The Cult of the Masks

[predarek]

Hi there, my first visit here and I want your idea on that :

Here a little background on this "Cult of the Mask". My Pc will enter a new area soon and they will find a city where everyone is wearing a mask. This is quite a big city and they are reclude from the rest of the world big a quite big desert. The PC now has their personal flying ship so they found that city.

In this city they will learn a bit about how the person create their mask and they will probably find a guy that want to show to all the world their masks. So they will maybe embark him on the ship and he'll do business a bit everywhere. But this "cult of the mask" is bigger than it seems at first. There is some rules which masks are done and I think it was a good idea to make a general idea to include in this campain and maybe other following.

So feel free to comment about my ideas and you can take it with a little saying that a crazy guy has this idea on the Web. This is mostly note that I will try to format to make them understadable. I want your opinion on the balance of this.

The mask are first carve to different shape and painted with any representation. You can only wear one mask at a time. Removing a mask is a move action. Putting a mask one is a standard action.

I'm trying to set that the mask add Shield bonus type AC. So all bonus are shield bonus that are added to the mask Shield AC.

There is 2 kind of mask.
Small Mask :
Cover the face only. Due to the fact that they cover the face, all mask give a -2 to CHA. A Small mask can only be painted with 1 Power Drawing.

Large Mask :
Large Mask goes down the the belt height. The kind of mask you see that Voodoo shamans sometimes wear. They are the same -2 to CHA reduced the Max Dex by 2 but provide a +1 Mask AC Bonus. They can have 2 Power Drawing on them.

Special property
These special properties that work like how weapons can be normal or masterwork. There is 2 special properties that can be applied when making a mask. By the way, the cost for each "upgrade" isn't decided yet.
Well painted : +1 Cha + 2 hours painting. Requires a craft check (DC10)
Custom painted are painted to reflect the personality of someone.
Custom painted : +2 Cha(Remove the penalty associated with the masks) + 12 hours of painting (Requires craft check (DC15)

New Feats
Mask profiency :
Remove -1 to Max Dex bonus with a large mask.

[Fighter special feat]
Improved mask proficiency
Requires Mask proficiency
Remove another -1 to Max Dex bonus with a large mask.
+1 AC Shield bonus to the Mask defense bonus with a large mask

[Metamagic]
Mask painting
Requires 8 skills points in craft (painting)
You can draw power Drawing on the mask

Power Drawing
Power Drawing are special drawing that are added with a translucent kind of paint to the masks. (New items to add). Some shine on the moonlight, other are move visible in other situation (TBD). 2 Same power drawing on a mask can stack.
Animals Note these will be really costy
Bear : +1 Str
Tiger : +1 Dex
Bull : +1 Con
Dog : +1 Int
Owl : +1 Wis
Sway : +1 Cha
Boar : +2 Str, -1 Int
Snake : +2 Dex, -1 Cha
Elephant : +2 Con, -1 Dex
Monkey : +2 Int, -1 Con
Mouse : +2 Wis -1 Str
Parrot : +2 Cha, -1 Wis
Elements Note these will be really costy
Fire : 5 Fire Resist
Water : 5 Ice Resist
Wind : 5 Lightning Resist
Earth : 5 Acid Resist
Volcano : 5 Fire Resist 5 Acid Resist
Hurricane : 5 Ice Resist 5 Lightning Resist
Rune
Defense : +1 Shield AC bonus (Added to the mask AC)
Offense : +1 ToHit
Power : +1 Damage with weapons
Life : 1D4+4 Extra Hit Point Last 24 hours, can be cast once every 24 hour
Others
One that gives darkvision
One that shine lights (like an everburning torch, but only in front)

Specific Mask
There are 2 masks that will play a certain rolel in the city
Living Small Mask of Larva
-2 STR to those who fight against you. This is a mind-affecting effect. Those immune to mind-affecting effect are immune to this mask.

Mystic Snake Large Mask
Hypnotize Spell cast by a level 5 Wizard/Sorcerer 3 times per day DC 15
+2 Wis

Thanks for looking at this... this is a 2 hours thoughts results, so I guess things could get really better

edited to add the post icon

 

[Fieari]

I'm sorry. I'm unfamiliar with the terms CA and Power Drawing, and as such I can't really comment.

 

[predarek]

Sorry I've been playing this game in french in 2.0 so I had the french of AC. I'll changed that right now.

Power drawing is some kind of drawing (ya know with a brush and paint). Power drawing are magical drawing that I just created.

 

[Turanil]

I think that a mask (unless being a specific magical item) cannot lower (or improve) Charisma. The only thing it could do would be of:

1) Giving a circumstance bonus or penalty to Bluff / Diplomacy / etc. checks when dealing with people. Probably a penalty when dealing with people not of the cult (i.e.: not wearing masks); but no bonus or penalty when dealing with other people of the cult (those who wear the masks), unless they respond favorably or unfavorably to how the mask is well done or not (this would be a cultural behavior). Of course people who don't wear the mask get a circumstance penalty with those wearing masks (for fanatical or cultural reasons).

2) Giving a -4 penalty to Sense Motive checks made against people wearing a mask. It's difficult to appreciate the person without seeing his face.

Otherwise magical masks should simply be done using the Craft Magical items feats. Maybe a new feat could be created, requiring a lesser level than Craft Wondrous Items, but being restricted to masks only.

Of course I speak in 3rd edition terms. I forgot entirely about 2e.
BTW: I may be interested in taking your idea and using it for my campaign. I just need to know where to use that.

 

[Turanil]

BTW: a mask itself cannot be a piece of armor giving an AC bonus. At least a normal mask for the face only. Maybe a very large mask (the voo-doo type) could be considered like a breastplate. As such it is not cumulative with a breastplate / chainshirt / or what not, but also doesn't protect the back, plus the Dexterity maximum modifier when wearing such a mask is lower than when wearing a breast plate. I see a very large mask as something really cumbersome.

 

[Gez]

Depends. In OA there are small pieces of armor that are added to actual armors to increase their AC. Stuff like gauntlets or bucklers. They're not compatible with a full-body armor, but they complement lighter models. They're also kinda useless if you're not wearing any armor.

These masks could work that way, too.

 

[Trainz]

You should also specify what kind of bonus these masks grant i.e. the +1 to strength drawing, is it an enhancement bonus ? Most stat boosting items are. but if you want it to stack with regular stat boosting items, you could possibly switch the bonus type. Like a luck bonus, or circumstance bonus.

Very rarely, an item or spell grants an unnamed bonus, which stacks with everything else (but not itself). So you could also leave the whole thing unnamed, but then it might be abused. What is the gp value of the drawings and the mask itself ?