Starborn Seeds of Manifest Denial

[David Posener]

Starborn Seeds of Manifest Denial
Aura moderate abjuration; CL 11th
Slot Neck; Price 19,700 gp; Weight -
Description

This finger-length stem of glazed celadon supports a gossamer sphere of delicate noqual crystals. The talisman acts as a brooch-pin, and provides a +2 resistance bonus to saving throws against spells and spell-like abilities. Once per day, the possessor can disperse the counterfeit dandelion’s skymetal seeds with a breath, a standard action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. The luminous seeds form a languid cloud that surrounds the wearer for 11 rounds before the seeds settle back on the porcelain stem. The cloud is transparent and can be dispersed by winds as a fog cloud.

The seeds weaken physical manifestations of magic targeting the wearer, leaving only insubstantial, shadowy remnants. The wearer treats conjuration (summoning), conjuration (creation) and evocation effects as illusion (shadow) spells similar to shadow conjuration. The real proportions of spells that breach the cloud vary by spell level and are summarized in the table below. The wearer automatically disbelieves the residual illusionary portion. The seeds suppress any illusion (figment, glamer, pattern or phantasm) touched by the wearer and weaken the reality of illusion (shadow) spells by 40%.

Spell Level
Evocation---------Conjuration(*)---------Reality
------1-4-------------------1-3----------------------20%
------5-7-------------------4-6----------------------60%
-----------------------------7-8----------------------80%
-------8+--------------------9+---------------------100%

(*) Creatures summoned by conjuration (summoning) spells deal less damage to the wearer, but keep their full AC bonus and hit points.

Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, globe of invulnerability, resistance, true seeing; Cost 9,850 gp

[F. Wesley Schneider]

Huh. This is pretty complicated. I like that he works in noqual - the types of skymetal are pretty obscure - and this does weaken magic like that metal is supposed to do. Form and even the name of the thing are both pretty neat. The two bits that irk me are that this cripples mainstay spells like fireball and that it functions strangely with summoned monsters - this especially could have been more elegant.

But the guy obviously has a grasp of the world and tackles a complicated rules idea without totally botching it. I'm going to give this my nod if no one points out anything obviously broken that I'm missing.

Accept.

[Sean K Reynolds]

The language is WAY too Gygaxian for how we describe magic items nowadays. I mean, jeeze, the room descriptions in The Worm Ouroboros (which inspired Gygax's style) is less wordy than this thing!

That said, the mechanics are sound. They seem weird because the shadow conjuration and shadow evocation spells work weird, but this item works like those spells do.

Worth a second look.

Keep.

[F. Wesley Schneider]

Sean K Reynolds wrote:

The language is WAY too Gygaxian for how we describe magic items nowadays. I mean, jeeze, the room descriptions in The Worm Ouroboros (which inspired Gygax's style) is less wordy than this thing!

Hah! I'm glad you mentioned that. I had written and deleted a tirade about the all too common love affair between RPG players and geology porn.

[Clark Peterson]

OK you guys did NOT just keep an item with a name like that, did you? Really? Wow. :)

Good inclusion of how to disperse the seeds. Ooooh! Its full of first edition-y goodness. It even has a table :) I like this.

Man, those are some wacky construction requirements, but wacky good not wacky bad.

This pretty much has what I want to see.

Keep.

[Clark Peterson]

The writing may be Gygaxian or Boomerian (is that a new word?), and the author will need to rein it in a bit. Plus the name was an issue for me. But it is a cool item with a fun effect. Very original, very creative.

[Vic Wertz]

Just noting that even when you undo the funkiness with the table, it's still under the word count.

[Neil Spicer]

This item comes across to me as a new kind of spell resistance without the "all or nothing" approach to it. Basically, it gives you a permanent +2 resistance bonus against spells (and spell-like effects). Then, when invoked, the item can "shave off" some of a spell's power (from certain schools) to further resist its effect on the user. Equating that to how the shadow conjuration and shadow evocation spells self-impose such reductions on themselves makes for some good design waters to wade through.

Having said that, however, I've got to agree with the judges about the name (it didn't do much for me) and the Gygaxian verbosity, especially in the first paragraph. I think you may have put in a few too many adjectives to describe various things in ways that didn't really contribute to the entry as much. Instead, they just sort of extended the description longer than it needed to go. In that regard, you might want to work on self-editing some of those things when you write. It could serve you well in the long run. And, I think you might be around for the long run, because this idea is sound. It's a complicated thing to have to describe, but you did it. And that's no small feat.

Speaking of the mechanics, I like that a strong wind can disperse the protection, which otherwise only lasts for 11 rounds and can only be invoked once per day. So, that's one combat per day where you can gain the benefits of this kind of protection. That does leave me with a question about how the item regains the "seeds" though. If a strong wind disperses the cloud, how does the stem retrieve them again? Presumably, they would blow away and be lost. Or the stem would need to regrow such seeds again.

Lastly, if I'm reading this right, you're saying that the seeds reduce any illusion spell with the shadow descriptor by 40%. Given that shadow conjuration and shadow evocation already produce effects that are only 20% real, does that mean they're totally ignored? If so, that essentially would mean only a greater version of those two spells would have any effect left after the seeds weakened the magic. So, rather than have the item totally shield against those two spells, I'm thinking it might have been better to just say the seeds cut the potentcy of illusion (shadow) spells in half. That way, at least there's still a 10% effect that remains.

Regardless, the math involved in negotiating these percentages makes this an item that I suspect many GM's would hesitate to include in a treasure horde. That doesn't really matter though, because this item gets you into the ranks of RPG Superstar! And from here on out, you'll have different design challenges to face. Judging by the degree of difficulty on crafting this one, I suspect you'll do fine. So, best of luck!

[Eric Bailey]

This item is both fun and flavorful, if complicated. At its core, it does something very cool: transforms actual evocations and conjurations into their shadow counterparts. That's a pretty neat effect that I don't think has been done before. The fact that it utilizes an existing magic-dampening substance (noqual) for this effect adds to the item's appeal for me.

It's probably too fiddly as written, requiring a table every time you get hit by a spell effect. Evocation is affected differently from conjuration, so you've got some unneeded complexity. Pricing for this item seems about right for a 1/day defensive ability. Not game-breaking, pretty neat situational effect. I like this quite a bit.

The writing style, as already discussed, can be dialed down from 11 on the verbosity scale. Your very first line gives us a great mental image of what this thing looks and feels like. "Gossamer sphere of delicate noqual crystals." That's really good, but the descriptions get less evocative and merely wordy as you go on.

This is probably one of my top 5.

[Kevin 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've said this about several items in the top 32, but even more than the rest I'm worried this would require too much bookkeeping. It’s going to slow down a combat encounter when a player has to reference a table each time they are hit with a spell and then calculate, say, the result of 80% of 29 points of damage. As far as class balance is concerned, I'm also worried this item could be used to trivialize encounters against large groups of lower level mages. Low level mages are "glass cannons" to begin with, and someone with this item would take away the mages’ only real advantage, which is their ability to deal damage from a safe distance.

Would my PCs be happy with this item if they were to find it during an adventure?
My PCs would use this item. The concept is actually interesting and fun, but it could be a lot cleaner and a lot more elegant. Let me say this first part again, because I think I came down on this item a bit too hard in the above question... this wondrous item is a stellar concept. With a bit of mechanical streamlining, this idea will really shine.

Do I like the mojo? Does the item spark other ideas for my campaign?
This is what I really like about the item… lots of solid mojo here. The idea of a magical dandelion that is activated by scattering its seeds invokes an fantastic mental image that is perfect for high fantasy. Great job here.

[Matthew Stinson]

Say what you want about stereo instructions, if you do what they tell you your stereo will be put together and will work just fine. This entry is a bit wordy, but on the other hand it was a complicated idea that needed to be explained in detail and at the end of the entry it works. That being said, with the language cleaned up just a little this complicated idea could be told efficiently in around 200 words even with the table. That’s awesome.
I do like the idea of crystal dandy lion seeds floating around you as a magical shield, that is majestic. You found some game mechanics that were already in the game (shadowy conjurationand shadowy evocation) and used them in a new way instead of just making up a bunch of new mechanics. I beleive this is much better for the gaming system over all(expanding on what is already in the game and adding to it) and finding those type of opportunities is a sure sign of superstar material. Welcome to RPG Superstar 2010 and best of luck.

[Mothman]

A description of an item for the game that follows the grand traditions of Dungeons and Dragons is being (almost) criticised for being Gygaxian? Oh woe and calamity, what have we come to? ;-)

Nice work Dave. Great description, great concept, nice mechanics. I tend to agree that the mechanics are probably a bit more complex than I like to deal with in the flow of combat, but shadow evocation and conjuration tend to be a bit that way anyway. Kudos for not being afraid to take on a part of the rule set like this and run with it.

Good luck going forward mate.

[Mortal Sword]

Gygaxian verbosity is definitely an issue here. It is important to remember that you are writing game reference material, and that the vocabulary of the average player should be assumed to be fairly basic. That is not to say that your flavorful writing is not without merit. As entertaining and evocative as your writing style can be for an experienced, well-read player, it could be intimidating for a child or new player.

Upon first glance I found this item to be a bookkeeping nightmare. I dismissed it as a headache. However, the flavor and description of this item saves it for me. I really could visualize the cloud of seeds. I'll likely be utilizing a simplified version of this in my campaign!

Grats on making top 32, and know that I'll be watching your future submissions with interest.

[Fern Herold]

Man, that prose is purple. I do like the idea of it (use the %age rules from the shadow evocation/conjuration spells defensively!), but as written it's too complicated and too powerful. Since the wielder automatically disbelieves any spell that gets into the cloud, it's an 11 rounds/day near-immunity to conjuration and evocation magic. For anything less than a minor artifact, that's no good.

Still, there's a lot of imagination on display here. I look forward to your monster description.

[Wolfgang Baur]

Bravo Dave and well done! The Gygaxian prose doesn't bother me though you may have gone *slightly* overboard on adjectives.

In any case, I'm certainly looking forward to seeing what you do in the next round.

[Charles Evans 25]

Definitely a little on the heavy side with the flavour text, and I'm not sure if the pricing is correct for what it does.
However congratulations on reaching the top 32.

[Andrew Black]

Nice 1st ED feel too it, good luck on the next round.

[Dennis Baker]

Wow, I really love the idea of an item that turns reality into illusion. The mechanics seem a bit challenging but I think much of that is the nature of the effect rather than poor implementation. I'm also not keen on flowery text but overall with some editing this is a really cool item.

Congratulations, I look forward to competing with you next round.

[James Martin]

I love the image of a metal dandelion and spreading the seeds across the battlefield. This is a cool idea, done well and I approve. Congrats!

[Reckless]

Once I forced myself past the verbosity onset, I found an item that I don't care for. This is the kind of item loved by hyperintelligent players of wizards that can play havok with encounters and bog down game play. After the first few uses, I would be tired of dealing with this item.

[Nicolas Quimby]

Have I not posted here yet? This item is BADASS, which puts it a full two notches above "awesome" in my book. If I had a villain use this item, my players wouldn't just say "I want one"; they would say "Wooa, duuude. . " (and THEN say "I want one").

The execution was clunky, as others have said, but still perfectly usable.

As for your writing, I get the feeling that you were trying too hard to convey your vivid bombasticality here. Magic items don't give you much room to stretch your legs in that regard (they're arguably more like technical writing than creative writing), and given the task at hand I think you laid the adjectives on a little too thick. But I like it. I seriously want to see what you pull off in the description-only second round.

[Joel Flank]

Great job making the top 32! I'm not a big fan of the name (dropping one of the 2 adjectives would be a big improvement). Other than that, the writing didn't bother me much, as it did some others. Aside from the complexity already mentioned, I had a bit of a nit pick. If this occupies the neck slot, then it shouldn't be a pin that could be anywhere on your person. I know the brooch of shielding is neck slot, but it's described as being used to fasten a cloak or cape, which keeps at at one's neck. Also, for the pricing, I'm guessing you used the baseline formulas precisely, but generally, once an item is over 5,000 gp, they tend to get rounded to the nearest thousand, so I'd have made this 20K and called it a day. Finally, when you mention that it supresses any illusion touched, does this require a touch attack against them (if it's an illusion of a creature)?

Despite all of this, your item excells due to the great ideas, which is what will serve you best in future rounds - it's a lot easier to clean up a bit of clunkyness on a great idea than to put a great idea around clear mechanics.

[Patrick Walsh]

Dementrius wrote:

Starborn Seeds of Manifest Denial

That is cool with an excellent visual. I think it might take some head-scratching the first few times it is used, but after that it should be very usable. Well done!

[David Fryer]

I have to say, it took me a few times reading the item description before I understood it. Once I did, I thought it was an awesome item. I am already planning a way to work it into my campaign. My one question is what happens if the seed cloud is dispersed, do they still settle back on the broach at the end of the effect or does the wearer have to wander around looking for them?

[Benjamin Bruck]

I also like the idea of turning reality into an illusion (or perhaps exposing the essential nature of magic as illusory?), and the way you did it is quite interesting. I have to say, I'm impressed!

[roguerouge]

I don't even want to think about what geology porn might look like. I mean, it's too late, and all, but still. I hate you.

On a more serious note, I thought the goal of Pathfinder was to eliminate the subsystems that littered 3e, as in the turning rules. Items that require a table are a major pain. Good idea, but I'd like to see more elegant design in the next round. Of course, you lucked out in that the next round is all flavor/no mechanics.

[Caedwyr]

roguerouge wrote:

I don't even want to think about what geology porn might look like. I mean, it's too late, and all, but still. I hate you.

Orthoclase and Microcline Feldspar display good cleavage... (This made for an interesting pair of Halloween costumes).

While the prose is a bit overdone, the name could be a bit stronger, and the actual play mechanics of this item somewhat fiddly, I still really like it. The idea of a cloud of floating dandelion seeds turning real effects into partial illusions is a brilliant one.

[Mike Welham]

At first, I was taken aback by the purple prose, but, after a second reading, I enjoyed this item. It helped that the item's effect is very clever. One of my favorites thus far.

Congratulations! Best of luck next round.

[The Earl of Sandwich]

I've been waiting to see you in the top 32 since you posted a country entry in the also-rans thread a couple of years ago. You are certainly one of my picks to check out for pure Boomerian fun. Good Luck!

[David Posener]

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I'll be back to comment once I get through my monster submission, a 2-day camping trip to the Wombeyan caves, and my weekly Adjectives Anonymous meeting.

By the way, geology porn gets my rocks off.

[Mothman]

Dementrius wrote:

a 2-day camping trip to the Wombeyan caves,

Give my love to Ranger Tanya.

Dementrius wrote:

By the way, geology porn gets my rocks off.

Groan...

[Remco Sommeling]

Dementrius wrote:

Starborn Seeds of Manifest Denial

Aura moderate abjuration; CL 11th
Slot Neck; Price 19,700 gp; Weight -
Description

This finger-length stem of glazed celadon supports a gossamer sphere of delicate noqual crystals. The talisman acts as a brooch-pin, and provides a +2 resistance bonus to saving throws against spells and spell-like abilities. Once per day, the possessor can disperse the counterfeit dandelion’s skymetal seeds with a breath, a standard action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. The luminous seeds form a languid cloud that surrounds the wearer for 11 rounds before the seeds settle back on the porcelain stem. The cloud is transparent and can be dispersed by winds as a fog cloud.

The seeds weaken physical manifestations of magic targeting the wearer, leaving only insubstantial, shadowy remnants. The wearer treats conjuration (summoning), conjuration (creation) and evocation effects as illusion (shadow) spells similar to shadow conjuration. The real proportions of spells that breach the cloud vary by spell level and are summarized in the table below. The wearer automatically disbelieves the residual illusionary portion. The seeds suppress any illusion (figment, glamer, pattern or phantasm) touched by the wearer and weaken the reality of illusion (shadow) spells by 40%.

Spell Level
Evocation---------Conjuration(*)---------Reality
------1-4-------------------1-3----------------------20%
------5-7-------------------4-6----------------------60%
-----------------------------7-8----------------------80%
-------8+--------------------9+---------------------100%

(*) Creatures summoned by conjuration (summoning) spells deal less damage to the wearer, but keep their full AC bonus and hit points.

Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, globe of invulnerability, resistance, true seeing; Cost 9,850 gp

I don't think the item is that bad, but too many adjectives in a small text that destroys both the mood and the informative function of the text.

I was tempted to skip and write it off when I did not instantly 'get' what this item was about.

[Nicolas Quimby]

Hem-hem.

[Urizen]

Hydro wrote:

Hem-hem.

must resist ... commenting... <rolls d20>

[Jason Nelson]

roguerouge wrote:

I don't even want to think about what geology porn might look like. I mean, it's too late, and all, but still. I hate you.

I have no idea what it looks like, but I'm sure it would tend to make a person... hard.

Okay, no more puns, but this item... I LOVE it.

Then again, I tend to verbosity and I enjoy complicated rule subsystems... but then again, growing up in an era when calculators were considered cheating doing adjustments by multiples of 10% just doesn't seem remotely complex to me.

But dude, the visuals on this are off the charts, the effects play upon an established mechanic of the game, you correctly pointed out one potential pitfall in the AC of summoned creatures who get de-realized by the magic. In all, you hit the mechanical marks very well... EXCEPT: You tell us that your touch "suppresses" those four categories of illusions, but you don't tell us for how long.

The item, though, I think is great, one of my favorites. The name is a little florid, but the item is gold. Good luck in the rest of the contest.

[David Posener]

OK, my monster's almost in the bag and the kids are watching Shrek, so I'll go through some of the comments...

[David Posener]

OK, for those of you playing at home who want some explanation...

Neil Spicer wrote:

... That does leave me with a question about how the item regains the "seeds" though. If a strong wind disperses the cloud, how does the stem retrieve them again? Presumably, they would blow away and be lost. Or the stem would need to regrow such seeds again.

If the seeds are blown away, they slowly float their way back to the stem over the next 24 hours, ready to go again for the next day.

Neil Spicer wrote:

Lastly, if I'm reading this right, you're saying that the seeds reduce any illusion spell with the shadow descriptor by 40%. Given that shadow conjuration and shadow evocation already produce effects that are only 20% real, does that mean they're totally ignored? If so, that essentially would mean only a greater version of those two spells would have any effect left after the seeds weakened the magic.

As usual sir you are 100% correct.

Neil Spicer wrote:

...the math involved in negotiating these percentages makes this an item that I suspect many GM's would hesitate to include in a treasure hoard.

I only kinda get the "math is hard" problem. I think you'd be surprised how many players become efficient with percentage multiplication when it directly leads to avoiding the worst parts of an acid arrow suppository.

[David Posener]

Eric Bailey wrote:

...It's probably too fiddly as written, requiring a table every time you get hit by a spell effect. Evocation is affected differently from conjuration, so you've got some unneeded complexity.

I was tossing up the "unified percentage" to simplify things, but in the end I just thought it was elegant that the percentages were the same as the shadow evocation / conjuration effects it was imitating.

Eric Bailey wrote:

The writing style, as already discussed, can be dialed down from 11 on the verbosity scale. Your very first line gives us a great mental image of what this thing looks and feels like. "Gossamer sphere of delicate noqual crystals." That's really good, but the descriptions get less evocative and merely wordy as you go on.

I think you'll find my bombasticity goes up to TWELVE! I'm thinking I'll write naturally in the future rounds and have my wife randomly remove 50% of the adjectives once I'm done.

[David Posener]

Mothman wrote:

A description of an item for the game that follows the grand traditions of Dungeons and Dragons is being (almost) criticised for being Gygaxian? Oh woe and calamity, what have we come to? ;-)

I actually ran it by my group, and their comment was that the title sounded exactly like a magic item out of a Jack Vance novel. I probably should have asked if that was a complement first!

[David Posener]

Mortal Sword wrote:

Upon first glance I found this item to be a bookkeeping nightmare. I dismissed it as a headache. However, the flavor and description of this item saves it for me. I really could visualize the cloud of seeds. I'll likely be utilizing a simplified version of this in my campaign!

Here's my recommendation for a simple version of the Seeds of Denial

Aura moderate abjuration; CL 11th
Slot Neck; Price 19,700 gp; Weight -
Description

This finger-length stem of celadon supports a gossamer sphere of noqual crystals. The talisman acts as a brooch-pin, and provides a +2 resistance bonus to saving throws against spells and spell-like abilities. Once per day, the possessor can disperse the dandelion’s skymetal seeds with a breath, a standard action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. The seeds form a cloud that surrounds the wearer for 11 rounds before the seeds settle back on the stem. The cloud is transparent and can be dispersed by winds as a fog cloud.

The seeds weaken physical manifestations of magic targeting the wearer, leaving only shadowy remnants. All conjuration (summoning), conjuration (creation), evocation and illusion effects below 4th level are suppressed for the duration of the cloud.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, globe of invulnerability, resistance, true seeing; Cost 9,850 gp

This one is now basically a globe of invulnerability that affects only certain schools of magic and with some cool flavour.

[David Posener]

Demiurge 1138 wrote:

Man, that prose is purple.

Hmmm.... perhaps I'm pitching to the wrong company

[David Posener]

Charles Evans 25 wrote:

... and I'm not sure if the pricing is correct for what it does...

I'm not too sure either, but here's how I got to where I did (I'm going to spoiler this because no-one else is that interested in my pricing formula):

Spoiler:

OK, here goes:

Let's start with a globe of invulnerability 1/day base at CL 11th - I say 6 x 11 x 1,800 gp /5 = 23,760 gp.

Now globe of invulnerability four levels of magic out of nine across all schools, or 44% plus some change of all magic.

The Seeds block about 29% of all magic, taking into account % blocked, schools of magic ignored and so on.

LVL Abj Conj Evok Enchant Trans Necro Illus
1---- 0--- 0.8--- 0.8--- 0------ 0---- 0----- 1
2---- 0--- 0.8--- 0.8--- 0------ 0---- 0----- 1
3---- 0--- 0.8--- 0.8--- 0------ 0---- 0----- 1
4---- 0--- 0.4--- 0.8--- 0------ 0---- 0----- 1
5---- 0--- 0.4--- 0.4--- 0------ 0---- 0----- 1
6---- 0--- 0.4--- 0.4--- 0------ 0---- 0----- 1
7---- 0--- 0.2--- 0.4--- 0------ 0---- 0----- 1
8---- 0--- 0.2--- 0----- 0------ 0---- 0----- 1
9---- 0--- 0----- 0----- 0------ 0---- 0----- 1

Thus the Seeds are 66% as effective as globe of invulnerability (0.29/0.44), thus should cost 66% x 23,760gp = 15,700gp + 4,000gp for the resistance bonus = 19,700gp total. Tada!

What is a bit wonky is the value of receiving a small reduction in higher level spells vs. some vulnerability to low level spells.

[David Posener]

Joel Flank wrote:

...Finally, when you mention that it supresses any illusion touched, does this require a touch attack against them (if it's an illusion of a creature)?

Eeeep. Didn't even think of that at all. For those of you playing at home, I'm going to give a tentative yes.

[Charles Evans 25]

David Posener wrote:

Charles Evans 25 wrote:

... and I'm not sure if the pricing is correct for what it does...

I'm not too sure either, but here's how I got to where I did (I'm going to spoiler this because no-one else is that interested in my pricing formula):

** spoiler omitted **

(edited, clarified)

Shouldn't there be an additional 5,000 gp figured in somewhere (?) since:

Children of the Void (Page 19) wrote:

...Creating a magic item that incorporates any amount of noqual into it increases the price of creation by 5,000 gp, as costly reagents and alchemical supplies must be used to treat the metal during the process...

That said, Children of the Void was written for 3.5 rules and I'm not sure if the processing cost would have changed with conversion to PFRPG - and to a certain extent rule of thumb needs to be applied with Wondrous Items.

Nice to see your working though... :)

[David Posener]

Charles Evans 25 wrote:

Shouldn't there be an additional 5,000 gp figured in somewhere (?) since:

Children of the Void (Page 19) wrote:

...Creating a magic item that incorporates any amount of noqual into it increases the price of creation by 5,000 gp, as costly reagents and alchemical supplies must be used to treat the metal during the process...

That said, Children of the Void was written for 3.5 rules and I'm not sure if the processing cost would have changed with conversion to PFRPG - and to a certain extent rule of thumb needs to be applied with Wondrous Items.

Nice to see your working though... :)

Oooooohhhhhh! Nice pickup! Technically, yes there should be an extra 5,000 gp attached. I guess that it was originally intended to be a rule for Craft Arms and Armour, but nevertheless, there it is. [Vader]The rules-fu is strong with this one[/Vader].

[Tobias Mullen]

I dig it. It's a bit complex at first, but I'm sure that someone who used this on a regular basis would be able to work with it pretty quickly. I do like your descriptive style; it really helps me get into what this item does.

Keep up the good work.

TM

[Sean McGowan]

Personally, the Gygax-speak fills me with nostalgia. Just steer clear of ever slipping into full on Eye of Argon territory and it's all good with me.

As far as effects go, one of my favorite subset of spells reaching all the way back to 1st edition was always the shadow xxx stuff, so I love this based on that alone. Mechanically it is more complex at first glance than I tend to like, but I'm sure that is something I'd adjust to quickly. And as far as flavor goes, I love the noqual, and I love the 'turning reality into illusion' concept. I could see something like this in Planescape, and that is one of the highest praises I can give. :-)