For reasons I’ve not really grasped yet myself, I think the idea of magic masks and magic lanterns is just really cool and evocative. And I really want to have a lot of them make appearances in my next Dragonbane campaign.
The mechanics of Dragonbane don’t really care about weapons enchanted to make stronger attacks, armor that provides better protection, or rings and amulets that increase your character stats. Instead, the game is more suited to magic items that grant characters new abilities you can’t get from leveling up. That’s the kind of enchantments that I am in need of.
The main trait of a mask is that it covers your face. So I think any enchantment that protects your mind against mental attacks or intrusions would be a great fit. It also gives you a new face, so enchantments that hide your identity or give you a new one also fit well. I can see enchantments that let you do magic with your voice fit too. A mask also makes you look through two holes for your eyes, so it makes for a great base for enchantments that grant you special vision. I’m sure there’s tons of things that could be done with magic masks and I’d love to hear what things you would think would make for really cool enchantments.
I also really like the idea of magic lanterns, and unfortunately for those there are really not many existing examples. The function of any lantern is to provide light that lets you see things that you can’t see in the darkness. A lantern that banishes illusions would be a very useful item to have, but I feel that such an ability would be way too broad which makes it way too useful. I think perhaps it would be better to have magic lanterns dispel specific enchantments on a specific location or from a specific being, but then the usefulness might be too narrow and the item be useless after the end of the adventure. Which would not be that great.
A related but completely different effect of a lantern making the hidden invisible is that it could keep away creatures that either gain their main power from being hidden, or who are being actively hurt by the radiation of the light that is harmless to ordinary beings. Though again, this might also run into the problem of being either too good because it’s too useful, or being too specific to be used more than once.
Have you come across or had ideas for cool enchanted masks and lanterns that would make for great or interesting magic items in a game?
There are lots of fun ideas in this space. I’ll think about lanterns first.
A lantern that reveals a person’s inner emotions.
A lantern that casts darkness instead of light.
A lantern that never goes out or won’t set things on fire.
A lantern that illuminates the way home.
A lantern that makes footprints glow.
Floating lantern
A lantern that glows brighter in the presence of goblins or undead.
A lantern that can use any liquid for fuel. Any. Liquid.
A lantern powered by a captive fairy.
A lantern that glows when magic is being cast nearby.
A lantern that makes light which certain species can’t see.
A lantern that can use a rare fuel to make light as bright as daylight.
A lantern that is haunted by an annoying yet loyal poltergeist.
Lantern Genie.
A lantern powered by singing.
A lantern that can accompany a performer by casting shadow puppets to visualize their song or story.
A lantern which casts shadows that can be physically harmed. Stab the shadow, hurt the victim.
A lantern which reveals a very specific illusion, like the hidden door to a secret hideout.
A lantern which let’s you read any language that it is illuminating.
A ghost busters lantern that can slurp up evil spirits after they have been weakened.
A lantern thatbplays music instead of casting light when you use it.
A lantern which causes synesthesia for those that see its light.