Trick Shot Glove


Open Call: Design a wondrous item

RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16 aka Danish Trumpter

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Trick Shot Glove
Aura faint divination and transmutation; CL 5th
Slot hands; Price 7,500 gp; Weight
Description
This single leather glove only has three fingers, leaving the thumb and pinky finger uncovered. Such gloves are designed to prevent damage to the wearer's fingers caused by the repeated drawing of a bowstring.

A trick shot glove allows its wearer to bank a ranged attack off a solid metal or stone object in order to hit a target that the glove's wearer might not be able to hit otherwise. Due to the magical nature of the glove, this object could be a wall, the ceiling, or even the shield of another creature (only a heavy or tower shield made of metal or stone can be used in such a manner). The attack takes a -2 penalty on the attack roll and can only be made against a target within the first range increment of the weapon, though the angle of the banked shot does not matter. The glove's wearer must still be able to see the target (reflections are acceptable using GM discretion). This ability takes a standard action and can be used three times per day.

Additionally, the glove's wearer may make a single ranged attack as a standard action that ignores the soft cover provided by a single creature. A wearer with the rapid shot feat may instead use a full-attack action to make two attacks (with the normal -2 attack roll penalties to both attacks) when using this ability. This ability can be used five times per day.

A second glove provides no additional bonuses. Though designed for use with a bow, a trick shot glove functions when used with any ranged or thrown weapon.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, true strike, unerring weapon; Cost 3750 gp

Founder, Legendary Games & Publisher, Necromancer Games, RPG Superstar Judge

We've seen trick shot/ricochet type items before but never as clever and clean as this. Yes, it has some issues but this thing has mojo. Nice work, well thought out. It might need a tweak here or there, but the idea and execution are really good. Tackling an item that we've seen a hundred times before done poorly and doing it right is impressive. This is one of the better top items, in my view.

The Exchange Contributor; Publisher, Kobold Press; RPG Superstar Judge

Trick shots ARE fun, and an item that makes them easier is a keeper.

Agree it has some mechanical issues, though it also anticipates some issues (like thrown weapons), and I appreciate the design foresight that implies.

I expect SKR may have something to say about the mechanics overall...

Designer, RPG Superstar Judge

I think it would need to be at least –4 instead of –2, but I like this sort of thing. It is very Hawkeye, and I don't mean from M*A*S*H.

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16, 2011 Top 32, 2012 Top 4

First of all, congratulations on making the Top 32! That in itself is a major accomplishment and it’s something you should take great pride in. You rock!

This glove plays well with the rules for cover and helps bring some very cool cinematic elements to the game table. I love the image of an archer banking shots off a wall or an ally’s shield to pincushion a bad guy who’s holding an innocent bystander hostage. It’s a very common cinematic scene and your glove helps bring that to the gaming table. You’re going to make many archer-based characters happy with this glove, especially if they combine it with bracers of archery.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 4 , Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 9 aka MillerHero

The magic archery glove is a neat idea, but I'm not sure it would actually see much use in combat.
Normally I'm not one to give archers more toys to be effective, but an item that limits them to a standard action (or two shots with rapid shot) is okay with me. On top of that, "the glove's wearer must still be able to see the target" "to hit a target that the glove's wearer might not be able to hit otherwise." How often does that happen? Glass windows, wall of force, mirrors, scrying?

I'm pleased the author considered how the trick shot glove interacts with rapid shot, but I wish the mechanics were simplified to not list any particular feat. By listing rapid shot, is it your intent to disallow additional attacks from iterative attacks, many shot, haste, two-weapon fighting with crossbows or thrown weapons?

I don't think it is necessary to include both true strike and unerring weapon.
Formatting looks good.

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

Welcome to the Top 32, Danish Trumpeter!

You managed to get the Avengers vibe going with your trick shot glove, but you did quite well with your "Hawkeye" glove. It's great to see someone introduce an innovative design to a somewhat crowded design space, and you certainly accomplished that. The only issue I have is the invocation of "GM discretion," which might bother some people, but that doesn't really mar an otherwise excellent item in my opinion.

Best of luck in future rounds!

Silver Crusade Dedicated Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7

I loved this item. I saw it 3 times and voted for it every time and I would have voted for it against my own item had it come up against it.

Good luck.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16 , Dedicated Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Hodge Podge

Hey, my fellow glove-bro! I definitely took notice of this while I was voting. It's a classic idea that is well-executed. I'd like to echo the idea of increasing the penalty from -2 to -4, and I'm not crazy about ever specifically adding "at GM discretion," but I seriously like.

Also, the name is delicious. Something about the shape of it has a good bite.


Congratulations, Rorik. Your glove was one of the first items I saw during the voting process that made me sit up and take notice. It definitely made my "keep" list.

Marathon Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Clouds Without Water

Well done! This was one of my 28 keeps, and I voted for it every time!

RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Marathon Voter Season 9 aka theheadkase

Hawkeye is what I pictured and I loved it.

I don't have much negative to say about this item, aside from some tricky areas that come up, like why does it have to be a Heavy or Tower shield instead of a light steel shield, but it was cool enough to overlook those kinds of things.

Congrats!

RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32, 2012 Top 4 aka OamuTheMonk

I like archery gizmos, like the Quiver of Spiderkind, that let archers do the kind of stuff fantastic archers have been doing throughout history and literature. So I want to like this one.

And I think I do, although it rides a little rough as it were. I agree with what Steve said, that the circumstances whereas you would need to shoot at a target that you can
(A) See, and
(B) not target directly
are pretty unlikely. But, with things like walls of force in effect, they're not impossible. So, I'm recommending this one.

RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7 aka Demiurge 1138

This item is loads of fun. Like the judges, I've seen plenty of attempts at making trick shots work in d20, and this is elegant.

Congratulations on making it to the top 32, and I'll see you in the archetype round!

Star Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8

This feels like a feat in item form, but it's well built and provides that cinematic element players love.

My favorite bit about this item is what's missing: unnecessary fluff, bonuses, or abilities. A few things could be tighter, but nothing needs to be carved out or rebuilt from scratch.

Great job, and good luck in Round 2.

RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32 , Star Voter Season 6 aka Transylvanian Tadpole

I think the name lacks a certain something, although it does describe the thing perfectly. Like Steve said, archers are not short of combat options in Pathfinder, but trick shots are always deserving because they make the players feel like heroes. As a result, this got my vote.

(Secretly I approve of the mention of GM's discretion, although I guess it might put noses out of joint!)

RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka RainyDayNinja

While I agree that this is definitely cool, it's also essentially a class-ability-in-a-can. The main effect is just a tweaked version of a Zen Archer ability, so I'm not wowed by creativity. Of course, every archer I make would still want one. Anyway, congrats!

RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32 aka Danish Trumpter

Thank you all for your input!! Thought I might try and explain some of my thinking since voting is over for these and I've seen some important points here that I would like to politely address.

The GM discretion point was mainly supposed to reference use of reflections around corners, say if one were using a puddle/pond/mirror/other reflective surface to catch sight of someone around a corner (i.e. propping the mirror against an opposite wall watching for someone to wander down the corridor).

I also figured it would be possible to sort of shoot around cover/concealment, once again if it would be possible to feasibly do so (imagine someone standing behind a mid-sized tree so you might be able to see the edges of their armor so you can "see" them, then ricocheting the shot off the shield of a companion to hit the guy).

My thought on only heavy and tower shields working would be due to lighter shields just not having the heft to support a ricochet without smacking into the shield's wearer.

And yes I thought rapid shot was the only effect that seemed to me to lend itself the best to a focused, single moment in time effect like a ricochet. The rest (haste, two-weapon fighting, manyshot, etc.) just seemed more frenzied or at least less focused.

Once again I appreciate all the votes and comments!

Editor, Jon Brazer Enterprises , Dedicated Voter Season 6

This is an item that every archer build will want. It came up exactly once in my pairings, and I read it two or three times because it was just that good. Easily one of my favorite submissions this year!

Editing nitpicks: Names of feats should be capitalized - not italicized as you did with Rapid Shot. Use en-dashes for negative numbers such as penalties to rolls, and use em-dashes for a field with no value, such as "Weight" in your entry or an undead creature's Con score.

RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Marathon Voter Season 9 aka GM_Solspiral

The Good: Archers are popular and designing for them is a smart move. It is quite good in its simplicity.

The Bad: Ok do archers really need more power? This bipasses partial cover which is 1/2 the point of going arcane archer.

The Ugly: Vaguely familiar, feel like I've sen a simular item from earlier editions...

Overall: Congrats adn Kudos for makignthe top 32!

Dedicated Voter Season 6

Congrats on making the Top 32! This is another item I remember from voting and I'm not surprised to see it made the cut. Admittedly, I had a moment after I started reading where I felt like it was going to hate it because it's so easy to do something like this badly. I was definitely impressed overall. I think I agree with what SKR said about increasing the penalty from -2 to -4. That seems a bit more consistant with mechanics I've seen elsewhere, but that's a pretty minor gripe. I can definitely see the appeal of having this in a game, so way to bring the cool factor.

I can't wait to see what you do next round. Good luck!

Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 9

Rorik, congratulations on making it through!

Despite the item having cool flavor, I'm still not entirely clear what it does. Ignore cover? Partial cover? Sometimes total cover? Or, give you a new line of effect?

I mean, I understand it thematically, just not mechanically. Which means it's cool, but I guess I just don't get it.

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

Congratulations Rorik!

I love trick shots, but feel they have been done before. You might have been playing it safe. I do think your attention to detail (stone and metal only, thrown weapons) will help you throughout the contest.

Suggestion for R2: pull out the safety and swing for the fences.

Good luck and congratulations.

RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7

Rorik,

I liked the trick shot glove and I'm sure I voted for it, though I don't remember seeing it many times. However, I confess I didn't think it would make it this far; to me it lacked some "wow" factor at the time. After Hawkeye was brought up in the discussion, I could see the cinematic aspects of it. It's a fantastic item for archers and a novel ability (at least to me). Congratulations!

RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32 , Marathon Voter Season 6 aka Breelo Babblebock

I voted for this item a few times and I always like the idea of bouncing arrows off walls to hit someone around the corner. That IS fun. I think your execution gave this item its mojo.

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

I have to admit, while I thought this was a decent item that would be useful in a book of magic items, the fact that it didn't tread new ground, and that there's already a ricochet shot spell (which would have been a good one to include in the requirements), a ricochet hammer magic item, a ricochet shot deed for gunslingers, and a ricochet splash weapon feat, this just didn't seem innovative enough to be Superstar to me.

I hope your archetype brings something new to the table, with the same attention to detail in the mechanics.

Grand Lodge RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32 , Star Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka burrahobbit

Hi Rorik - Congrats on making the Top 32! I like trick shots, and this is a nicely-executed way of pulling them off. Best of luck in the archetype round!

Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 9

Joel, I didn't think of any of those when I read the item - which just shows why there are so many ricochet items - people don't memorize Ultimate Combat the way they do the Core Rules.

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

RonarsCorruption wrote:
Joel, I didn't think of any of those when I read the item - which just shows why there are so many ricochet items - people don't memorize Ultimate Combat the way they do the Core Rules.

I admit I searched the PRD before writing my post to get the list, but when I read the item, I knew I remembered a ricochet power or two out there - I wasn't expecting quite as many as there were though.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 8

Congratulations Rorik, on making the Top 32!

I like your item. It's dramatic and makes combat more interesting, which is one of the things I'm looking for in a magic item of this type.

However, it does have issues in its mechanics. The core idea is clear but I can see disputes at the table over exactly how it works. Specifically calling out GM discretion is a big no-no for me. If you've considered the option of reflections, why not just say yes or no to the glove working in those circumstances? Raising the head of discretion, also brings the thought into players' and gamesmasters' minds for other situations. Could it bank off two surfaces if it was still within the range increment? Not as written, but the player might suggest GM's discretion could apply here too. Suddenly you have a can of worms.

You can bank of stone or metal. What about other hard surfaces? Hardened glass? A wall of force? GM's discretion again?

Also, the second power is five times a day? I don't think I've ever seen that.

All in all, I think it's nice. I would certainly consider using it. It just needs tightening up a bit.

Shadow Lodge

How does it interect with someone using the Ricochet Shot Deed?


As prior entries will tell you, Template Fu is one mean point eating machine, but will also praise where praise is due.

These reviews being this in depth usually take me a while to do and they get fitted in around other demands on my time, so please bear with me if I haven’t gotten to your item yet. I will get there in the end.

Review Caveat: I try to keep things totally dispassionate and all comments herein are my own. Having not made the illustrious levels that you have achieved this year, I can only caveat that anything I propose in feedback may not be totally in line with what Paizo thinks or needs of its freelance game designers, so do consider carefully any and all feedback I make under this light.

I start your review with…

Congratulations on being selected by the public at large and then the stalwart judges!

Review Breakdown:

Template: 4/5
Perfect template use … Template Fu swoops in, points at the cost, “No comma in the number, it’s over 1,000, so there should be”, he snatches his mid-day point and swooshes away crunching as he goes.

Spelling: 5/5
This bit IS boilerplate to avoid confusion. Everyone should know to use US English, so you just know that I am going to eat points for stray ‘u’ letters and similar.

Template Fu continues with his marathon watch of Heroes in his den, let’s not disturb him…

Readability: 5/5
These are readings you can get from most spelling and grammar check options in word processors, for this, I am pasting everyone’s description into Word for consistency. My grading’s are purely my own personal feelings for target scores but it should be noted these are very helpful during development to spot problems in your writing, especially passivity.

Passive Sentences 0% (wicked)
There are whole threads on this and it is possible to get 0%, which is wicked, but I would expect scores of less than 20% to be around the ideal mark for item descriptions (sometimes, you need the passive, but only rarely).

Flesch Reading Ease 61.0 (excellent)
(0-30 best understood by university graduates, 60-70 easily understood by 13-15 year olds, 90-100 easily understood by 11 year olds)

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level 10.2 (a little high for me, but not dangerously so)
(This equates to the grades found in the US schooling system, e,g. 8.2 means it should be understandable by the average 8th grade student)

Me as a Designer Review: 4/5
Ok, your phrasing is little wordy in places. One example is “The attack takes a -2 penalty on the attack roll…”, try to reduce the instance of attack to once in the sentence, attack roll is understood. You might be able to do so by rearranging the second half of that sentence first.

At the same time, I think I know why you chose -2 instead of -4, so if I’m right, you could have written something like “The target must be within the weapon’s first range increment and is subject to a -2 penalty on the attack roll which stacks with any applicable cover modifiers the target may be benefitting from.”, i.e. it is -2 because you are not ignoring cover or concealment, you are just gaining a line of effect for your shot.

Standard action is the default action type for item activation, but as it is part of an attack, in itself always a standard action, you don’t need to repeat it.

Ok, why are people mentioning “GM’s discretion”. Quite simply, it is code for “I can’t think of all the exclusions, so I’m leaving it wooly for the GM to decide.” – even though that probably isn’t the intent, that is what happens.

Always make definite statements in rules crunch. I would have been happy to see this sort of thing “If you are aware of the targets presence, and can determine a suitable surface to ricochet from, then they are a valid target for this shot.”, or even “if you see the target, either directly or indirectly (via surface reflections or shadow projections), you can use this shot”. If the GM wants to add more conditions, they can and probably will.

Ok, I think nothing above is worth a point all of it’s own, but the sum total is probably a point. So you lose just the one point in this section. Well done.

Overall Impression: 5/5
I liked the imagery, there was just a small hiccup in the execution and template use. I think you did exceedingly well here.

I look forward to your archetype with great expectation!

Final Score: 23/25
I won’t give a final score comment as I haven’t for anyone else as I work through the items.

If this interests for personal reasons, please feel free to check out everyone else’s scores and at the same time check out your competition and their feedback too!

Closing, as I started…

Congratulations on being selected!


Many congratulations on reaching the Top 32! Another entry that I missed voting for is presented here, and I'm not shocked to see it on the list. Since it's so simple to commit such a terrible act, I must admit that for a brief while after I started reading, I thought I would despise it. Happiness is that. This item's charm, in my opinion word wipe, comes from your implementation.


The badland is eternal. I can play all day long without getting bored. My interest is still piqued by it.


Friday Night Funkin' is an absolute masterpiece of rhythm and style! With its catchy tunes, challenging gameplay, and vibrant visuals, it's a true delight for music and gaming enthusiasts alike. The seamless integration of music and gameplay creates an immersive experience that keeps players hooked for hours on end. The unique characters and their captivating stories add an extra layer of depth to the game, making it a truly unforgettable journey. Hats off to the developers for creating such a phenomenal game that brings joy and excitement to players worldwide. Friday Night Funkin' is a true gem in the world of rhythm games!

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