Hi all -- I've been quiet lately because other things have been eating my head, but I've got a question I thought I'd pose to the crowd, since I need to answer this pretty soon in my campaign.

Due to Plot Stuff, all the PCs recently acquired a single ise zumi tattoo apiece, themed to the five Elements (because they're all Chosen by the Oracles). In order to limit their activation, each one requires a Void Point to use. Most of them have unique effects, because I wanted something that would be more about interesting narrative moments than simple numbers alteration: the Air one lets that the bushi PC send messages over a distance (a la the Whisper tattoo), the Water one lets the monk PC disrupt spells with jiujutsu (a la that staff kiho from the Book of Water), and the Fire one lets one of our shugenja PCs learn something about an object by touching it, as a kind of psychometry. For the NPC bushi and his Void tattoo, I have two possibilities in mind; I just need to decide which of them fits better.

. . . but the Earth tattoo is giving me difficulties.

The problem is that the Earth shugenja in question either doesn't need or can already achieve most of the effects that come to mind, making a tattoo of that kind redundant at best. Some possibilities I've already ruled out:

* Reduction (a la the Crab tattoo). He's already the tank of the party (Earth 5), and since part of his story involves an ex-yojimbo who is still trying to protect him, making the PC shrug off hits even more than he already does would only undermine the fun there.

* Wound penalty negation (a la the Mountain tattoo). See above. He really doesn't need it, and while it would still be vaguely useful, it wouldn't really make the game more interesting.

* Immunity to poison or disease. Did I mention he has Earth 5? He can already shrug off just about anything, and now they're out of Scorpion lands, it won't come up nearly as much.

* Talk to animals . Yeah, it's an Air spell; I think it should have been an Earth spell. :-P But he already has the spell regardless, which means this isn't very useful.

* Change into an animal. He can already turn into a fox, which is really the only kind of animal he cares about.

* Summon animal. Not only is this moving outside of the bounds of how ise zumi tattoos generally work, it's redundant again, because he's a Kitsune shugenja -- it's part of his school technique.

* Taint resistance/immunity . I don't particularly enjoy running Shadowlands or maho stuff, and don't want to throw it at my PCs often enough for this to be useful.

* Turn corporeal/incorporeal . The character is currently incorporeal (because Plot), but giving him a tattoo to fix that problem would cut the resolution of that plot off at the knees, which neither I nor the player wants.

I think there were some others, but I can't recall them now. So I turn to you, my fellow forumites, and ask: what other kinds of things do you think would make for good Earth-themed ise zumi-style tattoos?

Freedom of movement.

Let them run over rugged terrain without losing speed; be unharmed by burning coals underfoot; tumble through a briar bush unharmed; sneak across broken glass or dry leaves without a sound; climb sea-slick stone as if it were dry and cragy...that sort of thing.

Being incorporeal makes it trickier to think of something apropos. So much of what immediately springs to mind for "Earth" is tactile. Still, a few random suggestions...

* Earth Sense--I'm thinking of Toph's "vision" in Avatar: The Last Airbender, in which contact with the ground and its vibration allows her to sense everything else in contact with it, in three dimensions, for quite some distance and around corners. (In effect that'd be similar to the existing Void tattoo, and sort of a powered-up meld of the kiho Earth Needs No Eyes and Eight Directions Awareness, so possibly less appealing if the PC has one of those kiho already.)

* Pass Through Earth--sink into the ground, move around in there, pop out again somewhere else; another Toph power, more or less. This might be pushing the edges of normal tattoo power level, though.

* Something like the existing Spider tattoo (gecko feet/hands in defiance of gravity) but perhaps with normal movement speed, as long as the surface traversed is suitably solid Earth material (stone, brick, possibly thick wood).

* Shattering Strikes--while active, the character's blows act on the minute fault lines in reasonably solid Earth-heavy objects (wood, stone, packed soil, iron, etc) and can cause them to shear apart. Similar to the Breaking Blow fire kiho, but works on metal and could perhaps be used for more precise effects rather than just rolling damage against whatever it is.

* Cradle of Earth--the character draws on the earth's strength in lieu of food and rest. Acts like some variation of the existing Ocean tattoo (cures fatigue and hunger, might restore spell slots for a Shugenja and/or heal Stamina x2 + IR of wounds, etc.)

* Something something magnets.

Magus Black -- that one sounds more Water-y to me.

* Earth Sense--I'm thinking of Toph's "vision" in Avatar: The Last Airbender, in which contact with the ground and its vibration allows her to sense everything else in contact with it, in three dimensions, for quite some distance and around corners. (In effect that'd be similar to the existing Void tattoo, and sort of a powered-up meld of the kiho Earth Needs No Eyes and Eight Directions Awareness, so possibly less appealing if the PC has one of those kiho already.)

* Pass Through Earth--sink into the ground, move around in there, pop out again somewhere else; another Toph power, more or less. This might be pushing the edges of normal tattoo power level, though.

Urk, yeah, you're reminding me of possibilities I discarded (and forgot to list, sorry -- brain is a sieve right now). The PC already has Eight Directions Awareness and Embrace of Kenro-ji-jin.

* Something like the existing Spider tattoo (gecko feet/hands in defiance of gravity) but perhaps with normal movement speed, as long as the surface traversed is suitably solid Earth material (stone, brick, possibly thick wood).

* Shattering Strikes--while active, the character's blows act on the minute fault lines in reasonably solid Earth-heavy objects (wood, stone, packed soil, iron, etc) and can cause them to shear apart. Similar to the Breaking Blow fire kiho, but works on metal and could perhaps be used for more precise effects rather than just rolling damage against whatever it is.

* Cradle of Earth--the character draws on the earth's strength in lieu of food and rest. Acts like some variation of the existing Ocean tattoo (cures fatigue and hunger, might restore spell slots for a Shugenja and/or heal Stamina x2 + IR of wounds, etc.)

The character doesn't practice jiujutsu at all, or something like your Shattering Strikes suggestion could work. Cradle of Earth, well, right now he doesn't need to eat or drink (because he's incorporeal), so while it might be useful later, it doesn't do much now. (And besides, I'd prefer the tattoo's effect to be a thing he does , rather than a passive effect, if we can come up with anything suitable. Although the player pointed out that it would be very appropriate for the Earth tattoo to be something passive and easily overlooked, it wouldn't be as fun, when everybody else has some kind of cool triggered effect.)

The Spider thing could work, but I feel like it would steal some of the thunder from the monk PC, who has a lot of Athletics with the Climbing emphasis.

* Something something magnets.

<lol> Well, this one's definitely the most amusing. ;-) I'll give it some thought, actually -- a way to pull metal items to him, basically doing some kind of Disarm roll at a distance? Not sure if that's right for this game, but it's worth pondering!

I once created tattoo that gave you monk ranks for the purpose of buying one kihos. You give him that and he buy the earth kiho he wants and don't bother finding an idea yourself.

Something like a way to create an Earth or Wood haven? A bit like Leomund's tiny hut.

Stop, activate tattoo, have hut shape itself around you out of the local environment, whole party sleeps in comfort for night.

Lets see:

Carpenter Tattoo: As long as this tattoo is active, the character can form earth (soil, stone, or even metal) as if it was wet clay. He can only change the hsape of the earth this way, other properties remain the same. Like, he can form a gate through a wall, but he can't separate a boulder into two neither he can make it lighter. Obviously, if he lands on earth from a bigger height while this tattoo is active, then the earth will "bulge" under him and the character will take no falling damage (earth-based traps will do no damage to the character for the same reason).

Seven Thunders Tattoo: While this tattoo is active, the character is completely immune to Fear and Intimidation. And I mean completely - he won't raise an eyebrow even in the face of the most nightmarish opponents. Because of this, his allies might get something like a +1k1 bonus to resist Fear as they gain confidence from the character's dauntless behavior.

Mountainpeak Tattoo: While this tattoo is active, the character cannot be thrown off-balance, including knocking him prone or anything like that. He will remain standing like a mountain, no matter what his opponents do. He might or might not be able to fall by his own will.

Kaiu Tattoo: When this tattoo is activate, the character doubles/triples his physical size. He gains the Huge special ability as well as any narrative effects the GM sees fit, though his Physical Traits will not change.

I like AtoMaki's Mountainpeak Tattoo (Even if I'm not fond of the name).

That said... Let me see what I can come up with as slightly more mystical options.

• A Tattoo that eases his ability to talk to the Earth kami (mechanically providing a pool of free raises towards reducing the amount of time required to cast Earth spells).
• A Tattoo that uses his connection to the Earth to strengthen him (mechanically providing 'void points' equal to his Earth ring)
• A Tattoo that provides a perfect understanding of the terrain around him (mechanically granting him the Way of the Land advantage)

Having some idea of the character's typical niche in the party could help generate suggestions, too (we know he's not a martial artist, not the go-to Athletics character...?).

Actually popped back in, though, to say that I belatedly remembered the "flora" aspect of Earth. You could do something with sensing/communication there (I'm partly thinking of that "plants have social networks!" article that was going around recently), or perhaps a Poison Ivy tattoo that changes the character's physical coloring in a plant-y sort of way to make him hard to spot (stealth or ATN bonus). Or something about growing stuff--or understanding the properties of plants, especially if Medicine is something the character does.

Maybe something that lets him absorb Taint and then purify it? Like, "Soulf of Jade,"or something, he can draw the Taint from someone or something else, and roll against it with HIS Earth?

Might be too powerful, but this guy sounds like he has the basics covered, and it comes with an element of risk- if he FAILS his role, the taint just transfers to him.

How would a tattoo that gives him some form of the crystal quality fit in your game?

An interesting conundrum. Thinking about the book of earth (In the setting, not the supplement), we have excellent quotes to base this tattoo off of:

“That which has happened is gone. Indeed, it never existed. Whoever you were in the past only matters if that is who you are now. Nor has the future ever come to pass; it has always remained beyond the horizon. Who you will be you cannot know. Focus instead on who you are now. It is the only thing that is real.” (This is surprisingly apt for the character, given his incorporeal state. Perhaps the tattoo allows him to ignore attempts to change him, which mechanically means that ads/disads and spell effects imposed upon him simply don't have an effect, as long as they change who he is? Obviously it wouldn't negate damage spells, since the character being capable of no-selling a fury of osano-wo would be broken beyond belief.)

“The earth is eternal. Even as a hundred thousand beings trample upon its back, the land does as it always has. No matter how the wind howls, the mountain does not move.” (Very obvious, and usually the go to basis for earth related abilities).

“You can only lose that to which you are clinging.” (This one is interesting. If interpreted in a very literal fashion, as earth is want to do, perhaps it's impossible to wrest objects away from the character while he has the tattoo active? As a shugenja, I doubt he's the type to wield weapons unless he's a Tamori, so it's less about being un-disarmable and more about being impossible to steal from. Alternatively, the character can forgo any and all attachments when the tattoo is active, losing all social ads/disads and skills while the tattoo is active (Possibly material?), but gaining the incredible ability to spend as many void points on a single action as they want? I swear I had an idea there, but I lost it right at the end.)

“Do not depend upon partial feelings. Feel the ground beneath you? It has always been there. Many trample on its back, yet none dispute its strength. The earth holds no doubts and fears no force. Strike as the earth, and you cannot fail.” (Just in case they ARE a Tamori, or happen to be a martial shugenja, perhaps they can spend a turn in full defense stance to allow any one attack to auto-succeed?)

Just some thoughts.

Late in returning to my own party -- that's how busy I've been. <sigh>

Thanks for all the suggestions! AtoMaki's Carpenter tattoo would fit with the Five Ancient Races theme we have going on (since shaping stuff like that is basically a Zokujin ability), or locust shell's suggestion of something for camouflage -- I'd have to think about whether that's something the PC would want to use, though.

godmoney -- crystal would be moderately useful in the sense that this is a Togashi Dynasty game, ergo spirits are a lot more common . . . but he's already a shugenja with a prayer staff that counts as jade, so the number of circumstances where he would have to use his actual hands to harm a spirit is relatively small.

Niche-wise, well, this party doesn't break down into the usual RPG roles (e.g. Face, Tank, DPS, etc), so the PC is a little difficult to define. In terms of personality, he's Stubbornness Incarnate, in both good ways and bad; he's also an ishiken, so he's got a secondary Void theme going on. Not very fond of social situations, but he's got a thing for poetry and has been working very diligently to become competent at it -- which, sadly, is really not Earth-themed (and a tattoo that lets him roll Willpower in place of Awareness would again undermine the kind of story stuff we've been doing there).

Right now I'm leaning the most toward the old Arrowroot tattoo, which would let him as a triggered effect take on half the damage from someone else. His ex-yojimbo would haaaaaaaaate that, but I can probably make story out of it. <g>