Free Magic Item, Which One to Choose?

[Master O'Laughs]

So I am about to play a Life Cleric after losing my Paladin and the DM has given everyone a free uncommon magic item to start with. This has typically been a +1 weapon, but our changeling rogue got a vestment of many styles and our druid got bracers which increase crit range to 19-20. I was looking through the uncommon items to see what looked interesting and these are what I came up with:

Sentinel Shield (advantage on Initiative and perception checks)
Goggles of Dark Vision
Cloak of Protection
Winged Boots
Mithral Heavy Armor

Is one of these hands down better than the rest, or is there an item I may have missed which is really fun/cool/useful?

[Hopeless]

Need more information on your game's setting?

Are you adventuring in the underdark?

Are there skyships?

Your character's patron deity?

What uncommon healing items are there?

[nickl_2000]

So I am about to play a Life Cleric after losing my Paladin and the DM has given everyone a free uncommon magic item to start with. This has typically been a +1 weapon, but our changeling rogue got a vestment of many styles and our druid got bracers which increase crit range to 19-20. I was looking through the uncommon items to see what looked interesting and these are what I came up with:

Sentinel Shield (advantage on Initiative and perception checks)
Goggles of Dark Vision
Cloak of Protection
Winged Boots
Mithral Heavy Armor

Is one of these hands down better than the rest, or is there an item I may have missed which is really fun/cool/useful?

I guess it really depends on your needs. Are you normally in dungeons with low light and do you normally cast the light spells? It's not like you are going to be sneaky with as a life cleric, so the Google of Night may not do you all that much good.

Cloak of protection is very nice since it gives +1 to AC and saves, but it does require attunement and you only get 3 of those. That being said, it may be a low amount of magic items campaign and that may not be a big deal.

For the shield, does it need to be donned to give you that advantage? Because if it does, it's not the best and I would depend son your rogue to help you out there.

Winged boots are awesome in some places. However, if you are tunnel diving, they aren't all that helpful most of the time. Still, I love them (although a lot of DMs hate the introduction of 3 dimension and may not allow them).


Other things worth considering. Immovable Rod, they are simply fun and can be used in lots of situations. Slippers of Spider climbing, but you run into the same issue with 3d now, and possibly the Bag of Tricks (also known as distract the enemy with lots of little animals)

[Specter]

If you're the only person in the group without Darkvision, take Goggles of Night. Many nice things can be done at night or underground with that. Otherwise, boots of flying if you want to avoid melee, or cloak of protection if you don't.

[joaber]

Gauntle of ogre power is a free 19 str. Let you bump just Wis and Con.

[Master O'Laughs]

Lots of great input, thanks!

1) Other Party Members:
-Dragonborn Wizard
-Wood Elf Druid
-Human Fighter (Gunslinger)
-Changeling Rogue

Most of us would no have darkvision

2) World/Adventure info:
-Underground exploring may be significant (I died early on). There is mention of an underdark type place and setting has adventuring set up as a common practice if you want to make lots of money.
-There is a floating wizard city which travels around the continent providing magical items for sale. Magic Item availability does not seem like it will be an issue.

3) Character Info:
Human
Life Cleric
Deity: Dionysus
Background: Guild Artisan (Alchemist)

Attributes (W.I.P. Attributes can be adjusted on a 1 for 1 basis with a few rules):
STR 8
DEX 14
CON 16
INT 10
WIS 18
CHA 14

Feats:
Vuman - Magic Initiate (Good berries, Shillelagh, Thorn Whip
Lvl 4 - War Caster

4) Yes, the shield does need to be wielded. It wouldn't help if in a setting where weapons are stowed away but in a travel setting or exploring setting I imagine having the shield equipped.

[Zene]

Lots of great input, thanks!

1) Other Party Members:
-Dragonborn Wizard
-Wood Elf Druid
-Human Fighter (Gunslinger)
-Changeling Rogue

Most of us would no have darkvision

2) World/Adventure info:
-Underground exploring may be significant (I died early on). There is mention of an underdark type place and setting has adventuring set up as a common practice if you want to make lots of money.
-There is a floating wizard city which travels around the continent providing magical items for sale. Magic Item availability does not seem like it will be an issue.

3) Character Info:
Human
Life Cleric
Deity: Dionysus
Background: Guild Artisan (Alchemist)

Attributes (W.I.P. Attributes can be adjusted on a 1 for 1 basis with a few rules):
STR 8
DEX 14
CON 16
INT 10
WIS 18
CHA 14

Feats:
Vuman - Magic Initiate (Good berries, Shillelagh, Thorn Whip
Lvl 4 - War Caster

4) Yes, the shield does need to be wielded. It wouldn't help if in a setting where weapons are stowed away but in a travel setting or exploring setting I imagine having the shield equipped.

Oh, the life cleric with Druid MI is so much fun! Love mine. A few thoughts:

Definitely skip the goggles. The druid and wizard will be able to cast the Darkvision spell if y'all really need to go full stealth. And for the rest of the time, you'll have plenty of people that can carry torches/cast light/use continual flame. Other items will provide much better value.
The winged boots were my favorite uncommon item --until I got a broom of flying. Faster, non-attunement, can carry someone else with you, and can fly to your hand. Riding a broom, though, is definitely a strange choice flavor-wise for a lot of characters, so your call on that.
Instead of the sentinel shield, consider a weapon of warning. Yes, you lose the Perception bonus, but now your whole party can't be surprised, and you have a magic weapon for purposes of damage resistance. Since you've got Shillelagh (i.e. already have magic damage whenever you need it), you could select a weapon that you could loan out to another party member. Like a shortsword or rapier, or shortbow, any of which the fighter or rogue could use in a pinch.
With shillelagh and thorn whip, is it safe to assume you'll be front-line fighting? Then one other option I'd recommend is adamantine plate. Crits will be the bane of your existence.

[Master O'Laughs]

Oh, the life cleric with Druid MI is so much fun! Love mine. A few thoughts:

Definitely skip the goggles. The druid and wizard will be able to cast the Darkvision spell if y'all really need to go full stealth. And for the rest of the time, you'll have plenty of people that can carry torches/cast light/use continual flame. Other items will provide much better value.
The winged boots were my favorite uncommon item --until I got a broom of flying. Faster, non-attunement, can carry someone else with you, and can fly to your hand. Riding a broom, though, is definitely a strange choice flavor-wise for a lot of characters, so your call on that.
Instead of the sentinel shield, consider a weapon of warning. Yes, you lose the Perception bonus, but now your whole party can't be surprised, and you have a magic weapon for purposes of damage resistance. Since you've got Shillelagh (i.e. already have magic damage whenever you need it), you could select a weapon that you could loan out to another party member. Like a shortsword or rapier, or shortbow, any of which the fighter or rogue could use in a pinch.
With shillelagh and thorn whip, is it safe to assume you'll be front-line fighting? Then one other option I'd recommend is adamantine plate. Crits will be the bane of your existence.


Yeah, I plan on being on front lines. Curious if I should lower CHA to 12 to increase CON to 18. It would be a strictly power game move and not as flavorful. The character is going to be very flirtatious with everyone.

I liked the advantage on perception because it would give passive perception a +5, no? I eventually want to take the Observant feat. The idea being that nothing escapes my watchful eyes.

I was thinking Mithral over adamantine because I won't have the strength to prevent lessened movement and it would eliminate disadvantage on stealth rolls when needed.

[Zene]

I was thinking Mithral over adamantine because I won't have the strength to prevent lessened movement and it would eliminate disadvantage on stealth rolls when needed.

Honestly I'd go with adamantine breastplate/half-plate over mithral full plate if the stealth/movement is important to you. Crit immunity is huge, even into higher levels. At some point you'll start facing enemies that, with a cleric's hit die, can one-shot kill you if they crit. Death ward spell helps once you get it, but not needing death ward is even better.

[SharkForce]

The traditional answer is broom of flying, but any of those look good.

Cha 14 can potentially be useful... If you don't mind a sorcerer multiclass. Straight sorcerer (edit: i meant to say cleric) is great for a while, but once you hit level 11 or so doesn't offer much. Sorcerer beyond that point is awesome. It could also even synergize with druid levels (fyi, official rule is you can't use class spell slots for magic initiate spells unless you have an actual level in the class. Plus druid has amazing spells anyways.... But the flavour is a bit attached to druid, while sorcerer you can fluff more easily since there isn't a heavy nature theme.

[Morcleon]

I'm going to second (or third?) broom of flying. 3D movement often means immunity to melee-only enemies unless you're in a confined area, and the increased speed, carrying capacity, and ability to simply bypass many ground/terrain based obstacles is amazing.

[Strill]

I highly recommend Wand of Web, and Winged Boots. Wand of Web because Web is such a powerful disabling spell, and being able to cast it around 4 or 5 extra times per day is just a ludicrous amount of value.

[Master O'Laughs]

Thanks for all the responses! You all gave me much to ponder.

[Coffee_Dragon]

Good advice for your DM that you can pass on if you wish: instead of giving everyone an uncommon item from the crazy unbalanced DMG, point the players to the Sane Magical Prices document and set a price ceiling of 1000-2000 gp.

[Master O'Laughs]

So I was talking to my DM about the items I am interested in and he said he will give them a look and get back to me. His one stipulation was none of them are overpowered.

1) Which of the items, if any, are considered overpowered? I have seen winged boots in a different thread listed as OP so does that make the broom of flying OP by association?

[Morcleon]

So I was talking to my DM about the items I am interested in and he said he will give them a look and get back to me. His one stipulation was none of them are overpowered.

1) Which of the items, if any, are considered overpowered? I have seen winged boots in a different thread listed as OP so does that make the broom of flying OP by association?

I'd say the broom of flying is stronger than the boots because it's unlimited flight and can carry other people as well as loot.

[Coffee_Dragon]

Sane Magical Prices puts both at 8000 gp, in the Gamechanging category.

Seriously, check it out. It's sane.

[Master O'Laughs]

Sane Magical Prices puts both at 8000 gp, in the Gamechanging category.

Seriously, check it out. It's sane.

Ah crap, by that list the sentinel shield is a whopping 20,000 g. Which would most likely make it overpowered in comparison to the 1000 g +1 weapon.

*sigh* I will sadly pass this along to him and weep over my loss.... I do want to make sure there is balance among the party so I am not too worried. It will help to alter expectations.

[Dudu]

Yeah, Life Cleric with Magic Initiate (Shilellagh, Thorn Whip, Goodberries) is good. Too good. One of the most optimized builds, imo. Some consider it almost an exploit. I mean, you can half dump Str (maybe keep it 13 for armor) and still kick ass in melee. Goodberries are healing for 4 HP each. Thorn Whip to bring those to you. Love it.

Considering that, I would pick... Cloak of Protection. That or Sentinel Shield. Sentinel Shield doesn't even require attument, which is broken good. Many people say clerics are better at later turns of a round, to heal people and stuff, but I disagree wholeheartedly. Being the first to act and in doing so casting bless is a major headstart.

I wouldn't take "Sane" magical prices too seriously. Although yeah, I would rate both Sentinel Shield and Cloak of Protection is more impactful than a +1 weapon could ever hope to be.