What tier is WBL in 3.5?

[mabriss lethe]

It's an odd question, I know. I really want to know the degree to which gear can influence the game dynamics.

Assume we take a level 20(or break it down at L 5/10/15/20) commoner with full WBL. Let's also ignore feats and skills for the time being. If we selected his gear carefully, at what tier could he function at? I'd like to specifically exclude spell completion, spell trigger, and items that require specific skills to use. I want to focus on gear that anyone, regardless of class or build, could put to good use.

[Extra Anchovies]

Well, there's always the Cube, a legendary example of WBL utilization (in particular the use of Spellclocks, the Landlord feat, and Stronghold Builder's Guidebook) from Test of Spite. Here's an explanation (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=8187767&postcount=7) of its general premise from its creator.

Sadly, he refused to reveal the specifics of its construction and operation. I had a link to a write-up of how it probably functioned as theorized by someone else, but have lost that particular bookmark since I found that one several years ago.

ETA: Found it. (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=631503) That was quick. The Cube is in the "Other Notes" section all the way at the bottom.

[Tvtyrant]

Tier 1 of course. Can break the game in multiple ways (wish loops, use activated items, etc.) That is why so many attempts to "prove" the capabilities of lower tier classes revolve around item abuse, and why Artifcers are tier 1.

[Extra Anchovies]

Tier 1 of course. Can break the game in multiple ways (wish loops, use activated items, etc.) That is why so many attempts to "prove" the capabilities of lower tier classes revolve around item abuse, and why Artifcers are tier 1.

It's all about those partially charged wands, man. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?80704-Beating-Batman-Sir-Giacomo-s-Guide-to-Monks)

[StreamOfTheSky]

As a DM who likes using humanoid (or other creatures capable of using gear and speaking) opponents a lot, but is very mindful of how stupidly fast the party would obliterate WBL if I actually equipped them properly, I'm constantly wondering what having a tiny fraction of WBL or no magic items at all is "worth" in terms of extra HD/levels for the creature.

Wish I had an answer. Still kinda figuring it out. All I know is, losing WBL hurts noncasters far more than casters. You can pile on several bonus levels of noncaster to make up for no wealth and be fine. Casters don't lose that much...well, they do lose a fair bit, but as long as they have their component/focus, they can toss save or die/suck/lose spells no matter how rich they are. But everyone knows that.

My current workaround is to just use my homebrew "vow of poverty" (http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?320057-Simple-%28hopefully%29-balanced-Vow-of-Poverty-Houserules!) (it can be for any alignment...as long as you're not keeping/using expensive/magic items and throwing it all away or donating to some cause that doesn't personally benefit you or your friends...a lawful evil person w/ the vow might give all his money to various despotic rulers so they can hire more soldiers to crush all dissent) on a bunch of enemies. It basically gives you WBL, but as inner "essence points" that only work for you. The downsides are inability to mimic expendable magic items at all and only getting to change your gear at level up, and at each level up only getting the WBL for that point, then spending the entire level stuck w/ the same stuff while others might gradually acquire more stuff on the way to next level's WBL.

[I3igAl]

Tier 1 of course. Can break the game in multiple ways (wish loops, use activated items, etc.) That is why so many attempts to "prove" the capabilities of lower tier classes revolve around item abuse, and why Artifcers are tier 1.

Agreed here.