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Hey heroes!

Each week on Discord, community members nominate other members' suggested items to be made into official Saddlebag items. The top two most voted-for item ideas each week get made, following back and forth workshopping and discussion.

You can submit your ideas on Discord, too! Come join us in the #patron-item-workshop channel!

You may recognize some returning item suggestions! Items can be renominated and re-drawn for weekly polls following a week-long cooldown.

Here are the randomly selected item ideas drawn from this week's nominations!

Ideas

1)  Elixir of the Twisted Tongue  — This silver liquid is an extremely slippery oil that can be drunk to grant you the knowledge to speak, read, and write all languages, but you forget everything about Common. A greater restoration spell or similar magic can undo this effect.

2)  Battledancer's Staff  — Carved from sacred wood and blessed with the speed of an elk, this quarterstaff has the finesse property. Once per turn, you can lunge 5 feet forward to make an attack. Additionally, you can expend a charge to temporarily increase your movement speed, causing attacks of opportunity to be made against you at disadvantage.

3)  The Two-Faced Staff  — A staff that cruel tricksters and faux-polite aristocrats that has two forms. One provides a bonus to Charisma (Deception) checks and you can expend charges to cast spells such as disguise self and major image, while the other form gives a bonus to Charisma (Intimidation) checks and you can expend charges to cast offensive spells such as cloudkill and phantasmal killer.

4)  The Broken Crown  — A golden crown once worn by a king whose reign fell to a coup, now sentient, while wearing the crown, you are immune being frightened and gain 5 temporary hit points at the start of each of your turns. Additionally, your Strength or Dexterity score increases by 2, and attacks made with that stat gain a +2 bonus as well. Hit points restored are also bolstered.

5)  Jinxed Cat String  — A long sinewy whip connected to the handle of bow made from black bone. You score a critical hit on a 19 or 20. When you score a critical hit, you deal additional damage to the target and any creature of your choice within 5 feet of it. Speaking the command word transforms the whip into a morbid violin bow, allowing you to add your proficiency bonus to any Charisma (Performance) check made with it while playing a violin or similar stringed instruments. This bonus is doubled if you're already proficient.

6)  Death Rose Ring  — A silver ring with red gems shaped like a rose with a compartment hidden inside. As a bonus action, you can fill or distribute one vial of poison or potion inside the ring. You have advantage on all Dexterity (Slight of Hand) checks made to poison food or drink with the ring.

7)  Surface Seeker  — A Small, magical minecart with a lamp on its front. When you fill it with valuables while in a cave, it makes a slow trek to the surface of the cave, showing you the safest route to travel.

Thanks to everyone who submitted item ideas and voted for them this week!

Keep on adventuring!

Comments

Mattmon

Death Rose Ring is perfect for Rogues, been wanting a poisoner ring

Anonymous

I like the idea of the Battledancer's Staff but it could use a bit more oomf. Maybe each charge grants you an additional attack so long as it targets a different creature a number of feet away from the last target?

Ryan Rogers

Yeah, the thing is, items like this ring (and the Elixir and the Cart) are relatively easy to get art for. So if it doesn't get chosen, you can just use the item from Discord in current form and find your own art to use for personal use. I do it all the time for items that don't win. In fact, on at least two occasions I've gone back and replaced art when it was eventually selected / made. It's always better than the art I google'd up or used AI to generate. Case in point, I already have the recent Quicksilver Arrow / Bolt in my game. If it ever gets made (and I'm sure someday it may), I'll swap the art. In the meantime, the art from another creator was *very* close, so I'm using that instead. I probably have another dozen items from the Discord channel that I've created that will NEVER get made because they votes just weren't high enough to get back into rotation. There are hundreds of great items in there, fully designed, that will likely never see light of day because they'll never get to the vote again. That's a travesty but not for me because I have them in my game, and in D&D Beyond even...just don't share them with the Community for obvious reasons. Rings and Potions? Those are so easily created with AI...or just a google search. It won't be as good, but it'll hold you over if/when it is created. If it is never created, well you still got to use it. The Quicksilver arrow was too perfect for my game to wait, so I'm not. As a result, I often do not vote for the item I want the most, especially if has art I can easily source. I tend to vote for the most useful item that also necessitates very distinct art that will also work well for my games. Art that would be hard to find. Like a two-faced staff, for example. That is immeasurably harder to find vs. a basic golden crown, or a potion, or a ring. Those are easy. Similarly, there have been times when I haven't really been intrigued by the magic item design, but I know the art will be baller. So, I'll vote for it...and just tweak the item or start from scratch. It's the art that I'm after, because it's unique.. Or, perhaps I may eve already have a custom Homebrew item I created, and I know that art will be fantastic for it. I think I've very much in the minority here but wish I wasn't, as most people seem to vote purely on the item write-up and whether that item sounds cool or fits their game, but not me. I'm literally the opposite. I vote based on the art that will come out of it, as that is the part that is hard. I've been designing magic items for 40 years, but draw like I'm 4. :-) So my vote is very heavily based on what I can't get art for, because if I like the item, I'm using it...regardless. :-P

Anonymous

I missed the poll but honestly I don’t think I would have been any help anyway cause this is one of those instances where all of the items are really cool and I’d probably just vote for all of them