I think you have to have an undead in your party to gain the knowledge on how to make the mask let alone get the face ripper.
You don't need an undead character - you can get the recipe without one. But this is not really needed, because you can get a full mask from Windego early in the game (Fanes mask). For crafting the recipe is not really needed. You can craft the masks without recipe. But this is only worth it, if you want to transform into another race and still use a helm, because the individual masks allow this - the full mask not ... or you need multiple masks for your party.
