Magical Minds – We have a winner!
22 March 2010 in Contests by Iain M NormanAnd the results are in. Our guest judge, Greg Bilsland, has chosen a winner.
Necklace of Deathly Avoidance
The Necklace of Deathly Avoidance was first created by an evil priest of Asmodeus to protect against death energies and keep him from dying in combat. Some say Asmodeus himself assisted in the creation of the first necklace and it was he who added the twist. Others say that the priest hoped to be near one of his rivals when he fell so that the deathly energy would take that rival down. Heroic groups have since discovered several copies of these necklaces of varying power and give the necklace to someone who stands well away from the rest of the heroes in the group.
Level: 3
Price: 680 gp
Item Slot: Neck
Enhancement: +1 to Fortitude, Reflex and Will
Property: Gain resist 5 necrotic
Power (Daily): Immediate Interrupt. Use this power when you take damage that would drop you to 0 or fewer hitpoints. Regain hitpoints as if you has spent a healing surge. Allies within 3 squares of you take ongoing 5 necrotic damage (save ends).
(This also came in in level 13, 18, 23 and 28 varieties with suitable increases)
Here’s what Greg had to say about the winner:
There aren’t a lot of low-level items that let you escape death like this, so I like that this item gives you a way to do it, but at a cost. It also is well balanced, because even though the power is unlikely to come up very often, the property still gives it a benefit that any undead-slaying hero can appreciate.
Putting the item at level 3, 8, etc. is exactly where I would place it. I’d probably keep the range on the ongoing necrotic damage static rather than allowing it to increase. I like that the designer included some story. I’d like to see the story text as a separate section (like in Adventurer’s Vault 2) so the flavor text can give me a description of the item.
Overall, a good job, though. The designer has an eye for balancing mechanics, usability, and creativity.
So congratulations go to Granger44! Who had this to say:
Hey, thanks! As a side note, I just had a daughter born at the end of last month myself, so I’ll claim her as my inspiration to which I added the evil twist.
Steve’s necklace of death deserves a mention as Greg it as the most creative item:
I liked the necklace actually being a garotte. Shows thinking outside of the box. The item would need a little adjustment on the property’s damage output and on the automatic death in the daily power. Also, bringing down the level would be good so more players would have access to it.
Necklace of Death
This necklace fits a bit too tightly. You should not expect
a “thank you” when you surprise someone with it.
Level: 30
Price: 3,125,000 gp
Weapon: Garotte
Enhancement: +6 to attack rolls and damage
Critical: +6d6 damage
Property: When you sustain a grab you made with this weapon, you can deal damage to the grabbed creature equal to the creature’s level.
Power (Daily): Free Action. Use this power when you successfully grab a creature with this weapon.
Effect: The first time you sustain the grab, the creature becomes dazed. The second time you sustain the grab, the creature dies. This effect ends when the creature dies or is no longer grabbed by you.
Congratulations to the overall winner, and thanks to all those that took part. And finally thanks to Greg for being our guest judge. For more from Greg check out his new shiny blog, http://gregbilsland.wordpress.com/.
Since the dark days of the late '70s, Iain has been playing and running RPGs of one type or another. When not with his wife and children or working as a software engineer/Photoshop monkey he spends spare time either shooting pointy sticks at pointless paper targets, practising the art of card magic, or spending time enjoying the varied worlds of role playing.1 Comment to Magical Minds – We have a winner!
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I like that if you have your entire party wearing those, they can all do it without cost (because they’ll all resist the damage).