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View Full Version : The Mask [3.5, Item]



Serpentine
2010-03-31, 06:06 AM
This isn't so much me posting a homebrew, as kinda requesting one from someone else (got heeeeaaaaaps of stuff to do).

So, I'm making up a Trickster's Temple (still :smallsigh:), an incomplete version, and the deity, can be seen here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=133706). Anyways, I've been struggling a bit to think of treasure to put about the place. Today, an idea occurred to me that is so perfect I feel like it'd be remiss of me to not put it in... even if it would be potentially game-breaking. I feel like I should at least give it a chance...
So, basically, it's... well:

http://billstones.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/the-mask.jpg

So, I'd like some help making this thing into a magic item, if anyone's interested.
I think it would probably be an artifact, or at least a very powerful - if double-edged - wondrous item.
It's probably worth mentioning that in my campaign world, the gods themselves occasionally take on physical form and take a bit of a holiday on the material plane. Each god has his or her own item/s that they reclaim upon their visit, and dispose of according to their whims when they leave. This would almost certainly be Kokopelli's item.
Probably also worth mentioning that a number of these artifacts have had bits of them taken out in order to create an epic magic-channelling item to stop a war a number of centuries ago. As a result, these items are merely reasonably powerful magical items. One of my characters already have one of these, the pick of Garl Glittergold... who, incidentally, is an aspect of Kokopelli. So... Hrm. Anyway, point being, making it a movie-faithful artifact and then nerfing it to a more ordinary magic item is an option.

So, here's some thoughts/possibilities/ideas/whatevers I've got:

Only works at night?
Similar to lycanthropy: Will save or is under control of the DM and can't remember what happened later. Possibly only the first time, or possibly with a bonus/lower DC with subsequent uses.
Ethical part of the alignment goes to extreme Chaotic. Behaviour revolves around user's whims. Recommended that behaviour under the influence of the mask be decided by the DM with discussion with the player.
Raised Strength and/or Dexterity, raised Charisma, lowered Intelligence and/or Wisdom.
Amorphous/flexible form.
Damage Reduction?
Increased speed/haste ability.
Whirlwind ability.
Reflex save boost.
Randomised Will saves: When rolling a Will save, roll a second d20. If the second rolls 11+, add the number over 10 (11=+1, 20=+10) to the save. If it rolls 10 or less, subtract the amount under 11 (10=-1, 1=-10) from the save. This is mostly because I have a vague image of The Mask going all gaga over some pretty lady, and then snapping out of it at a humourously appropriate time.
Bonus Perform(acting).

Umm... That's all I can come up with off the top of my head. It's been a while since I saw the movie.

Ready... Set... Make Chaos!
Please?

edit: More possibilities:
When attempting to retrieve or draw an item, 2d8 random mundane items and/or animals are found before reaching the desired item, according the the character's personality (e.g. joke and gag items for a comedy-inclined character, torture devices and nasty creatures for a malicious character, (worthless) gems and trinkets for a shiny-obsessed character, plants and small animals for a naturey character, etc).
The character gains access to Falling Anvil (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=122824) maneuvers up to 1/3 their HD, useable at will OR as a Swordsage.
+15 ranks in perform(dance), (sing), (comedy) and (acting).
Character can make a Perform(dance) or (sing) check DC 25 to replicate the effects of Irresistable Dance.
Character can make a Perform(comedy) check DC 25 to replicate the effects of Tasha's Hideous Laughter.
Character can make a Perform(acting) check to replicate the effects of Fascinate or Control Emotions.
Any spells cast, including through the use of wands, scrolls or other magic items, are as though cast by a Wild Mage.

Dust
2010-03-31, 06:09 AM
I can't really add anything to this. I just wanted to post to say that this idea is mindbogglingly awesome, and wanted to award you One (1) Win coupon.

I would suggest that donning the mask for the first time grants the wearer a Will save...that is reduced by a significant number - say, 5 - by each subsequent use.

Serpentine
2010-03-31, 06:31 AM
I think I considered that option. Dunno why I didn't put it in. Fixed now.
Also, thanks :smallsmile:

Deca
2010-03-31, 07:07 AM
Maybe some kind of random Conjuration power similiar to the Bag of Tricks only with items? Because the Mask's pockets are always filled with strange incomprehensible random items.

Geiger Counter
2010-03-31, 07:18 AM
He basically has the ability to use wish at will at no exp cost to create any enchanted item within reason for a few rounds.

TabletopNuke
2010-03-31, 07:01 PM
As soon as I saw the title of this thread, I had to click it. The initial suggestions you made sound excellent, especially the lycanthropy bit.

I strongly suggest using DracoDei's Falling Anvil (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=122824&highlight=falling+anvil) homebrew for this.

As a side note, I have no read the original Mask comic, but I here he's much more Chaotic Evil in that version.

DracoDei
2010-03-31, 08:26 PM
Point of clarification:
Did you mean The Mask the character or The Mask the item from the movie? It makes a difference.
In the movie at least, what you have is not really what the wooden mask did I don't THINK. That is what it did for the main character, because the main character was a big fan of slapstick comics and such. I think its powers were much more based on the personality of the wearer... OTOH I think the dog did laugh after biting the badguy...

That being said, an item that did for anyone what it did for the main character might be pretty good, and I agree that incorporating Falling Anvil would be very much in line with that.

Boren
2010-03-31, 10:30 PM
As I recall the mask amplified the feelings, personality, and emotions of the one wearing it albeit with a somewhat wacky bend. (This was made by Loki after all) I would say something like some of the warshapers abilities and combined them with a few bits from wild mage; randomized caster levels for all this things abilities would be funny. I like the earlier mentioned idea of making all the characters pockets into bags of tricks and possibly give them the ability to create a random rod of wounder affect at will and perhaps prismatic spray 3/day or so? All this is assuming of coarse that the user is not lawful aliened. Then it would have to be reworked if your sticking to the full idea of the mask but I'm guessing you want something that is like the the movie.

Serpentine
2010-04-01, 02:41 AM
Point of clarification:
Did you mean The Mask the character or The Mask the item from the movie? It makes a difference.
In the movie at least, what you have is not really what the wooden mask did I don't THINK. That is what it did for the main character, because the main character was a big fan of slapstick comics and such. I think its powers were much more based on the personality of the wearer... OTOH I think the dog did laugh after biting the badguy...

That being said, an item that did for anyone what it did for the main character might be pretty good, and I agree that incorporating Falling Anvil would be very much in line with that.Ah... Good point. I wanted The Mask, the item, but in the movie at least you don't see much of its effects on anyone except... Protaganist, I forget his name, so that's the main thing I had in mind. Although the possible Strength bonus was suggested with Antagonist in mind. Yeah, the dog did laugh, but what did it do to the other guy? Are there any more details/variants in the comics, that you or anyone else know of?
And the exaggeration of the wearer's personality is one of the trickier parts of it. It's why I suggested that the DM determine the character's behaviour, with input from the player.
I'll have a look at Falling Anvil.

Deca: I'd forgotten about that. Would "any time the wearer tries to retrieve something from his pockets, he first finds 1d6 random mundane (or very slightly enchanted) items" do?

Axinian
2010-04-01, 03:22 AM
There should a chance that the wearer, upon donning the Mask, and all creatures within a certain radius will be afflicted with Irresistible Dance for a short time, no save, no way to remove the effect. The wearer suffers from delusions during this time, claiming to be named Cuba Pete.
The wearer becomes King of the Ramba beat, and gains all benefits that entails.

CHICK CHICKEE-BOOM! CHICK CHICKEE-BOOM!

Seriously though, giving the wearer Falling Anvil maneuvers seems like it would work really well.

BisectedBrioche
2010-04-01, 04:10 AM
IIRC the guy who wore it was called Stanly Ipkiss (I was a fan of the cartoon series when I was a kid. Speaking of which... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzdR421Ekv8)).

Serpentine
2010-04-01, 04:52 AM
First post is updated. So... Anyone wanna have a shot at actually making this thing?

Deca
2010-04-01, 06:33 AM
Actually, it probably grants Regen as well.

DracoDei
2010-04-01, 07:46 AM
Actually, it probably grants Regen as well.

Not if it is using Falling Anvil... that discipline contains lots of interesting ways of avoiding actually being affected by damage... including a 1st level stance that lets you convert some or all of the damage into wisdom burn at a given ratio. Thus the whole:
"Think you missed me?"
*Drinks glass of water and spouts water from many bullet holes in body*
"Guess not!"

Thing isn't so much regeneration as it is some sort of damage reduction or Stance of the Loony.

Zeta Kai
2010-04-01, 02:53 PM
Well, in the original comics, the Mask (or "Big Head", as the wanted fugitive was commonly known) was under the total control of his/her id, doing whatever a super-powerful immortal psychotic child would do. This would be best replicated by a variant on the confused condition (no fleeing or cowering for Masky). It was quite violent, & whoever ended up with the Mask of Loki tended not to live very long.

There was a mute-brute character named Walter, who was hunting the Mask, & got repeatedly wounded (like "hit by a train, shot, electrocuted, knocked off a cliff, savaged by dogs, never dying but bearing every scar" wounded) stalking it. I forget exactly what happened when he got to wear the Mask, but I think that it didn't work for him; something about him not having an id or some-such.

I just thought I'd give you guys some non-movie background. The film wasn't bad at all, but it was PG-13, so some of the violent comics stuff wouldn't fly in a Jim Carrey vehicle.

Lysander
2010-04-01, 03:33 PM
Some ideas:

*Regeneration - No DR, because with regeneration they can still get comically injured. Not bypassable by any means short of divine intervention.
*Spell Resistance 20 (cause it'd be silly for a powerful trickster avatar to be stopped with hold person)
*Wisdom -4 CHA +8 STR +8 DEX +8
*Alter Self at will (but all forms must have a green head). Gains shapechanger subtype.
*Major Creation at will as a swift action, but duration is reduced to 2 + 1 round/HD (you can use this for cartoon pull a hammer out of nowhere type of attacks)
*Immunity to stunning, energy drain, and death effects.

Mulletmanalive
2010-04-01, 06:36 PM
I'd suggest taking a few basic qualities [resilience, power and Major Creation at will.]

Then create a few brief power sets based on maybe 5 positive traits [humour, generosity, courage to borrow from the Mask Strikes Back] and 5 Negative ones [Stubborness (Ipkis), Dominance (Villain), Sadism etc] and pick the two that seem most appropriate for the wearer.

Keep things simple with a few minor tweaks for individuals, such as the visual signatures.

Good-ish Stuff:
Humour: Major Image at will, constant Jump, +6 Dodge bonus to AC. You must go for humiliation over harm.
Generosity: Your allies gain a +4 morale bonus on saves and skills. You must make a Will save, DC 25 or give into requests made in a sufficiently heartfelt way . You suffer a -5 on this save against last requests.

[B]Bad Stuff:
Stubborness: Will save DC 25 to not hurt those who transgressed you, even if it was from up to 6 months ago. You usually choose horribly ironic punishments. DR 10/Lawful.
Dominance: You gain a +4 bonus to hit and AC against those with fewer HD than you [you always check with Sense Motive as a Free action]. Any hit that deals less than 10 damage is absorbed and can be redirected at an enemy as a free action on your next turn.

there's two of each to get you started.

Sydonai
2010-04-03, 12:07 AM
"The Mask of Loki" is a major artifact that transforms any who wear it at night into a personification of their own ID fused with Loki's divine essence. The exact effect is determined based on the wearer's Alignment, Race, and Class but the base effect is to temporarily become a rank-0 divinity(demigod). Extended use of The Mask is addictive and will eventually change the host's alignment to chaotic evil(one level of change with each use, a will-save not to use it) and then finally grant Loki freedom through possesion of the victim.


How was that?