Does anybody think it's appropriate to post losing items from Round 1 in the same section as the winners?
I dont think they should be posted in the same section as the winners but I would be more than happy to post mine in another thread for people to laugh at/rip apart/admire etc.... :>
I at least want to see any comments that were made on my item so that I'll be able to better make them in the future.
Exactly. I'd like to see it as well.
Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
|
I'll bite:
Time Shifter
By winding a tiny knob on this clockwork pocket watch, the user can literally store and release time.
Once per day, the user may spend up to three full-round actions winding the watch and counting aloud the seconds being stored. The user may break up these three full-rounds as she chooses (e.g., she may wind the watch three times that day for one full-round), but the burst of speed must be used immediately after the user stops winding. If the user is interrupted in the process of winding the watch, she must make a Concentration check as if casting a 9th level spell to avoid releasing the knob and being forced to restart the process.
Once wound, the watch face pulses with a faint green light. The stored time must be released as a free action at the beginning of the user’s next turn or the effect is wasted, counting against the number of uses per day. Upon release, the user may take a number of additional full-round actions on her turn equal to the number of rounds spent winding the watch.
Strong transmutation; CL 17th; Craft Wondrous Item, time stop; Price 55,080 gp; Weight Negligible.
Basically just a time stop effect, so no big surprise that it didn't make the cut.
Should we ask for seperate section, or just put them in the General Section?
Man, I knew my item was a little too far often the beaten track to win, but I'm still bummed. Glad that someone I know made it though...
Apparently there is something similar in the Planar Handbook. One of the few WotC books I never even opened. Apparently WotC can still work their evil upon me. Oh well.
Boots of Shifting
These sturdy boots are always made of thick, heavy leathers clad with clasps and buckles of iron.
Strange metallic rods of lodestone are embedded into the hard soles of the boots. These unusual properties when combined with magic give the wearer of these boots the ability to ignore gravity for a time. For 13 rounds per day, the wearer may change their gravitational orientation to make any surface "down" and is endowed with Freedom of Movement. This allows the wearer to charge, run, fight, or take any other standard or full action on an unusual surface, such as a wall or ceiling. The wearer is also protected by a Feather Fall effect that activates any time they fall. This means the wearer could change their orientation to fall upwards and 'land' on a ceiling without being harmed. Activating these boots is a free action that may be taken once per round.
Strong Transmutation; CL 13th; Craft Wondrous Item, Feather Fall, Reverse Gravity, Freedom of Movement; Price 53,100gp
Since Sebastian posted, I'll also post mine:
Circlet of Takasi
This cursed silver handband is named after an elven obscenity. Originally crafted for a long forgotten ambassador, the item's original purpose is still intact, granting its user a +10 bonus on Knowledge (geography) and Knowledge (history) checks. The ambassador's betrayal of his homeland triggered a secondary effect woven in by his sorcerous countrymen. Anytime the wearer attempts to communicate the proper name of any person, place or thing he will instead state nothing but profanity for 1d4 minutes.
Faint transmutation; CL 10th; Craft Wondrous Item, bestow curse; Price 12,000 gp.
What the heck:
Blessed Bracers
This pair of heavy vambraces is made of leather with steel plates, decorated with emblems of lawful and good deities.
Once per day, a Lawful Good wearer can shout the command words inscribed on the insides of the gauntlets in Celestial, “strike true against my foes” to imbue the wearer’s natural weapons or any melee weapons wielded with a bless weapon effect (meaning that they count as having a +1 enchantment for the purposes of striking evil creatures with damage reduction or incorporeal creatures, and that any critical threats against evil creatures are automatically confirmed to critical hits.). This ability lasts for 4 minutes.
If the wearer has the ability to smite evil, they may activate this effect by spending a smite attempt for the day (without gaining the smite bonuses).
Faint Transmutation; CL 4th; Craft Wondrous Item, bless weapon, creator must be good; Price 1,500 gp.
|
Why not?
Vudran Cups
A set of three shallow wooden bowls, carved with exquisite Vudran
designs. Each bowl is 3" in diameter and about 1 1/4" high. When an
object is completely concealed by a bowl, and the command word spoken,
the object is transported to an extraplanar space. A second command
word brings the object back under the cup of the speaker's choice.
Only one object may be stored in this fashion at a time. A Vudran cup
set must be complete (all three bowls within 4 feet of each other) to
function.
Cups of finer materials, such as ivory and gold, also exist, crafted
for and by Vudran Rajputs. Their costs should be adjusted upwards
accordingly.
faint conjuration, Caster Level: 1st; Prerequisites: Craft Wondrous
Item, prestidigitation; Market Price: 1850 gp; Cost to Create: 1800 GP
and 74 XP; Weight: <1 lb.
Does anybody think it's appropriate to post losing items from Round 1 in the same section as the winners?
Can we legally do that since it is no longer our material to post?
Marathon Voter Season 7
|
Lok’s Own Coin: Lok was a cleric of Lady Luck, a gambler and a maker of magic coins. This silver coin was his favorite. Unfortunately for Lok, fellow gamblers soon became tired of his continual winnings and lynched him. His coin, and imitations of it, crop up from time to time in gambling dens and treasure hoards alike.
The bearer of Lok’s Own Coin continually gains a +10 competency bonus to skill checks made for games of chance and a +2 dodge bonus to AC. Three times per week the bearer may flip the coin to answer a yes/no question as per the Augury spell . Heads signifies yes and tails signifies no.
Divination; CL 3rd; Craft Wondrous Item, creator must have 5 ranks in Knowledge (games), dodge, Augury; Price 11,000gp
Here's mine...its a bit munchkiny, but I thought the restrictions it had, and the flavor made up for it. Let me know what you guys think...
Gauntlets of Elvenkind
Lesser Gauntlets
These are made from wyvern hide and enable the wearer to ignore distractions more easily, granting a +5 competence bonus to Concentration checks. When worn by any elf as a set with a Cloak and Boots of elvenkind, the gauntlets enhance an elf’s natural resistance to magic. The wearer that makes a successful Fortitude or Will save against a spell can ignore any special secondary effects those spells would normally have.
Moderate transmutation; CL 6th; Craft Wonderous Item, Bear’s Endurance, Owl’s Wisdom, creator must be an elf; Price 7,000 gp.
Greater Gauntlets
Rarely seen, these light gauntlets were crafted of the finest mithral and were so well made that they do not interfere with spellcasting. The gauntlets act in all ways like the lesser ones do. However, they also can Empower or Extend a spell of 3rd level or lower 1/day each. If the wearer is an elf and wears Elven Chain then the wearer can produce a protection from arrows spell 2/day.
Moderate transmutation and abjuration; CL 6th; Craft Wonderous Item, Extend Spell, Empower Spell, Bear’s Endurance, Owl’s Wisdom, Protection from Arrows, creator must be an elf; Price 14,000 gp; Weight 2 lb.
Well... I'll post mine too. Next post.
I feel really embarrassed about it though.
You see, I write for a hobby. I GM face to face, but I also run a PBeM, so I do a lot of writing all the time. I write for pleasure. With the weeks of free time I had waiting for the results.. I wrote up a "Design Journal" of how I made my item.
Look at my notes now, I can imagine to anybody else it would look like a rather pathetic waste of time if you didn't know whether you were a winner or not. (shrug> Like I said, I got invested. And I write just to write. So I welcome any critique of my item, but if you think doing Design Notes were stupid.. I'd hope that you'd spare my feelings.
And Sebastian?
I regret yesterday.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Lantern of Light Long Lost: This rectangular bullseye lantern has shuttered doors on opposite sides. One door sheds a reddish continual flame, the other a slightly bluish light. Once per day with the command word, the possessor can shine the lantern upon a person, place, or thing for 1d4 x 10 minutes scrying into the subject’s past, acting as a clairvoyance sensor. The lantern then projects from the other side a silent image. The image is a scene from an event that took place in the past involving the subject that is directly relevant to the user’s interest. The lantern can not answer questions, interpret, or depict indirect information. Divination spells and mystic senses can not be used with it. Natural darkness and lower level darkness spells will not hinder the lantern’s functioning; but anti-scrying magics that were active during a period in history will thwart it for the time that such spells were active. Individuals in the past can not usually detect this scrying by any means; as such attempts will not have actually happened yet.
Moderate divination; CL 11th; Craft Wondrous Item, clairvoyance, continual flame, legend lore, silent image; Price 39,000 gp; Weight 2 lb.
*********************
Conceptualization
Coming up with an original idea when there’s already so many good idea publicized can be the first hurdle. I’m fairly new to SRD 3.5, but I did have a lot of insight into first edition AD&D, and many of the classic items in the DMG are literally close to 20 years old, or older. When re-introduced myself to the game a few months ago I took a good look at item design, and I realized- a lot of it had gone by the way of “Take Special Ability from Chart 1.2 and apply it to template object on Chart 1.3”, particularly in the case of weapons. Granted you see a lot less of that with Wondrous Items, but also consider a lot of the SRD d20 Wondrous Items are based off ideas that existed prior to this new modern standardization of magic items. They tended to be organic in design.
This is my fancy way of saying, to think outside the box, you need to think outside the book, as in the rule books. There was a 2 second temptation to start thumbing through the DMG and other sourcebooks to find an idea. I immediately closed the book then and set it aside. There was another thought then, “What if someone has already made something like I want to make, shouldn’t I check to be sure?” Again, I told myself ‘no’. I made the decision that if I accidentally made something similar to something already written in another book, so be it- I just won’t make the first round and I’ll lose. On the other hand, knowing all the classic DMG items already, when I came up with my idea, I trusted my instincts when they told me ‘you have something original here.’
So, looking for inspiration, I started daydreaming about items that I’d never heard of, but that I thought would be handy to have. I also drew upon fiction, tv shows, and media that wasn’t related to role-playing. One idea popped in my head from an episode of the Twilight Zone. It was about a camera that could take a picture of what happened 24 hours into the past. I took that seed of an idea and started to play with it. That made me think of the old AD&D Psionics. What I loved about the old Psionic rule set was that it had powers and abilities not easily reproduced by the Core Rules. Kick ass powers like Object Reading and Sensitive To Psychic Impressions. While I didn’t want to make a Psionic item, I did blend these ideas into the concept of an object that allowed you to look into the past.
Theme(s)
Certainly the Ninth Tarot card, the Hermit, certainly gave a visual touch to the idea. The usually elderly Hermit shines his lantern on a pole into the darkness in order to gain clarity. That clarity could apply to the future or to the past, but in my design I stuck strictly to the past. Why? Well, any future predicting device was bound to be a hard sell with the judges because prescience is always tricky things in any RPG, and if you’re not perfect about it, the item tends to viewed as gimmicky. However, there is an in game precedent about learning what has happened in the past.
I have to also admit I’m a Green Lantern fan, and there’s something very striking about how they hold them in front of themselves with that handle at the top.
Then I pondered the nature of light. I’m no physicist, but I remember enough of Cosmos to recall “red shift” and “blue shift”, which is part of the Doppler Effect of light moving away from you and towards you respectively. Also, there is a lot of poetic commentary regarding the nature of suns that have long gone dead before their light actually ever arrives to Earth, not to mention the notion that energy doesn’t vanish, it’s just changed into another form. I start seeing the “light” theme recurring, and when it came time to decide how powerful it was, I adhered to that theme.
After that, I had a solid idea, now I had to refine them with some actual game mechanics.
Development
Here’s where idea meets practicality. I had an idea that was not based on obvious game mechanics, how do I take SRD d20 and make it work? First off, I started looking for the primary school of magic that the item would use. No-brainer there, divination. But what spell? I pretty much read every single divination or knowledge domain spell in the Player’s Handbook, and Legend Lore was the only one that even came close.
Legend Lore, for me, has always been problematic. It might be a great spell, but I’ve always had some issues with it. It takes far too long to get information if you don’t have a solid lead on your question first. Also, where does this spectral riddling voice (in the spell example) come from anyway? I mean, the spell isn’t Contact Other Plane, nevertheless ‘knowledge’ just comes to the caster from ‘somewhere’. The spell designers left some unanswered questions in the spell’s description. However, instead of making my item stretch the limits of the spell, I used the limitations of the spell to help define my item. That was important, because the contest didn’t allow you ignore SRD just because it’s fuzzy, you had to work with it.
Legend Lore has essentially three levels of use based on how much you know about the subject.
1.) Direct access to the subject requires 1d4 x 10 minutes.
2.) When you only have direct not knowledge, but not anything tangible it requires days of time,
3.) When you have nothing but rumors and supposition the spell takes weeks.
I eliminate the two lower tiers of usage entirely by mandating that the lantern shine directly on a person, place or thing, and in fact I keep the 1d4 x 10 minutes “scanning time” for game balance. You can’t scan something you ‘have knowledge of’, and you definitely can’t scan something is just ‘rumored’, that’s how I focus the Legend Lore spell and balance the power of my item. I don’t even give the item the possibility of using Legend Lore spell like ability as comprehensively as it can be sued with the spell itself. It can only be used on something concrete in front of it, and the information it gives is every bit as direct and without interpretation- in the form of visual images.. It’s important to use Legend Lore judiciously, and the only other close example of that is the Mirror of Mental Prowess.
Now to me, it was just hokey and lame to imagine a ghostly voice coming from the Lantern spouting information. Also, I felt for game balance that the information had to be short and concise. Since I was already working on the theme involving light, Silent Image came to mind. I have to give a nod to James Jacobs here for his examples of Silent Image use in Pathfinder “Burnt Offerings” from the section with Ripnugget’s throne room.
I faced a certain amount of temptation here. Theoretically, if a mage can make this lantern, they could make it with Major Image as the delivery medium rather than Silent Image. You know? Have a 3D movie of the past. Certainly if I was making one from scratch as a player, that’s what I’d be tempted to do. However, thematically it wasn’t in keeping with ‘light’ concept and it made the whole thing feel a little unbalanced. What decided it for me was considering, “How would I feel about this item if I was the GM?” Having Major Image seem to be an invitation to giving players too much in terms of game secret and puzzle spoiling abilities, even if they could only use it once a day.
Okay, at this point you might be wondering, why do I fold Continual Flame and Clairvoyance into the mix? Good question! I wasn’t satisfied with connecting acquired visual information with just Legend Lore, especially if I was going to be delivering it through a visual illusion, and have it be used more than once a week. That’s when I started considering Clairvoyance. I sort of patched it together as a logical sequence. The Legend Lore is the means of bridging the present and the past, Clairvoyance gives the visual medium, and Silent Image conveys it back to the user. The three of them work in harmony. The Continual Flame serves a dual purpose. First, you can always use the lantern just as a lantern- plain and simple. After all, isn’t it kinda silly to have a magic lantern that can’t also be used as a normal lantern? Secondly, I always intended the lantern to be useful under most conditions- ergo, I didn’t want to give a GM the means to rule “it was dark in the room during the moment pertaining to your interest, ergo you see nothing but darkness.” I’m all for placing restrictions on powerful items but that would be utterly lame.
Editing
By far, this was one of the biggest challenges. If you couldn’t tell from this post, I like to write, and I write in a conversational style. I can’t thank Clark Peterson enough for firmly stating on the boards the importance of staying within word count.
This is the point where I cracked a DMG and started looking at examples. Just about every item had next to no background fluff, and barely any physical descriptive text. I’d never stopped to consider that, but if you look for yourself, it’s there plain as day. So I started rewriting as ruthlessly as I could. And every time I thought I was doing okay, I’d come across something else I had to include. For example, if I was using Clairvoyance as part of how it works, it made sense to mention that certain mystic senses and spells wouldn’t work on the image any better than they would with a standard Clairvoyance spell. Every time I found something I had to include, I had to cut something else out.
Every time I cut something out, I was amazed by how little you could get by with a few words. For example, instead of saying that “the lantern produced a visual illusion of the past like a Silent Image spell”, I eventually just said “silent image”.
There are holes in the text that I think need more description. There is no mention how long the Silent Image lasts, for example. I’d have also liked to have added that the Lantern can be used as just a lantern (even though that is specifically implied). I’d like to have touched upon the two colored shades of light and suggest which one shines on the object and which one projects the scene from the past. Finally, I’d like to have described with a hook or handle on the top. All of those things got sacrificed for word count. Finally, if I had to do it over, I’d have stated what exactly it does much more straight forwardly than I actually do.
Pricing and Finishing
Like everyone, I’m sure, I found pricing to be very difficult. I looked at the charts, tables, and crafting rules over very thoroughly and practiced reverse engineering a handful of established items. Unsurprisingly, I very rarely came up with the same price as the DMG (just try the Mirror of Mental Prowess! That’s a challenge right there!).
I finally decided that I had to take my best guess and hope for the best. Here was my method:
I decided that Legend Lore, Clairvoyance, and Silent Image were not separate and distinct abilities, but a gestalt of one new special ability, so I called them ‘Multiple Similar Abilities’, as per page 282 of the DMG.
I priced the Legend Lore at 100%, the Clairvoyance at 75%, and Silent Image at 50%, all under the Command Word price level (Spell Level x 1,800 gps) for spell like abilities. This was excruciating, because the book actually states Spell Level x Caster Level x 1800 gps, but I was not getting even close to accurate answers when I reverse engineered even simple items that way, so I stuck to (Spell Level x 1,800 gps).
Then I divided the sum of all of that by 5, to represent the fact that it could only be used once a day. Yes, that would allow you to use it 5 times a day, but that would have made the item too powerful.
Finally, since the lantern can be used as just a lantern, I added Continual Flame, as a new ability at continuous use price to the previous subtotal, and add it in at 100% to my other total. Sure, by my notes above, it does work in conjunction with the other abilities, but it also has its own distinct use. Plus it had a weirdo power and I didn’t want it to be too cheap.
Using It In A Campaign
I would be extremely cautious about this baby ever falling into the hands of low level characters, particularly if you’re doing a campaign where there is a gradually unfolding story. I believe it is a fair item, but it’s powerful in it’s own way. Unless you’re a bard, you need to be at least around 11th level to make one, and I wouldn’t let one fall into the hands of players until approximately that level. By then a campaign should be advanced enough in storyline that the meta-game intent for it’s design won’t unbalance the game. This is a tool to give clues not spoilers, and maybe unveil some back story and get players unstuck. It’s also very effective in the hands of a Master Villain who might be working in opposition to the players. Like the Legend Lore spell itself, the best use is to answer enough of their questions to guide the players in formulating new ideas and better questions. The description of Legend Lore reads very much like that, if it doesn’t give the answers, then it should point them in the right direction. Hopefully this lantern can light the way.
|
|
Thurburner Stone
This item appears to be a smooth rock one inch in diameter that is slightly heavier than expected. When thrown or fired from a sling, the rock grows to five feet in diameter in flight, maintaining its initial velocity and target, doing 6d6 in damage, DC 15 Reflex save for half damage. Once it impacts its target, it behaves as any other five foot diameter boulder. Over the next 24 hours it will slowly shrink until it returns to its one inch size. It will then be ready to be used again.
This stone can be used to block passages or as impromptu artillery, although five foot diameter boulders indoors damage wooden floors and, if above the first floor, are likely to fall through to lower floors, damaging whatever they fall on. Halflings are the primary makes of Thurburner Stones as defensive items, but do not use them often – five foot diameter boulders are ideal for (surviving) attackers to hide behind.
Faint transmutation; CL 6th; Craft Wondrous Item; shrink item; Price 36,000 gp.
Things I forgot in my submission:
1) The Reflex save. The damage for the rock is based on the catapult in the SRD and I forgot to add the save in my submission. D'oh! (I added it here.)
2) The xp cost to make the item. I just saw that.
3) The spark the winners had. Magic item creation is my weak point and reading through the winners, I see the spark the judges were looking for.
|
Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
|
And Sebastian?I regret yesterday.
No need to. You didn't say anything unreasonable. I am a rotten bastard, it's entirely acceptable to be a rotten bastard back at me.
But you have to admit, those constant "is Vatican City a country" questions got annoying. Not surprising that the people who were so concerned about what a country is even after multiple clarifying posts from the judges did not make it past the first round...
Does anybody think it's appropriate to post losing items from Round 1 in the same section as the winners?
Here's my submission:
Arquebus of Pillows
The Arquebus of Pillows (only one is known to exist) looks like a standard arquebus. Despite showing signs of wear, to one skilled in the manufacturer of such items, it appears to be in working condition. However, if magic is detected, moderate conjuration magic reveals that this arquebus is unusual. When fired, the Arquebus unleashes a torrent of 55 to 100 (50 + 5d10) pillows of random shapes and sizes. Once created, the pillows are permanent. And though they are bright, colorful and fluffy, are quite mundane. The Arquebus fires in a cone-shaped spread and has a range of 25’. Creatures in the pillow-affected area suffer decreased movement – treat as difficult terrain; movement is halved. Furthermore, creatures in the area of the blast must make a Reflex save DC 10, or be dazed for 1 round. Unlike a standard arquebus, the Arquebus of Pillows requires no special ammunition or powders to ignite. It can only be fired once per round, but otherwise can be fired as many times as desired.
Moderate conjuration; CL 9th; Craft Wondrous Item, minor creation, creator must have 5 ranks in Craft(sewing); Price 12,000gp; Weight 10 lbs.
|
|
Lok’s Own Coin: Lok was a cleric of Lady Luck, a gambler and a maker of magic coins. This silver coin was his favorite. Unfortunately for Lok, fellow gamblers soon became tired of his continual winnings and lynched him. His coin, and imitations of it, crop up from time to time in gambling dens and treasure hoards alike.
The bearer of Lok’s Own Coin continually gains a +10 competency bonus to skill checks made for games of chance and a +2 dodge bonus to AC. Three times per week the bearer may flip the coin to answer a yes/no question as per the Augury spell . Heads signifies yes and tails signifies no.Divination; CL 3rd; Craft Wondrous Item, creator must have 5 ranks in Knowledge (games), dodge, Augury; Price 11,000gp
The +10 competency bonus is probably too high.
These are all cool items, and so are the winners. It's difficult to gauge the overall appeal of a wondrous item until it hits the gaming table, and so don't feel fretted if you didn't breach the wall of 32. The funniest thing from a game design standpoint is that I'm not sure exactly how many of the 32 would have a wondrous effect in game.
Anyway, you're all great. Drop by my site, and you can all email me to discuss other publishing options before 3.5 dies.
T.R.
www.lichhavengames.com
Drop by my site, and you can all email me to discuss other publishing options before 3.5 dies.
We can't. All submissions are property of Paizo. (Though this does not apply to any future items somebody may come up with.)
Kerchief of Restoration
This fine 24"x24" square of silk when wrapped around an object has the same effect as the 2nd level cleric spell make whole with the exception that the object must be completely covered by the kerchief for the magic to operate. As with the spell, the item may fix broken objects that have been completely sundered. The kerchief of restoration may repair magic items, but does not restore magic abilities that have been lost due to breaking.
Kerchiefs of Restoration are commonly used by artisans as a labor saving device, but have found their way into the repertoire of illusionists and stage magicians. They are particularly popular in realms where more powerful and impressive magic is rare.
Faint transmutation; CL 3rd; Craft Wondrous Item, make whole; Price 2,700 gp; Weight 5 oz
---------------------
Not a flashy whiz-bang item, but something I thought might be useful to low-level players. This item was inspired after having multiple weapons break on my characters in areas where locating a new weapon or crafting/fixing the one I had would be nearly impossible. It is essentially less powerful than the spell it replicates due to the lesser area of affect, but can be used by non-spellcasters and has no limit on uses per day.
Oh god, I don't mean the items you've created for this. I'm not even talking about wondrous items :)
Dedicated Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8
|
Good stuff, here it is again:
Elixir of Rejuvenated Mind
This sparkling, sharp-tasting cordial restores one already cast arcane spell slot of each level that the drinker can use. If the drinker manifests psionic powers, he regains 2 already used power points per manifester level.
If the drinker prepares arcane spells, the spell slots return as open slots. The drinker may prepare additional spells in these slots by studying his spellbook for at least 15 minutes.
If the character has drunk an elixir or greater elixir of rejuvenated mind in the past 24 hours, he also takes 2d4 Constitution damage.
Greater: As well as the above effects, a greater elixir of rejuvenated mind restores one additional already used arcane spell slot (a total of two slots) for each level at which the drinker gains three or more spell slots and restores an additional 10 power points.
If the character has drunk an elixir or greater elixir of rejuvenated mind in the past 24 hours, he also takes 2d8 Constitution damage.
Faint transmutation (moderate transmutation); CL 17th; Craft Wondrous Item, fox’s cunning (+mage’s lucubration); Price 2,850gp (5,700gp)
Pretty sure the cost should be doubled.
edit: Drat. The aura is wrong as well.
Oh god, I don't mean the items you've created for this. I'm not even talking about wondrous items :)
Your initial post wasn't clear, thanks for clearing it up. :D
Sorry to confuse. Just trying to add a bit of sun to an otherwise rainy day...
Good question DF, I'd wait for the powers that be to rule on that one.
Mirror of Retrieved Events: This item appears to be a simple hand-held mirror with an iron setting. A character holding the mirror can use it for scrying, as the spell (Will DC 17 negates), with these alterations:
• The character sets a condition for who the mirror will attempt to record based on a single event tied to a specific person, place, or item (ex. whoever next speaks to the king; the first person to leave the Dark Catacombs; or whoever opens the Abyssal Gate). The person fulfilling the condition becomes the spell’s target.
• Once the condition is fulfilled, the mirror tries to scry on the target exactly as if scrying had been cast at the moment of the triggering event. If successful, a viewable recording of the scry attempt remains until a new condition is set.
• The message spell does not function through the mirror.
Moderate divination; CL 11th; Craft Wondrous Items, contingency, scrying (plus any additional spells put on the item); Price: 54,000 gp; Weight 1/2lb.
Mirror Type Market Price
Base Mirror
54,000 gp
Mirror with see invisibility
62,000 gp
Mirror with detect thoughts (Will DC 14 negates)
63,000 gp
Mirror with true seeing
92,000 gp
Can we post our entries or not?
They haven't said, so some of us didn't hold back.
I don't begrudge you waiting for someone official to speak though.
I think posting them makes us feel better, since we might not know why they were rejected. Maybe we're all hoping someone else will tell us.
Anyway.. It's like the movie. Charlie goes to Mom in Laundry Room, and she's got to tell him that soon the contest will be over and he'll be like all the other kids who didn't get a Golden Ticket.
But hey- we're not alone. :) We got each other.
Pastwatch Orb
Colloquially known as a sphere of influence, this 5-inch diameter clear crystal sphere has the power to reveal our greatest mistakes and most stunning triumphs. By gazing at a creature, living or dead, through the orb and speaking the command word, the character mentally relives the event in the subject's life most responsible for molding her into the person she became. Each event takes at a minute to view, though longer or more complex events can take longer, at DM discretion. If the character continues concentrating after the event is complete, the next more influential event is relived, until a maximum of three events have been shown.
At the characters discretion, on initial activation, the orb can instead project an image of the event into a 10-ft cube around the character. The illusion is complete with auditory, thermal, and olfactory sensation, though it can, in no way, be mistaken for reality.
Each scene viewed mentally grants the character a +1 to all Charisma-based skill checks made regarding the subject for 30 days. Watching all three scenes grants sufficient information to unambiguously identify the subject for casting true resurrection.
Strong divination; CL: 13th; 56,000 gp; Craft Wondrous Item, legend lore, major image
|
|
Can we post our entries or not?They haven't said, so some of us didn't hold back.
I don't begrudge you waiting for someone official to speak though.
I think posting them makes us feel better, since we might not know why they were rejected. Maybe we're all hoping someone else will tell us.
exactly. and i only hesitate becuase they did seem to put so much emphasis on who owns what this time.
i'll wait a bit longer.
|
Pocket Orrery
Aura: Strong Transmutation
CL: 17
Slot: -
Price: 18,000gp
This item looks superficially like a pocket watch to a casual glance, comprising a flat round case of golden metal which, when opened, reveals a complex mechanism of tiny springs, cogs and gears turning on jewelled bearings. However, a closer inspection reveals that this is not an ordinary timepiece but instead a tiny orrery, with the hands and dials instead predicting complex planar and temporal conjunctions.
The possessor benefits from the predictive power of the pocket orrery in a number of ways. Firstly, the owner of the item benefits from a +1 insight bonus to both AC and Reflex saving throws while it is on his person. Secondly, the orrery can be used to cast Augury once per day (without the need for a divine focus or material components). Finally, the holder can (as a standard action which provokes an attack of opportunity) jam the mechanism, which has the same effect as a Time Stop spell that affects that individual only. However, jamming the mechanism ruins the orrery and it loses all of its magical powers thereafter.
Construction
Requirements: Craft Wondrous Item, Augury, Time Stop, 9,000gp, 720xp
EDIT: my item is spookily like Sebatian's, which probably did neither of us any good. I'm also disturbed that my mind works along the same lines as his.
Can we post our entries or not?They haven't said, so some of us didn't hold back.
I don't begrudge you waiting for someone official to speak though.
Nuthin' to lose, and it's an interesting display to watch.
Pastwatch Orb
I like this one! You could base an entire adventure around retrieving such an object, and as a GM never mind letting the characters keeping such an item, as its abilites only really enhance survivability and roleplaying!
What do you mean by Time Stop affecting only the individual activating the item? Just curious - cool item - could be a bit on the cheap though.
Sebastian's Time Shifter
By winding a tiny knob on this clockwork pocket watch, the user can literally store and release time.
Once per day, the user may spend up to three full-round actions winding the watch and counting aloud the seconds being stored. The user may break up these three full-rounds as she chooses (e.g., she may wind the watch three times that day for one full-round), but the burst of speed must be used immediately after the user stops winding. If the user is interrupted in the process of winding the watch, she must make a Concentration check as if casting a 9th level spell to avoid releasing the knob and being forced to restart the process.
Once wound, the watch face pulses with a faint green light. The stored time must be released as a free action at the beginning of the user’s next turn or the effect is wasted, counting against the number of uses per day. Upon release, the user may take a number of additional full-round actions on her turn equal to the number of rounds spent winding the watch.
Strong transmutation; CL 17th; Craft Wondrous Item, time stop; Price 55,080 gp; Weight Negligible.
Sebastian, since you asked...
It's a spell-in-a-can, as you've already pointed out to yourself. The biggest difficulty I see is in its implementation at the table - the mechanics part of it feels unnecessarily complex, and the effects seem way overpowered and easy to abuse. Your discussion on activating the item is cluttered, and could use clarification or simplification. Perhaps a better implementation would have been winding the watch activates a haste spell, with the duration in rounds equal to the number of times the watch is wound. Alternatively, you could have considered granting the Quicken Spell feat to a spellcaster using this watch, with the user being able to cast three quickened spells after winding the watch.
Nuthin' to lose, and it's an interesting display to watch.
That's what I think too.
I think it's too early to expect a lot of feedback this afternoon, but I think those participating in this thread should make it a point to give each other some constructive feedback after we get over not being chosen.
I'd like some, I am sure you would too. I'm sure everybody that has posted would.. Maybe later I will..
Sebastian, since you asked...
Alright Lil.. You're pretty gentle on the boards. I know I'm long winded, but take a look at mine and tell me what you think. Pretty please?
|
|
Feel free to post your non-advancing items in this thread. We don't mind.
Thanks.
Coin of Luck Stealing
This well-worn coin has a depiction of merchant's scales on both sides. On one face the scales are tipped to the right and on the reverse they are tipped to the left. When in a character’s possession the coin provides a +2 luck bonus on all opposed skill checks while imposing a -2 (bad) luck penalty on the opponent's roll. A coin of luck stealing cannot be accidentally misplaced, lost, or randomly stolen by means of Sleight of Hand.
Faint enchantment; CL 5th; Craft Wondrous Item, prayer; Price 3,200 gp.
I'm posting mostly to get comments on the pricing. As I said in another thread, pricing wondrous items gives me a headache because the pricing guidelines for them are so vague. Anyhoo, here's my losing swiss army entry.
----------
Wyrt’s Remarkable Implement
Wyrt’s Remarkable Implement was first created by the Archmage Edwin Wyrt after a lifetime of adventuring and bemoaning the nonexistence just such a tool. The implement appears as a multicolored, shimmering sphere approximately 3.5” in diameter. When a command word is spoken it can be worked as a ball of clay into any crude shape of approximately 3 cubic inches. A second command word is spoken to fix the implement into its new shape. Fine sculpting of the implement is made impossible by the interaction between the clay and the Prismatic Sphere spell.
The implement may only be destroyed in the same manner as the Prismatic Wall spell. Each layer being permanently removed from the item. Once the final layer is destroyed, the implement becomes a standard ball of clay.
Strong Abjuration. CL: 17th, Craft Wondrous Item, Prismatic Sphere, Price: 275,400gp, Weight: 1lb.
---------
Re-reading I see some grammar mistakes (like I missed "of" in the first damned sentence *smacks head*). But seeing the winning entries leads me to believe that wasn't why it got kicked.
So, it got kicked for one (or more) of these reasons:
1) Pricing Issue: Either it's flat-out wrong or simply too expensive.
2) Bad Design: The item objectively sucks.
3) Personal Taste: The item subjectively sucked for the judges.
Hey Watcher your item rocks! No offense to anyone, but I like it better than half the winning entries. Whatever disqualified it, I wouldn't worry about. Thats a top notch creation and cool to boot IMHO!!!
D
|
Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
|
Sebastian's Time Shifter
** spoiler omitted **Sebastian, since you asked...
It's a spell-in-a-can, as you've already pointed out to yourself. The biggest difficulty I see is in its implementation at the table - the mechanics part of it feels unnecessarily complex, and the effects seem way overpowered and easy to abuse. Your discussion on activating the item is cluttered, and could use clarification or simplification. Perhaps a better implementation would have been winding the watch activates a haste spell, with the duration in rounds equal to the number of times the watch is wound. Alternatively, you could have considered granting the Quicken Spell feat to a spellcaster using this watch, with the user being able to cast three quickened spells after winding the watch.
Thanks Lilith. Those are some excellent points and I appreciate the feedback. I thought about the quicken spell (or extend spell as part of a pair), but that seemed to be too much like a rod of metamagic. It looks like I could really have used another pair of eyes to increase clarity of the text as well - it seemed very clear to me at the time, but now that you point it out, it is pretty muddled. My explanation as to the complexity in activation was an attempt to reduce the potential for abuse: if you have to spend time winding it while vocalizing, it's hard to hide and it's hard to save the ability for when you really need it. Which is not to say that it could not have benefited from less complexity (or from a different set of balancing mechanisms), as you pointed out.
Thanks again. I really appreciate the feedback.
Wyrts
It's a cool idea - but it seems like more an augmented fabricate spell than anything requiring the prismatic sphere spell or such a high cost.