WAtools

*Bombs (Rudy, Surf Village)
The bombs are used to blow up stray rocks, blocks, small and large crates, and in Surf Village only, the dog, chickens, and Memory Bird (save bird). They're pretty useful near the beginning, but don't seem to be used much after that, except for on crates in towns.

*Radar (Rudy, Milama Village)
This is a great tool to find hidden treasure in towns. It sends out a radar, and if treasure is in the area, it will beep, and blink green for a few moments. As I said, great for finding treasure in barrels and such, but useless in dungeons, where you can plainly see the treasure chests in front of you. A nifty tool!

*Skates (Rudy, Epitaph Sea)
The skates are used to dash extra fast across damage floors and conveyor belts. Also, when dashing, you won't be attacked by monsters. The only downside is, once you start, you can't stop until you crash, and, it would have been a lot more useful earlier in the game. After you get the skates, there just aren't many damage floors to go over anymore.

*Punch Glove (Rudy, Gemini's Corpse)
The Glove is Rudy's last tool. It is used to shake things loose and break things...an overall destructive tool. ^^ However, outside of Gemini's Corpse, it has little to no use. The chief thing you can accomplish with this tool is access to the Abyss sidequest, and the boss that is hailed as the hardest in the game....Ragu Ragla.

*Tear Drop (Cecilia, Starts with it/ Photosphere)
The Tear Drop is one of the game's most important tools...in fact, as far as the plot goes, it is the most important. It's an Adlehyde family heirloom that is possessed by Princess Cecilia. At the beginning its use is frequent, but soon, Cecilia turns it over to the demons, and you don't recover it until Photosphere. As far as important things accessed by this tool, you need it to enter the Ancient Library and to get Cecilia's last Force Power, among many other things.

*Pocket Watch (Cecilia, Curan Abbey)
You get this early on, almost right at the start. It's used to "go back in time", resetting any crates or anything. Basically, if you screw up on a puzzle, you can reset it using this. Otherwise, it has absolutely no function I can think of. There might be ONE, but besides that, it's just sort of like white-out.

*Wand (Cecilia, Sweet Candy)
Cecilia gets this after the fake wedding scene. You use it to talk to animals, by hitting them with it. While this may sound fun, outside of hearing the latest rumors from town animals, it doesn't really do much. You need it to get through Sand River, I think. As far as sidequests go, you might have to use it to get Dan Dairam (the Chrono Guardian). After all that, you can always talk to the horses in Surf Village for some entertainment. ^_^

*Vase (Cecilia, Sea Dragon Shrine)
Can you say, "useless"? Really. After the Sea Dragon Shrine itself, there is almost NO use for this tool, which douses fires by the way. There MIGHT be a use for it in Dead Sanctuary, but that could be giving too much credit to this useless tool.

*Hanpan (Jack, Starts with it)
Hanpan is not only a tool, he's a party member too! And he's pretty darn cool. He is used to activate out-of-reach switches and get far away treasures, or treasure that is booby-trapped. You use this skill a lot, plus, his dialogues with Jack are hilarious! And, at the very height of coolness, you get to control the windmouse himself at Pandemonium Castle. Though this has nothing to do with the tool, Hanpan is also used in Jack's <Fast Draw> attack "Pickpocket". Plotwise, Hanpan is nearly on par with the Tear Drop....and rightly so. Go Hanpan!

*Lighter (Jack, Mountain Pass)
Unfortunately, this doesn't get as much use as one might hope. Sure, you have to use it every few seconds in the Mountain Pass, but after that its usage sort of fades away. It is used to light lanterns, which lights up dark rooms. If I remember right, its usage is also quite frequent on the ghost ship. Hey, it's more useful than the Vase!

*Grapple (Jack, Pleasing Gardens)
Absolutely essential. After its initial use in the Pleasing Garden, you will find yourself using this tool a lot. It's used like the hookshot from Zelda games...exact same function, different name. You will find yourself loving this tool, especially since it lets you get so much out of reach treasure in the Elw Pyramids (and everywhere else too) Oh yeah, and it's completely impossible to navigate the Wandering Isle without it. Trust me, that dungeon was BUILT for this tool.

*Guitar (Jack, Malduke)
You get this very very late in the game. We're talking final dungeon here. My sources tell me that it's used to make you get attacked by enemies. Why would you want that, you ask? EXP, for one. Plus, who knows what manner of creatures could be called to you with this? ...