Chris Shaeffer RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16 , Dedicated Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Hodge Podge |
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Last year I realized that the most commonly recurring top 32 item was rather innocuous: gloves.
No one made a fuss about it, no "Not MORE gloves. How unoriginal!" To the contrary, most glove items I've seen through the years have been among the most interesting and popular entries. I think this has to do with hands being very interactive with the environment and easy to marry with visuals. If you think of gloves as code for "I can make my hands do THIS!", it starts making a lot of sense. Hands are synonymous with action, and action almost always tops passivity in this competition.
Anyway, it got me thinking that it would be interesting to do a breakdown of what all the previous items have been so far. I think it will help people when they choose their base items. You can either go safe (gloves), go big (submarines), or go crazy (ears on a string). Or maybe, use this as a list of things NOT to make, and try finding something entirely new?
Please note that I have double-listed some items that straddled boundaries or had multiple components. Also note that I haven't categorized items strictly by item slot or alphabetically, but more by the "idea" of the item. Basically, it's sloppy, but I hope it helps some folks out somehow.
Later, I'm thinking of doing another breakdown list that deals with the themes past items have used, like "ice" or "time" or "swapping out class mechanics".
—~:-:~—
HANDS (21)
Gloves 19
Gauntlets 2
SHOULDERS (11)
Cloak 6
Mantle 2
Cowl 1
Robe 1
Shawl 1
NECK (11)
Amulet 3
Talisman 2
Necklace 2
Collar 1
Gorget 1
Locket 1
Torc 1
LEGS/FEET (8)
Boots 5
Shoes 1
Sandals 1
Greaves 1
ARMS (7)
Bracelet 5
Bracers 1
Vambrace 1
HEAD (5)
Crown 3
Helm 2
FACE (5)
Veil 3
Mask 2
CHEST (2)
Vest 1
Jacket/Achkan 1
WAIST (2)
Belt 1
Sash 1
TOOLS/UTENSILS (15)
Mirror 2
Key 2
Anvil 1
Shears 1
Drill 1
Knitting Needles 1
Grappling Hook 1
Chalk 1
Stirring Rod 1
Spoon 1 (But no forks!?)
Comb 1
Skein 1
Thread and hook 1
Lens 1
Walking Stick 1
BAUBLES (14)
Gem/Crystal 4
Stone/Rock 3
Orb 3
Figurine 2
Metal Sphere/Bands 1
Statue 1
LIQUID CONTAINERS (13)
Flask 3
Phial/Vial 2
Chalice 2
Goblet 1
Cup 1
Tankard 1
Ampoule 1
Perfume Bottle 1
Bottle 1
BODY PARTS (11)
Eye(s) 2
Heart 2
Foot (on string) 2
Fingers (on string) 1
Bone 1
Ears (on string) 1
Skull (Bomb) 1
Hair Braid 1
PLANT (9)
Leaf/ves 2
Seeds 2
Rose 1
Petals 1
Glass flower 1
Corsage 1
Vine (bracelet) 1
LIGHT SOURCES (8)
Candle 2
Lantern 2
Beacon Lantern 1
Lantern Screen 1
Lamp 1
Torch 1
RELIGIOUS ITEMS (8)
Singing Bowl 1
Reliquary 1
Holy Symbol/Icon 1
Meditation Beads 1
Scapular 1
Shroud 1
Bell 1
Panel/Triptych 1
CONTAINERS (7)
Pouch 1
Bag 1
Medical Chest 1
Box of Vials 1
Locker 1
Box 1
Cage 1
SUBSTANCES (7)
Dust 4
Pigment 1
Soap 1
Elixir 1 (Only one. This surprises me.)
INSTRUMENTS/PERFORMANCE (6)
Flute 2
Horn 2
Lyre 1
Banner 1
FOOD/DRINK/MEDICINE (5)
Tea 1
Bread 1
Sacrament Wafer 1
Confection/Candy 1
Pill 1
VEHICLES/STRUCTURES (5)
Bridge (board w/ nail) 1
Pavilion/Tent 1
Vardo/Wagon 1
Submarine 1
Ship Binnacle 1
MOUNTS/ANIMALS EQUIPS (4)
Saddle 1
Reins 1
Spurs 1
Leash 1
WEAPON-RELATED (4) (Be careful about straying into actual weapon territory.)
Quiver 2
Gun Sight 1
Bomb 1
ANIMATED ANIMALS/TOYS (4)
Wind-up Monkey 1
Snake (Bracelet) 1
Hornet (Necklace) 1
Frog (Statue) 1
DOCUMENTS (3)
Book 3
Map(s) 2
Binder/Folio 1
TIMEPIECES (3)
Hourglass 2
Pocket Watch 1
Thomas LeBlanc RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32 , Champion Voter Season 6, Champion Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Champion Voter Season 9 |
Matthew Morris RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8 , Star Voter Season 6 |
Chris Shaeffer RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16 , Dedicated Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Hodge Podge |
Mike Kimmel RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32 , Dedicated Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8 |
Jacob Trier RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8 |
Anthony Adam Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Dedicated Voter Season 9 |
Jacob W. Michaels RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Dedicated Voter Season 9 aka motteditor |
Thomas LeBlanc RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32 , Champion Voter Season 6, Champion Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Champion Voter Season 9 |
thunderspirit Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8 |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Thomas LeBlanc wrote:I told you not to enter your codpiece of prowess! :-)Yay for only 1 saddle!
Whoa! Gloves. Now that is all I will notice when I get my voternaught rolling this year.
Wish I had seen this list earlier...
This time, though, it's larger on the inside than it is on the outside!
Thomas LeBlanc RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32 , Champion Voter Season 6, Champion Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Champion Voter Season 9 |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Matthew Morris wrote:This time, though, it's larger on the inside than it is on the outside!Thomas LeBlanc wrote:I told you not to enter your codpiece of prowess! :-)Yay for only 1 saddle!
Whoa! Gloves. Now that is all I will notice when I get my voternaught rolling this year.
Wish I had seen this list earlier...
And it grows bigger in the cold.
Sean McGowan RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32, 2011 Top 4 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Marathon Voter Season 9 aka DankeSean |
Curaigh Star Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Marathon Voter Season 9 |
Nicholas Herold RPG Superstar 2013 Top 8 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7 aka Demiurge 1138 |
Scott Fernandez RPG Superstar 2013 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2011 Top 16 , Dedicated Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7 aka primemover003 |
Antariuk Marathon Voter Season 7 |
Thanks for those lists, Chris! The only way to top that would be to actually link all items in their respective categories *inconspicuous hint* :)
I have used a couple of Superstar Wondrous Items in my Eberron game, and so far they have been the items my players have been most interested in and most often talked about. Martyr's Tear, in its original writeup (before UE came out) allowed the party to utterly steamroll an encounter with a bunch of driders, a Figurine of Familiar Power is an all-time favorite of the party's witch ever since she found it, and the Elemental Quiver is an item the party's ranger will probably never sell.
Curaigh Star Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Marathon Voter Season 9 |
Garrett Guillotte Star Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8 |
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Inspired by this and the Exactly 300 Words thread, I ran some stats on the 2013 Top 32:
- Average (mean) word count: 235.3125
- Median word count: 235
- Most common word count (mode): 173 (3 entries)
- Highest word count: 300
- Lowest word count: 114
- Most entries in a 10-word range: 7 (291-300, 290-299)
- Number of entries that would trip the 285-word error checker: 8 (four Top 16, one Top 8)
- Average (mean) cost: 8,114 gp
- Median cost: 6,075 gp
- Highest cost: 29,400 gp
- Lowest cost: 50 gp
- Most common cost (mode): 15,000 gp (3 entries)
- Most entries in a ~5,000-gp range: 14 (3,000-8,000 and 0-5,000)
- Average (mean) CL: 7.59375
- Median CL: 7
- Highest CL: 14
- Lowest CL: 3 (4 items)
- Most common CL (mode): 5 (9 entries)
- Most entries in a 3-CL range: 13 (5-7 and 3-5)
- Most common slot: none (15 entries)
- Least common slot: neck, belt (1 entry each)
Antariuk Marathon Voter Season 7 |
Dan Jones RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32 , Dedicated Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka SmiloDan |
Eric Hindley RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32, 2011 Top 16 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Boxhead |
Andrew Black RPG Superstar 2008 Top 16 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka MythrilDragon |
Anthony Adam Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Dedicated Voter Season 9 |
Chris Shaeffer RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16 , Dedicated Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Hodge Podge |
Maurice de Mare RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Dedicated Voter Season 9 aka Darkjoy |
Jerett Schaufele Marathon Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 |
Samuel Stone Marathon Voter Season 7 |
Chris Shaeffer RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16 , Dedicated Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Hodge Podge |
Maurice de Mare RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Dedicated Voter Season 9 aka Darkjoy |
Monica Marlowe RPG Superstar 2015 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka mamaursula |
Curaigh Star Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Marathon Voter Season 9 |
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Neil Spicer RPG Superstar 2009, Contributor |
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Ahhh? Isn;'t that my decisi...?
Do you remember Thunderhead? Tall, storm powers? Nice man, good with kids.
Samuel Stone Marathon Voter Season 7 |
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Actually, I was thinking about this thread while on the way to work today, and it got me thinking about why gloves are the most popular item. Then I realized it totally makes sense!
Every item slot tends to be associated with what that body part (or collection of body parts) does. Eye slot items are often goggles or glasses or somesuch, and they enhance the wearer's sight in some way. Usually, they grant a bonus to perception or darkvision, or some other eye-related thing. Duh, right? They're eyes.
Belts are associated with the core, and usually provide passive bonuses. +4 to Strength, bonuses to bull rush, that sort of thing.
Gloves, however, occupy the hand slot. Hands are what people tend to use when they do some really cool thing. They're incredibly versatile, and that versatility can be brought out with wondrous items. People can use hands to manipulate objects, fight, grab things, and so on in strongly cinematic ways.
Think of a really cool fight scene from a fantasy movie or TV show. I'll use Star Wars in this example, because it's pretty hard to spoil the movies since almost everyone has seen them. When characters in the film use the force, or shoot out lightning, they do it out of their hands. Sure, you could make make a belt or headband or whathaveyou that lets you shoot out choke someone from across the room, but Darth Vader would not have looked as cool and evil and badass as he did if he just used think rays to force choke some guy who failed him.
All of the Superstar items have some sort of strong, cinematic feel to them. Often, the items stem from something the PC does. It feels more empowering for a player to grab an arrow out of the air than it does to have the arrow just kinda bounce off their armor, or miss them entirely. Typically, people associate doing, especially doing something cool, with hands.
I probably said a bunch of really obvious stuff, and didn't hit on anything deep or insightful, but I felt like it might be interesting to delve into what exactly our fascination with gloves is.
Chris Shaeffer RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16 , Dedicated Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Hodge Podge |
Andrew Black RPG Superstar 2008 Top 16 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka MythrilDragon |
Monica Marlowe RPG Superstar 2015 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka mamaursula |
Pillbug Toenibbler |
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Andrew Black wrote:But will it have Goblins? ;-)Samuel Stone wrote:Ear-string gloves is going to win it all this year. It's got the best of both worlds.Chalange Acepted!
Goblins are sold separately. Collect them all!
Warning: Use of kobolds with ear-string gloves voids your warranty on both kobold and gloves. Not compatible with OS X.
Cecil Gershwin Palmer |
mamaursula wrote:Andrew Black wrote:But will it have Goblins? ;-)Samuel Stone wrote:Ear-string gloves is going to win it all this year. It's got the best of both worlds.Chalange Acepted!Goblins are sold separately. Collect them all!
Warning: Use of kobolds with ear-string gloves voids your warranty on both kobold and gloves. Not compatible with OS X.
Void where prohibited.
Monica Marlowe RPG Superstar 2015 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka mamaursula |
mamaursula wrote:Andrew Black wrote:But will it have Goblins? ;-)Samuel Stone wrote:Ear-string gloves is going to win it all this year. It's got the best of both worlds.Chalange Acepted!Goblins are sold separately. Collect them all!
Warning: Use of kobolds with ear-string gloves voids your warranty on both kobold and gloves. Not compatible with OS X.
Andrew Black made it into the Top 32 in 2008 with his goblin ear necklace. I do not have the link, but maybe he will share it with us :-)
Chris Shaeffer RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16 , Dedicated Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Hodge Podge |
Jeff Lee |
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mamaursula wrote:Andrew Black made it into the Top 32 in 2008 with his goblin ear necklace. I do not have the link, but maybe he will share it with us :-)Gotcha covered.
I remember that item. And may I say: Ew.
George Cunningham RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32 , Star Voter Season 6 aka Electric Monk |
Samuel Stone Marathon Voter Season 7 |
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Know Direction's newest podcast has an interview with SKR in which he references this thread and talks about gloves. Just figured I would toss this up here.
The question starts at 30:35 for those on a time budget.
Samuel Stone Marathon Voter Season 7 |
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Ear-String Gloves of the Sea
Aura strong divination and transmutation; CL 15th
Slot hands; Price ZZ gp; Weight -
Description
These fish-scaled gloves each have a filigreed ear inlaid across their backs. Three times per day as a standard action, the wearer of the ear-string gloves of the sea may hold the gloves up to his ears and extend his senses as if using clairaudience/clairvoyance, save that he can only select to hear.
Once per day as a standard action, the wearer of the ear-string gloves of the sea may pull on his ears, causing them to enlarge and envelop him in a Large ear-shaped cocoon with two distended earlobes trailing behind the cocoon. The wearer gains a +4 natural armor bonus to AC, the ability to breathe underwater, two tentacle attacks made with the earlobes, and a swim speed of 60 feet. Any willing creatures in squares adjacent to the wearer at the time of activation may choose to also enter the cocoon, and gain the ability to breathe underwater. All creatures inside the cocoon, save the wearer of ear-string gloves of the sea, gains complete cover from attacks made from outside the cocoon. Damage dealt to the coccoon counts as damage dealt to the wearer of the ear-string gloves of the sea. The wearer may return his ears to their normal size as a free action, losing all benefits of the cocoon.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, touch of the sea, interposing hand, clairaudience/clairvoyance; Cost ZZ gp
Welp, it's super-rough and unpolished and has no gold price attached, but I had free time and the desire to practice, so I went with the safe/big/crazy option. It's a pair of gloves that have ears on a string (...kinda) that can turn into a submarine!
No, this is not my actual entry.
Lamontius Marathon Voter Season 7 |
Jacob Kellogg RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8 aka Jiggy |
Andrew Marlowe RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Locke1520 |
ugh so wait, no gloves, no filagree, no gild, no SAKs, no SIACs, no jokes, no vomit, no no no no no no
I have spent hours now reading about five years worth of no
Yeah, in 5 years we've learned a lot of what not to do. What to do can be summed up in one single statement: Be Awesome.
Oh and of course, I almost forgot: Enter.
So... Be Awesome and Enter!
Jacob Kellogg RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8 aka Jiggy |