Hat of Hatreds - a Tank’s best friend?

[Particle_Man]

This cursed item makes you look like someone’s worst enemy, and vulnerable to attack besides.

Assuming your party is in on the gag (so *they* don’t attack you) and can later cast remove curse (for when you, for example, leave the dungeon and return to town), this seems like a great item to get the enemies to focus on one character (the tank) instead of running past or otherwise avoid the tank to kill squishier party members.

What think you?

[Psyren]

It's a fun idea (and yes, your party will need some way to either turn it off or bypass the illusion to avoid confusion after the fight) - but it's also a bit DM-dependent because it doesn't compel any activity. Your appearance turns into the creature that an enemy most wants to harm - but if the creature they most want to harm is the squishy mage behind you preparing to cast a spell, you'll just end up looking like that mage, and an intelligent opponent faced with two identical targets may still go for the correct one, especially if one is clearly casting spells while the other is clearly fighting in melee.

The other issue is that the hat is very fuzzy on what happens if you're facing a group of diverse enemies, all of whom have a different "most hated" foe. The examples in the hat's entry focus on one opponent or a group of likeminded ones like a set of villagers who all hate the town bully. But if you're up against, say, a Linear Guild-style enemy adventuring party where Sabine hates Haley, Nale hates Elan, and Z hates V for example, what will the hat do? The hat it's based on is a glamer, not a phantasm, so the image may not be personalized for each viewer, and even if it is, all it takes from there is the enemy communicating with each other to realize something is off.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Psyren
...all it takes from there is the enemy communicating with each other to realize something is off.

Although if the enemies can tell that someone looks different to each of them, they'll probably yell "spellcaster!" and saturate him with attacks. :smalltongue: