Hmm. Judging by the way that wizards enchant staves by carving runes on them, I'd say that what would be enchanted would not be the runic tattoos, but your entire body. I suppose it'd provide justification for buying up Refinement, but I wouldn't let it be a Focus.
Tattoos may work...and they're easy to take away. Throw ink at them, cut or otherwise deface them, or deform the skin (disease, rash, swelling, breaks, etc) they're on.
Personally, I'd want good thematic justification before allowing them. Not really sure they fit into the world easily...
If you give tattoos a similar restriction as focus items have, you can have them as focus items, sure. Maybe make it so you first need to touch them with your fingers, drawing the power out of them to cast the spell, things like that. People in the know can put duct tape over your tattoos then, paint them over, bandage you, tie you up so you can't touch them, etc. Those not in the know, who would not take a wizards amulet or bracelet, would not care for your tattoos as well. They might still tie you up, but a good athletics roll could allow you to stretch far enough to touch them for one spell to free yourself.
Which would be very helpful, I'm sure, since they're biomancy foci.Give yourself a boost of strength to rip through your bonds, shrink down your wrists to slip out of cuffs, make your finger malleable and use it as a wax key to open a lock. There are tons of things you can do, if you can transform your own body.
Give yourself a boost of strength to rip through your bonds, shrink down your wrists to slip out of cuffs, make your finger malleable and use it as a wax key to open a lock. There are tons of things you can do, if you can transform your own body.
Unless the enemy is someone like Nicodemus, who'll stick him under running water (although Nicky himself would actually support the character's aims, now that I think about it).True, but then he is someone who would take away your focus items as well, since he knows about stuff like that.
If you give tattoos a similar restriction as focus items have, you can have them as focus items, sure. Maybe make it so you first need to touch them with your fingers, drawing the power out of them to cast the spell, things like that. People in the know can put duct tape over your tattoos then, paint them over, bandage you, tie you up so you can't touch them, etc. Those not in the know, who would not take a wizards amulet or bracelet, would not care for your tattoos as well. They might still tie you up, but a good athletics roll could allow you to stretch far enough to touch them for one spell to free yourself.Considering that unless you've got Seelie Magic, biomancy is Thaumaturgy, that's hardly a restriction, since if you're tied up, you can to the ritual stuff you need to get the Thaumaturgy working in the first place.