JamesCooke's page

Why would you want to turn roleplay into roll-play? I could see that, maybe, working in a game focused on psychology and how emotions manifest and affect behavior. But that game certainly isn't Pathfinder.

Jeremy Clements wrote:

A "Goblin Edition" would be cool!

Personally, I would love to see more on Tian Xia, and/or more on the new Occult book! These two are just begging to be combined into some interesting stuff!

Goblins would be fun, as would occult, but I would love to see an Tian Xia issue, since it's a whole continent that doesn't get very much love. Jalmeray would be awesome too. But sticking with the Inner Sea, I absolutely love Andoran.

Alternatively: "Occult Goblins of Tian Xia".

Fluxbane Khopesh

It was neat visually, but I ultimately voted the other way because it didn't offer an interesting play dynamic.

What does this weapon do? Well, it's a bane weapon that changes its bane type when it confirms a critical.
Alright, but what does that mean? The bane property gives a +2 to hit and +2d6 damage against targets of the bane type.
So, ultimately, what this weapon does is give an occasional boost to damage and accuracy. Which is fine, but is it Super Star?

Let's compare this to a Super Star item: the Daylight Diadem.
The Daylight Diadem offers two different effects that have two different use-dynamics. On top of this, it offers the player the chance to forgo the long-term opportunities of using the first effect for the impressive short-term benefits of the second effect. The item creates a compelling play dynamic by introducing this form of player-driven choice. In short, the item's presence adds depth to play.

You do have a way with making your item's ability very flavorful. It's narrative cohesion is very sound, so while the ability is a bit underwhelming, your conceptual grasp of item visuals is very good.

Needlenose Arbalest

The best written "gross" item this year, imho. Most of the others were repulsive but this one skated the edge of "disgusting" and "cool-gross" for me and I found that appealing (although I suspect for many others it was the reason they voted the other way)

-"This movmeent does not provoke". afaik, it should always read the full "this movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity"

Twin Star Breastplate

I thought the visuals were good and the additional ability to allow an ally with a teamwork feat to act was very fitting with the "Twin" theme. This was actually the first item on my keep list and I'm mildly disappointed voting went the other way.

Why not let the wearer of the armor choose which ally acts? I can see some funny/tragic scenarios where allies with the same teamwork feat argue with each other over who gets to act- so perhaps it'd be better to let the wearer choose instead. Arbitration over committee and all that jazz.

My item, flaws and all. Please don't pull any punches :)

Watch of Borrowed Time
Aura moderate transmutation; CL 10th
Slot none; Price 11,000 gp; Weight —¬
Description
This hunter-case pocket watch is tarnished with age and the case’s emboss is scarred beyond recognition. Inside of the case is an engraving that reads “Progress now, progress forever”. Even when not wound, the watch produces a gentle tick-tock that can only be heard in complete stillness.

Once per day on command, the hunter-case springs open and the hands of the watch begin spinning wildly as two long, illusory clock hands stretch out beneath you. These phantasmal hour and minute hands last for 1 minute and revolve clockwise under you, until you, as a move action that provokes attacks of opportunity, designate two squares adjacent to you for them to point towards. A creature occupying the square that the hour hand indicates must make a DC 14 Will save or become staggered as it is syphoned of its perception of time. Additionally, if that creature fails its saving throw, a creature occupying the square the minute hand indicates receives the first creature’s “stolen time” and gains an extra movement action on their next turn.

If no creature occupies the square that the minute hand indicates, this additional effect is lost as the excess time creates a brief, yet violent, temporal shudder. If a single creature occupies both squares indicated by the hands and fails its save, the creature’s stolen time is immediately returned to it. However, its rapidly shifting sense of time causes it to become sickened. As a move action that provokes attacks of opportunity, you can realign the positions of both clock hands to point toward different squares. These hands pivot and move with you as their fulcrum.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, haste, slow, minor image; Cost 5,400 gp

This weapons is so damn cool. I mean pardon my French but jeez Louise the imagery is spot-on.
I will say that I think applying the effects of feats that are longsword-specific regardless of the current form is a bit odd. Everything else fits together so well, but that one little bit is something I can't connect to the theme or imagery.

I adored this item. It had a unique theme and an excellent example of "charges without charges" item. You also used "diadem", a personal favorite word of mine, so that helped when it came to my vote haha
Seriously good work and I look forward to seeing what you do next.

Thomas LeBlanc wrote:

Brigg wrote:

Thomas LeBlanc wrote:

Brigg wrote:

I always save all fluff (if any) for the first paragraph, and all of it is spent describing the physical appearance of the item.

Ah, so that was your item...

Curious as to which item you're thinking of. PM me?

Wasn't serious...

Plot twist: neither was I!!!

We both win!

*Flies away in rocket ship*

Pretty sure Brigg is proof that magic and wonderment still exist after you grow up

You keep popping up for me and every time I remain impressed. Your effect is simple, but the way you let the mechanics speak for themselves and what's happening when you use the item is top notch.

Eric Morton wrote:

Soooo many items this year could have been salvaged if their visuals weren't so derpy looking. Why can't your item let me do the coolest mechanical thing in the history of the game without covering me in purple polka dots and surrounding me in an aura of continuous circus clown music?

*jots down notes for polka-dotted circus apparatus*

Could you PM me when you're done with that? I have ideas

In a future adventure path, they're planning to have Abadar send out a champion equipped with all of the most ridiculously OP items created here.

The creator of the virus that will bring on the zombie apocalypse is using RPGSS to see what people's attitudes are towards undead. And blood.

There is a secret Last Place prize where they give you a copy of the core rulebook so you know how the system actually works.

It's like a 100-something degrees outside but I'm glad you said that last one cause you just threw out some serious shade

I'm actively looking forward to the point where every vote is emotionally devastating to me
I want it to feel like I'm losing a part of myself every time I click a button and agonize over each decision while I try to go to sleep
It's gonna be so *pinch harmonic*ing brutal

Then remember anonymity precludes an item from gaining the forum user's popularity

"Popularity" was poor word choice. What I meant was "whatever catches the forum's fancy"- which isn't necessarily good design.

Pretty sure that I made the top 32 with that mistake in my entry, so breath easy.

Yeah but didn't judges go over the top items before cutting them down to just 32 when you entered? This year it's JUST the voters that choose the top 32.

Y'know for an item I'm 99% sure is a joke, I think I've voted for you every time you've come up for me. You're just so... really well written. I'm sorry to the community if that's a no-no, but honestly props to the writer.

I know you're an IP violation, but I'd be 100% lying if I said I never wanted to play as that IP.

I am not a native speaker and I approve this post ;-)

My heart goes out to people who have learned or are learning the English language. It's a mess of a language and trying to apply it to game design when you aren't a native speaker must be a nightmare.

Saw an item with a consistent grammatical error, which makes me wonder if English isn't their first language. However they wrote well enough for me to understand what the item does, the idea is neat, and was overall a better concept than their competition.
I'm willing to give the author the benefit of the doubt- not having a perfect mastery over the English language isn't a deal breaker for me.

Excuse you, "The" and "Of" are trying their darndest to get by in this crazy world and don't need you putting them down like that.

I think it's quite exciting that someone, or multiple someones, have looked at my item and have bothered enough to consider it in any respect.
Sure I can't say "that one was mine", but knowing that it's been looked at is... well, exciting!

Oh good, someone else noticed the blood theme- I thought it was just me, which wouldn't be good; pops says I gotta go to the doctors if I start seeing the word "blood" everywhere again

*Reads Dabbler's review"

*Cries*

The Unchained Monk was basically the only reason I was considering purchasing this book. From what I can see, none of the core problems were fixed, and in some ways the class was actually WEAKENED.

WRYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

I also read his review of the Unchained Monk and I'm dissatisfied with his arguments. Some background info: I followed his musings about the Vanilla Monk class semi-religiously a while ago and I thought he made very good points back then. But as I read his review, what it felt like reading was "I don't like this Monk because it's not the Monk I wanted". This isn't a jab at him, Dabbler's a cool guy who doesn't afraid of anything, I just think his review is lacking.

@Tels
Not every option given by Paizo has to be optimal. If anything, just getting gun prof. and quick clear is enough to make a gun usable by any class. You've gotta keep in mind that the VMC isn't meant to be intensive. A Fighter VMC Gunslinger majors in "Fightan" and minors in "Gun". As a concept, the VMC Gunslinger is fine. If you want to gun better, there are other options, but if you just want to have a character that wields a usable gun and for all other purposes acts like their base class then VMC might be for you.

Nah, the text is clear; one of the two people who answered missed the part where it was explained.

Man, why don't you also crush my dreams by telling me how the Hogfather isn't real or that the Toothfairy isn't Lawful Good

@Cheapy
wow I actually feel kind of dumb for not catching that in the first place
doubly so since I JUST had the "class name =/= stat block" conversation with a friend

Still waiting on the PDF, really pumped to dig into it. I'm practically quivering in antici

I have a problem with statements like these, because people generally only say this in regard to "outliers" like people that are trans, genderfluid, or asexual (which I am). If we can have cisgender male and cisgender female characters who's gender identity is not the focus of their personal story... why can't we have transgender or nonbinary ones that get stories that aren't just about their gender-identity?

It's akin to only casting African American men as leading roles in "Black Movies" like Tyler Perry's stuff. It's okay to have a character just be black. It's okay to have a character just be trans.

If this wasn't what you meant, then I apologize, but regardless, it should be brought up.

Well that's why I like talking about this kind of stuff- the more I don't know, the more of an opportunity I have to learn about both the subject and myself. In this case, I learned that I provided a faulty argument and, probably, won't make that same mistake twice.

I can kinda see where JamesCooke is coming from. Like it or not, uncommon things derive reactions from us, and non-cisgenderedness is definitely not that common. It stands out, and when something stands out, the audience expects it to matter. Even once our culture is fully tolerant, that expectation will linger. Like a character with a big mohawk or who has a face covered in tattoos or who hails from Antarctica, we always expect unusual things to have a payoff.

That said, it's not exactly fair that we expect that. And hopefully we'll get to the point where a trans* character is noticed, noted, then mostly remembered for what they do or who they're acted by.

Wonderfully said, I think that puts it in perspective for me.

A huge thing with the Gothic Horror genre is the disparity between different cultures.
In an absurd amount of Gothic Horror novels, the antagonists are either:
-Foreign
-Rich/Poor (no in-between)
-Catholic
-Some Combination of the Above
So what I would do is find "monsters" that don't appear to be monsters. In fact they'd appear to be normal people if only a bit eccentric. If your players are monster hunters, then they'll be looking for monsters- not people. That's where you can really prey on their biases. Weird things should happen around those characters to make the players feel on-edge. Eventually, the players should be the targets of the antagonists efforts. If we're talking about minions, animals are really popular. It's not just that they're animals, but that they're animals that think and act like intelligent creatures.
Most of the "horror" you're going to get out of a Gothic Horror setting is going to come from A) Suspense and B) good oration.

That's my 2-cents, anyway.

@Issac Daneil
Right, don't use spells to attack people- that was the plan all along! Lemme just.. get rid of these "Fireball everything" plans.
I suppose that's another advantage of using the Eldritch Knight PrC- it increases CL as it progresses.
I've never had any luck with martial Bards. I suppose the Skald could do it well, but "Sounding the drums of war" doesn't conjure up images of sneaky thug-types.

@Durngrun Stonebreaker
Oh, nifty. I don't think I'll use that for this build, but I'll definitely keep it in my back pocket for something else I was thinking of- thanks for sharing!

@kestral287
I think that's a fair recommendation for a 12 level progression.
Magus hasn't been thrown out, at this point I'm looking for other points of view on the subject.
I like the Slayer's mechanical boons to stealth and tracking while keeping the flavor open enough to be applicable in an urban environment (as opposed to the Ranger which is very heavily nature based).

All of the things you want to do can be accomplished by playing a straight Cleric or Warpriest. The Cleric has the advantage of having superior spellcasting while the Warpriest's Fervor makes him very durable.
If you end up going Warpriest, I suggest you look at the Sacred Fist archetype since it's one of the stronger archetypes for the Warpriest. It'll also help you fight unarmed/unarmored as well.
My experience playing a Sacred Fist Warpriest of Irori was pretty positive, but I had more spellcasting support from my party than you do. Knowing that, I think Cleric's going to be your best bet. Clerics are a lot tougher than their d8 HD implies, so they can frontline no problem.

Also concerning the trait that gives you a bonus vs aboleth magic, that could just be something that's bred into the species. Same kind of thing happens with dog breeds and dormant hunting genes.
Honestly it could go either way and I think at that point it's up to GM interpretation. That doesn't make his ruling good and especially doesn't justify his actions, but all-in-all it was his call to make and he made it.

Kind of a reversal of the question, but I always try to coax one of my DMs to allow the Tome of Battle. At this point it's just me ribbing him, but it's hilarious to listen to him go on about how much he doesn't like the, and I'm quoting him here, "book of weeaboo fightan-magic".