d30 Masks, and their Magical Machinations. Part Two.

These thirty masks are cursed, cursed, and cursed again. Once any of them are worn, only a Wish spell or a timely ‘Deus-Ex-Machina’, type intervention can remove them from the wearer. The DM could possibly make a quest out of trying to get the mask off.But hurry, bad things are on the way.

“There are people in this world who can wear whale masks and people who cannot, and the wise know to which group they belong.” 
― Tom Robbins, Jitterbug Perfume

 “Masked, I advance.” 
― René Descartes

“You, sir, should unmask.

Indeed? 

Indeed it’s time. We all have laid aside disguise but you. 

I wear no mask. 

No mask? No mask! “

― Robert W. Chambers  

“I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob”.

-The Beatles

1) Mask of Myriad Magic
2) Mask of Better Out than In
3) Mask of Mighty Migraines
4) Mask of Plagues, Pestilence & Rot
5) Mask of Silence
6) Mask of Stranger to Myne Own Self
7) Mask of the Lure
8) Mask of the Vulture
9) Mask of the Manson
10) Mask of the Scarecrow
11) Mask of the Cosmic Jackal
12) Mask of the Vark
13) Mask of the Mosquito
14) Mask of the Giant Head
15) Trout Skin Mask
16) Mask of the Crow Road
17) Mask of ZorroZ
18) Mask of the Bristling ‘Tache
19) Mask of the Ass/Bottom
20) Masque of the Red Deth
21) Mask of the Masheen
22) Mask of Drunkenness
23) Mask of the Serpent
24) Mask of Unabashed Evil/Good
25) Mask of the Fool
26) Mask of the Wanderer
27) Mask of the Black Stars
28) Mask of the Scapegoat
29) Mask of Sloth
30) Mask of Tragedy

1) Mask of Myriad Magic
When worn, the victim becomes unusually susceptible to magic. All spells that would deal them damage may add an extra 1d6 to the damage pool, as well as making the player re-roll any passed ‘Save vs. Spells’, saving throws.

2) Mask of Better Out than In
There is only one outcome from wearing this mask...and that is pain. After 2d12 turns the wearer’s skeleton will animate itself and flee the body that encases it, thus killing its host. The pain of the skeleton ripping itself from the body is  terrifying and will drop the PC to 0 Hp and cut their entire attributes in half. The player character is now a skeleton but not un-dead, so they cannot be turned as technically, they are still alive. There is now one bonus though; all your mates get to laugh at you when you eat your lunch...

3) Mask of Mighty Migraines
Every day the wearer must roll a Save vs. Spells. If passed they keep the headaches at bay...if they fail however, then the megrims attack most viscously, rendering the wearer catatonic until the following day when they get to roll again. Each migraine deals 1d4 damage to the player.

4) Mask of Plagues, Pestilence & Rot
Your extremities start to rot, starting with your toes. Nothing can stem the tide of awfulness that has befallen you... and, to add insult to injury, your Constitution freefalls by 1 point a day until you are naught but a rotting carcass regardless of how many hit-points you posses.

5) Mask of Silence
The wearer may not speak, and if a spell-caster, they may not cast any spells that require a verbal component.

6) Mask of Stranger to Myne Own Self
It’s a topsy-turvy world being an adventurer. Wearing this mask just makes it worse! Swop all your attributes around from bottom to top. So, what you have in Charisma goes into Strength, and Strength into Charisma, Constitution into Intelligence etc... Dump Stats be gone!

7) Mask of the Lure
The wearer of this mask is ALWAYS surprised, even if the threat is standing right in front of them, they ALWAYS fail initiative. Sucks to be you... you could, if you wanted, make it even worse by having the entire group always fail initiative if the wearer of the mask is among them.

8) Mask of the Vulture

Can no longer stomach fresh food or liquid of any kind. Can only eat rotting meat and drink pestilent water, and develops a foul odour of death that lingers all around them. Any Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes or Halflings, standing with a 20ft radius will be overcome with uncontrollable vomiting and must stop what they are doing no matter what it is. All creatures, such as Orcs and Goblins, are drawn to this fetid aroma and will actively seek it out.

9) Mask of the Manson
Upon donning this mask the wearer is immediately assaulted by a barrage of sinister, and sibilant whispers from the deepest parts of hell that grows louder and louder every day. Not only will the wearer be unable to sleep and recover from the rigours of adventuring, but the satanic scuttlebutt makes it impossible to pray, or study spells, thus rendering the mage/cleric useless and at their wits end. Insomnia, worry, stress, paranoia and later hallucinations featuring anything, and everything, the character has killed in their adventuring life coming to haunt them. Madness comes next. Suicide is an option.

10) Mask of the Scarecrow
This will immediately cut the wearers intelligence score in half, and then, at dawn of the following day, in half again; and so it goes until there is but 1 point left and the wearer is left with the mental faculties of a baby sparrow.
If only they had a heart, eh?

11) Mask of the Cosmic Jackal
The player is instantly whisked away to a realm not of their knowledge or understanding, and is enslaved on the galley of the Cosmic Jackal. Here they will spend the foreseeable future lashed to the oars being forced to row... and being whipped by angry djinn for good measure. 

12) Mask of the Vark
Once this mask is on, the wearer will immediately think themselves famished...starved, as if they haven’t eaten in days. From then on all they are interested in is eating, day and night. They must consume, tirelessly, anything goes, scraps, road kill, unmentionable blobs of goo, nothing is off limits. They will root and forage anywhere.

13) Mask of the Mosquito
At first the wearer will hear high pitched noises that grow progressively louder every day. Then, in about two weeks, the noise will begin emanating from the Mask, thus making any attempts at stealth a waste of time. Sadly for the wearer this is just the beginning. At night, if they can sleep through the noise, a proboscis slides out from the helmet and pierces the victim’s skin and begins to suck up the host’s blood; in essence, devouring them from within. The host body will be drained of every drop of blood/fat/muscle/tissue leaving nothing but a helmet and a husk. The helmet is actually the head of a Phase Mosquito from the Nightmare Realms that hunts in our world.

14) Mask of the Giant Head
Upon donning the mask, the wearer's head begins to swell until it is ten times that of a Stone Giants head. The player can do nothing but lie there until death.

15) Trout Skin Mask
The victim’s skin turns to that of a fish. Deep scars form on the throat and become gills. Speech as they know it is impossible. They slowly begin to choke to death unless they can find fresh running water and fully submerge themselves. Fins will grow along the spine as the arms and legs begin to shrink. Eventually, after twelve weeks, the victim becomes a fish entirely.

16) Mask of the Crow Road
Once in place, all around the wearer seems incorporeal and unreal. They will begin to talk to people that have slipped beyond the pale not recognising the living around them. After the first week they will lose one full level. This continues for every week thereafter until level 0. It will then drain the victim’s Hit Points to 0 and inevitable death. 

17) Mask of ZorroZ
Donning this mask makes the wearer fool-hardy to the extreme. When everyone else decides to leg it away from the danger, the victim will rush toward it! He fears nothing and no one. When discretion calls to be the better part of valour, the player says, ‘Damn their eyes!’ and charges recklessly into glorious battle. Unsurprisingly, death will occur. There are only so many dragons you can mess with before the inevitable.

18) Mask of the Bristling ‘Tache
In combat, this mask ensures that the player is more of a danger to his teammates than himself or the enemy. For each separate encounter, roll 1d4. That is the number of rounds that will pass before he accidentally swings at one of his friends. To make matters worse, those attacks against his friends are at a +2 to hit, and wound.

19) Mask of the Ass/Bottom
When worn the player can do nothing but bray. Normal speech is impossible. Whenever the situation calls for extreme silence roll a Save vs. Polymorph, if failed the player brays non-stop for 2-8 rounds.

20) Masque of the Red Deth
And Darkness and Decay and the Red Deth will hold illimitable dominion over the unfortunate player. Blood will flow from every orifice accompanied by sharp pains and dizziness until they pass out from lack of blood. Anyone within 6ft of the diseased player rolls a Save vs. Death Magic or they are going down too. It usually takes about one turn for death to occur.

21) Mask of the Masheen
As soon as the mask is on, the player hears a ticking noise coming from within. They have precisely 24 hours until the mask drives a spike through their brain. No pressure.

22) Mask of Drunkenness
The player is instantly drunk and useless at just about everything. Communication is reduced to slurring, and at night, the victim snores so loudly, a wandering monster is guaranteed every hour, on the hour. They will also suffer a -6 penalty to everything combat related. Walking is actually crawling as they cannot stand up unaided.

23) Mask of the Serpent
Will slowly- but surely- poison the victim. Roll a Save vs. Poison every day. If the player passes, then that is a good day, if they fail, take 2d8 Dmg.

24) Mask of Unabashed Evil/Good
Alignment is immediately changed to the exact opposite of what they are at that moment, all penalties apply.

25) Mask of the Fool
Becomes addicted to gambling but will lose every single turn/hand/race/wager, and yet, is compelled to, until they have no assets left to gamble. After that, all bets are off. A life of crime, perhaps? Or life in debtors jail? You decide.

26) Mask of the Wanderer
The wearer has absolutely no sense of direction. None. If everyone else is going left, they go right. They are apt to wander off without telling anyone where they are going 1d6 times per day.

27) Mask of the Black Stars
User becomes berserk and starts stabbing themselves in the eyes, then chest, and finally stomach/groin area until they are dead.

28) Mask of the Scapegoat
The player polymorphs into a goat that is highly sought after for sacrifice, by any number of cults and religions. It’s only a matter of time before they get their hands on you and sacrifice you for the greater good/evil.

29) Mask of Tragedy
Overcome with the melancholies of the gods, the unfortunate wearer must take a daily Save vs. Turn to Stone or be turned into a statue representing great misery, and melancholy. 1d4 determines what type: 1) Wood. 2) Stone. 3) Rock. 4) Crystal. The hardening begins in the hands and toes and spreads till everything is solidified leaving the head for last. Limbs that have been ‘turned’ can still be used, but under great penalty and pain to the wearer of the mask.

30) Mask of Sloth
Everything is done as if slowed. Eating, speaking, fighting, talking, walking...everything is in sloooooooowwww motion.