I've mentioned before that article ideas should not be what's keeping you from being published. The trick is to come up with a basic idea and then make it desirable somehow. A good way to make even plain articles attractive is to blend fluff and crunch.

These topics are not necessarily fully developed as pitches. Querying Dragon Magazine with an article on "racial substation levels for dwarves" probably won't get you to the submission stage. You need to add a hook that lets them know you have something worth reading.

My magic number for a crunch article is three distinct ideas on a similar topic. If I can come up with three different directions for a bit of crunch, I can probably come up with the seven or 12 or 20 necessary specific items for a fully-developed article. For each of the three, create two different power levels. That gives at least six crunch items.

If you only have one or two crunch ideas, then your focus might be too narrow. Try to expand it and see if that helps generate more material. If not, set it aside for later.

Characters

Races:

• Racial substitution levels for a single race, different classes (11 classes)
• Racial substitution levels for a single class, multiple races (7 races)
• Regional variations within a campaign setting
• An advice article on how to fill the vacuum of removing one race from your campaign by modifying or expanding the other races

Classes:

• Variant ability progressions, grouped by theme (African-inspired classes, for example, or adapting a work of myth or fiction)
• A new core class balanced with the existing classes
• Choose a particular role (like ranged attacker or diplomat) and describe how to build that character with different classes

Prestige Classes:

• High-level prestige classes. Most prestige classes allow a character entry at around 6th level, although some require the character to be as high as 12th. The reason that most allow entry at relatively low level is simple: most game play takes place at 12th level or lower. However, some groups continue playing beyond that point. A selection of prestige classes designed for entry beyond 15th level could be very interesting.
• Prestige classes suited to a particular race (7 races)
• Prestige classes that require a monster ability as a prerequisite and work to enhance or modify the ability: The most interesting options include gaze attacks, breath weapons, ability drain, spawning, and poison (5 articles)

Feats:

• Non-combat feats
• Racial feats for any of the core races (7 races)
• Epic feats
• Monster feats
• Environmental feats for surviving and fighting in a particular setting (different articles might cover marine, desert, underground, arctic or swamp settings)

Skill-focusing Feats:

I love the mechanic implicit in the Track feat. It grants a character a specific ability (following tracks) based on the use of a general skill (Survival). Similarly, the druidic ability animal empathy allows the use of Diplomacy with animals. What other skills might allow something similar? Sleight of Hand, which is very open-ended already, is an appealing choice for exploring several different directions. Concentration might allow for characters to ignore enemies, removing the enemy's flank benefit.

Metamagic "Splicing" Feats:

These feats splice a condition other than hit point damage into a damaging spell. One feat stuns targets that take damage. Another feat slows targets that take damage. One knocks targets prone. Browse through the condition summary section for ideas and consider two or more similar feats of different power (usually measured in the duration of the condition or allowance of a save) for each one.

Spells:

• Force effects
• Low-level power words
• Magic Item spell components

As mentioned before, some of my favorite article ideas come from finding something unique and fleshing it out so that it's not unique anymore. For example, the spell mage's sword from the d20 system requires the caster to drink a potion of bull's strength as the material component. Why should that be the only spell to require consuming a single-use magic item?

One article could describe new spells that require potions as material components. A different article could focus on the use of other items, like scrolls or even wands. Yet another article could feature spells that use magic items as a material focus. You might even create a collection of epic spells that require artifacts as a focus.

• Permanent duration spells
• Personal-effect spells
• ream-based magic, based on mechanics similar to the 5th level arcane spell nightmare
• New symbols
• A variety of illusionary attackers inspired by phantasmal killer, both lower and higher in level. These spells all use the dual saving throw mechanic found in [i]phantasmal killer[/i]: a Will save for disbelief and then a Fortitude save for partial effects.
• Nonlethal spells: list the current spells that are good for capturing enemies alive and create new ones. Another approach broadens the topic to include non-magic ways of capturing enemies, including nonlethal melee damage, traps, equipment and cooperative strategies for the party to use. This idea would combine fluff and crunch well, allowing a variety of new feat, equipment and spell options.

Treasure and Equipment

Weapons & Armor:

Truly new non-magical weapons and armor are hard to create, but you might gather specific detail about weapons from a specific historical culture to define the weapons and armor used for a particular game setting.

Magic Items:

• One-shot magic items
• Evil magic items
• Large and stationary magic items (altars, thrones, statues, church bells, gates, etc.)
• Cheap magic items (a small bonus to a skill and a small bonus to a save, for example)
• Class ability-enhancing magic items (extra uses/day of smite evil or turn undead, for example)
• Racial ability-enhancing magic items
• Useful-about-town magic items
• New ioun stones
• Cursed magic items
• Intelligent magic items (stat them out and provide background and characterization)

A good source for new magic item articles is any magic item with two or more options already identified. Besides the ioun stones, figurines of wondrous power and feather tokens are good candidates for more new items.

Other Equipment:

• New alchemical equipment
• New poisons (I personally think the existing poison list is unsatisfactory)
• Additional adventuring equipment
• Alternate monies (using real-world models and fictional examples)
• New special materials usable for armor or weapons
• Non-magical religious artifacts or items important for their history and tradition
• A list of books that might be found in a library. You could list a few hundred titles and then assemble some "batches" for different character archetypes (historian, necromancer, theologian, etc.). Instead you might describe a smaller list and summarize each book's content. You might also compile the longer list and then prune the shorter list with descriptions for another market.

Combat

• New combat options based on the aid another combat action
• An article that takes an in-depth look at one element of combat, such as attacks of opportunity or mounted combat. Discuss the impact of the basic rules and offer insight on how to take advantage of the rule and how to fight against it.
• A primer on how to gain and take advantage of situational bonuses (like flanking or higher ground) would be good for many new players and could be good idea-fodder for veteran players.

NPCs

• Pregenerated shopkeepers, police, city officials, guards, soldiers, thieves, beggars, etc. This sort of mundane stat-generation is very useful.
• Aristocracy, including naming and providing stats for nobles of different rank from different real-world cultures

Monsters

• Additional real-world animals

I don't think the fossa or the hyrax have been statted out yet for d20, and that's a crying shame. Someone should redress this oversight immediately! If you organize your articles by geographic area, you could write one for each continent and several for marine life, getting 10 articles out of this idea.

• Real prehistoric animals

Likewise, a huge selection of real-world prehistoric animals is available for adaptation with a little research. The most obvious choice for organization is to divide this article into several articles by era (Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic, for example).

• New constructs that aren't golems
• Multiple variants of popular monsters like the rakshasa, medusa or ogre mage. A good way to adapt monsters like these is to either add or subtract the level of magic use. One ogre mage might have less natural armor and Strength and more spell-like abilities. Another, going in the opposite direction, might have fewer abilities but gain an innate rage ability. Going back to the original source material (the Japanese oni for the ogre mage, or Hindu belief for the rakshasa) can provide many examples that you can extrapolate from.
• Choose a special ability and create new monsters that make use of it (gaze attacks or breath weapons are good themes)
• Unique demons
• Monster variants for common animals like dogs or horses. Change the feats, change the skills, vary the stats a little and describe a dozen or two different breeds.
• Stat out animated household, city street or dungeon objects, like chairs, rugs, canopy beds, lamp posts, carriages, iron maidens, etc. The more special abilities you can give your items, the better.

Miscellaneous

• Expand the list of suggested alternate uses of positive energy in the turn undead description
• Magical storms and their effects (reducing visibility, spell failure, hampering movement, etc.)
• Traps centered on a theme (pit traps, outdoors traps, traps from a movie)
• Adapt a historical or folkloric setting, such as Heorot (from Beowulf), Charlemagne's court, or Renaissance Venice
• The concealment, delivery, and decryption of secret messages
• Magical locations

If you have more ideas that you'd like to share, including approaches to developing article ideas, please contribute to the forum.