Magic Skin

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(in Repentance and Repentance+)

Magic Skin is an unlockable activated item added in The Binding of Isaac: Repentance.

Effects

  • Upon use, spawns an item pedestal from the current room's item pool.
  • Consumes one of Isaac's heart containers, one Bone Heart.pngBone Heart, or two Soul Heart.pngSoul Hearts, replaced by a broken heart container which can never be filled, permanently reducing his maximum possible health.
    • The priority order of hearts that will be consumed is: one heart container, one bone heart, and two soul hearts.
  • After using Magic Skin, if Isaac is not currently holding it, Magic Skin has a chance to replace any item that spawns in the future.
    • The chance is 33% after one use, 50% after two uses, and 100% after three uses.
    • If Magic Skin is on a pedestal somewhere on the current floor, the chance is drastically reduced. (Unpurchased Shop and Devil Deal items do not count.)
    • Each new Magic Skin is fully recharged.
  • If Isaac's entire health bar is filled with broken heart containers by using Magic Skin (which kills him, but an extra life will remove one broken heart container), this item will disappear and future items won't be replaced.

Notes

  • For most characters, the limit of broken hearts before Magic Skin disappears is 12.
    • If using Character Magdalene icon.pngMagdalene with Collectible Birthright icon.pngBirthright, Magic Skin will not disappear until you have 18 or more broken heart containers.
    • Character The Lost icon.pngThe Lost and Character Tainted Lost icon.pngTainted Lost will be able to use the item once, after which it disappears. The item's chance of replacing later items does not trigger, making it equivalent to Collectible Mystery Gift icon.pngMystery Gift.
      • An extra item cannot be spawned when used with Collectible Car Battery icon.pngCar Battery.
    • Character Keeper icon.pngKeeper and Character Tainted Keeper icon.pngTainted Keeper gain a broken coin container which are functionally identical to broken hearts. Character Keeper icon.pngKeeper can use it up to 3 times, and Character Tainted Keeper icon.pngTainted Keeper can use it up to 2 times before Magic Skin disappears.
      • If they have Collectible Deep Pockets icon.pngDeep Pockets and Collectible Greed's Gullet icon.pngGreed's Gullet, or Mother's KissMother's Kiss, they can use it more than 2~3 times.
      • Although they can have 13 or more coin hearts under some conditions, they can only have a maximum of 12 broken coin heart containers. They will die only once all coin hearts are gone, causing Magic Skin to disappear.
    • If either Character The Forgotten icon.pngThe Forgotten or Character The Soul (Character) icon.pngThe Soul has 6 broken hearts by using Magic Skin, this item will disappear and they will instantly die. However, swapping characters right after one of them reaches 6 broken hearts can prevent them from dying, but permanently disable the one using it.
  • Reaching the broken heart limit by using ? Card? Card or Wild CardWild Card won't cause Magic Skin to disappear.
  • Character Tainted Lazarus icon.pngTainted Lazarus is able to find Magic Skin while Character Dead Tainted Lazarus icon.pngDead Tainted Lazarus is carrying it, and vice versa.
  • Using Magic Skin after touching the White Fire Place.pngWhite Fire Place in DownpourDownpour II/DrossDross II, or while using the Soul of the LostSoul of the Lost, will still add broken hearts for when the character is revived.
  • Collectible Heartbreak icon.pngHeartbreak or VI - The Lovers?VI - The Lovers? will add broken hearts, lessening maximum use of Magic Skin.
  • Broken heart containers can be removed by donating to a Confessional.pngConfessional.
  • In Treasure Rooms with a blind item, if the known item is Magic Skin, it is almost guaranteed the blind item is not.

Synergies

  • Collectible The Book of Belial icon.pngThe Book of Belial + Collectible Birthright icon.pngBirthright as Character Judas icon.pngJudas / Character Dark Judas icon.pngDark Judas: Grants a permanent +0.5 damage up on use in addition to the temporary +4 damage up given to it by Birthright. This bonus is not lost if the broken hearts are removed.
  • Collectible Book of Virtues icon.pngBook of Virtues: Spawns pink wisps on the middle ring. Wisps' tears poison enemies.
  • Collectible Car Battery icon.pngCar Battery: Spawns 2 items and adds 2 broken hearts (removing 2 heart containers or 4 soul hearts) with each use. Two broken hearts are added regardless of Isaac's remaining health. If Isaac already has 11 broken hearts and uses Magic Skin, it will only be used once.
  • Collectible Damocles icon.pngDamocles: Spawns 2 items on every use instead of 1.
  • Collectible Esau Jr. icon.pngEsau Jr.: Since Esau Jr.'s health is separate from Isaac's, one character can use Magic Skin at no cost to the other. Future items will still be replaced when playing as the character that hasn't used Magic Skin.
  • Collectible Schoolbag icon.pngSchoolbag: Isaac can keep Magic Skin in the inactive slot to prevent its respawning while still being able to use another active item.
  • Collectible Spindown Dice icon.pngSpindown Dice: Using Spindown Dice on Magic Skin 6 times turns it into Collectible R Key icon.pngR Key.
    • Spindown Dice + Schoolbag: Allows Isaac to keep Spindown Dice between runs, allowing a theoretically infinite run with enough luck.
      • Restock: If Isaac can find a Battery in the shop, as long as one has enough coins, runs can actually be infinite.

Interactions

  • Collectible Alabaster Box icon.pngAlabaster Box: Magic Skin can use Soul hearts from the box, and will prioritize them over those in health.
  • Collectible Binge Eater icon.pngBinge Eater: Will still offer a food item even if Magic Skin replaced an item.
  • Collectible Dream Catcher icon.pngDream Catcher: If Magic Skin has replaced the item in the Treasure RoomTreasure Room, it will be shown in the dream sequence.
    • Holding Magic Skin or having a pedestal with it on the same floor can cause the item in the Treasure Room to not be replaced by Magic Skin.
  • Collectible Genesis icon.pngGenesis: Removes all broken hearts as well as items. Magic Skin can still replace items in the Genesis room.
  • Collectible Glowing Hourglass icon.pngGlowing Hourglass: Recovers a broken heart when used after using Magic Skin. Using Magic Skin in the same type of room will spawn the same item, it must be used in a different room type first to spawn a different item in the previous room type.
  • Collectible Lemegeton icon.pngLemegeton: Magic Skin can be spawned by Lemegeton if it has been used in the current run. As long as Isaac has this flame, Magic Skin will not respawn/replace items.
  • Collectible Metronome icon.pngMetronome: Getting Magic Skin from Metronome has a chance to instantly apply the item replacement and spawn Magic Skin as an item pedestal.
  • Collectible Mystery Gift icon.pngMystery Gift: Does not replace Collectible A Lump of Coal icon.pngA Lump of Coal or Collectible The Poop icon.pngThe Poop
  • NO!NO!: Does not prevent Magic Skin from replacing items, despite it being an active item.
  • Character Tainted Eden icon.pngTainted Eden: Broken hearts persist even after Magic Skin is rerolled.
  • Collectible TMTRAINER icon.pngTMTRAINER: Prevents Magic Skin from replacing items, since future Magic Skins will be glitched.
  • Collectible Void icon.pngVoid: Absorbing Magic Skin does not prevent future items from being replaced, including items spawned by the absorbed Magic Skin. Additional Magic Skins can be absorbed, allowing multiple items to be spawned per use at the cost of adding more broken hearts.

In-game Footage

Trivia

  • Magic Skin originates from the Antibirth mod.
  • The item is a reference to the 1831 book by French novelist Honoré de Balzac called La Peau de chagrin, known in English as The Wild Ass's Skin. In the story, the main character finds a talisman made of donkey skin that grants wishes, but each wish causes the talisman to become smaller, as well as his lifetime. He attempts to get rid of the skin, but it always finds a way to return to him.
    • The item's pickup quote, "All your desires fulfilled", is the first sentence written on the skin in the novel.
  • This also may be a reference to the goatskin Jacob uses to trick his father Isaac into thinking he was Esau, thus giving him his blessing along with the divine right God had promised Abraham (Isaac's father), which included inheriting the promised land and having his bloodline bring forth the Messiah.