Locate Object: Tattoo

[Wolfspirit]

Currently in a campaign I'm playing in, my party and I are trying to search for a mysterious serial killer that was targeting young women, strangling them, cutting off a finger, and mutilating the corpse. After a bit of investigation, we discovered that noone thought the fact that all the victims having a distinct tattoo of a snake bitting its tail (think Aes Sedai) on the finger that got cut off was that big of a deal.

Enter the idea of using Locate Object on the tattoo. We're pretty sure we could have an artist work with the bodyguard of one victim to create a pretty accurate representation, then possibly carpet-bomb the city to try and figure out who all has such a tattoo and try and get more info about it.

Can anyone think of some limitations or problems with this idea that I didn't think about?

 

[Joshua Randall]

I think you are treading a fine line between locate object and locate creature, but otherwise it seems like a clever use of the spell(s). But a lot of this is going to be up to DM interpretation.

 

[AuraSeer]

A tattooed person is a creature, not an object. Locate object doesn't work on creatures.

Divining for just the tattoo doesn't work either, because the tattoo is just a quality of the person's skin. It would be like searching for "blue" -- it doesn't make sense.

 

[Cheiromancer]

Interesting idea. The tattoo is subdermal ink in a particular pattern- is a pattern of ink an object for the purpose of the spell? If so, then you could cast "locate object" to find a particular signature or seal on a document, perhaps even a particular combination of words.

My main concern is that writing (or a tattoo) is not an object in itself, but part of another object. I would have similar concerns about locating an etched or engraved pattern, or a bit of detail carved onto something else.

Any other ideas?

 

[Kemrain]

I'm not sure the idea of Locate Object being used as a search engine for text (or other inked things) is within the rules, but it's certanly a great idea, and if it did work, would make research librarians take ranks in Use Magic Device to use those lovely scrolls.

I don't thik it's terribly over-powered, but it does seem to be stepping on Locate Creature's toes. Why not settle for the Locate Noun spell?

- Kemrain the Literate.