Judging Core - Put on Your Judge Hat


RPG Superstar™ 2012 General Discussion

RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32 , Star Voter Season 7

OK, Superstar readers (and judges), I have a hypothetical. And I apologize in advance if this was asked in previous years. I realize the RPG Superstar judges are busy right now, so the rest of the community should take over and put itself in their shoes.

Here's the hypothetical situation:
Everything in the game exists as it is, except - there are no wondrous items. Now you have a contest to bulk out that section of the book (in hindsight it was a bad idea to make an entry for wondrous items in the book, but you thought it might be useful some day).

The submissions come pouring in. Tokens! Amulets! Belts! Cloaks! Even a Wyle-E-Coyote-style hole you can fold up and stuff in your backpack (clearly a gag item - reject).

Assume you receive every wondrous item in the Core Rulebook. Which of these items, submitted in a vacuum of such items, is Superstar material? Which items do you reject out of hand? Let's ignore the word count restrictions for this one. Is there a clear winner? Which item shows the kind of promise and creativity that make you think you'd like to work with that designer? Which items are just under par, but you'd like to hear more from the writer and hope he or she submits next year?

Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Dedicated Voter Season 9

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Superstar for me - Deck of Illusions - It breaks so many auto rejects, is a random table, and simply loves rule 27.

Not superstar for me - Elixir of Love - way too low a price makes it so easy to abuse, just ask my players :P

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32 , Dedicated Voter Season 8 aka artofcheatery

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Anthony Adam wrote:
Not superstar for me - Elixir of Love - way too low a price makes it so easy to abuse, just ask my players :P

It's charm person in a can. Some characters can do that multiple times per day without paying anything.

Apparatus of the Crab - interesting but too complex. Makes for a lot of work for the GM. Most likely a plot device.

Bag of Tricks - monster in a can and for the most part, crappy monsters in a can.

Necklace of fireballs - SIAC. And it's here ten times? The weakest fireball can't actually be cast normally!

Scarab, golembane and Bag of holding - makes adventuring safe

Golem manual - too easy of a way around the difficulty of making a golem.

Mirror of life trapping - I can see a villain wanting this, but never a PC.

Wings of flying - too expensive for PCs to ever get.

Of course there are numerous items in the book that are important to the game but aren't superstar. All potions are SIAC, but the game would fall apart without them.
-Xander

RPG Superstar 2011 Top 16 , Star Voter Season 6 aka Shadow-Mask

Alexander Bennett wrote:
Anthony Adam wrote:
Not superstar for me - Elixir of Love - way too low a price makes it so easy to abuse, just ask my players :P

It's charm person in a can. Some characters can do that multiple times per day without paying anything....

Necklace of fireballs - SIAC....
-Xander

No love for the necklace of fireballs?! I love that item. My love for all things in the evocation school probably explains why. I also created a red half dragon PC who used these things as a "secret" weapon when she was surrounded and outnumbered in 3.x. That experience doesn't hurt either. ;) Let the destruction begin! :D

Ahem, back to the subject at hand. My vote for Superstar-worthy Corebook item is the hat of disguise. It's a SIAC, but I think it comes under Rule 27 for the sheer opportunity it grants characters in the game. :D

Dark Archive RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16 , Star Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8 aka FaxCelestis

Amulet of mighty fists gets rejected, as it's a weapon pretending to be a wondrous item. Tome of clear thought and its compatriots get to get rejected too: they're way powerful and way too expensive to see play 90% of the time. Mattock of the titans gets tossed: most PCs will never be able to use it.

Cloak of arachnidia gets a keep, as does portable hole and ring gates, for being inventive, thematically sound, and clear in their descriptions while still enabling new styles of play.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32 , Dedicated Voter Season 8 aka artofcheatery

I forgot to mention helm of brilliance which is so over the top and convoluted that the judges use it as a marker of what not to do. Nothing can be as expensive or as complicated or as much of a SAK. I have never had a character that would actually buy it and I don't even know who would wear it if we found one... cause you know they explode.

Sczarni RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32 , Champion Voter Season 6, Champion Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Champion Voter Season 9

I think the primary job of the core magic items is not to impress. Rather, they serve to illustrate what is possible. I think a few are still around just on sentimentality. My only complaint is some items need some updating...


Cloak of Resistance... Really? a flat bonus to saves that takes up a valuable slot? Useful, sure, but not terribly "Superstar", if you ask me. Rejected.

*Reject

*Completely Agree. Reject.

*Rejected.

:D

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