Matthew Hayward wrote: For example, I have absolutely no expectation that the Belt of Climbing, Boots of Lava Walking, Cap of the Miner, Charm of Sweet Air, Gloak of the Bat, Cowl of Darkness, Gloves of Rope Climbing, Grappling Hook, Large Sack, Lenses of the Raider, Marking Chalk, Potion Spiderfoot, Shoes of Spiderfoot will be of any use. They certainly could be, especially the gear, and I would be fine if they did, but I think they are achieving their objective of establishing the setting for the adventuring party in the coaching room by their mere existence.
Well, for WYC Grind there were uses for:
Boots of Lava Walking
Cap of the Miner
Cloak of the Bat
Gloves of Rope Climbing
Grappling Hook
and I had plans (which weren't implemented) for the Charm of Sweet Air.
Graven wrote: Eric,
Can you elaborate more on some of the creative uses for tokens that you secretly came up with, but no one stumbled across?
I think that would be really interesting.
Thanks.
For WYC:
The lava separating the two sides could be crossed if you swam across (causing significant fire damage). But there were other ways around it:
Boots of Lava Walking would let you cross in one turn without taking any damage. Unsurprisingly, no one wore the boots.
Armor of the Efreeti would also negate any damage from crossing the lava.
There were also ways for players to use a
Grappling Hook and
Rope to cross, though once that was in place, it would require two turns to get across. If someone was using the
Gloves of Rope Climbing I would let them cross in just one turn. There were maybe two groups that used rope (I think Kent's group and binia's group did). No one used Gloves of Rope Climbing though.
You could also potentially use a
Scroll/Potion of Endure Elements, though smart players would first check with a
Detect Magic spell first. No one tried this, which is a little surprising since last year (2014 GenCon) people actually did bring Scrolls of Endure Elements. The closest thing was George, who was the only Druid to cast his Protection from Energy spell (and later quaffed a Potion of Fire Resistance).
Multiple monsters had minor fire retribution damage. There were a couple of players who were protected with
Shirts of Shielding though usually fire damage reduction was enough to make the retribution damage negligible.
Players were surprised at the start, causing them to lose initiative unless they were immune to surprise (
Earcuff of the Wind, Goggles of Serpent Sight, Footman Cap, Ring of the Eye, Twolf's Helm of the Wild,
Psychic Tier 3 ESP).
The Efreeti had an Enlarge spell (which would have interacted with an
Ioun Stone Black Pearl) but I never bothered casting it.
The Yuan-ti had a psionic blast (for the
Ioun Stone Amethyst Ovoid) which is always used. Though the final boss also had allowances to use a psionic blast I never used it for the final battle.
The Spirit Naga and Medusa had gaze attacks. Both could also charm, poison, cause disease, and curse.
The Naga had defensive spells to make it incorporeal (for
Psychic Tier 4 Planar Vision) or displace it (
Lenses of Clear Sight).
There were effects to counter both wood and metal weapons. The Naga and Medusa had Sticks to Snakes spells which would render wood weapons useless for that combat. The Magma Elemental could increase the heat in the area which would cause cumulative damage to those using metal weapons or metal armor. Furthermore, the Medusa could Shatter items as well. These effects could have been avoided with the
Necklace of the Ash, Moon Runestone, and (for the Magma Elemental)
Tinkerer's Gloves, but no one used any of these tokens.
If the Medusa was unmuted when she died, she would have a death scream that would shatter potions that were unprotected by an
Alchemist Pouch/Purse (most players had Purses), which was a throwback to an effect I had back in 2010. It would also result in falling stalactites (this was Raven's idea) which could only be prevented by a
Cap of the Miner or Earcuff of Abjuration. No one used any of those.
The Medusa, Fire Snake, and final boss had attacks that could cause falling damage (
Ring/Scroll/Potion of Feather Fall, Cloak of the Bat, Cloak of Gliding,
Psychic Tier 2 Control Mass). No one wore Rings or Cloaks. There were maybe 2 Potions used and a few people used their psychic power here.
Those using an
Ioun Stone Iridescent Spindle got a bonus to save against attacks from the Smoke Elemental. A few players were using the Ioun Stone.
So hopefully that gives you an idea of some of the token effects that were available in the most recent Grind.
Due to the demographics of TD attendees at Who's Yer Con, Grind players tended to be better equipped than average, so most players had better options than equipping corner-case tokens. This is one of those cases where newer players (who don't have anything else in that slot) would have benefited more from this adventure design.
Since the AoW and Eldritch Runestone effects were designed to boost psychic powers, I had provisions/uses for every psychic power except Tier 1 (Walk on Water). However, most players forgot to use their psychic power.