RPG Superstar 2015 Top 16
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Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
aka Rusty Ironpants
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Faces of Drama
Really liked this one, seems balanced enough and I just love the theme. Then again, I have a soft spot for bards. As it is, it's a little SIAC for my taste; maybe the comedy and tragedy effects could be worked a bit in order to make the mask more unique. Instead of jut duplicating the spells, there could be a twist or something.
Anyway, I like the idea a lot, and I wonder what it is that you submitted after all!
Thanks!
Hopefully, you will get to see the item I submitted on Jan 18th!
Faces of Drama
I like this; it's simple and could use a little sumpin' sumpin' to make it slightly hotter, but I don't think you need to worry about an item only being appealing to a certain class; last year there were like four bard items that made it through, plus a couple cleric specific ones, some that were useful only to spellcasters, etc.
Anyway, I like the theming and appearance of this; I LOVE the fact that the faces keep changing back and forth. The spell effects, while appropriate, are what's slightly lacking here; as is, it's got SIAC overtones. I think this would have been stronger if the comedy/tragedy faces had powers that weren't direct riffs off of spells; but of course then you would start running into word count issues.
Aside from choosing whether or not to cast a spell, does the wearer have any control over the faces switching back and forth? If he has ranks in Perform: Comedy but not Perform: Act, for instance, and he likes his +2 competence bonus, can he will it to change back to comedy after using hideous laughter or is he simply stuck in tragedy land until he casts the other spell?
Thanks for the feedback Sean.
As written the only way to change the faces back and forth is by using the spell effect. I was thinking about changing the use of each spell ability to 3 times/day instead to allow switching back and forth a bit more. That should not affect the price to drastically. It is basically a SIAC, but I though I read a post by SKR somewhere that said it was better to use an existing effect than recreate "something like confusion" or "something like hideous laughter".
I kind of like the fact that you have to use the spell effect to change the skill bonus - maybe that is just me.
Here is a question - I calculated the will save DC's as 10 + 1 (1st level bard spell) + 1 (minimum charisma required) = 12. Raising the DC's would make the item a bit more effective - is okay to just raise them arbitrarily or is there some additional requirement or cost that should be added?
I would have gone with a single target crushing despair rather than confusion. I also like the face flipping thing, that's the interesting bit of the item for me.
Hey Sean,
Thanks so much for taking the time to post. And especially thanks for the detailed responses. I wish I had as much time to read and respond as that, but alas 4 kids and full-time job often get the best hours of my day :) I appreciate your time.
Ken
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Cauldron of Heroic BrewI have a personal bias against items that vary effect based on alignment, so I'll state off the bat that I don't care for that aspect of this. But leaving that aside and using the 'good' effects as a baseline for commentary, I would say this does a bit much even as a one-use-per-month. A bonus move action for the whole party for the whole day? Yowza. The moral bonus to attacks and saves is okay, though obviously it's hard to say what's balanced or appropriate without a price point established. I suspect this would be a fairly high end item with those two effects alone. As for the other effect... I'm not sure what you mean by 'enlarge 20%'. Was your mind drifting back to an old edition version of enlarge? Also the 'most severe wound' healing is awkward. I assume that means the character heals the damage from a single hit? That's not awful in itself, but bear in mind a lot of players don't keep track of their specific wounds past a single fight.
I will say for all the mechanical issues, this is a pretty evocative item. Makes me think of bold celtic heroes feasting and making merry before going to war.
My thoughts exactly. The more I wrote, the more I realized this was going to be an artifact. If I rewrote it I'd make it just give benefits and nix the alignment stuff. I'd reduce some of those benefits (maybe a bonus feat instead of the extra move action). I'd also use the most recent rules.
You know, I started playing D&D when I was nine. The red box set with the plastic dice and a white crayon :) I've played every edition (save 4th) since then and have learned most all of those rules. 25+ years of gaming and 4 versions of the game later, no wonder I'm confused from time to time! LOL
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Impenetrable PackIt seems a very well and thoroughly designed device intended to counteract a problem that's pretty minor. Maybe it's just me; I've never really had a killer DM who makes me run down a list of all the breakables in my bag when a character falls off a cliff or gets hit by a fireball. In the end, I'd rather have a handy haversack give me more carrying capacity and deal with the occasional smashing bottle of aci or alchemists fire. I DO quite like the auto-repairing effect, though.
Thanks. I wanted to create an alternative magical back pack. There seems to really just be the Handy Haversack. For the most part, you're right, it's powers would rarely come into effect. BUT, there would be that one time you have to swim through lava and want to protect your spell book, or your familiar, or what have you. Then it would be really great to have :)
This was in the top of my list, but in the end I decided it wasn't "sexy enough".
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Iron Bone BracerI kind of think you had something here, so I trust the ideas you ultimately went with were even better. Still rough, but it seems a workable concept. Instead of having your AC treated as 5 higher for purposes of confirming crits, I'd suggest just going with having it give light fortification.
Good point! I should have thought of that. Arrgh. I liked it too, but thought it might come across as more of an "armor" item, and most people are tired of those (I think).
Thanks, though. Glad to hear you liked it :)
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Librarian's SatchelMuch like the impenetrable pack, I think this is a bit more specific an item than the average character might want- the filing system aspect of it is nice, but I think most of the time a player is fine with just tossing all those old books he finds in the wizards towers into a portable hole and calling it a day. Again, the auto-repair function is the neatest part of this for me, which makes me wonder if an item that was focused entirely around that concept would knock my socks off.
Hrm...you might have something there :)
Yeah, it as a split-off of the Impenetrable Pack. I love playing wizards, but was always annoyed by the details of encumbrance and a low strength. Sure, most of my GMs never thought about it, but I knew it was an issue and so always tried to work around it. This was my end all solution. Plus, fixing a book back to its original state is really cool. Finally, I've just never digged portable holes. I have a personal rule, "If it would strike me as cheesy in a book, it doesn't belong in my campaign." Wish I always stuck to that rule, but this is one of those cases. Portable holes belong in Toon, not Pathfinder (in my very humble opinion). Sure, we think its cool when a wizard pulls a a ten foot ladder out of a two foot sack, but that's different. If Gandalf were to have pulled out a folded piece of black cloth and throw it on the ground, then reach inside to start rummaging for stuff, well, we would have been waiting for the Road Runner to zip by. MEEP MEEP!!
Just my thoughts. :)
In the end, this one was too specific and I had some other ideas I liked better. It was a close to the top though.
Thanks for your thoughts and ideas :)
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Orb of ProjectionSo it's basically a crystal ball with project image tacked on? Don't get me wrong, that's not a bad idea at all- I think I had an NPC with a similar item once- but it's probably a ubiquitous enough concept that it's not quite superstar-ish.
Yeah. It broke one main rule, so I'm glad I read all those auto-reject rules :)
That is, it allowed the wizard to adventure without being in any real danger.
Wizard to Party: "Ok guys, I'll be watching from my tower. When things get rough a magical image of me will appear and help out with a few spells. Then, when you move on, I'll just vanish for a while. Good luck and bring me back some loot!"
Hence it was rejected :)
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Orb of Mental ReposeI want to like this more than I do- it's an idea that hasn't seen much use before, so that's a good thing- but it is the kind of effect that makes me wary. Offhand, I don't THINK it would be hugely abuseable, since it would take hours and hours to regain use of just a couple high level spells- but without any limits on how much it can be used I feel like I'm overlooking something big. Something very big that I would only discover when an optimizing sort of player gets his hands on this. Aside from that vague fear, it seems like a good concept. Is this useless to spontaneous casters, though? Or is that line about time still being needed to prepare spells there only there to cover that specific use for prepared casters, not to say 'only prepared casters can use this'?
I felt the same way. It seemed great, but then maybe too good to be true, and then I worried that it was upsetting some major game balance. In the end I decided it was a dangerous bet and not worth spending more time on developing. I had a feeling I'd get a comment like, "This tries to get around a core rule in the game and so is broken.".
To answer your questions, I would imagine anyone who casts spells and needs sleep to recover the energy could use the orb. I would probably need to clarify that in my final write up.
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Seeds of Demon KindPretty evocative writing here; the item itself is kind of a monster-in-a-box, though. And this was obviously an idea that saw even less development than the rest of these entries, given how many question marks are all over the place, here. :-)
Agreed. Good concept without a good implementation. I quite on it pretty early. Besides, charts are asking for trouble :P
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Thread of MendingHey, here's that mending item some of your earlier entries were working their way up to! Again, much like with the impenetrable pack, I find myself wondering if you grew up playing 1st edition with one of those DMs that made you roll saving throws for every. single. item. every time a wizard fireballed you and you're scarred for life as a result.
Probably because I was a real hoarder of things and always seemed to pull them out when he least expected them :) My poor older brother, I was a nightmare for him. I was either a thief-acrobat making ridiculous leaps into combat (hoping to get backstab bonuses), or I was a wizard focused on every detail of every encounter and finding the most annoying loop holes. Anyways, I digress..on with the rest of your comments...
Unfortunately, the mechanics on this don't quite work out as well as I'd hoped. I think the problem is that, as far as using it on damaged cloth items, it talks about repairing in terms of 'inches' which is probably asking a bit more of a DM than most are willing to give. DM: 'His sword damages your cloak; it does... 4 hit points of damage, your cloak is now destroyed.' Player: 'I have some thread of mending; how many inches is the slice in my cloak?' DM: '...grrr.'
LOL. See, that would have been me! My poor brother.
Maybe have it use x inches per hit point of damage to the item? Or you could sew it into an item beforehand and now that item has x hardness? I do like the option of using it as a component in making a new item, though there I think that giving 3/day etherealness is a bit major.
Thanks. It was a cool idea that was way over-developed (the Wizard in me). I knew that in the end, which is why it got chopped. I like your suggestions and in my rewrite I will certainly take that into consideration.
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Traveler's CarriageAgain, some nice writing here, though this I think is one of those items that tends to annoy the judges just because it takes some of the fun out of adventuring. There's really two possible cases here; either the party is above a certain level and they can pretty much just teleport or fly from location to location and never set eyes on a dusty road again, in which case this is kind of just a frivolous piece of fluff to pimp themselves out with. Or, they're not at that level yet, and this is a limo taking them to their destination without having to deal with camping or navigating.
Yep. Exactly why I scrapped it. In my own campaign world, teleport is very limited. I've always found that it took the adventure out of adventuring. I love the Lord of the Rings specifically for the long hours on the road, and the conversations by the fire. Teleport kills that. This item is a cool NPC item in my mind. I can imagine the players running into a major NPC who owns one and getting a nice ride in it a ways. In the end, though, I realized it just took the adventure out of adventuring again and hence became pointless.
Besides that, the cost would have been enormous, and imagine trying to fit into that Handy Haversack?! :)
Thanks for all the comments Sean. You really took time to read the items and give well thought out responses. Now I feel bad about my responses to Azmahel, and think I should go give him more :).
Ken
JHonestly, the more I think about this one the easiest thing to do would be to get rid of the 'forget' effect altogether. Really, I only put it there because I was playing with the idea of an oubliette; at no point did I say 'damn, I have to think of a way for the victims allies to be prevented from helping him out'. It would save a ton of word countage and make it an easier read, since that was the most confusing effect.
As I said in my answer to Elora, the 'target' of the ball needs to be the ground; if you chuck it at someone I imagine it would just bounce off their chest, fall to their feet, and then not do anything since it wasn't activated.And honestly.. I'm not certain it is that badly undercosted. At the core, it's a one shot item that enacts a second level spell at 10th caster level. Obviously, given the starvation and forgetfulness effects, it does a bit more than that, but it really isn't as deadly as it looks on paper. Someone who falls victim to it (or multiple someones) takes 3d6 falling damage, but then the starvation effect takes at least three rounds before they even start taking nonlethal damage. And there's really nothing preventing a victim from climbing out aside from a couple DC 25 climb checks; that might not be the easiest climb for a critter that doesn't have many ranks in it, especially once they start starving and take a strength hit due to fatigue, but then, someone in the pit has a good long while with nothing to do but try and get out. I could see bumping it up a couple of thousand gold, but I don't think I'd be comfortable with this over 5 or 6 K. It just wouldn't be worth it.
Ah, I didn't realize it was "one shot". That's obvious now that I think about it. So, the price is probably good.
Don't eliminate the "Forget" feature. It's what makes it "sexy". After all, that's what an oubliette is. You forget the person. I say slim down the mechanics. There's a lot you say that you don't have to. A simple, "the sphere can be thrown up to 60 feet and where ever it lands it forms a 30 foot diameter pit that is 30 feet deep. Anyone within that area must make a reflex save (DC ??) or fall in. Once they have fallen into the pit, anyone who witnessed this must make a will save (DC ??) or forget the person fell into the pit. They will simply not know where that person is."
An alternative idea would be to make it an extra-dimensional pit. That is, use the Rope Trick ability. It's kind of a giant portable hole that people can fall into. Just a thought.
I do really like this, and kind of wish you hadn't posted it so you could have refined it for later use. :)
Ken
Contributor
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Dedicated Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
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Faces of Drama
Nice! I really like this one! Tight design and cool concept!
I spotted a few formatting errors, however:
* The aura type and slot should always be in lower case, ie "faint enchantment" and "head".
* The abbreviation for the weight unit should be "lb." for items of 1/2 pounds or exactly 1 pound, and "lbs." for any heavier items.
* Saves should be capitalized, ie "Will save".
* The feat name should be in singular, ie "Craft Wondrous Item".
These are only minor nitpicks, of course, but the judges may question your attention to detail if such minor errors are rife in your writing.
Other than that, absolutely no complaints about this one. Good job!
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Contributor
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Dedicated Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
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Oh, and many thanks to everyone who commented on Besmara's Inkwell, my throw-away item! The ink doesn't go back inside the inkwell after the mist cloud dissolves; the item "magically refills itself each day" as is mentioned in the description. :)
Hi All
Is it that time of year again already?
I had two items for the reject bin (I have not applied proper formatting to this post):
Spell Grinder
Aura Strong (No School); CL 13th
Slot -; Price 50,000 gp; Weight 10 lbs.
Description
This hand cranked millstone grinds down magic items and turns them into to Power Stones. These small pebble like stones throb with arcane power when held. They can be used to replace spell components up to a value of 500gp. Items used must be no larger than 1 cu. ft., and have a market value of at least 1000gp. Potions and scrolls cannot be used in the Spell Grinder. For each 1000 gp of value of the original item one power stone is produced by the Spell Grinder.
When a power stone is used instead of the regular spell component it increases the effectiveness of the spell. As the spell is cast you may add any metamagic feat you know to the spell with no increase in spell level or casting time.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, any two metamagic feats; Cost 25,000 gp
This one arrived in a flash in inspiration then took me weeks to fine tune the mechanics but I decided that since its a magic item that creates magic items it was getting away from itself, if you see what I mean.
Horizon Codex
Aura Moderate (no school); CL 7th
Slot -; Price 168,000 gp; Weight -
Description
This large book is bound in dyed leather with copper trim and lock.
Each Horizon Codex is connected to a library and is able to become a copy of any book from that library. A library must be a collection of 10 or more books housed in a single location and be on the same Plane. It takes 1 round and a spoken command, the name of the book to be copied, for the Horizon Codex to change its pages.
The Horizon Codex must be left in a library for 24 hours to connect to the books contained within it. Any changes or alterations to a book in the library are shown in the codex but changes made to the codex do not affect the original.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, secret page, scrying; Cost 84,000 gp
Technology as magic (it had a working title of Skindle). I liked the idea but it really was not superstar.
Thanks in advance for any feedback. Good luck to everyone for the competition
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 16
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Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
aka Rusty Ironpants
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I would have gone with a single target crushing despair rather than confusion. I also like the face flipping thing, that's the interesting bit of the item for me.
That would have been an great choice. The hideous laughter is a fairly obvious choice, but I was searching quiet a bit for the tragedy effect.
Eh, I posted this in another thread but I will do it again, since this is a thread about voluntary rejects...
Aura moderate necromancy; CL 7th
Slot -- ; Price 2500gp ; Weight --
This small vial of dull, golden liquid serves two functions. First, if applied to a weapon, any undead creature damaged with that weapon must make a Will save (DC 6 + Caster Level, minimum 13) or be immediately destroyed. Secondly, if applied to a dead creature, it will be affected as if by the Rest Eternal spell. If an undead creature is destroyed after being hit with a coated weapon it is still effected by the second effect (even if destroyed by other means). The second effect can be undone using Remove Curse or Break Enchantment. There is enough liquid for one application, which is consumed after a single weapon hit.
Requirements Craft Wonderous Item, rest eternal, Knowledge(Religion) 5 Ranks; Cost 1250gp
I started to create this one before I read the "gives creature template" auto reject thread.... and I didn't even want to come close to being guilty of that, so I scrapped it before I went to far with it.
Aura strong transmutation; CL 15th
Slot shoulder; Price 86400gp; Weight 1 lb.
This cloak appears to be made of patchwork pieces of black leather. Twice per day, this cloak allows the wearer to assume the general shape of any object (of the wearers size category), such as a massive chest, a stout bed, or a door. The wearer gains none of the properties of the new form, only the appearances (i.e., you can look like a rubber ball but you won’t bounce) and cannot assume forms with overly complex parts. While in the chosen form, you retain all of your senses, have a move of 5 ft , a mouth, and can sprout/retract your arms as a Move action. These arms come holding anything you were previous to changing and allow spells with Somatic components and Material/Focus components if in hand). Otherwise, treat this as a Polymorph effect.(Core Rulebook pg.)
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, polymorph any object; Cost 43200gp
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 16
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Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
aka Rusty Ironpants
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So I've noticed there's a couple of items in here like the one I submitted. If it makes it to top 32, no hard feelings? Lol. I like this thread, but I'm worried that might be an issue. It might be better to post in this thread AFTER the contest...just a thought.
Might be an issue how? This thread wasn't started until Saturday - which is the day after submissions closed for round 1. It's not like someone could read this thread and then go submit an item from it.
Might be an issue how? This thread wasn't started until Saturday - which is the day after submissions closed for round 1. It's not like someone could read this thread and then go submit an item from it.
Duude, That's what time travel and divination items are FOR.
Scry on people to steal their work and/or retroactively beat them to it.
:-)
(We are supposed to build a working prototype of our item before submitting it, right?)
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 16
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Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
aka Rusty Ironpants
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I think people just need to understand that parallel developement can and does happen. Two (or more) people can come up with very similiar items or ideas working completely independantly. Look at the "meme" thread for concrete examples - Neil said there where alot of shroud items this year.
Now if someone makes the top 32 with an item similar to my "rejected" Faces of Drama item I will be bummed - but that is all on me. I chose to submit a different item because I thought it was better. Even if I had submitted Faces of Drama they still could have made the top 32 just because their similar item was better than mine.
Well, not what I meant. What I mean is that if we get something very close to someone else's item and it goes through to the next round, that might affect some votes negatively in the following round. I think there's a flip side, but I'm not sure how I'd feel if the item I submitted got rejected, and the item that I threw away that someone else submitted a very close item to won. Of course, it also means that my particular item no longer has competition from that item. So it's a good thing, but it also seems like it could invoke some negative feelings. Just my opinion, I could be far off.So I've noticed there's a couple of items in here like the one I submitted. If it makes it to top 32, no hard feelings? Lol. I like this thread, but I'm worried that might be an issue. It might be better to post in this thread AFTER the contest...just a thought.Might be an issue how? This thread wasn't started until Saturday - which is the day after submissions closed for round 1. It's not like someone could read this thread and then go submit an item from it.
It really isnt an issue. Threads such as this have existed every year without causing any problems. Hell I even started on of them, and revieved some very cool feed back from clark in it.
Well, not what I meant. What I mean is that if we get something very close to someone else's item and it goes through to the next round, that might affect some votes negatively in the following round. I think there's a flip side, but I'm not sure how I'd feel if the item I submitted got rejected, and the item that I threw away that someone else submitted a very close item to won. Of course, it also means that my particular item no longer has competition from that item. So it's a good thing, but it also seems like it could invoke some negative feelings. Just my opinion, I could be far off.So I've noticed there's a couple of items in here like the one I submitted. If it makes it to top 32, no hard feelings? Lol. I like this thread, but I'm worried that might be an issue. It might be better to post in this thread AFTER the contest...just a thought.Might be an issue how? This thread wasn't started until Saturday - which is the day after submissions closed for round 1. It's not like someone could read this thread and then go submit an item from it.
It really isnt an issue. Threads such as this have existed every year without causing any problems. Hell I even started on of them, and revieved some very cool feed back from clark in it.
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 16
,
Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
aka Rusty Ironpants
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Spell Grinder
Aura Strong (No School); CL 13th
Slot -; Price 50,000 gp; Weight 10 lbs.
Description
This hand cranked millstone grinds down magic items and turns them into to Power Stones. These small pebble like stones throb with arcane power when held. They can be used to replace spell components up to a value of 500gp. Items used must be no larger than 1 cu. ft., and have a market value of at least 1000gp. Potions and scrolls cannot be used in the Spell Grinder. For each 1000 gp of value of the original item one power stone is produced by the Spell Grinder.
When a power stone is used instead of the regular spell component it increases the effectiveness of the spell. As the spell is cast you may add any metamagic feat you know to the spell with no increase in spell level or casting time.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, any two metamagic feats; Cost 25,000 gp
The whole thing feels a bit metagamey to me. But then again I think all metamagic is a bit metagamey so maybe that is just me.
Now the constructive bit - I think just having one stone give a free (no level increase) metamagic spell is a bit loose. All metamagic feats are not created equal, that is why the spell level increase differs from one to another. I suggest having each stone reduce the spell level increase by 1. With this change I would also increase the amount of stones you get - maybe one power stone per 500gp.
To avoid chocking the thread with feedback, I'll use just one post for all items i haven't given feedback to so far (no longer one post per person ;) )
Kenneth
A cauldron for heroic feasting? I'm not too intrigued. There is heroes feast in the game and for me it's well enough to cover all the situations where something like this might come up. But the main issues here might be rules issues.
First of it strikes me as rather odd that the big bronze cauldron is weightless. Not a big mistake, but something that makes me frown and look at it in a more critical way.
Normally for effects like this large creatures count as 2 medium sized ones, not 4.
„those who are of good alignment“ - Somehow the wording strikes me as odd, not wrong, just unusual for „gamespeech“, if you know what I mean.
The first effect is a real can of worms. Normally you don't keep track of your individual wounds, but once this item is in the game everybody has to do so all the time, just to be prepared for the opportunity that a Stew from the cauldron might be eaten while the wound isn't healed. And that opens the next question: How to apply healing to individual wounds? Most recent first? Evenly spread? Theoretically you are using a sub-system of rules that isn't in the game, and that doesn't really work ( Just like screwing off your hand is ;) )
Enlarge 20% must be another case where you got „edition confusion“. Right now an enlargement by 20% doesn't do anything, except maybe allowing you to reach the top shelf, or feel all „grown up“.
Terminology: it's a +2 bonus to attacks or a +2 penalty to attacks.
Bonus move action: This is really powerful. Really. There is a reason that there are about no more thing in the game (that players can get access to) that grant extra actions of any sort. Maybe just grant +20ft movement.
„Like Stinking cloud, but without a save“ All stinking cloud does is apply the nauseated condition, so why not simply state „nauseated for 24 hours.“ which in itself is again horribly powerful. Being unable to perform anything but move actions for a full day is probably worse than an instant death effect, at least they keep their dignity if they simply choke and die, instead of being clubbed to death by little girls, because they can't do anything to defend themselves. (Hyperbole)
Sean said most things I had to say about this. You take great care to make sure the backback is immune to about everything, and try to cover all cases that might come up. This heavily reinforces the „Paranoia game“ feeling. Self-repairing is neat, but with mending usable at will it's minor.
One thing left to say: magical aura strengths are always one of the following: faint, moderate, strong, or overwhelming (artifacts only).
In terms of flair and usability (at least ingame/ or player usability) this is probably your best item of the bunch. While all other items affect peripheral aspects of the game, this is something players will come looking for, when they want to spend their hard-earned money.
Not that sexy, but peripheral items are bad, mind you, but in my eyes they risk being peripherally sexy. And I haven't seen (many) magical Nail-polish sets (j/k) in the top 32.
As for the effects:
Again, powerful is not an aura strength.
Half damage from certain sources is mostly gone from the game, My guess would be, because it gets exponentially more powerful as levels (and damage output) progress. I would go with DR 5/slashing or piercing instead, just to be on the safe side. To confirm Crits you don't have to beat a DC but an AC. Again a modifier/bonus mixup. The speed reduction as in Heavy armor should be worded differently, because the max dex and speed reduction vary based on the armor you are wearing and your base speed. Better simply state as if wearing a heavy load. Also note that dwarves are immune to this drawback, consider if that is intended or unintended. A suggestion for a different drawback would be making the char (very) vulnerable to heat / chill metal spells.
Another peripheral item, this time a library in a box, an old and tried archetype. So it isn't too sexy in my eyes. And it looses sexiness, because you loose yourself in the minutiae of calculating how many books of which size and weight would fit in the satchel. Simply state that 1000 books fit inside and be done with it. ;).
The last ability is kinda neat, but not enough to make me want to give the item a second look.
this is very powerful, and a variation of an existing item. Also it is an item that takes the danger out of adventuring, because you could simply sit in your wizards tower, scry on your party and follow them around without fear of getting hurt. The decreasing Saves are a non-issue with this, because your party members could simply voluntarily fail their saves. 3/day limits this, but it should be enough for all major battles, and with the other spells that can be cast through the sensor you can provide plenty of non-combat support.
Your item is CL 13, but provides a CL16 effect, so its caster-level should be at least 16.
and again, major is not a valid aura-strength.
My initial reaction to this item was: „This can be game-breaking powerful“, but I quickly realized that it might be pretty good balanced after all, still powerful and very, very expensive ( compare to a pearl of power or ring of wizardry), but ok for an item. I'm still vary about it though.
The part about breaking concentration was hard to understand ( in fact I understood it right now, reading it the 3rd time). This might stem from the fact that in my mind concentration checks are made to maintain concentration. Forcing your Mind away from something would be handled in a more appropriate manner with a will save. But thats probably just a matter of taste.
Spell recovering items are very hard to do, especially in a more interesting way than pearls of power, and I think you are really close to successfully pulling it off, Maybe add a limit of 6 levels of spells recovered per day (1 hour) to balance it even further and you might be good.
Well I actually toyed with something like this, but instead of summoning random demons it would spew out increasingly powerfull ones round by round. (riffing on a Pandoras Box type of flair)
this item shows one of the main problems with random items. Either you are stuck with 2d6 lemures, which sucks, or you get one balor, which sucks too, but in a totally different, way more horrible kind of way. How to price an item like this?
The final, ultimate self-mending item. Sean did share many words of wisdom on this, so I don't have to say too much on it. I too think that the etheralness effect is somewhat weird given the rest of the item, and it doesn't really fit the theme.
The other thing is that you again waste many words on unnecessary math, calculating how many stiches / inches of tears can be repaired with one spool. Abstractions a absolutely necessary for the game, and nobody really cares for the exact math of this. Simply give a new Thread a fixed number of charges, allow it to heal a fixed ammount of damage per charge, and creating new items uses up another fixed ammount of charges.
Again a peripheral item , this time for traveling and feeling smug. Also a safer adventuring item, and those aren't liked much by the judges. I don't care too much about it and don't have much to add to what sean said. If you determine what happens if the carriage is destroyed, you praby specify too, when a magical carriage is destroyed. ( Hp, hardness, Ac, maybe if it stps working when broken, or working until destroyed)
Zombieneighbours
Oh I remember this one, and thats after more than a year. That says some very good things about your item ( after all last yaer i read hundreds of them , eh ;) ) I remember that it was deemed „good, but too many issues“ and I agree, this is a flavorful and interesting idea. It has mojo and with that superstar material. The original version had issues though ( even if I don't exactly remember which issues), but most of these seem to be gone. This has a nice and polished feeling to it.
Some things nevertheless might need clarification: How do the undead react to outside stimuli? Would they wade through lava to get to the wine, do they react to creatures chopping them up, while they cherish their meal? (I would simply reference a spell that works like I want it to work and be done with it, savin many words). But aside from that I don't find anything that I don't like or even that could be improved. I lick it ;). ( not really, but if you know the LFG webcomic you get the refernce ;) )
Rusty
Yeah, good item. A bit SiaC but interesting enough that it just could have made the cut. I can ditto the Crushing despair suggestion, but that might bump the CL and cost of your item a bit. For what it's worth it would make the item even more interesting, because the only reason a Nethys worshipping bard wouldn't want one is the low caster level and with it the low duration of the effects.
A Cl 1 effect might be doom, or a condition lie sickened or shaken for 1 round.
This really could have made the cut, at least compared to the competition of the last years. ( it might well be in my top-32-non-real-top-32-critiqued-so-far list ;) )
Nermal
Magic item creation/destruction items are fairly common, and one of them even made the top 32 in year 1, you might want to look at that thread to get a feeling of what the judges think about this kind of item. I personally don't like them, and the fact that you can with this item and an expense of 1000 gp add all metamagic talents you know for free to any spell you cast really kills it for me ( I've suffered from many twinked out Incantatrixes, but I think most people shudder when they think about a maximized, stilled, silenced,widened,empowered Meteor swarm ( or even fireball for that matter ;) )
Also all auras should have a school imho, this would probably be transmutation , or if all else fails universal.
This is really expensive for a (also common) travel library item. I think these items are bland, peripheral and simply not interesting, and for this steep pricetag i would rather spend 40,000 on a pair of ring gates, bind me a small servant at the library and have 100,000 gp left to spend.
Matthias
Well this has some Weapon-ability and Spell in a can overtures, but not too strong. The DC should be fixed though, since if the DC increases with increased CL of the item, the price should change as well.
But aside from that it is simple, neat and sexy. I don't know if it is sexy enough for a Top 32 item, but Imho at least for the keep pile. Good job.
– Oh yeah, Wondrous item, not Wonderous ;)
Hm. Don't know what to think about this one, might be a nice, even if probably a bit too cartoony/silly infiltration item. I don't know if „treat it as a polymorph effect“ really covers all lose ends of the effect (like ability scores/ hardness/ …) and thats the only rules suggestion I can make right now. It reads as if there are loose ends to pick up, and I don't know if the item works well in action. But I'm not sure there are actual problem either. After all it is too silly for my taste, so I don't care too much of these possible loose ends.
Just noted, your effect is lacking a duration. If it should work until you wish to change back simply state it, to avoid that people wonder if that is intended, or if the real duration is missing..
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 16
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Horizon Codex
Aura Moderate (no school); CL 7th
Slot -; Price 168,000 gp; Weight -
Description
This large book is bound in dyed leather with copper trim and lock.
Each Horizon Codex is connected to a library and is able to become a copy of any book from that library. A library must be a collection of 10 or more books housed in a single location and be on the same Plane. It takes 1 round and a spoken command, the name of the book to be copied, for the Horizon Codex to change its pages.
The Horizon Codex must be left in a library for 24 hours to connect to the books contained within it. Any changes or alterations to a book in the library are shown in the codex but changes made to the codex do not affect the original.
ConstructionRequirements Craft Wondrous Item, secret page, scrying; Cost 84,000 gp
Technology as magic (it had a working title of Skindle). I liked the idea but it really was not superstar.
I really like this item's concept. I have the nagging feeling I have seen/read something similar in a book or movie, but that does not make me like it any less.
It does leave me with a few questions:
Can the codex copy magical books? If so, what about the stat boosting tomes that disappear after you read them? Does the codex disappear or the tome disapper from the library? Both?
What about spellbooks? If so can a wizard prepare spells from it?
I think it may be better to limit the codex to non-magical books.
Re: Technology as magic - I never would have made that connection with the Kindle. I think because you gave a good description of a large book and not a small tablet like thingy.
Here's another item I cooked up with mnemonic enhancer, but I worried about it's ability to more or less continually generate "free" (albeit eventually limited) scrolls. Still, I thought it may have had potential.
Anyway, here goes:
Book of Spell Cannibalism
Aura moderate transmutation; CL 7th
Slot —; Price 11,200 gp; Weight 3 lbs.
Description
The cover of this blank leatherbound journal is splattered with what appears to be golden blood and its edges are decorated with tiny jagged teeth. In addition to functioning identically as a wizard’s spellbook, a book of spell cannibalism allows its user to cast a spell written in the book as if he were using a scroll of that same spell. Doing so is a full-round action (which provokes attacks of opportunity) and once a spell has been cast in this manner, the pages it was written on are completely destroyed in a shower of golden sparks, consumed by the magic they unleashed.
The spell’s caster level and saving throw DC are treated as if it had been cast from a scroll using the minimum required ability scores and caster level necessary to scribe it (even if yours are higher). Only the person who originally wrote the spell into the book may use it in this manner.
If a spell’s pages are removed from the book, the ink immediately fades and they turn into blank parchment pages. Writing a new spell into the book incurs the usual costs unless the spell is gained for free (such as those granted at each new level).
A book of spell cannibalism can only be used in this manner to cast up to three levels of spells per day. A cantrip counts as a ½ level for this purpose.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, Scribe Scroll, mnemonic enhancer; Cost 5,600 gp
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I couldn't use this because I discussed it in an earlier year. I thought it worked out pretty well, though, and even fit close to 300 words, which I very much doubted could be done for its effect. I haven't costed it.
Tome of Mystic Soul
This volume of esoteric lore, with covers made from the scales of a great wyrm clasped with mithral, has a mithral slip attached by a slim chain to serve as a bookmark.
A spellcaster who reads the book and completes a week of meditation and ritual according to its instructions gains one level of a class that casts arcane or divine spells.
The reader may then, if he chooses, reduce his arcane or divine spellcasting class to the minimum level to cast 2nd level spells and transform the remaining levels firstly into sufficient levels of a different class to cast 2nd-level divine or arcane spells, then to levels of mystic theurge.
If the reader is unable or unwilling to qualify for and take at least one level of mystic theurge, gain of one spellcasting level is the tome's only benefit. A character unable to cast arcane or divine spells who reads even a line from the tome loses one level of experience. In either of these circumstances, the tome disintegrates completely.
Otherwise, the bookmark transforms into a Holy Symbol, ring, amulet, wand, light weapon, or musical instrument made of either mithral or darkwood. If the character gains wizard levels, the tome becomes a standard wizard's spellbook containing the minimum number of spells that the wizard gains at 1st and each subsequent level, otherwise the tome disintegrates. The tome doesn't cause other changes to the character's gear.
Requirements: Craft Wondrous Item, atonement, fabricate, either miracle or wish, creator must be a mystic theurge
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Might as well begin with an item similar in form to part of mine:
This seems quite similar, though not identical, in effect to a metamagic rod. It adds three feats (that the wizard must have) to a spell at preparation time, rather than the same feat (not required to use a rod) three times on the fly. However, the ability to apply the reduction to more than one copy of the same spell makes it more like a rod for a feat that costs three levels, such as Maximise Spell.
Since it doesn't have a spell level limit, I'd have to assess it against a greater metamagic rod of maximise spell. Unfortunately that suggests it should cost about 54,000gp. The requirement for the wizard to know the feats is something like a class restriction, which would only reduce it to 48,600.
It either needs a lot more limits or a higher cost.
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Party Mask (Mask of Mystery)
Mind blank is overwhelmingly powerful compared to the rest of its effects. If the mask does that, without restriction, there is no need even to consider the other spells for cost purposes. I really think this overbalances the concept you seemed to be trying for, to the point where you would have been better to cut it right back to something like nondetection (compare the ring of mind shielding, perhaps).
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Perfect Hunter's Knife
Not a bad concept at all for a way to use a knife as a wondrous item. It skirts the wondrous item restriction in a way that I find intriguing.
The prerequisite spell should have been locate creature, which does almost precisely the same thing as the knife. (In fact, where is locate person?) That spell is 4th level, so the listed cost is not within reasonable consideration.
You should have added a cost and requirement to support the bane enhancement that it grants through Unavoidable Hunt. This ability also seriously calls its status as a wondrous item into question, even if the rest of it passes in that respect.
Nice use of a skill requirement.
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Amphora of Humble Offering
I recall reading a scene that might have inspired this .. It badly needs to define what state the affected undead are in when the party starts beating on them. It seems simplest to say that they're prone, but don't lose their Dexterity bonus - no doubt there are other factors that it should spell out, but those are the essentials that immediately spring to mind.
Will DC 13 is not too challenging for more powerful undead, but it still might be good to impose some limit for such a low cost, such as maximum and/or total Hit Dice affected.
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Mummified Guardian
Others have talked about the effects of the item.
This doesn't use the contest format - I hope your submission did.
If I'm reading the requirement right, the need to obtain a "Mummified Cat of the Spirit Keepers" breaks the usual assumption that materials needed for a magic item are stated in gold pieces. It raises the question how easy or difficult it would be to find such a cat, or a mummified body of one (makes GM'ing harder). The requirement could have been stated in the standard terms of a game ability that the creator must possess, such as "creator must have the 'Plundered the Catacombs of the Spirit Keepers' trait".
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Horizon CodexI really like this item's concept. I have the nagging feeling I have seen/read something similar in a book or movie, but that does not make me like it any less.
It does leave me with a few questions:
Can the codex copy magical books? If so, what about the stat boosting tomes that disappear after you read them? Does the codex disappear or the tome disapper from the library? Both?
What about spellbooks? If so can a wizard prepare spells from it?I think it may be better to limit the codex to non-magical books.
Re: Technology as magic - I never would have made that connection with the Kindle. I think because you gave a good description of a large book and not a small tablet like thingy.
In the Prince of the Wolves novel, Varian Jeggare uses a spell to copy text from a book to another. While the idea of "downloading" text from a book to another isn't new, I think linking to/attuning it with a library is.
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Alright, here's another one. I didn't like this one so much, so I didn't even bother to give it a price or CL, or other stats. It's a bit too "old school", requires GM fiat to make it work, and it's also a bit too complicated.
Mage's Gauntlet
This masterwork steel gauntlet looks like any other gauntlet. When wearing the gauntlet, you can command it to magically store a round's worth of your hand motions.
Thereafter, whenever you are within 30 feet of the gauntlet, you can snap your fingers as a swift action to make it repeat the hand motions. If you snap your fingers twice in a rapid succession (also a swift action), the gauntlet repeats the action each round until you snap your fingers again.
A creature wearing the gauntlet can resist its motions by making a DC 10 Strength check. If a creature shakes the gauntlet vigorously (a move action), any stored hand motions are erased.
The gauntlet is capable of performing the following actions:
Crawl: The gauntlet moves 5 feet in a straight line. Any terrain or effect that impedes movement or requires a skill check to move across stops it, as does any object attached to it that weighs more than two pounds.
Drop: The gauntlet releases its grip on an object it is holding.
Gesture: The gauntlet moves its fingers to convey a message, such as a beckoning motion.
Squeeze: The gauntlet presses a button, pulls a plug, squeezes a crossbow trigger or performs a similar action. If you use it to trigger a weapon, treat the attack as one made by a trap (attack bonus +0) targeting a preselected square.
AAARRRRRGH
I just spent an hour posting.....and the server ATE IT!!!!
Sorry Azmahel.
To summarize.
All very good points, I agree on many, I appreciate your advice and learned a lot from you.
Thank you!
Maybe I can repost my thoughts later :P
Ken
Rule of thumb:
if you take more than 20min writing your reply, Ctrl+A , Ctrl+C before submitting is your best friend.
I'll toss something in the pile. This was an item I was fiddling with, it is a little unfinished but that's why it is here and not submitted.
Aura faint divination and conjuration; CL 5th
Slot —; Price 7,250 gp; Weight 3 lb.
DESCRIPTION
This oak scabbard is covered in fine carvings depicting a swordlord and his retinue marching to battle. Though being made of solid wood this scabbard can shrink or enlarge to accommodate any light or one-handed bladed weapon. Anyone who spends four hours meditating with the scabbard finds their instincts heightened providing a +2 insight bonus to Initiative while in possession of the scabbard. During this meditation the wearer communes with the magical spirit inhabiting the scabbard and forms a bond with them. Weapons that are sheathed in a bonded scabbard are instantly cleaned, and when drawn from the scabbard are magically sharpened granting a +2 bonus on the damage roll of its next successful attack.
After this attuning, the wearer may call forth a spectral man-at-arms as per the spell unseen servant. Like unseen servant this man-at-arms cannot attack, but it can be a distracting presence and flank opponents. The specter may be called once per day as standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity and it can last up to one minute. Dismissing the specter is a free action.
CONSTRUCTION
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, presdigitation, unseen servant, true strike; Cost 3,625 gp
Well, not what I meant. What I mean is that if we get something very close to someone else's item and it goes through to the next round, that might affect some votes negatively in the following round. I think there's a flip side, but I'm not sure how I'd feel if the item I submitted got rejected, and the item that I threw away that someone else submitted a very close item to won. Of course, it also means that my particular item no longer has competition from that item. So it's a good thing, but it also seems like it could invoke some negative feelings. Just my opinion, I could be far off.So I've noticed there's a couple of items in here like the one I submitted. If it makes it to top 32, no hard feelings? Lol. I like this thread, but I'm worried that might be an issue. It might be better to post in this thread AFTER the contest...just a thought.Might be an issue how? This thread wasn't started until Saturday - which is the day after submissions closed for round 1. It's not like someone could read this thread and then go submit an item from it.
I can see your concerns. I think that what's done is done. An item submitted will not change because of what is out here. :) If one of the top 32 mimics something here only a few people are reading them and unlikely to make comparisons. I doubt highly the judges are bothering with this thread (they have plenty of real entries to peruse :) and even if they were the entries are anonymous.
The flip side is we can see a better body of work for those people who submit (like Az, DankeSean) and can root for them based on a larger (more informed?) set of information. :)
I did not read all the reviews and when I did it was days ago sorry if I duplicate. :)
Straps of Adaptive Protection
Sign of Battles Tide
Sanguine Guardian
Angel Eyes
Fickle Dagger (magic weapon)
to which I replied...
silver bands implies metal which confused me with scaly leather. “to be protected” = passive voice. Skin should not be capitalized. As an item it seems over powered. DR 5 to everything, even for 20K gp. If you only got one minute a day it might work, but as written I always have DR5. I would stab myself with a sword/mace/torch as soon as I see what you are weilding. Mechanics look solid :)
Sign of Battles Tide
Only two questions. How high does it go? if it launched just over my head a large creature could block it from everyone else view. Shouldn’t a symbol spell be part of the construction? a little SKR’s #1,
Sanguine Guardian I think the cost (bleed and damage) outweighs the benefit. That would be easy to fix. ‘is way too short...’ = passive and a little clumsy to boot. ‘form a scimitar’ says it is a weapon, but word choice could also fix this. I would cut the AoO in half, for the cost and maybe include combat expertise as a requirement. I like the simple deflection bonus. For Paizo I think you could have played the dripping blood for a blade a bit more if you wanted to.
Angel Eyes Is the detect thoughts the attack? kind of weak for a ‘strong’ but fairly solid otherwise. SKR’s #15 and #21 (unless pali lost that ability? :)
Fickle Dagger (magic weapon) SKR’s #26.5, #7, and #20. The scaling bonus makes it difficult to price, and someone already pointed out the climbing damage. I think the concept is great, though randomness like this seems to offend some people. . :)
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Party Mask (Mask of Mystery)
Lead Ball
Lead Ball So the slow only works in combat? OK I think I can bite. SKR’s #1 transferring it while doing damage? I think this works better as a sling of returning, (how long does it take the ball to roll back to me if my target saves?) will saves paragraph was clumsy but a rewrite will clean it up I suppose. That being said, the word count looks high, but again catching the details is the difference beteween a gamer and a designer. :)
The Third Eye
Treacherous Decanter, Devouring Compass of the Betrayed Wanderer, Portable Oubliette
Portable Oubliette I like the two additional effects, but not quire sure what they hope to accomplish. Death by starvation to me is very metagaming, or at least much safer than fighting it out with the target. My players would also try to throw this under doors to avoid traps. Especially once they were high enough to avoid the starvation. No rules for getting out of a pit, a climb check would be my default. starvation means that skill will plummet dangerously fast. I did like the description of both the sphere and its turning into a hole--nice job. :)
I think I shall alternate critiquing this thread one day and the rest of the boards the next.
I did not read all the reviews and when I did it was days ago sorry if I duplicate. :)
Straps of Adaptive Protection
Well, it's Dr 5 after the first attack, and only if you are fighting enemies that can only cause one type of damage ( bites for example deal 3 ;)) otherwise they might alternate between types ( if you are attacked by a rogue with a dagger, a fighter with a longsword and a wizard with fireballs, you will most likely get no protection out of this item).Fickle Dagger (magic weapon)
note that only the damage die counts, so it doesn't matter how much bonus damage you deal, the magical bonus of the dagger is always between 1 and 4 ( equal to the result of the daggers d4 damage die), But yeah unneeded overhead and too random for most tastes ;)
The flip side is we can see a better body of work for those people who submit (like Az, DankeSean) and can root for them based on a larger (more informed?) set of information. :)
Yeah, given that I might want to reiterate that the items presented here are an indication of how items look when I scribble down a quick idea. Most haven't got any editing after the initial writeup, to "get the idea out of my system". ;)
Another thing one should generally keep in mind when approaching the thread in this manner, is that all these ideas probably are rejects for a reason :)
But aside from that, yeah I'm already more excited about some persons items, simply because of the high quality or interesting concepts of their rejects.
PS: If anyone is interested in my "dossier" take a look at my lists ;)
I did not read all the reviews and when I did it was days ago sorry if I duplicate. :)
Straps of Adaptive Protection
Sign of Battles Tide
Sanguine Guardian
Angel Eyes
Fickle Dagger (magic weapon)
to which I replied...** spoiler omitted **
** spoiler omitted **...:
Party Mask (Mask of Mystery)
Lead Ball
It seems all the spoilers work except to my item, was it really that bad.....lol
It seems all the spoilers work except to my item, was it really that bad.....lol
Yes it was that bad!
EDIT: just kidding of course. It was a cut and paste job from word, so I probably messed something up. Fortunately since it was in word:
The Third Eye
I'll toss something in the pile. This was an item I was fiddling with, it is a little unfinished but that's why it is here and not submitted.
Scabbard of the Faithful Servant
I really like your choice of a scabbard as your wondrous item - it's right in there, in the highly-appropriate-yet-not-overused category.
That said, the abilities themselves felt to me unrelated to one another. Alas, SAK. I'd be interested to hear your thought process on this one - why you chose the abilities you did, simply because I assume your reasoning was clearer than the final collection was.
Well, the item was originally something along the lines of scabbard of the ancient masters. I pulled a bit of inspiration from the Sword of Truth in Terry Goodkinds series. An item that helps you be a better swordsman with the guidance of wise spirits. So I collected a few things I could think of that such an item might do. After a bit I started to realize that an item like that would make more sense as an artifact and toned it down a bit. So I change it from an "ancient master" theme to something else knights have a "faithful servant." Then I thought of a few abilities that an item like that might have.
In all I think there are 4 abilities;
- +2 insight bonus to Initiative while in possession of the scabbard
- Weapons that are sheathed in a bonded scabbard are instantly cleaned
- when drawn from the scabbard are magically sharpened granting a +2 bonus on the damage roll of its next successful attack.
After this attuning, the wearer may call forth a spectral man-at-arms as per the spell unseen servant. Like unseen servant this man-at-arms cannot attack, but it can be a distracting presence and flank opponents. The specter may be called once per day as standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity and it can last up to one minute. Dismissing the specter is a free action.
I didn't focus on this item too much, but I did want to share it because I think it had good potential. As is it is guilty of SAK, however dropping the Initiative bonus and building a bit more thematic language around the cleaning and sharpening would have helped tie all three abilities together.
Rule of thumb:
if you take more than 20min writing your reply, Ctrl+A , Ctrl+C before submitting is your best friend.
That's what I get for doing it at work between interruptions
grumble grumble
Ok, on tho the next page (and picking up the one that slipped through the cracks )
Mummified Guardian
Long ago the Gods of the great desert regions pasted down the arts of protecting the bodies of the dead and therefore preserving the powers the body possessed while alive. The Gods also invested great power in a certain race of cats known as the cats of the Spirit Keepers. These creatures would drive away undead and protect their owners from the terrible affects the touch of an undead could cause on them. It wasn’t long after the death of one of the first cats that the art of Mummification was used on it and the first of the Mummified Guardians was forged.
This whole paragraph screams „Artifact“ and „home-campaign“ to me. This doesn't strike me as a wondrous item, something that can be bought, built, or found more or less as a given piece of equipment. This would be a highly treasured asset, a Relic or if found a major plot point and device for the coming campaign. All this tells me that it should be a lesser artifact (which aren't unique).
Giving class abilities, based on the wearers power is not a good idea, because it means stepping on toes. Making it more powerful than the ability that is „stolen“ ( twice as powerful in this case) is even worse.
You have some language issues describing the secondary effects of the item, your writing is not as clear and concise as it could be.
The construction issue was already voiced.
And thats about it for me. I can't see this working in a generic campaign. It might be fine in your campaign, or as a plot device in similar campaigns, but that puts the item pretty firmly into lesser artifact territory.
Book of Spell Cannibalism
I'm not sure if I like the restriction that you can only burn spells you wrote yourself into the book. I guess I know why you put it there, but I think the book is restricted enough as it is. Maybe require other creatures to first analyze and decipher each “Scroll” and allow the original writer to ignore that restriction.
I don't like the last restriction, even if spell-level limits normally are an absolute must for Spell recovering items. But this one has more than enough limiting factors to it, so there is no need to limit it's usablility even further. After all you are permanently burning a spell from your spellbook, to cast it once considerably weaker than a normal spell cast by you.
What I'm also missing is a pagecount or a limit on the number of spells that can be written into the book.
Tome of Mystic Soul
Ok, Well...
I think I'm not gonna give you my full thoughts on this right now. They would be pretty brutal. If you think you can stand the brutal, simply ask me and I will get out the big stick ;)
But I'll leave you some questions:
Out of curiosity though, how would you possibly try to price this item?
Do you think an item that gives class levels is a good idea?
How would treasure distribution look like if this was simply a book that lets anybody who reads it gain 1 level or rebuild their character?
Would a cloak that gives you 3 levels of rogue while it is worn a good idea?
Would a belt that changed a wizards BaB to a full progression be a good idea?
Would a sword that gave +1 to BaB a good idea?
How about an item that changed your HD type, or which saves are good saves for your class?
Are there any wondrous items, lesser artifacts or even artifacts that do something like this in the game?
In short: There are some things in the game an item should not mess with, giving or taking levels away is one of them.
If you want a possibility to rebuild characters in the game is a magic item the way to go? Or are there solutions better suited for this kind of issue?
Mage's Gauntlet
So I don't think that this is a good idea for Rpg-Superstar. As for your home campaign, thats up to you to judge, I like that this item has to be used with intelligence to be effective, but I too don't like items that take some of the inherent danger out f adventuring and dungeon exploring.
I am not sure what exactly you mean by “a round worth of hand motions” does that mean one of the programmable gestures (If thats the case the item is too limited for my taste), or any combination of gestures that takes 6 seconds or less to perform (in which case you should have specified how many distinct gestures can exactly be programmed.
Basically this also is technology ( preprogrammable toy robot) disguised as magic, and by stating that the item is a masterwork gauntlet, you stated that the item is a weapon after all. (the only gauntlets where a masterwork term is specified is the weapon type).
Scabbard of the Faithful Servant
I agree that Scabbard items are somewhat underrepresented. Helpful Spirit items though, thats another thing I saw a lot in the feedback threads. This has SaK overtunes. A powerful theme might make up for that, but your theme is kind of diluted. But thats nothing that couldn't be fixed with some tweaking and polishing. But even then I don't think this has the necessary mojo. It would be a neat item (it is in fact kind of neat now), but would it be Rpg-Superstar Top 32 out of 2000 material?
I considered making the original abilities +2 Initiative, +2 damage on first strike, and once per day allowing the wielder to ignore a targets armor for one round. I couldn't see it as being an item that would be made more than once with a name like "of the ancient masters." I thought for sure people would be like, "but if it is of the ancient masters, who are they and why do they keep ending up in scabbards?!"
I will be very excited to show off my real item as it is nothing like this one. I think I whipped this one up in about 15 minutes without a tough second look. Mainly as a way to get my mind off the main show and see what else was rattling around.
Star Voter Season 6
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I'll toss one in, simply as I liked the item and still do, but thought it wasn't quite 'awesome' enough to catch the judges attention.
Cheater's Change
Aura nonmagical (faint illusion); CL 13th
Slot none; Price 12,770 gp; Weight --
Cheater's Change will always appear as a coin, which type is, of course, up to its owner. With a touch, the coin's owner can will it to take on the appearance of any coin that the owner is familiar with. The coin may also appear to be in any condition, anything from aged and battered to shiny and new. The owner can, with a readied action, fix a coin flip by swapping the faces as it lands.
In addition, Cheater's Change will always return to its owner. Unless a command word is spoken, the coin will be found within one of its owner's pouches or pockets one hour after it is given or taken away. Those wary of Cheater's Change can make a Linguistics check opposed by the coin's owner, with success discovering the magical forgery.
If the owner of Cheater's Change speaks the command word and allows the coin to be in someone else's possession for a full week, that person becomes the new owner.
Finally, the Cheater's Change does not register a magical aura, as the spell Magic Aura.
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, Instant Summons, Magic Aura, Prestidigitation; Cost 6,385 gp
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I was recently "inspired" by the Judges Input thread, so I thought I would post this here:
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Aura strong enchantment; CL 15th
Slot —; Price 32,000 gp; Weight —
This item is the desiccated nose of a size Large humanoid, possibly a hill giant or troll. It provides its bearer with a +2 stubbornness bonus on Craft (argument) checks and Will saves to resist advice and constructive criticism. In addition, the bearer receives a -10 penalty on all Wisdom and Charisma-based skill checks and all RPG Superstar judges are considered “hostile” for purposes of Diplomacy.
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, antipathy, mind fog, creator must have 10 ranks in the Intimidate skill; Cost 16,000 gp
Obviously, I think I violated Auto-Reject Advice #12. :)
Sorry, just a little frustrated at some stuff I've seen in the forums lately. I think people are getting edgy with the announcment fast approaching... wanted to blow off some steam before I get cranky as well. All in good fun.
Minor nit pick, but the item's name shouldn't be in capitals outside the title. Outside of the title it should be in italics as well.
I don't quite understand why it's a readied action to fix a coin flip. Swift may have been more appropriate. Also there should be some sort of chance to spot this like with Sleight of Hand.
It should probably be a Perception check vs. a static DC based off the CL to identify it as a fake coin. I don't see how the owner could be influencing how hard it is to detect a fake. It is a little vague if the owner can actually decide what the coin looks like, or if this item can just be different kinds of coinage.
I think the biggest place this item falls apart is the price. Which is probably based on a permanent magic aura spell and a 24/day instant summons. It's just....too expensive for how little it does. It is cheaper to make an item that gives +10 to Sleight of Hand checks, which would actually be much more useful. Unfortunately I can't think of too many situations your coin would come in handy.
By the way, spells shouldn't be capitalized, nor should the commas between them be in italics.
I will say I like the name and I think it could have a good item attached.
Immortal780's cheater's change:
I think the biggest place this item falls apart is the price. Which is probably based on a permanent magic aura spell and a 24/day instant summons. It's just....too expensive for how little it does. It is cheaper to make an item that gives +10 to Sleight of Hand checks, which would actually be much more useful. Unfortunately I can't think of too many situations your coin would come in handy.
This.
I mean, it lets you cheat in games of chance... and you can fraudulently "give it away," netting you, what, the value of 1pp? How long would it take you to earn back the construction cost, let alone make a real profit?
I agree with both of you that the concept is cool - a coin for cheating with; that's natural, that can be interesting. But the methods this item provides for cheating don't seem particularly interesting nor particularly profitable. Though now I'm trying to think of cool ideas of cheating items.... hmmmmm....
Well, the item was originally something along the lines of scabbard of the ancient masters. I pulled a bit of inspiration from the Sword of Truth in Terry Goodkinds series. An item that helps you be a better swordsman with the guidance of wise spirits. So I collected a few things I could think of that such an item might do.
OK, I won't go into mechanics, but I think your basic concept is sound. A sword meant to guide its wielder.
IMHO, though, I don't the powers you chose go in that direction. Or in the direction of a faithful servant, for that matter. Perception bonus works with the masters; cleaning the blade works with the servant; the main feature, though, the spectral man-at-arms, seems neither like guidance from the ancients nor like your friendly neighborhood squire.
For ancient wisdom, I'd try to capture some way to convey advice and warnings. Preferably, an interesting way :D - Perception is a great start, but not enough on its own; I wonder how you could get some kind of scolding-busybody mechanism, or a sage-mentor effect. My first thought would be to think of a cool trigger for receiving an augury, something not entirely up to the player - simulating "oh, you FOOL, don't do THAT" or "young grasshopper, tread carefully in the witch's lair, for there both power and peril abound" type warnings popping up when appropriate.
After a bit I started to realize that an item like that would make more sense as an artifact and toned it down a bit. So I change it from an "ancient master" theme to something else knights have a "faithful servant." Then I thought of a few abilities that an item like that might have.
I couldn't see it as being an item that would be made more than once with a name like "of the ancient masters." I thought for sure people would be like, "but if it is of the ancient masters, who are they and why do they keep ending up in scabbards?!"
Well, it sounds like a useful concept, so I imagine masters would make them and novices would use them. What needs toning down isn't the concept, but the epic-ness - OK, the ancients don't literally haunt the sword forever after, but maybe they just infuse it with their wisdom and advice. It's created by ancient masters; maybe for their favorite acolytes, maybe for not-so-ancient masters, maybe to pass their wisdom down through the ages. If you like the original concept, I think you could do a fair deal with it.
I was recently "inspired" by the Judges Input thread, so I thought I would post this here:
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Aura strong enchantment; CL 15th
Slot —; Price 32,000 gp; Weight —
This item is the desiccated nose of a size Large humanoid, possibly a hill giant or troll. It provides its bearer with a +2 stubbornness bonus on Craft (argument) checks and Will saves to resist advice and constructive criticism. In addition, the bearer receives a -10 penalty on all Wisdom and Charisma-based skill checks and all RPG Superstar judges are considered “hostile” for purposes of Diplomacy.
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, antipathy, mind fog, creator must have 10 ranks in the Intimidate skill; Cost 16,000 gpObviously, I think I violated Auto-Reject Advice #12. :)
Sorry, just a little frustrated at some stuff I've seen in the forums lately. I think people are getting edgy with the announcement fast approaching... wanted to blow off some steam before I get cranky as well. All in good fun.
Is it just one of the tricks memory tends to play with us, or are these discussions popping up this year more frequently than ever before?
If so I'd say that this is the downside of increased popularity for this contest.I Wont' critique your item, because it obviously is a gag item.
And given that and the fact that making gag items helps you blow steam, I think that we need a new gag item thread :).
(Failed my will check not to reply to the thread, hope I wasn't cranky :) )
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Star Voter Season 6
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** spoiler omitted **
Why thank you for the input. I had thought of going a few different ways, some of which you suggested. Changing the faces in coin flips I figured it would be simpler to remove any extraneous checks and leave it all down to the linguistics check.
As for that, I imagined it as essentially using magic to forge any coin you pleased, whether it have leprechauns and unicorns on its faces or to simply duplicate the appearance of any coinage you might require.
In this way you could use it as a signal, dropping it somewhere with a certain symbol on it or perhaps replicate a signet if you wished. I would have expounded on this, but I stopped working on it when I got other ideas.
I agree with you on the costing, I'd been toying on what to cut it down to... but it was difficult to spell out how much a 10gp/hour engine(albeit with limits) should cost.
Thanks for the feedback, very constructive. Perhaps next year we should be working on setting up some trustworthy discussion groups. It was quite difficult finding individuals among my friends who were intimately familiar with 3.x rules and writing.