Verdant Crown of Oak and Iron

[Scott Fernandez]

Verdant Crown of Oak and Iron
Aura moderate transmutation; CL 11th
Slot head; Price 58,800 gp; Weight 1 lb.

Description
Fashioned of living branches this crown bears four oak leaves wrought from cold iron. The crown grants a +2 enhancement bonus to natural armor to the wearer’s animal companion, eidolon, familiar, mount, and conjured minions from summon nature’s ally spells within 60 feet and treats all their natural attacks as cold iron for overcoming damage reduction. The wearer also gains the constant ability to speak with animals.
Each cold iron oak leaf acts as a feather token (tree) when removed from the crown by the wearer as a move action. These tokens remain magical until the next dawn when new leaves regrow upon the crown. As a full round action the wearer can touch any oak tree created by the crown’s leaves, which have distinctive iron gray bark, and command it to animate as a treant under their control until dawn. Using this power drains magic from the crown causing one less oak leaf to regrow. The crown withers and dies the dawn after the fourth leaf has been used, losing its magical properties.

Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, barkskin, liveoak, magic fang, plant growth, speak with animals; Cost 29,400 gp

[Clark Peterson]

There is a ton of win right here. Nice work. Playing with mounts/companions/eidolons is a real fun place to play. Add in treants and this thing gets crazy cool. Just like in the end American Idol is a singing competition, this is an item competition and I think lots of PCs would want this on their character sheet. Really good work.

[Wolfgang Baur]

A familiar/companion animal item! This is very cool, and I can see a lot of players liking this.

Animating the feather token oaks as 4 treants is also extremely cool (not to mention useful).

I'm a fan of this item, definitely. Strong keeper.

[Sean K Reynolds]

There's a lot of cool flavor here. Writing needs a little work to make it stronger.

Because cold iron is anti-magic, we try to avoid spells and magic items that grant cold iron abilities to weapons (it's an oxymoron to do so). I'd probably remove that in development.

[Tom Phillips]

The Vrock is back, kids! :-)

First of all, congratulations on making it back to the Top 32! That in itself is a major accomplishment and it’s something you should take great pride in. You rock ... err vrock!

I love this item’s name. “Verdant Crown” and "Oak and Iron" both sound awesome to me and really set the stage for the item thematically. The item's diverse (and very cool!) powers all tie together very nicely. I really like that you can transform the oak leaves into treants, but 29,400 gp is probably a little cheap to gain four treant allies for 24 hours at one time (unless I'm reading this wrong). I’d probably limit that ability to one treant per day. Still, this is a superior item and brings the mojo.

[Mike Welham]

Welcome back to the Top 32, Scott!

This is another great druid-themed item that any character can use. I approve! I really like the tight theming of this, and you introduce a number of cool powers in a succinct manner. Up until I read Sean's comments, I thought bypassing DR as cold iron was a nice "anti-fey" touch.

Great work, and you're an RPG Superstar veteran, so I look forward to seeing your archetype. Best of luck to you in the contest!

[Steve Miller]

Though a bit of a Swiss Army Knife (SAK), it has a good theme. Each power by itself is satisfactory; as a whole, it’s a good item.

[Jacob Trier]

Great to see you back, Scott. I'm a big fan of your previous work and the crown made it into my personal keep folder.

Keep Vrocking!

[Orthos]

I remember seeing this one several times and voting for it nearly every one of them. I actually thought the cold iron was one of the cooler parts of it, myself.

[John Bennett]

Congrats, Scott! Definitely a cool item!

[Thomas LeBlanc]

Congrats Scott, this was one of my favorites!

[P33J]

I should have taken a moment to reread the Druid rules before I voted against your item in the open voting. I would have corrected my errant belief that Druids can't wear items made of metal and realized that it is only steel armor and shields.

That said, I thought it was really cool the first time I saw it, I just dinked it because of my own ignorance of the rules.

Best of luck

[Drejk]

I like this item and I am glad it made into the 32.

[Scott Fernandez]

Thanks everyone, I'm excited to be back in the competition again.

I do realize cold iron is usually an anti-magical special material but when I envisioned this item I saw the elves of Kyonin using it against the demonic and evil fey minions of Treerazer. I also saw it as a useful way to reforest devastated areas with trees that would be a visual border or boundary to the demons. Perhaps the tree's iron gray bark would protect them from being despoiled again?

[Kiel Howell]

Congrats!!

What can I say that hasn't been said? This is cool and I had it in my keep folder. Well done all around.

[agirlnamedbob]

Congrats on making it to the Top 32!

I'll be honest, though I did vote for this item more times than not, it wasn't my favorite. It's a neat item and it has a lot of the polish that so many items were lacking, but I just don't typically play the type of character who would use this sort of thing, so I think that's why I was less "Wow'd" by it. Something about it felt a little disjointed, but again, I'm going to chalk that up to the fact that I'm not the target audience.

Regardless, it definitely was a good item and I look forward to seeing what you submit next round.

[James Conder]

Another one of my favourites and not at all surprised to see it in the Top 32. It would be oh so tempting to animate all four treants at once for the sheer awesomeness.

[James Olchak]

Too many functions, which is a shame, I think, because it has some quality stuff here.
I like pretty much everything up to the words speak with animals, although i agree that magic shouldn't grant cold iron-based abilities. The last Ironwood Treant will never be activated, because a player would never destroy such a powerful item for a day's service from a Treant, so that's a restriction that may as well go away.

[R D Ramsey]

I usually voted against this item. I thought the bonus to the companions seemed too minor and lacking in "wow" factor. At the same time, I thought the treant army function was too much.

Having said that, I like the name and the imagery.

[Xaaon of Xen'Drik]

Congratulations on Top 32. This is one of the better of the Top32, and I look forward to seeing your archetype.

[Fern Herold]

Another repeat contestant! Welcome back! This item easily wins my "best name of the competition" award.

Congratulations, and I'll see you in the archetype round.

[Steven Helt]

Good name and I notice it in several peoples'top 5 of round one. Congratulations and good luck!

[Jerall Toi]

The Vrock is back! Congratulations Scott.

[Gorbacz]

Vrock my world! You go vrock the base! Bonus points for being able to resist the lure of including your trademark vrock signatures in the item entry :)

[Herremann the Wise]

I too loved this item and in terms of name, I thought it the standout of the top 32. Best of luck in the coming rounds.

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

[Iain Reid]

James Olchak wrote:

Too many functions, which is a shame, I think, because it has some quality stuff here.

I like pretty much everything up to the words speak with animals, although i agree that magic shouldn't grant cold iron-based abilities. The last Ironwood Treant will never be activated, because a player would never destroy such a powerful item for a day's service from a Treant, so that's a restriction that may as well go away.

+1 to all of James' comments.

I also think it's overpriced. How many times (in-game) have you bought or crafted an item for 60K? I'll bet never. You could be crafting a lot of other stuff for that price, so a huge price tag has to be justified, and not just by lots of SAK functions.

[Correlon]

I remember thinking "wow" about this item during voting, and I am not surprised that it made it. The name and effects are cool and thematic, and I could easily envision having this in my campaign, although I would definitely include a duration for the leaves.

It seems this competition has a real thing for mysterious fey-themed stuff :-)

[Iain Reid]

An an aside, a large oak tree probably is about 50gp worth of wood (going by the prices of metal, etc in the DMG). That means item this can generate circa 70'000gp worth of wood per year if just used as a lumber farm. In a Kingmaker game (or similar long campaign) that is a serious money machine.

Having items generate 'gold' (ie, a sell-able commodity) is generally a bad idea.

[Scott Fernandez]

Gorbacz wrote:

Vrock my world! You go vrock the base! Bonus points for being able to resist the lure of including your trademark vrock signatures in the item entry :)

Seeing the Wings of the Vrock in the voting round I chuckled thinking people might think that was my item. I do love playing up my shtick, but that would be a little on the nose.

--John Hanvrock

[frank gori]

The Good: Touches on animal companions and hits nature themes which win points by me. Like the feather token bit as well.

The Bad: Slightly concerned about balance but pricing seems right.

The Ugly: I got nothin'

Good work over all and congrats.

[Sam Polak]

I believe I said something out loud when I saw this one while voting.

To make a long story short, once upon a time I played a bard who carried a stash of tree tokens so he'd always have something to hide behind. While the tree token generation is not the most impressive power of this item, I've learned not to underestimate the tactical value of an unexpected oak.

[Sean McGowan]

Welcome back Johnny Vrocket!
I've already gushed at you off the paizo boards about how happy I was to find that you were behind one of my regularly-upvoted items, but I'll happily do it again.
(For the record, saw the crown 10 times total during the voting, which was more than any other item in my 'keep' folder and only ne or two behind the two items I saw more. Upvoted it 9 out of 10 times, which really speaks for the quality of the crown.)
Personally I like the interaction between the cold iron and the vaguely fey/naturalistic overtones of the item; it's like it was originally made by a really bipolar druid. Plus it gave it a really damn cool name.
Glad to see you back, Scott.

[RonarsCorruption]

Scott, congratulations on making it back in!

I think this item is neat, but unfortunately it's high enough in the price docket that I don't know how often it would get used. Treating bonded creatures as attacking with cold iron is absolutely cool, and the flavor is good, but it's a very expensive item, especially as a consumable.

Good luck in future rounds!

[Richard Moore]

Nice concept overall. Very much the sort of item one might receive as a boon from a good-hearted fey lord - or take from an evil one!

One thing that a good writer does is to look back at his work and determine how information should logically flow within the body of a document. Related pieces of information need to be conveyed in conjunction with one another. For example, don't mix descriptive text that should be part of your lead with rules information, as you did in paragraph 2 where you talk about the gray iron bark in the middle of the treant creation mechanics. Also, pay attention to how rules are phrased in similar items - as another example, the way you phrased the bit about the cold iron overcoming damage reduction is clunky and not quite in keeping with established style.

[Matthew Morris]

I didn't see this one, I'd have voted for it if I hadn't got burned out before it came up. That it came out after Queen of Thorns just adds to it. (Quick, someone tell Dave to add this to the Queen's hoard if we ever see her again!)

[Jeff Lee]

Scott,

Congratulations on your second time around in the Top 32! Your item is a fairly strong offering, and I actually like the passive abilities of it best. Turning summoned allies into fey-killers is an inspired idea.

I have to admit, I didn't see the possible money-making opportunities until Evil Paul mentioned them, but then if you're playing in a heavily forested area, a few extra trees aren't going to make much difference. However, bringing this item into a desert makes it a whole different ballgame.

Best of luck in the next round.

[Curaigh]

Congratulations Scott,

This item was in my keep because I was nearly lol. The treants seemed a bit over the top, but then that is the part I would want the most. I did wonder why SNA but not SummonMonster since eidolons got to share. Still strong in all points I considered.

Suggestion for R2 (& I realize this is coming too late): with twenty levels to play with, their is no too much. OK balance must be maintained, but I believe you can do that and invoke the cohesive strength of your item.

Nice job and good luck!

[Andrew Black]

I am glad to see this one made it to the top 32, I liked it from the first read and voted it every time I saw it. I particularly liked the description of who it looks, and how it's used. Good Luck with round 2.

[PlummyPress]

You know Pirhannus wants one.

[Sam Harris]

Congratulations on making the cut a second time! I love the flavor and design of this item. It's got a lot going on, and it all fits together really nicely. Well done, and I'm looking forward to seeing your archetype!

[Scott Fernandez]

PlummyPress wrote:

You know Pirhannus wants one.

Jess if you're planning on bringing him back for Skull & Shackles I may just drop this in a later module!

--Vrock the Boat

[Pedro Coelho]

Scott,

Well done on making Top 32 (again!). I think I only saw your item once or twice, and I honestly don't remember whether I voted for it or not. I have mixed feelings about it: I think it's a cool item, in a way, but there are some choices that don't appeal to my personal taste - like opening up the item for all classes with "pets" and the connection with the feather tokens (probably because of the many items that did things to other items). However, I really liked how you built on the feather token idea by animating the trees. But hey, you are the veteran here, so I'm sure you know what you are doing! Congratulations again. ;)

[graywulfe]

Congrats and I want this item for my PFS druid... :)

[Joel Flank]

Loved this item. It has a nice mix of abilities that make it useful both passively, and actively, and a built in self-destruct when using the most powerful ability of animating a treant, which allows you to put big powerful effects like that in an item without making them exhorbitantly expensive.

Way to repeat as well.

[Daniel Rust]

Congratulations Scott on making it to the Top 32 again!

It's the second paragraph that does it for me. The first paragraph is just a bunch of abilities that don't really stand out for me. Why would it grant a bonus to an eidolon's armour class? It's not bad by any means, it's just not doing a lot for me up to that point.

The leaves though, are superstar. They capture the conflict inherent in the druid class. Using, yet preserving, nature's resources should be a constant struggle for every druid (where do they get those wooden shields from). The daily harvest of the tree tokens is a joyous moment for the druid, yet whenever she uses the power of the crown to protect the natural world, it is diminished and will never return to its former state.

That's beautiful man...

[Jon Haire]

I voted for this item a lot. I think it is a great item for any character who lives in the wilderness. I think the abilities flow together nicely and the tightness of the theme gives this item mojo.

[Ask a Succubus]

Scott Fernandez wrote:

Verdant Crown of Oak and Iron

Aura moderate transmutation; CL 11th
Slot head; Price 58,800 gp; Weight 1 lb.

Description
Fashioned of living branches this crown bears four oak leaves wrought from cold iron. The crown grants a +2 enhancement bonus to natural armor to the wearer’s animal companion, eidolon, familiar, mount, and conjured minions from summon nature’s ally spells within 60 feet and treats all their natural attacks as cold iron for overcoming damage reduction. The wearer also gains the constant ability to speak with animals.
Each cold iron oak leaf acts as a feather token (tree) when removed from the crown by the wearer as a move action. These tokens remain magical until the next dawn when new leaves regrow upon the crown. As a full round action the wearer can touch any oak tree created by the crown’s leaves, which have distinctive iron gray bark, and command it to animate as a treant under their control until dawn. Using this power drains magic from the crown causing one less oak leaf to regrow. The crown withers and dies the dawn after the fourth leaf has been used, losing its magical properties.

Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, barkskin, liveoak, magic fang, plant growth, speak with animals; Cost 29,400 gp

Disclaimer: This post constitutes the viewpoint of a CE inclined succubus, and thus should be treated With All Due Seriousness. Great attention has been paid to the concepts Balance, Fairness, and Logic, or at least the Abyssal versions of these concepts (which is what matters, after all – who really gives a damn about the mortal versions)?

Further Disclaimer: Ask A RPGSupersuccubus has a scribe with higher priorities and not much spare time on his hands this year, therefore will be playing blatant favourites and picking a few contestants whose items to review. If they make it into the last round they might see another review then.

Is the item pretty?
'Living Branches' means moss and things even less salubrious (such as lichen, and possibly beetles) so unless you're in nature-loving company, probably not. And to be frank, throwing cold iron oak leaves into the mix is probably going to annoy a lot of nature-lovers.

Does this item break easily if thrown at an annoying minion?
Oh, I do hope so. Although apparently pulling off all four of the dubious magic oak-leafs at once or animating a tree (causing the loss of the 'fourth') is enough to exhaust its magic, too.

Would this item make a suitably embarrassing ‘gift’ if given away to a [female] paladin of Iomedae?
Sadly, no. She'd look silly in it (although possibly no more silly than usual) and the whole 'riding horsey hurts things as if its hooves and bite were tasteless iron' thing would probably quite appeal to her.

Other Comments?
I can't believe I dragged my scribe away from other things to review an item like this. Still, it's probably better than whatever the moustache-twirling baatezu cooked up. It's tempting to give this a big fat 'no points', but that wouldn't leave a lower score to give the baatezu without going into negative numbers, so 'one point' instead.

Note:
See the Disclaimers, if you missed them. They really do mention Quite Important Stuff.

[Ask A RPGSupersuccubus]

Ask A Succubus wrote:

...review of Verdant Crown of Oak and Iron...

Oi! That should have been one of my reviews.

(Mutters darkly. Crosses 'Ask a Succubus' off guest-list for next dinner party.)
(edit)
Oh yes, and having seen some of the other items (and to spite Ask a Succubus) this item rates three points out of ten from Ask A RPGSupersuccubus...