Master of Masks...

[Tyger]

I love the flavour behind this class. We're playing in an average wealth, not too optimized game (houseruled gnoll druid, elven wizard (more blasty than batmany), half-giant psy-war, human crusader and my bard) where my bard and the psy-war are the only one who have taken any steps even remotely resembling optimization.

Is the Master of Masks as bad as it looks mechanically? The loss of spell casting progression is a pain, but its not the end of the world and if you take the Archmage mask its partly made up for. The loss of extra bardic music is the real loss here, especially as I am focused on that area. But what about three levels for 4 masks, and Mask Specialist?

I know that compared to Sublime Chord or Fochulorian Lyrist (or however that is spelled) its sub par, but a few masks seem like a tonne of fun.

[Draz74]

If it looks fun and the monsters you're facing aren't putting your group in grave danger, go for it.

I'd beware of stopping partway through, though, unless you're very picky about which masks you pick so you don't get the ones that keep scaling up to Level 10 (and, by contrast, aren't very good if you stopped their scaling).

[Telonius]

Is the Master of Masks as bad as it looks mechanically?

Yes. You generally enter it through one of two classes: Rogue or Bard. If Rogue, take a look at the skill points per level and list of class skills. If Bard, 4/10 spellcasting should tell you all you need to know. I love the flavor too, but this PrC is a one- or two-level dip, max. One level if Rogue, two if Bard. Take the Gladiator Mask - this mask alone makes a one-level dip worth it for almost any class that might have reason to use an Elven xBlade or other exotic weapons. Then, Assassin if Rogue, Lord and Jester if Bard.

Mask Specialist is absolutely, totally not worth it. There are very few "mask" items available, and it loses you another caster level if you entered through Bard. Note that it explicitly says it doesn't apply to the Persona masks.

[rayne_dragon]

It is a fun class to roleplay, but mechanically suffers from "jack of all trades, master of none" syndrome. It can help with a lot of different things, but doesn't excel at anything.

[Thurbane]

Here's my thoughts from this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=137198):

Master of Masks is a fun class that usually gets overlooked as the poor cousin to the Chameleon or Factotum.

Personally, I think its pretty nifty. Definitely not the most mechanically powerful class out there, but it does have quite a bit of flexbility. Also, as noted, unlike the Chameleon, it does (partially) progress spellcasting, so it's not a terrible PrC for a Bard or similar.

@Boci: strangely enough, Beguiler does not have Perform as a class skill.

@Zaq: unfortunately, no Dragon Shaman gets all three required skills (Silver gets Bluff, Disguise & Jump). From memory, some of the Apprentice feats in the DMG II should be able to add the required skills to your class list.

Another class that can get in at 5th is the Aristocrat NPC class (DMG).

[Person_Man]

This thread might help you (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88633).

IMO, it's good for a one level dip. And if you're playing as a Bard, I wouldn't even do that, as it screws with your spell an Inspire progression. Beyond one level for the gladiator mask, it's pretty much utter garbage for almost any build.

[Draxar]

Still not going to be in any way a strong class, but play an artificer if you can make the skills, and make all your persona masks be magic items too.

[Thurbane]

...another tack is to get a magic item crafting friend (or yourself) to come up with new types of magic masks to try and get more mileage out of Mask Specialist.

Also, try and get levels of Factotum and Chameleon into your build, as well as the binding feats for non-binders in ToM. You mightn't be great at any one thing, but you'll have a ton of abilities an options. It really depends on the rest of your party, as well as the general optimization...I hear a rumour that sometimes people choose classes just for fun, rather than being able to oneshot the Tarrasque by 7th level! :smallbiggrin:

[drengnikrafe]

Here's my suggestion:
You say your party isn't optimized, but you slightly are?
You really like the fluff, and see that it could be fun to play?
You want to give it a try?

Go for it.

My friends and I once made a list of the order of importance of things in D&D. After the obligitory religoius discussion was out of the way, Fun came out as number 1. For some people, building that unholy abomination that can destory things a dozen levels above it is fun. For some people, playing the fluff is fun.

Will you be optimized? Far from it.
Will you have fun? Absolutely. Especially if you try to.

As for which mask you should choose... don't even begin to think about that as yourself. Step into your character's shoes. Ask yourself, as your character, "Given that I become this, what would be the things I would approach as possibilities first." You may select masks that are far below perfect, but make sense for your character. And who can ask for any more?

[Thurbane]

Would MoM become more viable using Legacy Champion for most of it's levels?

[Pluto]

Master of Masks is a good time. If optimization isn't a concern, it's a fun choice.


My only problem with it is that Chameleons do exactly the same thing, but better.

[Same goes for Factotums, Binders, Trickery Domain Clerics and UMD skillmonkeys straight out of the can.]

[Human Paragon 3]

If you go Factotum into Master of Masks (which is a natural progression anyway IMO) you won't be sacrificing too much power by switching. A reasonable DM would allow the caster levels of MOM to advance arcane dilettante. You can make up the loss of inspiration by taking Font of Inspiration a few times.

Factotum is really very front loaded. The best abilities come at levels 1-3, then again at 8. The ability to boost whatever you need via INT should synergize fairly well with the master of masks' abilities. Either way the character will be very fun.

[Draxar]

Here's my suggestion:
You say your party isn't optimized, but you slightly are?
You really like the fluff, and see that it could be fun to play?
You want to give it a try?

Go for it.

My friends and I once made a list of the order of importance of things in D&D. After the obligitory religoius discussion was out of the way, Fun came out as number 1. For some people, building that unholy abomination that can destory things a dozen levels above it is fun. For some people, playing the fluff is fun.

Will you be optimized? Far from it.
Will you have fun? Absolutely. Especially if you try to.

Also, if your party are less optimisers than you are, playing a weaker setup can allow you to optimse within that build concept without causing party disparity by making your character better than the others' (which could happen if you were playing a stronger build). I've been having a reasonable time with that sort of thing in the group I'm in, currently playing a soulknife and later will be trying a Truenamer. It lets me work out the best way to use the abilities without blowing the rest of the group out of the wayer, effect-wise.

[TheLogman]

Shameless self-plug (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62219)

I really like the MoM class, but I felt like it had a lot of content gaps. Those masks I created tried to help fill up some of those gaps.

Honestly, MoM has the potential to be a great 5th wheel, like Binder, providing whatever the party needs whenever the need it. MoM has the advantage over Binder in that he can change specialties more readily, but the trade off is that you have less specialties to choose from. And you're a prestige class.

The cost of the masks and time to make and all can be a pain, but if you like the ability to be a jack of all trades and change your mastery, MoM isn't a terrible choice, though many would argue that Binders and Factorums both can do it better (But Binders have to choose their specialties at the start of the day, and can't multi-task until high levels, and Factorums will eventually run out of Inspiration points (Who am I kidding, are there Factorums that DON'T take Font of Inspiration almost every feat the can? :smalltongue:)).

[Pharaoh's Fist]

Also, try and get levels of Factotum and Chameleon into your build, as well as the binding feats for non-binders in ToM. [/quote[
The feats do not get you access to much. Best to dip a level or two in Binder.

[quote]I hear a rumour that sometimes people choose classes just for fun, rather than being able to oneshot the Tarrasque by 7th level! :smallbiggrin:
It's just a rumor. We aim to do it by first.

[FMArthur]

I see the Master of Masks as being somewhere between a Factotum and a Chameleon and therefore not wholly replaced by either. A Factotum is a flat generalist and can fill every role adequately at any time. A Chameleon is a specialist who changes specialization and can fill one (or two, later) role reasonably well but is totally inflexible due to how long it takes to change specialization.

The Master of Masks is like a weaker specialist who can change specialization as the circumstance merits, but still slowly enough to make it a disadvantage. If it had abilities that were actually stronger than a Factotum's it would easily be able to hold its own unique identity as a class, instead of being the last stop for people looking for jack-of-all-tradesmanship.

[Thurbane]

The feats do not get you access to much. Best to dip a level or two in Binder.
Good point - a dip into Binder (before you start taking MoM levels) would get you more juice than the 3 feats do.

I'm currently working on a Factotum 1/Beguiler 4/MoM 10/Chameleon 5 build...maybe drop a level or two of Beguiler for Binder (Beguiler was in there to make use of the +1 casting progression that MoM gets on 4 levels).

[Pharaoh's Fist]

I'd personally include one level of Binder and 5 more of Chameleon. Because Chameleon is super special awesome fun.

[Draz74]

(Who am I kidding, are there Factorums that DON'T take Font of Inspiration almost every feat the can? :smalltongue:)).

Mine don't. :smalltongue: