Wizardry might be described as magic of the book, but in truth it is the study of the arcane and how those different runes, symbols and materials with arcane properties interact to cause an effect. There are many forms for the recording of these incantations, some wizards record these formulas and incantations on tablets carved onto stone rather than written in ink on paper with quills. Others might use books made from animal skin rather than paper. Whatever the form they used. The wizardly practice of magic is to record incantations, an arcane formula of runes and instructions which absorbs the magic around it and releases it towards a desired purpose.

There are those who have taken that theory to unprecedented levels. These individuals are aberrant tattooists, mages who inscribe their spells and arcane knowledge onto their bodies rather than a book. It is costly and painful, but these arcane lines draw in the ambient magic of the world around them, strengthening their spells and giving them a hidden reserve of magic to pull from. They usually thrust themselves into the fray, experiencing the thrill of magic in a way few can.

Self Savant

Beginning when you select this school at 2nd level, the gold and time you must spend to copy a spell with a range of self onto your skin is halved

Arcane Artist

2nd-level Aberrant Tattooist

When you select this tradition at level 2, your skin becomes your spell book. The spell lines can not be covered by scars, only dismemberment will disrupt the spell’s formula. You gain the following features:

You become proficient with Painters Supplies which include paint brushes and tattooing equipment.

You can use your body as your spellbook, tattooing the arcane symbols and formulas of spell scrolls and other onto your skin. This requires costs the standard amount of gold required for ink at 50 gp per spell level. All other rules for preparing your spells are exactly the same. Your skin can hold up to 100 spells. 

Your body being covered with Tattooed arcanic symbols and runes, grants you the following additional benefits:

-Your artistic talents allow you to create realistic three dimensional artistic scenes on or near you. You learn the minor illusion cantrip. If you already know it, you learn a different cantrip of your choice. The cantrip doesn’t count against your number of cantrips known.
- For any spell that is range touch or self you do not need a spell focus. The Tattoo is the spellcasting focus for these type of spells.
- When you cast a wizard spell with a spell slot, you can temporarily replace its damage type with a type that appears in another spell tattooed on your body per spell level.

 

 

 

Manifest Form

6th-level  Aberrant Tattooist feature

You can conjure forth the spirit form of your tattooed body. As a bonus action you can cause the arcane surface of your body to manifest as a  spectral image of yourself, hovering in an unoccupied space of your choice within 60 feet of you. The shape is intangible and doesn’t occupy its space, and it sheds dim light in a 10-foot radius from the tattooed reflection of you. It can appear like an intangible hologram of one your tattooes, a spectral version of your tattooed body or a cascade of arcane runes.

While manifested, the spectral body can hear and see, and it has darkvision with a range of 60 feet. The construct can telepathically share with you what it sees and hears (no action required).

Whenever you cast a wizard spell on your turn, you can cast it as if you were in the construct’s space, instead of your own, using its senses. You can do so a number of times per day equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

As a bonus action, you can cause the construct to hover up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space that you or it can see. It can pass through creatures but not objects.

The spectral form stops manifesting if it is ever more than 300 feet away from you, if someone casts dispel magic on it, if the tattoos on your body are destroyed, if you die, or if you dismiss the construct as a bonus action. Once you conjure the construct, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest, unless you expend a spell slot of any level to conjure it again.

Written in blood

10th-level Aberrant Tattooist feature

Whenever you finish a long rest, you can create one magic tattoo by inscribing one of your spells into a unique tattoo causing one of your spells to be duplicated.

The tattoo will take 10 minutes and requires concentration an tattooist tools. The chosen spell must be of 1st or 2nd level and must have a casting time of 1 action. Once tattooed, the spell’s power is enhanced, counting as one level higher than normal. You can cast the spell from the Tattoo as an action. The Tattoo is unintelligible to anyone else, and the spell vanishes from the scroll when you cast it or when you finish your next long rest.

You are also adept at crafting spell scrolls, which are described in the treasure chapter of the Dungeon Master’s Guide. The gold and time you must spend to make such a scroll are halved.

 

 

Arcane Adaptability

14th-level Aberrant Tattooist feature

The magical runes and sigils inked into your skin has become so extensive the individual tattoos now interlace forming a weave of magical symbols around the body so profound that your soul has become entwined with it. You have advantage on all Intelligence (Arcana) checks, as your bond with the weave helps your intrinsic understanding of magical lore.

Also once per long rest, you can replace one of your prepared spells with another spell that is already tattooed on your skin.

Moreover, if a spell is cast while your Tattooed spectral form is manifested, you can prevent its effect by using your reaction to use the spectral form to absorb its magic for yourself. Then roll 3d6. Your body temporarily loses spells of your choice that have a combined spell level equal to that roll or higher. For example, if the roll’s total is 9, spells vanish from your skin that have a combined level of at least 9, which could mean one 9th-level spell, three 3rd-level spells, or some other combination. If there aren’t enough spells in the book to cover this cost, the spell cannot be absorbed.

Instead the spell that was absorbed forms a new tattoo on your skin that becomes part of your prepared spells until it slowly fades over the long rests as indicated below. The spell can only stay part of your prepared spells until you start your next long rest. At that point it fades to the point of being unusable until the original Tattoo returns.

Until you finish 1d6 long rests, you are incapable of casting the lost spells, even if you find them on a scroll or in another spellbook. After you finish the required number of rests, the spells reappear on your skin. Once you use this reaction, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest.