Thank you so much for the reviews, Bardess, Jolly and Endzie! I'm seriously overjoyed by all of this. Everyone worked hard on this, and I'm happy to see everyone's hard work paying off with these glowing responses! As far as the Mime being modeled after the Final Fantasy Mimes, the both of you are absolutely correct! Though, they were modeled more after the Mimes from Tactics, as Jolly stated. I should have specified that the attacks can be designated against any target, whatever the mime can target. Endzie, your praise for the Prop Comic brought a tear to my eye, seriously. Like I did with the Trickster Chef Rogue, I put a lot of thought and effort into it. Again, thank you all so much!
To the team at Paizo, and the RPGSS community-at-large, As we have all seen and heard, the beloved spectacle that is the annual RPG Superstar contest has been put on an indeterminate hiatus. It is my understanding that many here in the community are taken aback as their potential contest entries must be set aside for the time being. Now, if there is one thing I've gleaned from my time interacting with this contest and its contestants, it is that there is a geyser of creativity that is always set to burst forth the moment the open call submission form went online. Lengthy voting periods brought the community together to vote, laugh, mingle, and (Most importantly) learn. I am by no means an expert, but in the two years I entered and participated, I saw some absolutely incredible things. Security Blanket, Springheart, Rod of Ghost Teeth, Caber Twig, Gorgon Sinew Lariat, and there was that one awesome cloak that let you leap from Graves but I can't for the life of me remember the name of it. These are just a few names and examples of the crazy-creative items that have come out of Round 1s the past couple years. So I was thinking about all of the amazing stuff that has been presented to the masses over the years, and I got to thinking, "What if Paizo took a bunch of those great items from years past and made a compendium of them? Almost like another Ultimate Equipment, but name it, Like, 'Superstar Equipment Codex' or something?" I guess such an idea would beg the questions: Is something like this even feasible?
I was also figuring that something like this would be perfect to galvanize the RPGSS community for this season, seeing as a new contest is out of the question. (Which I respectfully understand) So my question to both Paizo and the RPGSS community is this: "Can this be done? and if so, who's in?" Side note: I get the feeling it won't be a simple thing to arrange, but I honestly do feel of "Hey, let's get together and make something awesome!"
This is why pencils have those funny little earwax cleaners on the other end Ah memories...*Wavy, trippy, dream-sequence transition* Back when I was in 1st grade, oh so so long ago, I put the eraser-end of the pencil in my ear, and when I pulled it out, the eraser wasn't there. Worse off, being so little, I forgot about it by the end of the day. It wasn't discovered until one day I said my ear was hurting. So my mom decided to swab my ear and see what was up. Well, long story short, the next morning, I was having the eraser fished out of my ear with fine-tipped forceps at the family doctor's office. (To the best of my memory.) Had like, all kinds of nastyness on it. Bleh! I still, to this day, remember what it looked like. Be careful with pencils, kids! ^.^
Can't beat the classics! ^.^!!!
Come on, step right up! Get yer rogue options here!
We've got archetypes and traits of all shapes and sizes for ya'! Don't be shy, step right up! Hmm.... Maybe they think we will steal their coin purses if they approach the stand? <.< ^_____^
Yes, thank you for the great review, good sir! And I'm looking forward to help in presenting more of the quality content you've seen here in the upcoming Culinary Magic Cookbook!
Oh, I totally agree with you. ^.^ These first couple of test items were supposed to get me into a flow of making an item in under 200 words. Now that I feel like I'm able to make things more concise, I can try to make something that looks more like an actual contest entry ^.^
I bolded that particular statements for the purpose of my response. If the purpose of your bard is heavily steered toward buffing and assisting the party, why change it just because you got tripped up one or two times? No character build can be truly prepared for everything. Yes, it's annoying to get caught with your pants down when bad guys sweep in to gang up on you. But that's no reason to divide the attention of your resources, class features, and action economy. The bard being my favorite class, I can offer this advice: Stay the course. Keep buffing/assisting/healing. But instead of trying to focus on attacking the enemies, take defensive spells like mirror image and saving finale, or spend some of your cash and/or prestige on some defensive fun stuff from Ultimate Equipment. There's a literal treasure trove of great stuff that a buffing bard can take advantage of. And if you feel you need to take some offense, there are great offensive spells in the bard's repertoire like blistering invective, chord of shards, and sound burst (Which makes a fantastic wand, by the way). The best way to stick to your task and keep your party buffed on your own power is to keep yourself alive; keep away from the mooks. I know it feels like you're "Not Contributing" because you're not bopping the bad guys, but when everyone has a better chance of hitting and damaging, it's just as effective as dealing the damage yourself. Lastly, there is no harm in buying a Masterwork Shortbow (Or a +1 Conserving shortbow) and a compliment of special-material arrows, or some sleep arrows. Pick at the bad guys a little bit for those times you're doing your buffing, but prefer to conserve your spells.
*Creeps in*
Next time RPGSS rolls around, I'm going to challenge myself to limit my words to around 200. Both times I entered RPGSS, I feel I had solid ideas, but they wound up getting derailed from me trying to make the item do too much, or making it too wordy. When I make my test items for this thread, I'm going to be adhering to this self-imposed word limit.
À Wand of gallant inspiration doesn't work as you need at least a standard action to activate a wand.Which is why I assume he said he readied to use it on request. I am not certain that actually works from a timing perspective but he wasn't trying to use it as an immediate. Yeah, I asked this a looooonnnngggg time ago ^.^ Remaining on topic: I'm going to jump on the "Aid Another" bandwagon with a fun story! We were all faced with a nasty construct that none of us were able to handle individually. Fortunately for us, this battle occurred immediately after we climbed a 50 (or something) foot rope to get to where we were. So, we lured the construct over toward the hole we climbed up out of while huddling in total defense and fixing our initiatives to make sure the guy with the highest CMD went last. When the construct got next to us, we surrounded it, then declared "aid another" to the martial guy to assist in a Bull Rush combat maneuver. With all of our assistance, we got high enough on the check to move the construct the spaces we needed to knock it down the hole, ending the combat. Never underestimate aid another. It's just as good as succeeding the attack on your own.
I had a one-trick pony for a little while with a guy that focused on Dirty Tricks. All it took was a few encounters where Dirty tricks did nothing or the enemy's CMD was WAY too high that I realized I needed a backup plan. Bought a Wand of Grease and a Wand of Gallant Inspiration. Wand of grease was great for causing large creatures with low reflex saves to slip and fall. And the wand of gallant inspiration caused many attacks that would have otherwise failed to get through. Now, it did require me to ready action to use the wand with a "Call for help" as the trigger. But when it worked, it did just the trick. And all the while I'd be using Bardic Performance to buff the party. You definitely want to encourage backup plans! A real adventurer should be prepared for multiple different situations.
Um, I would like to Refer to you to a friend of mine. He doesn't post here often, but his PFS Sword-Saint just reached level 10 last week. He has like, 180-something HP or something like that and is super-duper tanky. He uses Crane Style feats, gets up in the faces, and pulls of the Iajutsu Strike quite consistently. And once a day, he gets it enhanced by his scabbard of vigor. He has a lot of fun playing him, too. From my witness experience, Sword saint is not a bad choice, and it definitely beats trying to finagle a mount all over the place. I'll see if I can get him up in here. He can explain it much better.
My personal favorite is: Bunch of ranged attackers, and you need to close the distance? Move, drop prone, total defense. +8 AC vs. ranged attacks; +10 of you have 3 ranks in Acrobatics! ^.^ And you can move while prone and continue to go into total defense until you close the gap.
Hakima Ajit's Balcony limerick! A balcony high in the air,
Donald, once again, congrats on round 2! Unfortunately, I'm inclined to agree with a lot of what's already been said about your map. Up to and including that that design in the middle is awesome, but just cries to be utilized in some way, shape, or form. Lots of wide open space for magey-explosions can make for tough times, but this room is very Boss-battle appropriate. Nice work overall, though! ^.^
Feedlot-CL-477 In Geb, there's a place for the dead
The name of your map instantly grabbed me! And when I read over what this is all about I was very impressed with what I saw. I'm a little "Meh" about using part of your 50 words to squeeze in something that belongs in encounter text, but that's just a nitpick. Excellent work!
THE HAIKUS RETURNETH! Continuing page 3! Blood Twin's Quills Ah! Gold Filigree!
Boiling Heart Gauntlet Fancy steampunk look.
Whispering Blade Spooky evil blades
Husk of Protective Parchment Snerk Snerk...pearl necklace...
Just letting you all know I'm back. I'll more than likely finish the top 36 before continuing the CMI thread. Still open to elaborate on my haiku for anyone willing to get a more thorough critique.
Please do the alternates too. I'd love to see what you do to mine. :) I'm going to finish the top 32+4 haikus before I continue in here with the CMI thread.
I think you missed mine (probably because it was in the same posts as some critiques). Oh snap! Sorry! You're right, my eyes seem to glaze over the posts that don't start early with the item when looking for the haiku "Targets". ^.^ .. Stirgenest Quiver Makes a bunch of noise.
@Dieben: Don't get me wrong. The visuals of the item are very nice. And you stick to the mosquito thing very well. The restriction of "Once per week" really put you in a bad spot in my eyes. This is because when you use it, all it would take is for the grapple to be broken, then you have to wait a whole week to be able to use it again. This would actually make it VERY difficult, if not near-impossible, to ever pull off the second ability. And the risk of putting your weapon out of coolness for a whole month was the final nail in the coffin. You had a great theme, but the crunchy mechanics really needed to be thought through better. @Terminalmancer First off, I consistently upvoted your item. Once again, I want to applaud a good catch in excluding Alchemist Bombs from this weapon's ability. I probably would have felt a little differently if you had not done this, or worse, encouraged it. I'm curious as to whether or not you considered every possible alchemical item that could fit the bill to be put in this weapon. I mean, what's stopping me from putting a flask of silver weapon blanch and firing at my allies' weapons from 50 feet away to trivialize an enemy weak to silver? Or maybe firing five shots of a vial of flash powder? With iterative attacks, no less! Anyway, it got my gears turning that way. You have a great item and very good design. I would just be wary, and plug up any Power-gamer-exploitable holes. The 50 gp limit for 5 shot stuff is good, but firing more expensive stuff, even at a single shot, may have some unexpected results.
ALL ITEMS FROM PAGE 2 HAVE HAIKUS NOW! At this point I will open the floor to anyone who would want me to expand further than just my first impression. If you want me to elaborate more and give you a more thorough critique, please request so over in the haiku thread. Thanks.
REST OF PAGE 2 Axe of the Roaring Crowd Knew one would try to
Boots of the Swarming Mischief Funky, smelly boots!
Shah's Hookah I smoke dis shizznit!
PAGE 3 Replication Hammer Hammer that absorbs.
Bloodseeker Sword Watch me hurt myself!
Revealing Ink What did I just read?
Security Blanket So fluffy and warm!
Wardrum of the Tactician SO MANY ACTIONS
Critique of Cyclonic Darkleaf Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! This is exactly the kind of critique I was looking for: One that points out all the stuff I was blind to when making it and editing it! This is a huge help! Thank you!
Ah, no, its not like that. ^.^ My first time reading it, it felt like there was a wide variety of things to do with the face, and they all had a "grabby" theme to them. I liked your item. For whatever reason, the "breath underwater" made me giggle each time I read it.Typos that change words to other words make me chuckle.
YOU!?!?!?!? That must have been the greatest thing ever to hear so many people praising the Security Blanket in the chat room! Well, you already know my critique of this, in that case. I absolutely loved it! Visually evocative, fun, defensive (Which I like a lot), and any issues with it that I noticed, you already addressed in your post. In addition to this post
Twin Star Breastplate This one seems okay.
Stormleaper's Greaves Visuals are nice.
Rebel Mask Cute ability.
Wily Mace Risky little mace.
Zeitgeist Coin Real cool idea,
Pendant of Hidden Malice I'm invisible!
Jar of Fireflies Kind of confusing.
Chemist's Retort This seems really good!
Blackthorn Cudgel (Didn't see this one in voting) Nice for a first try.
Mask of Cheerful Demeanor Very useful tool!
Lookout's Lucky Buckler Pretty description
Face of the Kraken Hi, I'm Davey Jones!
Watch of Borrowed Time Really cool concept!
Chameleon Shield Stand still to blend in?
Needlenose Arbalest "Once Per Week"? Ew Yuck!
Vudrani Fighting Rope Animated rope.
Armor of the Sun Explodey auras
Phase Strike Lenses Just go stare at stuff
Locket of Love's Lure This item is cute!
Cyclonic Darkleaf Hey, look! My item!
Auric Hush Yay! Workshop buddy!
Teeth of the White Death "Appears to be"? Groan.
Hell's Restraints Chains that act like snakes
And thus, The haikus begin!! Soulrazor Soul-trapping stuff. Grr.
Lion's Roar Lots and lots of links!
Glove of the Severed Servent Eew eew eew eew eew!
Green Flash FLASH! AAh-AAHHHHHH!! Hee hee
Soul Shackle Bolt Tricky line tread here.
Sarkorian Sunderjaw Taking away bite,
Gorgon Sinew Lariat Lasso, eh? Go on...
I sincerely thought I had a shoe-in for the top 32. But I guess I'm blind to what others may have seen wrong with my entry, or I'm just super-duper confident. Anywho, taking all critiques! I'll get to my haikus later tonight.
The rugged leaves used to create this +2 darkleaf studded leather seem to always be rustling, even without wind. Half of them are coated with alchemical silver, replacing bulky standard studs without sacrificing protection for the wearer. Twice per day, as a standard action, the armor can be commanded to unravel and explode into a 20-foot high stationary cyclone of leaves, metal, and severe wind (Core Rulebook, pg. 439). Each 5-foot square adjacent to the user becomes occupied by the swirling cyclone. With a successful DC 16 Reflex save, a creature can avoid being caught in the initial burst and jump into a safe, adjacent empty square. This movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity. A creature within any space the cyclone occupies is immediately blinded and dealt 1d10+2 points of slashing damage. This damage also counts as magic and silver for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction. As long as the creature stays inside the cyclone, it remains blinded and continues to take this damage at the beginning of each of its turns. As the cyclone rages, treat the user as if he is not wearing the armor, though his armor slot is still occupied. Any attacks with melee weapons passing into or through the cyclone’s winds are treated as though the target has concealment (20% miss chance). An active cyclone can be maintained as a free action for up to six rounds, but it immediately and harmlessly disperses when the user’s body moves into it. Construction
First Impression Haiku: Writing implement
I'm pleased to see the vast change this item underwent from its original Nice work! Voted quite a few times! Congrats! Now, show us a great map!
Last year, I decided to try writing the backstories of people's items. They would request it, and I would write it. However, I didn't expect life to blindside me, and quite a few of the "Item Fanfics" fell to the wayside. Once again, sorry about that. This year, I'm doing something that is much more manageable. I'm going to be taking the items posted in the upcoming "Critique My Item" thread and writing a short, little haiku of my first impression of the item. I will still post full critiques over in the CMI thread, but I think this will be a fun little way to get a little bonus with the critique. It is also a way for me to at least cover everyone's item, since last year I didn't do detailed critiques on everyone who posted in the thread. Anyway, haikus will begin once the CMI thread opens up. If I do a detailed critique on your item, I will post a link to the appropriate post in the CMI thread. This will be fun! ^.^
Okay, so I woke up this morning to see a rebuttal from contest staff. It was the one thing I was afraid of when I first posted that video. So I guess I can't be too bent out of shape about it. Owen, I appreciate you taking the time to compose what I consider to be a very well-reasoned and appropriate response to my venting. Wordy, yes, but everything you said was spot on. I feel it really needs to be heard by people who are all feeling the same way I do. I'm going to take my time, and seriously process the critique I get for my item. And next season, I'll come back to knock some socks off. Thanks, man!
Kiel, I love aggressive thundercloud. And this item of yours is a wonderful consumable. I would buy these all the time for my society characters, so maybe a little more on the price tag would be good. Great, great item! Congratulations! Now, show us an awesome map!
Chris, Your item was the very first item I snarked about in the snark thread. And honestly, I'm a little surprised that the "Athletics" check didn't take the air out of this item's tires. If I'm honest with myself, the ONLY thing I see wrong is the "Athletics" check, and maybe the fact it's a little on the cheap side, yes. But it's all good, because here you are! Congrats! Now, show us an awesome map... ...again.... ...for the fourth time!
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