Raphael's page

Each of the expeditions to Devil's Elbow arrived on a ship. The fate of the first two ships to arrive (The Black Bunyip and the Dark Pearl) are described (Clegg seizes the Black Bunyip and has his men sail both ships to a neutral port). What happened to the Foamrunner, the ship the Cyphermages arrived on? If it returned to Riddleport, it should have arrived before the PCs set out. This really confounded my players and I'm afraid I made some lame excuses at the table. And where did the Mithril Wave go?

CritCon is running a contest with a prize of a seat in Ed Greenwood's Forgotten Realms game held March 18th in Toronto. Like, comment and share the below FB post win!

https://www.facebook.com/CritConToronto/photos/a.409803386033268.1073741828 .378624362484504/418605961819677/?type=3&theater

CritCon is running a contest with a prize of a seat in Ed Greenwood's Forgotten Realms game held March 18th in Toronto. Like, comment and share the below FB post win!

https://www.facebook.com/CritConToronto/photos/a.409803386033268.1073741828 .378624362484504/418605961819677/?type=3&theater

The University of Toronto Roleplaying Club is hosting an RPG convention on March 17-19. It will feature lots of Pathfinder games, both PFS and non-PFS.

New players welcome!

The venue is top drawer: Hart House, which is an absolutely atmospheric place to game (downtown Toronto at the University). Special guests include Ed Greenwood and Robin Laws.

The Event's facebook page

Hey! That sounds like a good time. Are you running anything Mike?

CritCon 2017 is a RPG and boardgame convention to be held on the University of Toronto campus March 17-19, 2017, sponsored by the U of T Tabletop Gaming Club.

Special guests include Ed Greenwood, Robin D. Laws and Michael Kortes. Ed will be running a 2nd edition Forgotten Realms game, with the seats auctioned off for charity.

The Ontario Pathfinder Society will be present and running many scenarios.

Check out the CritCon Facebook page for more info!

I wanted to make a Quipper swarm for my moat. Quippers are the cold-water piranhas from Tome of Horrors (and from AD&D products before that).

But I see your point that the Creature Swarm template isn't really designed to be applied to little 1 hp fishes.

Your answer really helped put it in perspective. Thanks.

The swarm template is extremely puzzling. It fails to say how big the swarm will be - instead, it tells you how small the individual creatures will be. Also, no advice on HD for the swarm. The swarms in the Bestiary have more hit points than the base creatures.

Is the swarm template completely lacking?

Or can anyone figure out how to apply it?

A medium ooze bumped to a large ooze would seemingly gain some natural armor (+2). However, a common feature of many oozes is that they don't have natural armor, just lots of hit points. For instance, the Bog Scum is huge, but has no natural armor. The Carnivorous Blob is colossal,but nary a point of natural armor. A large Gelatinous Cube has no natural armor to speak of as well.

For my game, I want to bump a Crystal Ooze from medium to large.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/oozes/ooze-gray/ooze-gray -crystal

Is there anything which says that oozes don't get the natural armor increase? To do so seems to go against the intent for oozes.

Or just apply the size increase as per RAW?

I wish I'd get an official Paizo ruling on this.

The other day I saw Paizo freelancer Michael Kortes on the street, and asked him. He thought it was clearly an oversight, although he said his opinion mattered little.

If they have no racial hit dice, they have no caster level, and so have no spell-like abilities from green warden.

Alternatively, as they are no longer humanoid, they no longer get to exchange their one racial hit die for a class level, and therefore would have at least 1 racial hit die.

Quote:

Humanoids with 1 Hit Die exchange the features of their humanoid Hit Die for the class features of a PC or NPC class.

Thanks. That makes sense. Somehow I think the author of the template didn't consider the possibility that something might gain the template with no racial HD. But I like your suggestion about the 1 HD consolation.

I've applied the fungal creature template to a human druid, thereby changing his type to "plant (augmented)".

I've then applied the green warden template to my new plant creature.

The druid receives spell-like abilities from the green warden template.

As per the template description:

"Spell-like Abilities: A green warden gains the following spell-like abilities. The caster level equals the green warden's racial HD. The save DCs are Charisma-based."

Here's the problem: the creature I've created doesn't have any racial hit dice.

How do I determine caster level??

It's a Robert Graves / White Goddess reference for sure.

Ever since I played in the Pact Stone Pyramid, I look forward to Michael's adventures. Can't wait to try this one!

Any thoughts to when this will start?

This sounds like it should have been a type of undead.

Can you post with additions underscored and deletions struck out?

Okay, took me a while to find where I stashed my item, but here it is for criticism. Appreciate any and all comments.

CORPSE COFFER - 298 words

Corpse Coffer
Aura none (see below); CL 17th
Slot none; Price 46,000 gp; Weight 302 lbs.
Description

Over a dozen of these stone ossuary boxes have been recovered from the deep deserts of Osirion, each one engraved with a series of abstruse hieroglyphics suggesting a connection with a previously unknown Pharasman mortuary cult. Each corpse coffer is carved from a limestone block measuring three feet per side, capped with a heavy lid. When first discovered they often contain bone fragments and copious amounts of corpse dust.

Any dead creature placed within the confines of the corpse coffer, regardless of how much time has elapsed since the time of its death, cannot be returned to life through clone, raise dead, reincarnation, resurrection, or even a miracle or wish; neither can the deceased be turned into an undead creature or be communicated with in any way.

Both the corpse coffer and any one set of remains contained inside are hidden from location by divination effects, and any such attempt to locate or view them automatically fails. As a result, this item does not radiate any auras. Items other than the remains of a dead creature placed within a corpse coffer do not benefit from this feature.

All effects generated by the corpse coffer cease immediately if the remains are removed, and should the remains of more than one deceased creature be placed inside, all effects are negated for as long as multiple remains continue to rest within the corpse coffer.

Whether the original purpose of the corpse coffer was to safeguard the eternal rest of honored dead, or alternatively, to ensure the permanent demise of dangerous enemies, is a matter of fierce debate among Osirionologists.

Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, obscure object, rest eternal, soul bind; Cost 23,000 gp

Here's a list of items which really stuck in my head. There was something about them in each case which was memorable. I didn't keep a list of items I voted on, and many items now somewhat blur together for me. These, however, are still in sharp focus. They may not have won, but they distinguished themselves nonetheless, whether through concept, name or sheer audacity.

argent cigarillo case
badge of the lost unit
battle voice token
book of named recall
boots of the caper
cape, sticky-fingered
charger boots
dimensional door knob
extradimensional librarian
gnomish boots of silence
helpful little elf
liquid hole
mushroom goblin
patchwork cat
scabbard of mercy
small box and big chest *
surgeon’s needle
synergistic extract of haunts
tesseract dust

Damon Griffin wrote:

(Also, "rat-treat boots" should be rat-tread, unless there's an item I don't know about.)

Oh man! That's hilarious, I'm imagining what rat-treat boots would be like.

Magical rat snacks pop out the back of the boots, encouraging a swarm of normal rats to follow on your heels. You can't be flanked (unless the flanker wants to stand in the swarm and take damage).

I'll do it!

Additionally it made humming and whirring noises when being used that could be detected with a DC 5 perception check. Hence the "Humming" part of the Humming Spanner. If a gnomish invention wasn't overly complicated or made unnecessary noise, then it's not much of a gnomish invention!

Sounds a bit like the Doctor's sonic screwdriver!

This was my first year in the RPGSS, and I'm pretty sure at this point that my entry was DQ'd

Sean at one point offered to let people know if they got DQ'd if they sent him a PM. Maybe try that?

Unfortunately, it would seem that my item must have gotten chunked in the BAD pile fairly early on.

Not necessarily. In about 400 votes, I didn't see about a third of the Top 32.

I am partial to gnomes though. What did it do?

You lost the point for barer instead of bearer - spelling seems to be the best place to put it - hope that helps.

"Barer" isn't the British spelling of "bearer". It's just the wrong word.

barer comparative of bare (Adjective)
Adjective
1.(of a person or part of the body) Not clothed or covered.
2.Without the appropriate, usual, or natural covering: "bare floorboards".

I don't think there was any problem with the author not using American English.

Anybody run across a Gnomish Humming Spanner?

Didn't see it but I like the name.

Yah! I wasn't culled. :)

Spelling: 4/5
Everyone should know to use US English, so you just know that I am going to eat points for stray ‘u’ letters and similar.

Try as I might, I can't find any 'u' spellings variants.

Examples? Maybe I'm blind...

When I saw this I thought Army of Darkness too. Which is cool.

So what was your item, ciretose??

Thanks James Raine and mad_mac_hl for your kind words. You guys really brightened my day!

I'll be posting a list of all 810 items I saw (and which ones I know for sure survived the cull) after the Top 32 have had a day or two in the spotlight.

That would be awesome Eric. Looking forward to it.

Which one was yours?

The first light was a vial of liquid light that shed light like a torch, empowered light spells, depowered dark spells, raised the nearby ambient light level one step, and had a reflexive blinding strobe for defense.

Yes, I remember seeing it and thinking my PC would definitely make use of it.

I had the corpse coffer.

Did anyone see the Lonely Man's Party Starter?

I can't say I did but then again I don't think I saw all the top 32.

But I'm completely intrigued by the name! Please post it on Friday.

Here's my list of "I loved these items". Note, not all of them are superstar quality, but these were certainly the items I liked enough to save a copy of the item and say, "I'll be using this later."

** spoiler omitted **

I'm a little disappointed--though I can't say I'm surprised--that no one's mentioned my first light.

Okay Mr. Raine, you've officially become my favorite forum poster -- you mentioned my item!

I do recall the name first light (sorry I didn't take notes). Can you poke my memory and describe it?

Definitely saw the gloves of the lightning tamer. And it was definitely a post-cull item; probably one of the last 50 or so unique items that I saw.

Also saw the dawnflower ankh several times.

Confirmed. Saw flask of healing too. Really liked it.

What was the dancing item where if you said "the game is up" you got to run away super fast?

That one cracked me up everytime.

I'm really dying to find out who made the two items I saw most: the Boots of the Charger and the Sticky Cloak. I must have voted for each a dozen times. Anyone claiming them?

When Round One is done I hope we hear more about the "rocky" start. The most entertaining part of American Idol is the initial try out phase.

I think I speak for alot of us when I say that I really appreciate Clark taking the time to share these details. In the past he's answered my specific questions on the Necromancer Games forum and even responded to private e-mails I sent him. He's a terrific stand-up guy and we are very lucky to have him.

Raphael wrote:

I saw my item once before the cull and not after that. I probably voted 400 times. I was hoping to see it one last time. At least I know I didn't get DQ'ed.

How sure are you about that? Did you see it before or after the button for reporting an item was removed? Even after the button was removed, SKR was taking PMs for items that were potentially DQ worthy. I know I flagged ~10 before the button was removed and a few afterwords. So many people breaking the template or improper grammar for extra wordcount...

Okay, at least I know it didn't get DQ'ed immediately at the start of the competition. :)

I saw my item once before the cull and not after that. I probably voted 400 times. I was hoping to see it one last time. At least I know I didn't get DQ'ed.

To be fair, however, it was always understood that the judges would be choosing the top 32, and we'd only be presenting the order of review.

The message I'm receiving here is that Paizo's customers are too immature, childlike, unstable or not possessed of the requisite critical faculties to deal with competition. Have I misunderstood?

I know I would love to see more statistics.

I hope this gets sorted. I was really looking forward to the post-mortem.

Still haven't seen my item. Not sure if that is a good or a bad thing. I'm just hoping it wasn't in the bottom 25%. :)

Same story here.

Perfect example (from a previous post) = proboscis.

[DM] “O.k., Zorc, you take [rolls dice]… uhh, 4 points of damage from the stirge’s… ummm, long pointy thing in the front of his face….”
Now, certainly, not everyone knows the meaning of that word (though most of us do, or at least, those of us who have...

Deja vu! I was having lunch with a certain Paizo freelancer several weeks ago, and that example was cited! Small world.

A tip of the hat to Mr. Gygax, whose Harlot table taught me that the difference between a Slovenly Trull, Saucy Tart and a Expensive Doxy are by no means trivial.

Yes, I remembering reading those in the DMG and then using them in the schoolyard, circa 1983. They have served me well.

I wanted to say what Joseph said, but words failed me. His post is exactly what I was thinking.

Good work, sir!

Based on the above comments, Gary Gygax wasn't RPG Superstar material then(!). The 1st edition AD&D DMG was full of obscure words that I had to look up as an 11-year old. Doing so instilled a love of language that I have to this day. There seems to be a "dumbing down" movement in the RPG industry which I think runs counter to the origins of the hobby.