The most common consensus I'm seeing on here is that a lot of DMs would allow a wizard to tattoo some spells onto their own body, with the caveat being that their body has very limited space and the tattoos have to be somewhere on their own body where they'd be able to read them. But in general the idea of a spell tattooed onto living flesh seems to be valid.
Anyway, what this immediately brought to mind for me was a sort of "Crazy Cat Lady" wizard whose "spellbook" is a bunch of tattooed, hairless cats she keeps close at all times.
ha, ya...and she has a taxidermist minion who goes about preserving the dead cats to keep the spells...so her hovel is full of a mix of live and dead-stuffed, tattooed cats.
This is definitely sounding like a character I would never want to play as, but would be amazing as an NPC for the party to have to regularly interact with.
not that i agree with tattoos as a spellbook (although as I said, I'd probably accept it in some limited form because the goal of the game is to have fun) but i believe your limits are your interpretation of RAI, not RAW
'a collection of spells' just doesn't work as it means spellbooks couldn't exist...because they couldn't be blank (therefore you couldn't make a spellbook...because the creation of the spellbook has to come before the inscription of any spells within the book...it'd have to be conjured out of thin air with spells already in it...you're stuck in a chicken/egg scenario), nor could they have only one spell. Look at the PHB's definition of a spellbook...it specifically says the pages are blank...therefore a spellbook is NOT a collection of spells.
also, i don't see that writing on live animal skin vs dead animal skin is a 'very different concept'....i'd call it more like a 'different process but the same concept''. I'd wildly guess that most people would agree that leather tomes can be made from all sorts of animals, including humanoids. If you can write a spell on a dead humanoid...why not a live humanoid?
If you're a minotaur wizard, that means your spellbook could be the remnants of your long-lost cow-cousin...if you can write on him, why not on yourself?
Also, Eberron doesn't just allow for objects which can hold writing...it allows you to totally substitute your spellbook. Spellshard is an item that has no writing at all.
I think you're over-interpreting parts of my quote there. A spell book is a collection of spells once a wizard has it and puts spells in it - and it has empty space for more spells. A Spellshard does have writing. Its description speaks of text and scribing into it.
The fact is that, RAW, a spellbook exists. It is an object. It costs 50gp. It has pages (or similar) for spells. A wizard needs one. That is RAW. Tattoos are not an object. Your own skin does not cost 50gp.
It is also an undeniable fact that having an unstealable "spellbook" attached to your body comes with some clear benefits. Most players asking for such a thing might have no such advantages in mind, just honest fun roleplay - but any wizard who has had their book taken from them might be very very tempted by such an option. So, homebrew an option (add costs or limitations as people suggest above) however you like - but don't pretend it is RAW.
This is the Rules forum, and there are no rules which support tattoo-as-spellbook.
I think you're over-interpreting parts of my quote there.
...or i'm just reading what you said. you did not make a quote. ...so far you've said:
"RAW it is a book or similar collection of pages". I quoted in the rules where this is not true.
"All these objects share some common features though: are an object, have a cost, have writing which can be read, will be revealed as a collection of spells when quickly examined by someone with cursory Arcane knowledge, can be removed from your possession and replaced." I pointed out where the statement is just wrong. Then you go on to say 'oh, but I meant to say more than that by adding another half sentence'
If you want to fall back to this being a rules forum...you might want to quote rules....you're providing bits of rules and declaring it as the limit and also adding your own additions to the rules.
...and totally not RAW, but since we're on the subject of tattoos, check out the Tattoo Magic feat from 3rd edition (discussed in both Lords of the Darkness and Races of Faerun)...lets you inscribe a spell up to 3rd level as a tattoo. It's a one-time use and then it vanishes so basically just like a spell scroll. If you did use tattoos, a 5e variant of that could be an option.
...or to steal a bag of dead cats from. lol.
Guide to the Five Factions (PWYW)
Deck of Decks
I think you're over-interpreting parts of my quote there. A spell book is a collection of spells once a wizard has it and puts spells in it - and it has empty space for more spells. A Spellshard does have writing. Its description speaks of text and scribing into it.
The fact is that, RAW, a spellbook exists. It is an object. It costs 50gp. It has pages (or similar) for spells. A wizard needs one. That is RAW. Tattoos are not an object. Your own skin does not cost 50gp.
It is also an undeniable fact that having an unstealable "spellbook" attached to your body comes with some clear benefits. Most players asking for such a thing might have no such advantages in mind, just honest fun roleplay - but any wizard who has had their book taken from them might be very very tempted by such an option. So, homebrew an option (add costs or limitations as people suggest above) however you like - but don't pretend it is RAW.
This is the Rules forum, and there are no rules which support tattoo-as-spellbook.
...or i'm just reading what you said. you did not make a quote. ...so far you've said:
If you want to fall back to this being a rules forum...you might want to quote rules....you're providing bits of rules and declaring it as the limit and also adding your own additions to the rules.
Guide to the Five Factions (PWYW)
Deck of Decks
...and totally not RAW, but since we're on the subject of tattoos, check out the Tattoo Magic feat from 3rd edition (discussed in both Lords of the Darkness and Races of Faerun)...lets you inscribe a spell up to 3rd level as a tattoo. It's a one-time use and then it vanishes so basically just like a spell scroll. If you did use tattoos, a 5e variant of that could be an option.
Guide to the Five Factions (PWYW)
Deck of Decks