D&D 5E Dark Sun psionic tattoos?

[Ezequielramone]

Hi! I'm relatively new to dark sun. I'm running it with the original adventures, the new mystic and a few house rules I found. So I don't have a real idea of how the 2e psionics worked back in the day (actually I couldn't even read when the original dark sun box was on the store's shelves).I have a Mystic in my game and the player is obsessed with scribing tattoos on her companions and use them like potions. I know there was a feat in 3e/PF to scribe tattoos or something like that. But since I'm trying to stick with the original 2e setting I'm wondering... Was there something like psionic tattoos in 2e Dark Sun? Is that something reasonable? Did the original psionic handbook cover tattoos?*I want to stay as faithful as possible to the original concepts.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

Seems like more of a magic thing than a psionic thing, but its certainly possible that there was a way to do this in 3e.
Best bet to replicate this might be to look at the Artificer Wizard tradition in the Eberron UA: - This is the class that can create potions and scrolls using spell slots (which you could convert into psi points when adjusting for the mystic.
Essentially, they could use spell slots to create DMG potions, but note the spell slots costs, since some potions are much better than the relevant spell. Spell slots could not be recovered until the potion was used to prevent stockpiling - I would suggest that you keep this mechanic.

Overall, you make serious gains in action economy, buff capability, and versatility. Just make sure that you have a decent basic attack, because you can blow through your slots (or points) very rapidly, leaving you to rely on cantrips.

 

[delericho]

Was there something like psionic tattoos in 2e Dark Sun?

I don't think so. I think psionic tattoos came in with 3e - in 2nd Ed all psionic items were intelligent (so no equivalent of potions, scrolls, etc).

Is that something reasonable?

Yes, though the best handling of that concept was a tattooed wizard I saw in a recent Pathfinder game - basically, when preparing spells the character tattooed them on her flesh, and then cast them normally.

I'd generally advise against letting the PC treat tattoos as potions, for the reason the Cap'n gave - it makes it too easy to stockpile them and thus bypass any limits on uses per day.

 

[Ancalagon]

The Yoon Suin campaign setting (which I highly recommend!!!) has magical tattoos in an appendix.

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