Grant me quick wits so I need not my quick feet,
grant me quick feet so I need not my quick hands,
grant me quick hands so I need not my quick wits,
But, all three would be nice.

• Name: Unknown
• Allegiance: Gods of Civilization
• Portfolio: Thievery, Criminals, Loyalty, Shadows, Taxes, Wergelds
• Titles: The Shadowlord, Master of All Thieves, Forger of Masks, The Second Servant, The Thiefwatcher, Father of Necessary Pretexts
• Symbols: A black mask (any design); A matte-black dagger; A left hand, the first two fingers extended (called “The Thief’s Dagger”); An overturned wine goblet
• Worshipper Alignments: LN, LE, NG, TN, NE, CG, CN
• Core Doctrine: “Thieves’ Prosper. The Rich Remember.”
  • Edicts:
    • Laws are meant to be broken.
    • Secrets are meant to be kept.
    • One coin in ten belongs to the Shadowlord; and he always collects.
    • A death must always be paid for in coin, and that coin must be stolen.
    • The wealthy, the powerful, and the makers of laws must be humbled.
    • Snitches get stitches.
  • Anathema:
    • Betraying one’s allies.
    • Allowing a fellow criminal to face justice.
    • Engaging in, or supporting unnecessary or public violence.
    • Allying oneself with lawmakers, law enforcement, or the nobility.
    • Inflicting undo harm (including financial harm) on the poor and the oppressed.
    • Allowing ones true identity to be associated with one’s criminal actions.
    • Allowing a secret to become public (unless doing so would humble the wealthy or powerful).
• Allied Faiths: Beshaba, Chauntea, Leira, Grimnir, Shar, Tyr
• Enemy Faiths: Cyric, Hoar, Liira, Selune, Tymora
• Pesudonyms: Erevan Ilesere (among elves), Eshowdow (in Chult), Shargaas (among orcs), Vhaeraun (among half-elves), and Vergadain (among dwarves)

Base Requirements

• Races: Any
• Classes: Cleric
• Ability Requirements: Balance 16
• Alignments: NG, TN, NE, CN
• Starting Cash: By class

Proficiencies

• Weapon Slots: By class
• Allowed Weapons: As Thief
• Allowed Armor: Leather Armor, no shields
• Bonus Weapon Proficiencies: none
• Required Weapon Proficiencies: Dagger

• Non-weapon Slots: By class
• Available Categories: Spiritual, Detection, and Larceny
• Bonus Proficiencies: Appraise, City Familiarity, Disguise, Find Traps, Modern Language (Thieves’ Cant), Religion, Tumbling
• Required Proficiencies: none
• Recommended Proficiencies: Any Larceny Proficiencies
• Forbidden Proficiencies: none

Priest Spheres:

• Major: All, Animal, Combat, Divination, Guardian, Protection, Summoning, Sun
• Minor: Chaos, Charm

Overview: While those who pay homage to Mask outnumber the worshipers of many of the greater powers, the more forward-thinking of his clergy’s leaders correctly understand the need to bolster the active worship in their god and see the need to get the church better organized. A cleric of Mask stands ready to counsel, defend, heal, and get money out of any thief who worships Mask. Clerics of Mask are often found in adventuring parties.

Following the revelation of Tyr’s betrayal, Mask has allied himself with the god of Law, for, as they say, there cannot be criminals without laws to break, and there cannot be laws without someone to punish. Both gods have re-dedicated their service to Grimnir, the former ruler of the gods, and serve him alongside Chauntea, who, as the goddess of agriculture, represents the “third pillar of civilization”, and the Blessed Afflictor.

Description: A cleric of Mask dresses solely in blacks and grays. The only armor the cleric will wear is leather armor, and that must be dyed either black or gray as well. The cleric always wears a black or midnight-blue cloak with a hood. All priests also wear black masks—either domino masks across their eyes or full masks covering their entire faces—to preserve their anonymity, and as their holy symbol.

Role-Playing: A cleric of Mask acts like a mixture of a streetwise local, an opportunistic thief, a smooth-talking conman, and a crooked priest. Even though every cleric’s mission is to minister to Mask’s faithful and bring in more worshipers (and their loot), each priest also has a healthy dose of self-interest. In fact, Mask encourages his priests to beg, borrow, and steal as much for themselves as they can, provided he gets his share.

A cleric of Mask excels at quoting what little written doctrine of Mask that exists, extolling his virtues of stealth, cunning, and a lust for gold to all who will listen, then turning around and deviating from it for his own personal gain. However, when a worshiper of Mask is in a jam, the cleric will do his best to help the thief out of his predicament, as long as he doesn’t have to unduly risk his own neck.

Clerics of Mask very often come across as a sort of poor-man’s priest of Tymora, since they are just as cocky, overconfident, and opportunistic. Still, as devotees of the god of thieves, they choose to make their own luck, rather than rely on Tymora.

Special Abilities:

• A cleric of Mask can Backstab as a thief of his level.
• Clerics of Mask are surprised only on a 1 or 2 on a d10.
• Clerics of Mask gain a bonus to surprise opponents, but only if the cleric is not in metal armor. Even then, the cleric must either be alone or 90 feet or more away from his party to gain this bonus. If he fulfills these conditions, he moves so silently that opponents suffer a -4 penalty to their surprise die rolls. If the cleric must open a door or screen to attack, this penalty is reduced to -2. If the cleric gains similar abilities from another source, such as being an Elf, the penalty is increased by 2.
• Like Thieves, Clerics of Mask are exceptional climbers. They do not suffer the normal penalty for free climbing (climbing without tools), and gain a bonus to Climbing checks equal to their AC bonus from Balance if any.
• All followers attracted by a Cleric of Mask at 8th level will be 1st-level Thieves, rather than 1st-level Fighters.

Special Disadvantages:

• Clerics of Mask cannot turn undead.
• If the Cleric of Mask is forced to take a life, he must pay a “death price”. A death price must equal no less than 1000 gold pieces, which must be stolen (it cannot be obtained by any legitimate means). The death price is “paid directly to Mask”, meaning the coin or goods must be destroyed or disposed of in a way that would make it impossible for the priest to recover them (sunk to the bottom of an ocean, tossed into a volcano, a priceless painting destroyed by fire, etc.)
• Though the faith of Mask has overcome their financial setbacks following the Cyrinishad incident, they are still bound by the edict that one coin in ten belongs to the Nameless God. 10% of a priest of Mask’s take from any endeavor (criminal or legitimate) must go to the church’s coffers.

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