I have kept my powder dry on Gregor's Tome of Focus because I assume Jeff knew what he wanted in a remembrance token, and out of sensitivity for the feelings of Jeff and his family.
- Ray's Ring of Remembrance is unique and powerful.
- Stu's +3 is arguably the best UR weapon period, ignoring transmute path equity.
Frankly I cringe to see all the discussion on this, some of which is very critical. I wish we could have patted Jeff on the shoulder and said: "Nice one!" about this token and saved the acrimony for something else.
That being said, there are some things I have seen discussed here that I want to address:
1. If True Dungeon wishes to provide accommodation to be more inclusive to people of different capabilities, trying to address that on an ultra rare token, or in any way commercializing that accommodation is absolutely not the right way to go about it.
Based on all my interactions with Jeff and TD, I think there is a reasonable chance that such accommodations are already in place - I haven't had occasion to ask.
By all means: create policies for those who have difficulty with coordination, memory, or any other issue that impairs their participation of the game and can be accommodated.
These policies should not require any sort of token to use.
So, wherever we all come down on Auto-pass skill checks, if there is an inclusion element in consideration, it would be much better to just allow whatever the inclusion fix is for the appropriate people free of charge and without restriction.
If there is a reason why a TD player, who we should value as a sibling in arms, needs to skip skill checks, or slides, they shouldn't have to acquire tokens to play (IMO).
2. I believe the concerns over slotless power creep are very chicken little.
True Dungeon is heading into its 17th year. There are exactly 2 melee boosting slotless token that is not consumable: Rod of Seven Parts, and Rod of Seven Parts Segment 5. They can not both be used at the same time.
Gregor's Tome of Focus is the second slotless spell booster that effects the party card. The first was Druid's Mistletoe - which hasn't brought about the power creep apocalypse yet. (Carter's Tome is Slotless, +2 Staff of Power is effectively slotless, and both provide the benefit of one or a few consumable scrolls each adventure - thus are not power creep in any meaningful way).
Let me list you all the slots that have melee boosters in them... No, that would take too long, instead let me list you all the slots that do not have melee boosters in them: Earcuff, Back. (And Back has Rogue Sneak Attack boosters, and Gnomish Fizzy Lifting Pack is a melee enabler)
I agree that we don't want Slotless power creep to get away out of control, and it certainly could someday, but worrying about +1/2 focus in a slotless token when there are STR or Melee boosters in literally every single slot other than Earcuff and Back, and the STR cap is going up by 6 this year while giving +3 melee damage to one-handed weapons is picking out drapes while the house is on fire.
Melee players have been enjoying a slotless +1 to STR since 2012. Druids have been enjoying Mistletoe since 2009. Let Clerics and Wizards in on the fun. I'll join you in the next fight against slotless offense power creep, but having 1 ability boosting slotless token per class is not OP
3. Bards don't have any spell skill checks, so taking away the focus element of this token makes it useless to Bards.
4. I liked the first version of this token. If it has to change again I'd take it back to where it was:
Auto succeed at skill checks and +1 focus and +1 to polymorph damage, Cleric, Druid, and Wizard.
