique effect, to not have to try and guess what my guild will want to do and plan accordingly. However it shakes out though, org tattoos do need to be totally standardized in the org, I totally agree!

If they fall outside the weight system, then that means their weight will skew balance (since orgs can purchase as many tattoos as they want/can afford). If they have no weight, then any power would be zeroed out and they'd only be cosmetic. If they have some unique effect, I have yet to hear any ideas that would work with every guild (we're not going to have a unique power for every guild).

Simplicity is best which is why I doubt we will change the design.

Oh right. Outside the weight and power system. Have some unique perk, like the Gf thing.

Edit: Or something universal and mechanical.. like slightly faster movement (hasty message reduction), in that orgs territory, or something.

Reedit: Scratch that, sounds like a stupid idea, everyone will just hand it out in some orgs, like the epic quest sort of is. Mark of rank and some governmental thing sounds cool to me, if it was placed outside the power/weight thing.