Can someone share their high-op level 20 mundane magic item loadout?

[RoboEmperor]

The only guide I could find about magic items is this and it doesn't completely fill out all of my body slots.
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?187851-3-5-Lists-of-Necessary-Magic-Items

So... could some of you share your equipment load out of your high op level 20 fighters/barbarians/etc.? So I can dissect it, analyze it, and figure out what I need.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

What's the character you're looking to equip? What does this character need to have, and what will help him do whatever he's built to do?

Anything that appears on MIC p234 should be added to another item of the appropriate slot, as it's the same price as having a separate item of that effect but without taking its own item slot.


You can spend a feat on Quick Recovery (LoM) as a substitute for stun/daze negation, provided your saving throws are decent. If your DM allows Iron Heart Surge (ToB) to be used when your character can't take actions, then that can be a substitute as well.

You can get many feats for gold via special locations in Complete Scoundrel instead of spending feats on them, but you can only get one per location:
The Otyugh Hole (Iron Will, Extend Rage, or Menacing Demeanor)
The Court of Thieves (a bonus luck feat, and increased Leadership score)
The Frog God's Fane (Skill Focus for Knowledge: History, Nature, or Religion)
Heward's Hall (Skill Focus: Perform or any bardic music feat if you already have that)
The Highest Spire (Skill Focus: Climb, or Agile Athlete which allows you to use Dex for Climb and Jump checks)
Iron Wyrm Vault (feats that improve Rogue skills/stealth)


For necessary items at 20th level I'd go with the following:

Feathered Wings graft (slotless) (flight)
Cowl of Warding (head) (mind blank, freedom of movement, spell turning)
Wakeful Mind graft (slotless) (stun negation, not really necessary with Quick Recovery and/or Iron Heart Surge)
Hathran Mask of True Seeing (face) (true seeing)
Ring of Anticipation (ring) (roll initiative twice and take the better of the two, bonus on listen and spot)
Belt of Battle (waist) (initiative bonus, extra actions)
Soulfire armor (armor upgrade) (total immunity to energy drain, death effects, and negative energy such as Harm spells)
Aporter armor (armor upgrade) (teleportation is good to have and this is somewhat cheap)
Necklace of Adaptation (neck/throat) (immunity to suffocation, drowning, harmful cloud effects, inhaled poisons, even green dragon breath)
Ring of the Darkhidden (ring) (Magic of Faerun, you can't be seen with darkvision, and it can't be overcome by see invisibility or true seeing if the darkness is mundane)
Shadow Cloak (back/shoulders) (Drow of the Underdark, 3/day you can teleport 10 ft. as an immediate action to avoid an attack, even teleporting behind the attacker)
Shirt of Wraith Stalking (shirt/torso) (MIC, at-will personal range hide from undead (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/hideFromUndead.htm) that doesn't give intelligent undead a saving throw, best item in the game for this slot)
Gemstone of Heavy Fortification (slotless) (Draconomicon, you need to hire an NPC spellcaster (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/goodsAndServices.htm#spell) to use Limited Wish for 2,410 gp to embed it into your chest. Once that's done it can't be removed and it's cheaper than putting heavy fortification on +2 or higher armor)


You should also seriously consider the following items:

Luckstone (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#stoneofGoodLuckLuckstone) (slotless) (+1 luck bonus on saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks such as all combat maneuvers and even initiative checks since that's a Dex check)
+1 Reflecting Buckler (shield) (this is in case your Cowl of Warding spell turning runs out and you need to avoid/bounce a spell back, since you choose when to us this. You can still use the arm wearing this to wield a weapon, you won't get the AC bonus but you'll still benefit from the special property. You can even wear two, but each imposes a -1 penalty on attack rolls.)
+5 Animated, Ghost Touch shield (shield) (it should protect against Wraithstrike attacks, and see below for enhancement bonus shenanigans)
Clear Spindle Ioun Stone (slotless) (unless you can get a Ring of Sustenance that doesn't take an item slot by doubling the price per DMG p285 Table 7-33)
Third Eye: Sense (face) (too good to not get, if you're into this sort of thing. It lets you use clairaudience/clairvoyance at will, so you can use it to spy on a location, then use it to spy on a location you observed from there, then use it again to spy on a location you observed from there, etc. and explore everywhere you want. Use this when camping or between encounters, wear the Hathran Mask when adventuring.)
Hat of Anonymity (head, only if you can pay double to make it slotless) (Per the DMG errata, an item's caster level is determined by the creator (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicItemBasics.htm#casterLevel), so have one made at caster level 20 for a DC 35 Nondetection effect.)


There are many beneficial magic weapon effects, which can be placed on your primary weapon, or if it doesn't specify that it works only when held you can put these on armor spikes, a (spiked) gauntlet, etc. See if your DM will count gauntlets as held/grasped when worn.

Spellblade (PGtF, 6,000 gp) immunity to one targeted spell, which is absorbed by the weapon and can be directed to a new target as a free action. Useful for Greater Dispel Magic (only the targeted version), no-save spells like Maze, and powerful single-target spells like Destruction. It does not work with spells that generate an effect such as rays (Disintegrate) or area effects (Disjunction). Keep in mind you also have Spell Turning on the Cowl of Warding, and you an put Reflecting on an animated shield or a buckler. You can wear a buckler and still use that hand to wield a weapon without benefiting from the buckler's AC bonus, but still benefit from any other effects placed on it.

Blindsighted (Underdark, 30,000 gp) grants Blindsight 30 ft. when grasped, negated by Silence, and the weapon constantly makes noise so it only takes a DC 10 listen check to notice you. Worth putting on a dagger that you can drop into a handy haversack or similar to negate the noise, you can put the dagger on your belt and just reach down and grasp it to gain its benefit.

Displacement (OA, 100,000 gp) gives everyone a 50% miss chance when attacking you per the spell of the same name whenever you're wielding the weapon. Better than any of the miss chance effects on the list of necessary magic items, it looks like Oriental Adventures was missed when that was compiled.

Eager, Warning (MIC, +1 each, only works when held) the list of necessary items covers these quite well.

Parrying (MIC, +2 bonus) gives you a +1 insight bonus on AC and saving throws when holding the weapon. Probably not worth putting on your primary weapon, but if you can make it work it's probably worth it.

Brash (MIC, +1 bonus) makes your rage last three rounds longer and makes you immune to fear while raging, while the weapon is wielded. Definitely worth putting on armor spikes or a gauntlet if you have a rage class feature.


For your armor, don't bother adding energy resistance or spell resistance. The SR is too low to matter, and the energy resistances for armor are marked up by 50% from what you'd pay by using MIC p234. You don't need fortification per the above gemstone from Draconomicon. You do need the Soulfire enchantment for a hefty +4, so that leaves you only +1 more if you've got a permanent +5 on it. You could make it +1 with up to +9 of special effects and get the party Cleric to put (Lesser Rod of Extended) Magic Vestment +5 on it every day.

You could get a type of armor that was once alive (dragon hide or one of the various wood or bone materials) as well as a wooden shield and put Unguent of Timelessness (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#unguentofTimelessness) on it before it's ever enchanted. That makes its passage of time slower, so that any spells cast on it (such as Magic Vestment) last 365 times longer than normal. So say you hired a 20th level NPC Cleric who has Extend Spell, Heighten Spell, Divine Metamagic for one of those, Earth Spell, Reserves of Strength, a Bead of Karma (Strand of Prayer Beads), a Ring of Enduring Arcana, Paragnostic Apostle 1 for Divine Understanding (Strength or War), and an Orange Prism Ioun Stone. You had him put Extended Magic Vestment, Heightened to 9th level, using all that stuff, on your armor. The caster level on that is 20 (base), +4 (Bead of Karma), +6 (Earth Spell, Heightened from 3rd to 9th), +3 (Reserves of Strength), +1 (Divine Understanding), +1 (ioun stone) = caster level 35, and Reserves of Strength removed its level-based limits so it grants a +7 bonus. That normally lasts 70 hours, but due to the Unguent it instead lasts just under three years. An effectively 10th level spell at a caster level of 35 from an NPC spellcaster is only 3,500 gp.

Don't forget about weapon and armor crystals in MIC, I'd get a Greater Crystal of Arrow Deflection, a Greater Crystal of Screening, a Crystal of Bent Sight for the buckler, and another Greater Arrow Deflection if you wear two bucklers.


That leaves the following item slots:
Gloves/Hands: Gloves of Endless Javelins (MIC), unless gauntlets enchanted as magic weapons take a hand slot.
Bracers/Wrists: Armbands of Might (MIC) if you use Power Attack, otherwise Greatreach Bracers (MIC) or Armbands of Elusive Action (MIC, pay twenty times as much for one usable 20/day if possible)
Boots/Feet: Boots of Temporal Acceleration (MIC), if possible pay double/triple the amount for a version usable twice or three times per day.


And of course, add every MIC p234 effect you can onto the above slotted items. Keep in mind you need to add the cost of each step for a given effect, so energy resistance 30 is 4k + 8k + 16k + 16k = 44k gp for one energy type.
+5 Deflection bonus to AC (50k gp)
+5 Enhancement bonus to natural armor (50k gp)
+6 Enhancement bonus to Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha (36k gp each)
+5 Resistance bonus to saving throws (25k gp)

That's a long list, and you definitely won't (shouldn't) be able to afford all of it, but that should be a good starting point.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?177889-Brainstorm-for-Psionic-Tricks-Tactics-and-Combos-Handbook/page11&p=23285432#post23285432

[ExLibrisMortis]

Team Solars (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=10415165&postcount=3) has an equipment list. It's geared towards Persist-buffed characters, not mundanes, but it's got an extensive list of utility and miscellaneous items, which makes for an excellent addition to Biffoniacus_Furiou's list.

Here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=22298391&postcount=5)'s a list of useful items for gishes. Has some cheaper items that are useful to any melee character.

[RoboEmperor]

What's the character you're looking to equip? What does this character need to have, and what will help him do whatever he's built to do?

First off, really thanks for the huge and thorough post.

I'm trying to outfit a 60hd Hellfire Golem which I configured to be a Perfect Two Weapon Fighting javelin thrower that's throwing 9 force javelins a round via Gloves of Endless Javelins. It has Bracers of Lightning to give it +1d6 shock damage on each javelin.

I figured I'd give it some teleportation and flight via items but that's as far as I know how to optimize. Seemed too simple so I thought I was missing something huge which is why I made the thread especially concerning armor enhancements. I haven't the slightest clue what are good armor enhancements, and I wanted to compare its performance with an actual PC character who had an actual optimized weapon build instead of a 7,000gp weapon.


Team Solars (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=10415165&postcount=3) has an equipment list. It's geared towards Persist-buffed characters, not mundanes, but it's got an extensive list of utility and miscellaneous items, which makes for an excellent addition to Biffoniacus_Furiou's list.

Here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=22298391&postcount=5)'s a list of useful items for gishes. Has some cheaper items that are useful to any melee character.

Thanks, now I have enough reading material to last me a while.

[Darrin]

I haven't the slightest clue what are good armor enhancements


Yeah, that's actually something of a puzzler... as most armor enhancement just kinda blow chunks. The really good armor enhancements tend to be expensive. Some of the standouts:

Fortification, Heavy (+5, DMG). One of the few DMG enhancements that's "worth it". However, on a golem it would be useless, as they are already 100% immune to crits.

Freedom (+5, MIC). Freedom of Movement has its own category in the Lists of Necessary Magical Items (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?187851-3-5-Lists-of-Necessary-Magic-Items), which lists the armor enhancement as "cheaper" than the Ring of Freedom of Movement (so long as you don't have a lot of other enhancements on the same armor). On a golem, this would go from "Necessary" to "MANDATORY" because there are a lot of BFC spells frequently used to get around the golem's Magic Immunity. To keep the cost down, consider putting this on a dwarven buckler-axe (A&EG/CW/Races of Stone).

Gleaming (+3, XPH/SRD). While a continuous 20% miss chance is undeniably a good thing to have, it's actually cheaper to put on armor spikes and enchant them with the Smoking weapon property (+1 enhancement, Lords of Darkness).

Soulfire (+4, BoED). This is Death Ward but turned up to 11 (essentially making Death Ward continuous rather than 1/day). On most characters, this is just about as Necessary as Freedom of Movement. On a golem, though... constructs are already immune to all death effects, necromancy effects, ability damage, ability drain, and energy drain via their construct type. On top of that, golems have Immunity to Magic. So unless there are a few oddball corner cases that manage to circumvent all that, adding Soulfire to a golem would be pointlessly redundant.

Spell-Catching, Greater (+4 enhancement, Forge of War). I was looking for something that would specifically counter some of the Hellfire Golem's gaps in its Immunity to Magic, and this was the closest I could find. As an immediate action 1/day, you can "absorb" one spell (6th level or lower) that targets you specifically. There are two gaps to worry about: 1) cold effects that do 40+ points of damage will slow you, and 2) spells with the [chaotic] or [good] descriptor bypass your Immunity to Magic. So long as they're under 6th level, this gives you an opportunity to absorb one of those problem spells and later redirect it back at your opponents.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Blueshine (MIC, +1,500 gp). Grants immunity to acid and rust, which is fantastic on any character (like a warforged) whose body is his armor. Also grants a +2 competence bonus to Hide checks.

[ExLibrisMortis]

Proof against transmutation is a +6 (!) armour property that makes you immune to a number of nasty effects, including disintegrate. Might not be needed on a magic-immune golem, but you never know what those Ravenloft artificers are up to.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Proof against transmutation is a +6 (!) armour property that makes you immune to a number of nasty effects, including disintegrate. Might not be needed on a magic-immune golem, but you never know what those Ravenloft artificers are up to.Complete Arcane says it's +5.

[ExLibrisMortis]

Complete Arcane says it's +5.
Ah, the MoF version got updated. And no longer protects against disintegrate. Isn't that great :smallconfused:.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Ah, the MoF version got updated. And no longer protects against disintegrate. Isn't that great :smallconfused:.Well, it prevents you from being destroyed when you hit -10. Protection against ranged/ray attacks would fix the disintegrate issue.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Never put fortification on your armor or shield!

A Gemstone of Heavy Fortification in the Draconomicon is the same price as turning +1 armor into +1 heavy fortification armor. If your armor is ever going to be higher than +1, it's cheaper to get the gemstone. You'll need to hire an NPC spellcaster to use limited wish to embed it into you, but that should only cost you 2,410 gp, and it can't be dispelled, disarmed, or otherwise removed.

For armor enchantments, Soulfire (+4, BoED) is the best thing you can get, it's basically a permanent Death Ward.

If you're into intimidating your foes, Fearsome from Drow of the Underdark (which is a more recent printing than the one in MIC and is thus the current one) allows you to demoralize an opponent with a move action instead of needing to spend a standard action on it.

[RoboEmperor]

Reading the responses... it seems that magic items are 100% utility and immunities, and 0% damage? And the only weapon enchantments you give are basically Transmuting for DR and then a bunch of utility stuff?

So a Gloves of Endless Javelins is a legitimate endgame damage weapon?

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Grab a tooth of Leraje, from Tome of Magic.

A sizing/morphing/metalline/aptitude aurorum raptor arrow. All of your feats work with your weapon regardless of form, and it can be almost anything. If broken, it can be repaired very easily, and with the tooth, it can be a +7 weapon against everything you encounter, allowing you to bypass all metal DRs and DR vs both Magic and Epic easily enough.

Also, take a level in monk and invest heavily in your unarmed strike (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?285801-Tippy-s-Terrifically-Terrible-Trial/page25&p=15474863#post15474863). Most powerful weapon in the game, if you optimize it a bit.

And don't forget to stack on the weapon crystal abilities onto one weapon crystal. See if you can attach such a crystal to your javelin dispenser and have the crystal affect all of your javelins.

[Efrate]

Pretty much. It's force so near nothing resists it. For weapons stack all the enhancements you want, power attack still does more. Utility and defenses is the name if the game. Given time, you should outlast and kill anything because they can't do much to you.

Add all the little plus ones and get 10d6 extra damage of varying types (as an example you can get more) on each attack. Assuming 4 attacks thats an average 140 damage, if all attacks hit, and aren't resisted partially, or the opponent isn't incorporeal. Power attack and leap attack and pounce with a normal two handed weapon get you 60 damage on your 4 attacks at the most conservative reading before applying anything extra, for free as far as wbl is concerned. That's 240 damage, not subject to most resistances before base weapon damage, strength, and eveyrthing else.

But you can get initiative bonuses, spell stopping power and so much more, in addition to all that damage, so you get your attacks first, are better able to survive, and still do more damage.

[RoboEmperor]

Grab a tooth of Leraje, from Tome of Magic.

A sizing/morphing/metalline/aptitude aurorum raptor arrow. All of your feats work with your weapon regardless of form, and it can be almost anything. If broken, it can be repaired very easily, and with the tooth, it can be a +7 weapon against everything you encounter, allowing you to bypass all metal DRs and DR vs both Magic and Epic easily enough.

Also, take a level in monk and invest heavily in your unarmed strike (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?285801-Tippy-s-Terrifically-Terrible-Trial/page25&p=15474863#post15474863). Most powerful weapon in the game, if you optimize it a bit.

And don't forget to stack on the weapon crystal abilities onto one weapon crystal. See if you can attach such a crystal to your javelin dispenser and have the crystal affect all of your javelins.

Haven't read the monk article (i will) but yeah, it seems 100% of your damage is from your character and 0% of the damage is from your weapon, which is mostly just utility stuff.


Pretty much. It's force so near nothing resists it. For weapons stack all the enhancements you want, power attack still does more. Utility and defenses is the name if the game. Given time, you should outlast and kill anything because they can't do much to you.

Add all the little plus ones and get 10d6 extra damage of varying types (as an example you can get more) on each attack. Assuming 4 attacks thats an average 140 damage, if all attacks hit, and aren't resisted partially, or the opponent isn't incorporeal. Power attack and leap attack and pounce with a normal two handed weapon get you 60 damage on your 4 attacks at the most conservative reading before applying anything extra, for free as far as wbl is concerned. That's 240 damage, not subject to most resistances before base weapon damage, strength, and eveyrthing else.

But you can get initiative bonuses, spell stopping power and so much more, in addition to all that damage, so you get your attacks first, are better able to survive, and still do more damage.



Alright, thanks, that's all I really needed to know, magic items are 0% damage.

Alright, time to comb through everything in this thread slowly and carefully!

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Haven't read the monk article (i will) but yeah, it seems 100% of your damage is from your character and 0% of the damage is from your weapon, which is mostly just utility stuff.The monk post has a lot of damage-dealing stuff. He punches things so hard that he Kool-Aid Mans his way through their bodies. (Screaming "OH YEAH!" is entirely optional, I assure you.)