Runcible Spoon


Open Call: Design a wondrous item

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Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16, 2011 Top 32 , Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8

Runcible Spoon
Aura Moderate Conjuration (healing); CL 9th
Slot -; Price 14,575; Weight 1 lb
Description
A Runcible Spoon is a battered iron ladle with slight blunted teeth lining the cup. When a poisoned food or drink is placed in the spoon, it magically extracts the poison into a purple bubble, which floats above the Spoon and can be handled as if it were made of glass. When touched to a bottle or vial, the bubble transfers the poison into the container and pops. The spoon can be used once per day in this manner. Alternatively the spoon can be placed on the chest of a victim suffering from poison, curses, petrification, magical or mundane diseases or any other persistent condition short of death. The Spoon will glow purple, hum slightly and shatter, destroying itself and ending the affliction. Runcible Spoons are highly sought after for this reason, being one of the few things that can end a fairy curse.
Construction
Runcible Spoons are difficult to construct, requiring the breath of a Gorgon, the poison of a Dark Naga and the spit of a Gibbering Mouther. These components are added to the iron during forging, giving the Spoon its purplish tone. Failure to add these components nearly always leads to the creation of a Poisoned Spoon instead.
Requirements Create Wondrous Item, neutralize poison, break enchantment , special components (see above); Cost 7,237 gp

Legendary Games, Necromancer Games

On par for costing with a periapt of wound closure.

I like this idea. I'm not sure I am too fond of the description of "can be placed on the chest of a victim suffering from poison, curses, petrification, magical or mundane diseases or any other persistent condition short of death." That's basically a "cure anything once" item, short of death. Does that apply to special abilities from monsters? For instance, it mentions petrification, but is that only petrification from some poison, or is it from a gaze attack? Or from a spell or magic item too? How about confusion or other mind altering things? Does it fix those too? What about effects that by their description are only fixed by a wish? Does this overwrite those conditions? Or perhaps curses or things that can only be removed by a remove curse or some other limited means? It suggests it overwrites those restrictions.

I really think this needs more details on what, exactly, it can remove. But maybe I am wrong. Maybe it literally cures "any persistent affliction" (whatever that is in game terms) short of death. If so, then I think this one does too much.

I'm interested in what you two have to say.

I will admit, unless Pathfinder does this and I just dont know about it, I dont like hard wiring the exotic ingredients into the construction.

Contributor

Before I say anything else, let me point out that the runcible spoon IS A REAL ITEM FROM EARTH:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runcible_spoon

It's like naming your Superstar item "longsword" or "astrolabe" or "ice skate." The name doesn't tell me anything about the item's MAGIC because the name is the name of a real item.

To me, that's criteria for auto-reject. I mean, come on, can't you have any originality in the NAME of your item? What's next, "Bob's cloak"?

{I will admit, unless Pathfinder does this and I just dont know about it, I dont like hard wiring the exotic ingredients into the construction.}

Nope, we don't do that.

Legendary Games, Necromancer Games

Wes, share your wisdom with us.

Legendary Games, Necromancer Games

I dont know, Sean. I'm not with you on this. Runcible is a nonsense word and the spoon is from a poem, apparently. The same complaint you make could be lodged against the vorpal blade from Jabberwocky. I certainly wouldnt say vorpal blade is a bad name. I think the runcible spoon is the same. Its not a "real" name/word. If it was, I would agree with you. To me its more like vorpal blade than longsword.

I actually really like the name. I happen to think the name is inspired and literate.

I strongly urge you to reconsider your criticism in light of my vorpal blade example.

[edit: I see your wiki link includes a link to vorpal blade, thus strengthening my argument.]

Now, on to the item itself...

Contributor

But read further down in that wikipedia entry and you get to this:

"However, since the 1920s (several decades after Lear's death), modern dictionaries have generally defined a runcible spoon to be a fork with three broad curved prongs and a sharpened edge, used with pickles or hors d'oeuvres, such as a pickle fork.[6] It is occasionally used as a synonym for spork."

"It is also sometimes used to mean a "grapefruit spoon", a spoon with serrated edges around the bowl, and sometimes to mean a serving-spoon with a slotted bowl."

Yes, it originated as a nonsense word, but it's had a specific real-world meaning for over 80 years now. Yes, Gygax took the nonsense word "vorpal" and made a game thing out of it, but this guy missed the boat of doing the same for "runcible" by about 60 years--it already has a meaning. It's as if someone invented a new type of brain-surgery in the 20s and called it a "vorpal," then someone comes along and submits a "vorpal sword" magic item that cuts off heads--sorry, in this alternate universe, vorpal already has a definition.

Perhaps this is my version of your backstory pet peeve. :)

The item isn't bad, though it needs to be clarified, hardwires the exotic components into the item description, and the item name tells you nothing about what the item does.

Legendary Games, Necromancer Games

Fair enough. Sporks arent exactly superstar. :)

Contributor

I like this item up to the fifth sentence. It's not terribly busted, being of limited effect and its best use breaks it - which is a fine limiting factor, though even that should force some kind of save or check (this should not be able to break even a god's curse, for example).

Here's the weird bit: the "runcible" part totally doesn't bother me. There's a very vague line out there that separates Easter egg from literary allusion. I hate real world, pop culture, half-clever Easter eggs. Literary allusions, though, when they're from fantasy, folklore, and horror, tend not to bug me. I can cite at least a dozen already at large in Golarion. Most folks won't get them, those who do, well, they get a smile and nod along with their "Smartie Point."

All that being said, after the 5th sentence the item just starts digging its grave with its needless special components and the fairy curse mention and the undefined "poison spoon".

Legendary Games, Necromancer Games

Wes, I agree with you. Its got flaws. But is this inspired enough, more than the other stuff we saw, to make you want to keep this.

Contributor

In hindsight, and with the perspective of the other several hundred, I like this item far more than I did initially. The effect is useful and self limiting. Good stuff.

Legendary Games, Necromancer Games

I like this.

By the way, it gives a nod to being a spork (teeth line the cup).

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2009, RPG Superstar Judgernaut

I'm going to come at this maybe a little differently than some of the judges did. First, I like that you selected a physical object for your item that's an everyday normal thing...and then layered on some magical effects for it. Associating poison transference and a "medicine" cure-all ability with a spoon is acceptable. I don't know very many people who would even know that a runcible spoon exists. Sporks? Sure. But no one I know calls them a runcible spoon. So, I'm not gonna knock you much for the name.

Now something I will critique a little is the glomming on of the second tier ability. Granted, the spoon shatters and is lost carrying out the function of rescuing someone from any manner of aflliction (short of death), but I guess I just hesitate to grant such a one-time cure-all for 14,575 gp. If you had limited it to just neutralize poison, I would have been okay with it, because that would actually tighten up your theme that much better. But curses, petrification, magical or mundane diseases, etc. just goes too far, in my opinion. Also, you didn't do yourself any favors with the toss-away comment about it being one of the few things that can end a fairy curse. And believe me, I love me some fairy curses. So it hurts me to say that about your item. If you're going to mention something like that, I think you need to feature that ability and explain exactly what it entails. Under the Pathfinder RPG, we have many curses that get described, but none of them detail a specific fairy curse. So, name-dropping that into the magic item leaves me wondering more about the fairy curses than the runcible spoon.

On the other hand, I really do like this item's first ability. Taking poison out of one substance and transferring it to another via the magic of the spoon is quite nice. In fact, I think you could have focused more intently on that ability and made the spoon more useful by allowing it to draw forth a monster's poison...or a plant's poison...and so on...making it easy to transfer and store it for eventual use in some other application. In fact, rather than just using neutralize poison on someone suffering from poison, it would be extra cool if the runcible spoon could draw that out of them and then "save" and transfer the poison back into a bottle or vial for re-use or alchemical analysis.

Now for some nitpicks: You should lower-case "Moderate Conjuration" in your Aura description. Your spells should appear in alphabetical order within your construction requirements. And, you go back and forth referring to your item as "Spoon" and "spoon" several different times in your description paragraph. It's better to lower-case it and italicize it if you're mentioning the item's full name -- runcible spoon -- and just lower-case "spoon" when you're describing it generically. Lastly, The full paragraph description of the special components in the construction requirements threw me. I don't think I've ever seen a precendent established for listing out rare and unusual components required in an item's crafting. Usually, such stuff is just assumed. And I think your entry would have been stronger to exclude this stuff and focus more on your descriptive text instead.

But, you know what? None of that matters now. Those are small quibbles that don't amount to hill of beans now that you've joined the ranks of RPG Superstar. Congratulations on catching the judges' collective eyes with a reasonable, well-crafted idea for a wondrous item. If I have any advice for you, it would be shore up some of those problem areas I described above. Find the core of whatever idea you're working on and polish it down to a fine sheen. Avoid layering in stuff that clutters it up or detracts from your core theme. That will serve to draw your audience in and keep them under your enthrall effect. Best of luck in the next round!

Scarab Sages RPG Superstar 2009 Top 4 , Star Voter Season 6 aka raidou

This item has a particularly cool effect in the drawing out of poison as a colored sphere, then emptying the toxin into a container. That is both a neat effect and a compelling visual. After that, though, you fall into the trap of over-designing your item.

The specific materials mentioned in its construction are superfluous and distracting, and the fluff about fairy's curses has both no in-game source nor does it have a descriptive payoff. It's just hanging there. Even the stuff about specific monster bits in the construction is just dead weight. I wish you hadn't done it, because it detracts from what I otherwise consider a pretty solid item with a neat niche.

In any case, your entry into the ranks of RPG Superstar contestants shows design promise and skill at conveying your central theme. Well Done! I wish you luck in the coming challenges.

RPG Superstar 2009 Top 4 aka K. B. Carter

Congrats on making it to RPG Superstar 2010! I asked myself the same three questions for each of the top 32 items. Here are my responses to your item:

Would this wondrous item unbalance or over-complicate my game if my PCs were to find it and use it?
I was right there with you until I read the line that this can cure "any persistent condition short of death". That's an alarmingly vague phrase that essentially lets the PCs work out whatever they want, from lycanthropy to domination to mummy rot. I haven't really thought it through, but on the surface, this feels unbalanced to me.

Would my PCs be happy with this item if they were to find it during an adventure?
My PCs would probably toss this in their backpacks and forget about it until they had an unknown potion to test for poison. They would only use it to remove a persistent condition if they absolutely had to—as it’s too good to waste on effects that can be easily dispelled or cured—and it would likely hang around on their character sheets indefinitely. It’s so powerful, the PCs would want to save it.

Do I like the mojo? Does the item spark other ideas for my campaign?
I actually really like the mojo of this item and I dig the idea of an item that extracts poison and concentrates it into a solid sphere that can be stored like a marble. A slightly modified version of this item (i.e. a skull-shaped loadstone that attracts poison) would be a great way to start giving my PCs a new type of treasure (i.e. poison) that they can extract from certain slain monsters.

Scarab Sages RPG Superstar 2013 , Dedicated Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Steven T. Helt

This is the first item I have really liked so far, but I promise to go back and read them again after a good cry.

I dig the name. I agree that it is literate and not a cheap Easter egg, which I think is an important point to make. I am guilty of the occasional Easter egg in my games, and while I know not to put them in published amterial, a clever allusion is something to be admired.

I like the cinematic effect, which is a big part of design to me. I do think it's a little strong, and I also feel it pretty much duplicates the periapt outlined above, or the ole keoghtam's ointment.

I just realized I can't spell keoghtam without looking at a PHB.

Congratualtions. I look forward to seeing your monster next round.


Unfortunately, I am familiar with The Owl and the Pussycat and Beatrix Potter's Tale of Little Pig Robinson, but I do like the special construction requirements, even if you involve one of the monsters I most hate in D&D, the 'gorgon'. (Sorry, I'm a fan of classic greek/roman myths...)
Congratulations on reaching the top 32, and good luck with future rounds.

RPG Superstar 2013 Top 8 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7 aka Demiurge 1138

This item isn't bad. The fact that it's a one-use "get out of save-or-suck free" doesn't bother me in the least. How cheap is a scroll of break enchantment? I know that break enchantment has a level check tied to it, but the 14K price tag is steep enough to get around that.

Flavor-wise, I think the runcible thing is perfectly appropriate. Its real-world application is obscure enough that everybody who hears the word won't catch the reference, and those that do might give a bit of a smile. The stuff about faerie curses and gibbering mouther spittle, on the other hand, is too much. Reign it in a little.

RPG Superstar 2013 Top 8 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7 aka Demiurge 1138

Charles Evans 25 wrote:

Unfortunately, I am familiar with The Owl and the Pussycat and Beatrix Potter's Tale of Little Pig Robinson, but I do like the special construction requirements, even if you involve one of the monsters I most hate in D&D, the 'gorgon'. (Sorry, I'm a fan of classic greek/roman myths...)

Congratulations on reaching the top 32, and good luck with future rounds.

Whenever someone complains about the D&D gorgon, I post this link:

Edward Topsell's Gorgon, from the Elizabethan era and inspired by Pliny's catoblepas.

Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16, 2011 Top 32 , Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8

Wow. All I can say is wow. When I got home from work and checked my email, I did not expect to see that. I really appreciate the chance to move on to the next round and am thankful that I grew on the judges!

My submission is what happens when stress and fairy tales read to a 3 year old combine. I will definitely work harder for the next round on tightening up my submission and I am very grateful for the chance and criticism.

Wow. Thanks again!

RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32 aka Hydro

The transference of poison from one substance to another has an awesome dark-fantasy vibe. Very stylish.

I would have liked the get-out-of-jail-free effect more if it had been described as curing anything that heal can cure (I don't think anything short of wish should act as a blanket cure-all for unique curses and such; designers and GMs write unique curses specifically BECAUSE they don't want them cured by conventional means).

The fun thing about homebrew curses, though, is that you can describe them as being cured by whatever you want; even if there were no cure-all effect, you could still say that a fairy curse can be cured by breaking a runcible spoon.

Or perhaps even a runcible spoon containing, say, the blood of a virgin satyr or the heart of a pious poisoner. But now I'm wandering way beyond the bounds of the contest.

Which I suppose speaks well for how evocative your item is. :)

Scarab Sages RPG Superstar 2009 Top 4

So this spoon is like a big bundle magical adrenaline shot to the heart. Literally spooning out the bad stuff, as I can see a magical spoon doing, but it is just too over powered. You had 65+ word left over from your entry. Just one extra sentence that more clearly defined what this item could and could not cure could have made it so much easier to compare cost to other like items, it usefulness against certain monsters and situations, and power balance based off character level. I’m sure after a small amount of playtesting you would have seen how PCs could greatly abuse the current wording. However unlike the other judges I think sporks are one of the greatest creations of post-Atlantis humanity. I’m looking forward for some more that out of the box thinking it the later rounds. Welcome to RPG Superstar 2010.

Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16, 2011 Top 32 , Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8

TheTwitching King wrote:


So this spoon is like a big bundle magical adrenaline shot to the heart. Literally spooning out the bad stuff, as I can see a magical spoon doing, but it is just too over powered. You had 65+ word left over from your entry. Just one extra sentence that more clearly defined what this item could and could not cure could have made it so much easier to compare cost to other like items, it usefulness against certain monsters and situations, and power balance based off character level. I’m sure after a small amount of playtesting you would have seen how PCs could greatly abuse the current wording. However unlike the other judges I think sporks are one of the greatest creations of post-Atlantis humanity. I’m looking forward for some more that out of the box thinking it the later rounds. Welcome to RPG Superstar 2010.

I have to beg to differ: clearly sporks are the creation of the same aliens who taught us how to build pyramids and brew beer. No earthly human could create something so... perfect.


I love the fact that the author has used a real-world reference, because *all* of these ideas are from real-world reference (except maybe the squidboat, which is brilliant for its madness).

I like practical magic (both Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman are favorites). In a magical-world economy (please don't hurt me for that), I would think that life-saving devices of practical natures would abound. This would be a relatively high-order one, sure, and maybe every noble house in the land would have a drawer full of lesser-grade versions of this item.

This item doesn't break the bank, is useful, everybody would want one, everybody could get one, and it represents a not-so-subtle communication on the part of a player to a DM: What kind of character bypasses the glittery sword in the hoard in favor of a spoon? The answer is, the Raiders of the Lost Ark type.

Common, practical magic. I can see these being mass-produced in some campaigns; the kids at Hogwart's probably eat off these. Bravo.


I really like the overall flavor of this item. I also like the idea that a less scrupulous character using this now has a ready dose of poison to use against enemies, perhaps the very same one that tried to poison them in the first place...

Congratulations on making the top 32!

Liberty's Edge

Love the name, love The Owl and the Pussycat reference (which I also read to my 3 year old). I very much felt it was in the vein of Vorpal Sword (well … not quite as cool, but what is?). I have to admit my ignorance that although I got the literary reference I didn’t realise that the name now has a ‘real’ meaning (sporks – who knew?).

I know it’s not canon, but I’m a huge fan of having specific ingredient construction requirements for magical items. Very flavoursome.

Love the flavour, description and function of this one, although I agree that “other persistent conditions short of death” seems too ambiguous and leaves the item open to potential abuse. I’d prefer some hard mechanics here (though have no problem with the fairy curse flavour text).

Very well done James, and good luck in future rounds.

Paizo Employee Chief Creative Officer, Publisher

Demiurge 1138 wrote:


Whenever someone complains about the D&D gorgon, I post this link:

Edward Topsell's Gorgon, from the Elizabethan era and inspired by Pliny's catoblepas.

That was awesome.

Liberty's Edge RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32 aka Bats Kabber

As a player of poisonous rogues and a GM of villains people really want to kill, I would find this item exceptionally useful.

When I first read it I pictured a group of low level PC's sitting down to dinner with a noble who would enlist their service as body guards. While talking to the players poison is drawn from everyone's plate.

I can hear them now:

"I need you to find out who is trying to kill me."
"How much does this pay?!?!?"

RPG Superstar 2008 Top 16 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka MythrilDragon

I like that you took the Runcible Spoon and made it something that fits a fantasy RPG, Good luck on the next round.

The Exchange Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16

Nice work James, I really dig the poison extraction effect, only it's limited in such a way that it's only moderately useful. I like Jason's suggestion of expanding this capability a bit more, perhaps in combination with lowering the total cure-all effect of the spoon and lowering the price a bit.

Regardless, congratulations and welcome to the top 32. I look forward to seeing your later entries!


Part of me wants the poison-extraction ability to be limited to destroying the poison instead of allowing an assassin to recycle it endlessly. But that would be a minor concern.

If it were limited to that ability alone, I think you'd have an excellent "practical magic" item as That Old Guy said.

I like the addition of a one-shot cure - setting up a situation where players have a choice to sacrifice an item that could be useful for years to come in a climatic way is an excellent addition. I'd agree with most of the other posts that it shouldn't be open-ended or quite so wide-ranging. Personally I'd like to see it limited to poisons or diseases, and may just borrow that modified version for my own game.

I like the name. I think it would have been a more boring item had it just been called the Magic Spoon or the Fairy Spoon. I'd never heard of the Runcible Spoon before and given most of the references that I could find for a Runcible Spoon were of things other than grapefruit spoons, I'd not be concerned about using the item with the designated name.

Star Voter Season 6

I like this item as a DM more than as a player, actually. I like it a lot as a DM for the world-building qualities mentioned up thread. Practical magic is basically flavor for VIPs of nefarious and aristocratic sorts. Much less nasty than simply hiring some poor sod to taste your food and eventually die. I can totally see Queen Ileosa using this item: "Think of the germs from that, that, that peasant! His lips? Touching my food?! Ugh!"

That said, this is definitely in the bottom of the adventurer's backpack in most campaigns, those not dealing regularly with attempted food poisoning. For acquiring poison, it's much more economical to simply buy it. (After you've harvested the hemlock for the sixth attempted poisoning, you've turned a profit on this item. And if you've got six attempts on your life via hemlock poisoning, I submit you have bigger problems.) And if this item's "practical" then there's enough supply of poison out there to make buying it possible with the right contacts. The only thing that makes this PC-fodder is the get out of jail free card.

Be very careful with the PC-DM balance. Most of your voters are DMs, it's true, but I feel like future submissions will have to be a bit more balanced in terms of who uses them.

Scarab Sages

I want to use Runcible Spoon as a character name or the name of an NPC.

I like the uses, but agree definitions could have been tightened. I can see this as a low-level quest item, either itself or the components. The fairy thing implies to me that you already have a use for this in whatever you are running right now (or were until you won a slot in the 32).


You had me at runcible. I quite like this item.

Scarab Sages Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games

I'd never heard of a runcible spoon, so it was all gravy to me. Then again, in terms of archaisms and "weird real words that no one has heard of," I'll offer Sean this analogy to last year's contest (with all the smileys that that implies):

runcible spoon:spork::irides:irises

I'm with Clark on the "if it's good for vorpal sword, it's good for runcible spoons." As for the effect, you should have stipulated:

1. Whether you can recycle the poison from somebody you just poisoned.
2. Whether extracting the poison cures any ability damage.

I don't have a problem with the "one-shot cure" power, though you should've just stipulated that it "works like break enchantment," which cures curses, petrification, enchantments up to 5th level, etc. What comes out as a sort of clunky and vague description of what it fixes could've been solved by just pointing it back to the book. If you want it to be a super-cure, you could just arbitrarily state that it gets an extra-good bonus (maybe even the maximum of +15) since it is consuming all of the item's power to do it.

Overall: I don't love it to pieces, but I like it just fine.

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8 aka Benchak the Nightstalker

I for one have never heard of a Runcible Spoon, but I like the item quite a bit. It's got a tight thematic focus, works in a cool way, and has some really fun crafting requirements.

Well done!

The Exchange RPG Superstar 2009 Top 8 aka Tarren Dei

Jason Nelson wrote:
runcible spoon:spork::irides:irises

* glares malevolently at Jason *

The Exchange RPG Superstar 2009 Top 8 aka Tarren Dei

Benchak the Nightstalker wrote:

I for one have never heard of a Runcible Spoon, but I like the item quite a bit. It's got a tight thematic focus, works in a cool way, and has some really fun crafting requirements.

Well done!

* looks at Benchak with surprise *

"Hey, has anyone ever told you that you have nice irides?"

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8 aka Benchak the Nightstalker

Bracht Darkhouse wrote:
Benchak the Nightstalker wrote:

I for one have never heard of a Runcible Spoon, but I like the item quite a bit. It's got a tight thematic focus, works in a cool way, and has some really fun crafting requirements.

Well done!

* looks at Benchak with surprise *

"Hey, has anyone ever told you that you have nice irides?"

Oh, I get compliments all the time, as I'm sure you must as well ;)


James Martin:
If this had been a five votes voting round, you would now, thanks to your attention to small touches with those extra construction requirements (which I liked) be in contention for my last vote with Dennis da Ogre and Watcher. :)
Good job.

Liberty's Edge RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16 , Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka JoelF847

Great job making the top 32! Personally, I'm more with Sean here about the runcible. I had never heard of the word, but when I looked it up, I wasn't a big fan of the fact that it essentially had no meaning. Yes, vorpal was a madeup word also, but it at least had the "snicker-snack went it's head" reference which provides some tie to cutting off heads. I'm not seeing the refernece to removing poison with runcible, in which case it could litterally be any random collection of letters and have the same meaning, i.e. none.

As for the item itself, I like the removing and collectiong poison, but the limit of ingested poison makes this seem too limited for most games to have come up more than once a campaign (and even that could be generous.) If the spoon worked as suggested by Neil and could harvest a dose of poison from plants and dead monsters, then you've got an item! I like the self-destruct mode as well - I find those types of abilities give life to lower power items at higher levels of play, when their day-to-day use tends to no longer be relevent. It's unfortunate that you didn't better define this part of it's power.

Finally, the tangents of the specific components for creation and fairy curses were a big negative to me. Especially the components - for me, when there's a specific format, and you stray from that, it's a big negative. If this had been a voting round, that would have put me off right there. I'd advise to stick to format in future rounds when stat blocks are part of the submission.

RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16 , Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7

I kind of like this one too. It's functional. I know I'd want once as a player. As someone who had issues with vagueness in their own entry, I can see how that might lead it to being abused. I also like the ingrediants list as it were. It make creation of the item seem a bit more epic. Like making the item is an adventure in itself. I sometimes get turned off by the standard "Have these spells, make these rolls, spent this much gold and *POOF* magic item." Anyway congratulations!

Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16, 2011 Top 32 , Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8

Now that I've submitted my next round entry and can breath again without aid, I thought I'd join in posting how I came up with my submission:

Honestly the idea started with the name Runcible Spoon. After researching it and learning that runcible was a nonsense word that only gained a definition after it was used, I decided to see what I could make of it. The idea came to me of a spoon that separated poison when it's mixed in something else, and the idea of recovering it from the poisoned item in order to identify it was next.

The shattering idea came because I wanted to create a situation where players might have to choose between doing good and keeping a useful item. The exotic ingredients were included because I wanted this to not be a mass produced item that every store would sell, but perhaps a quest in itself.

Costing it was a hard time. I originally had it about twice as expensive, but I compared it to existing wondrous items and lowered that. Plus I thought the exotic nature of the ingredients would balance out the lower cost.

And I threw in the fairy curse bit because I dig evil fae and the idea of a person dear to the PCs becoming cursed by an evil faerie was fun.

If I had it to do over again, I think I would have cut this down a great deal. When I was designing this I think I was trying too hard to make it great. I think the trick of greatness is that sometimes you blunder into it without noticing it. Recognizing greatness is an under appreciated skill.

I'd like to thank the judges for giving me this chance, and thank all the people who've commented for their input and encouragement. Honestly, criticism is a great thing because it forces you to look at your work through someone else's eyes and after all, that's who you're writing for. I've had a great time working on this contest, I've enjoyed the ride and even if I don't make it beyond this round, I feel like I've definitely gotten some great experience. Cheers!

Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8

This item doesn't really wow me... no offense meant, I think it is a good, solid, usable item, but I do not see what makes it a 'superstar item'. I would have thought that the first part of the construction section would have hurt this item as well. Of course I am not a judge, so my opinions don't really matter. Still, good job on creating a solid item, and making it through to the next round. Good Luck in the future rounds!


James Martin wrote:

...And I threw in the fairy curse bit because I dig evil fae and the idea of a person dear to the PCs becoming cursed by an evil faerie was fun.

If I had it to do over again, I think I would have cut this down a great deal. When I was designing this I think I was trying too hard to make it great. I think the trick of greatness is that sometimes you blunder into it without noticing it. Recognizing greatness is an under appreciated skill...

I'm not sure you can cut much without losing what it is and does. It's pretty much everything that you've put into it which makes it interesting (to me, at least).

The fairy curse is perhaps a little bit over the top at present, but this item does exist in a game (PFRPG) where at least one subtype of dragons (linnorms) have a 'death curse' thing going on with them, so a 'fairy curse' is something which might be envisionable as happening at some point in the future...

Liberty's Edge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2012 , Star Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 9

I'm not a fan of the long-winded construction section. It adds flavor, true, but to me it makes it read more like a minor artifact than a wondrous item.

That said, I like the mechanics of the spoon, and I could definitely see my characters using this.

Congratulations and best of luck in the future rounds!

Dark Archive Contributor , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Boxhead

The mechanics of this one are great, but it gets lost in the special crafting ingredients and ability to cancel any curse, disease or poison. I assume that once a victim dies of poison, they are no longer afflicted by it, according to this item? Or can you extract the poison from a corpse? Because raise dead states that magical diseases and curses stick around longer than you do...

This is an item that will find a home in one of my campaigns, probably under a different name, and maybe as a minor artifact.


Now - face the terror of the HAND-CRANKED RUNCIBLE GUN!

*spork spork spork spork spork*

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