So Much Gold...

[Afgncaap5]

So... a friend is joining a Pathfinder game at level 7. His DM said that he could have 100,000 gp for equipping his character.

I told my friend that was too much many. My friend said he told the GM the same thing. The GM said "It's not really that much."

I'm trying to resist the urge to equip my friend in a way that will prove this GM wrong, because that won't be fun for anyone except for me, and I'm not even in the game. If this was 3.5, I'd know exactly what items to give his character (a level 7 alchemist). But... in Pathfinder I don't know all the ins and outs of the system, so while I've given him a lot of good items so far I want to make sure that I'm not overlooking anything (and my friend specifically says he wants to "abuse this so hard.") He decided to get 100 of each baseline alchemical item of the bat, +5 armor, a +3 crossbow and a +1 sickle just for kicks, among other things, and has about 40,000 gp left.

I'm using this Reddit post (https://www.reddit.com/r/Pathfinder_RPG/comments/2cv8z8/master_list_of_essentialuseful_magic_items/) as a beginning guide, but I just know that I'm still gonna miss something. So... any ideas on 40k worth of Pathfinder magic/special items? Or, alternatively, items that he should get with 100k gold that would be good for him to get?

[Platymus Pus]

So... a friend is joining a Pathfinder game at level 7. His DM said that he could have 100,000 gp for equipping his character.

I told my friend that was too much many. My friend said he told the GM the same thing. The GM said "It's not really that much."

I'm trying to resist the urge to equip my friend in a way that will prove this GM wrong, because that won't be fun for anyone except for me, and I'm not even in the game. If this was 3.5, I'd know exactly what items to give his character (a level 7 alchemist). But... in Pathfinder I don't know all the ins and outs of the system, so while I've given him a lot of good items so far I want to make sure that I'm not overlooking anything (and my friend specifically says he wants to "abuse this so hard.") He decided to get 100 of each baseline alchemical item of the bat, +5 armor, a +3 crossbow and a +1 sickle just for kicks, among other things, and has about 40,000 gp left.

I'm using this Reddit post (https://www.reddit.com/r/Pathfinder_RPG/comments/2cv8z8/master_list_of_essentialuseful_magic_items/) as a beginning guide, but I just know that I'm still gonna miss something. So... any ideas on 40k worth of Pathfinder magic/special items? Or, alternatively, items that he should get with 100k gold that would be good for him to get?

The GM is kinda right, it's more than usual for a 7th level character from starting, but the GM isn't going to have trouble with a 7th level character being slightly richer.
Not exactly going to "prove him wrong" there.

A list of magic items if you don't know about it.
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items

[Kurald Galain]

I'm not really seeing how you can break the game with this.

You can get your numbers higher. For example, a level-7 character would normally have around a cloak of protection +2, and now you can afford a +5 cloak (the highest in the book). This means all your saving throws are now three points higher, which is good but not game-breakingly so, and the GM can compensate by throwing higher-level encounters at you.

I think I'd go with two powerful items in the 30,000 - 40,000 range that you normally wouldn't get at that level (e.g. a ring of Freedom of Movement) and spend the rest on regular gear.

[Platymus Pus]

If you want to make the most of it abuse the crafting system, maybe get a cohort that can craft though diplomacy.

[Sayt]

Honestly? I'd just grab the standard big six, Greater Wings of Flight, and then bump up the big six a few notches where convienient and grab some skill boosters like Lenses of Detection.

[prufock]

Greater Mask of the Giant could be fun at this level.
Helm of Teleportation could give the DM headaches.
I always have a soft spot for the Instant Fortress.
Cube of Force can be awesome.
And of course the Mirror of Opposition can screw with enemies wonderfully.

[Âmesang]

My first thought is to spend the normal amount on items that a 7th-level character might be expected to have, and then spend the remaining amount on a building (grand house, at least) and membership into any important, local guilds.

Nice for the roleplaying aspect, and, perhaps, it could offer some connections that'll present some long-lasting benefits. Hopefully. :smallsmile:

[Grod_The_Giant]

Get a Blessed Book and fill it with every spell you can potentially cast. (Should be easy, scribing spells is real cheap in Pathfinder). Get a few Boro Beads/Preserving Flasks, and then a Handy Haversack full of potions to use with Alchemical Allocation.

[Douglas]

Bonuses are nice, flat-out immunities are better. Ring of Freedom of Movement is incredibly good unless your DM never even tries to shut down your mobility. Expensive at 40k, but within your budget and well worth the price. A cloak of minor displacement is also an excellent buy, permanent 20% miss chance for just 24k.

For the portion you spend on numerical bonuses, don't forget ability score increasers. He'll probably want a Headband of Vast Intelligence +4 (you could get +6 but it's a lot less cost effective) and Belt of Mighty Constitution +2 or +4, and possibly others. You'll get more for your money by getting a lot of small bonus items (to different things or with different bonus types) rather than a few big ones. On the other hand, lower bonus items are more likely to be replaced sooner, while getting a single max bonus item would last a long time and might get the skipped lesser items filled in by loot during play.

[Florian]

"It's not really that much."

He´s right. Even sticking to the most basic items will burn through that sum fast.
Belt of Physical Might +2, Headband of Vast Intelligence +4, Cloak of Resistance +4, Ring of Protection +3, Amulet of Natural Armor +3, Chain Shirt +3, a Rapier +1 and a Handy Haversack leave you with around 10K on potions and other stuff like that.

[TheYell]

Apparently my GMs have been incredibly stingy. We just had a guy join, 5th level, and he got 10k to buy gear with.

[sleepyphoenixx]

He´s right. Even sticking to the most basic items will burn through that sum fast.
Belt of Physical Might +2, Headband of Vast Intelligence +4, Cloak of Resistance +4, Ring of Protection +3, Amulet of Natural Armor +3, Chain Shirt +3, a Rapier +1 and a Handy Haversack leave you with around 10K on potions and other stuff like that.

It's not that much for a 12th-13th level character. For a 7th level it's about twice the expected WBL iirc.

With those items it's just a point or two added to some numbers, but your gear selection is hardly optimal. If you spend that cash on something actually useful you'll get a whole lot of bang for 50,000gp that can put you quite a bit over the expected power level.

Unless the DM hands out that much to everyone, of course. If it's a high wealth campaign that's just fine.

[Kurald Galain]

Apparently my GMs have been incredibly stingy. We just had a guy join, 5th level, and he got 10k to buy gear with.
10k isn't stingy. Rather, 100k is exceedingly generous; 10k is normal and average for level 5.

That said, giving a party more (or less) money than the average isn't game-breaking.

[Florian]

That said, giving a party more (or less) money than the average isn't game-breaking.

Not entirely true. There is an issue when Staves become available earlier than expected or certain cradles show up early...

@Sleepyphoenixx:

I PM´d you the reasons why I proposed very basic items only and more or less simply tripled the expected boni from the unchained automatic boni table.

[sleepyphoenixx]

That said, giving a party more (or less) money than the average isn't game-breaking.

When everyone gets more wealth, sure. Assuming the DM adjusts the encounters to the new power level anyway, because "too easy" can be just as broken as "you have masterwork weapons. Now fight these ghosts". The only difference is that it's boring instead of frustrating.

And as is said, 100,000gp is WBL for a 12-13th level character, almost twice what a 7th level usually gets. That's a big chunk of power if you buy smart.

[Spore]

+5 armor, a +3 crossbow and a +1 sickle just for kicks, among other things, and has about 40,000 gp left.

This money is spent ... suboptimal at least. An acceptable (not gamebreaking) way to spend it

An Alchemist can have:

+4 Cloak of Resistance:16.000
+2 Melee and Ranged Weapons (I like my +1 Vicious Weapons): 16.000
Headband of Intelligence +4 : 16.000
Belt of Physical Might +4 (Str/Con or Dex/Con): 40.000

This leaves 12.000 for a Handy Haversack/Bag of Holding and many alchemical items (100 of each is overkill and NEVER needed anyhow). Buy potions for Alchemical Allocation (take Enhance Potion in order to be able to have scaling potions). This way you have higher stats and saves, more extracts and better bombs.

If he wants to break the game he should look into the wondrous item list. Spending the wealth to kill and reanimate a Tyrannosaurus and a Triceratops via Alchemical Zombie, he can have skeletal/zombie dinosaurs. That would be so rad. But he has to wait until 8 and then find and down them.

[Florian]

When everyone gets more wealth, sure. Assuming the DM adjusts the encounters to the new power level anyway, because "too easy" can be just as broken as "you have masterwork weapons. Now fight these ghosts". The only difference is that it's boring instead of frustrating.

And as is said, 100,000gp is WBL for a 12-13th level character, almost twice what a 7th level usually gets. That's a big chunk of power if you buy smart.

"Buying Smart" will create a vast disparity problem when there´re class-specific items that advance certain class features or double boni based on the class wearing them. Classes like the Alchemist actually get shafted here as you can either stick to very basic items or go hardcore-exploit mode. There´s nothing in-between there.
At times the results can be pretty.... weird.

[Artillery]

If your friend takes a race, like Tiefling, with a spell-like ability they can qualify for Craft Wondrous Item.
That opens up wealth quite a bit.
Half-price magic items is worth the feat
+6 Headband of Intellect for 18,000 gp
+4 Belt of Physical Might for 20,000 gp
Blessed Book for 6,250 gp
Bookplate of Recall for 500 gp
2x Cracked Pale Green Prism Ioun Stone for 4,000 gp (one of attack, one for saves)
+5 Cloak of Resistance for 12,500 gp
Handy Haversack for 1,000 gp
Hybridization Funnel for 100 gp
Poisoner's Gloves for 2,500 gp
Wayfinder, Vanishing for 4,000 gp (up to 5 minute per day invisibility with concentration, 2/day remove fatigue as free action)
That is 68,850 gp spent. They get +6 Intelligence, +4 to 2 physical stats, a functionally unlimited formula book you can't lose, +6 to saves(5 resistance, 1 competence), +1 competence to attack, and some generally good Alchemist stuff. Still can make Boro beads, Preserving Flasks, etc. Leaves plenty of room for more purchases depending on the type of Alchemist.

[Seward]

If your friend takes a race, like Tiefling, with a spell-like ability they can qualify for Craft Wondrous Item.
That opens up wealth quite a bit.
Half-price magic items is worth the feat
+6 Headband of Intellect for 18,000 gp
+4 Belt of Physical Might for 20,000 gp
Blessed Book for 6,250 gp
Bookplate of Recall for 500 gp
2x Cracked Pale Green Prism Ioun Stone for 4,000 gp (one of attack, one for saves)
+5 Cloak of Resistance for 12,500 gp
Handy Haversack for 1,000 gp
Hybridization Funnel for 100 gp
Poisoner's Gloves for 2,500 gp
Wayfinder, Vanishing for 4,000 gp (up to 5 minute per day invisibility with concentration, 2/day remove fatigue as free action)
That is 68,850 gp spent. They get +6 Intelligence, +4 to 2 physical stats, a functionally unlimited formula book you can't lose, +6 to saves(5 resistance, 1 competence), +1 competence to attack, and some generally good Alchemist stuff. Still can make Boro beads, Preserving Flasks, etc. Leaves plenty of room for more purchases depending on the type of Alchemist.

Just about nothing on the list can actually be crafted at L7 (int headband is L8, dex/con item is L12, ioun stones are L12, cloak of resistance is +1 per 3 levels, so caps at +2 with CL=7, Haversack is CL9 + secret page). It's cheaper to take the best 40 spells from each of the L1-3 formula lists and scribe them in a mundane spellbook than to craft a Blessed Book and it's almost as cheap to scribe EVERY spell on the L1-3 formula lists (about 60 spells each). Vanishing wayfinder does nothing for someone with invisibility as a L2 formula, just craft a normal one.

Looking at what you can actually craft legally, even assuming using a racial spell like ability really lets you craft (this doesn't fly at all tables), you save less than 4k gold, slightly more if you fill in every single L1-3 spell in your blessed book. This is not worth a feat.

Here's what I'd do with the cash:

Assuming base dex of 14, con of 14, wisdom of 8

Defensive items - spend roughly half the cash, focusing on things formulas can't do.
This is plenty of AC for a back-ranker at level 7, and it's fairly cheap to increase it
(the next four bumps are 5-6k each for +3 armor/shield, ioun stone, jingusa of fortunate soldier,
ring of protection+2) but doing so will eat into cash we want for other things.

AC/hitpoints: 20357gp AC 24 AC base (22 flatfooted)
With dex mutagen and barkskin (both last 70 minutes) AC 31 (27 flatfooted)
Belt of Con+2/dex+2 10000
More dexterity than +2 doesn't help, as mithril chain shirt caps at +6, although a Con mutagen is possible as an option if you get a better dex item or prep Cat Grace as a formula.
Mithril Chain Shirt+2 4100
darkwood hvy shield+2 4257
Ring of Protection+1 2000

Saving throws 29k: F14 R14 W7 (assuming 14 base con/dex, 8 wisdom)
reflex goes up to 16 with mutagen
Cloak Resist+5 25k
Cracked Pale Green Prism Ioun stone (+1 competence all saves) 4k

Increasing saves is expensive (8k for +1 will via ioun stone, for example), but the will save at least adequate and the fort and reflex saves are excellent. So you can ignore this category as you level up.

Adding a Wand of Cure Light Wounds gives us a nice round 50k for defensive stuff.

Offensive items - getting the headband of intellect +6 out of the way is very tempting, as it adds to formulas known, increases bomb/splash damage and adds 21 skill points and like the cloak+5, won't need upgrading Spending 36k here leaves 14k for everything else. You will need about 8k of that for some basic slotless gear:

2k Handy Haversack
400 Formula Alembic and Hybridization Funnel
5.6k your favorite 40 each L1, L2, L3 (120 total) formulas, not counting whatever you get for leveling up
(so your book will have about 52 L1, 46 L2 and 42 L3 formulas)

Some suggestions for the remaining 6k - just look at cheap items in each slot
2.2-2.5k Ring of Feather Fall or Ring of Sustenance
1.0-2k Boots of the Cat or Feather Step Boots
2.5 Eyes of the Eagle
1k Quick Runner Shirt
2k Gloves of Reconnaissance
1k each (boro bead, level 1)
some L1 wands or potions of things you can't do with formulas.

If you want more things in this category, ease up on either AC or saves. For example you could downgrade the belt to just con +2, and ditch the shield and use reduce person + shield formulas (and boro beads perhaps) to get the equivalent effect for shorter periods of times. I'd leave the cloak at +5 but if you would rather spend 4k on something other than the cracked ioun stone, it's there. Obviously if you can live with a headband +4 or are willing to downgrade the cloak there is a lot more cash, but for me I find the basic statboost and resistance items incredibly boring to buy, so I like it when I can get them "out of the way". If you just need a moderate amount of cash, going with a few less L3 formulas will add up pretty quick (they're 90 each, so dropping to 30ish instead of 42 will save about 1k)

As a comparison to normal wealth by level (11,700gp) - mostly you have +1-2 cloak, +0-1 on each AC item, +2 headband and either a dex or a con belt, not both. you also likely have a smaller formula book and maybe one thing from that final list of "cheap" items. So Ac is 3-4 lower, saves are probably in the range of 8-10 for fort/reflex and 2-3 for will and you might have 7 fewer hitpoints.

[Spore]

ust about nothing on the list can actually be crafted at L7 (int headband is L8, dex/con item is L12, ioun stones are L12, cloak of resistance is +1 per 3 levels, so caps at +2 with CL=7, Haversack is CL9 + secret page).

The caster level of the item has nothing to do with the required level of the crafter. It does set the base DC for crafting and only that.

[Seward]

Well, caster level absolutely does apply for cloak of resistance, armor enhancements and magic weapons. Forge Ring has a CL12 requirement as well, and craft rod L9.

Whether it does for wondrous items other than a cloak depends on the campaign and version of D&D. I've been in many more campaigns where crafting was either banned or caster level was enforced, than those where it was ignored.

This line is often interpreted to mean the caster level matters:
"Creating some items may entail other prerequisites beyond or other than spellcasting. See the individual descriptions for details. "

I would be highly surprised that in a campaign where the GM is giving out 10x expected wealth per level that he'll let you double that by taking one feat. If he does, and he lets you craft all that stuff at CL7 instead of what it says in the item description and lets you craft it all before the game starts, then yeah, it's a good use of a feat.

[Segev]

IT would cost 56,700 gold pieces, but if you got him a large keg/brewer type device (I suggest a cart or two-legged drover to carry it for you) that produced the "Primordial Draught" but could only be operated by an Alchemist, it would cast polymorph as a standard action on anybody you liked. Give it a nice hose-gun attachment so you can cast it on people with your own action.

[Artillery]

Well, caster level absolutely does apply for cloak of resistance, armor enhancements and magic weapons. Forge Ring has a CL12 requirement as well, and craft rod L9.

Whether it does for wondrous items other than a cloak depends on the campaign and version of D&D. I've been in many more campaigns where crafting was either banned or caster level was enforced, than those where it was ignored.

This line is often interpreted to mean the caster level matters:
"Creating some items may entail other prerequisites beyond or other than spellcasting. See the individual descriptions for details. "

I would be highly surprised that in a campaign where the GM is giving out 10x expected wealth per level that he'll let you double that by taking one feat. If he does, and he lets you craft all that stuff at CL7 instead of what it says in the item description and lets you craft it all before the game starts, then yeah, it's a good use of a feat.



Gear and Magic Items

What is the caster level required to create a pearl of power?

Though the listed Caster Level for a pearl of power is 17th, that caster level is not part of the Requirements listing for that item. Therefore, the only caster level requirement for a pearl of power is the character has to be able to cast spells of the desired level.

However, it makes sense that the minimum caster level of the pearl is the minimum caster level necessary to cast spells of that level--it would be strange for a 2nd-level pearl to be CL 1st.

For example, a 3rd-level wizard with Craft Wondrous Item can create a 1st-level pearl, with a minimum caster level of 1. He can set the caster level to whatever he wants (assuming he can meet the crafting DC), though the pearl's caster level has no effect on its powers (other than its ability to resist dispel magic). If he wants to make a 2nd-level pearl, the caster level has to be at least 3, as wizards can't cast 2nd-level spells until they reach character level 3. He can even try to make a 3rd-level pearl, though the minimum caster level is 5, and he adds +5 to the DC because he doesn't meet the "able to cast 3rd-level spells" requirement.

(SKR, 8/18/10)

–Sean K Reynolds (08/18/10)


This is pathfinder. Crafting magic items doesn't require the items caster level unless it explicitly says something like, requires caster level of 3 times the bonus. So you are correct about the cloak of resistance. You can bypass plenty of requirements for crafting by just adding +5 to the crafting dc per requirement he doesn't meet.

[Florian]

So yeah, "overcrafting" is possible in PF, covered by the rules and even needed to craft some thing on the appropriate level. So what?
Unless the GM has specified that the free gp given can also be spent specifically on crafting, a thing that has not been mentioned anywhere, why is this a topic then?

[Andezzar]

Honestly? I'd just grab the standard big six, Greater Wings of Flight, and then bump up the big six a few notches where convienient and grab some skill boosters like Lenses of Detection.What are the big six?

[Yanisa]

What are the big six?

The six most basic magic items that are useful for every class.

I will borrow a quote:

Big Six: Magic Armor (or Bracers of Armor), Magic Weapon, Ring of Protection, Cloak of Resistance, Amulet of Natural Armor, and either a Belt of physical stat(s), or Headband of mental stat(s) (sometimes both).
Source. (https://www.reddit.com/r/Pathfinder_RPG/comments/2cv8z8/master_list_of_essentialuseful_magic_items/cjjeuvp)

[Seward]

Note that pretty much all primary casters, and this includes Alchemists, can skip the magic weapon. They tend to use that cash on things that helps spellcasting instead (wizard spellbooks, pages of spell knowledge for spont casters, pearls of power for prep casters, metamagic rods, scrolls, wands etc etc).

It's a pretty fair cop. I break it down slightly differently.

You need offense.

You need Armor Class and Hitpoints (high in one lets you be lower in the other, but decent in both is a realistic and worthwhile goal for most characters)

You need to try to avoid failing saving throws. Most commonly these are items that directly boost saves in some ways, but stealth items, long distance offense items and a few other things can mean you avoid making a save entirely (a gaze effect is much harder on a melee than a ranged combatant, as are most close range and all touch range effects).

You need basic utility. At minimum a way to recover hitpoints in a burst (usually a potion of CSW), a way of coping with being dropped into water and fighting underwater, a way of coping with flying opponents and a plan for if you have to climb something or get past a barrier.

Finally you need to be able to do your character's specialties, so a trapfinder will usually spend some cash on perception and disable device, a scout will have some perception and stealth items etc.

For a "normal" character though, the six basic items kind of make sense. My beef is the ring and the amulet are extremely expensive and only raise AC - they're worthwhile in certain wealth levels and when things like shield of faith and barkskin aren't frequently available or alternately if you get ambushed a lot.

I break down cash expense a bit differently:

XX GP spent on raw offense. Usually weapons, sometimes spellcaster stuff.

XX Gp spent on armor class. Usually armor, shield if class allows, wand of mage armor and some way of getting a shield spell up for emergencies when class doesn't allow. Consumables for deflection and nat armor bonuses until those items seem cheap (and neck slot is often needed for something else).

XX gp spent on saving throws. Cloak to +5, ioun stone for the +1 and physical stat boosters when they provide some other benefit (such as attack rolls, AC, blindfight (wisdom ioun stone+wayfinder), skill points, hitpoints).

XX gp spent on utility. This includes crap like handy haversacks, all statboost items, mobility items etc. In the first ten levels almost all of this is consumables, with a few 1-3k items as needed.

The mix though depends on the class abilities and party role. Quite honestly my thought process is generally something like this, and I consider level up options like feats, spells known even class levels as well as items when thinking this through.

1. Are my attacks failing to hit? (spend on attack mod, spell DC's, spell penetration, similar)

2. Are my attacks feeling ineffective (spend on caster level, weapon damage boosters, strength, similar)

3. Am I losing actions due to running out of hitpoints? (spend on hitpoints, armor class items, reflex save)

4. Am I losing actions due to incapacitation (spend on save boosting items and consumables that mitigate conditions such as potion of remove blindness or antitoxin)

5. Am I losing actions because I lack basic utility (such as a way to fly, deal with Darkness spells, similar). Start with consumables, graduate to permanent items for frequent situations when the items seem cheap.

6. Do I suck at something I want to be great at? (invest in some of the +x skill boosters, including actually buying an Int item just to max out a skill. Spot consumables to cover weaknesses such as a potion of touch of the sea for a full platemail guy suddenly dumped into water or an invisibility potion for the 8 dex dude who needs to be sneaky on rare occasions).


For me these are the "big 6", and I usually have some kind of wish list in each area of stuff I'd like to have, be it feats, class abilities, skill points or items. On complex characters like my halfling tank, where her ability to do decent damage is combined with very high AC and saving throws, I actually chose some feats and class abilities based on how expensive it would have been to buy the equivalent with cash. (looked at that way, a feat like Iron Will can sometimes seem quite a good buy)

"Losing Actions" also includes close calls, where things went ok, but I needed to get freaking lucky to not face-plant in the dirt for most of the fight. Playstyle can matter a lot and let you ignore or slight some categories, at least for a while.

I played an arcane archer with low-single-digit will saves to level 12 successfully mainly because he was able to stay out of "close" range, where most of the spells that test will saves reside, plus aggressively killing first anyone who displayed an abilityy to test a will save. My telekenetic sorceress back in 3.5 had an AC of 12 until about level 11, because with swift fly and her playstyle she normally had an "air barrier" against most physical threats, and had some useful ways to shut down archers after about level 2. Normally my goal for a back ranker is "can take two hits from a major melee monster - one when they charge you, one when you suck up an AOO to get away". My goal for a mid-ranker - someone who needs to get close but doesn't invite melee is to be able to endure a full attack from a primary melee combatant and still be able to act. Tanks are the only ones who get serious effort spent on AC defense - I think for my hafling tank she's at about 30-40% - she is about exactly half offense and half defense but some of that is saves.

[arkangel111]

If he really wants to abuse the game with his purchases just get as many 20th caster level potions as possible. Alchemical Allocation is an amazing spell letting you drink potions without consuming them. as long as he grabs the extend discovery, he can usually drink a potion every other day and have buffs for 40 hours for a single 1st level spell. Grab some boro-beads and you can make sure you can only burn one memorized slot every other day.

I'd spend every dime I could on potions. And then use the rest to get normal gear, anything you happen to miss out on will likely be covered by your uber buffs, or by random party treasure found after he starts.

[Yanisa]

Note that pretty much all primary casters, and this includes Alchemists, can skip the magic weapon. They tend to use that cash on things that helps spellcasting instead (wizard spellbooks, pages of spell knowledge for spont casters, pearls of power for prep casters, metamagic rods, scrolls, wands etc etc).

A lot of casters are happy with a dueling weapon (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/magic-weapons/magic-weapon-special-abilities/dueling).

Not saying there aren't better options to spend gold on, but a magic weapon still completes a caster.

[Seward]

If he really wants to abuse the game with his purchases just get as many 20th caster level potions as possible. Alchemical Allocation is an amazing spell letting you drink potions without consuming them. as long as he grabs the extend discovery, he can usually drink a potion every other day and have buffs for 40 hours for a single 1st level spell. Grab some boro-beads and you can make sure you can only burn one memorized slot every other day.

I'd spend every dime I could on potions. And then use the rest to get normal gear, anything you happen to miss out on will likely be covered by your uber buffs, or by random party treasure found after he starts.

That's actually pretty good advice, assuming such things are for sale. I'm used to Pathfinder Society where all potions are sold at minimum caster level unless you find one in play that isn't.

[Florian]

3/4 casters like Alchemists are in a pinch here, though, as they neither have the raw power ceiling of the full casters nor do they have the same staying power. Leaving specific concepts like Hyde aside, that simply means full archer mode, feats, weapons and all to compensate the difference here.

[Florian]

That's actually pretty good advice, assuming such things are for sale. I'm used to Pathfinder Society where all potions are sold at minimum caster level unless you find one in play that isn't.

Please check out your CRB and UE on this. The old formulas for creating those stuff still exists, but the to-buy tables only list the minimum CL for them, basing cost on this modified by creator class.

Going by RAW, you can only use the to-buy table to shop and that limits CL a lot.

[Seward]

Pathfinder society actually uses the creation rules for things like scrolls, potions and wands.

It's just that the Player Characters have most of their access to magic items limited by their "Fame" - a measure of how much they've done for the Pathfinder Society in the past. The Society uses its connections to commission or trade for whatever a PC wants, within gold piece limits, but it appears that their contracts with scroll and potion crafters are primarily with wizards, druids and clerics and only for minimum caster level on any given spell, and only purchases fully charged wands and staves, it doesn't deal in the aftermarket of partially charged items.

The exception is when on a mission a Pathfinder agent loots something like a Potion of Resist Fire, Caster Level 7 or a Wand of Fireball CL9 with 4 charges. At that point the item can be purchased by the Pathfinder agent, or put into storage somewhere until the Agent has the cash to purchase the item. Similar rules apply for custom items not found in sources such as Ultimate Equipment, so something like a Ring of Wisdom +4 or a Belt of Gnomekind might make it into the campaign.