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View Full Version : [3.5] Equipment for a martial adept



The Rabbler
2010-03-08, 10:22 PM
hello everybody.

I have a martial adept (currently crusader 2/ swordsage 2/ warblade 1 going for a master of nine variant i found on the forum) that i would like to equip to epicness.

I am looking for some suggestions on good weapon/armor enhancements and equipment beyond the obvious.

I plan on using a 2hw and I would like to use more passive effects than /day effects if possible.

Right now i'm using:

Wrathful Healing Fullblade

Nimble Halfweight Mithril Fullplate (+8 AC, +4 Dex, and 0 ARP)

and gauntlets of ogre power w/ +2 dex


any suggestions would be about future items and, short of artifacts, legacy items, etc., price is no object. My group tends to get way more gold than we should.:smallcool:

thanks.

deuxhero
2010-03-08, 10:28 PM
Manuver granting items are nice for a martial adept, but not as hot for a Master of the Nine.

Get the party arcane caster an eternal wand of Heroics (MIC and SC) or two to cherrypick whatever stance/maneuver you want/need at the time via Martial Study/Martial Stance. Decanter of Endless Water and an item of infinite duration Prestidigitation are always fun.

Sinfire Titan
2010-03-08, 10:36 PM
I think either your math is horribly off on your WBL or your DM is giving you a metric ton of treasure. I don't think most characters can afford +1 Halfweight Nimble Mithral Fullplate, a minimum of a +2 weapon, and both Gloves of Dex and Gauntlets of Ogre Power.

An Artificer, maybe. But that's pushing it fairly hard.


Edit: Ok, I see the part about the DM giving you more GP than he should be.



Make sure you stock up on Wands of Lesser Vigor.

Tinydwarfman
2010-03-08, 10:37 PM
Can you tell us a bit about your feat selection and general tactics?

Also: Why the Fullblade? I hope you're not wasting a feat on it.

deuxhero
2010-03-08, 10:40 PM
If you want a large weapon, take Strongarm Bracers and grab a large bastard sword (the weapon needs to be one handed to work with strongarm bracers, bastard sword is one handed...). No feats blown, no 3.0 stuff that uses 3.0's entirely separate item size rules and pure RAW and RAI

Mongoose87
2010-03-08, 10:44 PM
Belt of Battle!
*Clap clap clapclapclap*

deuxhero
2010-03-08, 10:47 PM
He already has White Raven Tactics.

AslanCross
2010-03-08, 10:48 PM
Belt of Battle!
*Clap clap clapclapclap*

Belt of Battle (Magic Item Compendium) is awesome.

And yeah, please recheck how much gear you're getting, because that's a lot. You should only have 9000 GP using the WBL table. (Btw, where are Wrathful and Healing from? They're not in the MIC and I've never heard of them before.)

The Rabbler
2010-03-08, 11:02 PM
because of my group's insane creativity (carefully chosen word) and builds, we're able to handle encounters roughly 5-6 ELs higher than us and our DM provides.

again, money is effectively no object.

i keep hearing about the belt of battle and how amazing it is. i don't have access to my books at the moment, but i don't remember it being all that amazing. what is it that makes it so great?

and as for my feats, i got all of the staple feats (i got the exotic wep prof. with fullblade because it effectively gives me access to all exotic weps with weapon aptitude) with martial study and adaptive style.

EDIT: forgot playstyle. I'm the closest thing our group has to a tank and I do most of our physical DPS. I'm looking for stuff to help me kick ass while staying nice and safe.

Eldariel
2010-03-08, 11:07 PM
If you want a large weapon, take Strongarm Bracers and grab a large bastard sword (the weapon needs to be one handed to work with strongarm bracers, bastard sword is one handed...). No feats blown, no 3.0 stuff that uses 3.0's entirely separate item size rules and pure RAW and RAI

Actually, Fullblade gets quite decent with size increases. 2d8 becomes 3d8 with Strongarm Bracers. Enlarge Person, 4d8. Heavy weapon (made of gold or some other impractical metal), 6d8. If you had just a Greatsword, you'd have 6d6 at this point, or 21 vs. 27 average. And you're only Large-sized. If you increase your size further, you can actually get to the sweet spot in size increases; two more increases get you to 12d8, which is already very respectable 54 average damage per hit, full 12 more than equivalent Greatsword (which is already rather good for one feat).

And then we get to multipliers. Nightmare Blade-series, for example, makes base damage quite useful. Criticals of course too. And so on. 48d8 with Diamond Nightmare Blade, 96d8 on a critical. Of course, I'm using your Gargantuan damage die here, but as an example. It'd be 24d8 even with just your Large damage die, 48d8 on crit. Medium would be 16d8, but meh. Medium is for pansies.

Sinfire Titan
2010-03-08, 11:08 PM
because of my group's insane creativity (carefully chosen word) and builds, we're able to handle encounters roughly 5-6 ELs higher than us and our DM provides.

again, money is effectively no object.

i keep hearing about the belt of battle and how amazing it is. i don't have access to my books at the moment, but i don't remember it being all that amazing. what is it that makes it so great?

and as for my feats, i got all of the staple feats (i got the exotic wep prof. with fullblade because it effectively gives me access to all exotic weps with weapon aptitude) with martial study and adaptive style.

Extra Actions. Belt of Battle gives you either 3 move actions/day, a Move and a Standard action per day, or a Full Round action 1/day. Obviously, the free Move actions make getting into melee much easier. Oh, a +2 Init is always welcome.

Proven_Paradox
2010-03-08, 11:08 PM
Consider adding Martial Discipline of the school of whatever stance you use most often in combat to your weapon. That attack boost is pretty sweet.

deuxhero
2010-03-08, 11:12 PM
Actually, Fullblade gets quite decent with size increases. 2d8 becomes 3d8 with Strongarm Bracers. Enlarge Person, 4d8. Heavy weapon (made of gold or some other impractical metal), 6d8. If you had just a Greatsword, you'd have 6d6 at this point, or 21 vs. 27 average. And you're only Large-sized. If you increase your size further, you can actually get to the sweet spot in size increases; two more increases get you to 12d8, which is already very respectable 54 average damage per hit, full 12 more than equivalent Greatsword (which is already rather good for one feat).

I'm just saying it as a way to get a non-3.0 large sword. Never said it was better.

Eldariel
2010-03-08, 11:13 PM
I'm just saying it as a way to get a non-3.0 large sword. Never said it was better.

The way I read it, he's already playing the character and has a Fullblade, so that wouldn't be an issue.

The Rabbler
2010-03-08, 11:25 PM
so far I like the idea of the belt of battle as well as the endless wand of heroics. any other ideas as to how i can stay ahead of my DM?

Eldariel
2010-03-08, 11:37 PM
Uhm, Strongarm Bracers (if you use weapons where damage die is a point, it's a must). Yeah, seconding Belt of Battle. Gauntlets of Ghost Fighting or Ghost Shroud is probably a good idea (basically, they make your attacks Ghosttouch) or a weapon augment crystal to the same end.

I'd definitely get a Heartseeking Amulet [MiC] (3/day, roll an attack as a touch attack, swift action to activate, cheap as all hell), Scout's Headband [MiC] (various abilities that enable you to deal with invisibility) and eventually Boots of Speed (10 rounds of Haste daily! Movement speed, AC, to hit, extra attack! Combat buff extraordinaire). Then, finally, Boots of Flying/Winged Vest [MiC]; you gotta be able to fly for when the need comes.


Oh, and Iridescent Spindle Ioun Stone is nice (tad expensive, but not having to breathe is gold), as is Ring of Sustenance. And Hand of Glory is very useful for the extra Ring-slot. And Heward's Handy Haversack, of course. May eventually want to consider Ring of Blinking; it's an excellent tool for non-AC based defense as a warrior. You only have 20% miss chance, they have 50% (most of the time). Though of course, not omnipotent or anything. But it's already a bit more expensive, clocking in at 27k. Rest of the stuff listed here is 10k and under.

The Rabbler
2010-03-08, 11:50 PM
Uhm, Strongarm Bracers (if you use weapons where damage die is a point, it's a must). Yeah, seconding Belt of Battle. Gauntlets of Ghost Fighting or Ghost Shroud is probably a good idea (basically, they make your attacks Ghosttouch) or a weapon augment crystal to the same end.

I'd definitely get a Heartseeking Amulet [MiC] (3/day, roll an attack as a touch attack, swift action to activate, cheap as all hell), Scout's Headband [MiC] (various abilities that enable you to deal with invisibility) and eventually Boots of Speed (10 rounds of Haste daily! Movement speed, AC, to hit, extra attack! Combat buff extraordinaire). Then, finally, Boots of Flying/Winged Vest [MiC]; you gotta be able to fly for when the need comes.


Oh, and Iridescent Spindle Ioun Stone is nice (tad expensive, but not having to breathe is gold), as is Ring of Sustenance. And Hand of Glory is very useful for the extra Ring-slot. And Heward's Handy Haversack, of course. May eventually want to consider Ring of Blinking; it's an excellent tool for non-AC based defense as a warrior. You only have 20% miss chance, they have 50% (most of the time). Though of course, not omnipotent or anything. But it's already a bit more expensive, clocking in at 27k. Rest of the stuff listed here is 10k and under.

I was thinking something along the lines of boots of expeditious retreat, cloak of the pheonix, ring of evasion, maybe a vest of minor displacement, and a glove of storing with a stone of good luck inside.

Eldariel
2010-03-09, 12:13 AM
I was thinking something along the lines of boots of expeditious retreat, cloak of the pheonix, ring of evasion, maybe a vest of minor displacement, and a glove of storing with a stone of good luck inside.

You have enough money to burn on Phoenix Cloak? Get Wings of Flying from DMG instead. Only Good maneuverability, but you don't need to pump your ground-speed (meaning you can skip Boots of Expeditious Retreat). Better yet, getting Haste means you get to move at 90' speed since it improves all your movement speeds.

Ring of Evasion is fine, Ring of Blinking is most likely superior to Vest of Minor Displacement. Luckstone is way too expensive to be a worthwhile buy on these levels; get basic Resistance-items first. Also, the Competence Bonus (Pale Green Prism Ioun Stone) Ioun Stone is better. Boots of Speed beat tar out of Boots of Expeditious Retreat for combat-use, and with Wings of Flying over Phoenix Cloak, your overland speed is already taken care of.


If you intend on using Fullblades, there's absolutely no reason not to get Strongarm Bracers. It's cheap and the improvement is immense. I'd definitely get Scout's Headband either way along with martial school items from ToB. Scout's Headband is cheap and allows you to deal with all forms of illusion and invisibility quite efficiently. Martial school items expand your maneuvers known. Martial school weapon could also be a good idea; +3 to hit for +1 ability is very nice. And honestly, don't leave home without Heartseeking Amulet. Touch attacks are nice.

Oh, and if money is truly no object, +5 Tomes and Starmantle Cloak [BoED] are excellent investments. Starmantle Cloak is just one of the best defensive items ever and +5 Tomes are Tomes. Though they're all over 100k gp a piece so they can put a slight dent into your wallet.

The Rabbler
2010-03-09, 12:32 AM
You have enough money to burn on Phoenix Cloak? Get Wings of Flying from DMG instead. Only Good maneuverability, but you don't need to pump your ground-speed (meaning you can skip Boots of Expeditious Retreat). Better yet, getting Haste means you get to move at 90' speed since it improves all your movement speeds.

I was thinking for sometime down the line for my items. i'm baisically looking at anything that could be of use. ever. that being said, I personally don't find 10 rounds/day of haste to be that useful. i'm pretty sure one of my party members is going to be an incantrix, so i probably wont need to worry about that


Ring of Evasion is fine, Ring of Blinking is most likely superior to Vest of Minor Displacement. Luckstone is way too expensive to be a worthwhile buy on these levels; get basic Resistance-items first. Also, the Competence Bonus (Pale Green Prism Ioun Stone) Ioun Stone is better. Boots of Speed beat tar out of Boots of Expeditious Retreat for combat-use, and with Wings of Flying over Phoenix Cloak, your overland speed is already taken care of.

I was assuming that resistance items/AC boosts/useful stat boosts would be applied to the items i choose. right now i'm just looking for effective base items. I'll have to look into the boots of speed, though it sounds quite powerful, and I've always loved the idea of giant wings sprouting from the back of a human.


Oh, and if money is truly no object, +5 Tomes and Starmantle Cloak [BoED] are excellent investments. Starmantle Cloak is just one of the best defensive items ever and +5 Tomes are Tomes. Though they're all over 100k gp a piece so they can put a slight dent into your wallet.

now this is where i might run into a problem. I know i'll be able to afford at least one or two +5 tomes, but my party members have a history of completely raping the BoED, so the Starmantle Cloak might be out of my reach. definitely worth looking up though, thanks.

Also, i was wanting to get a solid idea as to how powerful a Cloak of the Consort [DoUD] is as an item. It seemed pretty useful, but then again, I thought the belt of battle was only meh when i first looked at it.