Ghostly Bracers

GHOSTLY BRACERS

Aura strong illusion; CL 17th

Slot wrists; Price 13,000 gp; Weight 1 lb.

Description

These grey leather bracers are decorated with white misty shapes. When worn, they grant the wielder two additional illusory arms holding the same items or weapons as the real ones.

The wielder can feint in combat as a quick action and gains a +5 circumstance bonus to his Bluff checks to feint in combat. This bonus doesn’t apply against blind opponents or creatures affected by true seeing or a similar effect.

Additionally, the wielder can move his illusory arms instead of the physical ones to fulfill components when casting a spell. Once per day, the wielder can cast a spell as though using the Still Spell feat.

The wielder can hide these illusory arms (thus cancelling the bracers’ powers) at will.

Construction

Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, persistent image; Cost 6,500 gp

JACOB: First of all, congratulations; welcome to the Top 16 of the very first DesignFinder! I like these bracers, but what I especially like is the restraint the designer showed here. I think it would have been very easy to just give the wearer extra arms, but that wouldn’t have been particularly exciting. This item instead offers a few abilities that are linked by the theme, and which could attract a few different types of wearers (rogues, with the feinting, and obviously spellcasters). Similarly, I’m always intrigued by people who think about how the item works and what that might mean -- in this case, noting the benefits don’t apply against blind opponents or ones using true seeing. I would have liked to see a little more exciting description of the bracers themselves, maybe avoiding using the verb “to be.”

The template appears to be well done (though the name of the item doesn’t need to be in all capitals). The biggest thing that leaps out at me is “quick action” isn’t a thing; it should be swift action. I might also have noted the action required to reactivate the illusory arms after they’ve been hidden, as mentioned in the last paragraph.

KATE: This is a fun item! I love the image of a pair of ghostly arms wielding a second set of weapons. It’s nice that these have an effect both for spell-casters and weapon-users, and there’s thought given to the limitations of the illusory nature of the extra arms. I think that “quick action” was probably meant to be “swift action.”  Nice work!

MIKE: This item has two distinct uses which may not see use by the same character, but this makes it more attractive to multiple characters. In fact, it’s possible for a rogue and a spellcaster to swap these around over the course of a day. If this had stopped at a flat bonus to Bluff checks, you most likely would not have made it to the next round. The addition of the Still Spell option pushed this one into the “keep” pile for me. You also dealt with interactions with blind opponents or those who can see through illusions, which was a nice touch that showed careful design consideration.

Congratulations and welcome to the top 16!