TOP 5 FAVORITES: Which ones did you like the best?

[Jason Nelson]

With congratulations to all who made it, and to the alternates (because you never know, you might be in this thing a week from now), I am curious what the Paizo community thinks of these items. Which ones really catch your fancy?

In no particular order my five favorite items were:

Master’s perfect golden bell

Key of closed doors

Last leaves of the autumn dryad

Veil of the midnight vigil

Hurricane gloves

[cwslyclgh]

I would say that my five favorites are:

Horn of the Dark Hunt
Helm of the Golem Master
Maw of Urgathoa
Dust of Heavy Burdens
and
Hammer's Bane Torc

But definitely congratulations to every one of the top 32 (and alternatives for that matter all though we haven't seen their items) all 32 of the items that were picked were very good.

[Todd Stewart]

In no particular order:

Horn of the Dark Hunt
Maw of Urgathoa
Last Leaves of the Autumn Dryad
Withering Hourglass
School of Eyes

[Count_Rugen]

Withering Hourglass
Spider Hook
Last Leaves of the Autumn Dryad
Desna's Triptych of Threefold Wisdom
Mongoose Claw

[JasonOrlandoHawk]

I'd say my Top Three are (in no particular order)...

*Dust of Weighty Burdens

*Boundary Chalk

*Abyssal Spurs

I really enjoyed all three of those, but I'd have a hard time picking the next two items I would want to include in a top 5 list. Congrats all around to the winners.

[Mike Welham]

They're all good!

But here are my top 5:

Spider Hook
Hammer's Bane Torc
Last Leaves of the Autumn Dryad--This one is my absolute favorite
Temporal Bracers
Hurricane Gloves

[Sue Flaherty]

I could easily pick a baker's dozen, but if I had to narrow it to top five ...

Twintone Flute
Maw of Urgathoa
Lordly Pavilon
Lens of the Runethief
Hurricane Gloves

[Chris_Johnston]

My five favourites from best to least best (although still great):

• Dust of Weighty Burdens
• Boundary Chalk
• Key of Closed Doors
• Ethereal Tether
• Haunted Shoes

[Vorpal Bored]

My top 5(ish)
Dust of Weighty Burdens No lie... totally in love with this one!

Hurricane Gloves

Key of Closed Doors

Temporal Bracers

I am kind of stuck on the 5th... i am keen on School of Eyes for the weirdness, yet i really enjoy the flavor of Last Leaves of the Autumn Dryad.

[R D Ramsey]

Blightlady's Bread
Horn Of The Dark Hunt
Last Leaves Of The Autumn Dryad
Master's Perfect Golden Bell
Boundary Chalk

Maybe another 3 were close.

Not a bad round at all.

[Casey Smith]

In order:
1. Blightlady's Bread - Love the idea of using them as an ingested poison on a prisoner.
2. Master's Perfect Golden Bell
3. Dust of Weighty Burdens
4. Haunted Shoes
5. Helm of the Golem Master

[Elizabeth Leib]

Here's my favorites:

Boundary Chalk
Last Leaves of the Autumn Dryad
Hurricane Gloves
Horn of the Dark Hunt
The Dread Trinket

[Ryan Marsh]

I haven't gotten through them all. But so far the only one that really shouts out as kickass is Maw of Urgathoa. I really like that one.

Once I get through the rest I should be able to make a proper list.

[roguerouge]

I really only have four that I endorse without qualification.

Lens of the Runethief: Otherwise known as "Belkar's Revenge": "I stole exploding runes today"! Flavorful, fits Osirion part of Golarion, and it encourages players to think creatively. Now you can add a bit of spell thievery without being saddled with a second class. Tightest design of the bunch.

Dust of Weighty Burdens: For me, this is the old school magic item of the bunch, because so much depends on how you use it. Used well, you could knock people prone or temporarily blind them (in applied to a helmet, say). Like Sovereign Glue, its practical joke applications are limitless.

Maw of Urgathoa: I read that item description and I said, "That's unpossible!" Imagine the look on your players' faces when a humanoid swallows an entire person, then suddenly a dead body is "vomited" forth from that head.

Twintone Flute: Magic bardic instruments that require both hands need to have some serious oomph to make up for the lack of fighting and spell casting while using them. And it allows for more complicated music from a single instrument. People who play bards pay attention to how stylin' their magic items are.

Honorable mention: Ancestral Reliquary, Master's Perfect Golden Bell, Desna's Triptych of Threefold Wisdom.

[Vladislav Rashkovski]

In no particular order, I really like:

Hurricane Gloves

Helm of the Golem Master

Twintone Flute

Hammer's Bane Torc

Boundary Chalk

So many good entries! I had a hard time choosing.

[Skaven13]

Key of Closed Doors
Withering Hourglass
Last Leaves of the Autumn Dryad
Bracelet of Shields
Ancestral Reliquary

[James F.D. Graham]

Let's see, in no particular order:

Horn of the Dark Hunt
Hurricane Gloves
Maw of Urgathoa
Spider Hook
Abyssal Spurs

Honestly, I think they are all fantastic items. The creativity that exists out there is astounding!

[Ryan Marsh]

Okay now that I have had a chance to read all of them finally. I have my top 5.

Key of Closed Doors
Maw of Urgathoa
Twintone Flute
Hurricane Gloves
Master's Perfect Golden Bell

Honourable mentions: Lordly Pavilion, Veil of Midnight Vigil, Abyssal Spurs

Many of them just made me shrug unfortunately.

[Paul Worthen]

I really like:
The Key of Closed Doors
The Last Leaves of the Autumn Dryad
Boundary Chalk
The Hurricane Gloves
and
The Withering Hourglass

[Lanfranc]

My top five:

Last Leaves of the Autumn Dryad (definite overall favourite)
Maw of Urgathoa
Dust of Weighty Burdens
The Scarlet Legionary Banner
Hurricane Gloves

[Keith Duperreault]

My Top 5 in no specific order:

Veil of the Midnight Vigil
Heart of Oblivion
Horn of the Dark Hunt
Last Leaves of the Autumn Dryad
Ancestral Reliquary

----

Heart of Oblivion & Last Leaves of the Autumn Dryad are my favorite "flavor" items. Great atmosphere.

Veil of the Midnight Vigil & Horn of the Dark Hunt are my favorite 'items with great use potential'.

Ancestral Reliquary I jusy dig...not really sure why.

[Dan Jones]

My top 5:

Maw of Urgathoa (and not just because Clark mentioned my 2008 DQed Kraken Crown in his comments!)

Hurricane Gloves

Temporal Bracers

Twintone Flute

Hammer's Bane Torc

I also liked the Heart of Oblivion, Dust of Weighty Burden, Dazzler, Horn of the Dark Hunt, and Master's Perfect Golden Bell.

[Marcus o' the Green]

My five faves, in no particular order:

Boundary Chalk (love it!)
Key of Closed Doors
Dust of Weighty Burdens
Twintone Flute
Veil of the Midnight Vigil

To me, these 5 have the uncluttered elegance of the proverbial 'basic black dress,'
plus they're each hella useful

Items that I think would be great for locales or NPCs:
Lordly Pavilion
Desna's Triptych of Threefold Wisdom

I also like Cirroc's Marvelous Crossing

but congratulations to EVERYONE

[Illessa]

In the order I see them in the list, I'd have to express my love for:
key of closed doors
lens of the runethief
veil of the midnight vigil
hurricane gloves
last leaves of the autumn dryad (this is the only one I have reservations about, but the idea and flavour are just so cool I can overlook the mechanical quirks)

Honorable mentions:
temporal bracers (attempting a time-based item in under 200 words for a competition? That's gutsy, and barring a couple of minor issues they're pretty elegant).
horn of the dark hunt
twintone flute

[Erik Anderson]

My 5 favorites are:

1. Haunted Shoes
2. Dust of Weighty Burdens
3. Lordly Pavilion
4. Helm of the Golem Master
5. Boundary Chalk

I also liked:

Spider Hook, Ethereal Tether and Ancestral Reliquary

[Ninjaiguana]

All neatly alphabetized, my winners are;

Horn of the dark hunt: Evocative, with a really cool visualisation. The duration thing is a bit iffy, but that's the only flaw in a well well-written item.

Hurricane gloves: Just pure genius. Short, neat, to the point, perfect in every way.

Key of closed doors: Slightly ambiguous to my reading, but a very cool item. While all the items are good fun, this is one of the two in the list that I think my players would want in all circumstances, regardless of class or level.

Lens of the runethief: Niche? Sure. But so very awesome. The fun you could have with one of these...

Veil of the midnight vigil: The second item in the list that I think my players would really like to have. It's useful, it's balanced, it's fun.

Just missing out on my top five, I feel the need to mention

Bracelet of shields: I really, really like the strength of the mechanics behind this item. It's elegant. I highly approve. The only reason it's out of the top five is that, while elegant, for me it's not quite got the pizzazz of my top five choices.

Last leaves of the autumn dryad: If I was rating items purely on how vivid and interesting an image they conjured up in my head, this one would be top three, alongside the horn of the dark hunt and the hurricane gloves. It's a very good item, but strong competition at the top just edges it out.

Temporal bracers: As Illessa said a few posts back, attempting a time-based item in 200 words is incredibly daring, and to have the mechanics actually *work* is extremely impressive. The reason this one isn't top five is more that the item doesn't grab me the way my top five do. Still very good work, though.

[magdalena thiriet]

Hurricane Gloves
Blightlady's Bread
Horn of the Dark Hunt
Dust of Weighty Burden
Key of Closed Doors

There were several other interesting ones, and a couple of "why is this entry selected?" ones whose potential did not quite reveal itself to me...

[Charles Evans 25]

Well if this round had been a voting round, in alphabetical order my top five would have been:

Abyssal Spurs
Boundary Chalk
Horn of the Dark Hunt
Lens of the Runethief
Temporal Bracers

I do not like what Lens of the Runethief might do to some games, but I concede that it is definitely something a character in a novel might have, or that a high level thief… err sorry, ‘rogue’… might logically commission a spellcaster to make for him/her to use during exploits, and that Eric Bailey seems to have made some effort to keep such an item ‘balanced’. I gather from another poster that the Temporal Bracers are similar in effect to a spell from epic level play, but that the Bracers do make a better attempt at balance in play than the epic level spell.

A number of other items (Helm of the Golem Master, Key of Closed Doors, Last Leaves of the Autumn Dryad, Lordly Pavilion, Shield Bracelet, Spider Hook, The Scarlet Legionary Banner) had points which caught my attention, but in the end, in the face of the competition, failed to make my top five. The School of Eyes gets an honourable mention for outright weirdest item, although in the absence of more detailed information on the inhabitants of the city of Kaer Maga, I’m not sure certain that anyone who had used the item would ‘fit’ in with Paizo’s world of Golarion, as detailed thus far, which sadly ruled it out of one of my hypothetical votes in the end.

Most of the items were good, although some were radically under-priced and/or should have been deemed ‘minor artifacts’ (or even outright artifacts) in my view, not Wondrous Items.
Best wishes to all contestants for the next round.

[Joshua Stevens]

My top five (in no particular order):

Haunted Shoes
Maw of Urgathoa
Spider Hook
School of Eyes
Dust of Weighty Burdens

I thought these were the most creative/original of the bunch and they seemed to really stick with me. I immediately wanted to use them in a game and would be stoked if my character found one of these as treasure. I think that's the mark of a truly well-crafted wondrous item. Very strong design mojo at work here, and I can't wait to see the later round submissions from these finalists.

[thunderspirit]

Frankly, with a few notable exceptions, I found the top 32 very creative and made me want to include them in my game. And that, to me, is the ultimate test -- do I want my character to find one? Would I want my villains to use one against my players?

My favorite five:
Ancestral Reliquary
Boundary Chalk
Lens of the Runethief
Maw of Urgathoa
Twintone Flute

Honorable Mention:
Hammer’s Bane Torc
Helm of the Golem Master
Horn of the Dark Hunt
Hurricane Gloves
Last Leaves of the Autumn Dryad

Loved the Idea, If Not Necessarily the Execution:
Abyssal Spurs
Blightlady's Bread
Key of Closed Doors
Spider Hook
Temporal Bracers

Kudos and good luck to all the contestants!

[Ragwaine]

Okay so this is kind of strange. The first entry I read was the Last Leaves... because I recognized the name as someone on the boards. But I didn't really like the item that much so I was dissappointed. Then I come here and practically everyone has it in their top 5. So I went back and read it again but it's still not doing anything for me. He must be on to something I'm just not getting it.

Congrats EVERYONE!

My top 5, kind of in order:

Hurricane Gloves
Haunted Shoes (hate the name but love the item)
Twin Tone Flute
Horn of the Dark Hunt
Maw of Urgautha (sp?)

Others in my top 10: Densa's Triptycth (sp?), Spellcatch Gauntlet, Spider Hook, Dread Trinket.

Can't wait to steal... uh I mean see the villains.

[Neil Spicer]

Ragwaine wrote:

Okay so this is kind of strange. The first entry I read was the Last Leaves... because I recognized the name as someone on the boards. But I didn't really like the item that much so I was dissappointed. Then I come here and practically everyone has it in their top 5. So I went back and read it again but it's still not doing anything for me. He must be on to something I'm just not getting it.

That's okay, Ragwaine. Different items appeal to different folks for different reasons. I'll just ask the Autumn Dryad to send a few fey minions to charm you into acceptance. How's that? ;-)

--Neil

[Ragwaine]

Speak of the devil (or are a demon?). I'm sure someone's got a anti-fae item posted on the "didn't get in" thread that I can use to protect myself.

How's the villain coming? I "almost" feel sorry for you guys having to meet these tight deadlines. It's just the inherent slacker in me. I wanted to be a rockstar too but touring sounded like a lot of work so I became a computer programmer.

Good luck!

[Neil Spicer]

Ragwaine wrote:

Speak of the devil (or are a demon?).

Why, I'll have you know I'm a celestial. I won't say whether I've fallen or not though... ;-)

Ragwaine wrote:

I'm sure someone's got a anti-fae item posted on the "didn't get in" thread that I can use to protect myself.

If it's on the "didn't get in" thread, are you really sure you want to trust it to protect you? It's probably broken... :-D

Ragwaine wrote:

How's the villain coming? I "almost" feel sorry for you guys having to meet these tight deadlines. It's just the inherent slacker in me. I wanted to be a rockstar too but touring sounded like a lot of work so I became a computer programmer.

I've done three drafts of it so far. But I keep tweaking it here and there. I'll probably use tomorrow for one last run-through and then submit it.

Ragwaine wrote:

Good luck!

Thanks! And don't mind the fey chanting in the background. After they finish hypnotizing you, you won't remember this conversation. But at least you'll be compelled to vote for my villain. So, silver lining... ;-)

--Neil

[Trevor Gulliver]

Ragwaine wrote:

Okay so this is kind of strange. The first entry I read was the Last Leaves... because I recognized the name as someone on the boards. But I didn't really like the item that much so I was dissappointed. Then I come here and practically everyone has it in their top 5. So I went back and read it again but it's still not doing anything for me. He must be on to something I'm just not getting it.

Last Leaves is definitely in my top five. I'll have to look at them all again but I'd say it is my favourite so far.

[Matt Banach]

In no particular order, and with great applause for the entire field.

Veil of the Midnight Vigil
Last Leaves of the Autumn Dryad
Maw of Urgathoa
Twintone Flute
Hurricane Gloves

[Ragwaine]

Ragwaine wrote:

How's the villain coming?

NSpicer wrote:

I've done three drafts of it so far.

Hey Neil I think it's only fair that since I dissed your item, you are cordially invited to go over to the "didn't make it" thread and tear my "Death Mask" apart. Of course don't feel obligated, I know you big fancy, shmancy RPG designers are always really busy...

[Eric Morton]

Now that I'm done sizing up the competition... er, reading and commenting on other top items, I'll add my two cents.

My tentative top five, in alphabetical order:

boundary chalk
hurricane gloves
key of closed doors
lens of the runethief
twintone flute

And there are easily a half-dozen or so other entries that are a quick rewrite away from stealing one of my top five slots.

I'll be honest, there were also a few entries that made me want to see what the alternates had to offer. But more people than my humble self have vouched for each of us, and I'm honored to be competing alongside each and every one of the other finalists. I expect some stiff competition in the next round, and I'm not ruling anyone out.

[Neil Spicer]

Ragwaine wrote:

Hey Neil I think it's only fair that since I dissed your item, you are cordially invited to go over to the "didn't make it" thread and tear my "Death Mask" apart. Of course don't feel obligated, I know you big fancy, shmancy RPG designers are always really busy...

After I put the finishing touches on my villain and submit it, I foresee a period of great anxiety and worry. So anything to take my mind off the stress is welcome. If I can find your Death Mask in the appropriate thread, I'll try and give you some feedback on it.

--Neil

[Winterwalker]

So far only the Hurricane gloves, Horn of the Dark Hunt, and Spell-Catch Gauntlet's spark my interest.

[Craig Johnston]

Now that I've had a chance to read all of the entries, here are my Top 5.

My absolute Favourite is the Haunted Shoes!
Congratulation Elizabeth. I am itching to use these.

Other 5 in no particular order are:
Horn of the Dark Hunt
Hurricane Gloves
Veil of the Midnight Vigil
Bracelet of Shields

Honourable Mention:
Spider Hook
Abyssal Spurs
Desna's Triptych of Threefold Wisdom
Twintone Flute
Last Leaves of the Autumn Dryad
Helm of the Golem Master

Good Luck everyone. :D

[The_Minstrel_Wyrm]

Well here are my top 5 favorite items:

Desna's Triptych of Threefold Wisdom (this is my favorite)
The rest are in no particular order;
Master's Perfect Golden Bell
Dust of Weighty Burdens
Last Leaves of the Autumn Dryad
Horn of the Dark Hunt

Good luck everyone!