Zertz's page

You guys gave some great feedback on declined pitches for Villain Codex II. Any issue with taking a declined pitch, taking your feedback aboard , and upgrading to meet the "unquestionably villainous" criteria for re-submission?

Congratulations! Looks like an awesome array of villains.

Hey folks, looking forward to some brutal feedback. I have been out of the Pathfinder loop for some time, but RPG Superstar encouraged and excited me about the system again. Since I'm a little rusty, please feel free to be exceptionally brutal as I could use a kick in the butt. I have noticed some of the problems, but I'll keep those to myself to avoid colouring your critique.

This was my first time participating in RPG Superstar. This survived the 5 culls.

Swashbuckling Sash
Aura faint abjuration and transmutation; CL 7
Slot belt; Price 12,000; Weight 1 lb.
Description

This bright red strip of cloth ties simply at the waist, leaving long ends at the wearer’s side. When worn, the ends almost imperceptibly quiver with potential energy. The sash grants the wearer a +5 competency bonus to both Acrobatics and Climb checks. In addition, while climbing the character may cling to a rope or object with the sash instead of a hand, allowing the character to take actions that would requires two hands instead of the usual one hand.

Three times per day when hit by a melee attack, but before damage is determined, the wearer of a swashbuckling sash may expend a use as an immediate action to gain a +3 Deflection bonus to AC as the end of the sash darts out to parry the blow. If this raises the wearer’s AC above the triggering attack roll then that attack is resolved as a miss.

Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, cat’s grace, shield of faith; Cost 6,000 gp

Yeah, thanks! That's a great overview. I would love to read a reaaaally long blog post about it in the future, too.

I ran some statistics, and the top three classes were actually rogue, bard, and cleric. Mesmerists, alchemists, and paladins were the 4th-6th most popular classes.

Picking a popular class might affect your chances of being selected, but if your pitch is very good, we'll do what we can to include your villain even if it's similar to another good pitch. That might involve some adjustments, such as changing the class to something slightly different or reworking some parts of the villain's description, but it's entirely normal that developers ask you to change something so it'll fit the product better.

We have 9-ish definite Keeps at the moment, but seeing that some people who submitted pitches have also made the top 32 in RPGSS, a slot or two may be freed up if those people decide to withdraw from this project.

For the folks following at home / professional development, could you give a little insight into how you decide which pitches to include?

Congratulations, looking forward to those maps!

Zertz wrote:

Kobold Cleaver wrote:

THE RESULTS ARE UP!

Just kidding.

Pitchforks, gentlemen. Now.

No torches?

Good point! You grab those.

THE RESULTS ARE UP!

Just kidding.

Pitchforks, gentlemen. Now.

There were a total of 57 pitches, and we've now narrowed them down to two dozen-ish that got at least one Keep or Weak Keep from us. We have few favorites that are almost certain to be included, but as Jacob said, it's going to be tough to select the ones we want to publish.

I don't have actual statistics yet, but I think the top 3 most popular classes were the mesmerist, alchemist, and very surprisingly, paladin. Rogues, bards, and clerics were also quite popular.

Glad to hear you guys are spoiled for choice! I've got my fingers crossed my pitch makes it through, but either way I'll be excited to see Villain Codex II as a GM.

I'm in awe of the voting persistence shown here!

Just saw my item... and its got a silly formatting issue that could've been fixed by paying close attention to the preview.

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! My item was culled.... .ugh.. at least it made it past the 2nd cull.

You've beat out some other items to make it past the second cull, sounds like reason to practice and submit next season!

I'm very glad to have entered this year, despite the inevitable after entry regrets and doubts. No matter the outcome it was a great exercise in design. Definitely looking forward to the rest of the contest!