AHalflingNotAHobbit's page

I just read this entire thread from the beginning.

I sometimes sit down and eat a whole package of tofu raw, without any kind of seasoning.

When the next edition of D&D comes out, there is an almost zero chance of me playing or running Pathfinder ever again. But I'll cherish the memories.

If you're someone who doesn't currently find the AP fiction useful, is there something the fiction could do that WOULD make it fun and useful to you? What if the fiction had sidebars presenting relevant world information, or new magic items/feats/spells/etc., the way we sometimes did in the past? What if the art was full-color? What if one of the illustrations was replaced with a map of the location featured in the story? What if there were character stat blocks, the way we did for Eando Kline in Pathfinder #18? I'm just spitballing here--some of the things I'm saying might be totally impractical, but are there other ideas we haven't thought of? (Please note that while it would be fabulous to have the fiction star NPCs from the AP and flesh out their backstories, the level of coordination required between developers would make it functionally impossible.)

I think the APs sort of strike a delicate balance between "Published Adventure" and "Gamer Lifestyle Monthly". Despite not being incredibly keen on the fiction myself, I can see why you would hesitate to risk upsetting this balance. ...

That said...

#1: Why not give the fiction the same level of art assets as you give the rest of the AP? I turn through the pages of Shattered Star I, for example, and I see loads of color pictures and sophisticated layout techniques on every page--right up until I get to the fiction which is illustrated with meager line drawings and laid out in a bland, unappealing way. It's like there's a big flashing sign at the beginning of the fiction that says "NOTHING TO SEE HERE: PLEASE TURN AHEAD TO THE NEXT SECTION".

#2: I think the fiction should be a prologue to the AP installment. For example, CC1 should absolutely have starred Professor Lorrimor. IMO every month Paizo continues not to do this is another missed opportunity. Like others have said, it doesn't have to be a direct tie-in; just something to give DMs a better understanding of a contributing NPC.

#3: I assume Paizo has weighed the advantages of serial vs. episodic, but as a reader I struggle to see the benefit of putting serial fiction in a monthly product. There is a very high chance that, come February, I won't remember much about a six page story I read back in January. And that's to say nothing of the fact that serial installments are going to be a turn off to readers who don't intend to read the entire AP through.

***

I only buy APs here and there; I'm not a subscriber. So perhaps my POV is different than the customer segments you're interested in appealing to. Also, please forgive me if some of my observations are out-of-date due to recent changes.

In any case, that's my best feedback. Hope some of it helps!

EDIT: Somehow I missed James' post upthread. Edited to reflect that.

The AP fiction is fine, but I don't think it adds value to the AP line. I mean: if the AP and the fiction were sold separately, buying one would not make me more likely to buy the other. It's just two products incidentally packaged together. Like two kinda/sorta related minis in the same package.

Needless to say, it came up after the session and they said that they like my adventures, but would prefer if I ran an AP instead. I understand, but my heart says "BOO!" My FIL already bought Rise of the Runelords AP and they're both excited to play it. I'm going to gladly run it for them, but...

How do I get them to want to play my adventures again? or should I even worry about it?

Just make sure and do a good job running the AP. The "Trust Meter" will automatically refill over time...

HOW MANY "EVIL ACTS" DOES IT TAKE TO TURN SOMEONE EVIL?

42

Hmm... does this also mean that PDF versions of the previously mentioned products will also go up in price?

I immediately wondered about this too.

Well, I've searched my feelings ... and I honestly can't give a hoot. I can't imagine how the franchise could get *worse* at this point.

Question: does this mean Micky's got his paws on Indiana Jones too?

Is there any kind of shortcut/mod that puts everyone on overwatch and ends the turn? Cuz that would really enhance my xcom:eu experience at this stage...

I would like some mechanic to allow fighters to prevent their opponents from disengaging and swatting the weaker party members. It could be a pretty simple class ability--for example, anyone in melee with the fighter must make a DC 13 strength check or be immobile for the round.

I'm not a fan of 3E's AOOs, though, and I certainly wouldn't mind seeing them retired in favor of something a bit more situational.

Thanks for the feedback everyone...

One thing that surprises me, to be honest, is how much folks miss the class/race breakdowns. After doing a dozen or so of these, we started feeling like that information was repetitive and took up far too much space, and in an attempt to start diverting the player's guides away from being giant walls of text (something that ramping back on the subsystems will have a MUCH larger impact on starting with Shattered Star) and thus less intimidating for players to navigate, we decided to consolidate all the race and class info. Further, launching an Adventure Path is VERY difficult. You may have noticed that our Adventure Path line is often falling behind schedule, and it's currently more behind than it's ever been before. By making as many elements of an AP simpler for us to produce... we hope to get better at doing these things on time. And shortening the player's guides (both in reducing the subsystems and in this earlier step of consolidating and reducing the somewhat repetitive class/race breakdowns... which are actually quite a bit more difficult to generate than they might seem for a few reasons)

Going back to the full class/race breakdowns is certainly an option... but if folks just miss them because they liked the format or the way it looked... that's not a good enough reason. We can give out the same information in a page what it took multiple pages to do in previous Player's Guides... so it's gotta be a pretty compelling reason to make me want to switch back.

SO!

If you miss the class/race breakdowns... let us know WHAT you miss from them that the new format doesn't do for you.

Hey James, I've found over the years that I'm not so good at saying why something works or doesn't work for me, so I'm not going to try to justify my feelings on this one. On the other hand, I'm pretty good at telling whether something works...

...and without any doubt, the race/class breakdowns do an EXCELLENT job of getting me excited about playing an adventure path. Again, I don't know why--it's just a "kid in the candy store" feeling I get as I contemplate all the race/class options I might take. And, sad to say, I certainly missed that feeling of excitement when I read over the S&S player's guide.

Hope that helps.

The key I've found to instilling any emotion in a game is to spoon-feed the scene to players. Interaction is key. With fear in particular, players must believe their plight is a natural consequence of their own decisions--that the DM is an uncaring arbiter who is functionally indistinguishable from the game setting.

In theory, odds and probability are merely two different ways of looking at the chances of something happening (as I think you may be aware). In theory (again) they are equal, as they are applied to a given situation, because the strictest definition of the odds of something is something like "the probability of it happening divided by the probability of it not happening, expressed as a ratio".

In practice (in my personal opinion), this doesn't always tell the whole story. There are a number of factors that go into rolls of the sort that we're talking about (not least of which is the dice themselves - not having been made by some sort of dice creation diety, it's almost assumed that each dice is at least ever so slightly out of balance, which begins to show itself over a large number of samples - but that's a discussion for somewhere else and not really the crux of my argument anyway), and those factors tend to exhibit tendencies over a large sample size.

The expected odds of a roll making the target DC are 79.75%.... your experimental average of 83.33% seems pretty close, I think.

I'll admit that I'm still not 100% on what you're arguing, if it's not the inapplicability of probability theory to imperfect die rolls. Are you saying that high/low streaks trump theoretical probability?

In any case, I don't think we need to go into this if you'd rather not--when I asked the first question I had been about to piggy back on your post to discuss psychology, but now I think that train has sailed. :)

I suspect that players/DMs will invariably assign greater weight to the disadvantage/advantage states than the +/-4 analysis would imply.

Psychologically, I hate having to take the lower of two rolls, just as much as I love being able to take the better of two rolls. Human minds are funny, irrational things.

My practical experience with that mechanic, though (that being the witch's misfortune hex in PF), indicates that when someone has advantage, they will virtually always succeed, while disadvantage will virtually always fail. The probability implications outweigh the odds.

I don't understand the meaning of the final sentence. What is the difference between probability implications and odds?

My dilemma as a GM right now is, do I keep running the Caves of Chaos (we've only done 6 out of about 64 rooms) or try to create my own scenario using the ruleset? I don't know if the feedback quality I give will be more useful using the provided scenario, or if they want people to go "off-script", as it were.

Mearls said on the podcast (which is linked on the wotc site) that he was rather expecting DMs to start making up their own adventures straightaway. I'd take that as a green light, personally.

So when the summoned creature disappears, does their poison also disappear from the bodies of affected victims?

I agree with the OP, haunts are pretty non-interactive from the player's POV if the GM is at all slavish about following the rules as presented.

My work around was just to start saying "yes" whenever players asked me if they could do something to affect the haunt.

PC: "Can I slap it with disrupt undead?"
Me: "Uh, sure, as long as you tell me what exactly you're targeting."

PC: "Can I scare it off by pretending to be [NPC name redacted]?"
Me: "Uh, sure, just give me a bluff check."

And so on. This isn't at all hard to pull off so long as the module gives adequate background information as to the nature of each haunt.

I felt that this approach was more fun for the players, and more in tune with the actual in-game purpose of haunts.

Thread NECROMANCY!

Anything new on this front? To recap, I'm looking for something for LOCAL games, to display PDFs of battle mats, but able to black out unexplored sections, and "scratch away" the black parts, revealing the map as players explore. Any ideas?

Are your gaming sessions held in locations that have wireless internet access? If so, my best recommendation is to use a remote desktop app like splashtop to tunnel in and run maptools on your desktop/laptop.

I use my ipad this way now and then to run one-on-one sessions for my girlfriend, and it's worked pretty well so far.

having played all editions of this wonderful game of ours (started in 1975) - I can honestly say that in the groups I have played in we have always played that you could NOT see yourself when under the effects of an invisibility spell... which does not really apply in this case - as we are discussing the rules in PF. (and in earlier editions of D&D the rules were much more open to interpretation - "house rules" were very common).

A couple others have said similar things. Just want to point out that in second edition at least, the Complete Wizard's Handbook explicitly laid out the rules regarding invisibility:

Wizards should keep in mind that invisibility is an illusion, a condition of artificial reality-- it's not an enchantment that causes the caster (or creature of the caster's choice) to literally disappear. As such, invisibility is subject to all of the advantages and limitations of illusionary magic. Following are the most pertinent points:

· The invisible character can always see himself; in effect, he automatically disbelieves the illusion.
· The caster cannot tell with certainty which observers have successfully disbelieved his illusion of invisibility ; he can only be sure by observing their reactions.
· All objects on the invisible subject's person are also invisible. However, the DM might wish to impose limitations, since it might not make sense for a 30-foot pole carried by an invisible character to also be entirely invisible. <snip>

Not, of course, that this has a whole bunch of bearing on Pathfinder RAW. Carry on!

The premade adventure kits are an especially nice touch. Thanks for putting this together!

I want quick prep and am most interested by 5E's aim for the ability to play D&D in an hour. If they achieve that, I'll probably play it, even if they continue their focus on digital product (my main source of trepidation).

I'm totally not a 4e player, but back when I was on the market for an rpg, quick play time and ease of preparation were certainly 4th's biggest selling points for me. And they're even greater selling points now, since I know of quite a few people who would probably like to game but would never stand for even a 3-hour session--high school esl students, nerdy adults who don't care to become lifestyle gamers, my girlfriend, etc. I would love, love, love to be able to set up a game with these people, but it's going to have to be a game that's simple and quick.

So, monte or no monte, I have high hopes for fifth, even if it winds up including some elements that I don't like.

Hey yuki,

Regarding your third question, I think a lot of people learn PF/3.5 simply by playing with people who already know the rules of the game. I think even native speakers would struggle to learn the game quickly merely by reading the core rule book. So I would suggest that you be willing to invest some time towards the learning process. Also you will probably make mistakes as you go along; that's okay, just have fun and don't get discouraged.

Alternatively, I'm a resident of tochigi, and I make frequent trips to tokyo. If you happen to live near one of those areas I would be willing to spend a few hours showing you how I play, answering rules questions, etc. Just go ahead and PM me if you'd like to do that.

I understand the difficulties you have with dungeon campaigns--I used the beginner's box to show my (japanese) girlfriend the game, and she enjoyed it but after an hour or so she asked: "Um, can I go back to town now? I want to talk to some people. This cave is lonely!"

Anyhow, good luck with it, and I hope your group gets as much enjoyment from this hobby as we do.

I one of those DMs who houserules that it is somewhat flammable--I let the stuff burn for one round at 1d6 damage. It takes a fire source such as a torch or burning hands and a DC 10 survival check to light it (up it to DC 15 if they're using spark or flint and steel).

It is a buff to an already great spell, but our group doesn't play pathfinder/3.5 for its balanced classes anyhow.

Harry Flashman.

+1

I've been looking at other threads too and it didn't occur to me to use things like Burning Gaze on the Familiar - that's just amazing.

I also like the idea of Wreath of Blades for when the Familiar isn't quite so squishy. Extra actions per round ftw!

Yeah... even at first level there's some worthwhile shenanigans with spells like true strike or comprehend languages (to make the thing understand you before level 5).

Just keep your familiar's safety in mind, cuz once it's in play many gms will target it...

Is there a proficiency involved with throwing alchemy objects?

And this is mostly me trying to really justify the improved familiar feat - if the familiar can make himself into extra actions in combat, that makes the familiar amazing.

I like the idea of doing it sooner than later, but I did ask about alternative familiar options as well.

I don't think alchemical objects need a proficiency to throw, as they are not weapons. Might be wrong about that though.

***

Also note you can put range:personal spells on your familiar... somewhere out there is a swell little thread highlighting some things you might try.

Second the KQ guide recommendation. Picked all three of 'em up after Jacob Triers quoted them in his review of my item, and they were worth every penny.

GENEALOGICAL NERD FIGHT!

Don't think it's a fight, yet.

Can't argue with the nerd part though.

<snip> The problem is that the spell recurses, as demonstrated in the strip. So if it gets someone, it gets all their descendants, and all their ancestors. And it does the same recursion on those targets. That's why it has global extinction potential. There's an out if it can't recurse through dead branches.

The recursion part is the bit I don't understand/disagree with. I don't see any recursive elements to V's explanation of the spell in either #650 or #843. I don't see anywhere where s/he says that the direct relations of the members of Class 2 get killed. Where does that come from?

I suspect that the 'every creature that shares your bloodline' was absolute (why this killed only a quarter of the black dragons instead of all of them is a question for creation myths). Thus, all the Draketooths (Draketeeth?) were direct descendants of black dragons. They die.

The 'every creature related to them' (i.e. relations by marriage, but with children) thing probably stops at dead people (can't just be range of relation or it wouldn't be 'down to the last cousin'), otherwise it would have killed way more people, up to an including everyone, once again depending on creation myths.

<snip>

I took #640 to mean that there were two classes of creatures affected by the spell.

Class 1: "Every living creature that directly shares your bloodline."
Mostly dragons and draketooths, so far as we know.

Class 2: "Any living creature that is directly related to any of those creatures [meaning those creatures in Class 1]."
According to #843, "directly related" means parents, children, siblings, and cousins of Class 1 members.

I'm not seeing this spell as a threat to humanoid life, unless every person/elf/dwarf/etc. somehow directly shared the bloodline of the targeted dragon. But perhaps I'm being dense.

I think tat people are reading this wrong.

Bloodline does not include indirect relations, such as marriage. So it would only kill those with an actualy blood connection.

For example: If the human father had (in the distant past) that black dragon as an ancestor, he would die. His children would die. But his wife (related by law, but not by blood) would survive.

I don't think V would agree with this interpretation. S/he cites exactly the same example as you in #843, but reaches the opposite conclusion.

(Unless the wife in your example was not actually the biological mother of those children.)

The best way to maintain a list is to use the list feature on the site. you can list posts, so you make a thread discussing something with a link to your newly created list, and then make a second post to the thread with your entries to the list. Add this second post to your list that you hyperlinked in the first post. You can add posts to this list at will, so you could add later posts by either yourself or other posters to the list. If you want just one post on that list, you can always posts new list to the thread and add it to the list, deleteing the old one...

Edit: Example list

I hadn't noticed that feature before. Thanks.

The option to append additional information to posts you've already made, after the one hour limit, would be very nice. Would allow maintenance of lists, for example.

You could put him in TotB and have the Beast accused of some crimes that were in fact perpetuated by spring-heeled jack.

My group is nearing the end of HoH. Our game is run over IM, with OOC talk handled over skype, and cosketch for the maps. Great, great job by paizo and Michael Kortez here--this is one of the best experiences I've had with published adventures. That said, I've mostly kept things as written, but there were some exceptions:

1) Didn't use trust points.

2) I didn't like much about the way the professor's journal was handled in this adventure writeup. So I downgraded it to a few sheets of paper that remained unnoticed on his corpse, not to be discovered until his re-animation. Instead of the journal in the adventure I used a modified form of John Lynch's writeup.

3) The encounter "Smoldering Revenge" was staged during a performance by the Twisted Kin at The Outward Inn, instead of at the town hall meeting. One of the performers pulled out a tarot deck and I combined this event with the "A House on Fire" optional event.

4) Mosswater Marauder. I gave this guy 36 hp, made him vulnerable to being attacked by his own hammer, and had the screaming skulls re-assemble and pop back up whenever all three were killed. Made the encounter a bit longer, and a bit more tense. Also ensured everyone had some meaningful choices as to how to contribute.

5) The Splatter Man. Going to run him as written, until one of the PCs gets the idea of bringing out his spell book. Then TSM will go bats*** crazy with magic missiles at that poor PC.

OK, here's a rewrite of the landlubber's oar. I'm actually really liking this guy (kind of wishing I hadn't posted it, as I think it's got some neat mojo, though feel free to disabuse me of that notion), so I'd love feedback.

Drydocked oar [293 words]

I agree with everything Jacob Trier said. A few other things:

--The price seems pretty high, compared to (for example) a carpet of flying.
--Do the rounds/day need to be used consecutively?
--I think the item should also be usable over any degree of downward grade, like they were rowing over rushing rapids or down waterfalls.

All right, here's my next shot at it. A couple of notes:

(1) I can't put the elemental under the wearer's control because then I'd have created an item that scales with character level. IOW, If I were to go this route I'd have to give up on varying the size of the elemental.

(2) An underlying weakness with this concept is that disease is usually a plot device--and in that sense, so is this item.

I have a bunch of other crap I want to say, but I'm restraining myself for the time being as I'd really like to hear people's feedback without being influenced by commentary. Thanks a whole bunch in advance!

Wreath of the Ancient Preserver [278 words]
Aura weak divination and conjuration; CL 5th
Slot headband; Price 8,000 gp; Weight 1 lb.
Description
Eternally green laurel branches adorn this horseshoe-shaped wreath. When worn, it enhances the senses of the wearer, who perceives a muddy brown aura surrounding all creatures afflicted by disease or infestation within 60'. This ability does not provide information about the type of disease, or the number of diseases afflicting a particular creature.

Twice per day, the wearer may attempt to cure a victim of a single disease by attempting a combat maneuver check. If the check succeeds against a CMD equal to the save DC of the highest DC affliction present, the wearer rips the aura off the victim, removing the affliction instantaneously. An aura so removed takes the form of a vortex of foul air (treat as an air elemental with strangulation susceptibility; see chart below) which single-mindedly attacks its former host until it is destroyed, he is slain, or one minute has passed.

Strangulation Susceptibility (Ex)
An opponent making a successful grapple check against this elemental may choose, instead of their normal grapple actions, to make a special constrict attack which does no damage but instead reduces the size of the elemental by one step (e.g., from Large to Medium). An elemental so reduced is cured of all damage and loses all temporary conditions except for grappled; in effect, the smaller elemental replaces the larger one. A Small elemental subject to this attack is destroyed.

Disease DC Elemental Size
12 or less Small
13-14 Medium
15-18 Large
19-22 Huge
23-26 Greater
27+ Elder

Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, diagnose disease, remove disease; Cost 4,000 gp

Whoah... that's really good to know. Thanks for the fast reply, and for putting together this awesome thread.

Huh? When did the no double space after periods memo go out? I completely missed that boat! Geez I'm going to have work really hard to stop doing that! That kind of thing needs to be made into a meme or something!

Damn I double spaced throughout this entire post! Told you it'd be hard.

--Vrock type font

I suppose it wouldn't be that hard to search & replace before you send it off to the editor. Personally I too find the habit too deeply ingrained to ever hope to change it.

However, this raises a question... the forum software appears to automatically replace double spaces with single spaces. As an example, check out Scott's post above--his sentences are appearing single-spaced to me. How did Neil know there were double spaces in Brian's submission? Do the judges see a differently formatted version of the wondrous item submissions than what I see in the paizo forums?

Laural Wreath of the Victor

Yeah I guess great minds think alike!

The healing ability as written will allow a wearer to heal himself up to full by killing a bunch of squirrels, or by designating a single weak creature as a mortal enemy. At least that's how I read it. Not sure if that's intentional.

I'm not sure how I feel about the healing abilities--they're not bad, but they don't exactly fill me with the "omg that's awesome" vibe. Do you have any other boons that you were considering granting the wearer when he drops a creature?

(Btw my wreath-fu is telling me that "Laural" is a misspelling.)

Kyle, this is an awesome utility. Thanks so much for making it available to the community like this.

And one more, inspired by Odin and that hat he wears as a disguise. You know the one, the disguise not even his own son Thor can pierce (but a remotely savvy reader pierces instantly, and spends the story facepalming at the god of thunder's obliviousness).

Feedback. Please take what's useful and discard what ain't.

Phelan, I think you have three fine wondrous items here. It's just that they're all so... workmanlike. None of the concepts really inspire me--I feel no particular joy or pleasure as I read them, and I don't look at these concepts and feel tempted to steal them. Sorry.

Honestly I get the sense that you're holding back a little bit. And maybe I've got you wrong, or maybe you're just pushing out practice items to hone your technical skills. Either way, I'd encourage you to push the envelop a little bit and make the effects a bit more surprising and innovative.

Hope this helps.

FWIW, what I've drawn from this is that there is a time to use inspiration, and a time to move on past inspiration--taking the best part with you but declining to create a product that is directly analogous to your source material.

EDIT: Also, I'm posting under the influence, so this may make a lot less sense when I come back and read it tomorrow.

Brace yourself, I've got a bucket-load for you. I find your item interesting, both for your core idea, but also because you make several very common mistakes that the judges have addressed previously.

Jacob, I'm going to spend a couple days mulling this item around before I come back to it, but I just wanted to thank you straightaway for your excellent critique. Good, targeted feedback such as yours is basically the best thing in the world that can happen to an aspiring designer. Thanks!

Also, as others besides you may wonder where I'm getting my theme from, I'd like to share the "flavor" text I was working with. It's a wikipedia section on Apollo, the Greek god who strutted about in a laurel wreath.

Healer and god-protector from evil

The function of Apollo as a "healer" is connected with Paean (Παιών-Παιήων), the physician of the Gods in the Iliad, who seems to come from a more primitive religion. Paeοn is probably connected with the Mycenean Pa-ja-wo, but the etymology is the only evidence. He did not have a separate cult, but he was the personification of the holy magic-song sung by the magicians that was supposed to cure disease. Later the Greeks knew the original meaning of the relevant song "paeαn" (παιάν). The magicians were also called "seer-doctors" (ιατρομάντεις), and they used an ecstatic prophetic art which was used exactly by the god Apollo at the oracles.[34] In the Iliad, Apollo is the healer under the gods, but he is also the bringer of disease and death with his arrows, similar to the function of the terrible Vedic god of disease Rudra.[35] He sends a terrible plague (λοιμός) to the Achaeans. The god who sends a disease can also prevent from it, therefore when it stops they make a purifying ceremony and offer him an "hecatomb" to ward off evil. When the oath of his priest appeases, they pray and with a song they call their own god, the beautiful Paean.[36] Some common epithets of Apollo as a healer are "paion" (παιών:touching), "epikourios" (επικουρώ:help), "oulios" (ουλή:cured wound), and "loimios" (λοiμός:plague). In classical times, his strong function in popular religion was to keep away evil, and was therefore called "apotropaios" (αποτρέπω:to divert) and "alexikakos" (αλέξω-κακό:defend, throw away the evil).[37] In later writers, the word, usually spelled "Paean", becomes a mere epithet of Apollo in his capacity as a god of healing.[38]

Homer illustrated Paeon the god, and the song both of apotropaic thanksgiving or triumph.[citation needed] Such songs were originally addressed to Apollo, and afterwards to other gods: to Dionysus, to Apollo Helios, to Apollo's son Asclepius the healer. About the 4th century BCE, the paean became merely a formula of adulation; its object was either to implore protection against disease and misfortune, or to offer thanks after such protection had been rendered. It was in this way that Apollo had become recognised as the god of music. Apollo's role as the slayer of the Python led to his association with battle and victory; hence it became the Roman custom for a paean to be sung by an army on the march and before entering into battle, when a fleet left the harbour, and also after a victory had been won.

EDIT: Also, a big thank you to Andrew Black and Set for their feedback above.

Thanks a ton for the critiques, guys. Here's my next shot at it. Feedback is always appreciated.

***

Wreath of the Ancient Preserver [275 words]
Aura moderate abjuration, conjuration, and transmutation; CL 8th
Slot headband; Price 10,000 gp; Weight 1 lb.
Description
Eternally green laurel branches adorn this horseshoe-shaped wreath. When worn, it instills a sense of ecstasy, granting a +2 enhancement bonus to Charisma. Treat this as a temporary ability bonus for the first 24 hours the wreath is worn.

If the wearer has the bardic performance class ability, she may perform an ecstatic song or chant for one round in an attempt to banish the highest DC curse or disease affecting one living target within 60'. The wearer must succeed at a Perform(any except act or comedy) check against the DC of the affliction. If the check is successful, the affliction is instantaneously expelled from the target.

The wearer may, as an immediate action, affect a new host with the expelled affliction by making a Charisma check (see chart below). The new host must be an animal or vermin within 60' that is visible to the wearer and of a type susceptible to the affliction. If no suitable host is within 60', or if the Charisma check fails, the affliction appears as a vortex of foul air (treat as an air elemental; see chart below) which single-mindedly attacks its former host until either it is destroyed, he is slain, or one minute has passed.

Affliction DC Elemental Size Charisma Check DC
12 or less Small 12
13-14 Medium 14
15-18 Large 15
19-22 Huge 16
23-26 Greater 17
27+ Elder 18

Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, eagle's splendor, remove curse, remove disease, creator must have the bardic performance class ability; Cost 5,000 gp

Feedback. As always please take what's useful and ignore what isn't.

Thanks for the feedback. Yeah, this is a pretty rough draft--even now as I re-read it I'm spotting a few other typos and missing words. (e.g., "disappearing in a puff of foul air if when it succeeds") Ugh.

Anywho. I think the rule for straight bonuses is that they aren't exciting, are not inherently superstar, and potentially represent a waste of word count. But here's the thing. In this case a bonus is necessary in order to make this item viable to bards for the headband slot. Otherwise it would lose out to the "best in slot" +2 headband of alluring charisma. Dontcha think? It will eventually be replaced by the +4 headband, but this way it will hopefully be viable for a few levels. Maybe a bit longer if the player isn't a real optimizer.

Things to consider - can you recatch the desease/curse if you are cured whilst in the area that caused the first one?

If I have a particularly cursed/desease ridden PC, can I continue singing round by round releasing one per round? If there are more than one desease or curse on the target are they cured oldest/youngest first or do I get to choose?

The "casting out" effect is instantaneous, just like the remove spells, so, yeah, the victim could catch it again.

And nothing except the available rounds of bardic performances limits the wearer's ability to keep on going if there are more available targets in the area.

I should add language to specify that the highest DC disease/curse is targeted first--good catch.

PS: What I think this item needs now is a killer "omg that's awesome" twist to fill up the remaining word count and push it up to the next level of superstar-ness. Still working on that.

PSS: Ah, I see what you mean about putting the cool power first. Good point.

This one doesn't really inspire me yet--it's a bit too SIAC, and probably too powerful. And I don't really feel like it would add a load of fun to anyone's game.

Wreath of the Ancient Preserver [207 words]
Aura moderate abjuration, conjuration, and transmutation; CL 8th
Slot headband; Price 10,000 gp; Weight 1 lb.
Description
Eternally green laurel branches adorn this horseshoe-shaped wreath. When worn on the head, it confers sense of ecstasy, granting a +2 enhancement bonus to Charisma. Treat this as a temporary ability bonus for the first 24 hours the wreath is worn.

A wearer may use the bardic performance class ability to perform an ecstatic song that commands disease and curses. By chanting or playing their instrument, the wearer may attempt to cure one affliction affecting one living target within 60'. The wearer must succeed at a Perform(any except act or comedy) check against the DC of the target's affliction. If the check is successful, the disease or curse is expelled from the host, curing him as if by remove disease or remove curse. Once expelled, the affliction takes the form of a winged, bestial humanoid (treat as an Ooze Mephit) which single-mindedly attacks its former host, disappearing in a puff of foul air if when it succeeds at killing him or when 1 minute has passed.

Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, eagle's splendor, remove curse, remove disease, creator must have the bardic performance class ability; Cost 5,000 gp

I suppose everyone's expecting you to start a new thread, since this one says in the title that it closed two days ago.

Thanks for the feedback, all.

That being said, I'm not sure I like the idea of taking a 100 gp magic item, a 200 gp poison, and combining them together to get a 1,400 gp potion of poison (750 gp for a druid), albeit one with much less potent save DCs.

That was something that worried me as well. I think the problem--if that's what it is--can easily be solved by scaling up the cost to 700 gp and stipulating that it works on 1400 gp of poison. But I'm not sure that's necessary--what is the balance problem if we effectively give poison at lower levels with weaker poison effects?

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Ronars, are you aware of any precedent of judges rejecting items because of effects tied to item value? Is Paizo trying to move away from this mechanic? I agree wholeheartedly that it's dumb, btw.

Also, is there a specific abuse that you're worried about with the cowl?