Following a playtest period earlier this year, Wizards of the Coast has canonized magical tattoos in Dungeons & Dragons: Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. The book introduces dozens of rules options, customized origins, new spells and more, but players who have been homebrewing tattoos for years can finally play with official ink, too.
There are 12 total tattoos in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything: Absorbing, Barrier, Blood Fury, Coiling Grasp, Eldritch Claw, Ghost Step, Illuminator's, Lifewell, Masquerade, Shadowfell Brand and Spellwrought. Each one is initially bound to a magic needle, which transfers the spell to a creature when the tattoo is applied.
Once a creature has received a tattoo, it can't be impaired by any injury or damage to their body, even if it happens on the tattoo itself. There's also no limitation to how a magical tattoo can look in D&D, so players can customize their ink to their heart's desire. Tasha's Cauldron specifies that a tattoo can look like a birthmark, a brand, scarification, scale patterns or anything else, so unless a Dungeon Master or another player objects to a cosmetic detail, the sky is the limit.
However, the size of the tattoo generally depends on its rarity. Players who get super rare tattoos are investing in large-scale pieces that can cover as much as half of their character's body. That said, tattoos require attunement, so once the attunement ends, the tattoo disappears and the needle reappears near the player. While there don't seem to be limitations on how many tattoos a player can have at any given time, it's worth noting that they can only attune to a handful of magic items -- so choose ink wisely.
Common tattoos are small and tend to cover an amount of skin equivalent to a hand, foot, or quarter of a larger limb (like an arm or leg). Uncommon tattoos are larger and cover half a limb or the entire scalp, while rare tattoos will cover a full limb. From there, magical tattoos in Dungeons & Dragons are massive, sprawling pieces of art: Very rare tattoos cover two limbs, or the character's chest or upper back, while legendary tattoos cover two limbs and the entire torso.
Players can apply their own tattoos using magic needles, which is how they can attune to them. Certain tattoos provide certain types of damage resistance based on the colors used, so it's worth exploring each one and being choosy about which ones the character would most benefit from having inked into their skin.
Dungeons & Dragons: Tasha's Cauldron of Everything is available now.