varianor's page

Are there sheets anywhere online for the iconics? I'm trying to find some for a playtest. I loaned out my copy of Rise of the Runelords, unfortunately, and I got that as a gift so I never had the pdf. I tried the wiki, but got confused and didn't find any? Help is appreciated in advance! Thanks.

Thank you! I look forward to receiving the last of this AP. However, I am now set for a while, so please discontinue my future AP subscriptions. Thanks.

Who looked at all 32 critters?

Who wrote a review/analysis/left a substantive comment?

What do you think now that the round is over?

I found a few interesting trends:

-Guts 'n gore was in.
-Gotcha Monsters were popular.
-Monsters hiding in monsters (subset of the above) took place.
-Some concepts seemed to start in the same place and then go in really different directions.
-Entries that needed work (combined a beastie with terrain, an item or a hazard) or that seemed to be incomplete drafts I didn't generally go back to.
-The best entries presented a cool critter that had not been done well, or not been done well in D&D before.
-Writing mattered. Good powers mattered. At the end of the day, the stuff that held together reasonably well in both sections but that grabbed my interest best as if I was going to use it in my own game led me to my votes.
-I was really critical all the way through, with some fair amount of sarcasm at times. I hope I didn't offend anyone.
-There's a lot of imagination out there. If I ran across any of these critters in a book I would certainly give it the time of day to read and think about whether I might use it someday.

I offer a hearty 'congratulations' to everyone for making the excellent effort 32 times. I look forward to the next round!

Given the Cacaphonous Monkey, what's next? What can we come up with?

As mentioned in the Clark, Help My Gaming Ego, er ah, Clark, Please Give Me Feedback on My Item thread, I propose the Slinky Blink Dog!

It either looks like a sexy wolf girl statuette that lets you blink in and out and gives you a tail, or it looks like Slink from Toy Story (who is in fact a version of an older toy) and it does something else!

Any other ideas? :D

(Might be good to start a whole separate humor in gaming thread but probably doesn't go in Superstar. General?)

When the dust settles, if the judges don't have time to provide feedback, will it still be possible to determine if one's entry was knocked out due to non-compliance or due to falling shy of superstardom? This was discussed before, of course. Now however, as the dissection of success begins, one wonders. Thanks!

In the past year, I was an author for a pdf product that won an ENnie. (Hence I intend to compete.) On a plain reading of the contest rules, it isn't quite clear if I am eligible to enter. It says that contestants cannot have "cover credit on a hardcover product". The product became available for sale through Lulu.com in both softcover and hardcover format. It was originally created though as a pdf product through Open Design.

Am I still eligible to compete?

Thanks in advance for clarification! My apologies if these questions are supposed to be directed elsewhere or if I'm being overly cautious.

Whose got 'em? Post links please!

(I wish I had gotten to meet more Paizonians. Next year for sure!)

my Flickr album

My favorite costume of the year was the ice elemental with her glittery wings.

So, anyone got pointers to anti-scrying items or feats? Especially those in "official" WotC sources, since my DM seems to prefer only "official" sources? (Kalamar is okay too since that's the game world.) Many thanks in advance for the help.

We are now talking Soivodis, the eastern part of Ustalav....

Hyannis? For a name that derives from a 16th to 18th century misspelling of a Wampanoag native American chief's name (either Iyanough/Wiananno or his son Yanno), how did it get in the midst of the awesome, pseudo-Eastern European hills?

Is this an Easter Egg for something? Color me clueless.

Now, on Rozenport, it's mentioned in the text but not in the map, pronunciation guide, the index or the chapter list. (Hyannis isn't either, to be fair.) Does this appear in an Adventure Path? I haven't picked any up since I unfortunately write all my own stuff. Could it be Thrushmoor or Illmarsh renamed?

I recently got Pathfinder Campaign Setting, and really like it. I would be interested in getting some of the 64-page supplement books now since I'm unfortunately late to the party. (I notice that there's several calls to reprint them as well.) Have you folks given any thought to combining them into hardcover for reprint purposes? Maybe four at a time? Thanks in advance for any consideration.

What's the word? Or are Pathfinder and Planet stories taking all the Paizo energy right now?

My personal judging method became entirely subjective this time. (Was it really not subjective before?) I offer it up for your consideration. Here's what I did.

1. Read all 16 entries without reading anyone's comments.
2. Made a list of entries to revisit (10 out of 16).
3. Read the comments in the various threads.
4. Revisited the entries in depth again without looking at comments.
5. Wrote a one-line description of the ten (see below).
6. Reviewed those descriptions and decided which I saw as most villainous and/or just struck my fancy.

My thoughts on the process and this round:

*The format was too narrow and limited to get a good feel.
*Tying a villain down to a specific area and often made them more of an encounter than an easily ongoing nemesis for the PCs, particularly the higher level they were. (Hetty Miller is an exception. She can grow with the party if she survives.)
*I quickly stopped considering stat blocks for the purposes of the contest, but made a note of many to come back and steal for possible use later.
*There are many, many good if not great ideas out there. I enjoyed reading all the entries.

Who did I vote for? (At least one other person must be curious.) See the bold entries on the list:

Abzirael- The giant half-djinni who roams the world making evil bargains with people.

Arthelia – Insane psion (soulknife) inhabiting the body of a young man who tries to crush heroes and villains alike.

Avinash – The disguised demonic horse creature who leads a brigand group to cause terror and mayhem.

Durgal – The ghoul murderer who sends his followers out to die – and to create more food for him

Elsie – A crazed little old lady who turns people to stone, breaks off their hand, and brings them back to life.

Hetty Miller – A strange, sad woman who steals children to raise as her own.

Kaltia (Haunter of the Hills) – The vampire dwarf druid from an ancient time who haunts the Stained Peaks.

Kotalya – A demonic nymph hiding on the Prime Material Plane who poisons and terrorizes the region with the aid of her renegade druid minions.

Mwana - Lizardfolk druid who is trying to awaken ancient horrors to return the world to a primeval state.

Seskadrin – The four-armed sahuagin trying to reconquer an ancient sahuagin land back from surface dwellers.

It was an interesting choice. :) Quibbles? Rewrites of one-liners? Does anyone want to fill in the other six?

I can't figure out how to PM you, or find an email. So I'm posting here.

How in heck do you know lou agresta? He was my top DM at Gen Con two years running.

(Feel free to email me if you would prefer. Before the mods boot this thread to the cold lightless spaces of the ether. It's bill followed by a dot followed by collins and that at thingy plus gmail.com.)

What didn't you send in? What's your single-A team item or items that you cooked up but didn't submit? Here's some of mine:

Cat Stick

With this magical silvery willow switch, you may strike or touch a person and instantly turn them into a cat! (Unless the victim makes a Fort Save DC 13 to avoid the transformation.) They turn back into their normal form one hour later. They have all the attributes of a housecat save for hp, Int, Wis and Cha, which remain the same. (The transformation does not heal any hit points.)

Faint transmutation; CL 5th; Craft Wondrous Item, alter self; Price 30,000 gp; Weight 1/4 lb.

Friend Whistle

This tiny wooden noisemaker lets you magically call your friends. If you blow upon the whistle while thinking of one person that you know, they hear the whistle no matter where you are and know that you are in danger. Making the sound is a standard action.

Faint transmutation; CL 3rd; Craft Wondrous Item, message; Price 1000 gp, weight n/a

Sack of Socks

You may reach into this innocuous looking grey bag to pull out a sock of any size, shape, color, pattern or material that you need. Once per day you may pull forth a pair of socks that duplicate the effect of any single 0 level spell when both are worn. The caster level is the wearer’s caster level, although any touch spell must be delivered with one bare sock and not the hands. After magical use, the socks unravel.

Faint conjuration; CL 3rd; Craft Wondrous Item, mending; Price 500 gp, weight 1 lb.