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Enchanted 227 of the Mimics Greasepaint

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by

Dale
in

Lore: In the grand metropolises of Saṃsāra, where theater is both a high art and a tool for political intrigue, the “Mimic’s Greasepaint” is a staple for both the stage and the shadows. This small, enchanted tin contains a pigment that never dries and subtly responds to the user’s internal intent. Originally developed by an Isekai soul who recalled the transformative power of theater in a world of digital filters, this greasepaint allows a tier 1 avatar to project a presence that transcends their physical form. It is said that the greatest actors in the Helmus month can use this paint to convince a king they are a beggar, or a beggar they are a god, provided the audience is willing to be deceived.

Stats

  • Tier: 1
  • Rarity: Common
  • AC: 0
  • Slot: Eye or Mouth (Applied to the face; counts as a single slot while worn)
  • Item Health Points: 24 (Resilience 12 × Tier 1 + 12 Character Base HP)

Skills Gained While Openly Worn

  • Trained Skill: +1 Performance (Temporary)
  • Trained Skill: +1 Deception (Temporary)

Passive Magic

  • Thematic Resonance: The greasepaint subtly adjusts the wearer’s facial micro-expressions to align with a chosen “Role.” This provides an advantage on saving throws to resist being seen through when maintaining a disguise or a lie in a somewhat safe area.
  • Unfading Persona: Once applied, the pigment is immune to mundane elemental water and sweat. It remains perfectly vibrant for the duration of a performance or until the avatar chooses to wipe it away with a silk cloth, ensuring the “buyer beware” nature of the audience remains in the actor’s favor.

Active Magic

  • Voice of the Multiverse (1 Action): The user concentrates on a memory or a concept of a specific character archetype. For 10 minutes (one turn cycle), the greasepaint vibrates, and the avatar’s vocal cords act as a conduit, allowing them to mimic the voice, accent, and cadence of any sentient creature they have heard in the last YaM.W.D.
  • Stage Presence (1 Action): The wearer taps the paint on their eyelids, causing it to glow with a soft purple light. For one minute, the avatar projects an aura of authority or pathos that doubles the effective distance of their voice and ensures that all non-hostile creatures within 30 feet feel compelled to stop and listen to the avatar’s next three sentences.

Tags: Enchantment, Cosmetics, Performance, Deception, Common, Tier 1, Non-weapon, Acting, Originally made by: The Masked Troupe, Social, Persona, Charisma, Guise, Influence, Articulation, Pathos, Projection, Mimicry, Social, Dramaturgy, Presence, Disguise

Acquisition and Commerce of the Mimic’s Greasepaint

Methods of Obtaining the Greasepaint

The Enchanted 227 of the Mimic’s Greasepaint is a prized tool for social engineering and theatrical excellence. It is generally acquired through the following channels:

  • Theater Troupe Induction: Avatars who join prestigious acting guilds or traveling “Masked Troupes” are often provided a single tin of this paint as part of their entry kit.
  • Underground Exchanges: Because of its utility in deception, “Rule Breakers” and spies often carry this item. It can be looted from possessed avatars who served as infiltrators or undercover agents in political intrigue scenarios.
  • Artisanal Crafting: An avatar with skills in Alchemical Crafting and a background in Performance can create this paint by infusing rare pigments with magical steam.
  • World Bank Foreclosures: Occasionally, a theater house goes bankrupt. The World Bank may sell off their inventory, including crates of “common” enchanted cosmetics, to recover rhodium or gold debts.

Trade and Retail Environments

The value of the greasepaint shifts dramatically based on the social tier of the island nation and the proximity to high-culture centers.

  • Metropolitan Costume Ateliers: In the megacities and floating capitals, these shops are opulent, filled with velvet drapes and steam-powered vanity mirrors. The greasepaint sold here is pure, packaged in ornate brass tins.
    • Buying Price: 20 to 35 Silver. The higher price covers the “prestige” of the shop and the purity of the pigment.
    • Selling Price: 8 Silver. These ateliers rarely buy back “used” tins unless the lineage indicates it was owned by a famous performer.
  • Back-Alley Apothecaries: In the darker corners of warehouse districts or cave systems, greasepaint is sold for its “Deception” utility rather than its “Performance” art. The tins may be dented or unbranded.
    • Buying Price: 15 to 25 Silver. This is a “buyer beware” environment where the paint might be mixed with mundane soot to stretch the volume.
    • Selling Price: 10 Silver. These merchants are always looking for tools of subversion and will pay a slightly better rate to keep such items in circulation.
  • Frontier Traveling Bazaars: When a zeppelin circus moors at a remote island country, they bring the magic of the metropolis with them.
    • Buying Price: 1 to 2 Gold. In a remote area, this is the only access point for such a specialized enchantment, and the sellers capitalize on the rarity.
    • Selling Price: 40 Silver. Performers are often short on coin and will buy a reliable tin if they’ve run dry during their travels.
  • World Bank Asset Repositories: If the World Bank is liquidating a theater’s assets, you may find the paint sold in bulk “lots.”
    • Buying Price: 12 Silver per tin. This is a fixed price, though the 1% transaction fee (rounded up to the copper) always applies.
    • Selling Price: The bank does not buy individual tins of paint; they only accept them as part of a larger asset seizure to clear an existing debt at a value of 3 Silver each.

Tactical Application and Roleplay of the Mimic’s Greasepaint

Offensive Utility and Roleplay

Offense with the Enchanted 227 of the Mimic’s Greasepaint is rarely about drawing blood; it is about drawing a confession, a compromise, or a crowd. In the world of Saṃsāra, a tier 1 avatar uses the “Acting” emphasis to manipulate the narrative of an encounter.

  • Social Sabotage: In a metropolitan ballroom (a “somewhat safe” area), an avatar can roleplay the Stage Presence ability to hijack a political speech. By tapping their eyelids and allowing the purple glow to manifest, the avatar describes their voice expanding to fill the hall with a sudden, unnatural gravity. The roleplay focuses on the “Pathos” of the delivery—using the greasepaint to project an aura of a grieving widow or an indignant tax-collector—effectively stunning the opposition and turning the public’s favor against a rival through sheer dramatic weight.
  • Vocal Infiltration: In an “unsafe area” like a high-security warehouse, the avatar uses Voice of the Multiverse to mimic a commanding officer. The roleplay involves the avatar pressing the paint into the hollow of their throat, feeling the mechanical vibration of the pigment as it reshapes their vocal cords. They then issue conflicting orders through a closed door, describing the perfect imitation of a superior’s rasp to cause confusion and force enemies to abandon their posts or surrender their weapons without a fight.
  • The Calculated Distraction: During a “Mind’s Eye” challenge, the avatar can roleplay a “Role” that demands attention, such as a crazed street preacher or a dying traveler. While the guards are transfixed by the vibrant, unfading pigments and the avatar’s perfect micro-expressions, the rest of the party gains an advantage on stealth or theft rolls. The offense here is the total domination of the environment’s attention economy.

Defensive Application and Roleplay

Defensively, the greasepaint acts as a psychological shield, allowing the avatar to disappear into a crowd or present a front so intimidating that an attacker hesitates.

  • The Shield of Persona: If an avatar is cornered in a “dangerous area,” they can roleplay a sudden shift in their Thematic Resonance. By rapidly adjusting their posture and allowing the paint to settle into a “fearsome warrior” role, they project a psychological AC. The avatar describes how the paint deepens the shadows of their face, making them appear more battle-hardened and lethal than they truly are. This can be used to “Defend” by forcing an opponent to make a Resolve or Morale check before they can commit to an attack.
  • Evading Recognition: When being pursued through a sky-dock, the avatar can use the Unfading Persona passive to maintain a disguise despite the humid steam and rain of the high altitudes. The roleplay involves the avatar ducking into a shadow, quickly smearing a fresh pattern of paint, and stepping back out as a completely different character. They describe the paint’s resistance to the weather as a literal barrier against the “Buyer Beware” scrutiny of the law-enforcers, allowing them to walk past their pursuers undetected.
  • Vocal Redirection: If the avatar is being targeted by a “Social” or “Magical” attack that relies on their true identity, they can activate Voice of the Multiverse to speak in a discordant, layered tone. The roleplay describes the greasepaint vibrating violently on their face, masking their true vocal signature and granting them an advantage on saving throws against charms, commands, or identification spells that require a clear auditory link to the target’s soul.

Perception of Activation:

  • User’s Perspective When you apply the paint or trigger the “Voice of the Multiverse,” you feel a strange, cool crawling sensation across your skin, as if a thousand tiny insects are rearranging your features. The pigment feels “alive,” vibrating at a frequency that matches your internal monologue. As the voice takes hold, your throat feels momentarily constricted by a cold, metallic ring before expanding into the new cadence. Visually, your peripheral vision tinges slightly purple, and you experience a mental “clarity of role,” where your own anxieties fade, replaced by the iron-clad confidence of the persona you are projecting.
  • Observer’s Perspective Those watching see the greasepaint on your face swirl and churn like a liquid vortex. The purple glow intensifying in the iris of your eyes creates a brief, hypnotic flicker. To the observer, your physical presence seems to fluctuate; for a split second, you appear taller, shorter, or more menacing as the “Stage Presence” aura takes hold. The most unsettling part is the sound: the air around you seems to vibrate with a faint, multi-layered hum that makes your voice sound as though it is echoing from the walls themselves rather than your own mouth.
  • Extra-Sensory Perceptions
    • Emotional Synesthesia: The user begins to “see” the emotions of their audience as faint colored mists—red for anger, blue for sorrow, gold for awe—allowing them to tailor their acting in real-time.
    • The Director’s Echo: A phantom whisper in the back of the user’s mind provides “stage directions,” alerting them to when a person is becoming suspicious or when a dramatic pause would be most effective.
    • Ancestral Resonance: In the moment of high performance, the user feels the weight of every actor who has ever worn the pigment, a collective “memory” of theater that provides instinctive knowledge of obscure accents or historical mannerisms.
  • Positives The primary benefit is a total immersion that makes deception feel like truth. You are granted a temporary reprieve from social anxiety and gain a magnetic quality that draws the eye and the ear. In a world of “Buyer Beware,” your acting becomes a commodity that can bypass physical locks and metal gates through the manipulation of the Mind’s Eye.
  • Negatives The greasepaint is addictive to the ego; the “Persona Hangover” is a real threat. After washing away the paint, you may experience a profound sense of hollowness or a “Loss of Self” for several hours, feeling like a hollow vessel without a role to play. Additionally, the magical vibration of the paint can cause a persistent metallic taste in the mouth and a slight twitch in the facial muscles that lasts long after the performance has ended.

Crafting Recipe: The Method Actor’s Alchemical Pigment

  • Materials Needed
    • Purified Lanolin Base: A smooth, fatty substance extracted from the wool of a patient beast, acting as the carrier for the enchantment.
    • Crushed Amethyst Pigment: Semi-precious stones ground into a fine powder to provide the violet magical resonance.
    • Echo-Snail Secretion: One vial of iridescent slime harvested from snails found in the whispering caves of Saṃsāra, essential for the “Voice of the Multiverse” property.
    • Essence of Pathos: A distilled liquid captured from the vapor of a crowded theater during a standing ovation.
    • Brass Tin with Gear-Seal: A small, mechanical container designed to keep the pigment in a state of constant, low-level agitation.
  • Tools Required
    • Alchemical Mortar and Pestle: For grinding the amethyst while maintaining a rhythmic, hypnotic pace.
    • Steam-Jacketed Crucible: A heating vessel that uses regulated steam to melt the lanolin without scorching the delicate magical essences.
    • Fine-Tipped Silver Stirring Rod: To prevent mundane contamination during the infusion of the echo-snail secretion.
    • Magical Tuning Fork (C-Note): Used to calibrate the vibration of the greasepaint to the standard vocal frequency of sentient humanoids.
  • Skill Requirements
    • Alchemical Crafting (Level 1): Required to stabilize the volatile mixture of lanolin and magic.
    • Trained Skill: Performance: The crafter must possess an innate understanding of dramatic timing to “charge” the essence of pathos into the pigment.
    • Mechanical Engineering (Level 1): Necessary to assemble the gear-seal lid that prevents the enchantment from leaking into the surrounding air.
  • Crafting Steps
    • Phase 1: Preparing the Base: Melt the lanolin in the steam-jacketed crucible. Once liquid, slowly whisk in the crushed amethyst until the mixture turns a deep, swirling purple that catches the light.
    • Phase 2: Infusing the Voice: Drop the echo-snail secretion into the center of the crucible. Use the silver stirring rod to draw a figure-eight pattern, chanting a “Normal” spell of “Clear Resonance” for three minutes.
    • Phase 3: Capturing the Pathos: While the mixture is still warm, introduce the Essence of Pathos. This must be done while the crafter roleplays a brief, intense monologue to “teach” the paint the weight of dramatic intent.
    • Phase 4: Calibration: Strike the magical tuning fork and hold it against the side of the crucible. The pigment should begin to ripple and hum in sympathy with the note.
    • Phase 5: Sealing the Tin: Pour the liquid greasepaint into the brass tin and quickly screw on the gear-seal lid. As the steam cools, the gears will begin to click, signaling that the “Mimic’s Greasepaint” is ready for its first role.

Face-Thief and Grand Silence of Seven False Kings

In the seasons before the first gear-clock groaned with the weight of the nine thousand years, when the island countries were but floating seeds in a garden of violet mist, there existed a traveler of the many-colored skin. This traveler, whose name has been eaten by the moths of the ancient unknown language, was a man of the “Empty Vessel.” He possessed a face that was like a mirror in a dark room—reflecting nothing, holding no light, and bearing the AC of a common stone.

The traveler wandered into the High Metropolis of Aethel-Steam, where the Seven False Kings sat upon thrones made of compressed rhodium and stolen breath. These kings were masters of the “Buyer Beware” law; they wore masks of gold and spoke with tongues of iron, and no common avatar could see the rot within their hearts. The traveler, seeing the people of the island crushed by the weight of these lies, sought a way to become a lie so profound that it would reveal the truth.

He journeyed to the cave of the First Mask-Maker, a being who was half-man and half-echo. The Mask-Maker did not work with wood or clay, but with the “Grease of the World-Mind.” He took the fat of a beast that had never slept, the dust of a star that had died of laughter, and the slime of a snail that lived only in the echoes of a shouted secret.

“O Maker,” the traveler roleplayed with a voice of 1 hit point, “I wish to be everyone so that I may be no one. I wish for a paint that does not hide the face, but replaces the soul with a ‘Role’ of absolute conviction.”

The Mask-Maker labored for three Warming weeks and three Darkness weeks. He used a steam-loom to weave the pigments into the very fabric of the grease. He struck a tuning fork against the rib of the world until the paint began to hum with the “Voice of the Multiverse.” When the tin was opened, it is said the light was so purple that the local guards thought the sun Helios had been reborn in a box.

The traveler applied the paint—the First 227—to his brow. Immediately, his micro-expressions became a storm of “Thematic Resonance.” He walked into the palace of the Seven False Kings. To the first king, he appeared as a long-lost brother; to the second, a terrifying tax-collector from the World Bank; to the third, a ghost of a forgotten debt.

The story grows long and winding here, like a script with too many acts. It is told that for forty days, the traveler played every role in the court. He was the jester who whispered treason; he was the general who commanded peace; he was the beggar who stole the king’s crown while the king was still wearing it. The “Stage Presence” of the greasepaint was so absolute that the kings forgot their own names. They began to believe the traveler’s performance more than their own reality.

As the traveler spoke with the “Voice of the Multiverse,” the very walls of the palace began to vibrate. The kings, driven to a madness of “Mind’s Eye” confusion, began to confess their crimes to the purple-faced stranger. They confessed to the watering of the rhodium, the theft of the reincarnation cycles, and the “Rule Breaking” they had hidden behind their golden masks.

But the gods of the VaporSphere, who enjoy a good comedy but hate a perfect deception, looked down. they saw that the traveler was becoming too much of a “Mimic.” He was losing his “User Perspective” and becoming a hollow shell of grease and amethyst. They sent a “Banishment” in the form of a Great Rain of Transparency.

The rain fell not upon the city, but upon the traveler’s soul. The paint began to swirl. The traveler realized that if he did not wash the paint away, he would remain a jester or a king forever, his own life lost to the “Persona Hangover.” With a silk cloth made of his own discarded memories, he wiped the greasepaint from his eyes.

The kings, seeing only a common traveler with an empty face, fell into a “Grand Silence.” Their power, built on the theater of their own masks, crumbled because a better actor had shown them the stage. The traveler walked out of the city, leaving the tin of greasepaint on the steps of the theater house, where it was found by a troupe of performers who were but Tier 1 seekers of the light.

Every tin of Enchanted 227 found in the metropolitan ateliers today is but a shadow of that original pigment, a small piece of the “Pathos” that once unseated seven kings with a single, painted smile.

Moral of the Story: A painted face can rule a kingdom, but only a bare face can live in it.

Suggested conversions to other systems:

Call of Cthulhu (7th Edition)

Unique Name: The Paste of the Many-Faced Actor

Description: A small, circular tin containing a vibrant, purple-hued greasepaint that smells faintly of grease and ozone. It never dries and seems to move slightly when the tin is opened.

Game Mechanics and Stats:

  • Item Type: Arcane Cosmetic
  • Skill Bonus: Grants a +20% bonus to Art/Craft (Acting) and Disguise checks while applied.
  • Vocal Mimicry (Active): The user can attempt an Extreme Success on an Art/Craft (Acting) check to perfectly mimic the voice of someone they have heard. Failure results in a jarring, metallic distortion.
  • The Cost of the Mask (Passive): Maintaining a role is mentally taxing. For every hour the paint is worn in a social situation requiring deception, the user must succeed in a Sanity (SAN) check or lose 1 Sanity point as their own identity begins to feel distant and “hollow.”

Blades in the Dark

Unique Name: The Spark-Wrought Greasepaint

Description: A Tier 1 Fine Item favored by the “Spooks” of the Silkshore district. The pigments are infused with electroplasm to allow for rapid, supernatural shifts in appearance.

Game Mechanics and Stats:

  • Item Type: Fine Item (0 Load if applied, 1 Load for the tin)
  • Quality: Tier 1
  • Mechanics:
    • Master of Disguise: When you Sway or Deceive while wearing this paint, you gain +1d to your roll. The paint helps you inhabit the role with disturbing physical accuracy.
    • Project Aura (Active): You may expend a Special Armor use to command the room. For the next scene, your voice carries over any noise, and you gain Potency when trying to intimidate or fascinate a crowd.
    • The Void Face (Complication): If you suffer a Consequence while disguised, the paint may “glitch,” showing a swirling violet vortex where your features should be, immediately blowing your cover.

Dungeons & Dragons (5th Edition)

Unique Name: Mimic’s Enchanted Pigment

Description: Wondrous item, common. This tin of purple greasepaint contains enough pigment for 10 applications. One application lasts for 1 hour.

Game Mechanics and Stats:

  • Item Type: Wondrous Item
  • Rarity: Common
  • Attributes:
    • Performative Prowess: While wearing the paint, you have advantage on Charisma (Performance) and Charisma (Deception) checks made to pass yourself off as a different person or social archetype.
    • Arcane Mimicry: As an action, you can mimic the voice of another creature you have heard speak for at least 1 minute. A creature that hears you can tell they are being tricked with a successful Wisdom (Insight) check against a DC of 8 + your Proficiency Bonus + your Charisma modifier.
    • Center Stage: Once per application, you can use an action to cast Enthrall (Save DC 13). When you do so, the paint on your face glows with a soft, violet radiance.

Knave (2nd Edition)

Unique Name: The Doppelgänger’s Tin

Description: A tin of magical face-paint (1 slot). It feels cold to the touch and hums when held near a mirror.

Game Mechanics and Stats:

  • Item Type: Tool (1 Slot / 10 Uses)
  • Armor Defense: +0
  • Quality: 3/3 (Represents the tin’s durability)
  • Mechanics:
    • The False Face: While the paint is worn, the user adds +2 to any Charisma checks involving acting, lying, or blending into a social group.
    • Echo Voice: The user can mimic any sound or voice they have heard. If used to trick someone, the target must make a Wisdom save to see through the ruse.
    • Stage Presence: Once per use, the user can shout with such authority that all enemies of a lower HD than the user must make a Morale check or be stunned for 1 round.

Fate (Condensed/Core)

Unique Name: The Artiste’s Resonant Pigment

Description: This enchanted greasepaint doesn’t just change how you look; it changes how you feel to others. The violet hues pulse in time with your dramatic pauses, lending an uncanny weight to every word you utter.

Game Mechanics and Stats:

  • Type: Extra (Item)
  • Aspect: The Role of a Lifetime
  • Stunt: Vocal Chameleon. You gain a +2 bonus to Deceive or Performance rolls when specifically attempting to mimic a specific person’s voice or a distinctive regional accent.
  • Stunt: Captivate the Crowd. Once per session, you may use your Performance skill to place a “Transfixed” aspect on a zone of nameless NPCs without needing to roll, provided you spend a full exchange in a theatrical display.
  • Cost: 1 Refresh.

Numenera & Cypher System

Unique Name: The Morphic Persona Pigment

Description: A tin of semi-sentient synth-paste that responds to the user’s neural impulses. It adjusts micro-muscular movements to ensure the “Acting” is physically flawless.

Game Mechanics and Stats:

  • Item Type: Artifact
  • Level: 1d6
  • Form: Small canister of shifting violet paste.
  • Effect: While applied, the user gains an Asset on all tasks involving deception, disguise, or public speaking.
  • Active Ability (2 Intellect points): The user can project a “Stage Presence” aura. For the next hour, they gain an additional Asset to interact with anyone who has seen or heard them perform, as the greasepaint enhances their perceived charisma.
  • Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (Check upon using the active ability).

Pathfinder (2nd Edition)

Unique Name: Mimic’s Masterpiece Greasepaint

Description: An alchemical and magical hybrid (item level 1) that allows the wearer to inhabit a role with supernatural conviction. The paint glows faintly when the wearer delivers a particularly moving line.

Game Mechanics and Stats:

  • Item Type: Held Item (Negligible Bulk)
  • Level: 1
  • Usage: applied to face
  • Attributes:
    • Thespian’s Boon: You gain a +1 item bonus to Performance checks and Deception checks to Impersonate.
    • Vocal Mimicry: If you have heard a creature speak for at least 1 minute, you gain a +2 circumstance bonus to Deception checks to mimic their voice.
    • Stage Presence (Action): Frequency once per day. Effect You strike a dramatic pose. Each creature within a 30-foot emanation must succeed at a Will save (DC 15) or become Fascinated by your performance for 1 round.

Savage Worlds (Adventure Edition)

Unique Name: The Dramatic Cincture of Pigment

Description: A gear-driven vanity tin that dispenses “Smart-Paint.” It allows the wearer to manipulate their social environment through the power of the “Method.”

Game Mechanics and Stats:

  • Item Type: Adventuring Gear
  • Rank: Novice
  • Attributes:
    • True Conviction: The wearer adds +1 to Performance and Persuasion rolls.
    • Vocal Mimic: With a successful Performance roll, the wearer can perfectly imitate any voice heard within the last 24 hours.
    • Stage Presence: By spending a Bennie, the wearer can automatically draw the “Attention” of all NPCs in a medium template. Those affected must make a Spirit roll to take any action that doesn’t involve the wearer for the next round.
    • Unfading: The paint provides a +2 bonus to resist any environmental effect that would ruin a disguise (such as heavy rain or high winds).

Shadowrun (6th World Edition)

Unique Name: The Mana-Conductive Masque Pigment

Description: A high-end cosmetic tin infused with awakened reagents and micro-drones. It allows a shadowrunner to not only look the part but to vibrate their vocal cords and manipulate their micro-expressions with preternatural precision.

Game Mechanics and Stats:

  • Item Type: Gear (Social/Stealth)
  • Rating: 1
  • Attributes:
    • Social Chameleon: The user receives a +1 dice pool bonus to Influence and Con tests while the paint is applied.
    • Vocal Modulation: By spending a Minor Action, the user can engage the mana-conductive filaments to mimic a voice they have recorded or heard within the last 24 hours. This grants a +1 bonus to the Attack Rating of any social encounter involving deception.
    • Trace-Dampening: The pigment is specifically designed to resist thermal imaging and biological scanners, providing a +1 bonus to Defense Rating against technological detection while in a “Role.”

Starfinder (2nd Edition / Playtest)

Unique Name: The Holo-Tactile Persona Paste

Description: A hybrid tech-magic paste used by infiltrators in the Pact Worlds. It uses microscopic holographic projectors and a “Steam-Logic” processor to ensure the wearer’s “Acting” is reinforced by visual and auditory perfection.

Game Mechanics and Stats:

  • Item Type: Hybrid Gear (Level 1)
  • Bulk: L (Light)
  • Attributes:
    • Performance Protocol: You gain a +1 circumstance bonus to Deception checks to Impersonate and Performance checks.
    • Sonic Mimicry (Standard Action): You can adjust the paste to vibrate your throat. You can mimic any voice or sound you have heard for at least 1 minute. Listeners must succeed at a Perception check (DC 15 + your Charisma modifier) to notice the ruse.
    • Presence Projection (Reaction): Trigger You begin a social encounter. Effect The paste glows violet, granting you a +2 circumstance bonus to your next Diplomacy or Intimidate check made during that encounter.

Traveller (Mongoose 2nd Edition)

Unique Name: The Method Actor’s Alchemical Kit

Description: A masterwork tool used by spies and entertainers across the Third Imperium. It contains self-adjusting pigments that respond to the wearer’s pulse, changing shade and texture to match their chosen persona.

Game Mechanics and Stats:

  • Item Type: Specialist Tool
  • Tech Level (TL): 4 (Magical/Alchemical variant)
  • Attributes:
    • Theatrical Mastery: The user gains a +1 DM to all Deception, Persuade, and Art (Acting) checks.
    • Vocal Signature Overwrite: With an Education or Art (Acting) check (Difficulty: Average 8+), the user can replicate a specific individual’s vocal patterns and biometrics for the purpose of bypassing low-security voice-locks.
    • Environmental Resilience: The pigment is vacuum-sealed and waterproof. It does not smudge or degrade in extreme environments, ensuring a disguise remains intact during high-stress boarding actions or planetary explorations.

Warhammer (Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition)

Unique Name: The Greasepaint of the Thousand Shadows

Description: A thick, pungent purple paste used by the most elusive mummers and agents of the Empire. It is said to be touched by the shifting winds of magic, allowing a man to “become” his mask until the performance is done.

Game Mechanics and Stats:

  • Item Type: Tool / Cosmetic
  • Encumbrance: 0
  • Attributes:
    • Thespian’s Gift: The user gains a +10 bonus to all Entertain (Acting) and Blather tests.
    • Vocal Mimicry: After hearing a subject speak for at least 10 minutes, the user can make a Challenging (+0) Entertain (Acting) test to replicate the subject’s voice perfectly for the next hour.
    • Commanding Presence: Once per day, the user may spend a Fortune Point to automatically win a Leadership or Intimidate test against a group of NPCs (maximum size: User’s Fellowship bonus), as the greasepaint projects an undeniable aura of authority.
    • Unmasking Jolt: If the user is struck by a Critical Hit, the magic of the paint “shatters,” causing the user to become Stunned for 1 round as their true identity is violently forced back into their Mind’s Eye.