Tattoo Artifact

The 160 page version of the Scroll of Errata for Exalted says, "Tattooed armor can typically stack with any other worn armor, but does not count as armor for the purposes of Martial Arts Styles that restrict armor use."

I know that is the official line, but I think it is a bad design decision. The point of the tattoo artifact is that you are trading having an item that cannot be uncommitted to have an item that cannot be stolen from you. Thus, the Artifact being the same level as its equivalent non-tattoo Artifact.

I think it is clear that removing the stacking restriction and/or the Martial Arts Styles restriction boosts the power of the Artifact in question. As such, I would propose that it should boost the rating of the Artifact. Adding one dot to the rating might be sufficient.

Thus my rule, in my home game, is: If the net effect of being turned into a tattoo makes an Artifact more powerful/useful then it is treated as one dot higher in rating.

Note

It could also have simply been an Artifact writeup rather than a separate Background.

As in:

Artifacts

Tattoo Artifact ●+

This Artifact is a tattoo which mimics the powers of some other Artifact. It may only mimic X Artifacts. It does Y. Its rating is Z, where Z is the modified according to blah. (see above for modifier idea)

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