Magic Items

[thedarkcrash]

After looking through the PHB I learned there are magic items in almost all the books, what are your guys favorite magic items for mages?

[Kelb_Panthera]

Depends on the mage but it's hard to go wrong with metamagic rods and pearls of power/ memento magica.

I get the impression you're new to either 3.5 or the forum. Welcome. :smallbiggrin:

[Darrin]

While there are indeed quite a few books to dive through for magic items, the Magic Item Compendium (MIC) consolidates a lot of them into one book. For spellcasters, here's a list of my "go-to" items:

Head

Hat of Disguise (1800 GP, DMG). "Cast a what, now? Fire-what? Fireball? Do I look like someone who could cast fireball?"

Face

Artificer's Monocle (1500 GP, MIC). Turns your 0-level detect magic cantrips into identify. Best part is you don't have to pay 100 GP.

Spellsight Spectacles (2500 GP, MIC). +5 competence bonus for Spellcraft/UMD checks on scrolls.

Third Eye Clarity (3000 GP, MIC). 1/day "Get out of Daze or Stun Free" card.

Throat

Amulet of Tears (2300 GP, MIC). Spellcasters tend to be squishy. Don't be squishy. +36 temporary HP per day.

Chronocharm of the Uncaring Archmage (500 GP, MIC). 1/day you can cast a 1st through 3rd spell with a "1 full round" casting time as a standard action. For when you want to summon a monster and have it attack on the same round.

Collar of Perpetual Attendance (2000 GP, Fabolous Cats Article (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fools/20030401c)). Unseen servant at will. See this post (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=8235936&postcount=8) for some thoughts on what sort of mayhem you can do with that.

Enduring Amulet (1500 GP, MIC). Continuous endure elements effect, and resistance to cold/fire as an immediate action.

Shoulders

Cloak of Elemental Protection (1000 GP, MIC). A good "starter" cloak, and you can throw on a +1 resistance bonus to saves for 1000 GP.

Travel Cloak (1200 GP, Magic of Faerun). Why isn't this in the MIC? Provides food, water (or hot sugared tea), endure elements against cold, and converts into a one-person tent.

Vanisher Cloak (2500 GP, MIC). Turns you and one or more of your companions invisible. Lots of fun things you can do that don't count as an "attack": summon monsters, create illusions, cast wall of fire, battlefield control, etc.

Arms

Armband of Elusive Action (800 GP, MIC). Every so often, you get backed into a corner where spellcasting will trigger an attack of opportunity, and you don't want or can't risk casting defensively. 1/day, ignore an action that provokes an attack of opportunity. Even better, there's no "attunement" clause, so you can pack multiple copies if you need it more than once.

Hands

Arcanist's Glove (500 GP, MIC). A good low-level pick-up that can get you an extra 2 rounds of duration or another magic missile 2/day.

Gloves of the Starry Sky (1100 GP, MIC). Great pick for any spellcaster, arcane or divine. Allows you to keep your 1st-level slots open and still do some direct-damage "pew-pew" LAZRBEMS. If you're a spontaneous caster, essentially adds magic missile to your known spells.

Rings

Ring of Protection +1 (2000 GP, DMG). Cheapest +1 deflection bonus in the game.

Ring of Four Winds (2000 GP, MIC). Can be used 4/day as an immediate action for either a +2 deflection bonus against a single attack or a feather fall effect. This one may be something of a toss-up, as a Ring of Feather Falling (2200 GP, DMG) has unlimited uses, but hopefully your DM isn't one of those sick bastards who fills all his dungeon corridors with pit traps every 10'.

Novice Ring of the Diamond Mind (3000 GP, Tome of Battle). Spellcasters tend to max out Concentration, so might as well put all those skill ranks to good use. Your Will save is probably pretty good (compared to the meatbags), but skill ranks go up faster than save bonuses. You can pick up Moment of Perfect Mind (Will), or shore up a weaker save with Mind Over Body (Fortitude) or Action Before Thought (Reflex). Insightful Strike can also be a nice surprise when the frail wizard stabs someone with his puny dagger and dishes out 20+ damage on his Concentration check.

Torso

Dispelling Cord (1000 GP, MIC). +2 on dispel magic checks 5/day.

Tunic of Steady Spellcasting (2500 GP, MIC). +5 competence bonus on Concentration checks. Pairs up nicely with a Novice Ring of the Diamond Mind.

Waist

Healing Belt (750 GP, MIC). Basically an "I AM AN ADVENTURER" membership card. Don't leave home without it. Actually, might want to wear it at home, too.

Feet

Anklet of Translocation (1400 GP, MIC). 2/day 10' teleport as a swift action. Good way to get out of a grapple or get out of melee range.

Held/Miscellaneous

Glyph Seal (1000 GP, MIC). Allows you to "pre-cast" 1st/2nd level buff spells for yourself or other party members (including "Range: Personal" spells), or attach it to weapons for damage/debuff effects. If it's keyed to a pocket or item that can be opened or touched as a free action (such as ammunition or spell components), then it essentially lets you cast a 1st/2nd level spell as a free action.

Talisman of the Disk (500 GP, MIC). Tenser's floating disk at will. Ostensibly, lets your frail low-strength wizard carry things with him, but you can also use it to move around party members/animal companions/summoned monsters. However, it can go way off the rails with some optimization tricks (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?385848-Disciple-of-Tenser-A-Guide-to-Maximum-Tenser-s-Floating-Disk-Utility).

Troll Gut Rope (500 GP, MIC). Provides up to 300' of rope per day, and also provides a guilt-free solution to that blubbering do-gooder Paladin PC who insists, "We don't kill helpless prisoners!" Tie them up, and 12 hours later the ropes dissolve, at which point the party is most likely saving the world on the other side of the continent.

[BowStreetRunner]

I like the added flexibility a Runestaff can give. There are lots of decent options to choose from, or come up with a custom version.

[Elkad]

Lesser Metamagic Rods. Extend, Silent, another Extend.

Scrolls. All the scrolls. Every utility spell you might need once a week. An Extended Rope Trick or two. Enough Water Breathing to cover the entire party (plus a spare in case someone gets dispelled).

[skunk3]

It totally depends on how much money you have available.

-metamagic wand grips
-scrolls
-wands/rods/staves/etc
-Robe of the Archmagi, or even better - Vest of the Archmagi (expensive!)
-Rings of Wizardry
-Ring of Spellbattle
-Ring of Enduring Arcana
-Cowl of Warding (another super expensive item but awesome - Mind Blank, Freedom of Movement, plus 6 levels of spell turning a day)
-ANYTHING that increases caster level
-ioun stones: orange (+1 caster level), dusty rose (+1 insight bonus to AC), vibrant purple (stores 3 levels of spells), pale lavender (absorbs spells of 4th level or lower, gone after 50 levels of spells), pale gree (+1 to lots of things)
-stone of good luck (a great item for any character to have)
-weapon enchantments such as warning, eager, parrying on a quarterstaff... they do nothing for you in melee combat really but they are super helpful
-belt of battle / healing belt (or make a custom item with both properties)
-any item with "favor of the martyr" permanent on it
-any item that boosts your CON, as mages are squishy
-vambraces of warding / vambraces of evil's warding - makes it harder to hit you with projectiles
-anything that grants miss chances like blur, displacement, invisibility, etc
-if going for an armored route, you can get a mithril chain shirt and enchant it so that it has 0% spell failure chance
-mithral buckler (wizards are not proficient with shields but it doesn't matter because it is so light that it doesn't give you a penalty or interfere with somatics... and you can enchant it just as you would any shield)
-gloves of the master strategist (ghostwalk book)

really what matters is what style of mage you're gonna be playing as well as how much money you have available. remember that if there are multiple items that you want that occupy the same slot you can make a custom item that has the properties of both, or even more than two. It's something like the cost of the most expensive item plus 1.5x the cost of each other item. For example, a belt that has the properties of both a Belt of Battle AND a Healing Belt would be quite cheap since the Healing Belt is insanely underpriced. That could be a waist slot item for almost ANY character.