Yeah, it was a rough 10 minutes of fun.
I've been thinking all sorts of things too - like using it as a plagued rat carrier to release into the PC's campsite and horrible things like that.
Yeah, target was a bad word to use, it meant the vermin that goes into it, any old vermin.
Sure it could wrap a small cat or dog and who's to say there isn't a PC catching giants rib cage somewhere in the world? :D
The one check was meant to be as the trap is sprung, and the trapped creature can't make more because once it is fully and completely clasped by the interlocking ribs, effectively and completely immobilized.
Size limits, I would probably have added those too had it been a serious item, but if you want to play feel free - there are some pretty big dogs - dire wolf for example :D, and for cats, well there's a saber toothed tiger option.
As a serious item, I probably would have been more generic with using the rib cage of any beast to entrap creatures one size smaller than the beast used to create the item. 2 or more sizes smaller would simply get out the gaps between the ribs :D
Feel free to have fun with it if you so like, it was a 10 minute at work thing.
The interesting question there is "could a trap be a wondrous item"?
I suspect that might be an auto ding thing, like weapons and armor, so I don't recommend risking that sort of thing as a formal entry.
Magical traps require Craft Wondrous Item to create. So they're...
yea, just don't enter one.
Vermin Trap
I know this is a gag item, but practice is still practice :)
*vermin is a game term. If if works on any tiny critter, don't use vermin. If it works on vermin regardless of size, don't call out the size of the cages.**last paragraph... you can save a few words by getting rid of 'is allowed one chance to....' The vermin can avoid capture with an escape artist check (DC 20). Now that I think about it, a reflex would make more sense and probably what caught Cheapy up. :)
***not sure why alarm and not entangle, create pit, or for a more expensive version telekinesis
Ribs, spine, head but no limbs? Sounds like a snake to me and a constrictor could be less worried about size categories. I now have this image in my head... you will know the moment, when you see it. Which is a superstar moment if you can pull it off without looking like you ripped it off. :) Ok I think I know what I will play around with for my final practice item :)
Lol, forgot all about the facehuggers from that >.<
I chose alarm as the triggering spell because it detects tiny upwards, and it was really really cheap - I was having a go at a cheap end market item as they are quite hard to do.
If you want really cheap, make it a one-use item, rather than an infinite-use one. That alone reduces the price by a factor of 40, and while that would still leave your cage a little bit expensive, it becomes a lot less prohibitive at 25gp than 1000. Because if you have 1000gp to spend catching rodents... you have way too much money on your hands. ;)
Last month before the fun begins!!
Anyone started on their list of potential items/ideas yet?
I have, but only 1 so far - just waiting for those lightning strikes of inspiration to hit.
And for the very first time since year 1, it came with a name right away. (Not sure if that's good or bad yet).
I want to get 3 or 4 ideas jotted down at least over the next week, then I'm going to have one last practice run trying to apply everything from this last year, including
a) maybe a half decent name,
b) avoiding the word user,
c) not getting bogged down in visuals too much
d) not over-thinking
e) evocative opener
e) avoiding, as much as my skill allows, the writing traps of
* sentence structure and length,
* passiveness,
* cliches and colloquialisms,
* successive prepositional phrases,
* ambiguity,
* paragraphing and line breaks.
Sheesh, e) is a biggie
So, my intent is my next item would be totally "as I would submit", so when I do post, please go to town on it - it's the only way I will be sure my time spend this year has improved my skills.
Last month before the fun begins!!
Anyone started on their list of potential items/ideas yet?
Heh, heh started the list as soon as I hit submit last year. 30 some items on there, 8 of which you have seen. Most of the rest are the not very good, but every time I read the list something turns into something better giving me a few more for the list. I also have a list of monsters, encounters/locations, villains, and even a couple adventurers.* Most of those will be used for my fiction and the adventures are turning (way too slowly) into PFS scenario submissions.)
Creativity is the easy part for me. Turning it into the Old Wyrm of Superstar... well you can see where that has led so far :)
*I think the shock/elation of being top 32 is what keeps most of those contestants from being top 16. Not really having been there that is only a guess, but someone at PaizoCon asked what could be done to prepare for later rounds. Hopefully next spring I can tell you how this worked for me :)
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I've got a couple items I'm juggling. I like things about both of them and dislike things, so I'm leaving myself open to a late idea.
As for Curaigh's idea, I think that could be part of it (though I think it's also having three days to turn around an idea vs. nine months). I know I submitted last year more as a whim than anything else -- I didn't actually expect to get picked. I felt like I was sort of playing catch-up for the rest of the contest though, at the same time, I think I was able to catch up on what I needed to.
I think I'd be much more prepared this time -- not only do I know the campaign setting far better, but having competed on it really gives insight, I think, into what does and doesn't work. Even if my crappy monster hadn't gotten me cut, I don't think what I was thinking of for Round 4 would have been good enough to advance. I think this year I could do something far better. (Of course, I'm trying to convince myself I won't get in again, since otherwise it'll be massively disappointing.)
Wow, and I thought I was preparing early - nice work you two!
No pressure now, but I expect to see everyone who has helped me improve my game in top 32 this year - you have all provided insightful commentary which I have very much appreciated and hopefully learnt from.
I know I submitted last year more as a whim than anything else -- I didn't actually expect to get picked. I felt like I was sort of playing catch-up for the rest of the contest though, at the same time, I think I was able to catch up on what I needed to.
I think I'd be much more prepared this time -- not only do I know the campaign setting far better, but having competed on it really gives insight, I think, into what does and doesn't work. Even if my crappy monster hadn't gotten me cut, I don't think what I was thinking of for Round 4 would have been good enough to advance. I think this year I could do something far better. (Of course, I'm trying to convince myself I won't get in again, since otherwise it'll be massively disappointing.)
I can +1 to most of this. 2012 was my third year entering the contest, and my grasp of what constitutes a Superstar Wondrous Item obviously improved. But in order to make it past round 1, you need to practice ALL of the elements that an aspiring designer needs: cool writing, knowledge of both crunch and Golarion lore, stat block design, encounter design and module/adventure design. Because once you are in, it is far to late to begin learning.
Before RPGSS 2012, I had never made a monster from scratch, and it really showed. I was applauded for the creativity of my idea, but beaten down for the execution - and rightly so. I made a number of errors that I would probably have avoided if I had been a little more practiced in designing monster stat blocks.
Likewise, I had only ever made a bare handful home-made encounters. Most of my gaming, both as a player and a GM, has been with published material. So even if I had advanced, I would have been forced to divert a lot of energy from thinking of cool and creative stuff to figuring out the nuts and bolts of encounter design (xp budget, how to design a trap ect.)
Compare this to the training in this thread. Hopefully, by now the various elements of the template is second nature (if not, go read Anthony's thread again). That means you can focus your energy on finding that Superstar idea - and it greatly improves your chances of executing it without falling into one of the auto-reject traps.
Before RPGSS 2012, I had never made a monster from scratch, and it really showed. I was applauded for the creativity of my idea, but beaten down for the execution - and rightly so. I made a number of errors that I would probably have avoided if I had been a little more practiced in designing monster stat blocks.
Likewise, I had only ever made a bare handful home-made encounters. Most of my gaming, both as a player and a GM, has been with published material. So even if I had advanced, I would have been forced to divert a lot of energy from thinking of cool and creative stuff to figuring out the nuts and bolts of encounter design (xp budget, how to design a trap ect.)
I'd also never made a monster from scratch, and it certainly showed -- I think I'd do better this year, though I think it will never be my strongest suit (I'm hoping for a villain again, which plays MUCH more to my strengths). But I also think that I played it perhaps a bit safe -- to use baseball terms, I obviously didn't think I hit into a triple play (which is what I did), but I thought I was hitting a nice safe RBI single or something. That'll be my big advice for anyone in this year's competition -- try to hit a home run EVERY time. Don't EVER play it safe. Obviously you don't want to go too gonzo -- we've seen that before -- but I'd err more on that side than on the safe side. (More than anything, I think that's what cost people in round 2 this past year -- lots of unions, mercenaries, etc. that were just too run of the mill.)
But unlike Jacob 3, I was on the opposite end for encounter/adventure design. I've mostly done my own, but they're very tailored to my players/their characters/the campaign. I've spent a lot of time thinking about what I would do for an encounter (and location), much less a full module. I'm actually curious about whether previous Final Four folks had already known for sure their mod idea going in or if they did most of the work once they got to that point. I think we've seen at least some that appeared to have been pre-decided, which were blown when they go to the level limit, but that's just my gut feeling.
Looking back, for me the encounters that most catch my eye are those that have interesting use of terrain/environment - this is something that can be sketched out irrespective of encounter level.
For example, a sinking island does provide a time limiting factor to an encounter, so would a sealed dungeon room filling with sea water and later releasing some piranha type nasty into the room, or even the simply raising floor / lowering ceiling, moving crushing walls.
One of my favorite and most successful encounter designs was upon a semi solid cloud during a lightning storm - high altitude, difficult terrain, electricity, high winds and if the PC/NPC stopped moving, they started to "sink" through the cloud.
That one was major fun and involved an awful lot of movement. The big nice was at the end of the encounter, the storm cloud had moved a few miles from where the PC's started (it was high level, so fly etc was available to all for the end of encounter - I'm not that mean.)
That was another original encounter idea, there was a slightly higher than average haul - some of which had to be used immediately to escape the environment (potions/scrolls of fly / feather fall) - so for encounters, think of the rewards and how they could be part of the encounter itself, even if it's just the ending of the encounter.
I was quite mean here, half the PC's had fly and half feather fall - so that I could attempt to separate the party with the high stormy winds. They were on the ball that day and tied themselves together so if a feather fall ran out, the flyers could keep their friends alive to the ground as well as not be separated.
That encounter was so enjoyed, they still talk about it 15 years later! I had a good day that day :)
Nice Anthony :)
I have done the 'homebrew' for later rounds every year since the first. In year one, I never posted it thinking it was too much fan-fic and not my year in any case. Of course it was in the practice/joke thread that we got Boomer's Pants of the Many Monkeys. Then someone said something (dinnae remember who or what) that made me change my mind, and I have posted in all of the rounds 2/3 practiced threads since.
I heard something at PaizoCon that makes me think it was my last such post, but I will continue practicing the various rounds. Because practice is practice (of course the Blazing 9 threads are practice and I got...? :)
I once suggested that people should take all the words they were posting between the contest closing [date] and the Top 32 announcement [date] and put them into an adventure proprosal instead. (You would be surprised how many of these posts get over 200 words; 10 such posts and you have a 2k word proposal :) I know at least one contestant followed up on that, readying for final round. Unfortunately the adventure he was writing could not fit into the twist. Fortunately he made it into Top Four.
Come to think of it, shouldn't we be practicing PFS (the other way to break into Paizo) submissions* and not items? :)
*
Come to think of it, shouldn't we be practicing PFS (the other way to break into Paizo) submissions* and not items? :)
We should be doing both...
Oh, and drop me a PM if you want feedback on your PFS stuff.
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Come to think of it, shouldn't we be practicing PFS (the other way to break into Paizo) submissions* and not items? :)
I actually was thinking about submitting a quest idea, but have been busy with other stuff and the quests don't really excite me. For me, they aren't worth the time invested to play or run one.
Publishing with 3rd party is another excellent way to practice.
I'm also willing to take a look at your PFS subs, Curaigh.
Like an old circus horse smelling sawdust, I'm really feeling the lure of RPG Superstar as we get closer and closer to the contest. Today at work, I spent way more time than I'm comfortable to admit browsing through old threads like Neil's in-depth review and the critique thread.
How about this challenge for the last month:
One of the hardest parts of the contest is finding that "Superstar" concept and staying true to it as you develop it mechanically.
So, in order to practice that, the assignment is two-fold:
First, brainstorm on item ideas, and list them in a single sentence that explains what your concept is. Write down as many as you can, but at least five.
Here are some examples of what I mean from the 2012 top 32.
* A flask containing a shining liquid which can be used to create. artificial sunlight in a room, or be spread on a weapon to harm undead.
* A small figurine that can be used to shelter a familiar from harm.
* A sight for a firearm that can turn the target to stone.
* A sheet of paper that allows you to use a lantern to project fear-causing images.
* A shawl that lets you use channel energy to refresh your allies.
* A set of gloves that lets you summon flying creatures, buffs your bird familiar or companion and gives you various degrees of flight.
Post your ideas sometime before Sunday. Then, pick a single concept from someone else's list and flesh it out into full item, posting it in the thread for feedback before Dec 1st.
What do you think?
Sounds good, but only post ideas that you have no intention of running. You could likewise look at the past 8 months of items here, reduce one to a single idea and start over. That it where my Tempest saddle came from. :)
Thanks Jacob, and thanks other Jacob. I will do so in the next two weeks :)
Trying to come up with a list and not add it to my planned entry list is proving hard.
Here's one I think may be a bit urgh for the competition...
A small hand held paring knife device that allows you to peel the skin off a sleeping humanoid without waking them, the skin so peeled allows you a magical disguise bonus that lasts per a specific time when worn, possibly with an over time bonus degradation.
I got some good ideas out of the brainstorm, and now have one full write-up on an item that I feel could be good enough to submit. And some I don't mind sharing.
Here are six ideas, generated by browsing the mundane section of Ultimate Equipment. Most of them are definitely not Superstar, but could make very neat items. Looking forward to seeing what people do with them.
* Scroll case that can appear to be empty or contain only blank or non-magical paper.
* Signal horn that sounds like natural sounds (thunder, wolf howls etc.) to anyone you don't specifically designate.
* Self-digging shovel
* Morphing signet ring
* Silk rope that can be made sticky like spider web on command.
* String/twine that can turn invisible - practical for setting trip wires/traps/alarms.
Trying to come up with a list and not add it to my planned entry list is proving hard.
Here's one I think may be a bit urgh for the competition...
A small hand held paring knife device that allows you to peel the skin off a sleeping humanoid without waking them, the skin so peeled allows you a magical disguise bonus that lasts per a specific time when worn, possibly with an over time bonus degradation.
Yeah, I agree with your assessment that this is not an item to submit to the contest. But I'll take a shot at it, especially if no-one else posts anything.
Guys, some advice. Do these three things:
(1) Read the prior top 32 items from prior years.
(2) Listen to the audio of the seminar the judges gave at PaizoCon two cons ago.
(3) Read Sean's consolidated advice thread.
That should really help you get ready for this year.
I can't wait!!!
Clark
Oh my - that was a shocker post - it never occurred to me that judges would lurk in the practice threads >.<
I'm way behind on my preparation this year, compared to last, but I'm another eventful year wiser. Hopefully it's enough.
My biggest goal this year is to create a really new item. Anyone can put a twist on an existing spell, and while it can be interesting, my goal is to come up with something that's really breaking new ground. I have some ideas, but nothing fleshed out.
Something I saw while rereading the previous items was Sean saying that if you have the spare wordcount, he liked it if you explained how you got to the price / cost you used.
I wonder if that's still the case. Admittedly, haven't gotten to reading his advice thread again this year.
Something I saw while rereading the previous items was Sean saying that if you have the spare wordcount, he liked it if you explained how you got to the price / cost you used.
I wonder if that's still the case. Admittedly, haven't gotten to reading his advice thread again this year.
Wait...what!?
Look at ALL the previous top 32 entries and every single item ever published by Paizo. Do you see ANY of them with a breakdown of the cost?
Unless you can get Sean on the record to confirm this himself, I would STRONGLY advice against doing this.
Something I saw while rereading the previous items was Sean saying that if you have the spare wordcount, he liked it if you explained how you got to the price / cost you used....I wonder if that's still the case. Admittedly, haven't gotten to reading his advice thread again this year.
It's generally frowned upon.
And, if you listen to the "So You Want To Be Superstar" panel from PaizoCon a couple of years ago, all the judges went on record as saying pricing (and hence, how you calculate it) is way down the list of importance in evaluating wondrous item submissions. I've always liked how Clark expressed it. "You don't have to get the pricing right. Just don't get it wrong." A Superstar candidate should be able to interpret what that means and design his or her submission accordingly.
Just my two cents,
--Neil
Something I saw while rereading the previous items was Sean saying that if you have the spare wordcount, he liked it if you explained how you got to the price / cost you used.
I wonder if that's still the case. Admittedly, haven't gotten to reading his advice thread again this year.
Wait...what!?
Look at ALL the previous top 32 entries and every single item ever published by Paizo. Do you see ANY of them with a breakdown of the cost?
Unless you can get Sean on the record to confirm this himself, I would STRONGLY advice against doing this.
The whole reason I was curious was because he said so :)
It seems like a bad idea to me given more recent contests, hence my question of if it's still the case. A lot can change in 3 years.
It's more an idle curiosity, if anything.
The whole reason I was curious was because he said so :)
It seems like a bad idea to me given more recent contests....
Yet, in that very same thread, you also have another judge (Clark) telling you that it irks him to see the math explained in an entry. He felt the designers should trust the judges to discern when something is reasonably priced vs. way out of whack with the pricing table and item guidelines.
So, I think it's reasonable to err on the side of not including it. Sean's certainly not going to hold it against you if you don't. Yet, Clark would hold it against you if you do.
Thanks. I was fully planning on not including it, but was still curious. That someone did it certainly surprised me as I was going back through older submissions.
The whole reason I was curious was because he said so :)It seems like a bad idea to me given more recent contests, hence my question of if it's still the case. A lot can change in 3 years.
It's more an idle curiosity, if anything.
Ah, OK. So I guess one of the past Top 32 did in fact include cost calculations. I stand corrected. But as you say, a lot can change in 3 years.
I just reacted like I did because it runs counter to a lot of feedback from the judges themselves in the past couple of years, as Neil also mentions.
Generally, the advice I would give is to make sure your item presentation comes as close as possible to how a real item would look.
I have a couple that are not superstar ideas, but could maybe spark someone else's imagination.
*ripple rug (because no matter how many times I straiten the rugs, the always move to trip me... :) (difficult terrain??)
*spiked anemone (entangling/paralyzing bull rush)
*potion pet (small cask attached to a critter that allows said critter to feed it's contents to an unconscious character.)
*lava gloves (inspired by the same film as the bi-furcating belt, but you can decide what it does. )
*astro-tube (dinnae know what this might do, but I liked the name so I wrote it down :)
What do you guys feel about items that can also double as weapons? I recall a book in a past Top 32 that could be used as a +1 light hammer. Seems like it'd be a tricky topic to work around, to ensure that the primary benefit is it's wondrous item qualities.
Matthew Morris' tankard of cayden calilean from a few years ago "acted" like a shield would, in that you could hold it to get a +2 luck bonus to AC, as opposed to a +1 luck bonus to AC while carrying it on your body.
Thanks. I was fully planning on not including it, but was still curious. That someone did it certainly surprised me as I was going back through older submissions.
Keep in mind the first couple of years did not use the PFRPG system. Following PF format includes spells and other construction requirements and gives a better window into the pricing logic than the previous system.
Yep! I was slightly taken back at seeing so many Top 32 items with differing formats, even within the same year.
How far we've come :)
The 'as a weapon' has to be very far from its actual intent as it then becomes a weapon instead of a wondrous item (see the banner item from two/three years ago. The design danger is probably (read: I might be over-analyzing this) having your cake and eating it too (or fan-boy's dream item). Also anything can be use as an improvised weapon leaving a very narrow window for something that works. That said, when you pull it off it will definitely be in your favor (SKR's guidelines #27. )
EDIT: links
What do you guys feel about items that can also double as weapons? I recall a book in a past Top 32 that could be used as a +1 light hammer. Seems like it'd be a tricky topic to work around, to ensure that the primary benefit is it's wondrous item qualities.
Matthew Morris' tankard of cayden calilean from a few years ago "acted" like a shield would, in that you could hold it to get a +2 luck bonus to AC, as opposed to a +1 luck bonus to AC while carrying it on your body.
That's a dangerous line to walk. You have to ask yourself, why would you submit an item that has even any chance for me to say "weapon, not a wondrous item, reject." be careful with those. not to say you cant do it.
A couple of item ideas that I just cut from my list that I am considering for entry for those who want to have a last practice, hopefully I'm not cutting a winner but those are the risks.
A clip on nose from a wolf that gives the wearer scent abilities.
A cloak of a thousand butterfly wings that provide the wearer with tremor sense or similar.
Yeah, I was looking at "useful" monster abilities at the time they were added to the list.
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A clip on nose from a wolf that gives the wearer scent abilities.
Rovagug's Snout
Aura faint transmutation; CL 5thSlot none; Price 26,000 gp; Weight —
Description
Crafted from heavily scarred leather, this irregular patch is placed on the nose and instantly grafts to the skin. The snout enhances the wearer's nose, granting the wearer the scent universal monster ability. If placed on the face of a creature without a nose, the snout instantly creates one. Rovagug's snout can morph the wearer's nose into that of a particular creature, granting it a +4 bonus to Perception and Survival checks, increases the scent range to 60 feet, and the pinpoint range to 10 feet, but only for the scents associated with that creature.
The nose’s shape can be changed, as a move action, to the following creatures and their associated focused scents:
- Boar: plants - with a +2 bonus to Knowledge(nature) checks to identify them.
- Camel: water - able to know if the water is safe or unsafe to drink, but unable to determine why it is unsafe.
- Disenchanter: magic auras—each school of magic smells unique—with overwhelming auras doubling the scent range; the scent can't be used to identify magic item properties.
- Drake: charcoal, fire, gunpowder, and sulfur.
- Hyena: dead and corporeal undead.
- Orc: frightened, panicked, and shaken creatures.
- Stirge: blood.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, beast shape I, deathwatch, detect magic; Cost 13,000 gp
---
Note: Feels odd to write out items using BB code again...
Nice Thomas!
and in under 10 hours (most of which I presume you were sleeping. :)
Good call on the morphing nose. I was thinking "scent? thats not very SS but I think you hit it right :)
*lava gloves (inspired by the same film as the bi-furcating belt, but you can decide what it does. )
No idea what movie you are referring to, but the idea of lava gloves inspired me to make these:
Aura strong conjuration; CL 15th
Slot wrists; Price 20,000 gp; Weight 2 lbs.
Description
These rough leather gloves are covered by plates of obsidian, feel warm to the touch and smell strongly of sulphur. When worn, the leather seems to ripple and glow faintly trough the cracks of the plates, giving the impression of molten rock flowing underneath.
On command, the gauntlets transform the wearer’s hands into incandescent magma, causing the wearer's unarmed strikes to deal 2d6 fire damage. On a successful melee hit, the target must succeed a DC 15 Reflex save or catch fire, taking 2d6 damage for an additional 1d4 rounds, as per the burn special ability. The gauntlets function for up to 15 rounds per day, which need not be consecutive.
Once per day while wearing activated magma gauntlets, the wearer may slam his clenched fists together, causing them to erupt and fire a plume of lava at any target within 60 feet, dealing 10d6 points of fire damage to on a successful ranged touch attack. This is a standard action.
Activated magma gauntlets shine like a torch and radiate severe heat. The wearer and all creatures within five ft. must make a DC 15 Fortitude save each round or take 1d4 non-lethal damage. Any combustible material that comes into direct contact with them immediately catches fire.
Both gauntlets must be worn in order to activate them.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, wall of lava; Cost 10,000 gp
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No idea what movie you are referring to, but the idea of lava gloves inspired me to make these:** Magma Gauntlets ***lava gloves (inspired by the same film as the bi-furcating belt, but you can decide what it does. )
Awesome!!!
No idea what movie you are referring to, but the idea of lava gloves inspired me to make these:** spoiler omitted **
And that is why you made top 16. Those are good.
A practical critique. Be careful saying they turn the hands into incandescent magma. Say they give the appearance of magma. If you say they actually become magma, then players use that language to do more with the item than it does. "But DM, it says my hands actually BECOME magma, so I can use it to melt through this iron door, magma would totally do that, its science! And I should be able to melt through the stone wall, too, since my hands are now magma. Plus, if the fighter holds the bad guy down I can pretty much kill him just by holding his head in my two magma hands, I mean no one can resist magma!"
That item would make the keep pile
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Is it strange that the frequent use of the word "magma" makes me read this discussion in the voice of Dr. Evil?
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.
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Love what you did with the scent and nose idea!
Morphing added to the mix too. Wicked.
The last bit made me think of the Swiss Army Knife danger though - not sure as it seems to fit this item but may be a case of adding too much.
SAK is one I fell foul of in earlier years so I may be being too cautious. Just be careful of that one.
I am actually encouraged myself as well. The fact you took one of my rejected possibilities and made it shine so must mean that my base ideas/themes/core powers are heading in the right direction!
Thanks for sharing that. Made my lunchtime that did.
I kind of like the idea of the potion pet - I might have a go at that one
BUT
In my mind, my imagination is saying a potion bottle that pours it content into a tiny pet like creature (similar to a water elemental in miniature maybe) made of the potion being poured.
The creature remains in the area for a specified time limit before evaporating away.
Should it detect an unconscious living creature which has a mouth within a given radius of where it was initially poured - it goes to that creature, pries open the mouth and climbs in.
It's a kind of consumable that can be re-filled type of item.
Yes, my weird mind went completely astray from the suggestion - so, would you be happy for me to run with this variation?
Partially for more practice, and partially to not tempt my self when it matters with something that can be seen as a weapon, here's what I had in mind.
Bestower of the Blaze
Aura faint evocation; CL 3rd
Slot —; Price 3,400 gp; Weight 1/2 lb.
Description
At first glance, this torch appears and acts as an everburning torch made from darkwood. But upon closer inspection, etchings of the trials and tribulations of a flame god's hero adorn the torch's shaft. When grasped in hand however, the heatless flame becomes real fire, giving off heat as a torch.
Three times per day as a move action, the bearer may command the torch to produce enough smoke to fill one square the bearer is in. The bearer suffers no ill-effects from this smoke. This smoke lasts for 1 round and follows the torch.
If used as part of a dirty trick combat maneuver, the heat greatly intensifies, allowing the bearer to choose to cause his opponent to catch fire instead of the normal dirty trick effects. The opponent does not receive a Reflex saving throw to avoid catching on fire. The flames use the normal duration for dirty trick effects, although the opponent may attempt to prematurely put out the flames in later rounds, using a DC 15 Reflex save.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, continual flame, pyrotechnics; Cost 1,700 gp
I'm not wholly happy with the 3rd paragraph, but this is what practice is for. It may just be trying to smash the square dirty trick mechanics into the circular catching on fire mechanics. How would people try to convey the idea of adding "catch on fire" to the repertoire of dirt trick effects?
The item might be a bit too "swiss army knife" too. It acts like a real torch when in hand (infinite fire!), has a defensive property (concealment from smoke) that can be used offensively if the torch is thrown (1 round concealment in a square), can be used to attack people (as a torch can), and can also be used in dirty tricks.