Actually, I think the concept they are going with is that the second amulet is attached to the helmet and lays in front of your forehead or perhaps laid in the crown periphery.  Not as a second literal neck.

Seems like very sound logic. Even though perhaps not a ton of players will have all the fantastic neck items, it does seem to be a bit overpowered and has the potential to create more problems down the road.

Well said.

Even though I'm token rich, unless I am running without my group, none of us will be able to put two super amulets together.  Well, I guess we could but right now they are spread out so that most (7 out of 8) players have one of the top three amulets.

As far as AC bonuses with the crown, it does come with a cost:
Six characters have access to +2AC (plus some special) helms; so they can replace that with a Barkskin amulet AND sit there for one round doing nothing!  Would you give up a round of combat for +1AC?  Not me!  For the other four, both the Wizard and the Druid have an item which can't be used (Circlet of Elementary Mastery and Coronet of the Arch-Druid), remember no switching of headgear with this crown.  Admittedly, these items have specific uses, but my wizard currently runs with the CoEM equipped.  That leaves the Bard, the Rogue, and the Monk.  The Bard can gain +1AC (Torc) or +2AC with the 1 round penalty.  Not really a big deal.  As for the Monk, give him even more, until he gets out of the bottom of used characters, nothing is too good for him LOL!!!  Arguably, the rogue makes out the best (in terms of AC), his only cost is the crown of might (+1/+1).

It all comes down to choices; do we have more or less choices to make with the crown?

The Oakskin Amulet was revised to remove the one-round penalty, and instead grant +3 AC and -2? to Reflex saves.

HoP is not powerful, it is just a hassle, both for the distribution of treasure tokens and for giving out extra prize tokens.  Using it actually makes you weaker, you are giving up a useful effect in the dungeon for more treasure.

AoW can be powerful, but that is up to Jeff.

Torc of Natural armor is +2 AC.  Most helms are +1 AC and a special effect.  Dragonscale Helm is +2 AC and a special effect.

The +3 amulet (name in flux) also includes a negative side effect.  Either loosing an attack, or -2 reflex (a decent hit on the most commonly used save).

Medallion of Greyhawk...  No real counter here, except that +2 isn't what it used to be.  Still carries a bunch of immunities.  Maybe not as common?

Dragontooth Amulet...  Half damage from spells and effects that exactly mimic spells is pretty good.  But hardly game breaking.

Oops, before I posted I looked at the current pictures, they still have the old version of the Oakskin; now that you mention it, I do remember the proposed changed.  However, as a few other mentioned, this is more of a problem with the Oakskin amulet than the crown.

Fair enough, I did get that, I just explained my point poorly. The Hand of Glory allows for an extra ring 'cause it's an actual hand and the rule of thumb (heh) is one ring per hand. So it is consistent with the established rules.

Characters only have one neck, so you'd need something that provides another "neck" slot; to be consistent with the precedent already established by the "one hand, one ring" rule.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that any piece of equipment could be created to hold another, smaller piece of equipment (in this case, jewelery). This crown could have been bracers, or boots, or even a belt. You could make a wand or staff that allows the user to equip an extra ring (just slip it on the staff), but is that consistent with the established rules (i.e. the spirit of D&D)? I don't think so, but that's just my opinion.

Allowing this crown to be minted opens the door to all kinds of "items that contain other items" and I'm not sure that's a good thing.

Incognito brings up a lot of well thought out good points.  I'm not sure that I agree with the conclusions though.  I will start with the conclusions I definitely agree with:

#3 (Amulet choices are strong):  AoW, HoP, Medallion of Greyhawk, Dragontooth Amulet are the most powerful (or at least most used).  These four items are the amulets that need the most consideration.

#6 (AoW becomes Weaker):  The AoW is the biggest problem to Tulz's Crown, hands down.  Because it does not have a set ability, Jeff can keep its abilities weaker than they have been in the past.  This may need to be done if the Crown is printed.

#7 (Future Amulets Will Be Weaker):  This will have to be a truism if game balance is to be protected.  There have been stronger and stronger amulets printed for 4 years now.  They were made to compete with the HoP.  If players can use 2 amulets instead, they need to be made to work in conjunction with AoW, HoP, Dragontooth Necklace, Medallion of Greyhawk and others.

The following conclusions from Incognito are a bit more subjective.

#1 (Giving up the head slot is not a big sacrifice):  Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, and Wizard all give up a substantial headpiece, assuming the player has them.
Mithral Helm is probably going to be the most powerful helm this coming year.  Any character that can use this will have a tough choice if they have both available.

Dragonscale Helm is at best a wash vs. the Tulz Crown.  Its +2 AC is equivalent to the Torc of Natural Armor.  The wearer of the crown will lose out on the -1 Fire Damage (before the set bonus).  Tulz crown seems inferior unless the person using it is looking for something other than AC.

Circlet of Elemental Mastery:  I have found this as a must have the past two years as a Wizard.  I think it is a very under-rated piece of equipment.  With 4th and 5th level Wizards showing up this year, it will be even more powerful.

Crown of Might:  A viable option for melee characters before set bonus.  Equal to Necklace of the Oak (unless the player has a Mighty Bow), and that is before set bonus.

#2 (Set Bonuses aren't a significant problem):  This greatly depends on the dungeon at hand.  I don't think the Dragonscale set will be significant this year, but both Mithral and Might may be.  Outputting as much damage as quickly as possible is important on the tough monsters:  (IE dragon, beholder, troll-mage, mind flayer to name a few), and it is even more important on Nightmare.  The Lich this year (and Draco-Lich next year) will both be big bags of Hit Points. The Mithral's full set bonus will be important this year, Dragonscale will be next year, and if Might is done correctly, it will be important every year.

I strongly disagree with Incognito's following assertions:

#4 (Significant AC Creep Occurs):  I don't think most people will use both the Oakskin Amulet and Torc of Natural Armor.  I do realize it is a possibility.  The 00 draw in a casual player probably will not have both amulets to wear.  The heavy token buyer will use 1 of the 4 power amulets listed above (HoP, AoW, MoG, DtA).  AC is gaining at least a +3 this year regardless of this amulet.  I don't think that allowing the use of both will make a huge difference, mainly because most people will choose to use other amulets instead.

#5 (All Current Amulets Become Stronger):  Amulets powers remain unchanged, so no actual power gain happens.  They may become a bit more sought after, but the effects are constant.

#8 (Power Creep Occurs in other Slots):  I don't see why power creep will occur in other slots because Tulz's Crown is printed.  I am sure that because this crown is printed, we won't see a +12 AC armor for example.  If anything, it allows diversification of other slots (particularly Rings, Bracers and Head slot).


I don't think that Tulz's Crown will be as bad as people think.  It will allow more diversity in the Head slot, and possibly others.  Furthermore, I think it will be instituted that if either AoW or HoP is worn, the Tulz Crown must stay on, making it harder to choose.  I think Tulz's Crown is a good idea, and should be printed.  My biggest concern is the impact on AoW. 

While I don't really have issue with the crown, there is a lack of great head gear.  Darkangel, what is this Mithral Helm you make reference to???  The Mithral cap is just +1 AC, not going to be great this year.

And Immune to Undead mind control (which either a Lich or Draco-lich could have), and a totally, completely useless five item set bonus.  But still, the immunity is nice.

Mithral Cap.  Immunity to Undead Mind Control.  Against a Lich this could be key.

this should never happen.  EVER!  this is equivalent to saying "well, this crown makes amulets too accessible, so the HoP will no longer get you 2 extra draws per stamp, it will only get you one extra."  hell no.  MTG learned years ago that when a card is causing problems in the play environment, no matter how popular and cool that card is, you do not try to ban all the other cards that combo with it to make it too powerful, you just ban that one card (ie. the source of the problem).

besides, you already had the issue of at least one person being able to wear both HoP and AoW (widseth's artifact or wish rings)...and now more than one every year.  yes, i turned in my AoW to make my artifact, and it's power level very likely already took a big hit when jeff announced the 'no double HoP' (even after that possibility was a selling point of the power he suggested), but im okay with that since the double-HoP was never my favorite part/motivation for liking the AoW.

also, it was already established that the double-HoP does not stack with the HoP, and the fact that the ability directly references the HoP means that there is no disparity (same title = does not stack).

i honestly dont think this crown is too powerful.  in fact, i have no interest in getting one...there are too many better URs to get this year (even if i still had to use my neck slot for my AoW effect).

the ONLY concern i have about the amulet crown is that people will argue to make future crowns more powerful 'to compete with the amulet crown' and obsolete all head gear that came before now.  so, if you need to 'balance' the amulet crown with a drawback (more than already requiring an extra UR just to get an effect), feel free to do so, but please realize that the AoW is not the problem and does not need to be nerfed.