Master Psychics and Magic Tattoos

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Mack
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Master Psychics and Magic Tattoos

Unread post by Mack »

Any know of a canon reference on what happens to a Master Psychic who receives more than six magic tattoos?

I had assumed that combo wouldn't work, but looking through Atlantis I don't find any passages that address it, positively or negatively.
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Re: Master Psychics and Magic Tattoos

Unread post by Nekira Sudacne »

Mack wrote:Any know of a canon reference on what happens to a Master Psychic who receives more than six magic tattoos?

I had assumed that combo wouldn't work, but looking through [i]Atlantis[/] I don't find any passages that address it, positively or negatively.


Splynn Dimensional Market page 107 has a whole page dedicated to answering the question of psychics and magic tattoos.
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Re: Master Psychics and Magic Tattoos

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Thanks. Someday I'll get around to buying that book.
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Re: Master Psychics and Magic Tattoos

Unread post by Nekira Sudacne »

Mack wrote:Thanks. Someday I'll get around to buying that book.


No Prob!

It also covers humans who are superhuman or supernatural in some way, such as humans with Heroes Unlimited superpowers or become supernatural though sea titan or other such variants/transformations.
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Re: Master Psychics and Magic Tattoos

Unread post by Lori »

Mack wrote:Any know of a canon reference on what happens to a Master Psychic who receives more than six magic tattoos?

I had assumed that combo wouldn't work, but looking through [I]Atlantis[/] I don't find any passages that address it, positively or negatively.


WB 21; 4th paragraph: “In most cases, Master Psychics cannot receive magic tattoos either.”

Then the paragraph goes on to explain that the P.P.E. (for psychics) was used up in the process of gaining their psychic abilities.

Though the writing discourages the idea, referencing it with, “In most cases,” gives a little room for options or at least GM preference.

Last sentence same paragraph: “Minor and Major Psionics, have a much lower level of psionic power and do not encounter this problem and can become T-Men.”

Might be interesting to have a character that is a crossover of some sorts, perhaps create a table or chart that changes the effects of psychic abilities/Tattoos; perhaps sometimes they work/sometimes they don’t. Might make for interesting character development.

Best of luck.
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Re: Master Psychics and Magic Tattoos

Unread post by Tor »

The 'cannot receive' sure is vague though. Surely someone capable of giving magic tats could TRY to give it to a master psi, so what happens? It makes a picture but doesn't do anything? Are they put down for inability to comply or willfulness? Are candidates often screened first to avoid wasting time?
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Re: Master Psychics and Magic Tattoos

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Tor wrote:The 'cannot receive' sure is vague though. Surely someone capable of giving magic tats could TRY to give it to a master psi, so what happens? It makes a picture but doesn't do anything? Are they put down for inability to comply or willfulness? Are candidates often screened first to avoid wasting time?

Rifts exists as a setting and a set of rules. The rules do not cover every circumstance, and do not necessarily follow any kind of logic that allows one to extrapolate - the rules exist to allow a certain game functionality, and not really for any other reason. All I can say is that, canonically, no one capable of giving such a tattoo would even try, as they would surely know that it could not work. I would guess that in the rare instance where they tried not knowing that the individual was a master psionic, the process would fail almost immediately, leaving the individual with at most a fraction of a tattoo, perhaps just a line or a few dots. I suppose the artist could continue it as a non-magical tattoo, of course.
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Re: Master Psychics and Magic Tattoos

Unread post by Nekira Sudacne »

Tor wrote:The 'cannot receive' sure is vague though. Surely someone capable of giving magic tats could TRY to give it to a master psi, so what happens? It makes a picture but doesn't do anything? Are they put down for inability to comply or willfulness? Are candidates often screened first to avoid wasting time?


Actually, the book is much more clear, I was summarizing. basically what happens is the magic tattoo cannot bind to their PPE base because they burned too much developing master psionics, which clearly indicates that yes, you can try, but the result is just a regular tattoo.
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Re: Master Psychics and Magic Tattoos

Unread post by Nightmask »

Nekira Sudacne wrote:
Tor wrote:The 'cannot receive' sure is vague though. Surely someone capable of giving magic tats could TRY to give it to a master psi, so what happens? It makes a picture but doesn't do anything? Are they put down for inability to comply or willfulness? Are candidates often screened first to avoid wasting time?


Actually, the book is much more clear, I was summarizing. basically what happens is the magic tattoo cannot bind to their PPE base because they burned too much developing master psionics, which clearly indicates that yes, you can try, but the result is just a regular tattoo.


Wouldn't that really mean that they can receive the tattoos, but they just don't have the PPE to power them so it's pointless? Like giving someone a flashlight without batteries when they have no batteries to put into it.
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Re: Master Psychics and Magic Tattoos

Unread post by Tor »

Even the master psis with the least amount of PPE could still have enough to power the weaker tats like small animals or simple weapons, so it's gotta be something else, the Mind Melter's 2d4 could result in 8.
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Re: Master Psychics and Magic Tattoos

Unread post by The Beast »

Nightmask wrote:
Nekira Sudacne wrote:
Tor wrote:The 'cannot receive' sure is vague though. Surely someone capable of giving magic tats could TRY to give it to a master psi, so what happens? It makes a picture but doesn't do anything? Are they put down for inability to comply or willfulness? Are candidates often screened first to avoid wasting time?


Actually, the book is much more clear, I was summarizing. basically what happens is the magic tattoo cannot bind to their PPE base because they burned too much developing master psionics, which clearly indicates that yes, you can try, but the result is just a regular tattoo.


Wouldn't that really mean that they can receive the tattoos, but they just don't have the PPE to power them so it's pointless? Like giving someone a flashlight without batteries when they have no batteries to put into it.


Pretty much.
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Re: Master Psychics and Magic Tattoos

Unread post by Nekira Sudacne »

Nightmask wrote:
Nekira Sudacne wrote:
Tor wrote:The 'cannot receive' sure is vague though. Surely someone capable of giving magic tats could TRY to give it to a master psi, so what happens? It makes a picture but doesn't do anything? Are they put down for inability to comply or willfulness? Are candidates often screened first to avoid wasting time?


Actually, the book is much more clear, I was summarizing. basically what happens is the magic tattoo cannot bind to their PPE base because they burned too much developing master psionics, which clearly indicates that yes, you can try, but the result is just a regular tattoo.


Wouldn't that really mean that they can receive the tattoos, but they just don't have the PPE to power them so it's pointless? Like giving someone a flashlight without batteries when they have no batteries to put into it.


Sort of, the exception is for true atlantean master psychics who receive tattoos as a child (e.g. Marks of Heritage), who continue to be able to receive magic tattoos indefinatly but will lack the PPE to use them. even getting more than 7 won't turn them MDC or give them more PPE to work with. However, because that's clearly "only works if you got one before you became a master psychic", it also means "Because you didn't get them as a child, it dosn't work that way"

It also says that anyone who becomes a T-man as a child (gets more than 7 tattoos) can never become a master psychic, even if they had the potential to be.
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Re: Master Psychics and Magic Tattoos

Unread post by Tor »

I guess they'll just have to get one of those Psi-Implants tat gives minor or major guys the abilities of masters :)
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Re: Master Psychics and Magic Tattoos

Unread post by Svartalf »

Nightmask wrote:
Nekira Sudacne wrote:
Tor wrote:The 'cannot receive' sure is vague though. Surely someone capable of giving magic tats could TRY to give it to a master psi, so what happens? It makes a picture but doesn't do anything? Are they put down for inability to comply or willfulness? Are candidates often screened first to avoid wasting time?


Actually, the book is much more clear, I was summarizing. basically what happens is the magic tattoo cannot bind to their PPE base because they burned too much developing master psionics, which clearly indicates that yes, you can try, but the result is just a regular tattoo.


Wouldn't that really mean that they can receive the tattoos, but they just don't have the PPE to power them so it's pointless? Like giving someone a flashlight without batteries when they have no batteries to put into it.

getting inked but getting no powers from it counts as "unable to receive" since the whole goal of magic tatts is bestowing the appropriate ability onto the recipient
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Re: Master Psychics and Magic Tattoos

Unread post by cosmicfish »

Svartalf wrote:getting inked but getting no powers from it counts as "unable to receive" since the whole goal of magic tatts is bestowing the appropriate ability onto the recipient

But there is a difference between getting a non-magical tattoo and getting a magical tattoo that one is unable to activate - first because the magical tattoo has passive effects (especially if you get more than 6) and second because there is always the possibility that you will somehow gain the ability to activate the tattoo at a later date.

The canon answer, written to maintain a certain game balance, indicates to me that the entire process will simply fail for these individuals - while the point of failure may be in doubt, they do not finish the process with a magical tattoo.
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