Masks? [Archive] - Wizards Community - Pages Merged by Solauren

Masks? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Dell Kallyan
02-08-05, 08:50 PM I always thought that characters who wore masks were really cool, for whatever reason (I think cryptic and mysterious people are awesome, and anything that involves mystery makes the character that much more flavorful), so I was thinking of playing a wizard who wears a mask.

I'm assuming the item slot it would take up would be goggles/lens/face? He would enhance the mask to be magical eventually with craft wonderous item, and it would serve to protect his identity (perhaps he had a shady past or has many enemies, or just was disliked widely) or to hid something wrong with him (burnt face, scars, etc.).

Does anyone who has experience in playing a character with a mask want to share that experience with me? Does anyone have any good ideas where I could take this concept as far as making an interesting character?
TheMightyMcClaw
02-08-05, 08:57 PM First of all, masks have always creeped me out in a serious way.

Though I haven't played any truly masked characters (one or two who wore scarves around their faces), I have been using a masked NPC in my recent game. S/he is called The Owl, and wears a large wooden owl mask and a heavy cape of brown feathers (thus the name). The Owl has been great for decieving the PC's: because of the heavy clothing it wears and the secretive way it operates, they cannot determine whether the Owl is one person or several people going by the same name. Owl has been a kind of "behind the scenes" manipulator working to unknown ends, and occasionally laying strange enchantments on the heroes.
Maniacal_Cackle
02-08-05, 09:40 PM First of all, masks have always creeped me out in a serious way.

Though I haven't played any truly masked characters (one or two who wore scarves around their faces), I have been using a masked NPC in my recent game. S/he is called The Owl, and wears a large wooden owl mask and a heavy cape of brown feathers (thus the name). The Owl has been great for decieving the PC's: because of the heavy clothing it wears and the secretive way it operates, they cannot determine whether the Owl is one person or several people going by the same name. Owl has been a kind of "behind the scenes" manipulator working to unknown ends, and occasionally laying strange enchantments on the heroes.

That's an interesting concept, someone having multiple identities using different masks. One could be for assasinating people, one could be for the general public, one could be noble. Something like that. The only problem I see: how are people going to react to a guy who walks around with a mask on his face? It seems like it would be illegal in a lot of towns because it would help someone get away with crimes. Perhaps one of his identities could just be regular him, and then he uses the masks for anything special he does, including adventuring. Kinda like a superhero?
Dell Kallyan
02-09-05, 03:10 PM That's an interesting concept, someone having multiple identities using different masks. One could be for assasinating people, one could be for the general public, one could be noble. Something like that. The only problem I see: how are people going to react to a guy who walks around with a mask on his face? It seems like it would be illegal in a lot of towns because it would help someone get away with crimes. Perhaps one of his identities could just be regular him, and then he uses the masks for anything special he does, including adventuring. Kinda like a superhero?

I don't think that is quite what he meant...
Vapthorne
02-09-05, 04:07 PM I don't think it would be illegal to wear a mask 24/7. It would certainly be suspicious.

In a D&D campaign, I never had a masked character per say. I brainstormed the thought for an evil ranger (something like the scream mask sprung to my mind); the cloak/hood-type and full-helmet might be similar enough but a masked character has a different flavor.

Besides the question of why he might wear a mask (cover identity/scars, just to be cool, or reap it's magical benefits 24/7), a better question to ask is what kind of mask would the wizard wear. It should reflect a great deal on what type of person this wizard is. Is it demonic, dragonic, comical, feral, noble, etc. What does it look like?
Dell Kallyan
02-09-05, 06:25 PM Well, you see, my campaign has fallen apart (read here: http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=375554&page=3&pp=30 if you want to know all about it, but its long and kind of pointless), and we will probably start a new campaign shortly, after we accept a new player or two. I want my next character to survive the whole campaign, straight from level one to the BBEG and beyond. I am going to put a great deal of effort into the character, since I want him to be unique, flavorful, fun, and awesome (especially since this might be my last campaign before I go to college).

I tossed the idea around with my DM before, a sort of dark and gothic typed good guy. He does good deeds, but he just has a dark sort of feel (think Raven from Teen Titans, sorry to make a corny reference...). I prefer wizards, they are my favorite class, and I never really got to play one much before. I also mentioned the idea of the character wearing a mask, and he seemed to think it was ok. I just want to see what effects it would have in game.

Obviously he'd be viewed as an outcast and most people would be suspicious of him, but he would try to help them anyway.

I'm thinking Chaotic Good alignment... human wizard? It just doesn't seem to fit an elf to be all dark and mysterious and cryptical (not to say an elf couldn't be, but I just don't think it is that fitting).

Any thoughts?
The_Yellow_Dart_Swinger
02-09-05, 11:20 PM I think it was mentioned before. But what kind of mask will your character wear and what will it look like?

Will it be a lone ranger/robin/zorro kind of mask where it only wraps around the eye's? Will it be a partial mask? Covering only a vast majority of your face for whatever reasons? IE: Everything but mouth for instance. Will it be a full mask? Covering everything except your hair?

What will the mask be like? What color and why that color? Will it have a simple design or be very intercate? Will it resemble a person, animal or even an item of some sort?

You also have to ask why exactly you wear the mask. Prehaps you do it for the sole purpose of being weird. Prehaps the mask is actully a cursed magic item and you can't get it off your face. Prehaps it really is to hide your identity from someone who might be trying to find you for a reason.

Thats my .02 cents.
The Last Guardian
02-10-05, 04:31 PM You know its funny, i was just thinking about adding a Mask to my new character and was wondering roughly alot of the same things discussed/added so far.

I chose to go with a full face mask of red cloth (matches her cloak), tied around the head above the eyes. Or maybe going with a half mask, tied just under the eyes with goggles to hide her eyse. She is a mercenary & hunter of Werewolves that has accumilated something of a reputation for being ruthless. While visiting towns, her cover is that of a traveling dancer who works at inns. She uses this cover to seek out paying jobs or what information she can about werewolves. So the mask helps her to keep her cover as a dancer. Don't know if i want to enchant the mask or not. Right now its just sort of a practicality thing.

This character concept sort of started out as a joke, its based on a darker version of 'Little Red Riding Hood', sort of a 'truth behind the myth' thing. Her merc name is 'Lady Red Hood'.
Dell Kallyan
02-10-05, 08:39 PM Hmmm... but has anyone actually played a serious character with a mask before?
Mirikon
02-11-05, 10:24 AM I have. When playing a masked character, you have to consider some things. Why do they wear the mask? Is it because they are ashamed of what they do? Is it to avoid prosecution? Is it some ceremonial thing? Do they ever go around not wearing the mask? If so, is the mask for a secret identity kind of thing? Does he let the other characters in on the secret identity? If he has a secret identity, why does he have it? Is he trying to protect someone?

Answer those questions, and you'll be well on your way to making a good masked character. Personally, though, I find that masked characters do best as 1) Ninja types, 2) Thiefish characters (Shadow from squidi.net), 3) Masked Avengers (Batman), or 4) Spies. The only ones who should be going around masked all the time (barring environmental reasons) are people who have a ceremonial/tradition-based reason for the mask or have something major to lose if they are unmasked.
radu the wanderer
02-11-05, 03:04 PM Masks! Who doesn't love em? My avatar rocks the breath mask.

there's an issue of Dragon Magazine that may help--- it has a new race, the T'kel, who wear masks as a part of their daily culture, pluss they seem really cool. The issue number is 317.

To paraphrase, T'kel believe the face reveals the most secretive of desires and ambitions to any who view it. Taking off a mask is analogous to seeing someone naked. Their masks are very beautiful, all made from precious metals, the rarer the metal, the higher their station, and you can tell alot from them if you know how. Plus, their favored class is Monk! Now class, who thinks reptilian mask wearing monks are the essence of mysteriously awesome? (That kid in the corner waving his hand frantically? That's me.)

I don't know how much I can repost without violating copywright laws--- if you cite your source you should be alright, yes/no?
Dell Kallyan
02-14-05, 06:34 PM You should be fine with the CoC by posting what you did...

Unfortunately, I don't have any Dragon Magazine issues, but I probably wouldn't play a non-core race. Besides, my character will probably wear the mask because of personal reasons, not societal ones.
jcintro2
02-19-05, 09:25 AM Good morning
I am actually in an Oriental Adventures in where i am playing a Shaman/Fighter/Witch Hunter, and what happened to my character recently is that i had an evil brother who basically infected my character with demon blood and had infected my character with a Taint score. In addition, i had this mask forced upon my character, which looked to be in the shape of a skull ( i do not know if you are familiar at all with Mortal Kombat but for a visualization think of Scorpion's ninja mask from Mortal Kombat 4) which at the time kind of wreaked. Then as time went on this mask (which is an artifact called the Mask Of the Prey) began to acquire different abilities. For example when i gained my next level the mask gained the ability to use Identify as the spell three times (kind of out GM's hint that we needed some way to identify magic items). The mask is part of a set of two (the other one is called the Mask Of the Hunter), in which the two of them together spell the demise of an uberpowerful evil warlord (which we have not got to yet but hope to soon).I myself am a fan of masked characters, but in a medieval setting like D&D it more than likely would be frowned upon and it could mean one of several things: that a PC or NPC might be trying to hide something that they are ashamed of, or in my instance it was forced upon them. Masks are not a very practical item to have in D&D setting but if you get a chance to play one, definitely take the opportunity to do so. I don't know about the rest of you but I really like the Vigilante prestige class from Complete Adventurer (has kind of a Batman type of flavor to it). Just my two cents worth, but in the rare and unique opportunity it can be cool (and maybe somewhat dangerous) to play a character with a mask.
Dell Kallyan
02-20-05, 05:45 PM I agree that a mask would be awesome for a vigilante... kind of like the masked hero (Zoro, Batman, Jim Carrey :D). However, a vigilante wouldn't fit well into any of my groups because our DM likes to keep us moving... we don't really stay in a city. We'll, assuming we follow the main plot put in front of us (which are usually so fantastically assembled we have to follow them for in character reasons). Although if were ever doing an adventure in a big city, I'll keep that thought in mind.
jcintro2
02-20-05, 10:52 PM Yeah that is pretty much the same thing with my DM. Right now Sengoku (my Witch-Hunter in Oriental Adventures) has the Mask Of the Prey on him which was forced on him by his evil brother, and is part of a set of two. The mask itself is pretty cool because there seems to be a prophexy behind it. However when we come to a town i kind of have a problem with purchasing equipment because a lot of people see the mask as the face of death, so i end having to take our resident samurai with me to buy stuff or anyone else for that matter. Still, the mask has some cool abilities. In my last post, it was indicated that the mask could use the spell Identify three times per day. Now that i leveled up again, it now can use Arcane Sight once per day and the spell dispel taint once per day. So pretty much the Mask Of The Prey has been both a blessing and a curse for my character.
Amigo De e
02-21-05, 09:26 PM I have a female Drow Fighter/Wizard/Bladesinger who wears a mask covering the top 3/4 of her face, but under that is a piece of red cloth covering her face and neck, and going under her vest. The mask is kept on her face with very intricate silver chains, but it also has more silver chains for decorative purpose that are woven into her hair.
In the world she is in, the continent the party (who happens to be evil) is on was just a bunch of lawless cities, warrior clans and cults, but is now being conquered by an army led by a high-level paladin. So the place is turning all 'good', and evil creatures, like Drow, are forced underground again. My character wears the mask, speaks elven and keeps to herself in cities, in the hopes that people will assume that she is an elf. She has to wear long robes and gloves, as there are roving bands of paladins in most major cities.
Dell Kallyan
02-21-05, 09:49 PM That may be interesting... make my character of a race not welcome within human lands (in my DM's campaigns, human cities are typically the major places around). Or perhaps my character is just ashamed of his heritage?

That leads me to a few ideas... maybe a monstrous humanoid of some type?

Maybe a half-breed of something?

I once played a homebrewed half-illithid enchanter... perhaps a character like that would enjoy the use of a mask (since he had useless dangling lumps where his tentacles had been).
Callista
02-22-05, 07:11 AM Yes, I've played a character with a mask. Strangely enough, she is a barbarian.

Basic story: My character and the others in the group have been hired for an extremely secret mission--so secret that knowing each others' identities is a bad thing, say, in case of capture and such. So everyone is required to wear a mask (or use a disguise in some other way) and use a pseudonym.

So my barbarian's mask is enforced. Being a rather simple sort of person, she's not elaborate with it--it's just a wide strip of soft leather with eye holes.

However, that mask has become rather symbolic, too... because my character has difficulty interacting with people, facing the world in general. When she was sixteen, she ran off to live alone in the wilderness... and only her hatred of evil creatures drew her out, back into the society of others, mostly for the purpose of this mission (again, against very evil, dark sorts of creatures--we think devils but we're not sure). (That hatred is personal--evil creatures are the reason she ran off in the first place; drow raided her village and the aftermath was just too much, so she ran...).

So now, after having been forced to rejoin society, she could possibly seek healing and a way to associate with people again... but the mask, and the secrecy associated with it, is keeping her from revealing her background, from talking about her past, from trusting anyone, from even telling anyone her name.

It's not as tragic as it sounds, though; because this girl isn't angsty--just withdrawn. Usually she's quiet; only in battle against evil does she become a whirlwind of frenzy (that's actually her pseudonym--Whirlwind); and only in nature, alone, does she ever feel comfortable.

So far, no one seems to have reached out to my character--so she will probably become even closer to nature. I'm considering the Bear Warrior PrC, which gives her a way to actually become an animal...
Dark Kyosuke
02-23-05, 10:00 AM I myself was considering running a masked charachter. (Provided I can ever get into a game :nonono: )

An Elf, from Eberron. Advocate of the Deathless Court, he upholds the tradition of the Court by wearing a death mask. He also wears a cloak and wields a scythe, which breaks tradition slightly, but somehow, I just like the image of a distinctly Gothic elf with a scythe. No, I haven't much developed it, but as I said, i'm not in any games.

Also, I spoke to an espically odd DM once who claimed a charachter in his upcomming game was going to be a Bard who used masks in a style similar to the Japanese Kabuki. This was afer telling me he didn't generally like comedic charachters in his game (and then proceeded to tell me about every charachter IN his game, all of whom were in some way comedic in design...) :thinks:
GenerallyUnique
02-25-05, 07:01 PM I've played a character that wore a mask. He was a chitine rogue, a badass little one, too. It was a Skullport game so he was swathed mainly in black to blend into the ever-present shadows. He wore a ninja-like mask that did two things: allowed his multi-faceted eyes to show through and his mandibles to poke through. People had no clue what the odd little four armed halfling thing was.

In an online campaign I'm joing I'm going to play an evil monk with beliefs similar to those of Forgotten Realms' Monks of the Long Death. He's not going to wear a mask, but his face will be lightly painted, mainly around the lips and eyes, to make him look gaunt/skeletal/dead. I think the make-up/facepaint is enough a mask. A lot of it is in personality.
Thief of Always
02-26-05, 05:34 AM I introduced a cheesy NPC into a game of mine once. He was an ex-Red Wizard who used a mask to hide his Thayan face tattoos.

Ironically, I used the mask/face tattoos quirk to give the party an easy reason to suspect something from the Wizard [who was portrayed as, and was in fact, a good-guy]. I just used the logic that if anyone is wearing a mask, something kooky simply has to be going on underneath it.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Dell Kallyan 02-08-05, 08:50 PM	I always thought that characters who wore masks were really cool, for whatever reason (I think cryptic and mysterious people are awesome, and anything that involves mystery makes the character that much more flavorful), so I was thinking of playing a wizard who wears a mask. I'm assuming the item slot it would take up would be goggles/lens/face? He would enhance the mask to be magical eventually with craft wonderous item, and it would serve to protect his identity (perhaps he had a shady past or has many enemies, or just was disliked widely) or to hid something wrong with him (burnt face, scars, etc.). Does anyone who has experience in playing a character with a mask want to share that experience with me? Does anyone have any good ideas where I could take this concept as far as making an interesting character?
TheMightyMcClaw 02-08-05, 08:57 PM	First of all, masks have always creeped me out in a serious way. Though I haven't played any truly masked characters (one or two who wore scarves around their faces), I have been using a masked NPC in my recent game. S/he is called The Owl, and wears a large wooden owl mask and a heavy cape of brown feathers (thus the name). The Owl has been great for decieving the PC's: because of the heavy clothing it wears and the secretive way it operates, they cannot determine whether the Owl is one person or several people going by the same name. Owl has been a kind of "behind the scenes" manipulator working to unknown ends, and occasionally laying strange enchantments on the heroes.
Maniacal_Cackle 02-08-05, 09:40 PM	First of all, masks have always creeped me out in a serious way. Though I haven't played any truly masked characters (one or two who wore scarves around their faces), I have been using a masked NPC in my recent game. S/he is called The Owl, and wears a large wooden owl mask and a heavy cape of brown feathers (thus the name). The Owl has been great for decieving the PC's: because of the heavy clothing it wears and the secretive way it operates, they cannot determine whether the Owl is one person or several people going by the same name. Owl has been a kind of "behind the scenes" manipulator working to unknown ends, and occasionally laying strange enchantments on the heroes. That's an interesting concept, someone having multiple identities using different masks. One could be for assasinating people, one could be for the general public, one could be noble. Something like that. The only problem I see: how are people going to react to a guy who walks around with a mask on his face? It seems like it would be illegal in a lot of towns because it would help someone get away with crimes. Perhaps one of his identities could just be regular him, and then he uses the masks for anything special he does, including adventuring. Kinda like a superhero?
Dell Kallyan 02-09-05, 03:10 PM	That's an interesting concept, someone having multiple identities using different masks. One could be for assasinating people, one could be for the general public, one could be noble. Something like that. The only problem I see: how are people going to react to a guy who walks around with a mask on his face? It seems like it would be illegal in a lot of towns because it would help someone get away with crimes. Perhaps one of his identities could just be regular him, and then he uses the masks for anything special he does, including adventuring. Kinda like a superhero? I don't think that is quite what he meant...
Vapthorne 02-09-05, 04:07 PM	I don't think it would be illegal to wear a mask 24/7. It would certainly be suspicious. In a D&D campaign, I never had a masked character per say. I brainstormed the thought for an evil ranger (something like the scream mask sprung to my mind); the cloak/hood-type and full-helmet might be similar enough but a masked character has a different flavor. Besides the question of why he might wear a mask (cover identity/scars, just to be cool, or reap it's magical benefits 24/7), a better question to ask is what kind of mask would the wizard wear. It should reflect a great deal on what type of person this wizard is. Is it demonic, dragonic, comical, feral, noble, etc. What does it look like?
Dell Kallyan 02-09-05, 06:25 PM	Well, you see, my campaign has fallen apart (read here: http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=375554&page=3&pp=30 if you want to know all about it, but its long and kind of pointless), and we will probably start a new campaign shortly, after we accept a new player or two. I want my next character to survive the whole campaign, straight from level one to the BBEG and beyond. I am going to put a great deal of effort into the character, since I want him to be unique, flavorful, fun, and awesome (especially since this might be my last campaign before I go to college). I tossed the idea around with my DM before, a sort of dark and gothic typed good guy. He does good deeds, but he just has a dark sort of feel (think Raven from Teen Titans, sorry to make a corny reference...). I prefer wizards, they are my favorite class, and I never really got to play one much before. I also mentioned the idea of the character wearing a mask, and he seemed to think it was ok. I just want to see what effects it would have in game. Obviously he'd be viewed as an outcast and most people would be suspicious of him, but he would try to help them anyway. I'm thinking Chaotic Good alignment... human wizard? It just doesn't seem to fit an elf to be all dark and mysterious and cryptical (not to say an elf couldn't be, but I just don't think it is that fitting). Any thoughts?
The_Yellow_Dart_Swinger 02-09-05, 11:20 PM	I think it was mentioned before. But what kind of mask will your character wear and what will it look like? Will it be a lone ranger/robin/zorro kind of mask where it only wraps around the eye's? Will it be a partial mask? Covering only a vast majority of your face for whatever reasons? IE: Everything but mouth for instance. Will it be a full mask? Covering everything except your hair? What will the mask be like? What color and why that color? Will it have a simple design or be very intercate? Will it resemble a person, animal or even an item of some sort? You also have to ask why exactly you wear the mask. Prehaps you do it for the sole purpose of being weird. Prehaps the mask is actully a cursed magic item and you can't get it off your face. Prehaps it really is to hide your identity from someone who might be trying to find you for a reason. Thats my .02 cents.
The Last Guardian 02-10-05, 04:31 PM	You know its funny, i was just thinking about adding a Mask to my new character and was wondering roughly alot of the same things discussed/added so far. I chose to go with a full face mask of red cloth (matches her cloak), tied around the head above the eyes. Or maybe going with a half mask, tied just under the eyes with goggles to hide her eyse. She is a mercenary & hunter of Werewolves that has accumilated something of a reputation for being ruthless. While visiting towns, her cover is that of a traveling dancer who works at inns. She uses this cover to seek out paying jobs or what information she can about werewolves. So the mask helps her to keep her cover as a dancer. Don't know if i want to enchant the mask or not. Right now its just sort of a practicality thing. This character concept sort of started out as a joke, its based on a darker version of 'Little Red Riding Hood', sort of a 'truth behind the myth' thing. Her merc name is 'Lady Red Hood'.
Dell Kallyan 02-10-05, 08:39 PM	Hmmm... but has anyone actually played a serious character with a mask before?
Mirikon 02-11-05, 10:24 AM	I have. When playing a masked character, you have to consider some things. Why do they wear the mask? Is it because they are ashamed of what they do? Is it to avoid prosecution? Is it some ceremonial thing? Do they ever go around not wearing the mask? If so, is the mask for a secret identity kind of thing? Does he let the other characters in on the secret identity? If he has a secret identity, why does he have it? Is he trying to protect someone? Answer those questions, and you'll be well on your way to making a good masked character. Personally, though, I find that masked characters do best as 1) Ninja types, 2) Thiefish characters (Shadow from squidi.net), 3) Masked Avengers (Batman), or 4) Spies. The only ones who should be going around masked all the time (barring environmental reasons) are people who have a ceremonial/tradition-based reason for the mask or have something major to lose if they are unmasked.
radu the wanderer 02-11-05, 03:04 PM	Masks! Who doesn't love em? My avatar rocks the breath mask. there's an issue of Dragon Magazine that may help--- it has a new race, the T'kel, who wear masks as a part of their daily culture, pluss they seem really cool. The issue number is 317. To paraphrase, T'kel believe the face reveals the most secretive of desires and ambitions to any who view it. Taking off a mask is analogous to seeing someone naked. Their masks are very beautiful, all made from precious metals, the rarer the metal, the higher their station, and you can tell alot from them if you know how. Plus, their favored class is Monk! Now class, who thinks reptilian mask wearing monks are the essence of mysteriously awesome? (That kid in the corner waving his hand frantically? That's me.) I don't know how much I can repost without violating copywright laws--- if you cite your source you should be alright, yes/no?
Dell Kallyan 02-14-05, 06:34 PM	You should be fine with the CoC by posting what you did... Unfortunately, I don't have any Dragon Magazine issues, but I probably wouldn't play a non-core race. Besides, my character will probably wear the mask because of personal reasons, not societal ones.
jcintro2 02-19-05, 09:25 AM	Good morning I am actually in an Oriental Adventures in where i am playing a Shaman/Fighter/Witch Hunter, and what happened to my character recently is that i had an evil brother who basically infected my character with demon blood and had infected my character with a Taint score. In addition, i had this mask forced upon my character, which looked to be in the shape of a skull ( i do not know if you are familiar at all with Mortal Kombat but for a visualization think of Scorpion's ninja mask from Mortal Kombat 4) which at the time kind of wreaked. Then as time went on this mask (which is an artifact called the Mask Of the Prey) began to acquire different abilities. For example when i gained my next level the mask gained the ability to use Identify as the spell three times (kind of out GM's hint that we needed some way to identify magic items). The mask is part of a set of two (the other one is called the Mask Of the Hunter), in which the two of them together spell the demise of an uberpowerful evil warlord (which we have not got to yet but hope to soon).I myself am a fan of masked characters, but in a medieval setting like D&D it more than likely would be frowned upon and it could mean one of several things: that a PC or NPC might be trying to hide something that they are ashamed of, or in my instance it was forced upon them. Masks are not a very practical item to have in D&D setting but if you get a chance to play one, definitely take the opportunity to do so. I don't know about the rest of you but I really like the Vigilante prestige class from Complete Adventurer (has kind of a Batman type of flavor to it). Just my two cents worth, but in the rare and unique opportunity it can be cool (and maybe somewhat dangerous) to play a character with a mask.
Dell Kallyan 02-20-05, 05:45 PM	I agree that a mask would be awesome for a vigilante... kind of like the masked hero (Zoro, Batman, Jim Carrey :D). However, a vigilante wouldn't fit well into any of my groups because our DM likes to keep us moving... we don't really stay in a city. We'll, assuming we follow the main plot put in front of us (which are usually so fantastically assembled we have to follow them for in character reasons). Although if were ever doing an adventure in a big city, I'll keep that thought in mind.
jcintro2 02-20-05, 10:52 PM	Yeah that is pretty much the same thing with my DM. Right now Sengoku (my Witch-Hunter in Oriental Adventures) has the Mask Of the Prey on him which was forced on him by his evil brother, and is part of a set of two. The mask itself is pretty cool because there seems to be a prophexy behind it. However when we come to a town i kind of have a problem with purchasing equipment because a lot of people see the mask as the face of death, so i end having to take our resident samurai with me to buy stuff or anyone else for that matter. Still, the mask has some cool abilities. In my last post, it was indicated that the mask could use the spell Identify three times per day. Now that i leveled up again, it now can use Arcane Sight once per day and the spell dispel taint once per day. So pretty much the Mask Of The Prey has been both a blessing and a curse for my character.
Amigo De e 02-21-05, 09:26 PM	I have a female Drow Fighter/Wizard/Bladesinger who wears a mask covering the top 3/4 of her face, but under that is a piece of red cloth covering her face and neck, and going under her vest. The mask is kept on her face with very intricate silver chains, but it also has more silver chains for decorative purpose that are woven into her hair. In the world she is in, the continent the party (who happens to be evil) is on was just a bunch of lawless cities, warrior clans and cults, but is now being conquered by an army led by a high-level paladin. So the place is turning all 'good', and evil creatures, like Drow, are forced underground again. My character wears the mask, speaks elven and keeps to herself in cities, in the hopes that people will assume that she is an elf. She has to wear long robes and gloves, as there are roving bands of paladins in most major cities.
Dell Kallyan 02-21-05, 09:49 PM	That may be interesting... make my character of a race not welcome within human lands (in my DM's campaigns, human cities are typically the major places around). Or perhaps my character is just ashamed of his heritage? That leads me to a few ideas... maybe a monstrous humanoid of some type? Maybe a half-breed of something? I once played a homebrewed half-illithid enchanter... perhaps a character like that would enjoy the use of a mask (since he had useless dangling lumps where his tentacles had been).
Callista 02-22-05, 07:11 AM	Yes, I've played a character with a mask. Strangely enough, she is a barbarian. Basic story: My character and the others in the group have been hired for an extremely secret mission--so secret that knowing each others' identities is a bad thing, say, in case of capture and such. So everyone is required to wear a mask (or use a disguise in some other way) and use a pseudonym. So my barbarian's mask is enforced. Being a rather simple sort of person, she's not elaborate with it--it's just a wide strip of soft leather with eye holes. However, that mask has become rather symbolic, too... because my character has difficulty interacting with people, facing the world in general. When she was sixteen, she ran off to live alone in the wilderness... and only her hatred of evil creatures drew her out, back into the society of others, mostly for the purpose of this mission (again, against very evil, dark sorts of creatures--we think devils but we're not sure). (That hatred is personal--evil creatures are the reason she ran off in the first place; drow raided her village and the aftermath was just too much, so she ran...). So now, after having been forced to rejoin society, she could possibly seek healing and a way to associate with people again... but the mask, and the secrecy associated with it, is keeping her from revealing her background, from talking about her past, from trusting anyone, from even telling anyone her name. It's not as tragic as it sounds, though; because this girl isn't angsty--just withdrawn. Usually she's quiet; only in battle against evil does she become a whirlwind of frenzy (that's actually her pseudonym--Whirlwind); and only in nature, alone, does she ever feel comfortable. So far, no one seems to have reached out to my character--so she will probably become even closer to nature. I'm considering the Bear Warrior PrC, which gives her a way to actually become an animal...
Dark Kyosuke 02-23-05, 10:00 AM	I myself was considering running a masked charachter. (Provided I can ever get into a game :nonono: ) An Elf, from Eberron. Advocate of the Deathless Court, he upholds the tradition of the Court by wearing a death mask. He also wears a cloak and wields a scythe, which breaks tradition slightly, but somehow, I just like the image of a distinctly Gothic elf with a scythe. No, I haven't much developed it, but as I said, i'm not in any games. Also, I spoke to an espically odd DM once who claimed a charachter in his upcomming game was going to be a Bard who used masks in a style similar to the Japanese Kabuki. This was afer telling me he didn't generally like comedic charachters in his game (and then proceeded to tell me about every charachter IN his game, all of whom were in some way comedic in design...) :thinks:
GenerallyUnique 02-25-05, 07:01 PM	I've played a character that wore a mask. He was a chitine rogue, a badass little one, too. It was a Skullport game so he was swathed mainly in black to blend into the ever-present shadows. He wore a ninja-like mask that did two things: allowed his multi-faceted eyes to show through and his mandibles to poke through. People had no clue what the odd little four armed halfling thing was. In an online campaign I'm joing I'm going to play an evil monk with beliefs similar to those of Forgotten Realms' Monks of the Long Death. He's not going to wear a mask, but his face will be lightly painted, mainly around the lips and eyes, to make him look gaunt/skeletal/dead. I think the make-up/facepaint is enough a mask. A lot of it is in personality.
Thief of Always 02-26-05, 05:34 AM	I introduced a cheesy NPC into a game of mine once. He was an ex-Red Wizard who used a mask to hide his Thayan face tattoos. Ironically, I used the mask/face tattoos quirk to give the party an easy reason to suspect something from the Wizard [who was portrayed as, and was in fact, a good-guy]. I just used the logic that if anyone is wearing a mask, something kooky simply has to be going on underneath it.