I've detailed what Tattoo Tech is in my tech glossary post. However, I thought it'd be good to talk about how game-breaking this tech really can be by rating a few options which is usable with it.
Artificer can have cantrip and lv 1 tats as infusions. The 2024 Arti UA can also get tats of the highest available level, lv 5, eventually. In 2024, you can also easily craft tats (Rare tats will take a while, however). For the purpose of this build, I'll assume that tats of up to lv 1 are readily available, lv 2 techs pretty common in 2024, and lv 4 and 5 tats very intensive. Therefore, lower-leveled tats will be viewed more favorably than higher leveled tats, and especially Rare tats will have to put in work to be rated highly.
I copied FoD's rating system, since I like it
I will be using a 6-point rating system, ranking each option a number out of 6. The criteria for this ranking are as follows:
1 – options rated 1 are abysmal. They are weak to
the extent of basically throwing your resources in the trash with no
noticeable benefit at all, and it is a spot reserved for the likes of find traps, witch bolt, etc. For the purpose of this guide, I won't even post these options.
2 – options rated 2 are bad. They are a very poor
use of your resources, and a character that chooses them over another
option will be only a bit better than one who does not choose anything
at all. Examples include the Piercer feat.
3 – options rated 3 are mediocre. You will get use
out of them, but “powerful” would be an overstatement. This is a spot
for things like the Tough feat and Assassin Rogue.
4 – options rated 4 are okay. They’re valuable
enough to seriously consider, but not good enough to compete with the
big names. Things like the slow spell fit in this category.
5 – options rated 5 are good. They will provide significant value and are absolutely worth taking. Things like mass suggestion belong here.
6 – options rated 6 are outstanding. These are the
staples of their category, that you most likely cannot live without.
Feats like Fey-touched, Telekinetic, Resilient, [2014] Lucky and Crossbow
Expert go here.
Cantrip Tats
I found literally nothing worthwhile, so skip.
lv 1 Tats
Alarm (2/6): It's a solid ritual, but it's a ritual, and I don't see why you'd need to so desperately cast it more than once every 10 minutes that you're willing to sacrifice the other broken tats.
Animal Friendship (2/6): I am assuming you only get this on days where you expect to fight a lot of beasts. This is a 1/6 otherwise. Beasts generally aren't very threathening at all due to being almost always melee-locked, but having a basically-cantrip to save-or-suck them isn't, like, terrible.
Armor of Agathys (3/6): I am assuming your party has no reliable THP generation and that you're not a Warlock. If the latter assumpton is false, then this is a 2/6. If the former or both are false, then this is a 1/6.
AoA is a decent spell, but getting it as a cantrip for 1 hr is rather niche due to it only targetting you. Still, if you have a bunch of fights coming up, then you can get 5 THP for all of them. Casting this in combat may be better than Dodging in some cases.
Charm Person (2/6): Mostly the same as Animal Friendship, but better than it due to humanoids being generally bigger threats, which is then offset by lasting 1 hr rather than 24 hrs.
Disguise Self (2/6): You get to be a Changeling for 2 hrs rather than the usual 1 hr.
False Life (2014) (3/6): This is a sidegrade to AoA.
Fog Cloud (2/6): This spell is so good that getting two uses out of it may just be worth it. It very likely isn't, however.
Goodberry (2024) (6/6): This is literally infinite out-of-combat healing. This is a 1/6 if Vomitberry is used (see tech glossary).
Gift of Alacrity (4/6): This lets your Warlock grab something other than Fey-Touched, which frees up a feat for them.
Grease (3/6): Being able to spam this as a cantrip for a fight is very fun and decently effective. However, it's held back by only being usable for one fight.
Illusory Script (2/6): Just extremely niche, but is effective at that niche, at least. Fun for mass-producing illegal propaganda, if that's what you need.
Longstrider (3/6): Just increases your whole party's speed by 10 for 1 hr, which is a decent buff. This is a 4/6 before you get Psteed/Pbound Dybbuk.
Mage Armor (3/6): Can buff your summons' AC's, which can be useful. This rating can fluctuate.
Sleep (2014 at lv 1-2) (3/6): This makes you end-encounter button better by virtue of being spammable. This is still only one encounter, however.
Unseen Servant (6/6): Getting upwards of 600 of these is insane. This indirectly gives Spike Growth as a cantrip for that time by making these scatter caltrops. If you have any healing items, then this also gives Healing Word as a cantrip for 1 hr. This also gives Wall of Stone as a cantrip if you combine this with Nested Aquatic Doom (See tech glossary). In 2024, you can have these spam Oil to make basically anything get OHKO'd if it takes Fire damage, which you can cause by throwing some Oil on the ground and then igniting it.
lv 2 Tats
I'm going to be stricter with these ratings due to no longer being conjurable by Arti and now being Uncommon.
Fortune's Favor (2014 4/6; 2024 3/6): Cast this first on a creature which won't use this so that you can guarantee the rest of your party has this for free once per battle (or more, if you wish to cast this in combat). This is a lower rating in 2024 due to facing competition with Heroic Inspiration, but still worth considering.
Immovable Object (3/6): First cast this on an object you're sure won't get dispelled to guarantee you have this for an hour. You can basically set a creature's speed to 0 as an action for an hour with this.
Magic Mouth (5/6): This manages to escape my stricter rating by lasting incredibly long. Getting this as a cantrip saves you a lot of money when that still matters, and also makes this more efficient by not having to spend 10 minutes per part. Read the tech glossary on this spell.
Nystul's Magic Aura (6/6): This rating is assuming that you can't get this spell otherwise in your party composition. I hate this spell and so should you, so we're just gonna acknowledge that this spell is broken in any form and immediately move on.
Pass Without Trace (2014) (4/6): This rating is assuming that you can't get this spell otherwise in your party composition, and that you're tattooing this on a creature who otherwise wouldn't concentrate on anything, like a Familiar. Having this for up to 2 hrs is insane in its own right, due to surprise being better than most spells in the whole game.
If you can fit this into your party comp naturally, then this still has a 2/6 due to freeing up that party member's concentration (unless that party member is a Chwinga or something, in which case this is useless).
Rope Trick (4/6): Place a Rope Trick inside a Rope Trick inside a Rope Trick inside a Rope Trick, and default kill some encounter you wouldn't otherwise or would have to expend more slots to do so. Cast this when your party is prepared to make a mad dash through the dungeon and cap it off with stacking Rope Trick to have a very save SR.
lv 3 Tats
Equally strict ratings as lv 2.
Glyph of Warding (5/6): Similar to Magic Mouth, but better by being a better spell. This is limited by only allowing lv 3 or lower spells, however.
Phantom Steed (5/6): 60 horses tramples most of a dungeon with the power of sheer number, especially since a Psteed still lingers for a minute after dropping to 0 hp.
Tiny Servant (6/6): But why use Psteed when this breaks dungeons even more by having eight times more minions?
lv 4 Tats
This is Rare now, so the spell truly has to be a stand-out to be worth considering.
Death Ward (4/6): Become nigh invincible for a day. This being a 4/6 should tell you that I truly have high expectations for tats of this lv and lv 5.
Guardian of Faith (3/6): RAW this spell doesn't end when the guardian vanishes. If you DM disagrees, then just cast the first one somewhere where it won't damage anything. Beyond that, this just does ludicrous amounts of damage for a day.
Mordenkainen's Faithful Hound (2024) (3/6): Basically the same thing as Guardian of Faith.
lv 5 Tats
Equally strict as lv 4.
Contagion (2/6): This grants incredibly at-will power for 7 days, assuming you cast this on a creature which you can assure will have this the entire 7 days. That said, this isn't exactly to the level of clear-a-dungeon, so its long duration only gets it so far.
Creation (rating varies): This can swing from useless to incredible depending on how your DM rules what raw matarials are needed for crafting, what kind of items you can make wth this, and if stuff created with this spell has a sell value. The way to use this is to first use it for vegetable matter so that you can then spam whatever other option you desire.
Transmute Rock (4/6): Use this on something that won't get dispelled to get this as a cantrip. Whenever the environment allows it, Transmute Rock cantrip can be an effective and free encounter ender. It's rather situational, unfortunately.
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