Weapons and armor vs Magic items

[Valthonis]

So I already have an answer to my own question, but I was curious to see whether or not my answer was an opinion or something that most people agree with. This question obviously pertains to martial characters as opposed to spell casters because the latter don't really need weapons and armor. But the question is, which do you think is more important for martial characters - having decked out weapons and armor with little to no magic accessories or having nearly mundane weapons and armor with enough magic items to blind a wizard using detect magic on you?

My personal response would be a mix of the two sides with a slight lean towards magic items. And of course it also depends on your class: a rogue would want more magic items while a fighter would want better weapons and armor.

[Drachasor]

Depends on how you plan on handling defenses, but if you have the capability of wearing armor then investing in better AC makes at least some sense. You have to go heavily towards AC for it to matter as you level. You really do need to be increasing your AC by about 1 per level and something on the order of 16 to 20 + Character_Level is what you should be shooting for as an absolute minimum.

Of course you could go with various miss chances and other protections instead. This is easiest for Wizards.

You definitely do need to invest in save-improving items.

Don't have too much of a choice here since if you are dead you can't use the fun items you get with your leftover cash.

[HalfQuart]

AC often requires a delicate balance and if you focus too much on it tends to lead to an arms race with the DM... which you will lose -- or the rest of your party with less optimized AC will get hammered.

I'd say for a martial character you MUST get a magic weapon as soon as you can.. DR x/magic is pretty common. After that, balancing your acquisitions to provide offenses, defenses, and utilities would be preferable to maxing out any one thing.

[Drachasor]

Yes. The best defenses are summons, constructs, and that fighter over there. Also, avoid getting hit.

Sadly the Fighter probably needs to invest a whole bunch into AC. Can't neglect everything else. Certainly magical weapons -- also very pricey -- and mobility are very important too.