Moik's page

Blackmail
Aura Strong Necromancy; CL 13th
Slot Armor; Price 40,000 gp
Description

Blackmail are +1 chain shirts with rough, dark pig-iron links adorned with yellow silk. Their surfaces are smudged with soot which won't clean off. Scrutiny reveals a pattern etched into the links that a successful DC 17 Knowledge (Religion) check identifies as symbols of Calistria.

Whenever the wearer succeeds in grappling a corporeal creature, it gains a mark of her Blackmail’s soot. Marks can only be cleaned by a Remove Curse or an application of universal solvent.

If the wearer is within 10’ of a creature she marked, she may activate her Blackmail as a magic item, casting a curse on the marked creature. The curse is negated by a successful DC 21 Will Save and makes the creature immune to that Blackmail's curse. Each mark the wearer still has on the affected creature applies a -1 penalty to its roll. On a failed save, the creature is cursed to take negative energy damage equal to any lethal damage dealt to the wearer from any source.

Any number of creatures can be marked any number of times by a set of Blackmail, but only one can be under its curse at a time. One creature can be affected by any number of Blackmail at once. A wearer cannot mark or curse herself. A curse remains in effect until either the cursed creature or the originating Blackmail’s wearer dies, or until either receives a successful Remove Curse, or the originating suit of Blackmail for that curse is destroyed.

Construction
Requirements Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Greater Bestow Curse, Black Spot, worshipper of Calistria; Cost 20,000 gp

I know I got the cost wrong, lacking Masterwork. In retrospect I'm not sure I could use Black Spot. And I noticed due to someone else's item during voting, that my worshipper requirement could mean that the worshipper is consumed by creation, and not that the creator needs to be a worshipper.

In Feros' data post, there were 10 earthbreakers out of 327 weapons. That's 3%. Hardly seems like a problem that merits community action.

Statistically it's not an issue. By 'customer feedback', it's an issue. If as many people tried to find a solution as were complaining about the issue, we'd have something that looks like community action.

The goal is to increase submission diversity. Is this not desirable?

I really feel like there would be value gained from the community trying to suss out a solution to filigreeing/dimension-dooring/earthbreakering.

When I went to make my item, I looked over a certain broad array of options in order to pick out a thematic inspiration. In voting, I see others using that sphere of inspiration, and for some reason a decent chunk of them landed on the same selection as me. Dozens of options, and everyone seems to have clustered around the same few.

Probably after voting ends and critiquing starts, we should try to collect as many people as we can from the duplication groups and ask "Why did you pick it over the others?" and see if there's a trend that can be reversed or warned against.

The black raven wrote:

Some people do like their classical iconography. Saw several items that actually belong to the Hermes family (Asclepius included). Thank the Greek Gods that they did not put copyright on it ;-)

The good news is they would have had to renew that copyright for the last 2500 years, so we're all good!

Or, they could decide that 'public domain' means 'owned by the government' and take control of the copyright in perpetuity as PEI did with Anne of Green Gables.

Rod-chaku of the Youthful Aberration Rogue Tortoise
Aura moderate conjuration; CL 7th
Slot Weapon; Price 8,000 gp
Description
This exotic rod consists of a pair of cherrywood batons, adorned with leather filigree for gripping, joined by a thin steel chain. If used as a primary weapon while taking a total defense action, the weilder gains an additional +1 deflection bonus to AC. If used as a dual weapon while taking a total defense action, the weilder gains a +2 deflection bonus to AC.

Once per day, as a standard action, the weilder may activate the rod-chaku of the youthful aberration rogue tortoise, causing it to spin rapidly and create a magical vortex. The vortex functions as a dimension door of CL7 and is not canon.
Construction
Requirements Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Deflect Arrows, dimension door; Cost 4,302 gp

Next year?
Rod-chucks. :D
I'm doin' it.
Can't even stop me.

[Edit: Done.]

The Medium is the Message.

And the audience is the content.

Well, looking at the other groups...
Each of the top 3 armors is the highest end for their tier. "Best In Slot" in a way. The top Shield is also a meaty "Best In Slot" type. If I extrapolate... Dagger must be considered "Best In Slot" among Simple Weapons which are relevant to everyone. Any adventurer can use, and often needs, a Simple Light weapon for the literally face-to-face fights. That global necessity must have been what edged it out over Best In Slot Martial Longsword.

Some data mining from the Feros Array:

Armors: The top 3 armor types account for over half of submissions. Each armor tier is represented in the top 3. Heavy only occurs once in the top 10. Almost all the Mediums are in the Top 10. Probably Heavy armors were less appealing dur to their restricted nature.

Shields: A single type accounts for over half of submissions. However, the remainder of types are evenly spread. I find those two points VERY interesting and don't know what to make of them.

Weapons: 13 weapon types account for over half of submissions. 7 are Martial, 4 are Simple, 2 are Exotic. It has the same kind of 'sweet spot' spread as the Armors which favours midrange. Speaking of pareidolia, Starknives were called out earlier in the thread as unusually common, but are tied for 21st with only 4 entries of 327 weapons.

Daaaang Feros! Five star post! Thanks! As they say, Data is Beautiful.

What I'm picturing is two columns of checkboxes adjacent to each item.
One column is label "Did Well" and the other column is labelled "Needs Work". The rows would be thing like Naming, Template, Pricing, Mechanics, Theme, Similarity or something like those.

The goal is to let the voter say why they're voting the way they're voting. The benefits are potentially threefold:
- Datamining. Paizo will have hard numbers about what should be highlighted in the contest FAQ or Guidelines. Possibly it could also be used to understand player tastes better and used in product development. The voting portion of the contest is also a survey. It has the potential to create an absurd amount of value.
- Feedback. Possibly have the submission entry page reveal the final tallies after the contest. If a submitter sees 8:1 voted "Need Work" on the Pricing, but everything else was 8:1 Did Well, they have a starting point to improve from. This could increase retention across years as submitters could have a sense of building on experience.
- Negativity Sink. Possibly by having an outlet for criticism at the voting page, fewer people will use the forums to express distaste. Things could stay more upbeat for longer despite voter fatigue.

pareidolia

Is it just me or did your post teleport? Forum wizardry skills.

In 2008 or 2007 or whenever the first RPGSS was, I submitted an item. I forget what base item it was, but I remember it conferred Swallow Whole. I thought it was such an awesome idea. What player had ever used Swallow Whole? It could be a totally new thing! You'd be like Tarrasque! Aw yeah, I'm gonna win all the rounds!

My item and dozens (hundreds?) like it got brushed off as "MIAC". Monster In A Can. In my mind's eye I can recall seeing judge comments on items (mine?) where it was just four quick "MIAC" posts and then gone again. I'm not sure how much of that is recollection and how much is imagined.

Negativity can be discouraging. But being brushed off can be even more discouraging. I went seven or eight years without trying again.

A negative post which implies how to solve the problem at least offers a glimmer of hope to the optimists. If we must go negative, please don't stop at "Oh gross, you X'd a Y!". Tack on a "You should have A'd the B!" People will come back and A their Bs next year if they at least know it's a thing they can do.

Problem with the idea pool having a lot of duplication? Okay, how did it happen, and how do we prevent it from happening? If it's an easy thing to solve, it should get mentioned here at the same time the problem is identified.

If any weapon type was to be used to create a dimension door, it's obvious that rifles are the ideal candidate. If anything I'm more disappointed in the designers for missing that opportunity than anything else.

The point is, you can't assume the reader will know all the core mechanics you use, so you have to use some judgment as to which things to explain.

Full disclosure; I've never played Pathfinder. For the first 500 votes or so any time I encountered "CMB" I was like "... Cuse Magic Bevice?" Around 500 one designer actually wrote it out rather than acronymize it. They got an upvote.

How long is it 'til critiquing can begin? Voting ends, or Winner's Announced?

Yeah, I just grabbed all the issues (What? FREE? ALL OF THEM!?) and am checking over issue 11 now. I'm unaware of too many nuances at the moment to be "ready for freelancing". Familiarization time is going to eat into my hours budget. I feel like I should really try Gazetteer since I can use that research in the next round, if I make it. But, I feel more confident in low level Weal or Woe types of projects. Whichever one has an idea pop up first while reading about Ustalav I'll probably go with.

>DEADLINE: December 31, 2014, 11:59pm

It matches the turnaround times for future rounds, not sure I can manage that though. Is this a recurring thing, or is it special to this issue?

[Edit: Most recent needs assessment implies they desire low level 'Weal or Woe' and 'Gazetter'. I have no idea what either of these are. Suppose I can take a look.]

I'm so glad you're here this year, I love seeing people get it. Welcome home :-)

Thank you! :D

Judging from Nazard's description of Snapleaf, I think I may be able to provide a perspective on what Superstar could be. It doesn't come from a place of experience (as can be seen by my tags), but from a degree in game design.

It could be argued that one of the most important things in game design are player choices. If the choices are too obvious and easy, or too limited and repetitive, the games stops being fun. They become a grind.

As a result, I suspect the Superstar items will probably ones that give the player an option they didn't have before, without replacing or deprecating other choices.

The challenge and nuance that will separate Top 32 from Top 100 will be in how they handle the nuance of 'don't replace or deprecate other choices'. Like, if an item enhances a specific combat maneuver beyond a certain point, there's a chance the player would be foolish to do anything but that combat maneuver. Then, the designer has actually reduced player choice and made the game less fun as a result. I see a lot of items that figuratively double up what a character can do in a round if they select a specific action. Those items will make encounters repetitive and un-interesting. I have doubts we'll see any in the Top 32.

But, player choice isn't the only perspective to take when considering choice. The DM has choices to make, and they need to have fun too. If an item simply negates the DMs actions and throws them back in their face, it's reducing the DM's choices. If they know there's no feasible way to (for example) melee attack your character, then they have to pull all the melee beasts and traps from their design roster. Encounters become less diverse and more repetitive feeling. That hits both the DM's and Player's total level of fun.

TL;DR - The Superstar items are probably going to open up new spaces to play in or new sights to see rather than let players and DMs run existing paths more quickly or safely. Game Expanders > Game Enhancers.

I can't recall one... At least, nothing at the same degree as the bard-hating item. That one has so much pure hate emanating from it, the items around it begin to shift their own stats to focus on killing bards.

If it wouldn't break the autosum, it could be beneficial to add a header row for a big red warning along the lines of "Please check for your item's name both with and without "The" included in it anywhere".

Possibly reduce the chance of this type of duplication from recurring.

Oh items... why...

I think next year, I'm going to track WHY I voted the ways I did, for each item.

Like on one item I can start out like "Oh god, why, no. Designer, have you ever tactical mapped before? Do you know how strong repositioning is? I have to downvote you. I couldn't let that kind of juggernaut into my games." then transition to "Well, at that WBL price you want those kind of tricks since you've really kinda lost your other options against appropriate CR.*sigh* How should I vote this..." and finish off with "Y'know what? It's a new option. New options are good. Whatever, I'll start upvoting you." all on the same item on different votes.

My voting history is definitely capricious.

It wouldn't surprise me if some of the older players supplied those. Dragon Magazine 72 for 2nd Edition D&D has an article of several joke/jock items. I've seen at least one item I could swear was made by a 2nd Edition ex-pat.

Speaking of gunblades, are there no sword-chuck submissions? I haven't seen any sword-chucks and I'm beginning to worry.

[Edit: *gasp* Marathon!]

*headdesk* owe mai gawd, item. Everyone loves your opponent but I'm not supposed to be upvoting joke submissions like it. Stop negating the chance to fail so I can vote for you instead.

I just shifted a Weapon to keep for that reason too. I have my reservations about exploitability, but it's consistently less exploitable than its opponents.

I think there are some common mat brand sizes which have less than 26 squares on one of the axis. I can't find Mats on the Paizo store to verify their standards though.

I hadn't stopped to consider that though. Thanks for bringing it up.

[Edit: Swag. Hindley has the deets.]

A keeper list without Jacob's item would be like a Christmas without a new pair of socks under the tree. It simply isn't done.

I'm seeing that too. A lot of the items I've been upvoting are squaring off, and a lot of the ones I'd been consistently downvoting aren't showing up. I find myself often pursing my lips and going "Paizo Sorting Hat, why u do dis?"

Currently I have 4 Armors, 4 Rings, 1 Rod, 1 Shield, 1 Staff, 9 Weapons.

Well, item. I didn't realize it through the first five upvotes. But, since I keep backing you, that must mean you're solid. That tenacity will get you into my Keep folder.

I wish I knew how far along I was to Marathon :(
My gut says I'm above 800 but below 900. Maybe over the weekend I'll cross over.

leaving behind a small sack with all of their marketable valuables.

I almost jumped out of my chair at the genius of that like "OOOOH DUUUUUDE DO YOU REALIZE!?"

69. Struggle to not engage in juvenile humour.

And, as Headkase pointed out, most of the evil items I've seen so far seem to be the sort of thing created by a teenager who still thinks that being an assassin would be the COOLEST THING and oh man DEATH AND MURDER IS AWESOME and also blood and evil and demons and pain and stuff.

To be fair, murderhobos are an appealing demographic in today's marketplace given their relatively high disposable income and goods consumption rate. A designer seeking a greater revenue share of upvotes would be well-rewarded by considering the needs of this niche.

I strongly encourage everyone else to consider creating items such as those next year.

I'm already antsy with eagerness to get in on the critique threads and its still three weeks away :(

I wish there was a half-time to make minor edits to our entries.
Pretty sure I coulda made Top 32 if I could fix some flaws that are apparent to me after a few hours of voting.

I've seen my own item four times. I have yet to see the corn item.
Why do you do this, Paizo Sorting Hat. I want to see the corn item.

Question to the group; what's the standard when an item has a Save DC; does whether or not spell resistance applies need to be called out? Is it always assumed to be Yes unless otherwise stated? More than 500 votes in and still realizing things I don't know what the eff I'm doing. Been voting without considering that for almost a week now.

there will always be voters who don't want/won't vote for/dislike a lot the chosen class.

Full disclosure, items which rely on class powers I don't understand/never used have been suffering under my voting regime since I pick the devil I know. :(

I'm afraid to upvote something which is potentially overpowered if I don't explicitly know it's balanced.

I think this topic was sort of implied in the FAQ but maybe just in reference to regions and dieties?

Hm, that's an interesting downside. Something of a inspired-by-history fantasy trope. But the way it's written? It can be kept in check with a supply of parchment. Given how mildly powered it is, maybe that's intended? I'll upvote you though. You're not a game-breaker.

I don't know where this feeling came from, I partly blame the Christmas season, but...

I'm sitting here tired and kinda grumpy, voting for a lack of better things to do, staring at middling items that don't actually get me excited, and...

I felt grateful. I felt glad these people had taken the time to write and try, and left the item there for others to look at. My internal reaction was like as if someone had showed up with gingerbread cookies for everyone, or if a pet had sidled up against me. Like, a comforting emotional warming.

So, to everyone, even the ones who wrote in essay form without any template; thank you. I appreciate that you shared.

WwwwwOW! THIS must be the raging hate of all things bardly item! U mad bro. U mad.

That is far and away the best typo I've seen yet. I wish that really was a spell.

Any estimates on how many "Joke item but good rules" are going to make it into the Top 100? I've encountered four likely candidates so far.

Oh hey, it's one of the lances people have been talking about! Oh, that's a neat route to go with it, makes sense from the point of 'this is what a lancer would actually ask for'. Kinda feel it should have been built into the construction cost in some way though... Ah well, you're against a persistent peeve downvote anyways. Have an upvote.

I don't care how rare that kind of creature is, item. If you can potentially kill more than 100 of them with a single activation you're not adventuring gear you're a breach of international treaties and cause for war.

Do something new:

I want what I don't have, and something I can't find a substitute for gets to dictate the non-negotiable price of "one upvote each time".

When does it get squared?

At the very beginning; "Bonus squared × 100 gp".