NJKrosse's page

Thank You and Salutations from Wisconsin!

*shakes hands, kisses baby*

I decided to wait until the weekend before saying thank you to the Judges, the former competitors, my fellow competitors (that's you Andrew Sun), and the many of you who took the time to leave me feedback. It has been much appreciated so far. I do look forward to being able to speak my mind on my creation, but until then I will thank you to kindly leave feedback and if you're inclined to, whether I have your vote or not.

With 51 hours to go by my watch, I'm anxious to see how this round plays out. Have a great weekend to anyone who reads this!

*shakes babies, kisses hand*

Take a breath. Then breathe out. Nice and slow.

... wise thoughts indeed ...

Stay the course and dont get swept up in the emotion.

I know this to be true, I read my entry quickly, took note of everything, felt some jarring emotions, and promptly stepped away and started looking at other entries.

This opening salvo is important, I don't doubt, yet the long week ahead will be a better judge for all of us.

I'm not just blowin' sunshine either. I believe there's something liberating about knowing you can do something once, that gives you the confidence to do it again.

Ditto on this, just being among the company of the first round, given me much perspective, but also given me a reason to keep at what I've come to love.

Nicolas Quimby wrote:

Haven't found one yet that I wouldn't enjoy using in a game.

Agreed. I'm still making my way through them, but I see a some nice options for games.

Each one so far has given me plenty of thoughts, and I daresay that every critter here has the potential to move on to the next round!

Go Team RPG Superstar!

Hmm, maybe we have a contender for a theme song for the whole RPGSS.

The Ultimate Showdown Song

I had totally forgotten such a gem of the interwebs that is this song! My vote is for this for our theme song!

I am quite eager to see this zoo/menagerie of the fantastic that we 32 have cooked up. Ahh, the exhilaration of not knowing!

I just posted mine a minute ago, booted to the main page, posted a second time just in case.

I can't be sure if I'll be able to check back here until almost 2pm (4pm where I am), so I wanted to cover my bases as best I could.

So I really hope it made it in. I don't know what I would do if it didn't.

Echo Drinkers

Description: An echo drinker is an aberration, appearing as a long, disembodied animal’s tail. Echo drinkers feed off the energy of humanoid souls at the time of death, biting the body and drinking up a fraction of the soul—an echo—for sustenance. Hidden beneath its fur are a spongy, yet resilient skin, centipede like legs, and a head which appears like a woodland animal, typically a fox. Its eyes look like those of the last intelligent humanoid it drank from. Although feeding off souls, they are not malevolent, and do not seek to harm healthy humanoids, unless desperate. They reside wherever humanoids live and die. An audacious person may try to treat with an echo drinker for knowledge, drawn from the abundant information gained from drinking in echoes.

Powers and Abilities: As echo drinkers absorb more echoes, they gain more intelligence, allowing them to speak the languages of the souls of their victims. They can crawl and climb, but their movements are erratic, and hard to predict. Also able to move between the Material and Ethereal planes, echo drinkers usually wait on the Ethereal plane before striking out at a victim. Although not physically powerful, an echo drinker’s bite is still ferocious with two rows of teeth in its mouth. When it bites, it does damage to the physical being and drains a part of the victim’s soul, resulting in the loss of skill or ability. It utilizes innate magic to create illusions as well as the ability to perfectly mimic the voice of its victims to attack or misdirect adversaries. Older, stronger echo drinkers are known to create deadly illusions. Echo drinkers rarely attack healthy humanoids, and rarer still do some develop a hunger for souls, attacking healthy humanoids and savagely drinking their souls dry.

282 words at last check. Time to let it simmer for 8 hours and come back to it with a Red Pen! That's the English B.A. holder in me, granted it was for criticism and not grammar. Just finished a whirlwind of creativity. I drew on an experience in a past life regression workshop this past August for the basis of my "phantastical creation".

I'm actually really excited about this round, as monsters aren't my forte as much as some other areas. I really only had ideas for one monster and some side ideas that got reworked into the main.

I really just hope that this monster lives up to the credit Clark gave me for my wondrous item. Here's to Friday at 2pm, 4 my time *Downs the last of his heather ale, and hiccups*

I, for one, cannot wait to read the "Phantastical Menagerie" that we have all worked so hard to create, it'll be like our own zoo opened up on Tuesday! "Carefuly kiddies, no petting, the last one to pet the monster lost a nose, and a foot"

*Lifts a mug of heather ale to toast the successes of Round 1, then unrolls a rug, takes a spot on the floor and stretches out*

Ahh, delicious! Now down to business, wait, where did the first 4/9ths of this design period go? Time sure does fly by in this competition. I'm still reeling from and reading the results of round 1. I fully intend to comment on everyone's item, as I think its worthwhile to build some good camaraderie at this point (bolster the good vibes).

Though I have not been idle. Some ideas on the table, some clever thoughts so far, but mostly I have been looking over the bestiary on and off for ideas, not to steal mind you, but just ideas that have not been explored much, if at all.

I hope you start feeling better Nicolas, I would hate to have to fight off a bug and still make the deadline.

*Gets up, stretches again, and goes back to it*

Congrats on being among the 32.
I think you did a better job than I.
I do have a question though. The type of energy, is denoted by the deity, but you also say that the type of energy the scapular protects is chosen during the item's creation. Is the act of attaching a symbol of one's deity part of its creation? In which case whichever deity gets to this item first wins. Or is the energy chosen when a new symbol is attached?

Other than this, I do like the item, and I can't wait to see what kind of phantastical monster arises from your imagination.

Whoooo boy, where do I start?

Thank you all for the naked, honest criticisms. I'm glad those of you liked the idea of the key removing some of the difficulty of a lock/trap/door and didn't view it as quite a 'knock-off' of the knock spell. That said, I did indeed botch the mechanics of this item. I won't hide that. I didn't give myself enough time to let the key simmer and show me its true colors before submitting it. That was a big mistake, and I have no intentions of making it again in round 2. I saw the same glaring error of CR vs DC that you have all mentioned. In short, I probably should have used DC instead of CR. Hindsight, 20/20.

The intention was to make the item accessible to characters with and without disable device, and/or with and without access to a knock spell. For those times when a rogue isn't around to disarm a trap, and whatnot. There is a lot that I had wanted to put into this, and maybe I should have, like bypassing the need for lockpicks (See Clark's initial post) but I did not want a repeat of my attempt in 2009, so I chose to play it safe and not try to reinvent the wheel.

I tread as cautiously as I can because I am still assimilating the nuances of the Pathfinder Rules with my understanding of classic 3.0/3.5. That last part is not an excuse, it's just where I am coming from in this competition. With every mistake I'm making it a personal priority to better myself. Once more I thank you (and Sal thanks you) for all for the criticism now and to come.

Sal’s Master Key
Transmutation Faint Transmutation; CL 3rd

Slot -- slot;
Price 8,000 gp;
Weight 1/2 lb.

Description
This key is made of unadorned brass, with a strip of leather hanging loose around the key's bow. The blade of the key is uncut, making it appear worthless from a cursory glance. The key only works on mechanical mechanisms such as locks, traps, or secret doors. When inserted into mechanical lock, trap, or secret door, the key passes harmlessly inside it and expends a number of charges equal to the CR of the mechanism being bypassed. If the CR is reduced to 0, it is disable or opened. If the CR is not reduced to 0, the key pops out of the mechanism harmlessly, and the mechanism's new CR is what remains after the charges are used up. The blade of the key represents the number of charges left in the item. The key starts out with 10 charges and with each charge used, the blade changes from uncut to ornately cut. Charges take 24 hours to restore after the last charge is used up.

Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, Knock, Crafter must have ranks in Disable Device equal to half the number of charges; Cost 4,000 gp

Scabbard of Random Empowerment
Aura Moderate transmutation; CL 9th
Slot —; Price 22,000 gp; Weight 1 lb.

Strangely enough, I almost submitted an item eerily similar to this for Superstar 2008.

Tattoo Needles of the Vanja Brujak
Aura moderate evocation; CL 7th
Slot —; Price 140,000 gp; Weight —

These rune etched tattoo needles are crafted of unknown materials. A closely guarded secret of the nomadic Vanja Brujak, these needles are passed down from master to apprentice. The ‘Art of the Mark’ as the tattoos are called by them is seen as a gift to be used only in times of great peace or great strife.

Creating a tattoo costs the same as creating a scroll of the same spell. The spell tattooed is of the caster’s level and takes 1 hour/level of the spell to create. This results in one point of temporary constitution damage/spell level—the effects of mystical energy infusion into the character’s body.

A tattoo can be used a number of times equal to the character’s undamaged constitution modifier. Activating a tattoo is a Swift Action and is treated as a spell-like ability. A tattoo gives a permanent +2 to the character’s Charisma score. Once the tattoo is used up, the tattoo remains, but the magic fades.

Requirements: Craft Wondrous Item, eagle’s splendor, imbue with spell ability, creator must have ranks in Profession (Tattooist); Cost 70,000 gp

Alright, I can't seem to fall asleep as my mind is swimming through the possibilities of my failed wondrous item. So Sir Peterson, at your leisure, feel free to take the gloves off and give it to me straight. I'm a 1st degree black belt and have taken hefty blows to my ego before, giving me +2 to will saves vs fear and intimidation (not that you are either, I just like thinking this). The same goes for anyone else who feels like criticizing my work of 'art'.

I have some criticisms that I came up with and chewed my lip over since submitting, but I'll wait to hear what you have to say first, as you are much more of an expert that I am.

Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Just barely got in under the wire, 2 minutes to spare. If only I had had another 20 words, it would have been perfect. Ahh, the labors of love, and rules!