Standard build order?

[NineThePuma]

So, you're an adventurer. You adventure, get treasure, whatever. Presumably you spend it on gear, right?

Well, what order do you buy that gear in?

I look at builds, and some things are obvious (Hit 2nd level, go for Masterwork Gear; hit third and buy yourself some enchanted armor). But as you start gaining levels, you start needing to pick up other items (Rings of Protection spring to mind), and I realized that for all our handbooks and stuff, there is only very rarely any thought given to some sort of "Newbies Guide to Numbers" and that led me to thinking about general build orders.

Therefore; What sort of "Build Order" would you expect from a run of the mill Non-caster melee. It should be generic, it shouldn't be optimized out the wingwang, and it definitely needs to be simple.

What say you, oh playground?

[Godskook]

Cause part of the problem with that is that gear is highly dependent on campaign. What items are available, when you can go shopping, and what's been given to you as spoils of war. Also depends on what your DM throws at you.

[NineThePuma]

Assuming Magic Mart, then.

[Eldariel]

What's the most efficient *shrug* Some builds really want some key items (Monk's Belt and Ring of Blinking are good examples) and others really skyrocket some relevant values (e.g. Fullplate or Animated Shield), and some are just stupid efficient (e.g. Boots of Speed or Feathered Wings).

Generally, you want to prioritize the key items and outside those, get the cheapest improvements first. For instance, +1 armor/shield is v. cheap and something you'll want anyways later on to enchant them so getting them when they count is usually a good idea. Stat boosts are something you'll want in the short and the long term, and quite cheap while being strong when bought for relevant stats. +1 on weapons is actually a terrible deal outside penetrating DR/Magic (prolly better to get an Oil for that and waste the action).

Obviously, you start building towards the biggest impact enhancements first. E.g. Archer wants +1 and then straight Splitting. Chargers want their Valorous and other similar considerations should be taken. In short, you generally get small bonuses with few thousand and then try to save up the ~10k or whatever you need for the first big item/improvement (the exact timing depends on how much said big item/improvement is, of course).


Cheapest sources first, of course. And Deflection is the best source of AC if you do opt to build any so it should come first.

[Mato]

++me, +X resistance to saves, damage avoidance, utility, and in that order too.

Increasing your self is the top priority. It can take several forms, for meleers a weapon is their highest priority a good weapon means better damage for spellcasters they favor +X to their casting ability score since that provides direct bonuses to the number of spells they can cast per day as will as how effective they are (save dcs). Others, or simply people with larger budgets, will look into other various bonuses too. A DMM using cleric would look into increasing their number of Turns per day, a Rogue would look into buffing Hide or ensuring SA works.

The second thing on your list of things to buy is Save buffs. Unlike even a negative AC total, fail one save and you can be out of the game indefinitely. Later on your save protection will evolve into forms total protection. Like a Ring of Freedom Of Movement and Soulfire Armor.

Next up is damage avoidance. Combat is a large part of the game and damage is a large part of combat. You need a way to take or avoid those hits. This generally manifests in the form of AC but not always. You can invest in mobility such as flight for a form of damage avoidance. You could invest in your ability to Hide to ghost people. Or even in miss chances or effects that impose some sort of barrier between you and your opponent.

Lastly, utility. Utility is fundamentally based on the concept of expending what you can do to cover other roles. In a team based game, the is the last thing you need to consider. For instance, you don't need to buy a Wand of Knock if the beatstick can create his own doors. What you should do is invest in some sort of healing at this point though, just in case your bandage dies.

[marcielle]

Really thoug, there can't be any hard and fast rules for anything other than weaponry unless you are using very specific builds that depend on certain items. That being said, you can use these as shoping catalogs if you don't have time to flip through the MIC and Completes.
http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=350.0
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=148101

[sonofzeal]

I tend towards non-magical classes, so...

+X Vest of Resistance

+X armor/shield (mithral buckler if necessary for no ACP and free hands, or Animated Tower shield for heavier sorts)

+X Ammy of NA (MIC says this property can be shared with other necklace items)

+X Ring of Protection

+ability items (4000 for +2 to relevant stats is worth it)

Utility items - wands if UMD is practical, but Feather Tokens and the like are always good.

+X Weapon (I tend to de-emphasize this a lot; magic weapons simply cost far too much for their benefit. Adamantine is worth it, as is +1 to count as magic, but special properties are generally a low priority for me unless I have a specific target in mind. I've seen what happens when people spend 50% of their starting gold or more on one good weapon, and it's rarely worth it. Powerful magic weapons are one of the most common quest rewards anyway.)

[Keld Denar]

Crap that sucks, and the things that keep them from sucking so hard. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=187851)

It really is party dependant. If you have a large group with a few active casters, you don't need to fake a lot of the things you can get from spells. If you can get Mind Blank cast on you every day, that saves you 110,000g, for example.

Also, the MIC actually has some good charts and tables for estimating where your wealth should be tied up by character level.

[Gavinfoxx]

Wand of Cure Light Wounds / Belt of Battle are close to the top...