[3.5] Gear lists are making me go cross-eyed

[DataPacRat]

I haven't really touched anything D&D-like since 2nd edition, but a new GM has tempted me to finally make the jump all the way to, well, 3rd edition. I have myself a character concept and have worked out some of how to build it... but once I started looking into what equipment to buy for him, and all the options and features and what-not that are available, well, by the time I got to the end of one book's list of stuff I'd already lost track of the beginning of it. So... anyone have any advice on how to narrow the field down?


(In case you're wondering: 7th-level game. Kobold, probably 6 levels of cloistered cleric and 1 of Swift Wing. Domains of Kobolds, Trickery, and Dragon; gave up Knowledge for Knowledge Devotion feat. Other feats: Dragonwrought, Primitive Caster, Embed Spell Focus. Probably going to take Noncombatant flaw for another feat.)

[Pharaoh's Fist]

Generic Gear Mini-Guide

[Zaq]

Magic items serve three primary purposes:

1) "The Sword." This doesn't mean a weapon, necessarily, it means anything that makes you even deadlier at what you were already deadly at. Anything that takes your strengths and makes them even better falls under this category.

2) "The Utility Belt." This lets you do stuff you couldn't otherwise do. Mobility items are perhaps the most important in this category, as are scrolls of spells you don't know or don't often prepare, useful eternal wands, or things of that nature.

3) "The Cloak." This is so named because it covers your ass. These items are used to shore up your weaknesses. There's some overlap between The Cloak and The Utility Belt, but mostly The Utility Belt enables things, while The Cloak prevents things. Almost any defensive item can be The Cloak, but there are others as well (an item that adds to your Spot check, for instance, might be considered The Cloak).

None of these is inherently more important than any of the others, but they're the three major roles that you want your magic items to play. Sitting down and thinking about how much of your available money you want to devote to each role is a good place to start, and it's best not to neglect any of them entirely. Some characters need certain ones more than others... for example, a wizard or cleric basically already is The Utility Belt, so they can focus more on The Sword and The Cloak. A Knight's job is to make people pay attention to him and hit him with pointy things, so defensive items can fill the role of both The Sword and The Cloak for him.The categories aren't immutable, and they're not the same for every character. However, I find that it's a useful distinction to make when you're trying to think about what you need.

[Seffbasilisk]

If 3E and not 3.5, try the Arms & Equipment Guide. It's a bit of a long haul to get all the way through, but little things can help. Like marbles, elven tree-tents, and springwalls.

[ghost_warlock]

19000
15000 Periapt of Wisdom +2
13000 Handy Haversack
8500 Wand of Cure Moderate Wounds
3300 Small Mithral Breastplate +1 (weighs 7.5 lbs)
300 Lesser Metamagic Rod of Extend
0 Potion of Invisibility

Use the potion (or your Trickery domain spell slot) to steal mundane gear you want in-game, stashing it in the haversack.

[DataPacRat]

Thank you all, so far; I'm already starting to dig through Pharaoh's Fist's link.

19000
15000 Periapt of Wisdom +2
13000 Handy Haversack
8500 Wand of Cure Moderate Wounds
3300 Small Mithral Breastplate +1 (weighs 7.5 lbs)
300 Lesser Metamagic Rod of Extend
0 Small Masterwork Quarterstaff

Interestingly, I'd noted down the Periapt, Haversack, and Breastplate as good possibilities... though only a Wand of Cure Light Wounds. Looks like I'll be looking up metamagic rods, next, once I find 'em... :)

[ghost_warlock]

This might also help. Core-only but, really, you shouldn't really need much else anyway.

[DataPacRat]

One other item comes to mind from my 2e days, which isn't in any 3e/3.5e equipment list I've yet found: animated dead animal skeletons. (Particularly rats.) I /think/, from reading Animate Dead in the PHB, that it works on critters... though 25 gp of onyx per HD seems possibly a little expensive. (Hm, let's see; 6th-level caster, up to 24 HD undead, 600 gp total... hm...)

In 2e, one of the add-on books listed a specific Animate Dead Animals spell; is there something similar in 3e?

[Kizara]

One other item comes to mind from my 2e days, which isn't in any 3e/3.5e equipment list I've yet found: animated dead animal skeletons. (Particularly rats.) I /think/, from reading Animate Dead in the PHB, that it works on critters... though 25 gp of onyx per HD seems possibly a little expensive. (Hm, let's see; 6th-level caster, up to 24 HD undead, 600 gp total... hm...)

In 2e, one of the add-on books listed a specific Animate Dead Animals spell; is there something similar in 3e?

Ask your DM about fractional HD here. Rats do not have a full d8 HD, they have like 1/6d8 or something (don't feel like checking), so you might be able to raise 6 for the cost of 1. I know I'd allow it, and I'm fairly strict about that kind of thing. There are swarm rules after all.

Also, there is a Robe of Bones (DMG) that lets you have a bunch of animated undead. I know there's also items that increase the amount of undead you can control, and you can simply buy a want of animate dead if you like, although that won't be cheap.

[Eldariel]

Wand of Cure Moderate Wounds is a HUGE waste of money; you could buy like 10 Wands of Cure Light Wounds for the same price and get like 5 times the healing out of that. When you're Wanding, you by default don't care about actions anyways.

With the leftover money, get a Belt/Vest of Con +2 (it should be a fair alternative; due to slot issues, you can't get Con-boosts as Cleric otherwise) and maybe a second Wand, and save some money for when you need it.


In the future, look towards:
Strand of Prayer Beads (normal, or even better, just Karma - it's awesome for buffing in the morning)
Orange Prism Ioun Stone (CL buffs are good)
Iridescent Spindle Ioun Stone (sometimes having to breathe sucks)
Candle of Invocation (it's a fair item as long as you don't use the Gate-functionality, and a great "Oh ****"-button when you really need to turbocharge yourself for some fight with higher level spells & al.)

[AgentPaper]

Candle of Invocation (it's a fair item as long as you don't use the Gate-functionality, and a great "Oh ****"-button when you really need to turbocharge yourself for some fight with higher level spells & al.)

Just make sure you TELL your DM that you don't want to use the Gate function, and would understand if he houseruled it so that it couldn't do it in the first place. (Because it's very famous for it's overpoweredness, especially in conjuction with kobolds. )

[Foryn Gilnith]

Generic Gear Mini-Guide

Now my quest is complete. I can claim journeyman-level system mastery.