I was wondering about the use of fetishes and their combination in tattooing. In Street Magic all it says is that they have to be made from a refined or radical reagent and then processed into the fetish to be sold or attuned later. If say the enchanter made the fetish from various plants and berries and turned them into an ink to act as the fetish. That ink could then be used for the application of a tattoo and still be the same ink and thus still be attuned.

I myself don't see any problem with this, since it both costs more to get the fetish (both the cost of the fetish and the cost of getting it done) and it is more costly to replace the fetish if someone were to remove, and possibly a lot more lethal to remove a fetish (loss of skin or limbs...ouch). I would also rule that the fetish would have to be reapplied every few years to maintain the quality of it and the amount of fetish crafted ink in the skin.

What are your guys thoughts on this? And yes, I did do some searching on the topic already, but none of the other threads quite answered the question or went into any real details that could be the mechanics for it.

Sounds like a munchkin move to me. I wouldn't allow it. Fetishes are not that expensive (and neither are tattoos); money is not a significant drawback. The drawback of a fetish is having an item that can be lost or destroyed, and losing skin is not something PCs have to worry about except in situations where they have bigger problems than losing a fetish.

If they are going to have a tatoo that is a fetish, then they run the risk of any physical damage done to them 'breaking' the fetish due to bullets or a blade ripping through the inked skin. It would be a GM call for the odds, but you also have the same risk for a physical fetish.
Then you have to worry about where the player puts the tatoo fetish... there are some players who would put it in very hard to hit spots just for that reason, though there are ways around everything.

Hooker with a thing for razor blades?

The rules for what can be a fetish are wide open, really.

Tatoos are better replicated with Quickened spells ... you get the tattoo to 'Bind' the spell to your body.

Fetishes are things to grip, hold, or wiggle.

Well personally I would allow a tattoo fetish, but only if it were displayed as openly as I would require a physical fetish to be during Spellcasting. So no, you can't tattoo your fetish on your left butt cheek unless your mojo includes a 'full moon'. Of course I also wouldn't allow c**** rings as fetishes either unless the character's magic included indecent exposure.

This isn't DnD where the cleric must present his holy symbol while turning undead -- fetishes don't have to be physically presented when used, they can stay hidden away in pockets or on necklaces underneath shirts or whatever.

That's not a bad idea. If a fetish was small and the mage was going to get some sort of cyber/bioware anyway, a small storage compartment for the fetish would help fill up that block of essence that's going to be lost anyway...

Well actually I was thinking more along the lines of something similar to a Cranal Bomb that wouldn't cost any Essense, although hopefully you'd never need to accesss the Fetish again... *grins*

lol why don't you guys just give mages +2 to drain resist tests for every spell? Hell, throw in a few free powerfoci while you're at it. Afterall, mages are so underpowered as is

Well, yeah...didn't you get the memo?

What's that from?

Actaully....nothing, I made the quote up.....

haven't there been canon or SR novel examples of implanted foci already? I don't know where this came from, but I seem to remember an example given of someone who had a focus implanted as part of a hip replacement surgery or . . something. . .

When it comes to implants and essence, try to keep in mind the range of things that can fall under "cosmetic modification". Implanting fetish jewels or something into or below your skin could plausibly fit that definition. I mean, you can get scaly skin or replace your hair with color changing fiber optics for no essence, for pete's sake. The only thing stopping you from going down this road every time you make a spellcaster is your own desire to not be such a stupid munchkin.

AH is right, it's from The American President, in a scene where they're at the White House Chrismas Party.

(I'm paraphrasing the below quotes)

Sheen: "Fellas, relax, it's Christmas. Can't we not talk shop for one night?"
Fox (mox surprise): "It's Christmas?"
Assistant: "Yeah. Didn't you get the memo?"

Oh....I didn't realize that....I feel like I have been possessed now.....damn possession totems...

I was saying that I made up the quote from the Grand Poobah,

And I think the where did that come from was pertaining to the text in the quote, not the MEmo bit which I like to think of Morgan Freeman in BMan Returns. But really, that's such a generic phrase noone can really calaim to have coined it.

Frosty's whole femur wasn't replaced, it was just a special focus wrapped around the bone, something of a tracking and/or protective device.

The only implanted foci I have seen were enchanted hand blades in place of the standard issue mundane blade.

Tattoos did exist in SR3. Rather than being fetishes, they served as an anchor for quickened spells. I think the full details are in Awakenings or whatever the SR3 version of Street magic was.