3.5 Abjurant Champion Items

[herrhauptmann]

Currently working on a backup character for a gestalt pbp game I'm in.
The character in question is a Mancer//Wiz/Ftr/Abjurant Champion.
The mancer is a homebrew class of mine, in this case it grants a small number of spells which tend towards air/wind and lightning effects. As well as some other non-spell abilities. Most of which have no real bearing on this question.

The important things: He's 7th level, is allowed Wealth by level, and has both high Dex and Int.

The problem is that I have no idea what items to give him.
Currently: Lesser Air Genasi
Feats: Cali****e Elementalist (Race of Faerun), Weapon Finesse, Combat Reflexes, Combat Casting, Exotic Weapon Prof: X. Knowledge devotion, and Deft Opportunist (If I don't ahve a reach weapon, I'll trade this for something else, perhaps Elemental Bloodline from Races of Faerun)

Items I have or might get:
+1 Weapon. Waiting on approval for spinning sword. If not, either elven courtblade, kusari gama, or spiked chain are all possibilities. As is whip dagger, and your standard martial weapons taht can be finessed. But I lack the bonus damage to make TWF useable. No particular enchantments are jumping out at me, so it'll probably be a basic weapon.
+1 Twilight Githcraft armor: What book is githcraft in? I need that reduced ASF.
-Boots of agile leaping
-Steadfast boots
-Circlet of mages
-Tunic of steady spellcasting
-Headband of intellect
-Gloves of dexterity
-Gloves of spell disruption
-Magic bedroll
-Rod of bodily restoration (Abjurant champion afterall. If not, wand of lesser restore)
-Healing belt.

This character was originally going to be a Mancer//Wiz/swiftblade and an archer. But it was really too complicated a build, especially since I'm still in the process of testing out the Mancer in actual play.
I've looked at the few handbooks I can find, but most of them write their equipment lists for high level play, you know, level 16 and up. That magic ring might be real awesome, but when it costs 20000 gold, I can't afford it any time soon.

[Keld Denar]

Some of the low level standard equipment would be helpful.

Scout's Headband
Anklets of Translocation
3rd Eye: Clarity
Artificer's Monacle
Wand of Lesser Vigor
Healing Belt
+resistance item
Adamantine weapon
+stats

etc.

Eventually, you'll want Soulfire (BoED) on your armor, and possibly Freedom on an animated shield (or the other way around, due to costs involved). You'd also be good to look into some form of Fortification, such as from a Gemstone of Fortification (Draconomicon). That'll cover most of the big stuff that'll kill ya, which is good.

[Andry]

Githcraft armor is in dmg II

[herrhauptmann]

Great, thanks
BTW: Elemental Bloodline IS fortification, 25%. Genasi only.

[herrhauptmann]

Ok, working on that armor now.
I've got
{table=Head]Item|Red. ASF|Change ACP|Max Dex
Githcraft |-5% ASF,
Mithral| -10%| -3 ACP |+2 Dex|
Thistledown| -5% ASF| +1 ACP
Twilight |-10% ASF[/table]
Currently unsure if I want to make my armor as great as possible, or just have a basic +1 which I can stick magic enchantments on, and cast Shield+Luminous armor for my actual protection.

Mithral, thistledown, and githcraft will make it possible to wear a chainshirt with ASF.
Throwing twilight onto it would allow me to wear any medium armor with penalty.

For the luminous armor spells: Is there an easy way to block off that light when I don't need it? I don't want to glow like a beacon all the time. Darkness/Deeper darkness could work. But I'd have to end my darkness spell each fight, and recast it again later. That's a lot of extra spells and I was planning to ban Evocation.
Also the one is 10 minutes per level, and the other 1 day/level. While my luminous armors will be 2 hours/level.

[Kittenwolf]

In all honesty, why are you wearing armor at all?
I've got an Abjurant Champion in my gestalt game (Fighter/Sorc/AbC/Dragonslayer) and she rocks one of the highest ACs in the party purely using Greater Mage Armor, Shield etc :)

[herrhauptmann]

I've got armor partly so that I can keep enchantments like Soulfire going.
RAW or not, I don't agree with wearing Fortification/soulfire bracers of armor +X. Besides, it seems like the right thing to do... :smallconfused:

Greater mage armor is transmutation and an hour per level right?

[Seerow]

I gotta agree with Leviathan, one of the big things about Abjurant Champion is that he protects himself with his magic. Why would you go that route, specializing in defensive magic, then rely on bulky physical armor instead of your own powers?

[Kittenwolf]

I've got armor partly so that I can keep enchantments like Soulfire going.
RAW or not, I don't agree with wearing Fortification/soulfire bracers of armor +X. Besides, it seems like the right thing to do... :smallconfused:


Fair enough :)
Try asking your GM if you can have an item that takes up the Armor slot and can hold armor enchantments, but doesn't give an armor bonus (so you can stack it with mage armor).



Greater mage armor is transmutation and an hour per level right?

Technically yes, but even the designer of the Abjurant Champion class said that Mage Armor should be modified to work with AbC's armor bonus thingies :)

[NNescio]

Fair enough :)


Greater mage armor is transmutation and an hour per level right?

Technically yes, but even the designer of the Abjurant Champion class said that Mage Armor should be modified to work with AbC's armor bonus thingies :)

The Mage Armor series are Conjuration(creation) spells.

[Kittenwolf]

The Mage Armor series are Conjuration(creation) spells.

Yes, you are right. Brain fart on my part :(

[Thrice Dead Cat]

Honestly, you'd probably be better off just grabbing a mithral buckler to get the sweet, sweet armor properties since Greater Luminous Armor should be up nearly all the danged time.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Actually, you want a one-level dip in SpellSword.

mancer//Wiz4/Fighter1/Spellsword1/AbChamp1 is how you get there.

Here's why:

* SpellSword gives you a 10% reduction in ASF. This lets you get away with it in Mithral Chain shirt gratis. Twilight Mithral Chain Shirt already has 0 ASF, you don't need feycraft or any of that nonsense.

* +1 AB and +1 CL make for a happy gish.

As far as items go:

Necklace of Adaptation. Breathe underwater? Sure. Ignore Cloudkill and Stinking Cloud and all other kinds of gas attacks? Yep! How much again? 9k. Sign me up.

Cloak of Resistance. No, really, the thing is stupid cheap for what it gives you. 25k for a +5 to all three resists? Sign me UP!

Ring of Sustenance. For the low, low price of $2,500... you get to have a full night's sleep in 2 hours.

Handy Haversack. Better than a Bag of Holding, and only $2,000!

Use your Shield spell. Pretty soon, you'll be auto-quickening it, plus giving you a +9 Shield bonus to AC. Verah nice deal.

[herrhauptmann]

Actually, you want a one-level dip in SpellSword.
mancer//Wiz4/Fighter1/Spellsword1/AbChamp1 is how you get there.

Here's why:
* SpellSword gives you a 10% reduction in ASF. This lets you get away with it in Mithral Chain shirt gratis. Twilight Mithral Chain Shirt already has 0 ASF, you don't need feycraft or any of that nonsense.
* +1 AB and +1 CL make for a happy gish.

They were mainly a minicompendium, so I could have them all in one spot and decide on which base armor to buy.


As far as items go:

Necklace of Adaptation. Breathe underwater? Sure. Ignore Cloudkill and Stinking Cloud and all other kinds of gas attacks? Yep! How much again? 9k. Sign me up.

Actually air genasi don't breathe. And I've got 25% fortification from a feat. I really think they're the best of the genasi.



Cloak of Resistance. No, really, the thing is stupid cheap for what it gives you. 25k for a +5 to all three resists? Sign me UP!

Shoulda remembered that.



Ring of Sustenance. For the low, low price of $2,500... you get to have a full night's sleep in 2 hours.

Handy Haversack. Better than a Bag of Holding, and only $2,000!

Use your Shield spell. Pretty soon, you'll be auto-quickening it, plus giving you a +9 Shield bonus to AC. Verah nice deal.
Here's the Mancer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=177069) class. Already covers the no-eating part of the ring of sustenance. Not sure if the 2 hours of rest is worth the remainder. Especially since I know the rest of the party doesn't have them.
I was planning on a mithral buckler for more shield enhancements, if needed, and using the shield spell for actual armor. Do you have any suggestions on shutting down the super bright light of the luminous armor when I don't want to stick out like a sore thumb?
Whoops, forgot to include the haversack on my list of things already bought. I especially like how it always lets you just grab what you need, instead of wasting actions.

[Marnath]

Wouldn't vest of resistance be a better purchase? There are a lot of nice cloaks, but not so much for the torso slot.

[herrhauptmann]

Wouldn't vest of resistance be a better purchase? There are a lot of nice cloaks, but not so much for the torso slot.

I'd swear the vest cost more. I remember looking at it and thinking "Why the heck would i wanna use that instead of the normal item?" Plus, I've already got a tunic of steady spellcasting. Need to ensure I can autopass that concentration check.

[Marnath]

I'd swear the vest cost more. I remember looking at it and thinking "Why the heck would i wanna use that instead of the normal item?" Plus, I've already got a tunic of steady spellcasting. Need to ensure I can autopass that concentration check.

Oh. Hmm, I would have sworn it was the same price. Too lazy to look it up though, especially since you already have a thing for that slot anyway.

[herrhauptmann]

Oh. Hmm, I would have sworn it was the same price. Too lazy to look it up though, especially since you already have a thing for that slot anyway.

No no, you're right. Same price. Coulda sworn the alternate body slot rule would've doubled the price...

[Marnath]

No no, you're right. Same price. Coulda sworn the alternate body slot rule would've doubled the price...

That would be true if it took an alternate body slot. However, applying resistance to a vest is a legitimate move. :smallbiggrin:

[Tyndmyr]

If you want armor, delve into Arms and Equipment for a Dastana. It provides an armor bonus that explicitly stacks with other armor bonuses. This is...fantastic.

And of course, being armor, you can enchant away. Obviously, you'll want this to be mithril, mitigating the acp and arcane failure down to 0.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

I was planning on a mithral buckler for more shield enhancements, if needed, and using the shield spell for actual armor. Do you have any suggestions on shutting down the super bright light of the luminous armor when I don't want to stick out like a sore thumb?
Whoops, forgot to include the haversack on my list of things already bought. I especially like how it always lets you just grab what you need, instead of wasting actions.

If you use mithral armor, you can stack enhancements on THAT far easier.

Speaking of enhancements on armor...

Shadowed and Silent Moves. They're 3750 each. They replace Boots and Cloak of Elvinkind, and make you a bit stealthier.

Other than that, or perhaps Heavy Fortification if you want to go whole hog on a +5 equivalent, there's really no armor enhancement worth bothering with.

Well, if you're using the psionic armor list, Gleaming is cheaper than Fortification, and only a +3 for Concealment, which due to the miss chance, also negates sneak attacks and the like. It's probably cheaper than a lesser cloak of displacement, which does about the same thing, and doesn't take up an extra slot.

Actually, Radiant is also a good one, albeit an expensive +4 equivalent. However, a blanket 10 resistance to any of the major types of energy attacks is pretty darn spiffy.

Cloak of Displacement, Minor, is a hell of a lot of fun. It's basically immunity to sneak attacks. The 20% is only icing on the cake. And at 24k, a real bargain.

[Keld Denar]

I dunno, Freedom is a +5 equiv. Putting it on a Mithril Buckler costs you 37000g and change. Thats 3000g less than a FoM ring, and doesn't take up your valuable ring slot. Granted, that would be the ONLY thing I'd put on that buckler.

Alternatively, if you have the Spellsword level, I'd pick up a suit of Mithril Chain Shirt, even if I was casting Greater Mage Armor. A little redundancy doesn't hurt, and again, dropping Freedom on there, and getting a +1 Animated Soulfire shield (49,000g) is a pretty good deal. Complete immunity to grappling and other nasty crap, plus complete immunity to negative energy and [Death] effects is useful for any adventurer.

EDIT: And at higher levels, I'd rather have Energy Immunity than Radiant. Energy Immunity is only a +2 equiv, works 1/day as an immediate action, and makes you completely immune to the flavor of your choice for 1 minute. Great for things like dragons, where damage is high, but consistantly the same energy type. Barring a few corner cases like dudes running around with +1 flaming swords and the like, Energy Immunity will soak more points on a given day. Also, energy resistance 10 is pretty cheap to get as an armor/shield crystal.