Yokaizumi no Jutsu, the Way of Monster Ink

An arcane style of magic that developed in Orinoh over a thousand years. In Shokugani it is referred to as Yokaizumi no Jutsu, or the Way of Monster Ink. Due to their isolation, they did not know of biothaumaturgy, and even when they heard about it, they branded it gaijin foolishness. Sorcerers are much more common in Orinoh and generally made samurai when discovered in commoners or merchants' families. They developed a method of distilling monsters' essence down into magical blood inks, which they use to grant others magical abilities.

Those who can perform the art are highly respected and sought out, but must live apart from society and suffer the life of an eta outcast - albeit a very comfortable, very wealthy eta. Priestesses and priests occasionally learn this art and apply the same concept to the power of the deities - distilling the essence of prayers, offerings, and rituals into similarly magical inks.

Mechanics

A New Tool Proficiency

In order to create a tattoo, either mundane or magical, the artist must have proficiency with tattooist's tools, which are a type of artisan's tools. In order to ink a magical tattoo onto a wearer, the artist must have proficiency with tattooist's tools and must be able to cast at least one spell.
Whenever you would gain proficiency with a type of artisan's tools from a background, you may substitute that proficiency for proficiency with tattooist's tools instead. Your DM may allow you to gain proficiency with tattooist's tools over the course of play.
This kit is a sturdy briefcase which can hold a variety of hammers, needles, medical supplies needed for sterilization, and differently colored inks, all of which are necessary in the creation of magical and mundane tattoos. The kit may also include a sketchbook filled with original designs, and has space for any magical templates the owner finds during their journeys. A tattooist's kit costs 70 gp. The tattooist's kit tool proficiency is most often paired with Wisdom, Charisma, and Dexterity.
When an artist first gains proficiency with tattooist’s tools, their teacher gives them a sketchbook containing designs for a number of Simple or Average tattoos equal to 5 + their Wisdom modifier. The sketchbook is a unique compilation of designs, with its own decorative flourishes and margin notes. It might be a plain, functional leather volume that they received as a gift from their teacher, a finely bound gilt-edged tome they found in an ancient library, or even a loose collection of notes scrounged together after they lost their previous sketchbook in a mishap.

Discovering New Templates

Most examples of tattoo templates are exceedingly rare and either well-hidden or carefully guarded, as existing tattoos are either culturally significant or highly prized by their current owners. In rare cases, ancient tattoo templates may be found in such areas as ancient temple walls or found carved into totems. The most common way to learn a new template is to copy it from a tattooed person. Copying the design of a tattoo from another body requires the tattooist make an Wisdom check. The DC is determined by the condition of the body:

Copying Check

Condition of Subject	DC
Living, willing or unconscious	5
Dead, < 1 week	10
Living, unwilling or restrained	15
Dead, > 1 week	20
Dead, tattoo design partially destroyed	25

The size and intricacy of tattoos will determine the amount of resources needed to copy the tattoo. An artist will need to spend 2 hours and 50 gp to copy a design into their sketchbook. This amount increases by 2 hours and 50 gp for each size and intricacy level, to a maximum of 10 hours and 250 gp for a Large Ornate tattoo.
Once a tattoo is copied into a sketchbook, a template may then be created. Creating a template costs the same amount, in time and materials, as copying the design in the first place, and each template may be used only once.

Copying Your Sketchbook

Artists can copy a design from their own sketchbook into another book – for example, if they want to make a backup copy of their sketchbook. This is just like copying a new template, but faster and easier, since they understand their own notation and already know how to apply the tattoo. They need to spend only 1 hour and 10 gp for each size and intricacy level of the tattoo.
If the sketchbook is lost, they can use the same procedure to transcribe the designs that they can remember (an amount equal to their Proficiency modifier) into a new sketchbook. Filling out the remainder of the sketchbook requires them to find new templates to copy, as normal. For this reason, many artists keep backup sketchbooks in a safe place.

Applying a Tattoo

In order to apply a tattoo, there must first be room to draw it into the skin. Every tattoo has a size and location. The size of the tattoo scales with the size of the creature. Because of this, a Large chest tattoo would take up the same space on a human, a halfling, or a giant, as the size of the tattoo stays proportional to the size of the creature it is applied to.
Characters are limited only by the amount of available space on their body.

Available Space

Body Part	Number of Tattoos
Head	1 Medium, or 2 Small
Chest	1 Large, or 2 Medium, or 4 Small
Back	1 Large, or 2 Medium, or 4 Small
Arm/Wing	1 Medium and 1 Small, or 3 Small
Leg/Tail	1 Medium and 1 Small, or 3 Small

Tattoos are either Small, Medium, or Large, and are either Simple, Average, or Ornate. You can gain additional uses of a tattoo by increasing its size or intricacy by one step, up to a max of Large size and Ornate intricacy. Tattoos that provide a constant effect are unable to be modified in this manner.
Increasing the size or intricacy of the tattoo doubles the price for each increase.
A modified tattoo counts as a different tattoo for purposes of placing it in a sketchbook, but a tattoo can be modified at the time of application by increasing the tattooist's tools DC by 5.

Tattooing Process

The requirements for each tattoo are different, but the general rule is that larger and more intricate tattoos require more time and ink to apply.

Applying Non-Magical Tattoos

The artist need not succeed on checks with tattooist’s tools, only spend the requisite amount of time according to the size and intricacy of the tattoo design.

Time & Ink

Tattoos take time to apply based on their size and intricacy. A large but simple tattoo may take the same amount of time to ink as it would to create a small but detailed one. Sessions may be broken into chunks of time over the course of several days, however if the tattoo is not finished within 30 days the magics of the tattoo dissipate and must be started again from the beginning. Some tattoo mages will demand full payment upfront, while others will charge a part of the price across each individual session. After the tattoo is finished, you gain the effects of it after a long rest. Use the following table to determine how long and how much ink the procedure will take. In order to gain a special effect from a type of ink, the entire tattoo must be made with that type.

Size (Intricacy)	Time To Apply	DC	Ink
Small (simple)	1+1d4 hours	10	1/4 ounce
Small (average), Medium (simple)	2+1d6 hours	12	1/2 ounce
Small (ornate), Medium (average), Large (simple)	4+1d8 hours	14	1 ounce
Medium (ornate), Large (average)	6+3d6 hours	16	2 ounces
Large (ornate)	8 + 3d10 hours	18	4 ounces

Permanence

The properties of magical tattoos permeate deep within the muscles and sinew of the body, and are in most senses permanent. Very few have ever been reported as having lost their magical properties, even if the tattoo is no longer visible on the skin. Incredibly deep burns or loss of limb removes the magically enchanted parts of the body, removing the effects of any tattoos on that body part, and possibly allowing for another tattoo to be acquired. Limbs regrown with regenerate do not grow back their tattoos. Spells such as raise dead generally keep the tattoos intact, given that the limb is still present. Reincarnation will not bring back the subject with their tattoos intact. Clones made with the clone spell do not have tattoos.

Additional Information

Both magical and non-magical tattoos should be recorded to check whether a character has room for a new tattoo. Unless specifically noted under the tattoo description, any additional applications of the same tattoo will not confer additional magical effects.
Magical tattoos dimly radiate magic under a detect magic spell. A successful DC 20 Arcana check may be made in order to discern the nature of a magical tattoo. Dispel magic will not nullify a tattoo's magic, only suppress it for 1d4 rounds. Tattoos cease to function in the area of an anti-magic field.

Supplies

Item	Cost	Weight
Tattooist's Kit	70 gp	5 lb
Sketchbook	25 gp	2 lb
Ink Base	5 cp	1 oz
Full Ink Set	200 gp	1 lb
Ink (Colored)	15 gp	1 oz
Detection Ink	600 gp	1 oz
Elemental Ink	150 gp	1 oz
Glamour Ink	75 gp	1 oz
Glow Ink	75 gp	1 oz
Metallic Ink	150 gp	1 oz
Monstrous Ink	Varies	1 oz
Mood Ink	115 gp	1 oz
Prismatic Ink	125 gp	1 oz
Sacred Ink	Varies	1 oz
Shifting Ink	1,500 gp	1 oz
Temporary Ink	10 gp	1 oz
Three Dimensional Ink	350 gp	1 oz

Tattooist's Tools Comes with one color of ink
Sketchbook Contains known tattoo designs. Each design takes up a full page. Sketchbooks have 25 pages.
Ink Base Clear liquid that may be mixed with pigment to form 1 oz of the appropriate color.
Full Ink Set Contains 1 oz of each color of the basic inks (black, blue, brown, green, orange, purple, red, white, and yellow).

Specialty Inks

It may be possible to aquire rare and unique inks with which one may create tattoos. These inks may have special cosmetic or magical properties. Using anything but standard ink may incur an extra cost, at the DM's discretion.
Detection Ink This specially prepared ink reacts to the presence of certain creatures, and glows faintly when within 100 feet of the creature in question. Each different creature type is a different type of Detection Ink.
Elemental Ink This ink is purely cosmetic in most circumstances, coming in a variety of elemental styles. Some may make the lines of a tattoo appear to burn like molten lava, while others may cause it to appear as if cool water flows through the lines of the subject's skin. Certain earth-aligned inks will cause the lines of a tattoo to appear as if they were filled with glimmering gemstones. While this is normally cosmetic, if the appropriate elemental ink is aligned with a specific tattoo, it may amplify the effects of such a tattoo. For example, a tattoo of a fist of the elements would become much stronger if drawn using ice aligned ink.
Glamour Ink This ink causes lines drawn with it to glitter like a thousand stars. These inks come in a variety of colors.
Glow Ink Tattoos inked with this concoction are pale versions of their colors while in the light, but in dim or dark conditions glow vibrantly with their appropriate color, creating dim light in a radius of 10 feet if the tattoo is uncovered.
Metallic Ink Tattoos made with this ink make it appear as though the subject has organically-flexible metal inlays imbedded in their skin. These inks come in a variety of flavors, from gold to silver to rusty iron.
Monstrous Ink Ink made from the essence of a type of creature. Evokes images of that creature in the minds of those who view the tattoo. This type of ink, along with additional exotic ingredients, is required to make arcane magical tattoos.
Mood Ink While appearing as plain gray ink in a bottle, once applied to the subject, this ink changes color depending on the subject's mood.
Prismatic Ink Appearing to be a swirling mass of rainbow colors while in a bottle, this ink causes lines tattooed with it to become beautiful and iridescent in appearance.
Sacred Ink Ink made from the distilled essence of prayers, offerings, and sacrifices made to the deities of the Brisingelion. Each pot of sacred ink is aspected towards a single deity or scion. Tattoos created with this ink invoke feelings of devotion and holiness in those who view them. This type of ink, along with additional exotic ingredients, is required to make divine magical tattoos.
Shifting Ink Shifting ink is the rarest of all tattoo inks, and allows two tattoos to be placed on the same part of the body. In order for this ink to display its true power, the area to be tattooed must first be prepared with shifting ink. This process requires the same amount of ink as the larger of the two tattoos to be applied. During the application of the first tattoo, the shifting ink reacts with it and it absorbs into the wearer’s skin. The second tattoo may be applied over this. Once this is done, the wearer may choose which tattoo to manifest once per short rest.
The time taken to prepare the area with shifting ink is equal to that of the larger tattoo, but there is no associated DC. The tattoos must be applied within three days of the application of the shifting ink, before it loses its potency and binds with only the first tattoo. Artists sometimes risk exhausting themselves trying to complete their work before the shifting ink sets.
Temporary Ink This ink appears as normal black ink, only it is applied on top of the skin with a thin brush. Tattoos made with this ink last up to one week or until they are washed away with water.
Three Dimensional Ink This ink comes in the same standard variety of colors as normal ink. However, when applied it creates a stunning effect whereby the design of the tattoo appears to float off of the wearer’s skin and hover above it. The tattoo may also animate slightly, spinning or curling around the area.

Distilling Magical Inks

In order to successfully distill magical inks from a monster’s body or from the prayers, sacrifices, and offerings of the faithful, a character must make a Skill Check with the Skill that matches what they are harvesting plus whichever Ability fits the job (eg., extracting the vitae from a dragon corpse might be Dexterity, while condensing the smoke of burnt offerings might be Wisdom). The roll is made with Advantage if the character is Proficient in the Tattooist’s Kit tool.

• History: Giants, Humanoids, Prayers
• Arcana: Aberrations, Constructs, Elementals, Oozes
• Nature: Beasts, Dragons, Monstrosities, Plants, Offerings
• Religion: Celestials, Fey, Fiends, Undead, Sacrifices

The following chart shows how many times this distillation roll may be attempted and how long each attempt takes, depending on the size of the creature or the metaphysical weight of the divine target. The Time Per Attempt can be halved if the character has help from a number of assistants equal to those shown in the “Assistants Required” column, who are proficient in either the distillation Skill used or in the Tattooist’s Kit.

Creature Size/Divine Weight	Distillation Attempts	Time Per Attempt	Assistants Required
Tiny	1	2 minutes	N/A
Small	1	10 minutes	N/A
Medium	1	30 minutes	1
Large	2	1 hour	1
Huge	3	4 hours	3
Gargantuan	5	1 day	10

A success on this roll means that the character is able to distill a single ounce of magical ink. For every 5 points that the character exceeds the DC by, an additional ounce of ink is distilled.

Target CR Range	Equivalent Magic Item Level	Taint	DCs	Cost
0-5	Common	1	10	(1d6+2)*10gp
6-10	Uncommon	2	15	(1d6+2)*50gp
11-15	Rare	3	15	(1d6+2)*500gp
16-20	Very Rare	5	20	(1d6+2)*5,000gp
21-25	Legendary	7	25	(1d6+2)*50,000gp
26+	Artifact	10	30	1,000,000+gp