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shadow_archmagi
2009-08-14, 08:51 PM
So, I checked out Bungo's Bargain Basement thread (which theoretically lists magic items that have a high cost-awesome ratio).

Unfortunately, they tended to be something like


"Ninty thousand gold: Gives twelve extra actions!"
"Twelve Billion Gold. Makes you a lesser deity!"

Which is entirely unhelpful to me, sitting on my puny little horde of 1,333 gold coins. Of course, since I plan to craft my own, and have the relevant craft-enhancing feat, I can actually use 3332.5 worth of gold.

So, how does a level 5 player best spend it all? One big item? A dozen little "party favors" for my comrades? More importantly, what items are worthwhile and what ones are not?

Pharaoh's Fist
2009-08-14, 08:52 PM
Anklets of Translocation: 1,400 gp
Steadfast Boots: same
Alcohol

tyckspoon
2009-08-14, 09:03 PM
Healing Belts for everybody, and maybe a wand of Cure Light Wounds/Lesser Vigor if you have the appropriate craft feat. That'll take care of most of your HP-recovery needs for the next few levels, and by the time the Healing Belts stop being very relevant it'll be time to switch the slot for Belts of Strength/Con/whatever instead. Chronocharms are cheap expendables that are pretty much always handy to have around. And Handy Haversacks are a 1,000 GP 'stop worrying about encumbrance' tax if you don't already have them.

Milskidasith
2009-08-14, 09:07 PM
Glowing Orb's have a material focus cost of 50 gp and work as a permanent supertorch you can turn on and off. Then again, I don't know how much it would cost to pay a cleric to cast the spell for you.

sofawall
2009-08-14, 09:10 PM
Too expensive for you, likely, but Dust of Choking and Sneezing is hilarious, especially if Necropolitan.

Pronounceable
2009-08-15, 06:34 AM
10 foot pole. It's infinitely valuable in your standard DnD environs.

Epinephrine
2009-08-15, 06:37 AM
Anklets of Translocation: 1,400 gp


These are far too good for their price. I think at 5,000gp they'd still be a bargain.

shadow_archmagi
2009-08-15, 07:46 AM
What is so great about two ten foot teleports?

arkol
2009-08-15, 07:47 AM
Escape grapples for exemple...

shadow_archmagi
2009-08-15, 07:56 AM
These are far too good for their price. I think at 5,000gp they'd still be a bargain.

On closer inspection, there *is* a 5000 gp shirt that does the same thing, but once per day, sixty feet, and as a move action.

Epinephrine
2009-08-15, 08:26 AM
What is so great about two ten foot teleports?

It's the fact that it is a swift action. So you can close 10' (or 15' with a 5' step) and full attack.
You can bypass an antilife shell as a swift action.
You can automatically escape a grapple.
Keep enemies at range with your reach weapon, getting your full attack off and retreating 10' as a swift.
Flank the enemies without needing to tumble through them in narrow halls.

It's so cheap that you could easily buy a handful of them, and just swap them whenver you run them out of uses for the day. If it were a standard action I'd have no issue with it.

Zergrusheddie
2009-08-15, 08:36 AM
What is so great about two ten foot teleports?

Force Cage, Web, Black Tentacles, Grease, Wall of Thorns, Resilient Sphere, and Wall of Force comes into mind.

Force Cage is the ultimate spell against melee as it is a "No Save, just Lose." Countering a 7th level spell that costs 1,500 is reason enough to buy the Anklets. My Fighter snatched Life from the jaws of Death so many times with this ability: Forcecage + Cloudkill is rendered moot. I would have to agree that the Anklets have one of the best cost to effect ratios around.

I would say that a +1 Magical Weapon is also great. For 2,000 gold, you can actually hit Ghosts, Spectres, Wraiths, and other Incorporeal creatures.

Kulture
2009-08-15, 12:41 PM
I know it's out of your price range, but I just thought I'd mention the rod of surprises (minds out of the gutter people)
6'000gp, it's:
A Kama
a scythe
a longspear
a shortspear
a spear
a javelin
a shortsword
a quarterstaff
All of these are +1 and I've likely forgotten some.
In addition to this, it can act as a 60ft pole (!) that can support about 800lbs before even bending.
It also records short messages like the spell magic mouth, meaning it acts as a dictaphone or even a hidden wire if used as a cane.
It's essentially a swiss-army rod, holding the majority of what you could need at any given time.

My characters that can afford one, always get one.

Myshlaevsky
2009-08-15, 12:52 PM
Make (or buy) the goggles that let you ignore penalties for daylight. Find some Orc raiders fresh from plunder to sell them to.

Low cost. High (resale) value. Double your money!

Moriato
2009-08-15, 12:58 PM
.
You can bypass an antilife shell as a swift action.


I'm not so sure you could, since it's an emanation. If it were a sphere or a wall, sure.

You could get out of a forcecage or past a wall of force, though.

Jergmo
2009-08-15, 02:47 PM
One of those figurines that lets you cast Mage Hand at will! It's only 900 gp.

sofawall
2009-08-15, 03:47 PM
Hand of the Mage. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#handoftheMage)

Yukitsu
2009-08-15, 03:48 PM
I like feather tokens for these sorts of things. Sovereign glue is also good if you're clever.

Epinephrine
2009-08-15, 03:52 PM
I'm not so sure you could, since it's an emanation. If it were a sphere or a wall, sure.

You could get out of a forcecage or past a wall of force, though.

Right, but text says it prevents the entrance of such creatures. I suppose you have to decide whether "entrance" means passing into it physically, or whether appearing inside it is also "entrance." Force wall, definitely.

Moriato
2009-08-15, 03:56 PM
Right, but text says it prevents the entrance of such creatures. I suppose you have to decide whether "entrance" means passing into it physically, or whether appearing inside it is also "entrance." Force wall, definitely.

But since it's an emanation you'd still be in the effect when you appeared instead of past it, wouldn't it just push you immediately back out?

Was there ever an official ruling on this?

CASTLEMIKE
2009-08-15, 05:00 PM
Drow House Amulets or Faith or Harper Tokens which cast either 2 cantrips a day or a single first level spell 1/day for 300 or so GP.

Totally Guy
2009-08-15, 05:25 PM
Popcorn. You see you buy it by weight and then sell it by volume. It can be sold at the party bard's performances so you can cash in twice from the same group. Or you could use it as a medieval packing foam product for postage.

aje8
2009-08-15, 05:55 PM
Here's a very relevant question:

What class are you playing? This seriously affects which items you want.

Additionally:

1,333 gold
Talk about gold starved...... did you guys get some awesomesauce magic items to compensate? Becuase that's 7,600 gold under wealth by level.

Keld Denar
2009-08-15, 06:03 PM
Hows your Cha? Do you find yourself in melee combat often? Do you already own a +1 weapon? Do you ever wish you could jus knock the sense out of your enemies? Well, the DMGII has just the thing for you! For the low low low price of 2000g (1000g with CA&A), you too can be a real crowd stunner! Sudden Stunning from the DMGII will knock your foes senseless. Save based on a function of your Cha score and your character level, so its always powered up on high. And targetting Reflex saves, its really adds new meaning to the phase "The bigger they are, the harder they fall!".

Reflex saves don't tickle you? Buy the EXACT SAME THING in new Fort save flavor, now in new MIC packaging. Perfect for knocking out those low Con enemies.

Sudden Stunning! Because stunned foes can't say NO!

sofawall
2009-08-15, 06:16 PM
Talk about gold starved...... did you guys get some awesomesauce magic items to compensate? Becuase that's 7,600 gold under wealth by level.

I suspect that is his remainder after buying the obvious things, and now he needs cheap, but effective, stuff to finish off his gold with.

Marbles, 1 sp, Arms and Equipment Guide.

Emy
2009-08-15, 06:21 PM
Depending on whether you're melee or ranged...

+1 Valorous Lance (8,000gp. Not affordable yet unless you're an Artificer. [Personal Weapon Augmentation or cheaper crafting])

or Bow of the Wintermoon (3,400gp. If you can afford to, get Splitting later on.)

Feather Token: Tree (400gp. This one's in Bunko's, and it's affordable for you right now.)

Handy Haversack (2000gp. Same with this.)

Wand of Lesser Vigor (750gp. Solid out of combat healing)



+5 Lucky* Parrying Spellstrike Warning Shuriken. It only gives +1 insight to AC, but it is cheaper than an Ioun Stone by a margin of 993.4 GP. And, lots of other benefits. Like +5 insight to init, +5 unnamed all saves, +1 insight to saves (total +6)... The Lucky can be replaced with another +1 property if you aren't a ray wizard. General purpose item that still helps. Catch is you have to hold it. If this is a problem because both hands are needed elsewhere, Spare Hand works but removes the cost efficient for pure AC factor.

Check the generic gear mini-guide (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1201242) for some more mundane tools that may be useful.

Darrin
2009-08-16, 12:10 AM
Feather Token: Tree (400gp. This one's in Bunko's, and it's affordable for you right now.)


Feather Token: Swan Boat (450 GP) and Feather Token: Whip (500 GP) are also quite useful. The whip attacks independently as a dancing magical weapon, so at low levels it's a cheap way to bypass DR/? magic. You'll need to check with your DM if the whip does lethal or nonlethal damage and has the same limitations when used on a target with a +1 armor bonus or +3 natural armor bonus. If he says it has the same limitations as a normal whip, then you can at least have it make trip attacks.

The Swan Boat is even better. It can be used wherever the tree token can be used to block doorways/passages, divide or break up combat formations, provide hard cover, a safe place to sleep, bridge a short gap, a couple tons of firewood, or if dropped from a short height, 20d6 falling object damage (*no save*).

Some other dirt-cheap bargains under 2000 GP:

Cloak of Elemental Protection (MIC p. 87, 1000 GP). Activate as an immediate action, so you can respond to an attack with the correct energy resistance.

Collar of Perpetual Attendance (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fools/20030401c) (WotC website, 2000 GP). Infinite number of uses: trapfinder, caltrop/marble wrangler, reload your crossbow, fetch and refold nets, drop alchemical items (such as a bag full of 19 flasks of acid), carry/ignite smokesticks, carry a feycraft darkwood tower shield, and the Swan Boat of Crushing Death (mentioned above).

Eggshell Grenade, Dust (Oriental Adventures p. 78, 10 GP). The best 10 GP you'll ever spend. Throw as a grenade-like weapon, if it hits, target is blinded for 1d4 rounds NO SAVE, and a chance to blind everyone else within 10'.

Enduring Amulet (MIC p. 97, 1500 GP). Continuous Endure Elements plus energy resistance to two of the most common damage types in the game, activated as an immediate action so you can respond to fire/cold attacks as needed. Can't help you with acid/electricity/sonic, but can be used more often than the Cloak of Elemental Protection.

Flour Pouch (Dungeonscape p. 32, 1 SP). Poor Man's Glitterdust. Throw as a splash weapon, and any invisible creature within 5' is coated with dust. You still get a miss chance, but now you know where they are. Even if you miss, any creature walking across the flour spread on the floor would also reveal their location.

Ghostblight (CompAdv p. 122, 100 GP). Attack incorporeal foes as if your weapon had Ghost Touch for 3 rounds.

Glyph Seal (MIC p. 161, 1000 GP). Almost like a portable contingency spell. Attach this to an easy-to-open object (belt pouch, shirt pocket, etc.) and have one of your spellcaster buddies cast any 1st or 2nd level spell into it, and you can activate it later as a free/swift/immediate action, similar to quaffing a potion but without the restrictions of a potion.

Hammersphere (MIC p. 161, 1500 GP). A great fire-and-forget attack that does 3d6 Force damage: DR? Hah! Incorporeal? Bwa-hah-hah!

Hearthfire (RoS p. 160, 10 GP for 12 uses). Cubes of gel that when you get them wet, glow like a torch for 24 hours. But the duration need not be continuous, so you can dry them off and use them again later.

Jumping Caltrops (MIC p. 162, 250 GP). Fire-and-forget battlefield control that (if I understand the entry correctly) can be used over and over again.

Marbles (A&EG p. 24, 2 SP). Someone already mentioned these, essentially a 5'x5' square of non-magical grease. Like caltrops, they take a standard action to deploy, but you could get a familiar, animal companion, wild cohort, or possibly a trained animal to spread them for you.

Noxious Smokestick (ECS p. 121, 80 GP). Works like a standard smokestick, but anyone inside the fumes must make a Fort save DC 15 or become nauseated for 1 round.

Panic Button (CompSco p. 115, 750 GP). Somewhat expensive for one-shot items, but if you're not wearing armor you can activate them as a swift action. There are a few interesting spell effects here, including: dimension door 30', expeditious retreat, and dimensional anchor (try and find THAT for less than 28000 GP!).

Screaming Flask (CompMage p. 135, 40 GP). 1d8 sonic damage in a 15' cone plus a chance to deafen.

Sphere of Awakening (MIC p. 186, 1800 GP). Once per day, wake everyone up, remove all fatigue/exhaustion, and everybody is immune to fatigue/exhaustion for 10 minutes. Great for dealing with post-rage barbarians.

Stonebreaker Acid (A&EG p. 35, 20 GP). 5d10 damage to stone objects, ignores hardness. On average, 8-9 flasks of Stonebreaker Acid can destroy a 5'x5'x5' square of solid stone in 2 rounds.

Talisman of the Disk (MIC p. 188, 500 GP). Tenser's Floating Disk at will. In addition to its primary function (carrying around 2 gallons of beer), it can also be used to give you something like pounce: give the Talisman to your favorite ubercharging meatshield so you can use his movement to ride along into battle as a floating sidecar, allowing you to full attack alongside him. If the DM is still feeling generous, you may also get a +1 height advantage for being 3' higher than your opponent.

Whitesilver Elixir (Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk p. 222, 1500 GP). For 10 minutes, gain all the immunities of the plant type, including crits, mind-effecting, polymoprh, paralysis, poison, sleep, and stunning.