156) Potion Bladder Pill
The Good: It is annoying to have to waste a round consuming a potion so I see the utility.
The Bad: The mechanic that prevents consumption of a second pill was superfluous.
The Ugly: It is already niche but hey lets eliminate part of the niche by specifying no elixirs or extracts.
Overall: 2 stars- lower middling for me. The concept in and of itself has the flaw of making adventuring easy (everyone takes them before entering a dungeon gaining critical potions at the exact right time. This is compounded by ever complicating it and frankly these make me think of smugglers swallowing heroin filled condoms.
I didn't forget the rest of you...
157) Handkerchief of safe return
The Good: You clearly had a story in mind when you wrote the item, and thought of a function that soles an game based issue.
The Bad: name lacks imagination, Parmore's Favor... something.
The Ugly: Don't give backstory in an item, paizo does it for AP specific items but not for general wondrous items. It's also not exactly a superstar concept, being good at running away rarely is.
Overall: 2 stars: this is lower middling for me. Useful burnable item but expensive and I'm more likely to use that gold for something I can use again and again.
158) Summoner’s Skirl
The Good: Great name and description. The basic premise of an instrument that dismisses or staggers summoned creatures is actually a very good one.
The Bad: covered in runes drink!
The Ugly: If you could no longer use your demon bone flute for the day fine, consumes the item! Noooooooo. 27k for what could end up a 1 use item is not ok.
Overall: 4.5 stars- this was a superstar item with a fatal execution flaw... Get a good group of writers to workshop with and let them save you from near misses like that in the future.
159) Trox Carapace
The Good: Fantastic attention getting name. Avoided turning it into armor and I like the size larger mechanic.
The Bad: Wow what did you call my mom? (I'm making an offensive runes joke here...)
The Ugly: Too many powers and the extra hand thing feels out of place. Sloppy last sentence, remember each sentence should contain an idea that makes sense on its own. I should be able to read your description from bottom sentence to top and still understand what your item does.
Overall: 3 stars- quite middling. Great name and you had me going for a couple sentences, then the execution got muddled in the minutia of complex overindulgent mechanics.