TOPIC: Personal Top 3 Tokens?

Mike Steele wrote: Matthew, fun topic! I imagine I could give numerous different answers to this. Let's see:

Horn of Plenty: I had 10 of these long before the Charm of Avarice, and really enjoyed using them for our group. My favorite moment was when our Coach asked to look at them, saying "I believe you have them, I just want to see 10 Horns of Plenty in one place".

SeyLah's Shimmering Cestus Artisan Token: This was a gift from one of my best friends at a True Dungeon party my friends threw for me (my Avatar is the cake from that party), and another friend gave it to him to give to me, so it is doubly priceless.

Amulet of Wonder signed Proof Token: I got this as a prize from Jeff for coming up with the Amulet of Wonder idea. This is back when Jeff offered a Proof Token for the best token suggestion during the design process - I think he hadn't yet realized that the community would gladly give endless suggestions when asked (and even when not asked).

Wow - cool stuff! Nice job on AoW - now that there are so many charms and the charm of glory, I’m pretty much always putting in Ring of Wonder just for variety even though it’s usually not the optimal thing to do.

Fred K wrote: Ring of dark health - i started in TD trying a couple runs per year but didn’t seriously start building much of a character until 2017. This ring was part of my early rogue builds. I love how it still makes appearances even today.

+2 assassin’s crossbow - crits are fun. When the legendary rogue amulet came out, I picked one of these up for $200. It is the most fun weapon I’ve used in TD. In person, I can slide a rogue crit about 70% of the time. Going from 60-70 damage to *boom* 200+ on a single attack is i pressive.

Tankard mug of celebration - the whole group yelling Who-Haa! Shouting after a 20 is rolled is just right for d&d.

I love Ring of Dark Health - for a few years in design I proposed a “Ring of Vampiric Regeneration” that was similar based on an item in an old text based UNIX rogue like game - so I was excited to see it come to reality. I also like the theme that clerics and paladins can’t use it.

I think build defining tokens like +2 assassins crossbow or widesth’s mystical lute are great too!

#1 - 50 gp Traveler's Cup. It lets you make beer in a dungeon.

#2 - Benrow's Elder Drake Necklace. The first token I put the time and effort into transmuting. Was a useful tool to learn about auctions.

#3 - Enchanter's Whetstone. Really allows you to punch up for cheap. Only downside is that it made it hard to upgrade past rare weapons. Basically needed to go to Legendary weapons to stop using it.

Matthew Hayward wrote: I wonder - do you ever use Dragon Tooth Amulet? I think that might low key be one of the most powerful tokens in the right setting - but it’s hard to know if a monster effect is a spell, or just spell-like.

Didn't make any effort to get one. If I had one, it would be hard to run. Not because of neck competition as I'd only run it after I knew the dungeon and I've run Greyhawk before. The problem is that 50% failure chance on things (either way) wastes time. If I was in a full person party, wouldn't get attacked enough. In a DD or solo or whatever, have to resolve it too many times.

What's nice about immunities is that they don't take more time and can save time. If everyone is immune to ... oh, I don't know ... petrification, then skip a step every round.

I do have a Periapt of Proof Against Poison, which I put into a build ... once. I don't think it did anything, though maybe I made the build and didn't play it. That's some serious neck jank for when want to give up +6-7 in attributes or whatever.

Matthew Hayward wrote:

Cary Kelly wrote: My personal faves -

1- Bowl of Spirit Sight - after finally getting lucky to score a ticket in 2 straight years - a friend and I decided it was a permanent thing and split a $250 order (felt like such a huge investment back then). We chose an Amulet of Wonder as our PYP - and would draft the tokens we wanted. In the 30th pack we opened there was a Bowl of Spirit Sight. My buddy had first pick and took the Amulet - I chose the Bowl and thus decided to start playing Druid (I was usually the healer with my friends already). While not game changing - it’s often been a lot of fun especially with pick up groups to get free clues or let a new player rogue get some treasure without feeling bad.

2- Dragonscale Armor - the first UR token I went after and paid for on its own. While I was able to get good Druid pieces from my PYP’s - Baton of Focus, Twolf’s Helm, Ring of (Greater) Focus, Shield of the Scholar - I wanted this cool +8 armor (as good as any fighter’s) with some fire resistance. I kept getting sniped on E-bay and had a self imposed limit of $100 to spend - and felt like it would be a fruitless quest. Smakdown was THE MAN at WhosYerCon that set me up with one when they were very hard to find. It felt like the final piece to make my “Nightmare Druid” a reality and I still love using this armor to this day.

3 - Rod of Persuasion. I just love this piece and its tongue in cheek nature. I love the idea of a Rogue beating someone over the head with the same crowbar they use to break into treasure chests. Originally I got it so my friends that would play Rogue could be sure to get the clue for us - and it’s a great loaner in pick up groups too. But then at TD Celebration - the first run I was on had both Cleric and Druid but surprisingly no Rogue - so I got to have the fun of breaking chests myself (my true dexterity means I’ve never successfully completed a rogue box even in training room). I’ve ended up playing a Poor Man’s Rogue more often than I would have expected over the years since then and LOVE using the Rod. (Libram of Looting is nice too - but doesn’t have the visceral fun of using the Rod).

So those would be my three sentimental favorites

Dragonscale is so great - especially for Druids when it came out.

I may be misremembering, but I think I proposed the token that originally became Rod of Persuasion, my dad had a “rod of persuasion” that was a hollow pipe you could fit over the end of a wrench or socket to give a longer lever arm on tough bolts which is where I think the name came from.

Dragonscale Shield woodie was one of my first URs, and my Druid has been using Dragonscale Armor/helm/shield ever since they came out. No matter how powerful new armor is, my Druid will stick with his Dragonscale set.

My favorites are:

1) IO's +4 Ultra Keen Slayer Bow. Playing Ranger the majority of the time. It expands my crit range and is best suited with Raphiel's.

2) Boots of the Four Winds. My first Eldritch Item. I love the boots.

3) Aron's Sunhide Robe. This is the first legendary that I crafted.

Honorable Mention: Omni Cube and Omni Orb. I do not own these yet but I will. I suggested the idea for these to Jeff in March of last year.

John Ohlinger (Salsa John)(John O) wrote: My favorites are:

1) IO's +4 Ultra Keen Slayer Bow. Playing Ranger the majority of the time. It expands my crit range and is best suited with Raphiel's.

2) Boots of the Four Winds. My first Eldritch Item. I love the boots.

3) Aron's Sunhide Robe. This is the first legendary that I crafted.

Honorable Mention: Omni Cube and Omni Orb. I do not own these yet but I will. I suggested the idea for these to Jeff in March of last year.

Three all time greats for sure - I’ve got a Ranger ranger but not an Io’s - but with the Omni tokens I think I’ll finally make one.

Grizwald wrote: #1 - 50 gp Traveler's Cup. It lets you make beer in a dungeon.

#2 - Benrow's Elder Drake Necklace. The first token I put the time and effort into transmuting. Was a useful tool to learn about auctions.

#3 - Enchanter's Whetstone. Really allows you to punch up for cheap. Only downside is that it made it hard to upgrade past rare weapons. Basically needed to go to Legendary weapons to stop using it.

Enchanters whetstone almost made my list too - especially when paired with a +1 thrown rare for ranged it’s bonkers.

#1: Linked shirt of healing. A party equipped with these, and possibly a few other + heal items (your choice of agate orb, pants of bliss walk, triton ring, key of healing, etc) let a party do difficulty runs that they would otherwise might fail due to damage. Healing is basically the most expensive thing to increase for a player so lack of available healing combined with early puzzle damage can really drag a party down. For example, a fully UR Clerics tops out at around +14 healing, but if splitting healing just linked shirts net an additional +6 healing. A Bard can even become the primary healer when soothe wounds heals 9 or more points of damage per cast.

#2 Brawler's horn. Here is a rare offhand weapon available to everyone that is basically better than any other melee offhand option if you're going to make melee attacks - this even includes legendaries. In VTD, the offhand hit penalty means even an unlimited budget Monk or Ranger might use a Brawler's horn instead of 2x Asher's just to bring up the +hit some to land that offhand attack. For heavy armor classes, it's basically not a question - outside of a Dwarf Fighter, you're unlikely to be attacked often enough for AC to matter, so bringing a shield (even Giln's legendary) generally doesn't do much for you. +2 melee hit, however, makes a difference every round of combat. As a double bonus it's even a rare weapon, so you can still use it with Enchanter's whetstone. Basically, Brawler's horn is so good, if you're going to make a melee attack, use it.

#3. There are a lot of good tokens that could slot into #3, but I think I have to go with Kilt of Dungeonbane. It's in a low competition slot and it can adapt to fit basically any build. It also is half way to the first step of the eldrich set bonus, so it sets you up for a quest to find a second piece when you're ready to net a +level, +2 damage, and +4 healing.

Honorable mentions - some things that didn't make my top 3, but are all very interesting options:
4: Iktomi's + Ring of Quick Blessing
5: FoP: Moon Dog
6: Khing's Ring
7: Shield of the Scholar
8: Enchanter's Whetstone
9: Brawler's Mug
10: Lenses of Divine Sight

Endgame wrote: #2 Brawler's horn. Here is a rare offhand weapon available to everyone that is basically better than any other melee offhand option if you're going to make melee attacks - this even includes legendaries. In VTD, the offhand hit penalty means even an unlimited budget Monk or Ranger might use a Brawler's horn instead of 2x Asher's just to bring up the +hit some to land that offhand attack. For heavy armor classes, it's basically not a question - outside of a Dwarf Fighter, you're unlikely to be attacked often enough for AC to matter, so bringing a shield (even Giln's legendary) generally doesn't do much for you. +2 melee hit, however, makes a difference every round of combat. As a double bonus it's even a rare weapon, so you can still use it with Enchanter's whetstone. Basically, Brawler's horn is so good, if you're going to make a melee attack, use it.

Brawler's Horn is great, especially for melee rogues who can't use shields anyway. But if using it requires dropping a Shield in the Redoubt family, it only nets +1 to hit (assuming 2 other Redoubt items are equipped). And reduces damage by 1 and HP by 5. Just something to keep in mind.

BeLinda Mathie wrote:

Endgame wrote: #2 Brawler's horn. Here is a rare offhand weapon available to everyone that is basically better than any other melee offhand option if you're going to make melee attacks - this even includes legendaries. In VTD, the offhand hit penalty means even an unlimited budget Monk or Ranger might use a Brawler's horn instead of 2x Asher's just to bring up the +hit some to land that offhand attack. For heavy armor classes, it's basically not a question - outside of a Dwarf Fighter, you're unlikely to be attacked often enough for AC to matter, so bringing a shield (even Giln's legendary) generally doesn't do much for you. +2 melee hit, however, makes a difference every round of combat. As a double bonus it's even a rare weapon, so you can still use it with Enchanter's whetstone. Basically, Brawler's horn is so good, if you're going to make a melee attack, use it.

Brawler's Horn is great, especially for melee rogues who can't use shields anyway. But if using it requires dropping a Shield in the Redoubt family, it only nets +1 to hit (assuming 2 other Redoubt items are equipped). And reduces damage by 1 and HP by 5. Just something to keep in mind.

Use a sling or thrown weapon (+1 hurled insults or +1 shuriken w/ drakes are my favs) in ranged main hand and blessed redoubt in ranged offhand. You'll complete the Redoubt set bonus and still get the benefits of the brawIer's horn - the AC is no real loss. I believe I first learned about this trick from Trentus the Barbarian ( truedungeon.com/forum?view=topic&catid=561&id=250857 ) and have been using it ever since.

Edit - alternative to the redoubt set for nearly any class,
you can use:
Head: Crown of Might
Torso: Lucky Armor / Mail
Melee Offhand: Brawler's horn
Ranged Offhand: Lucky Shield

This gives you the same +3 hit and +1 damage and +5 hp you'd get from redoubt set, and you'll also gain +2 all saves at the cost of AC. The AC loss could be meaningful for a Dwarf Fighter that isn't using ret, but generally speaking it's a better setup all around.

Favorites I don't think I've seen mentioned yet:

#1 Charm of Spell Swapping. I love versatility; this one token gets a Cleric more healing, a Wiz/Elf more damage spells in place of un-needed utility spells (or swap slide spells for auto-hit depending on preference), and a Druid more of whichever thing the party needs in the moment. Or play against type and use it to cast Spiritual Hammer 6 more times!

#2 Ring of the Savant. Skill checks have always been one of my favorite parts of TD thematically, so I love that my UR+ builds now get a meaningful boost for doing them right.

#3 all the hedgehog tokens! I can't pick just one because what I love is stacking them all together, but the combination of things that add retribution damage and things that explicitly lower AC (especially Berserker Gloves and IS/Charm Sea Snake).

#4 Scepter of the Dead, +3 Rod of Niltongue, and Shade Cloak. If anyone dies, they can still help solve puzzles! Because puzzles.