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Neko Toast
2008-11-12, 11:59 PM
So, the character that I'm currently playing in the 3.5 campaign I joined is a half-elf rogue. She has a cursed mask on her face that she is unable to take off. The best she can do is lift it past her lips, to allow eating/drinking/etc. From her point of view, it's as if she isn't wearing a mask. She can see/breathe alright. . .

And it ends there. I've been drawing a blank for what other effects the curse can have. I want it to be interesting, but not deadly. In other words, it should challenge my character, but not in a life-threatening way.

The story of how she got the mask was that she has a nasty scar on her face from a training accident. She desperately wanted to hide it, since people would usually look at her and wince. One day, a traveling mask salesman came to town. On his pack, she spotted an interesting mask (physical desc - it's a simplified version of the Olidamarra symbol. One side is painted black with a white eye, the other side the colors are reversed. The eyes are more like slits, as they have no pupil or iris). She had no money at that present moment, and her being a rogue and all, she decided to steal it. She soon discovered that, once she put it on, she couldn't take it off.

Anyone have any ideas?

Fax Celestis
2008-11-13, 12:06 AM
The mask is an intelligent item that has charm and/or suggestion and/or dominate person as an SLA that it uses on you every once in a while in an attempt to subvert you to its will?

Neko Toast
2008-11-13, 12:08 AM
The mask is an intelligent item that has charm and/or suggestion and/or dominate person as an SLA that it uses on you every once in a while in an attempt to subvert you to its will?

Hm. That would certainly be a challenge indeed.

Especially considering her Will Save is only +1 right now.

( ie. I'm only level 2 right now D: )

Dublock
2008-11-13, 12:12 AM
well..perhaps if it becomes a high powered campaign and you want it to still have a challenge with it, if you want you can make the save DC scale. Just an idea.

herrhauptmann
2008-11-13, 12:25 AM
Draw some parallels from old fairy tales. They had some interesting curses back in the day before fairy tales were cleaned up for kids.

The mask on her face shall be removed when:
-She removes the mask on her soul
-She finds the one who loves her for true beauty not superficial. When the mask is removed, she finds the scar is gone and she is truly beautiful. (Stolen from Cowlick Ricky and Shrek)

Neko Toast
2008-11-13, 12:32 AM
Draw some parallels from old fairy tales. They had some interesting curses back in the day before fairy tales were cleaned up for kids.

The mask on her face shall be removed when:
-She removes the mask on her soul
-She finds the one who loves her for true beauty not superficial. When the mask is removed, she finds the scar is gone and she is truly beautiful. (Stolen from Cowlick Ricky and Shrek)

Wish I could use those, but the DM has already come up with a way to get rid of the curse. She's currently trying to join the church of Thor so that she can get the curse lifted. She even has all of the components.

The reason why I brought it up is because this last session, she failed one of the tests required to join said church, and she can't try again for another week. In-game. Which is equivalent to about a month out of game, since we only have sessions once a week.

Not only that, but it could be significantly longer, with winter break fast approaching. And we're talking college winter break, not a wimpy two-week-high-school break.

Which brings us to a total of two months. *headbash*

Winter_Wolf
2008-11-13, 12:42 AM
How about the mask randomly casts alter self on the wearer, but the appearance can't be controlled? Not necessarily deadly, but could be bad if your face morphs into something else when you're talking to a guard or the like. Maybe a -2 diplomacy/persuasion but a +2 to intimidation?

The mask slowly leeches away the character's personality? Slow, cumulative charisma penalty, maybe -1 per however many months as the person becomes drab and boring, but the mask become colorful and elaborate?

Or if you're just looking for fluff, the mask changes the character's voice to something different than you'd expect: a female with a gravelly half orc male's voice. The character becomes truly colorblind, seeing only black, white, and grays, but no colors.

The character develops mild schizophrenia. Hearing voices, or developing a second personality that comes out randomly or during times of stress. Once per day have the character suffer a chance of falling under the effects of a confusion spell for a short period of time.

starwoof
2008-11-13, 12:47 AM
The mask makes her say/do rude things that she doesn't remember doing afterward. Telling NPCs to piss off, making rude hand gestures, etc.:smalltongue:

TheCountAlucard
2008-11-13, 12:53 AM
Perhaps, rather than the mask moving to allow food/water/whatever to pass through, the mouth part of the mask is incorporeal instead? Or have you already established that the mask moves a little bit in-game?

Neko Toast
2008-11-13, 12:55 AM
Perhaps, rather than the mask moving to allow food/water/whatever to pass through, the mouth part of the mask is incorporeal instead? Or have you already established that the mask moves a little bit in-game?

Sorry, mask already moves slightly in game. Only enough to expose the mouth.

Neko Toast
2008-11-13, 12:57 AM
I was starting to have a vague idea... but it seems like it would disrupt the game for others.

The mask contains a reverse personality, which finds pleasure in killing things. She has to make a Will Save to resist the power. If she fails, the mask (which previously had no mouth) will form a mouth with a pointed, twisted grin. Lasts for 1dx (thinking a d4) hours.

Quietus
2008-11-13, 01:28 AM
I'd go with an idea similar to what Fax suggested, but not necessarily give it any powers. Instead, it has an agenda, and the *only* thing it's capable of doing... is deciding whether or not it will move. If you work against its agenda, then the mask refuses to move, denying you food/drink for that day. If you work toward completing the mask's tasks, then it will move and let you eat/drink as needed. Whether or not it moves if you're not working for or against it would be up to you.

This also allows you to work with the DM to turn the mask's agenda into a nice little plot hook, which I always like to do.

::Edit:: if your character has ranks in Bluff/Diplomacy, I'd even downgrade the mask from "intelligent" to "empathic", and let that middle ground be covered by how well you go in those skills. The mask tries to lead you toward whatever quest it has in mind, and you mentally trick/convince it that the actions you're taking do, in fact, relate back to its quest.

Halcyon_Dax
2008-11-13, 01:59 AM
You succeed fabulously at an activity of your choice (any d20 roll you critically succeed) however, the mask may then choose any d20 roll for you to critically fail. It chooses the MOST inopportune moments to do so. The mask likes to be used for things like gambling and showing off, and will inflict minimal punishment for frivolous uses. However, it screw you in much more dangerous situations the more dangerous the situation is when you activate its power. You may only use the power again after it has made you fail one roll.

:smallbiggrin:

Talanic
2008-11-13, 02:14 AM
As it's a mask of Olidamarra's symbol, it really should be something more mischievous than malignant. Something along the lines of practical jokes or petty theft.

Can't speak politely to figures of authority?
Must tell jokes when command word (currently unknown to YOU) is uttered--by anyone?

How about, while wearing the mask, you will randomly hide items you're carrying, but always in places where you'll EVENTUALLY find them. Could be that your potion of healing is now in a friend's backpack, or under your socks in your backpack. Or your super-secret lockpick set that you usually put in the hidden compartment in your shoes is now in your regular backpack, and instead your hidden compartment has a set of fishing tackle. Complete randomness--and from a game perspective, annoying but nothing that'll get the other players mad at you.

Neko Toast
2008-11-13, 11:13 AM
As it's a mask of Olidamarra's symbol, it really should be something more mischievous than malignant. Something along the lines of practical jokes or petty theft.

Can't speak politely to figures of authority?
Must tell jokes when command word (currently unknown to YOU) is uttered--by anyone?

This actually sounds pretty good. Maybe, the mask has an alternate personality, where its only desire is to get into mischief (the killing personality I came up with before is way to extreme). So if I fail the Will Save, I basically have to screw with whatever poor schmuck I come across.

JeminiZero
2008-11-13, 11:33 AM
Since the mask occupies your head slot, its curse effect might null one or more of your senses.

E.g. whenever in combat, each round, the mask has a chance to shut out senses (effectively leaving you blind, deaf or both). The chance should be low enough not to totally cripple you, but high enough to happen every once in a while.

Another possibility is something akin to the flaws which penalize stealth. E.g. whenever you attempt stealth, theivery or whatever, the mask has a chance of letting out a shrill laugh, or glowing brightly, or both, thereby blowing your cover.

wadledo
2008-11-13, 12:19 PM
Since the mask occupies your head slot, its curse effect might null one or more of your senses.

E.g. whenever in combat, each round, the mask has a chance to shut out senses (effectively leaving you blind, deaf or both). The chance should be low enough not to totally cripple you, but high enough to happen every once in a while.

Or just taking out one of the other senses instead(scent, taste, face numb).