Tattoo Magic

[Mouser13]

It always been if you can read the language you can use a scroll. THough some GM may choice to enforce use of the skill %. Because it is just words that unlock the trap magic in the scroll.

[Nekira Sudacne]

1) will the Eye of Mystic Knowledge, help a mage learn a spell from a scroll at the given percent ? -- the reason I ask is because it seems there's no % just to use a scroll, unless that's changed or something.

from Create Magic Scroll...
anyone, fellow mage or housewife, can read the scroll and the magic spell will be cast.

so if any old rpg-schmuck can use it, why does the TA need 86% ?

Because this lets them use it no matter what language it's written in.

2) do the tattoo animals and monsters look real ? I thought in the "Hammer of the Forge" story, when the Atlantean summoned her gryphon it looked like it was made of blue-white magical power. I didn't see anything in the Atlantis book, but, you know...

Once again, the author of Hammer of the Forge is showing off a limited and/or altered veiw of the megaverse.

The animals and monsters look completely real.

[Nekira Sudacne]

Because this lets them use it no matter what language it's written in.

you lost me on that one.

Lets say you have a scroll written in Elvish/Dragonese.

Your character only knows American and Spanish.

He is unable to use the spell, sinse he cannot read the scroll.

Lets say your character has the Mystic Knowlage tattoo and activates it.

he has an 82% chance of figuring out how to activate the scrolls magic dispite being unable to read it.

let me ask you this: can the summoned animal, say a monkey or chimp be used to "go scale the 2nd story of that building and go inside and bring me back gems" ???

or for a hawk or raven

"fly overhead and if you see any orcs, caw/shriek while you're up there"

I'd be tempted to use it as a subsitute for Magic Pigeon, minus all the magical perks, "fly from the warlock market on Center down to level 3A and deliver this message I've tied to your leg to Joe. Joe looks like..."

The answer is yes and no.

The animals will obey commands, but do not know how to do certain things.

Sinse the resulting animal also has that animals IQ, there's also the question of if they can figure it out.

Say to a monkey, for an extreme exsample "Sneak into Chi Town and try to kill Emporer Prosek.

He will try to do that to the best of his ability.

Unfortunatly, that dosn't mean it's within his ability.


They don't have any magical boost to carrying out their commands, only the ability to understand them.

[drewkitty ~..~]

there is a world of difference between using a magic scroll and learning a spell from one. But I'd say the tattoo can help a mage learn from a scroll.

As for summoned critters, that probably should be a player's or GM's discretion/choice.

Lets set forth an analogy that everyone can understand and have the part of the magic scroll played by a firearm.

Anyone can point and shoot a firearm, but can you build one from just pulling the trigger once?

[drewkitty ~..~]

To answer the orginle question, the text only gives the user a 86% skill @ reading and using magic scrolls. (ie: gives the use the ability to read any magic scroll @ 86% skill level. nothing else.) The only thing the Eye of M. Knowledge will give for spell scroll conversion is the ability to read scrolls written in a language unfamiliar to the user. The EoMK give the user a +4% chance better of reading the scroll better then Eye of Knowledge.

Spell scroll convertion depends on the skill of the mage doing it, nothing else.

[drewkitty ~..~]

but why does it require a % when before it didn't ? The only thing that required a % with scrolls was learning the spell.

I think it's one of those: "That sounds cool, throw it in!"

previous rule? what previous rule ?

The only thing the Eye of M. Knowledge will give for spell scroll conversion is the ability to read scrolls written in a language unfamiliar to the user.

Eyes of Thoth


In other words, It lets the user actully READ, after a Skill roll, the scroll written in a language the user does not know.

[Library Ogre]

Scrolls can be written in any language, or combination of languages, the creator wishes. If an alchemist wishes to make a scroll for his use, only, he could write it in runes... only he or another diabolist would be able to read it. If he throws in a fair number of magic symbols to replace certain words and concepts at key places, it makes it even more difficult for non-Diabolists to understand.

However, translation magic makes this more difficult. Eyes of Thoth and similar spells or magical effects make it so anyone can read any language. I would say that the Eye of Mystic Knowledge gives you the ability to read any language at 86%, meaning you have a 14% chance of flubbing that scroll (mispronouncing a word, putting emphasis in the wrong places; you understand them completely, but you don't have perfect fluency with them)... but it's better than a 0% chance to read it.

[Library Ogre]

:lol: Nice try, but I think it's one of those: let's dummy up something that looks cool, but doesn't make any sense.

Palladium Fantasy RPG, page 247, under the heading "Selling Magic Scrolls", in the section on Alchemists: Limitations: Can be used only once, and written in only one language. ... If a person cannot read or cannot read the language the scroll is written in, he cannot use it (unrolling it and pretending or trying to read it may cause the magic to fade without the spell being cast).

Italics added. If you fail your literacy roll, you have failed to read a language; you may have failed in comprehension or, quite possibly, you have failed in pronunciation. There is a further note, higher on the cited page, that if you stop for more than three seconds (to ponder or stumble over pronunciation, for example), the spell is ruined as the writing disappears without the spell being cast.

I will further point out that, assuming you have both the Eye of Knowledge and the Eye of Mystic Knowledge, the EoMK gives you a 4% better chance of reading the spell off the scroll. Furthermore, the Knowledge Ward that Diabolists have available is set at 80%, which is 6% worse than the EoMK when it comes to scrolls, and the Power Circle of Knowledge, when burning a Dragon's Tongue, provides a 75%, which is 11% worse than a EoMK.

The EoMK is a very specific magical effect when it comes to reading, but it's very effective at what it does.