Best "Very Rare" gish item?

[Menji]

So we just finished a rough adventure and can pick one "Very Rare" item as a reward.

Character: Aereni High Elf, Level 12 - Paladin2 / Hexblade1 / Wizard (War) 9, wiz til 20
Current items:
Flame Tongue Scimitar (Attuned)
Dragontooth Dagger
Serpent Scale Armor
Cloak of Protection (Attuned)
Staff of the Python (Attuned)

Current feats are Lucky and Elven Accuracy. Planning on Fey Touched and Warcaster. Blindfighting style from Pal.

I've narrowed it down to:

Staff of Power (Overall strong, can hold but not attack with it in off hand like Gandalf. Functionally a "shield" but with save+, AoEs etc)
Peregrine Mask (non-concentration 60' fly combined with advantage on initiative is sweet since I have a +9 already)
Ring of Spell Storing ("only" rare but fun combos, bard can hook me up with Greater Steed, 2x concentration)
Amulet of the Devout +3 (ensures that certain demons are incapable of breaking SGD control so lasts full duration, among other things)
Illusionist's Bracers (probably lowest power but Booming (flaming) blade x2 with no resource cost every round is fun)
Tome of Clear Thought (INT not maxed yet but this helps, plus I'm an elf so I believe I can use it ~5 more times eventually :smallcool: )
Carpet of Flying (non-concentration flying/transport, and doesn't use an attunement slot)
Daern's Instant Fortress (free AoE, just cool, and doesn't use attunement)

The Staff of Power is almost too good to pass up, but the ring has endless possibilities and the mask & amulet are both game changers too.

Any insights I've missed?

Thanks!

[Pyrophilios]

If you were using Eldritch Blast, taking the Illusionists Bracers would be a no brainer - 8 attacks per round are pretty unbeatable.

Staff of Power is the other one I'd recommend. Fully charged you have 4 Walls of Force at your disposal. That's insanely powerful control, trivializing a lot of encounters if you can contain minions away from their boss.

[Menji]

If you were using Eldritch Blast, taking the Illusionists Bracers would be a no brainer - 8 attacks per round are pretty unbeatable.

Staff of Power is the other one I'd recommend. Fully charged you have 4 Walls of Force at your disposal. That's insanely powerful control, trivializing a lot of encounters if you can contain minions away from their boss.

Yeah that's pretty much my thinking. But +3 to spell DCs is huge and no-concentration flight+init advantage is strong too. And all sorts of antics could be had from the ring. Gahhhh

[Azuresun]

I suggest everyone take a bronze Horn of Valhalla. Because who doesn't want to solve all their problems by throwing 24-80 bersekers at them?

[stoutstien]

Scimitar of speed is an interesting one. It's a bonus action attack not tied to the attack action on a +2 weapon.

[nickl_2000]

I suggest everyone take a bronze Horn of Valhalla. Because who doesn't want to solve all their problems by throwing 24-80 bersekers at them?

Any player who wants to get out of combat in less than 5 hours?

[Menji]

I suggest everyone take a bronze Horn of Valhalla. Because who doesn't want to solve all their problems by throwing 24-80 bersekers at them?

Yeah considered that too, but occasional awesome has less overall flavor than consistent damned good.

[PhantomSoul]

Any player who wants to get out of combat in less than 5 hours?

That's completely unfair -- there's no way 5 hours is a reasonable minimum for how long it would take!

[Pyrophilios]

At the level you are getting the horn, 14 CR 2 creatures are more a nuisance than anything else. AoE will make short work of them (two fireballs are usually enough, or just one hypnotic pattern)

[Osuniev]

At the level you are getting the horn, 14 CR 2 creatures are more a nuisance than anything else. AoE will make short work of them (two fireballs are usually enough, or just one hypnotic pattern)

I mean if the caster of hypnotic pattern has a DC of less tan 21, SOME of them might make the save and then start waking up the others.

On average, it takes around 3 fireballs to kill a Berserker if they fail all their saves. In the meantime, 14 attacks a turn with advantage for 1d12+3 ADD UP.

Of course, if they can, the opponent should use Wall of Force, or fly up.

[PrinceOfMadness]

The "best" selection will depend a lot on your party comp and on what you want from the item. You're also maxed on attunement slots (barring GM houserules) so you shouldn't just compare the benefits of each item, but also what you're losing in terms of a dropped item, for the items that require attunement. You're either losing 2d6 fire damage per attack from the scimitar, a summon from the staff, or AC/saves from the cloak.

Illusionist's Bracers would probably be your biggest damage upgrade, potentially doubling your round-to-round DPR since you don't seem to otherwise have Extra Attack.

The benefits of the Tome of Clear Thought are probably mostly outweighed by the Amulet of the Devout for your Wizard spells. +3 to spell attacks and saves is real juicy, and the bonus Channel Divinity is icing on the cake.

The Peregrine Mask is probably better than the Carpet of Flying unless you really need the transport capability for some reason, and even then I would probably recommend turning to a Bag of Holding/Tenser's Floating Disk. At-will flight is really good for moving around the battlefield, especially when you can blast away as a wizard.

Everything Daern's Instant Fortress can do (AoE, barriers) is replicable with the Staff of Power. You can do some fun stuff with a Ring of Spell-Storing, but mostly I think you'd get more mileage out of the Staff there too. This is your option if you want lots and lots of utility, and the other passive bonuses are great too. IMO, the Staff is your best OVERALL option, but as mentioned previously, it really depends on what you want to get out of this magic item.

[Menji]

The "best" selection will depend a lot on your party comp and on what you want from the item. You're also maxed on attunement slots (barring GM houserules) so you shouldn't just compare the benefits of each item, but also what you're losing in terms of a dropped item, for the items that require attunement. You're either losing 2d6 fire damage per attack from the scimitar, a summon from the staff, or AC/saves from the cloak.

Illusionist's Bracers would probably be your biggest damage upgrade, potentially doubling your round-to-round DPR since you don't seem to otherwise have Extra Attack.

The benefits of the Tome of Clear Thought are probably mostly outweighed by the Amulet of the Devout for your Wizard spells. +3 to spell attacks and saves is real juicy, and the bonus Channel Divinity is icing on the cake.

The Peregrine Mask is probably better than the Carpet of Flying unless you really need the transport capability for some reason, and even then I would probably recommend turning to a Bag of Holding/Tenser's Floating Disk. At-will flight is really good for moving around the battlefield, especially when you can blast away as a wizard.

Everything Daern's Instant Fortress can do (AoE, barriers) is replicable with the Staff of Power. You can do some fun stuff with a Ring of Spell-Storing, but mostly I think you'd get more mileage out of the Staff there too. This is your option if you want lots and lots of utility, and the other passive bonuses are great too. IMO, the Staff is your best OVERALL option, but as mentioned previously, it really depends on what you want to get out of this magic item.

Yup, good analysis.

My extra attack at the moment is just offhand attack with the dragontooth dagger (sometimes combined with Haste and/or Pyrotechnics), which is really just occasionally used vs boss types in pursuit of smite-crits. Not perfect because I have to stay on top of drawing/stowing weapons or I won't even get reaction/bonus casting 50% of the time. So yeah that's the thinking behind the bracers.

Staff of the Python is more just nice to have than needed, wouldn't mind un-attuning it. Really only used to restrain in support of more crit fishing.

Also wouldn't mind un-attuning the cloak...but yeah, the tradeoff has to be taken into account. What's kinda nice about the Staff is that it mitigates any/all of these. It gives an extra +1d6 force for a charge, offsetting the 2d6 for fire. Tops the AC/saves from cloak. I'd lose advantage from the Giant Constrictor Snake, but with the + to spell attacks and extra slots from not having to prep blasts, I'd be using Summon Fey more (4th level upcast, tricksy version), thereby gaining advantage from the 5' darkness effect combo with my blindfighting. So that's kinda a wash.

Really, the only real beef I have with the staff is that it's not finesse and I am. The +2 helps and I can make it my Hex weapon for additional +1, but it's still hitting less. I could just hold it while attacking with the Flame Tongue for the benefits (again, like Gandalf), but the stow/draw technique works even less...because I'm losing the benefits if I stow/draw it, and I lose my bonus action if I do it with the Flame Tongue (due to having to activate the flames with it). I'll probably go with it anyway and just ride out the conflict until I get Warcaster.

The ring addresses the frequent need to fly *while* having up Haste/Spirit Shroud/concentration stuff. Just requires familiar bat or owl (or a trusted party member, which is an issue in character) to do it, which is a vulnerability. So many possibilities, though.

Gahhhh...good problem to have, I know. So spoiled, heh. Thanks for the feedback.

[mistermysterio]

Well, if all of your attunement slots are taken up.... why not a manual? Quickness of action maybe? Tome of Leadership? Free +2 to an ability score is pretty nice (especially if you are already at 20, since it's one of the few ways to go above 20 max), and the manuals are very rare.

[Menji]

Well, if all of your attunement slots are taken up.... why not a manual? Quickness of action maybe? Tome of Leadership? Free +2 to an ability score is pretty nice (especially if you are already at 20, since it's one of the few ways to go above 20 max), and the manuals are very rare.

I'm considering the INT tome, but tbh they're just not that interesting. And (for example) it'd raise my spell DCs by 1, and the amulet would do so by 3. But yes the lack of attunement is a plus.

New development: Candle of Invocation. Wow. I could have a Tiny Servant carry it around, and another Tiny Servant (of the 3) light it so as to save on action economy. Perma-advantage functionally, because I doubt I'll *ever* fight 240 encounters.

Hmmm...