Matrissa- I understand that your item is titled a shirt and not titled as armor, and I'm not perhaps the best expert on rules, but wouldn't that be more classified as a type of armor than as a wondrous item? I can't recall any wondrous items that are shirts.
You're right, there aren't any items in the SRD that are classified as shirts but shirts are explicitly mentioned in two sections of the SRD:
"One vest, vestment, or shirt on the torso"
Body Slot: Shirt
Affinity: Physical improvement
Other than that, it seems interesting enough, but another one of the "swiss-army-knives" items.
Yeah, guilty as charged for the "Swiss Army Knife" - grants DR, a size change, flight and greater invisibility - although, in all fairness, they were related to a specific theme! :-D
It is also really close to being an example of a "Creature in a Box" item (it doesn't actually change you into a pixie, but it was specifically intended to mimic key abilities of the race).
Clairaudient Coins ("Gossipy Sisters")
Great thief/spy tool, too bad it suffered from being one of the many "divination-based coin" items.
A question: If the coin looks the same as any other coin, how would an adventurer know which of the coins in her pocket have the magic mojo?
Here's what I might do instead of making it two coins that create a single one use item - have one coin that can be used to attune another coin to it once a day. Have the magic on the attuned coin last for up to six hours, or until dismissed or it moves out of range of the primary coin.
:-j(enni)
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To be honest I have not had the time to get through half of these now 18 pages. Before we all get busy reading about countries tomorrow I wanted to open my item for critique if any one would care to comment:
Battle Idol
This item needs some crunch to it. You need to define what it takes to defeat the idol and what the animated idols stats are. This is crucial to the actual use of the item. Also, I'd bump the bonus to +2 or so as masterwork items are +1 already. This provides a clear bonus over and above the ability to hit things requiring a magic weapon to be hit.
Finally, what does a "scabbard" for a halberd look like? perhaps a change to the statue having an open hand would be better and more universal in use. If the creator has the hand shaped to hold a specific type of weapon, you can still limit it to the deity's favored weapon.
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Tabard of the Favored Champion
This is a solid item, but does not have the rockstar spark. It feels tied to a game world where ono-on-one combat it common, which limits its ability to be used in all campaigns a bit. The healing at the end feels a bit tacked on, but I can see why PCs would love it.
Also, it is a "morale" bonus, not a "moral" bonus. That "e" is important. ;)
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Hmm... What do you think of this item (an infamous coin-item), but one that I believe has a neat twist:
Clairaudient Coins
Yes, you probably suffered from being a coin item, but at least it was not a luck or augury effect. ;)
This is a solid little item. I am guessing the range limitation is based on the spells used in creation. This is not bad, but the number appears a bit arbitrary as a result. I would recommend rounding it off to either 600 or 700 feet for asthetic reasons. Also, is it really a single use item or did you mean once per day? For a single use, why not use a potion? Finally, two coins weigh 1 pound? You should change that to "Negligable".
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Personal Wizards Assistant
Two sins here: it's a modern item and it does too much. I'm not keen on magic items that side-step feat requirements and allowing the owner to make items without having the required crafting feat seems ripe for abuse. Also, the actual scrying part is unclear to me - is the book auto transcribing what the scrying saw? If not, it is just acting like a journal and this is no big deal (well, relatively speaking anyway).
The core of this item is a light-weight journal that provides an index and protects the pages from environmental damage. Concentrate on that and you have a better item that will be cheaper, making it more accessible to low-level spellcasters.
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Diviner's Oil
I like this item, but there are issues with the writing. It is unclear at first as to what this looks like in use. Change the first sentence to something more direct like:
"Once lit, this oil illuminates only those things the stored spell would detect with a shadowy illumination visible to all. Detected invisible objects or creatures are revealed by a shadowy glow that outlines them."
This saves you many words and gets the point across directly.
I like the mechanics of the item. The only thing missing is the range the effect covers. If it is dependant upon the stored spell, say so. Otherwise, pick a range most of them will cover and set it. I think 30 ft is good, but that's just of the top of my head.
I'll be wahoo-ing this item for my home campaign.
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What the heck, I feel like being a leming today and since it seems that everyone else who didn't make the top 32 is posting what they submitted on this thread...
At a local Convention back in October this year I ran a D&D Deuling Tournament (1:1 PvP matches for ECL 12 characters) where a Pixie Rogue character pwnd the competition. This was primarily due to her natural fly speed and "at will" greater invisibility. This fact percolated to the forefront of my brain when I was brainstorming for ideas, resulting in the following "pixie themed" item.
Gossamer Shirt
(ASIDE: I breifly considered making it a gossamer vest instead of a gossamer shirt, though somehow I doubt that would have actually made much of a difference.)
Generally, I like this item. It has a theme and sticks with it. I'm not a fan of items that grant greater invisibility, but that is a personal thing.
The part about items resizing needs some additional clarity. Do crossbows (for example) do damage as if they were full sized or as their reduced size. The text could be read either way. You should also specify that things picked up do NOT shrink, just to close out any rules-lawyer loopholes.
How do you get undamaged pixie wings and not be evil? As a good character, what moral quandries are entailed using an item that uses those? The sneaky DM in me likes this.
Finally, I think you should have gone with vest over shirt. The description does not specify, but I'm envisioning this as at least partly transparent (like dragonfly wings), which could be risque if worn as the only shirt a character has on. But if you're going clubbing... Plus, gossamer vest sounds cooler to me.
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A sad story, actually. I went through a few revisions cutting down word count and submitting at the last minute (due to laptop power failure) submitted the wrong version that was clearly too long (~270 words). I totally could have cut out the whole first stat block area and even cut down the discription by saying "see this ability in the SRD". I actually got a email saying I made it into the next round, then an email immediately after that said I was disqualified. This really wasn't that bad since 1) I read the newer email first 2) I've never written any gaming material of any kind before (I've only even DM'd a couple modules), 3) Finals are next week so I would have been owned for time, and finally 4) My best country ideas involved undead, constructs, or the Terrasque.
Maw of Urgathoa
The judges loved you and you got knocked out on word count. What could I possibly add to that?
Except, "Cool effect! My players will hate it!"
;D
Diviner's Oil
...
I like the mechanics of the item. The only thing missing is the range the effect covers. If it is dependant upon the stored spell, say so. Otherwise, pick a range most of them will cover and set it. I think 30 ft is good, but that's just of the top of my head.
I'll be wahoo-ing this item for my home campaign.
The range is dependent on how you burn the oil, and is discussed in the equipment section of the SRD.
I hope your players enjoy it.
Gossamer ShirtGenerally, I like this item. It has a theme and sticks with it. I'm not a fan of items that grant greater invisibility, but that is a personal thing.
Thanks for your comments Patrick. I'm glad you like it (except for the greater invisibility). I suppose you could downgrade it to just invisibility at will as a free action, causing the wearer to blink in whenever she attacked but she could then blink out again. Not only would this lower the price some, it would give opponents some chance of striking the wearer since they would know where she was just before she blinked out again.
The part about items resizing needs some additional clarity. Do crossbows (for example) do damage as if they were full sized or as their reduced size. The text could be read either way. You should also specify that things picked up do NOT shrink, just to close out any rules-lawyer loopholes.
The item resizing text is almost identical to the same details under enlarge/reduce person:
All equipment worn or carried by a creature is similarly enlarged/reduced by the spell. Melee and projectile weapons affected by this spell deal more/less damage. Other magical properties are not affected by this spell. Any enlarged/reduced item that leaves an enlarged/reduced creature’s possession (including a projectile or thrown weapon) instantly returns to its normal size. This means that thrown weapons deal their normal damage, and projectiles deal damage based on the size of the weapon that fired them. Magical properties of enlarged items are not increased by this spell.
Also, that submission came in at exactly 200 words, so I didn't have room to elaborate anyway. :-P
How do you get undamaged pixie wings and not be evil? As a good character, what moral quandries are entailed using an item that uses those? The sneaky DM in me likes this.
That is a good question, isn't it. }:D <-- Devil Grin.
Actually, there are ways - Pixies do die from natural causes, you just need to find one with a family willing to donate to the cause... or, for those of Neutral and Chaotic bents, rob a grave...
Finally, I think you should have gone with vest over shirt. The description does not specify, but I'm envisioning this as at least partly transparent (like dragonfly wings), which could be risque if worn as the only shirt a character has on. But if you're going clubbing... Plus, gossamer vest sounds cooler to me.
LOL! I hadn't even thought of that! How risqué of me... (yes, gossamer cloth tends towards the translucent just like you imagine)
Of course, aren't pixies known for flitting about with little to no clothing on anyway? And besides, doesn't the average women fighter adventurer wear a chainmail bikini? Draping this over top of said bikini, with the top half of the buttons open would really compliment that look, don't you think.
;-) (You know, as a woman, I've never actually played the Chainmail Bikini type... maybe I should with my next PC...)
That said, I'm kinda leaning back towards gossamer vest because I agree that, somehow, it sounds cooler.
:-j(enni)
Aren't pixies Tiny? Even if they aren't, making the wearer Tiny would be a more interesting game effect.
Nope, pixies are small, though they are right at the lower edge of the scale for small:
A pixie stands about 2-1/2 feet tall and weighs about 30 pounds
Compare them to the Halfling at 3 feet tall, 30 to 35 pounds, and gnomes at 3 to 3-1/2 feet tall, 40 to 45 pounds.
While "Tiny" would certainly be more interesting, I think that deviates too far from the intended focus (DR 5/cold iron is slightly less than a real pixie with a changed from greater invisibility to ordinary invisibility being a second minor deviation). Besides, changing to small does have an impact on the majority of intelligent creatures (anything that isn't small already changes to AC, attack bonus and land speed, for example) Even most small races will shrink slightly, which could make it just that much more difficult to do something. And can you imagine the results if a large or huge creature had one?
I think the effects are reasonably focused: it gives you the abilities of a pixie.
Thanks for saying so. :-)
:-j(enni)
You're right, there aren't any items in the SRD that are classified as shirts but shirts are explicitly mentioned in two sections of the SRD:
I guess your item is rules-correct then! I stand corrected, though the later discussion about turning it into a vest might perhaps be best, all things considered. :)
Clairaudient Coins ("Gossipy Sisters")Great thief/spy tool, too bad it suffered from being one of the many "divination-based coin" items.
A question: If the coin looks the same as any other coin, how would an adventurer know which of the coins in her pocket have the magic mojo?
Here's what I might do instead of making it two coins that create a single one use item - have one coin that can be used to attune another coin to it once a day. Have the magic on the attuned coin last for up to six hours, or until dismissed or it moves out of range of the primary coin.
:-j(enni)
Your idea about attuning the "Gossipy Sister" to another coin actually makes a lot of sense in that it makes this item a lot more useful.
As for the "Sister" looking like any other coin- if someone has divination magic, they could identify the coin by its magical aura.
If the user lacks any ability to determine what is magic and what is not, then they might just want to keep the 'lucky coin' in a different pocket from that which the others are contained.
Thanks for the attuning idea!
-LD
Hmm... What do you think of this item (an infamous coin-item), but one that I believe has a neat twist:
Clairaudient Coins
Yes, you probably suffered from being a coin item, but at least it was not a luck or augury effect. ;)
This is a solid little item. I am guessing the range limitation is based on the spells used in creation. This is not bad, but the number appears a bit arbitrary as a result. I would recommend rounding it off to either 600 or 700 feet for asthetic reasons. Also, is it really a single use item or did you mean once per day? For a single use, why not use a potion? Finally, two coins weigh 1 pound? You should change that to "Negligable".
Hi. Thanks for the review. Originally the coins were a single use item. Your analysis about it being better to use a potion instead of these items is perhaps why paizo rejected the item.
You are definitely correct about the weight issue.
As for the rounding off distances, you are correct in assuming that I based the distance on a spell's range, so for now, I think I'll keep the same range since I'm not certain that Wizards' usually 'rounds off' items' ranges.
I liked the suggestions from both of you and have revised the item as follows (I increased the item's cost by 100 gp to reflect its new usefulness. Alhough the cost may go up a lot more now that it is a 1x/day item, I forget the amount by which it should increase):
Clairaudient Coins (¡°Gossipy Sisters¡±)
This unassuming gold coin looks no different from any others a wealthy adventurer might flippantly give to a porter, pay to a merchant, use to bribe a guard, or gift to an official.
Once per day, when activated by a command word, the ¡°Gossipy Sister¡± attunes to another coin and becomes a gift that keeps on giving.
As long as the newly attuned coin remains within 640 feet of its sister, the ¡°gifted¡± coin can overhear and surreptitiously transmit conversations for up to six minutes. If the ¡°gifted¡± sister travels beyond 640 feet, then returns within the radius, it will still function as long as six minutes have not yet passed.
Faint divination; CL 3rd; Craft Wondrous Item; clairaudience/clairvoyance; Price 1000 gp; Weight: negligible.
Thanks again for the feedback.
-LD
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Bountiful Sapling
I like the concept of the item, and I like the idea that druids 'grow' items, rather than go down to the alchemist's shop and dump a bag of gold on the counter. I don't like the way self-sufficient characters with vows of poverty (role-playing, not the feat), or little use for wealth are forced to act like money-grubbing greedheads, though I can appreciate the meta-game reasons for requiring all characters to be on an even playing field for affording their magical gear.
My reservation is that this is effectively a variant use of Brew Potion, rather than Craft Wondrous Item, so could have been disqualified immediately.
Just as if you had submitted a spell-trigger item with 50 charges, requiring caster level checks. The fact that it may be shaped like a hat wouldn't make it any less a wand.
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Clairaudient CoinsFor a single use, why not use a potion?
You can't make a clairaudience potion, firstly because of the casting time, and secondly, because it doesn't affect a target creature.
This cropped up in our game, after we had just used one to overhear a whole page of boxed text (doh!).
And don't blame me; I don't know where we got it. I certainly didn't make it myself!
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Okay, I've flapped my gums about other people's items, time to put up or shut up.
I'd have offered this earlier, but did it at work (!), and forgot what I'd saved it as.
I'll post it exactly as it was submitted, without comment. I have ideas as to what may have worked against it, but I'll see if my suspicions are correct.
Chelaxian Oubliette
Major Wondrous Item
The Chelaxian Empire maintained power, not only via bound fiends, but by neutralising good outsiders, via these devices.
The oubliette is a 15’ diameter, heptagonal lattice of silver-inlaid iron, able to be assembled or disassembled in 10 rounds (Spellcraft DC15). Hollow containers around the circumference hold spell materials, foci and items of anathema to the target.
The device aids casting of the Binding spell, by firstly, counting as a ‘specially prepared’ Magic Circle Against Good (allowing Dimensional Anchor to be cast in advance, negating SR, and ranged attacks), and secondly, once/day, when Binding is cast, it can trigger a simultaneous Dominate Monster effect, to add +6 to the DC.
Many oubliettes came with supplies of hollow metal pillars, to be placed at the centre, inside which outsiders would be bound, emanating Antipathy. Chelaxian palaces are rumoured to hold halls full of such pillars to discourage intruders…
Strong enchantment, faint abjuration: CL 18th, Craft Wondrous Item, Dominate Monster, Magic Circle Against Good; Price ((1800 x 18 x 9 x 0.2) + (2000 x 5 x 3 x 0.75)) x 0.9 (requires skill) x 0.75 (bulky and static) = 54,555gp. Creation costs; 27,278gp & 2183xp. Weight 400lb.
I liked the suggestions from both of you and have revised the item as follows (I increased the item's cost by 100 gp to reflect its new usefulness. Alhough the cost may go up a lot more now that it is a 1x/day item, I forget the amount by which it should increase)
Actually, you decrease the base cost when you change something from an continuous item to a charges per day item. However, your base cost would go up because a single-use, use activated item is significantly cheaper than a continuous, use activated item:
single use, use activated
Spell level x caster level x 50 gp
= 3rd x 6th x 50 gp
= 900 gp
continuous, use activated, 1/day
(Spell level x caster level x 2000 gp)/(5 divided by charges/day)
= (3rd x 6th x 2000 gp) / (5 / 1)
= 7200 gp
I also noticed something else - your creation details listed CL 3, but you calculated the original price and the range based on CL 6. If the judges noticed this discrepancy it could be a reason they did not accept it - even if they really liked it.
Clairaudient Coins (¡°Gossipy Sisters¡±)
You gotta watch those "curly quote" conversions. Best thing is to use the preview button to check for these things before you post. :-)
Also, you probably want to change the title to the singular (you use the singular when you refer to the item by name in the descriptive text)
This unassuming gold coin looks no different from any others a wealthy adventurer might flippantly give to a porter, pay to a merchant, use to bribe a guard, or gift to an official.
You know, you could say it looks no different from regular coins except for an otherwise unremarkable blemish (perhaps a small notch somewhere along the edge) that can be used by someone "in the know" to identify it from among a bunch of normal coins. Given the cost, I'd hate to accidentally mix it up and spend it...
:-j(enni)
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Prayer Rugs of the Family Arahkshah
Divine spell casters that kneel on these carpets while praying for their daily spells find their healing magic (and their healing magic only) is charged with a special potency, maximized as by the feat. Unlike the feat the level of the required spell slot for spells maximized by the rug remain the same. The prayer rug can only be used once per day.
Yikes! That's potentially a LOT of maximised spells!
Especially when you allow for spontaneous casting, from a good cleric.And with no spell level limit, either.
You don't show your price calculation, but I'd be comparing prices with a Greater Maximise Rod, taking into account that the rod is usable on only 3 spells/day, albeit on any school of magic.
The restriction (to healing only) is a limiting factor, though this is a type of magic I would expect to see a lot of use, far more than many others.
The 1/day limit is maybe a misleading factor if this has been used to artificially keep the price down. A cleric only prays for spells once per day, anyway. If he casts 20 cures, then its a 20/day item.
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Gem of Hidden Pestilence
You'd probably love 'Isle of the Torturers' by Clark Ashton Smith; not quite the same item, but the hero has a ring which suppresses the symptoms of disease.
After he flees the plague, he is washed up on the ghastly island, lots of psycological and physical torture occurs, including giving him false hope that he can escape.
Eventually, he cracks, and begs them not to take his ring (which has proved difficult to remove). The torturers laugh, and cut it off to spite him, whereupon the hero immediately dies, taking the entire population of the evil island with him.
I thought that was one of the coolest things I'd ever read, when I was 8. Which explains a lot!
Chelaxian Oubliette
Snorter, a couple of observations:
1) I don't think you need to say your item is a major wondrous item
2) I think I 'get' what you are trying to acomplish, you are denying good spellcaster the aid of angels because they are all bound to your item. But this assumes a finite amount of angels.
3) I understand what you are trying to do, but I don't quite think that binding can be used on a summoned / called creature.
4) As an alternative I would suggest an approach that denies good spellcasters the aid of goodly summoned creatures which can be circumvented by overcoming a spellcraft DC. The range of such an item would be like a mile. Using this approach the Chelaxians could create a blanket effect to cover their empire.
If you want to take a shot at my item I would be grateful.
Here's my item. I think it was probably a bit too dull, but I'm quite pleased with it as it ended up in my campaign!
Bracelet of the Charmed Life
Attached to this plain silver bracelet are several small trinkets or “charms.” When a charm is snapped off (a standard action), it triggers a magical effect. Each charm can be used only once; any objects created by the charm disappear when the spell or effect ends.
A newly-created bracelet has five charms:
* Dagger: a silver +1 dagger appears in the character’s hand (duration 4 minutes).
* Hat: a crumpled felt hat appears in the character’s hand. When donned, the character can change appearance as disguise self.
* Heart: casts charm person on one chosen target within range (Will DC 12 negates).
* Horse: a light horse is summoned, complete with bit and bridle, as mount.
* Key: a rusty key appears in the character’s hand. When touched to a door, the spell knock is cast.
The gnomish trickster-wizard Terffindel is credited with creating these bracelets to assist his larcenous friends in their daring exploits. He is believed to be working on further charms to aid the rogue in trouble.
Faint conjuration, enchantment, and transmutation; CL 4th; Craft Wondrous Item, charm person, disguise self, knock, magic weapon, mount; Price 1,500 gp.
Actually, you decrease the base cost when you change something from an continuous item to a charges per day item. However, your base cost would go up because a single-use, use activated item is significantly cheaper than a continuous, use activated item:single use, use activated
Spell level x caster level x 50 gp
= 3rd x 6th x 50 gp
= 900 gpcontinuous, use activated, 1/day
(Spell level x caster level x 2000 gp)/(5 divided by charges/day)
= (3rd x 6th x 2000 gp) / (5 / 1)
= 7200 gpI also noticed something else - your creation details listed CL 3, but you calculated the original price and the range based on CL 6. If the judges noticed this discrepancy it could be a reason they did not accept it - even if they really liked it.
Ah, that was a really minute catch about the caster level. I feel a little silly for overlooking that. Thanks for it.
Also, I guess the new price of 7200 would now apply.
Also, you probably want to change the title to the singular (you use the singular when you refer to the item by name in the descriptive text)
Hm. I sort of think it could go either way considering the factor of attuning, but I can understand how leaving the title in the plural makes it more difficult to understand.
You know, you could say it looks no different from regular coins except for an otherwise unremarkable blemish (perhaps a small notch somewhere along the edge) that can be used by someone "in the know" to identify it from among a bunch of normal coins. Given the cost, I'd hate to accidentally mix it up and spend it...
I appreciate the feedback, but I think I'm leaving that the way it was since I just do not see accidentally mixing the coins up as a big deal- especially with wizards able to detect magical auras on items.
Thanks a bunch for a lot of good feedback.
-LD
Here's my item. I think it was probably a bit too dull, but I'm quite pleased with it as it ended up in my campaign!
Bracelet of the Charmed Life
Attached to this plain silver bracelet are several small trinkets or “charms.?When a charm is snapped off (a standard action), it triggers a magical effect. Each charm can be used only once; any objects created by the charm disappear when the spell or effect ends.
A newly-created bracelet has five charms:
* Dagger: a silver +1 dagger appears in the character’s hand (duration 4 minutes).
* Hat: a crumpled felt hat appears in the character’s hand. When donned, the character can change appearance as disguise self.
* Heart: casts charm person on one chosen target within range (Will DC 12 negates).
* Horse: a light horse is summoned, complete with bit and bridle, as mount.
* Key: a rusty key appears in the character’s hand. When touched to a door, the spell knock is cast.The gnomish trickster-wizard Terffindel is credited with creating these bracelets to assist his larcenous friends in their daring exploits. He is believed to be working on further charms to aid the rogue in trouble.
Faint conjuration, enchantment, and transmutation; CL 4th; Craft Wondrous Item, charm person, disguise self, knock, magic weapon, mount; Price 1,500 gp.
Richgreen, are you certain that the item should only cost 1,500gp? That seems extremely cheap for an item with so many effects, even if they are all only one use effects.
Seems like an amusing little item, regardless.
-LD
Richgreen, are you certain that the item should only cost 1,500gp? That seems extremely cheap for an item with so many effects, even if they are all only one use effects.Seems like an amusing little item, regardless.
-LD
No, I'm not sure. I followed the costs for potions as the item is effectively several one-use items on a bracelet. I rounded up at the end to 1,500gp.
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Okay, I've flapped my gums about other people's items, time to put up or shut up.
I'd have offered this earlier, but did it at work (!), and forgot what I'd saved it as.
I'll post it exactly as it was submitted, without comment. I have ideas as to what may have worked against it, but I'll see if my suspicions are correct.
Chelaxian Oubliette
Two things I can see off-hand that may have weighed against you immediately: one is playing too strongly to the Pathfinder material and the other is the format (too much use of bold and showing your math).
The central issue is that this is an adjunct to a spell (or series of spells) and not a strong item in and of itself. This leads it to being a good item, but not a rockstar item.
I like the base description of the item, but the additional text at the end is unclear. Do the hollow pillars radiate antipathy all the time or just when an outsider is bound within? Other than inside the heptagon, where are the hollow pillars placed? What size are they?
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All right. Just for the hell of it, I'll post my rejected item, the brumal cloak. I think what brought it down were its rather bland utility, its Swiss Army Knife-ness, and maybe its name. Invoking the DMG, though, was probably a bigger no-no than I realized. Also, the last sentence of the actual description, I realize now, would have been confusing to someone who wasn't, say, me, so I've excised it, but I'll include it afterwards.
Brumal cloak:
The DMG reference was probably a killer for this contest, but not in a general D&D submission. RPGA mods I've written include these references to make life easier for the DM.
There is some weakness in the writing when talking about the aura as you could have said the same thing but with fewer words. The fact that the aura lasts 1 minute and you take damage only if you are in the aura for one minute limits the usefullness of this to almost zero. I'd reduce this to a shorter time so players will find it useful.
I like the description of the freezing fog billowing out of the cloak. I'd increase the range of the effect as few things billow out and stop at five feet. ;)
I _think_ this is the final version of my submission.
Non-rapier of Wooing
At rest, this item looks like a fine steel rapier. When gripped by the hilt, however, the blade glows almost imperceptibly, providing a flattering sidelight to its wielder (+2 enhancement bonus to Charisma, -20 penalty on Hide checks). When swung, the blade leaves a faint, pleasant scent of jasmine in its wake.
Three times per day, its wielder may perform the Deflect Arrows, Precise Shot, or Persuasive feats, even without their respective prerequisites. Performance of these feats requires an audience of at least one seeing creature with an Intelligence of 3 or higher. The audience must be within 30 feet of the wielder, and must be aware of the wielder's presence.
The "blade" is actually a dull, pliant material, incapable of drawing blood. Struck opponents take no damage, and must make a Sense Motive check or feel compelled to giggle at the ticklish sensation. After the item's three feats are used up, the wielded blade falls limp from ricasso to point--behaving more like leather rope than steel--until it's either released or ready to help its wielder impress a new audience tomorrow.
Moderate transmutation; CL 3rd; Craft Wondrous Item, 3rd-level bard; Price 1,800 gp.
Alex.
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Here's my item. I think it was probably a bit too dull, but I'm quite pleased with it as it ended up in my campaign!
Bracelet of the Charmed Life
For the purposes of the contest, this probably suffered from being a swiss army knife kind of item. Generally, this is a good item, but not a rockstar item. I like the flexibility it offers the sneaky type and as a player, this would be a great toolkit to have on hand. The price might be a bit low, but I'd need to run the numbers to verify that.
For the purposes of the contest, this probably suffered from being a swiss army knife kind of item. Generally, this is a good item, but not a rockstar item. I like the flexibility it offers the sneaky type and as a player, this would be a great toolkit to have on hand. The price might be a bit low, but I'd need to run the numbers to verify that.
Thanks. I think you're probably right.
Cheers
Richard
I _think_ this is the final version of my submission.
Non-rapier of Wooing
Alex.
Blink-blink.
There is much I could say, but I'm going to summarize:
This is a joke item no matter what your intent was. That was why it did not make.
Indeed. I had a player whose bard would have loved this, but I would NEVER allow this into a game.
This is, as far as I can tell, a big glowing penis.I _think_ this is the final version of my submission.
Non-rapier of Wooing
Yup, big ol' handful of magical wing-wong right there...
And I've been able to raise the dead for a few weeks, too, though that's more insurance for my clerical henchman, Kaile, than a daily chore.
I shall have to ensure that the faitrhful of Heironeous are made more aware of their duties to their masters and that disrespectful titles, even in jest, are to be punished.
Now that I can swap out Cures to Inflicts that'll be quite easy :-)
Feeling safe Tycho?
So after weeks of criticizing the entries of the top 32 I think it's only fair to put out my submitted wondrous item, so that it may be maligned and deconstructed by the masses. I've been greatly inspired by this contest and hope that I'll get another chance in the future. In the meantime I've started a D20 campaign book with an artist friend and hope to actually it before 4th edition comes out.
Gnomish Field Guide
This small book contains many thin pages of minute text. It is bound with a reinforced cover and is 100% resistant to non-magical fire. When opened, the book lies flat so that a magnifying glass mounted to the spine by a collapsible metal arm may slide across the pages either vertically or horizontally.
The book contains maps, important phrases in many languages, descriptions of poisonous plants, recipes, monster lore, portions of major religious texts, trade routes, family lineages, legends, recommended taverns, engineering diagrams and a variety of other worldly minutiae.
The guide allows users to make Knowledge checks in any field, regardless of training. After the amount of time it takes to use the guide is determined (3-30 minutes), the user must make a Knowledge check (+ Intelligence bonus only, DC determined by the GM). Failure means the guide’s information was incomplete or otherwise unhelpful. Retries are not allowed.
Although originally created by gnomes, anyone meeting the requirements may create a ‘gnomish’ field guide. Each guide is unique but functions identically. Crafting this item requires the maximum legend lore casting time (2d6 weeks).
Moderate Divination; CL 9th; Craft Wondrous Item, legend lore; Price 3000 gp; Weight 1 lb.
Gnomish Field Guide
Good flavor and the mechanic I think would be surprisingly useful. Overly so in fact, so I would probably bump up the price to 10k at least (and you have to sacrifice a Gnome to build it!). I don't care for the name or the relation to Gnomes myself, though I have no love for gnomes in general. A title more abstract would be better I think - 'Clockwork Tome of the Last Thinker' or some such.
I also I like items that have some sort of downside. How about after a few uses the user comes across a page all about them, and the users friends and adventures? Would be interesting to do so if several such books existed, and one were to be in the wrong hands...
Anyhow I babble, interesting idea, surprised it didn't make it in.
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 6
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Dedicated Voter Season 6
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One issue I can see is that the crafting time mechanic does not make sense - you don't actually cast a spell to craft. I would have put the additional time under prerequisites, rather than describing it as casting time. Don't know if that was the bumping factor or not.
In general, the phrasing in the item was a bit off from 3rd edition standards, that may have hurt it as well. Little things can make a big difference when the reviewers are looking for reasons to cut.
No doubt it also fell into "too modern". Neat item though. :)
Wow, how cool, complemented by “the Kisko”, as I’ve mentioned before I would have really loved to see you make it farther in the contest.
I did think of the name being something like “Tome of Universal Knowledge” or something but it sounded a bit too 250-that-were-good-but-didn’t-get-in-ish. Cost was a problem for me. There aren't really that many books in the wondrous items section and most of them are just variations on a theme like the golem manuals or the ability raisers. I was also worried about it being tagged as a bard-in-a-box. That’s why I made sure it wasn’t as good as Bardic Knowledge by adding the time factor.
Russ (another big name around here, congrats!), actually the word crafting in this case was meant to mean in the “craft wondrous item” sense and not the “Craft: Bookbinding” sense, so I believe you are correct and that it should have been noted in the creation details. Odd wording is probably an artifact of word count. I literally spent hours cutting this thing down to 200 words. I tried to find examples of wording but then they probably got hacked down a bit to fit.
As far as modern, that had me a little worried but I thought of those Van Richten’s guides and figured I was alright. I was definitely tempted to says, "This book does NOT have the words 'Don't Panic!' etched into the cover, and it does NOT come with a towel."
Just a little background: The original item was called “The Gnomish Field Guide to Boldaire Vol 10”. Gnomes on my world (Boldaire) aren’t natives to the prime. They come from Mechanus. They’re kind of a parasitic race. They show up, study the area and try to find ways to bring resources back to their home plane. So the field guides were like a set of encyclopedias that they created to help facilitate their take over of the prime.
Thanks for the comments guys. I'd love to hear from Clark, maybe invoking his name will summon him.
Goblin Gruel
Hey Darkjoy I'm finally getting a chance to critique your item. The biggest problem I had with it was the word "eater". It's used 3 times and every time I read it I cringed. It just sounds really clumsy to me, I would have used something like "anyone who consumes the gruel...".
The trade off doesn't work for me, goblin's have a pretty poor Will save/Wisdom to begin with so making it worse doesn't really hurt them that much (spot and listen being the worst penalty). The diehard feat basically gives them an extra attack after they've been "killed" and that attack is at +2 hit and damage which could be deadly to a first level character (the people that are usually fighting goblins). So overall it's a pretty big buff (2nd level spell (Bull's Strength) cast at 60th level and an extra attack before they die).
Base price Potion of Bull's Strength (3rd level caster) 300 (2x3x5)
at 60th level (2x60x50) = 6000gp for 1 dose, 300,000gp for 50 doses! That doesn't include the Die Hard Feat which we could say is balanced out by the 4 points of wisdom damage. Obviously no one is going to pay 6000 gp for an hour long +4 bonus to strength and as of this edition there are no 60th level casters but it would definitely appear to be way under priced.
Overall a cool idea though. I was thinking of something similar to this for my campaign but for use with human barbarian tribes and with more lasting side effects.
So let's take a look at my item again:
Goblin Gruel
This milky, greenish concoction tastes surprisingly sweet. It bestows upon the eater a +4 morale bonus to strength and grants the eater the use of the Diehard feat, both effects last for one hour. Eating the gruel also incurs 4 points of damage to the eater’s wisdom score.
Before any major raid or battle, goblin warchanters and shamans work together in creating a batch of goblin gruel for the warriors. According to goblins, the gruel makes a goblin stronger, twice as tough and absolutely fearless. Other sources often refer to the fine line between fearless and senseless, but admit the truth of the first and second claim.
Faint transmutation; CL 5th; Craft Wondrous Item, bestow curse, rage; Price 2000 gp for a batch of 50 servings.
The eater comment: yeah, I am not a native speaker so 'eater' didn't look all that disturbing to me, it is repetitive though, which is bad.
Mechanically speaking I don't agree with you, the +4 strength, which only lasts for one hour, doesn't compare with the 4 days that the goblins suffer the drawback. that is why it only costs 50 gp a dose.
The extra strength and durability should make the person who consumes the gruel more dangerous but charm person and sleep should also become more effective, hopefully cancelling each other out.
Gnomish Field Guide
This is not a bad idea, it's something that I've tried a couple of times myself to add to the campaign, but the first thing that the judges may have said or added to your entry (besides the 'rejected' that we both got ;>) would have been along the following lines: where is the magic?
Think about it, the legend lore spell is needed to make the item (process), the item itself is non-magical (product). At least that is my first take on this item.
I like it, but it is just not magical, it is just a portable encyclopaedia that a 'gnome' could make on his own, the legend lore just makes it faster than creating it by hand.
I just did a wordcount, it's 201 words.....
Not that they would have cut you for being over it by that amount.
Didn't know you weren't a native English speaker, you get a lot of credit because other than that it was extremely readable. I've taken 4 semesters of spanish (the 2 beginning courses twice) and my wife speaks spanish and I still don't think I could compose more than the simplest sentence in spanish.
I think the trade off is more fair if the goblin is going to live for 4 days but if adventurers are around it will probably be more like 4 minutes. If a PC was using it then the trade off makes a lot more sense, so yeah it's a hard call.
Didn't know you weren't a native English speaker, you get a lot of credit because other than that it was extremely readable. I've taken 4 semesters of spanish (the 2 beginning courses twice) and my wife speaks spanish and I still don't think I could compose more than the simplest sentence in spanish.
I think the trade off is more fair if the goblin is going to live for 4 days but if adventurers are around it will probably be more like 4 minutes. If a PC was using it then the trade off makes a lot more sense, so yeah it's a hard call.
Could you tell me why 'eater' made you cringe?
Item pricing is a black art according to the judges ;>
Gnomish Field Guide
This is not a bad idea, it's something that I've tried a couple of times myself to add to the campaign, but the first thing that the judges may have said or added to your entry (besides the 'rejected' that we both got ;>) would have been along the following lines: where is the magic?
Think about it, the legend lore spell is needed to make the item (process), the item itself is non-magical (product). At least that is my first take on this item.
I like it, but it is just not magical, it is just a portable encyclopaedia that a 'gnome' could make on his own, the legend lore just makes it faster than creating it by hand.
The original version was even less magical. One of my friends actually said, "Is it a magic item?" At that point I didn't have the legend lore in it and it was slower and less useful (because it was part of a set). So I tried to make it more magical by saying this is a single, normal sized book that has information on just about everything you could ever want to know. That's not physically possible so it must be magical.
But I do see your point. If there's another contest I'll definitely go a bit more gonzo/flashy. I've got this idea about a mummy cat that comes in a box...
Could you tell me why 'eater' made you cringe?
That's hard to say.
It's a word I've never seen used to describe someone (and I've read a lot in my 37+ years). Other than maybe beef-eater (i think it's a restaurant) and there's an old TSR game that has the "Eater's of Wisdom" (which I actually like). Also some people say to their children, "You're a really good eater." But that makes it a kind of baby word not taken seriously. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't find it in any published Wizard's product.
But I do see your point. If there's another contest I'll definitely go a bit more gonzo/flashy. I've got this idea about a mummy cat that comes in a box...
Yeah, I've learned that a little gonzo goes a long way ;>
Regarding your mummy cat idea: "the horror, the horror".