Mask of Becoming (3.5e Equipment)

Mask of Becoming
Outwardly, these simple, crudely fashioned wooden masks don't look like anything special, but when a person dons a mask of becoming, they become someone else. A mask of becoming is imprinted with the genetic information of a specific humanoid creature, and once donned, the mask fastens around the head and melds together with the wearer's physical form. After a transformation that lasts 1d4 minutes, the wearer adopts the height, weight and physical likeness of the imprint. This is neither an illusion nor a disguise, but instead a true physical transformation more akin to a polymorph effect.

The wearer of the mask becomes physically indistinguishable from the imprint, though the mask does not account for cosmetic choices such as clothing, haircut, piercings or makeup, nor does it copy injuries or lost limbs the imprint may have sustained. The mask does, however, give a slight insight into the imprint's personality, and confers a +8 circumstance bonus to all Charisma based checks, though only for the purpose of acting or staying in character. The wearer of the mask is considered trained when making Perform checks to that end. The mask also grants a portion of the imprint's knowledge. For the duration the mask is worn, the wearer gains the imprint's ranks in Knowledge-based skills, up to the maximum number of ranks the wearer's level allows.

The mask does not conceal the wearer's alignment or thoughts, and the wearer can still be found out of he comes under magical scrutiny, such as by alignment-detecting spells, detect thoughts, zone of truth, scrying, true seeing or any other effect that would reveal the wearer's true nature.

The mask does not grant the wearer any of the imprint's non-Knowledge skills or abilities - extraordinary, supernatural, class-based or otherwise - and cannot be removed at will, even with most forms of magic. The mask will however come off by itself after 24 hours have passed, at which point it will separate from the wearer's body and become inert and lose its magic.

A mask of becoming is an item of shamanistic curse magic. The 'becoming' can be considered as a benign curse, and while the mask is worn the wearer cannot be affected by other curses. He gains immunity to curses and any other affliction that can be cured by remove curse until such time as the mask comes off.

Creation: Creating a mask of becoming requires an ancient shamanistic ritual in which a genetic and spiritual imprint is imbued within a hand-carved wooden mask. This may be done with something as small as a teaspoon of blood, a piece of skin or fur, or a few strands of hair of the creature in question, but may also involve larger parts of the creature's body. Only humanoids and monstrous humanoids may be imprinted.

Prerequisites: Craft Wondrous Item, at least one level in Druid, shaman or any class with arcane spellcasting, alter self, bestow curse, a part of the imprinted creature as reagent, CL 5th.

Cost to Create: 20 gp for carving the mask itself, and 250 gp for the ritual. 20 EXP, 1 day.