The 4 masks [Archive] - Wizards Community

The 4 masks [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Calium
12-04-07, 02:19 AM Ok so right now I have my players searching for 4 separate masks spread threw out the world. The set is called the peloric coven. I have it set up representing the 4 Neutral good gods. The problem I'm having is an internal debate. Its a evil campaign and I'm trying to decide what properties the masks have and their purpose. You see a high ranking cleric that follows vecna has sent them on the task and he would probably need them for something (not paying the characters to collect them just for the fun of it).
My idea was that the masks were seals put in place by the NG gods to keep a spell from resolving. Vecna and lolth had a alliance (a frail and temporary one) to wipe out most of the followers of the NG gods in the nation of atrice. So they started a spell that would use the magical ley lines that converged towards the center of the nation, and force the lines to actually interact with the elements causing volcanic eruptions, earth quakes, steam pockets, tarrential down pours, and various other apocalyptic things till the nation slid into the sea and destroyed the gods grip on the nation.
That is were my question lies. Is this a good setup? Currently the followers of Vecna have started a plot to incure war between the followers of lolth and the followers of the 4 NG gods. The players have insured that this was set in motion. So questions comments concerns tips?
Anuvrix
12-04-07, 12:57 PM The war part sounds like fun, but if conquest is their goal, it would'nt be in their best interest to destroy the seal. What's the good of conquering a nation if you're just going to sink it anyway??

If there is a spellcaster (arcane) in the party, he could see the potential in a converging of leylines, and using them to his benefit. (think taking the area afterwards and making a laboratory there, harnessing the ambient magical energies. The spells anditems that could be made without the usual costs would have power beyond belief)

If the seal's breaking also unsettles the good gods, then the evil ones will commence in a quest to eliminate good from the world. WOOT EVIL CONQUEST. This presents the opportunity for the PCs to have some fun finishing slaying the good guys, and mopping up the good resistance after the short war.
DwarvenArcher
12-04-07, 01:38 PM I like your setup. Destroying the nation sounds fun and chaotic, but how about the spell actually destroys the 4 NG gods? Maybe it allows the caster (lolth/vecna) to take over those domains or just absorb the divine power of those gods. Most of the denizens of that nation would swap over to lolth/vecna worship instead. This gives the two deities a good reason to be secretly backstabbing each other. There would also be agents of good popping up periodically to try and save the masks. Then you could set up a situation where lolth and vecna wind up openly fighting over control of the spell/residual power of the 4 gods (perhaps literally as avatars or on some demiplane), maybe allowing the evil PC's to steal it. I don't know what power level they're at, but could be a lot of fun that way.
Delfedd
12-04-07, 06:21 PM Here's something.

Pelor doesn't seem like the kind of deity to make masks. You know. The things that are used for tricking people. Perhaps it was another deity, one who enjoys trickery almost as he enjoys the war and chaos that these masks would bring.

In short, i'm suggesting that the masks be items created by Erythunul. The historic texts don't mention Pelor ever granting the masks.
Calium
12-04-07, 06:24 PM Lol right now the players are at lvl 8. I played the idea of the masks being destroyed actually destroying the gods, however this seems way to heavy for a lvl8 campaign. Honestly I would see the players trading the masks to the 4 gods in a bargain in that case rather than destroying them. Then they would probably be able to pull way to much from the gods (An immortal with damn near omnipresence and omnipotence having his life in the hands of some punk lvl8's?).
Thats why I already threw out that idea. Now the masks destroying just the nation of Atrice. That creates complications and conflicts of interest in the group and that will probably cause some internal struggle, however they may just do the opposite and decide not to destroy the nation for the sake of taking it over. I can see this line leaving the most options but I would like a couple different scenarios to be thrown at me so I can actually choose before I set anything in stone. Thanks for the support guys.
Calium
12-04-07, 06:37 PM Well its not just Pelor that created the 4 masks and they are actually just 4 different parts of the same mask that can be worn independently or set together. The masks actually meld into the skin but there are small tell signs that someones using them. Ehlonna's portion is the forehead part giving small horns on either side of the wearer's head (gives wearer gore attack). Obad-Hai makes up the chin giving the wearer a thin short beard but an extremely close inspection shows that they are actually leaves (speak with animals at will). Pelor's portion is the right cheek giving a in depth tatoo of the sun on that cheek (haven't decided on powers want to keep it kinda week though seems how all 4 masks can be worn at once). And for the the last portion....GARL GLITTERGOLD who actually came up with the sealing method and conviced the others to join in not sure what affect I want the portion to have on the wearer yet (ability wise I want this portion to be cursed {garls sence of humor} thinking the mask has can use shout spell 3/day and for the curse 3% cumulative chance to cast a 1 mile wide antimagic field for 2 rounds, when curse goes off it reset the cumulative chance). Does that sound good for the masks? I had a reason for Pelor making masks and thx for the input. :-)
LordDewtain
12-04-07, 08:21 PM here is an idea: pelor's mask has the sun symbol in the eye.

and Karl Glittergold gives you a silver tongue (I imagine him that way).

I wouldn't have the masks cursed, people will fight for whoever doesn't have to wear the cursed one. especially when it is such a horrible curse. Either have all ofthem cursed or none cursed. and make the curse much weaker, or at the very least, a grey curse (a curse taht could be useful, like the curse makes you freakishly tall, you look ugly but you can reach stuff)

as for the masks: don't have it destroy a city, that is cliche and sucks.

instead think about what the good gods sealed away. they idn't seal way a demon or calamity. they sealed away a war. long ago the evil gods collaborated (4 of them) to sow destruction and discord. they each gave a drop of their divine blood to create War. not a war, but the spirit of war. a Force that creates war. wherever this force was, war would be inevitable.

The good gods learned of this, and gathered their champions. the gods of the four sought the followers of the evil gods, and sacrificed themselves to contain this war. Each got a drop of evil divine blood stained into their soul, which nearly drove them mad. But the good gods interceded, and sealed the conflict within them, leaving their mark on their faces as a result. The good gods granted each a powerful boon, as payment for their task: protect the force within them, and resist its temptation.

you see, this force of war is a stain upon your soul. give into it, and it devours you. only a good person could wear it and keep it from taking them over. WEre an evil person to wear it, it would give them more and more power, but the seal would weaken, and they would be eaten from within (it gives them bad dreams, and eventually might turn them into demons or something).

The church wants them so that they can unleash it, and spread war to their enemies.

This leads to a few things
#1: the mask isn't a mask when they found it, it is the skin of a person (NPC, angel, statue, or other thing). they have to defeat the current holder (most likely a good being, maybe not) to get it.
#2: when the person dies, the skin reforms into a mask, made of some sort of hard unbreakable substance.
#3:: the only way to transport the mask is to wield it yourself.
#4: the only way to release its power, is to kill the holder in a specific ritual. therefore the church intends to kill the characters.
Calium
12-05-07, 04:50 PM Nice points there. I do like the idea's for the effects of the pelor mask and the silver tounge for the garl. I think I'll keep the curse with that one, not going to tell the players though. Going to make it to were when the masks are doned they actually fuse to the skin and blend in (was already planning that). Thx for the input.;)
Khallhadras
12-05-07, 06:21 PM Very nice work and ideas. It makes my mind wonder to a similar game I had once. Only there where six masks that fit together, and it was a mix of good and evil gods, an artifact that when worn by a single individual could turn that very individual into an Outsider of superior power and alien mindset (I had to create a template for this new outsider, it combined multiple things since the masks where descended from gods of varying alignments. Our Bbeg ended up utilizing the masks powers to his will afore one of our Pc's did, pretty intriguing game that was). This outsider was the keeper of gods, acting as a medium for any power seeking to control him (Which allowed for more than one god seeking to control the individual to do so, thus leading to a major disturbance of the soul and contradictory thought processes/plots) and eventually our Bbeg's soul and mind were exploited to a dangerous degree. After this the god's had nothing to control, and so the near mindless and indefinently soulless bbeg ran amok, previous commands and impulsions repeating in his sundered mind, using the masks power to allow celestials and demons into the material plane, which nearly consumed the Pc's plane in destruction and flames. Good game overall. :)

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Calium 12-04-07, 02:19 AM	Ok so right now I have my players searching for 4 separate masks spread threw out the world. The set is called the peloric coven. I have it set up representing the 4 Neutral good gods. The problem I'm having is an internal debate. Its a evil campaign and I'm trying to decide what properties the masks have and their purpose. You see a high ranking cleric that follows vecna has sent them on the task and he would probably need them for something (not paying the characters to collect them just for the fun of it). My idea was that the masks were seals put in place by the NG gods to keep a spell from resolving. Vecna and lolth had a alliance (a frail and temporary one) to wipe out most of the followers of the NG gods in the nation of atrice. So they started a spell that would use the magical ley lines that converged towards the center of the nation, and force the lines to actually interact with the elements causing volcanic eruptions, earth quakes, steam pockets, tarrential down pours, and various other apocalyptic things till the nation slid into the sea and destroyed the gods grip on the nation. That is were my question lies. Is this a good setup? Currently the followers of Vecna have started a plot to incure war between the followers of lolth and the followers of the 4 NG gods. The players have insured that this was set in motion. So questions comments concerns tips?
Anuvrix 12-04-07, 12:57 PM	The war part sounds like fun, but if conquest is their goal, it would'nt be in their best interest to destroy the seal. What's the good of conquering a nation if you're just going to sink it anyway?? If there is a spellcaster (arcane) in the party, he could see the potential in a converging of leylines, and using them to his benefit. (think taking the area afterwards and making a laboratory there, harnessing the ambient magical energies. The spells anditems that could be made without the usual costs would have power beyond belief) If the seal's breaking also unsettles the good gods, then the evil ones will commence in a quest to eliminate good from the world. WOOT EVIL CONQUEST. This presents the opportunity for the PCs to have some fun finishing slaying the good guys, and mopping up the good resistance after the short war.
DwarvenArcher 12-04-07, 01:38 PM	I like your setup. Destroying the nation sounds fun and chaotic, but how about the spell actually destroys the 4 NG gods? Maybe it allows the caster (lolth/vecna) to take over those domains or just absorb the divine power of those gods. Most of the denizens of that nation would swap over to lolth/vecna worship instead. This gives the two deities a good reason to be secretly backstabbing each other. There would also be agents of good popping up periodically to try and save the masks. Then you could set up a situation where lolth and vecna wind up openly fighting over control of the spell/residual power of the 4 gods (perhaps literally as avatars or on some demiplane), maybe allowing the evil PC's to steal it. I don't know what power level they're at, but could be a lot of fun that way.
Delfedd 12-04-07, 06:21 PM	Here's something. Pelor doesn't seem like the kind of deity to make masks. You know. The things that are used for tricking people. Perhaps it was another deity, one who enjoys trickery almost as he enjoys the war and chaos that these masks would bring. In short, i'm suggesting that the masks be items created by Erythunul. The historic texts don't mention Pelor ever granting the masks.
Calium 12-04-07, 06:24 PM	Lol right now the players are at lvl 8. I played the idea of the masks being destroyed actually destroying the gods, however this seems way to heavy for a lvl8 campaign. Honestly I would see the players trading the masks to the 4 gods in a bargain in that case rather than destroying them. Then they would probably be able to pull way to much from the gods (An immortal with damn near omnipresence and omnipotence having his life in the hands of some punk lvl8's?). Thats why I already threw out that idea. Now the masks destroying just the nation of Atrice. That creates complications and conflicts of interest in the group and that will probably cause some internal struggle, however they may just do the opposite and decide not to destroy the nation for the sake of taking it over. I can see this line leaving the most options but I would like a couple different scenarios to be thrown at me so I can actually choose before I set anything in stone. Thanks for the support guys.
Calium 12-04-07, 06:37 PM	Well its not just Pelor that created the 4 masks and they are actually just 4 different parts of the same mask that can be worn independently or set together. The masks actually meld into the skin but there are small tell signs that someones using them. Ehlonna's portion is the forehead part giving small horns on either side of the wearer's head (gives wearer gore attack). Obad-Hai makes up the chin giving the wearer a thin short beard but an extremely close inspection shows that they are actually leaves (speak with animals at will). Pelor's portion is the right cheek giving a in depth tatoo of the sun on that cheek (haven't decided on powers want to keep it kinda week though seems how all 4 masks can be worn at once). And for the the last portion....GARL GLITTERGOLD who actually came up with the sealing method and conviced the others to join in not sure what affect I want the portion to have on the wearer yet (ability wise I want this portion to be cursed {garls sence of humor} thinking the mask has can use shout spell 3/day and for the curse 3% cumulative chance to cast a 1 mile wide antimagic field for 2 rounds, when curse goes off it reset the cumulative chance). Does that sound good for the masks? I had a reason for Pelor making masks and thx for the input. :-)
LordDewtain 12-04-07, 08:21 PM	here is an idea: pelor's mask has the sun symbol in the eye. and Karl Glittergold gives you a silver tongue (I imagine him that way). I wouldn't have the masks cursed, people will fight for whoever doesn't have to wear the cursed one. especially when it is such a horrible curse. Either have all ofthem cursed or none cursed. and make the curse much weaker, or at the very least, a grey curse (a curse taht could be useful, like the curse makes you freakishly tall, you look ugly but you can reach stuff) as for the masks: don't have it destroy a city, that is cliche and sucks. instead think about what the good gods sealed away. they idn't seal way a demon or calamity. they sealed away a war. long ago the evil gods collaborated (4 of them) to sow destruction and discord. they each gave a drop of their divine blood to create War. not a war, but the spirit of war. a Force that creates war. wherever this force was, war would be inevitable. The good gods learned of this, and gathered their champions. the gods of the four sought the followers of the evil gods, and sacrificed themselves to contain this war. Each got a drop of evil divine blood stained into their soul, which nearly drove them mad. But the good gods interceded, and sealed the conflict within them, leaving their mark on their faces as a result. The good gods granted each a powerful boon, as payment for their task: protect the force within them, and resist its temptation. you see, this force of war is a stain upon your soul. give into it, and it devours you. only a good person could wear it and keep it from taking them over. WEre an evil person to wear it, it would give them more and more power, but the seal would weaken, and they would be eaten from within (it gives them bad dreams, and eventually might turn them into demons or something). The church wants them so that they can unleash it, and spread war to their enemies. This leads to a few things #1: the mask isn't a mask when they found it, it is the skin of a person (NPC, angel, statue, or other thing). they have to defeat the current holder (most likely a good being, maybe not) to get it. #2: when the person dies, the skin reforms into a mask, made of some sort of hard unbreakable substance. #3:: the only way to transport the mask is to wield it yourself. #4: the only way to release its power, is to kill the holder in a specific ritual. therefore the church intends to kill the characters.
Calium 12-05-07, 04:50 PM	Nice points there. I do like the idea's for the effects of the pelor mask and the silver tounge for the garl. I think I'll keep the curse with that one, not going to tell the players though. Going to make it to were when the masks are doned they actually fuse to the skin and blend in (was already planning that). Thx for the input.;)
Khallhadras 12-05-07, 06:21 PM	Very nice work and ideas. It makes my mind wonder to a similar game I had once. Only there where six masks that fit together, and it was a mix of good and evil gods, an artifact that when worn by a single individual could turn that very individual into an Outsider of superior power and alien mindset (I had to create a template for this new outsider, it combined multiple things since the masks where descended from gods of varying alignments. Our Bbeg ended up utilizing the masks powers to his will afore one of our Pc's did, pretty intriguing game that was). This outsider was the keeper of gods, acting as a medium for any power seeking to control him (Which allowed for more than one god seeking to control the individual to do so, thus leading to a major disturbance of the soul and contradictory thought processes/plots) and eventually our Bbeg's soul and mind were exploited to a dangerous degree. After this the god's had nothing to control, and so the near mindless and indefinently soulless bbeg ran amok, previous commands and impulsions repeating in his sundered mind, using the masks power to allow celestials and demons into the material plane, which nearly consumed the Pc's plane in destruction and flames. Good game overall. :)