mattsnyder's page

Hi Clark. I'd love feedback on my item. Thanks for doing this for everyone.

Bulwark of Bones
Aura moderate necromancy [evil]; CL 6th
Slot --; Price 11,000 gp; Weight 4 lbs.
Description

This bundle wrapped in ancient, yellowed skin contains several foot-long shanks of bleached bones etched with runes, the remnants of primeval sorcery.

Three times per day the wielder may take a standard action to toss the bones onto six unoccupied squares of flat terrain in any pattern. The six squares must be continuous. No attack roll or movement is required to toss the bones.

Upon uttering the command word, a solid wall of jagged bones 10 feet high emerges in each square. Each square has 40 hit points and hardness 5. If a creature tries to break through a square with a single attack, the DC for the Strength check is 25. Scaling the wall requires a Climb check DC 25.

The bulwark of bone terrifies others. Any creature that attacks the wall, tries to break the wall, or passes through a square occupied by the wall (including climbing the wall) must make a Will save DC 14 or be frightened for 1d4 rounds. If the creature succeeds on a Will save, it is shaken for 1 round.

A second command word deactivates the wall, and the bone bundle returns instantaneously to the skin wrappings. If the bone wall is attacked or broken during combat, the pieces remain damaged or destroyed for the day, even if the used again later. On the following day, bulwark of bones can be redeployed at full strength.

Undead are completely unaffected by the bone wall, and the bone wall’s squares are friendly to undead for purposes of movement.

Construction

Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, animate dead, scare; Cost 5,650 gp

Nice work finalists! I have only read through about 3 or 4 items. They're all really intriguing ideas. The titles of the others I haven't read yet are tantalizingly creative as well. Gotta check out that Vessel of the Deep. Sounds awesome.

Absolutely! I'd read the Pathfinder book before, but really hadn't gotten to grips with the rules differences from a certain other roleplaying system until I started statting my items.

Also, entering this competition has refired my desire to make it in the RPG industry ... so thanks Paizo! :)

Cool. Good luck!

I'd also like to see a less setting-reliant "Starfinder" type product. (I'm personally less intersted in Modern, but it certainly has a place.)

I'm imagining a Pathfinder-like core book that has no more specific setting material than the Pathfinder book does. Sure, there are many, many assumptions in place, and even a few sneak peeks into setting like the Cleric's gods.

But, in general, I'd rather see a book that defines "D&D in space" (sans magic and fantasy, personally speaking) and lets players run wild with setting specifics.

When I say "D&D in space" what I mean is a game system for sci-fi adventures. You still kill things and take their stuff. It's just sci-fi adventure, instead of fantasy adventure.

For example, the version I'd like to see might have the following classes:

Soldier
Marine
Medic
Ghost / Stalker / whatever title
Tech / Engineer
Space Ranger
Outlaw
Officer
Psychic / whatever title
I'm thinking a kind of "StarCraft" type universe. Player find derelict space stations and blast the heck out of aliens there, finding some cool new "tech items" along the way. Later they visit a moon with alien ruins. Etc. etc.

Thanks Sean, Hydro and tejón!

I'm curious to hear what other entrants learned from doing their entry. Anyone? Feel like you graduated from Pathfinder U just yet? :)

I recently entered RPG Superstar 2010.

Here are some wondrous reasons to enter:

1) The thrill of the hunt. Accepted or not, it's thrilling to think your creative idea can win recognition from other cool RPGers.

2) I learned more about Pathfinder in a shorter span of time than I did when reading through the book or even playing. As I crafted my entry, I realized I needed to learn a bunch of related rules. In particular, getting under the hood with my research, I realized how integral the spells system and magic item system are intertwined, and with them gold pieces and level. Maybe that's obvious to many; I think most figure out a sense that all these game elements tie together. But, I really enjoyed seeing the specific "strands" as specific spells connect to wondrous items, for example.

3) This is related to #2, but I learned how to use the Pathfinder book and PDF better. This happens while playing, too. But, just reading the book that first time doesn't really show you how to use the book as a reference. As I designed, I could tell I was "learning" the book's organization better. It's not flawless, but it's darn good as a reference. High marks for that index!

3) Designing a new item really challenges you to think about all the ways to approach it, and certainly the ways to dismantle it. You don't have to think like a GM or think like a player. You have to think like everyone! How would any plausible player approach this item? Can you enable them to have fun while balancing them from distracting all his/her other players' fun?

And, another way -- how can the item write-up save players some time? Should you include some rules about DCs or are those chewing up space for things players already should know? What about other specific rules, like, say, hardness or something similar?

5) It's fun. I really enjoyed creating my entry.

Here's to hoping!

This is great advice, Neil. Thank you for posting it.

I still need to do some more research, but I'm really eager to post an entry.