Russ Taylor's page

Your avatar gave me a "HEY! Did Daigle enter after all?" moment :)

Overall I'm a fan. I like the choice of a cone or radius attack. I'd quibble with the use of the term "gaze attack", since that has special meaning that this item doesn't appear to satisfy. I'd instead put in "no effect on creatures who cannot see the eye", or make it a true gaze attack with a duration (i.e. creatures must save on their action). If I went that route, I'd let the wielder make one gaze attack per round as part of the standard action of maintaining use of the device. But this is IMO one of the neater entries in the round.

Needs a bit of mechanical work to explain how this interacts with other swift action monk powers, and probably needs to store less ki to fit in line with the admittedly second tier extra ki feat. But it has potential. I'd like to know a bit more about the burning sands monks, if they are in canon a country reference would be nice so I could check other sourcebooks.

I like the summoning enhancement a fair bit, and especially the increased radius for dirge of doom. I don't like the area-of-effect intimidate. Part of this is due to issues already in the game with stacking the shaken condition and getting cheap fear effects, the item's cost mitigates this, but I still think it's "too good" compared to similar mass intimidate abilities already in the game. And it really needs to specify that it can't stack with itself, due to allowing it to stack on top of shaken in the first place. I'd probably drop that whole ability or put a HD limit on it - I don't really see high HD creatures being disturbed by the horn anyway. In any case, compare to the 30,000 gp drums of panic, which affect a smaller radius and allow a save, but do take a creature straight to panicked. I'd rate these a lot more powerful than the drums of panic to a character built to use them (particularly since they can be used every round), and they have other uses besides.

The only other nitpick is the name. It's rattling to see a Harry Potter monster and a Pathfinder monster stitched together into an item's name.

Steelfiredragon wrote:

how many pages of those 10 pages each are actual fluff and not a campaign arc??

The campaign arc section is 1000-1500 words for each, out of around 6000-7000 words, so about 15-25% or so is suggested campaign use and the other 75-85% is fluff seasoned with crunch.

In addition, the campaign notes should be useful for almost any game master wanting to use the cities, since they contain lots of plot hooks, ideas, and minor details.

I like this one too. I agree with reducing it to cone and radius only. Nice way to amplify channel energy. I'd like to see the evil version.

I too am on the fence about this. I like the idea of sweeteners to enhance a druid's wild shaping ability. But the item itself doesn't grab me as much as the base concept, and I'm troubled by the use of natural attacks when only the head has changed. Maybe just horns and bite attacks? Could I become a horse and get a hoof attack, or I am restricted to just what's listed below? The item seems to suggest I'm not so restricted, since it has the "animal the wearer is familiar with" clause.

I'd kind of like to have seen this linked to something other than rakshashas (which don't have much of a druidic connection), but without the Egyptian pantheon I'm not sure to what.

Borrowing spells, especially permanently, sets off all kinds of game balance alarms in me. For example, I use this on a low-level minion while he's sleeping, and acquire my very own shield or divine favor. Forever. At least you do need to cast the same sort of spell. But this bypasses a lot of problems inherent in the ring of spell storing, and lets you cast it at your own caster level to boot, which worries me.

I'd have to go with making this a one-shot item, and when I start trying to price that, I see another issue. Normally a one-shot's quite a bit less than a "forever" toy, but I'd be pricing a one-shot spell stealer around 4,000 gp myself, a big chunk of this item's price without any usage limits on the stolen spell. And that's without denying the spell to the target forever, though with my take on it I might well deny the save (or not expend the wishbone on the save). Speaking as a PC, I want ripping off my magic - forever - to cost my opponent more in the way of resources.

That save brings up another issue - for 10,000 gp, ouch, I say ouch, if your target makes that Will save. Lots of coin gone for nothin'. That leaves me thinking the item's main niche for PCs is going to be foes you've dominated or otherwise hosed into not getting a proper save.

I can see why this item made it, but if it appeared in a sourcebook, I'd probably drop it right into my "banned" list out of concern for corner-case abuse.

But then I am the grumpy mechanics guy :)

Agreed that the antitoxin dose makes the item much cooler. I might actually use it more for that purpose if I was expecting to fight more of the same creatures. Poison harvesting is a bit of a hole in the game, I turned over a spell to extract poison not that long ago with thought along those lines. The one change I'd make to this item is making both the poison and the antitoxin expire, but a very solid entry.

Cue rejiggering impulse for me. The kernel of this item I like a lot: a way to store a small ki reservoir. I'd probably turn it on its head. Burn two ki to store one, keep the whole faint humming thing, let it store it longer and be triggered mentally rather than by hitting the bowl again. Maybe even give you a benefit when you siphon that stored ki point back. But I'd throw out the ki doubling, the acceleration, etc, all which seem to complicated for this reader. Still, it is evocative, I can see why it made it based on that.

I like it, but the formatting problems detract. Minor writing quibble: when listing variant forms of an item, I suggest doing it at the end. Something like "Though most commonly a rose, any flower may be used in the crafting of the item". Mainly because it's a minor detail, so it shouldn't be your lead.

I like the fairy tale aspect of it, and welcome Pathfinder getting more of these elements to go with Irrisen and the witch class.

A little bit of the Looney Tunes. I like it, seems like the author covered most of the ways to over-abuse it. I'd probably include a little bit about what sorts of things it can't go through (I'm thinking dimensional locks), just to cover dungeon-breaking.

Too many mechanical problems for my taste. For example, it can be easily abused with minions to give the owner a large number of shadows at the same time. I feel like the sickened condition needs a remedy, though there's always heal. I want this to have limits as to how many shadows can be stored, how many can be claimed in a day, and how many can be released. It also feels really cheap for the effects.

Agreed with the earlier posters that slamming the book on the shadow is neat, and possible genesis for another magic item.

Hit point transfer items are inherently problematic (they become ways to fake potentially huge amounts of magical healing, especially if a party member has fast healing or regeneration), but the mechanics of this one keep most of the abuse out. The hp decay within is a fairly slick mechanic to control its power, coupled with the 1/day use. Not bad. I'm also a fan of items that do one thing, then do another thing once you've done that.

One of my favorites. I'd like it a bit more explicit that this is a shadowy conjuration that just isn't attackable - a bit like a telekinesis manifestation. But other than that, it's a very neat special effect for a fun mechanic.

Fun item. Not sure I'd keep the enlarge part of the effect, since I normally thing of butterflies as being more delicate than caterpillars (enlarge tanks your Dex). Maybe cat's grace instead if I used the item. My pick of the two cocoon items.

are those the only lost cities listed in the book , sice it says include, I figured I'd ask .....

Yes, six cities, at 10 pages per city, each one with a proposed campaign arc.

Erinyes and greasy hair..hmm. Don't really go together for me :) The best part of this item for me is the risk of a curse if a good creature wears it. We need more of that sort of thing. It's better than the binary "this item is rubbish for you, awesome for your foe" sort of item.

Quicken items often rub me the wrong way. However, it's expensive (appropriately), and you need to load the right extract in advance. I appreciate that the item covers whether or not you can inject an extract you didn't prepare.

On the fence, but I'm leaning towards liking the item, and I definitely like the attention to detail.

A decent item that suffers a bit from looking like it's an everfull purse (it isn't) and from a name that makes me think its a holding item. I like that it gives you a reason to stock goodberries. At that price, I think people will be past using goodberries before they get it, but it could always be found in a trove or better yet gifted by an ally.

I think I'd drop the heal power, tweak the enhanced berries a bit (if that's even needed), and try to get it down to the 6k range. But it fills a niche for non-combat druidic items that I think needs to be filled.

I'm not happy with this item. Rereading it, I still can't tell how the items mechanics should be resolved. If it were in a book, I'd have to shelve it in favor of future errata. If I were editing it, I'd have to guess the author's intent or do some back and forth via email.

But on the flip side, hurled berries of entanglement have a lot of potential, and I have a soft spot for limited use (as opposed to one use) items. Just can't get past the mechanics, being a rules curmudgeon.

I really don't like setting the dial being a free action. When you've got 6 seconds to fill with a standard and a move action, fiddling with dials on a flask seems like it'd cost you the move portion. In general, I don't love the dials at all, but it does make it quirky, and quirky can be good (see apparatus of the crab).

Pricing issues as well, but balanced out by taking a condition if you want to double up on the potions.

Wearing three shrunken heads around your neck. Too freaky for words :) Especially since they're chatty.

Congrats to all the top 32! Best of luck to you all. Now if 3 or 4 of you could just kindly not submit to the next round.... ;) Just kidding. I'm excited and honored to be participating, if only as an alternate! A huge thanks to Paizo and the judges. Now, time to get working...

Stranger things have happened. But alas, not since year 1!

I fooled around with PC-splitting in one of the spells in the APG, and boy does it open up a can of worms. This seems to cover most of them. It does seem to give you a fringe benefit of a one-round dimensional anchor - I might have covered that with "any additional dimensional travel immediately ends the effect", or something similar, but it's sort of a cool side effect. I like the idea of an after image that has some volition, particularly since it isn't immune to harm.

Hmm, Ok, appearance is similar to the Iron Bands that already exist. Not sure I like the term ‘possessor’ The travelling bolt of lightning reminds me of a spell in WotC’s Complete Mage or Dragon Magic (IDHTBIFOM) so it skates kind of close there for my tastes. The bounce factor seems to be pretty good for the possessor. (average damage is 7 or 11, reduced by 5 and a fort save to negate entirely I’d add lightning bolt to the requirements, but that’s me. Also don’t like the move action, but at least it’s not immediate/swift. Oh, and I don’t like that it gives the possessor an effect without it taking up a space. Does it work if it’s in your bag of holding? In your coat pocket?

"Possessor" winds up being something of a forced word choice. To paraphrase a Paizo staffer's design document, using the phrase "owner" in a magic item is fraught with peril. Who is the "owner" of the One Ring in LotR? Frodo or Sauron?

I feel like this item has the essence of a good idea, but a lot of little negatives bringing it down. Rename it, boost the power a bit (a + to saves against the haunt's a grand idea), deal with the issue of burning time, and clean up the mechanics, and it'd stand up pretty well with the competition. Guess I'm saying, bring your A game to the archetype round, since only half of you get to go on :)

With haunts becoming a larger part of PF RPG, nice to see anti-haunt items (and hopefully spells) making an appearance.

A keeper for both the silver cord and labyrinth reasons. Could use a touch more detail, but the core rules do tell us rope is hardness 0, 2 hp, so it's a safe guess the the thread's 1 hp (like in the APG for string and twine) barring notation otherwise.

I'd like to see "and then what?" for exceeding the range limit, or for dragging the thread into a dimensionally locked area. I do like that you've covered the thread being able to stretch infinitely far within the radius, it's a nice visual.

Reading the judges commentary helped explain a "why" for this item that eluded me on first reading.

I'm troubled by the somewhat convoluted writing, and by the text that should just describe the item being repeated (in another form) in the item mechanics. In general, it's best to try and keep items tightly written, so if two sentences say the same thing, cut one out.

As far as stone giants go, I have to admit I didn't see them as likely to create a "brother bear" item, but reading up on the goddess in question, maybe so. It's more innovative than obvious choices like the Shoanti. Region-wise, I'm thinking this item might have been a good fit for Ustilav instead.

I'm expecting a ramp up in the archetype round now that you're in the big game :) Good luck.

Can't resist the urge to rejigger items this year.

* Hat of disguise - drop it, weakens the item, and sets up bad expectations that it'll build off that item

* Replace the summon - love this power. I agree it needs to specify which type of summons it can use to replace the illusion. It should require replacement of the illusion with the same creature, or one close enough for fakery.

* Replace the spell with an illusion - this is the sort of thing that's kicked more than one item I've tinkered with to the curb. When you start considering all the ramifications, you rapidly wind up with too many rules for a reasonable length item. But there's something pretty funny about dispelling someone's wall of fire, only leaving a fake in its place to inconvenience them.

I don't see the crafting limitation the way the judges do, since missing a prerequisite just increases the craft DC by 5. In other words, any Wondrous Item crafter could make this for any bloodline with a DC 25 check, +5 each if they lack polymorph or limited wish.

The item rubs me the wrong way, due to the oft-mentioned changing your class features problem. The flavor goes some ways back towards making it okay, but I'd still be happy with a simpler item that emulated a piece of a blood line, rather than swapped them. And yeah, that'd break the class feature item rule :)

I really like this item. I'm concerned it's an adventure breaker, though. For example, put a party member in it, tie a brick to the cloak, and throw it over a wall and through the window. But the price point means we're already dealing with all sorts of adventurer breakers already. I'd have to sleep on this one before letting it into my game, but the image of the thief just going "fwumph" onto the ground rocks.

Quibble: it bugs me that the wearer's normal senses don't work through the robe. I'm fine with denying them magically enhanced senses, but if you have low-light / darkvision via non-magical means, they ought to work.

The winning part on this item for me is the clever use of stealing a voice, including the language of the speaker. That's a nice item, and icing on the cake that they can't talk while you've got it. However, the rules are problematic for me, and I'd probably give it a major overall if I were developing or editing it. In particular, I'd pick something more serious than lesser restoration to fix it, probably the generic remove curse, but maybe cure blindness / deafness.

I'm a fan of muting effects. I think I might have turned over four different ways to take a voice in the past six months, but none at all like this :) Very challenging to balance right, as witnessed by the reduction of silence's duration in the PFRPG. In the case of this item, I'd tack a duration on it as a mitigating factor.

These don't grab me like they do the judges. Part of it is the first sentence mentioning elite tiefling skirmishers, where what I know of tieflings says they are reviled and despised in Cheliax. I also want mechanics for settings inflammable objects in your path on fire. The unneeded caps are jarring, though to be fair I'm sure my turnover errors are jarring too.

My favorite part of the item is the description (excellent) and the fiery attack, though this needs a bit of mechanical cleanup. Given that it's just 1d6 fire, I'm assuming it applies to the wearer's melee attacks (presumably all of them).

Generally, I'm a rules nut, and I'm expecting crisper rules over better flavor.

"Me too" on the name needing some help. But the image of squeezing the blood from your foe with a fist puts this pretty high for me :) I'd suggest making this one glove, changing the name, and redoing the tugging mechanic so the flavor fits the mechanics better. Also, I'd like to see more of a description than red gloves...perhaps stirgeskin?

Edit: and when you squeeze that hand, blood should drip from it :)

Travel by lightning bolt, an old standby :) In fact, pretty sure I put that in a spell in a recent turnover. I agree with Ryan Dancey that nearest unoccupied square can cause issues. I prefer language along the lines of the last unoccupied square in the path of the bolt.

I'm leaning towards "does too much" on this item, but it is interesting, and I like the use of the bands. I'd probably cut out the resistance power and spend more words explaining how the bands look when they surround you.

I love nice, simple, clean items that your characters want to own. Congrats on not succumbing to the impulse to over-write. When I talk on Paizo chat about how good items don't need to be lengthy, this is what I mean. Tying it to Pharasma's belief system (rather than just her name) was a nice touch.

I've been doing conversion for my CotCT campaign and there is one that had 19 Str and a +2 lance with Weapon Specialization that does 1d8+10 (Granted it is 3.5 but I don't think any of the wording has changed between 3.5 and PF)

Said NPC (Lashton in Skeletons of Scarwall, PF #11) isn't using a shield, so he's two-handing that lance to get that damage.

When a two-handed weapon becomes a one-handed weapon for you, regardless of the cause, it dealings on-handed bonus damage when you use it in just one hand. Pretty simple really.

Still no holiday card for me :(

See, if were going to pick an equivalent to the Great Kingdom in Golarion, it'd be Cheliax. Both nations fell to fiend-worshipping when a particular house took power.

Named spells in Golarion. What an interesting idea :)

Absent special conditions, anyone can speak underwater in any language, briefly. But I don't think that allows you to cast spells if you can't breathe. "To provide a verbal component, you must be able to speak in a strong voice", and I think that's ruled out underwater if you can't breathe water.

"The [insert monster name] gets a concerned look on its face."

Started when the druid's animal companion was magic jarred during a battle with a necromancer who'd faked dieing mid-combat via the spell. They figured out what was going on and annihilated his body. I deadpanned "The lizard gets a concerned look on his face".

If you click on Previous Years on the Superstar page, then the header for a given year, you get a page that has the rules on the right hand column.

For example:
http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/paizoPublishing/rpgsuperstar/previous/ rpgSuperstar2010

The messageboards ate my comment (which still shows in my Recent Posts, oddly enough), so here it be again:

For me, it's not just that the dates go back a long way, it's that not much happens in that time frame. Pick an arbirtray 200-year span in human history and usually a lot was going on in terms of nations merging, fading way, or coming in to being. But since what's happening now matters most, not a big deal either way. Just that Golarion's 10,000 year old ruins tend to be rather well-preserved compared to what one might expect ;)

As one of the early folks in the "No hippogriffs? But what of the Sable Company?" camp, thank you very very much for this blog post. Good approach to it.

For me, it's not just that the dates go back a long way, it's that not much happens in that time frame. Pick an arbirtray 200-year span in human history and usually a lot was going on in terms of nations merging, fading way, or coming in to being. But since what's happening now matters most, not a big deal either way. Just that Golarion's 10,000 year old ruins tend to be rather well-preserved compared to what one might expect ;)

Wow. I am *so* ready for round 2. If I could enter round 1. And pass into the top 32.

On an unrelated topic - I find it extremely weird that I never see any other Charter Superscribers on here. Am I the only one? I suppose Russ could be one - he's got the avatar border for it, but since he's a contributor we'd never know. Not that I actually expect anyone at Paizo to answer, but it would be fascinating to know how many Charter Superscribers there are. Is it under 10? Over 100?

Yep, I'm one, that's where my fancy border comes from :) Heck, I have to maintain it just to keep the border, since there's no other way to visibly show my support!

Pet peeve engaged...

You CHAMP at the bit. :) Though both forms are used in the expression.

I think by *CHOMP* the worthy SKR meant "om nom nom".

Now, I don't think the sling is "obsolete" any more than it was in AD&D, and I don't think it's a bad weapon--it's just that there are more things to choose from, so you're not going to see it as often. That said, there are indeed the issues of ROF which is why you won't see slings very often at high levels, though I'd kind of like to see a halfling mobile sniper with a sling or slingstaff at higher levels. Throw in vital strike and you don't have to care so much you're not making full attacks (or just houserule Rapid Reload to apply to slings, as many are suggesting).

Hmm. Going to have to disagree on the obsolete issue, since in AD&D it was competitive in damage (1d4+1 vs. 1d6 for bows), and in 3E it had its damaged nerfed down to 1d4 (bullets now doing what stones used to do), while longbows got upgraded to d8s.