Query about T-Men and Orcs

[EltonJ]

I know I have the Atlantis book and the Mysticism and Arcana book. I was wondering if orcs can become T-Men?

[Shinigami]

No, they only work on human, ogre, true atlantean, elf, and the one type of dragon chiang-ku. To any one else it just like getting a normal tattoo, no magic, no pain (other the then there would normal be foir a tattoo). But, GMs can ignore if they want, if I did I would give them at least the same extra "cost" as elves.

[EltonJ]

Alright. This is for my home game, though.

[Sidious]

if you want to hand-wave it for your home game go for it. But officially, the answer is no.
I think an Ogre T-man or T-Monster Man (remember they are very different from D&D) would fill such a spot but don't know enough about your specifics.

[pawsplay]

Orcs in Rifts aren't related to humans at all. They are big, pack-oriented lugs. Feel free to homebrew away, but consider... the tattoos only work on humans and one kind of dragon, by design. So if you want to keep that lore, you might have to ponder why they work on humans, ogres, elves (sorta), one kind of dragon, and... orcs, just that one random species. It's already kind of weird they work on chiang-ku dragons and humans, since clearly the limitation is not purely physiological.

[pkitty]

Well, they work on Chiang-Ku because they invented tattoo magic for themselves, so technically ANY other race being able to use it is secondary to that. The implication is that "human" seems to be sort of a "default" shapeshift for Chaing-Ku dragons, so that's why tattoos work on humans and some human-related races. (Elves are actually the weird outlier here, though the limitations make it obviously more of a "huh, this stuff KINDA works on them? weird coincidence. definitely not good for 'em though" situation.)

[EltonJ]

Orcs in Palladium are some sort of fairy species.

[pkitty]

> Orcs in Palladium are some sort of fairy species.

Right, which just emphasizes why Tattoo Magic definitely wouldn't work on them.

[Mad Paladin]

Palladium ogres are pretty close to orcs, though, in terms of look and role, with the "cave man" look/origin. Why not just do an ogre?

[EltonJ]

I'll just do something different for my campaign than escaped slaves.