RPG Superstar 2014 Top 32
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Evergreen Seed Pouch
Aura moderate conjuration; CL 9th
Slot -; Price 16,000 gp; Weight 1/2 lb.
Description
This plain looking leather pouch is decorated with fresh mistletoe and holly or embroidered with the holy symbol of a nature god. The pouch contains seeds of various small plants and grasses. This pouch can be used as a divine focus. When used as a divine focus to cast plant-based spells, such as entangle or spike growth, the magic of the pouch manifests. The pouch creates any small vegetation or grass that the spell requires to function inside of the spell's area of effect. The vegetation created by the pouch will grow regardless of the terrain, and will last the full duration of the spell.
Construction
Requirements craft wondrous item, wall of thorns; Cost 8,000 gp
Not sure why this is a pouch and not a sprig of holly or something. Anyway, pretty cool as far as rules effects go. I dig it.
weak keep
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The user base is a bit limited, but it really ups the versatility of plant-based spells. Entangle... in... spaaaace!
Weak keep.
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Congrats on making it to the TOP 32, I saw your item a lot during the voting and I have to say "it grew on me" I voted for you many times. Good Luck!
This item made me go "WOW"! Congrats!
I liked this little pouch each time I got it in voting. It's got a good name, and it has a nifty little function. A little...limited...but that's not always a bad thing if it isn't appealing to everyone.
I would definitely work on conjuring up more images in your writing. This felt a little spartan in that department. Looking forward to your R2.
Well, it is not spell in a can, but it is perhaps "Druid in a can." I think it should have limited or one time use.
I liked this one a good deal; it just missed out on my personal top 32 list. I appreciate the fact that it found a nice little niche to occupy that was still essential and useful enough that this can't just be written off as a niche item. Good job, welcome aboard!
Admittedly I didn't get this item, still don't see it over some of my other picks but this is a subjective process. My sincere Congrats and Good luck.
For the traveling druid, there's a little bit of home he can take with him wherever he goes. This is an elegant little item that is the answer to a druid being stuck with nothing to do because of unfavorable terrain, and for that reason makes perfect sense to exist.
I like the flavor it could create for a GM or player that's story-minded too. Perhaps the seeds within come from the plants that grow on the grave of a loved one, or a sprig from a tree two lovers met under for the first time. Regardless of the source, the creator has something in their hands that both empowers them, and keeps them useful. I like it.
Congrats on making it to round 2!
I saw this item soooo many times. I never got the point of it and it didn't wow me - I think I also just lumped it in with a bunch of other vegetation themed items, almost none of which grabbed me.
Still, it got you here, and I can now see the utility (however limited) and design chops involved. Congratulations!
I do have to say that I'm a little surprised this was the item that got me into the top 32 over some of my other submissions in years past.
My entries every year usually starts as an item that someone in my home group wished they had at some point during a game. With a few tweaks to make it more appealing to the largest group possible. Thankfully we get one or two of those moments every year.
RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
aka JoelF847
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I'm torn on this item. On one hand I like how it took a set of spells limited by terrain, but otherwise staples of druids, and made them more flexible and useful.
On the other hand, it's the same trick that 2011's Plentiful Pouch did for the goodberry spell. Repeating the same trick turned this from a cool item to a more mundane (yet useful) repeat. It's even a pouch.
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I'm torn on this item. On one hand I like how it took a set of spells limited by terrain, but otherwise staples of druids, and made them more flexible and useful.
On the other hand, it's the same trick that 2011's Plentiful Pouch did for the goodberry spell. Repeating the same trick turned this from a cool item to a more mundane (yet useful) repeat. It's even a pouch.
There will always be more pouches.
That aside, this really has no similarity to your goodberry pouch at all. Your pouch was hyper-focused on enhancing one spell, allowing various new & improved uses for a spell that most groups otherwise would outgrow and leave behind after low levels.
This pouch offers druids (or other plant-based divine casters) a broader venue to be able to cast a whole category of spells that he'd otherwise be unable to in the Hard Stone Dungeon. It doesn't otherwise boost or enhance those spells at all.
There are really few genuinely new ideas under the sun, and there will always be a lot of parallel development. (Even during the voting period, I noticed more than a few items that had similar powers to entries I'd just submitted to the JBE Egyptian magic item open call.) That said, I don't think an item having a vaguely thematic link with an old entry shows a lack of creativity on the author's part.
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RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
aka JoelF847
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Sean, I was referring to the allowing you to cast the spell without berries actually present part, but really that's neither here nor there. For me, it was too similar to wow me, and I was sharing my admittedly biased view.
If it had reminded me that closely of another item, I would have mentioned it as well. Obviously no one can know every item under the sun, and there will be parallel designs of similar themed items. I was sharing my thoughts on it for constructive criticism purposes take it or leave it, and it seems my tongue in cheek tone fell flat. Overall, I felt it was a mixed bag is all.
Overall, I felt it was a mixed bag is all.
No, it's a mixed pouch. :-P
Not to worry, Joel,, I know you weren't being deliberately testy or anything, but I just wanted to step in and provide a contrasting view in case someone saw you post and thought you might be stopping just short of using the P word, which I know wasn't your intent.
So great! This is fantastic design. A simple item that disconnects a single rule mechanic and charges appropriately for it. The fact that there are no limits, to me, is tempered by the facts that it empowers one very specific group of spells, it needs to be used as a divine focus, and that it costs somewhat more than some characters will be willing to spend, which forces them to make choices in order to benefit.
And its just so simple, it's beautiful.
I wasn't impressed by this item when I came across it in voting, but I do think I upvoted it compared to whatever else was on my screen.
That said, the discussion here has turned me around --- I could really see enjoying using this item as a druid player and I actually think a pouch seems the correct choice for what this item is and does. That said, I understand why people don't like it but to each their own.
I like this item. I think it is overpriced, but I like it.
The reason I settled on a pouch was the fact that I needed something thematically appropriate that could be crafted with any holy symbol/divine focus a caster might need. In order to grow plants from nothing you would need seeds, and well a bag of seeds doesn't have the same ring to it.
I didn't place a limitation of uses on it because few spellcasters would fill all of their daily spells with plant spells. This item was only designed to allow spells to be cast in inhospitable terrain, and not to boost the host spell on top of that.
The price was one of the tougher parts to gauge. The pouch needs wall of thorns as a requirement. Since that is the lowest level spell that creates plant matter out of thin air. You are also removing the limitation of some of the most effective battlefield control spells.
Congratulations, Brian!
I really like this item. A good idea with a simple and straightforward delivery. Gone are the days of asking the GM "hm, is there enough vegetation here to cast entangle?" Sure, it's niche, but I like ideas that explore unexpected design spaces.
Good luck next round!
I think I caught this 2 times through voting, I voted it up, based on the items it was next too and the fact that it was many times the magic item my druid needed most in certain sessions. congrats.
I can't say I'm super-impressed. As others have said, it turns entangle and plant growth from "useful under certain circumstances" to "must haves all-the-time", which is a mixed blessing. It does fulfill a niche that hasn't been done before, which is a plus. My real complaint has to do with wow factor. I can't say this item really inspired me to use it in my game.
Congratulations! I wish you the best of luck in Round 2.
Congratulations Brian!
I never saw your item in voting. I have seen GMs who enforce the no plants/no entangle spell, but only about half. This feels like a work-around a GM rule.
Evergreen Seed PouchThe pouch creates any small vegetation or grass that the spell requires to function inside of the spell's area of effect.
However I have always lamented druid's spell choice in a standard dungeon crawl, and for that this item will popular among the druids.
Pick up the wow factor & good luck!
I'm a fan of items that make gameplay smoother for everyone, and removing the complication of "what kind of plants are in this area" for plant-based spells is a big plus for me. Looking forward to your urban monster!
Template Fu Review 2014 - Brian Lefebvre - Evergreen Seed Pouch
Template Fu boilerplate: I have yet to make Top 32, therefore much of what follows is from someone learning from your item and may include suggestions you might agree with or not. Please consider anything suggested with your critical designer mind and know that nothing here is personal, it is about your item not you. I try to be thorough every year, taking an hour or more per item, so I hope you find something of value in the review that follows.
Name: A solid descriptive name that hints at the effects. It didn't excite me as a name, but for utility it serves its purpose well. This means that when I note your item name, it will recall what it does easily - this speeds play for everyone around the gaming table.
Template Fu scores you 7/10 on this.
Template Usage: The slot should have been none; - this came in with 5th printing and the errata, you must keep up with a games errata when writing for that audience. This is the only obvious hiccup on an otherwise spotless template use.
Template Fu scores you 9/10 on this.
Game Balance: If you are in a dungeon heavy campaign, with few wilderness encounters, this allows you to bring a little of the wilderness with you, allowing plant based spells to be used where they often cannot - very nice.
The "where" is kind of missing from the description, I think you are assuming that the GM and players will always choose "the ground", but without this limitation, it could be open to arguments and stalling game play - "I want to grow water lilies in the body of the giant water elemental so I can walk up its body to stab it in the face.", contrived, I know, but hopefully illustrates what I am hinting at.
It is hard to quantify game balance on this type of item without deep knowledge of all plant spells, but one thing I would have considered for game balance preservation is using the 9th caster level to limit the component production for plant spells to 5th level, the higher we go, the more powerful this could become by negating the need for the really big plant based spells, and provides future protection from new powerful plant spells being introduced to the game that become game breakers when coupled with this item. When designing an item, try to bear in mind future changes to the game when you can.
You could also have introduced a roll play element too, allowing it to only create plants for which it contains a seed, the player then needs to keep finding seeds as his plant spell repertoire grows.
Template Fu scores you 8/10 on this.
Cinematics:
Sight - check, plain looking? Come on, this is RPG Superstar! Give me wow factor please. Taking your plant theme, what if instead you had "A pouch woven from tightly interleaving autumnal leaves and grasses." You could also have put in a small amount of description on the plant growth manifestation, I'm guessing the component grows very quickly into being to then be consumed by the spell being cast, so give us the wow visual that goes with this.
Sound - missed opportunity, creaking, rustling rampant growth sounds - so could have been added to this.
Smell - missed opportunity, does the item produce smell fresh and vibrant? This is all your item is lacking, those extra visual touches and playing off the senses. You will need to work on your visuals big time for the monster round.
Taste - missed opportunity, your item could also have grown small amounts of produce and food, a fresh cabbage, a couple of carrots, etc., for the stew pot at camping time.
Touch - missed opportunity - again, its a plain pouch, but had you gone for something more plant like, you would have been able to bring this sense into play in your descriptions.
Cinematic Summary The base mechanics are easy to picture, I just would have liked a little more flair and showmanship in describing the item and its effects.
Template Fu scores you 12/20 on this.
Musings, Meme, and One Step Further:
When I look really hard at the item, I realize that this is in effect just a spell component pouch that generates components needed by spells being cast - so I perceive a missed opportunity that you could have extended the effect to other spell types increasing the versatility and thus desire-ability of the item. I note that a few people commented about the problem of asking what plants are around. I have never considered that a problem, if you think its a problem, look to your GM and encourage greater detail in his description of the encounter areas you are in. So this is almost guilty of solving a non problem, but it has just enough cool to get past that.
The item is basically a feat in a can, check out eschew materials. You avoided this trap by limiting it to a subset of spells and gave it a visual effect rather than simply not needing the component, it creates it. Therein lies the cool.
Your phrasing needs work. 3rd sentence is then repeated at the start of 4th sentence - the divine focus. Look for this sort of repetition and try to eliminate it, merging the sentences for a stronger statement. Also it doesn't really need to be divine focus, its just a focus that affects plant based spells regardless of whether the caster is divine or arcane.
I am personally very pro mythic at the moment, so you could have gone wild here - when empowered with mythic, it creates fields of flowers, a small copse of trees, giant sweetcorn, etc.
Overall, a solid item that could have been taken a little further for greater utility and visuals.
Template Fu scores you 14/20 on this.
Your final score for this item is 50/70, or 71% - Good!