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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 8412144" data-attributes="member: 27780">Polyhedron Issue 72: June 1992part 4/5Of Masks And Men: Ooh. Another themed collection of magical masks. That turned up a couple of times in Dragon, but I think there's still room for more. After all, it's not as if there's a shortage of faces to wear them, and stylish customised mask selection seems more important than ever in a post-pandemic world. Let's see if these are any good. The Mask of Light shoots rays of light from it's eyes that do lots of damage to evil creatures, moderate to neutral ones, and leaves good ones unharmed. Like many a strongly aligned magical item, donning it risks forcible conversion if you don't already match it morally, so watch out. The Mask of Night is the precise opposite, only it's beams still mildly damage other evil things because evil is more likely to engage in infighting. If you're not already a cackling archvillain, donning it would be distinctly unwise. The Mask of Twilight is the obvious neutral counterpart, blasting everyone equally, presuming you can find the motivation after having neutrality forcibly thrust upon you. This is getting a bit formulaic. Masks of Combat give you the skill of a fighter your level, or a +2 bonus if you're already a full THAC0 progression class. Just another way spellcasters can shortcut their way into doing everyone else's jobs better than them. Masks of Stealth do roughly the same, but for thief skills. So much for niche protection. Masks of Trickery return the favour, giving nonspellcasters illusionist spells, albeit not quite as many as someone of the same level. This relationship continues to be distinctly asymmetrical. Masks of Knowledge do the same for other wizard schools. This is involving a lot of variations of the same few ideas. Monster Masks let you get your Breath of the Wild DLC on. This is usually a downgrade power-wise for an adventurer, so if your acting skills can't match your appearance, get ready to ditch the disguise to survive. The Mask of the Wraith is a particularly effective example of the above. However, energy draining is not a power PC's can be allowed to have easily, so it only has limited charges. They may not find out until later, or course, depending on how good their appraisal skills are. Masks of Disguise are one of those ideas that's turned up independently many times. Just remember that while you might be able to imitate someone's face with one, you still have the same height & weight, and have to make sure your outfit is suitable manually, so it's still much easier to catch you out for inconsistencies than a doppleganger. Masks of Attractiveness boost your charisma (not your comeliness, curiously enough, showing even the holdouts in here are struggling to get people to submit stuff using those rules) with regards to the opposite sex. Rings, potions, hats, oils, there's no method someone won't use to increase their odds of scoring. Masks of Jealousy are the cursed comedy version of the above, dramatically increasing your attractiveness with the opposite sex, while making everyone else of the same sex hate you, because everyone is heterosexual in 2e due to the code of conduct, and we are forbidden to even hint at the existence of an alternative.The Mask of Lycanthus gives you the full powers of a werebear, fairly unsurprisingly. Another one that'll completely change your general tactics until you get to very high level with it's power. This collection definitely wouldn't be allowed in subsequent editions without some severe nerfing.</blockquote>

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