Mortal Sword's page

and then there is the time element. At least for my group, we meet and play after work. With point buy we do not have to burn a session on rolling stats.

Rolling six ability scores literally takes five minutes. Max.

GHOST SCOUT GOGGLES
Aura moderate illusion; CL 4th
Slot eyes; Price 21,000 gp; Weight -
Description
The lenses of this item are made of rainbow hued glass. When placed over the eyes of the wearer, the goggles allow normal vision. Upon utterance of a command word, the goggles create an illusion of the wearer. The wearer can guide this illusion at will, and view the area ahead of the illusion as with their own eyes. The illusion makes no sound or scent, granting the illusion a +10 competence bonus on Stealth checks. The illusion cannot interact with objects, and may only occupy empty space. You must concentrate to use ghost scout goggles, if you do not concentrate or, the illusion or wearer are attacked, the illusion is instantly dispelled. If the illusion is involuntarily dispelled, the wearer is stunned for 1d4 rounds. The goggles work for up to 10 minutes per day. The duration need not be continuous, but it must be used in 1 minute increments. Both lenses must be worn for the magic to be effective.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, arcane eye, silent image; Cost 10,500 gp

Interested to hear feedback...

Thanks in advance!

Gygaxian verbosity is definitely an issue here. It is important to remember that you are writing game reference material, and that the vocabulary of the average player should be assumed to be fairly basic. That is not to say that your flavorful writing is not without merit. As entertaining and evocative as your writing style can be for an experienced, well-read player, it could be intimidating for a child or new player.

Upon first glance I found this item to be a bookkeeping nightmare. I dismissed it as a headache. However, the flavor and description of this item saves it for me. I really could visualize the cloud of seeds. I'll likely be utilizing a simplified version of this in my campaign!

Grats on making top 32, and know that I'll be watching your future submissions with interest.

This item is fantastic.
This incites visions of many a memorable roleplaying moment.
Tavern room brawl? No problem, you need not even put down your cup!

The first thought I had was of Porthos (Three Musketeers) dueling valiantly with this in his hand.

Kruelaid wrote:

F. Wesley Schneider wrote:

Sooooo, everybody ready for the moment of truth in just a few hours here?

Ready for what?

Can't you read? The Moment of Truth.

Sigh...really?

Thank heavens last week I conceived my Vaseline Golem. I am now theoretically prepared.

I'm not going to ask why you have a Vaseline Golem. I'm not going to ask what you intend to do with it either. There are some things that cannot be unseen, and some thoughts that cannot be unthought.

*shudder*

I will do it again this year.

Clark and Sean,

I'm not prone to idle flattery, but your commitment to provide feedback is admirable. I can only imagine how busy your schedules are, and how much extra time and effort it will take for you gents to contribute priceless industry experience for those seeking it.

I personally feel a great deal of relief knowing that should I have failed to reach the Top 32, I will have an opportunity to perhaps gain some insightful experience by requesting your feedback.

Thank you for your commitment above and beyond the contest.
Many of us truly appreciate it.

Biggest thing that has me losing sleep is whether it was "flashy" enough.

I really tried to approach a practical methodology to my design. I set out to design something that was functionally sound, not broken, properly costed, and not over laden with too much fluff. I fear that by doing this I may have given the impression that I didn't put any creative effort into the item, but the fact is, it grew from a flavorful concept, and I pruned it into what I would have considered an acceptable splatbook entry. I really wanted my submission to look natural if it were inserted into the Core Rulebook (for example). We shall see if that paid off.

Live and learn...

Ultimately you have to ask yourself, is this player's behavior in character or metagaming?

If he is in character, then throwing a consequence in his way might slow down the behavior, but I really don't think you should punish clever play, especially from a rogue type, unless he is clearly exploiting.

If the player is metagaming or exploiting the situation try talking to him about it outside of the group. Maybe he can see why he should tone it down a bit. Communication is key.

Last but certainly not least, if your players are using aggressive SWAT caliber tactics, then by all means have your encounters operate the same way. Ambushes, dogged chases and drag-em out pacing can really equalize things for a party that seems to be too clever for its own good.

Besides nothing says problem solved like a TPK...
(I jest!)

This might have been addressed already and it may not be the right place to post this, but I wanted to note that in the Spell list for Wizards, the Abjuration school is misspelled as Aburation in all the school headings.

Just remember, we need to be aware of the threat of Canadian invasion. Will we allow their treachery to drip down like maple syrup?

I think not.

Erik Mona wrote:

Given what you know so far, are you planning to:

A) Convert! I am ready for a new D&D.

B) 3.5 or Bust! I'm sticking with the man what brought me.

C) We'll see. Need more information.

D) Other.

Please pick one. Feel free to elaborate, but please stick to one reply each for this thread. I'm not interested in fights or refutations of incorrect points or baiting or whatever.

I want to know how you, at this moment in time, feel about the idea of converting to a new edition of the game.

I expect that people's answers will change over time. This is not the last time I will ask this question, so we'll have a chance to gauge the issue as we go along.

So, given what you know so far, you plan to: _______________.

B. I will NEVER buy a 4.0 book, heck I was upset at the new layout of The Ruins of Castle Greyhawk, and Expidition to the Demonweb. I dispise the Book of Nine Swords feel and theme, and it seems to be what they want to go with. Genericizing the world, dropping all of the rich history and playstyle that has been D&D for the last 31 years is not the best business move, the folk at WotC are seemingly under pressure to make they're game more "anime" to appeal to the younger crowd. Heck if I wanted to play Anime games I would get on BESM d20, but I don't I play D&D!

3.5 FTW... 3.5 Till my Dice Rot!

Sincerely,
Elvnsword

I don't believe that they are throwing away the rich history of Greyhawk or any other D&D setting. But what many of the old school fanboys seem to forget or not realize is that they are SETTINGS. In my opinion the core rules for a game like D&D shouldn't be fileld with flavor for any specific setting. It should be a largely neutral book that can be adapted to any setting. D&D is so often ran in personal privately created/developed settings that I've always been shocked at how much they tie to specific settings. I don't play Greyhawk, not because its not good, but because its not what my players like. I've always liked Forgotten Realms myself, Dark Sun as well. My personal taste has no sway on my thoughts tho. The core rulebooks should be setting neutral.

Book of Nine Swords is not the devil people! Its an awesome book with lots of awesome material. In the book itself they show ways of changing the flavor of specific disciplines to fit your campaign. Do you neccesary want it to have a oriental feel? No? Well here...change the name and the mechanics are still really good. Warblade/Swordsage are the way fighters were meant to be.

I'm starting to wonder how many people feel like they have to take anything WotC publishes word for word? I always change the flavor to fit my setting. I turn to WotC products for inspiration and mechanics/game rules. The rest comes from me.

I am ready for the next edition and am excited to see how the mechanics have been streamlined. I feel like WotC are bungling their marketing and are making serious missteps which are making gamers anxious instead of eager, and that once the new edition is out, many will see it as an inspired step forward for the hobby. Until then, it is terrible to see how awful the press is on this one and how misguided the attempts to drum up interest are.

Bring it on. I am ready for a jet of fresh air. Just put a competent spokesperson in charge.

Paizo has handled Pathfinder beautifully. Can't some of you explain to the fine folk over at 4 ed design that they are opening themselves to attacks of opportunity and are flat footed in the surprise round.

What part of their press has been bad? Other than the GenCon announcement being run by two people with little to no public speaking comfort/background I think they have done a great job of keeping us posted on what the plans are and what future might hold. The employee blogs for one are a huge step towards letting us in just a bit more on the process.

This sort of TOS is nothing new folks.

You have to realize that the US legal system has fostered a neccesity for this kind of legal mumbo jumbo. Due to frivilous claims on both the part of companies and regular everyday people, everyone has to look out for their own.

If you want to share your homebrew stuff with others, your best bet is probably to pay for a website and host it on there and just post links to it. Be sure you have designated what is OGC in your work and what is intellectual property. For a good example on this check out Rich Burlew's site www.giantitp.com. In all of his homebrew stuff he has property tag and OGC highlighting. Posting your intellectual property directly to the any companies boards is at best risky, at worst flat out foolish.

On that note, WotC is not out to get you. Why should they be? The success of their company and more importantly D&D itself is based on customers. If they don't continue to produce a high quality, entertaining product, that you and I want to buy, they don't continue at all. WotC has no interest in irking off customers, potential or otherwise.

In corporate terms WotC is still a small company. Do they have the market share and set the pace for the industry? Sure. Is it a monopoly? No. 3E was a huge risk for WotC. They needed to revamp a slowly fading game, and they needed to maintain brand and customer loyalty. They did a darn good job of it. 4E is the next step in that direction. They are taking the system that united a fragmented industry and improving upon it and setting a new pace for the future. In a massive step in the right direction they are bringing a large share of their content online, and they are also making their staff accessible. The Gleemax system and blogs that WotC employees are already faithfully posting to are giving us a direct link with the people who make the game we love. Recent iniatives like the limited public playtesting is a HUGE step towards making us, the consumer an integral part of the future of our beloved game. They read our posts on the forums, they read our emails and private messages and they respond to it.

WotC is not big brother. If anything right now they are one of the few leaders of their respective industry doing the right things.