Roy Wagner's page

Ability score and modifier confusion is definitely a legit thing that causes problems. There is obviously the type of player that gets it straight away after the first couple of sessions but there is also a type of player that never gets it for a wide variety of reasons.

Sometimes they drop out after one session and then come back several sessions later. Sometimes they are afraid to say they don't get it when you explain it and just smile and nod. Some groups also have lots of guest players drop in and out over the course of a campaign. Some players just don't care that much and are playing because they like to socialise, they get what you're saying (after you wasted valuable game time to say it btw) but just don't fully absorb it for when you play again in two weeks time. I've seen it all over two decades of GMing.

I think it would be best to remove ability scores but I understand why paizo isn't. They have a concern which I am seeing is super legit from this forum that many of their fans are attached and sensitive to the trappings and tropes of the previous games no matter how flawed some of those things are.

I really don't like alignment and usually reduce it's impact on my games because players get weird ideas about it that often prevent interesting things happening with character development or roleplaying. I get that a lot of other people like it though. I can see how for some it acts as a focal point for character ideas and some classes base their existence around it.

What if instead of mandatory alignment it was replaced with a concept called codes or oaths? By default everyone is unaligned but some characters choose to follow certain codes wherein they gain benefits (god given I guess) if they follow them and penalties if they deviate.

As a starting point these codes could be all the alignments (lawful good etc) but also a hell of a lot more interesting and varied concepts.

This system doesn't minimize or abstract the existing alignments away like 4th ed did and it doesn't force alignment on players who don't like it.

Thoughts?

Why create a new system? Because the system isn't perfect and much could be improved. I think 10 years is a fair enough amount of time for an edition change. It's roughly the gaps between AD&D, AD&D 2nd edition and D&D 3rd edition. D&D 4th and 5th edition were roughly 5 years after their previous editions if you count 3.5 as an edition.

I'm old guard from redbox, AD&D 2e, 3rd ed, 3.5 and finally pathfinder. I skipped 4th ed and went to pathfinder not because I hate change but because there was too much change in such a short amount of a time. Also it's not like they were good changes either.

I'm really looking forward to pathfinder 2nd edition and I won't complain if I see 3rd edition in 2029. Seriously 10 years is a huge amount of time, it seems really generous to me.

Keen to get some feedback!

Thieving Buckler
Aura moderate conjuration; CL 9th
Slot shield; Price 6150 gp; Weight 5 lbs.
Description

The maelstrom motif on this quirky +1 buckler conceals an extradimensional pocket for liberating goods. A Thieving Buckler tugs enthusiastically towards items granting the wielder a +2 competence bonus on Sleight of Hand checks and combat maneuver checks to disarm an enemy. Objects that are successfully palmed, hidden or disarmed vanish into an extradimensional space that holds 80 pounds of items each no larger than a medium two-handed weapon. The buckler also has a habit of swallowing blocked items. Whenever an attack roll misses the wielder’s AC by 1 or 2 she can immediately make a disarm attempt against a melee attack or gain the Snatch Arrow feat against a ranged attack. Retrieving anything from the buckler is bothersome at first and requires 2d10 minutes just to locate the elusive opening however it takes a liking to being worn and functions like a Handy Haversack for the wearer after 2d4 hours.

Construction
Requirements Craft Magic Arms and Armor, secret chest; Cost 3075 gp

Looks like I got into the top 100 but didn't manage to impress the judges. However I welcome any and all feedback anyone wants to provide :)

Dwarven Songwood
Aura faint transmutation; CL 4th
Slot none; Price 2,000 gp; Weight 10 lbs.

Description
This dark rust colored log is soaked in magic and laden with dwarven runes. When burnt the wood releases a relaxing hymn called the Songwood Melody. Creatures sleeping within 60 ft of the music count as receiving long-term care from the heal skill. The fire also burns hot enough to temper non-magical metals. A medium or smaller metal weapon can be hardened with a DC 15 Craft (weapons) check. This takes 1 hour of work and requires water to rapidly cool the metal. Such weapons glow orange when creatures of the orc, goblinoid or giant subtype are within 100 ft and become +1 flaming weapons when within 60 ft of an audible bardic performance. They have no command words and instead are ignited and extinguished based on their proximity to a bardic performance. Their magic fades after 1 day. A log of Dwarven Songwood burns for 10 hours.

Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, cure light wounds, pyrotechnics, creator must be a dwarven bard; Cost 1,000 gp

1) The shorter submissions are often better just because the writer didn't dig themselves a hole of "ZOMG! This item is prized by, coveted by, sought after by [insert class/ race/archetype] and it seems like a normal [ blank] but its true power is shown when...."

I agree. Also I have found long submissions are more likely to be long because of numerous abilities added in (SAK) or because they do something so crazy that they need all of the word count to explain all the possible rule exceptions.

I feel a really good wondrous item should be concise and easy to understand because it breaks with the norm in an elegant but small way. Some of the items I'm seeing are really over the top and I find it hard to imagine ever seeing them in print.

Wow these threads always fill up so fast. Hope you can get to my item. Thanks for doing this guys.

Chimerical Prism
Aura moderate illusion; CL 9th
Slot -; Price 10,000 gp; Weight -
Description
This blue tinged equilateral prism is etched with geometric sigils and capped with ornate octopus-like tentacles wrought of cold-iron. When held the prism responds to incoming rays and rotates like a magnet to receive them. The user can automatically hit the prism with a ray to create a 15ft cone-shaped burst of prismatic light once per round. All creatures in the area of effect are hit by the ray. As an immediate action the user can also deflect a ray that hits her. With two prisms (one in each hand) the deflected ray instead reflects back at the caster.

Each ray that passes through the prism becomes a shadow evocation of the original ray, even if not of the evocation school or if higher than 4th level. The shadow evocation is treated as the same level as the original ray or 5th level if the ray had none. Creatures who believe the shadow evocation rays of the prism are barraged by a phantasmagoria of alien aberrations and horrifying vistas. Unless they succeed on a DC 16 Will save they will become afflicted with the schizophrenia insanity.

Up to four rays per day can pass through the prism but there is a 50% chance that the fourth ray will shatter the prism.

Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, shadow evocation, bestow curse; Cost 5,000 gp

Thank you for posting my feedback Neil, it's very much appreciated. I was worried when I posted my item and saw 500 posts already that you guys might run out of steam. You guys are posting machines and I think everyone is very grateful for this.

It's really interesting to see that my item at least got a few keeps at the start, so I'm not doing too much wrong perhaps. Sounds like the marks against my item were poaching class abilities, boring and makes adventuring easy.

I figured it would be okay to sort of poach some abilities, considering how restrictive the ability is, in that is doesn't replace the need for a rogue. Firstly it only helps with traps that have the alarm proximity trigger, which is only like 1/3 of all the traps written in the core book, it doesn't help against non magical traps or any magical one which does not have a password.

Also I didn't think that rogues could use their trapfinding to detect alarm spells (that weren't incorporated into a trap) like they could with firetrap and glyphs? So I thought I was creating something that does less than what a rogue does, but also something a rogue can't do.

On top of that I figured the ability to learn the command words of magic items without detect magic (and possibly with linguistics) would be a nice ability. You only learn the command word, so it's less than if you had the ability to cast identify, but then it works without detect magic or identify.

I checked my item up against all the auto reject categories and never thought of my item as coming up against the makes adventuring easy or makes DMs job harder categories. I figured most DMs would just gloss over what the password actually is and just say that the player knows it, much like with magic item command words. And I figured it didn't make adventuring any easier than say a cleric casting find traps did.

I agree that my item is kinda boring though and thats a fair enough reason for reject. I didn't realize it until after I submitted, that I had refined the item so much that it lost quite a lot of flavor. I think I was too safe in my submission. Spending too much time refining the writing and rules to avoid all possible technical errors, when really a few errors are forgivable if your item is amazing, as I learnt from seeing the top 32 items, which are all fantastic.

Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this amazing competition, you'll see me next year for sure :)

Roy Wagner wrote:

Cipher Ward Cloak

*...Interesting. It's like a hacker device for pass phrases built into abjuration spells. Of course, this wouldn't affect spells that trigger based on your alignment, race, etc. Just the ones requiring a password. On its surface, I kind of like the idea. It also has vibes of what I imagine a Cyphermage from Riddleport might design...or a high-level wizard arcane-spy-wannabe.

*...Mechanically, however, I'm wondering if a Linguistics or Spellcraft check makes the best vehicle for resolving password hacking. It's certainly an innovative way to go about it. But it also makes this item hard to price. Is 12,000 gp enough? I'm inclined to think it is...

*...Lastly, I'm also left examining this device and considering how often it would see use in a game. Do PCs routinely encounter password-coded abjuration spells? I don't think they do. And that makes this item feel a lot more like a home campaign item.

*...Regardless, there's some spark to this thing. It's written well. They used the provided template perfectly. Mechanically, it's a little suspect, but holds up. And thematically, it's got the seed of a good core idea. I'm inclined to Keep.

*...Only rogues can detect magical traps (like glyphs, symbols, etc.) with the Perception skill. This item lets you bypass that limitation, which means it's stealing from the rogue class. Reject.

*...Awww, c'mon...you telling me wizards wouldn't develop an ability (even in a wondrous item) to bypass one another's wards by figuring out the passcode rather than thunderously tearing down one another's abjurations with dispel magic, etc.? I mean, knock and find traps steal bits and peices from the rogue class, too. Besides, I always hated the fact that you had to be a rogue to bypass magical traps and glyphs. This is case where I think breaking that rule could be appropriate.

*...At-will detect magic to detect it. Dimension door to bypass it. Erase to erase...

Cipher Ward Cloak
Aura moderate divination; CL 6th
Slot shoulders; Price 12,000 gp; Weight 1 lbs.

Description
The inside of this elegant black cloak conceals a vast array of symbols stitched in fine silvery thread. The symbols twist and morph as nearby magical effects are perpetually transcribed onto the cloak. If the wearer ever comes within 10 feet of any magical effect that triggers when a password is not provided (a trap with the alarm proximity trigger for example) the cloak cautions her (and only her) with a cacophony of whispers.

The magical effects transcribed within the cloak can be deciphered to reveal their hidden words. A successful Linguistics or Spellcraft skill check reveals any command words or passwords keyed to a non-artifact object or magical effect within 120 feet that the wearer can see or detect. The DC is 15 + the caster level of the object or magical effect. Each check takes 1 minute and cannot be retried until the next day.

Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, find traps, read magic; Cost 6,000 gp

Thanks for doing this Sean.

Cheers

I actually do use lego for my d&d games. Over the years there has been quite a lot of fantasy stuff released, especially with all the movie ties ins like harry potter and prince of persia. I started using it about 4 years ago.

You can get all sorts of things like beards, wizard hats, cloaks, backpacks, horses, crossbows, pole arms, breast plates, visor helms etc. I even have several tiny little animals for familiars and stuff (Bat, snake, raven, parrot and pseudo-dragon). There is also thousands of heads with different faces to customise your character.

There is nothing better than being able to change your mini up when they switch weapons or something happens to them. For example my monk died in one campaign and then got returned as an intelligent undead monk. So I pulled off his head and put on a pale white skeleton head with glowing red eyes (the one you can see in the photo above).

If wotc or paizo and lego came together and did a line of actual rpg lego sets someone somewhere is going to make a lot of money.