Items you didn't submit

[Le Petite Mort]

A lot of contestants (like myself) made a few items, and picked one for submission. This thread is for items you made, and liked, but for one reason or another decided wasn't your best work for the contest. Here's mine, which I think is cool, but ultimately a SiaC.

Honeycomb Mirror
Aura faint illusion; CL 7th Slot none; Price 750 gp; Weight 2 lbs.
Description This ring of joined hexagonal mirrors vaguely resembles the honeycomb for which it is named. Each mirror is 1” on a side, and reflects its surroundings faithfully, save that only one mirror reflects its bearer. The remaining five mirrors reflect the world as if the bearer were simply absent.
When the honeycomb mirror is held in one hand and a command word is spoken, all of the mirrors briefly reflect their bearer before they collectively crumble into dust. The bearer is then affected by the mirror image spell for 7 minutes, or until all images created by the honeycomb mirror are destroyed. The mirror always creates five images.
Construction Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, mirror image, a set of small mirrors worth 50 gp; Cost 400 gp

[maalpheron]

I think this is a good idea for a thread, but it might be better to wait until after anonymity is no longer a requirement. A contestant's mistakes, formatting errors, or other writing conventions might inadvertently out them when comparing things posted here to entries.

(But maybe I am being paranoid)

[Rei]

I was trying to cobble together a Vudra-flavored weapon. It was turning out very, very excessively complicated before I got it anywhere near figuring out how to construct and price it, and ended up dropping it before I even finalized the design because it was getting so unnecessarily complex that no one would have finished reading it and it would never have gotten under 300 words.

[Garrett Guillotte]

These threads usually open up later (the critique threads at least after the Open Call round, and the Blazing 9 workshopping threads after Superstar) to keep the focus on the contest and contestants.

[pH unbalanced]

I had a Bladed Scarf I was very proud of.

Then I discovered Bladed Scarves aren't in the PRD.

[Kiel Howell]

Yep, before an official comes and tells us...

Let's save this until after the contest to give the entrants (and subsequent contenders) their due.

[frank gori]

I tossed out a snowglobe that would have opened a create pit with an octopus inside that tried to grab additional opponents into a grapple drown as being awesome but a little too gonzo

An amulet that was Hanspur themed that let you create water over someones face continuously in a grapple starting them on a drowning.

A pair of spike gauntlets that let out hydrolic push on a crit and once a day could make a vortex of water. It could also make ice javelins. I discarded because the Vortex seemed a little of a hard sell and it was a little too SAK

(okay I went overboard on water themes)

And a cloak made of fireflies that did some SIAC light show tricks and flew you around a little like a cape of wasps.

Not posting them here because I may pretty them up and make a 0.99 cent pdf out of them

[Wolin]

I almost did a thing called the Reality Repair Kit, but ruled it out as being too ambitious for 300 words. And it was sort of Swiss army knife with its things. And very expensive. Individual components probably still would have worked.

There were a couple of occult items I wanted to do as well, but of course they weren't allowed.

I was sort of considering a couple of jokey items. My favourite was the heroes' picnic rug: It would make a heroes' feast once per day, and also summon giant ants to 'protect' you while you ate.

[Robert Thomson]

This was a first draft item I passed on.

Mechitar Bone Shield, Lesser
Aura moderate necromancy; CL 7th
Slot shield; Price 6004 gp; Weight 10 lbs.
Description
This +1 heavy bone shield made up of a collection of humanoid bones grafted together into a shield-like shape. It grants it’s wielder resistance 5 to any damage-dealing negative energy effects. In addition the wielder may speak a command word to animate the shield into a human skeleton under her command. Each minute the shield is animated, the resistance granted by the shield is decreased by 1, as if the resistance bonus were charges. A second command word animates the shield into an advanced human skeleton at a cost of 2 charges (2 points of resistance) per minute of use. Either animation can be used in minimum increments of 1 minute. While animated, the shield does not provide the wielder its armor class or negative energy resistance effects. The shield’s resistance replenishes once per day.
Construction
Requirements Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Animate Dead, Death Ward; Cost 3002 gp

[RonarsCorruption]

I was very, very close to submitting a telepathy-focused item, but ultimately passed it over because it was slightly less good than the item I actually submitted. A really good thing I did, too - because as good as it was, it uses thoughtsense from Occult Adventures, which isn't yet in the PRD!

[bdk86]

pH unbalanced wrote:

I had a Bladed Scarf I was very proud of.

Then I discovered Bladed Scarves aren't in the PRD.

I had the same issue with an Occult inspired item. I was very proud of it. Next cycle, perhaps.

[Jacob W. Michaels]

I'd also come up with an item that used Occult Adventures as soon as the contest was announced, only to find out it wouldn't be eligible the evening after I finished writing it. Oh well, I'll use it somewhere eventually, I figure. (I'm not sure if it's good enough mechanically that I'd have submitted it in any case though I did/do like the concept and it might've improved as I developed it.)

[Robert Thomson]

I had 2 occult items in my list to develop. I'll hold those back for future use though.

[R Pickard]

I didn't submit because I can't (and if I could I wouldn't because I'm still exhausted from the last Superstar), but I came up recently with an entirely non-Superstar, completely useless item that I LOVE: a wooden artist's mannequin that takes on the appearance of any humanoid you want (for the purposes of accurate drawing and also sticking it next to your sleeping party member and seeing their face when they wake up next to a tiny orc). Because every adventurer needs that!

[Garrick Williams]

I wanted to create an occult harrow deck item. The PRD has harrow decks, but not their game mechanics. I wanted to challenge myself by having a fun card deck item that didn't rely on randomness.

[JPSTOD]

PersonallY i am done Voting in regards to being Focused on the Contestants..I was not overly Impressed with the Majority of the items..

Discussing other items will not effect if I decide or not to keep Voting.

Only Interest I have in the Contest would to find out if I ended up in the Top 32...Already have plenty of Maps ready..so No need to waste time voting on items I don't like. Just perhaps to see something I might like.

[CripDyke]

@Le Petite Mort:

your honeycomb mirror needs SEVEN mirrors total, the one in the center and the 6 contiguous.

The one in the center reflects the caster.

SIX images are created.

The 7 minute duration is perfect.

You're right that there's too much SIAC about it for RPGSS, but the ability to reflect your surroundings without you in the way allows you to x-ray vision through yourself to do some things that might be very cool.

Add invisibility as a requirement, then go nuts with imagining how the mirror might be useful while it lasts. (and add some mechanics to spell out at least one specific bonus in addition to any general tactical advantages that might exist).

To make it last longer, one of the surrounding mirrors can crack each time you summon your mirror images (possibly creating one fewer images each time?).

Then when you have just 2 mirrors left - the center mirror that reflects you and one of the outside ones that doesn't, when you use mirror image you get 1 image and are left with a non-magical mirror consisting of a single 1" hex in the middle.

The need to balance out the 6 use limitation to continue to get one or more ongoing effects achievable with the x-ray vision thing with the utility of mirror images in a scrape could make for some mildly interesting decision making.

Although frankly it still sounds like something with levels in Expert or a noble with few levels would keep around to delay attackers while help is coming. It doesn't sound like an **adventurers** mirror.

That's not bad, of course. Those items need to exist too: there are many more wealthy people who make their money in businesses and nobles who make money through taxes than adventurers who survive long enough to make money by launching small-group invasions of this-or-that dangerous locale.

[Nykidemus]

I desperately wanted to submit a pair of boots with bonuses to Jump and a combat bonus when used against Myconids.

[Nickolas Floyd]

I've got so many items I created with RPGSS in mind (40+), I hope to release a PDF of them online for cheap. That being the case, I'm keeping them to myself. Sorry

[Jessie Scott]

Le Petite Mort wrote:

A lot of contestants (like myself) made a few items, and picked one for submission. This thread is for items you made, and liked, but for one reason or another decided wasn't your best work for the contest. Here's mine, which I think is cool, but ultimately a SiaC.

I think this is a good idea, but keep in mind that all items can be retooled, reworked, and redone to be a better item. By posting your item, you are, essentially, giving people a free pass at your concept for future contests.

However, this may not be a concern for you. For me, I want to keep my ideas close to my vest as they are important if I want to do more design in the future.

Just something to think about!

Your item is pretty cool though. Mirror image is always a great choice.

[CripDyke]

@Jessie Scott:

That's really how you feel?

That seems too bad to me. I'd rather you had faith that you'll have multiple original ideas over the course of a year that are all of a level worthy of polishing up for RPGSS. And I'd rather you have faith that people who can't come up with their own ideas will never beat out someone who can.

Okay, a few items each year break that "rule", but someone without real creativity will never get out of round 3, and typically won't get out of round 2. I remember last year some of the maps were...uninspired. That doesn't necessarily say anything about the designer (some of them may have wanted to participate, but the round 2 timeframe fell during a period in which the designer simply had no time to think or draw, other things that might be about the designer - like stage fright - do tell you things about them, but don't reveal any real limitation to do design work, only very, very public design work with 4 days notice). But whether the problem was the competition or the designer, it was obvious which people had had the ideas vs. which people didn't have the ideas...whether that was due to time or not. People who didn't have a decent map idea simply never got to the round of 16.

In any case, if you have ideas, you'll make it farther than someone who doesn't. Even if someone gets lucky with plagiarizing just the right thing for one year's RPGSS zeitgeist and gets into the top 32 on public votes, track their performance every year and it simply won't compare to someone creative who uses each year to hone skills (like template use or whatever) whose lack might have kept you down. The rest is down to voting whim.

Practice creating new ideas rather than hoarding old ones. Have confidence in yourself.

[R D Ramsey]

I didn't submit at all this year, but I did have a list of concepts.

The one I kept coming back to was a shield that let you convert damage to movement. For example, if you take 5 points of damage, you could instead convert it to 5 feet of movement in a straight line back from the source of the damage.

It would have needed a fair amount of crunchy clarification, but I liked the idea of it.

[CripDyke]

IMHO the best role-playing game ever was Villains & Vigilantes. Damn that game rocked. I was actually disappointed when the designers went on to produce a sequel that used a point system for stats and powers, b/c one of the things about comic books is that the comic book universe **is not balanced**. You want balance? The GM can enforce that, but it's about a lot more than just how many points you give out.

In any case, it had detailed powers & rules, but also quite a bit of flexibility. One of the aspects of the game that came into play fairly frequently was Knockback. When a super punches you, you just might go flying back into a wall, dont'cha know?

Your shield, R D Ramsey sounds like a fun way to get a super-hero element into Pathfinder. I don't know how many people would like it, but I'm sure some would love it. (A la, "Hey, you got super-heroes in my fantasy!" "Hey, you got fantasy in my super-heroes!")

On the one hand, it's worth a try, on the other...the popularity contest aspect of it does make one wonder if that would be your best shot at getting to the top 32 (if that was your goal...I'm sure lots of people enter just for fun).

In any case, your shield idea made me smile.

[Robert Thomson]

R D Ramsey wrote:

I didn't submit at all this year, but I did have a list of concepts.

The one I kept coming back to was a shield that let you convert damage to movement. For example, if you take 5 points of damage, you could instead convert it to 5 feet of movement in a straight line back from the source of the damage.

It would have needed a fair amount of crunchy clarification, but I liked the idea of it.

There is a goblin only feat called "roll with it" that you could look to for inspiration on the crunch. I suggested something similar would make a good Vigilante: Avenger ability.

[pH unbalanced]

CripDyke wrote:

IMHO the best role-playing game ever was Villains & Vigilantes. Damn that game rocked. I was actually disappointed when the designers went on to produce a sequel that used a point system for stats and powers, b/c one of the things about comic books is that the comic book universe **is not balanced**. You want balance? The GM can enforce that, but it's about a lot more than just how many points you give out.

I loved the initiative system in V&V -- except for the way that superspeed and/or high dex broke the game. If you got multiple actions in a turn, all your extra actions went *before* your opponent's actions, making KOs before your opponent could act distressingly common, if you got supers with that power set.

Of course, since all powers were (supposed to be) random, you couldn't necessarily target those abilities. But if you had them...wow, that could be brutal.

[CripDyke]

@pH unbalanced:

Yep, H^ Speed and H^ Agility - especially in combo with each other - really gave massive advantages.

however If you had them, it really only broke the game vs. the henchfolk. Give one villain a decent defense against the attacks of the person w/ H^ Speed (especially, say, invisibility) and you had one very frustrated speedy character just waiting to get knocked out their own selves.

Then, of course, there's other forms of good GMing: "the nuclear bomb needs to be disarmed - who can do that quickest? Right. Okay speedy, you go save the world why we low-initiative types take on the bad guy."

That combo was bad, but there were always ways to make the game interesting. Like Superman sucks, if you think about it. No one ever does, of course, but if you have light speed movement and can go back in time at a whim, how would anyone ever, ever beat Supes? You have to have a really bad writer to actually get Supes in trouble, even if there are innocents in danger. But if you have a good writer, a smart writer that can plan like a smart villain, not just a writer who can slap "Genius Invention!" label on a really, really powerful gun and call the villain smart for, essentially, having a big gun, if you have that, you can mess with Supes in all kinds of ways. Give him info that typically leads to him going back in time, plan for it, and manipulate the situation - like invent a temporal field generator that won't let time-displaced matter re-integrate with the time stream. Supes is held outside of time, and voila! You actually have the time to do your evil.

It's always about creative thinking, good GMing. I mean, seriously, if you don't have a good GM, even with a slow initiative it kind of breaks the game if you're a Brick character who can do a max of 40 pts of damage (or more) in a single blow. That character can't be arrested - what cell can hold them when Adamantium starts to take damage at 30pts in a single blow? It's all a little ridiculous, that's why it's super-heroes.