# Most useful magic items for a 5th wizard



## BlindKobold (Aug 13, 2002)

We are starting a campaign at 5th level.  I have chosen to be a wizard.

I'm looking for suggestions for magic items. 

Any suggestions?


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## trentonjoe (Aug 13, 2002)

pearl of power


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## Dr_Rictus (Aug 13, 2002)

I'll second that.


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## Falkon (Aug 13, 2002)

*pearl of power*

Agreed.  Pearls are cheap and their usefullness doesn't diminish as you level.  Another choice might be Quaal's Feather Tokens, they're cheap and you never know when you might need a tree to climb!


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## Malichor (Aug 13, 2002)

*Re: pearl of power*



			
				Falkon said:
			
		

> *Agreed.  Pearls are cheap and their usefullness doesn't diminish as you level.  Another choice might be Quaal's Feather Tokens, they're cheap and you never know when you might need a tree to climb! *




If you can fly, dropping a tree on an opponent works well too.


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## Darkness (Aug 13, 2002)

Pearl of power is good.

_Staff_ of power would be even better, though!


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## KarinsDad (Aug 13, 2002)

Boccob's (sp?) Blessed Book

Not sure if you can afford it at level 5, but it is the Wizard's Wet Dream.


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## Jondor_Battlehammer (Aug 13, 2002)

Pearl of power is a no brainer.

A Necklace of Adaptation. Covers you in a buble of air, which makes it better than water breathing, since you can still cast spells while immersed. It also stops the effects of gasses. Saves your equipment from above effects, too, so no lost spell book if you get dunked. I'm still wearing one at 16th level.

Ring of Climbing/Jumping/Swimming. Cheap, and it saves you on having to put skill points there. You will need all eventually, especially swimming.

Wand of True Strike. Cheap, you need the bonus if you have to fight, and your local rouges may find them useful as well.

Cloak of Resistance.

Bracers of Armor.

Ring of Protection.

Don't know if you could afford it, but a Scarab of Protection.

My best advice would be to get the little things that make up for your weaknesses, but you never seem to have the time to find or make. But definatly the Necklace of Adaptation.


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## Fade (Aug 14, 2002)

Boccob's Blessed Book is 9000gp, your exact allowance. You'll have nothing else but the clothes on your back though.

Otherwise a Headband of Brilliance +2, a bag of holding because they're always useful, a bundle of scrolls and plenty of stuff in your spellbook.


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## XCorvis (Aug 14, 2002)

Note: You can't make wands of True Strike. But let's not go into that...

Here's my top 3 for just about any character:

Ring of Sustenance. A lot of DMs gloss over food and sleep, but it's really handy, only having to sleep 2 hours a night to be fully rested.

Boots of Striding and Springing. The cost is higher than the DMG lists (it's 6500 or so, I think), but you'd have double your movement rate. This is fantastic for anyone who needs to stay out of melee.

Necklace of Adaptation. Awesome. Use this to hide in your portable hole while someone else carries you around. Poison gas? Dunked in water? No problem.


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## Sollir Furryfoot (Aug 14, 2002)

If your DM allows you to purchase items from your gold without a limit on how expensive it is (as long as its within the gold cap of course), the very best item I would have to say would be is a Wand of Magic Missiles (9th level caster) which would help you immensely even past level 5.  5d4+5 damage automatically without a save at medium range, and since its heightened to a 9th level caster you should be able to penetrate the SRs of any creature you face much more easily (especially if you haven't invested in the Spell Penetration or Greater Spell Penetration feats) should take you through several of your levels if you manage with it wisely.

This leaves you with very little treasure left, the rest of my advice would be to stock up on about 6 potions of cure light wounds as well as 3 or more each of Quaal's Feather Token (Whip) and (Tree), Whip is useful in challenging encounters as it funtions with a +10 attack bonus and deals 1d6+1 damage as well as having a free grapple at +15 if it hits, not to mention it lasts for an hour and you don't have to waste any actions other then setting it loose.  The Tree token is especially useful for evading creatures, and using a well timed one could possibly turn the tide of battle, at the very least it provides cover against attacks when you need it all at a very cheap cost.

Spells like Mage Armor, Fox's Cunning (Tome and Blood), and other long duration enhancing spells are also essential, and its much more cost efficient than bracers of armor or a ring of protection at this level.


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## LordAO (Aug 14, 2002)

XCorvis said:
			
		

> *Note: You can't make wands of True Strike. But let's not go into that... *




You can make a wand of *any* spell of 4th level or lower.

I reccomend boots and a cloak of elvenkind. They give you a +10 to move silently and hide, respectively. Those are invaluable skills, and having those items will make you equivalent to rogues of your level. The pearl of power and necklace of adaptation are also very good choices. Boccob's Blessed Spellbook is a very good choice, espcailly if it lets you scribe spells for free (there are alot of rumors about that). Also, see if your DM will allow you to buy a ring of shield. It would only cost 2000 gold, using the rules in the DMG and Tome & Blood for item creation (caster level 1 x spell level 1 x 2000 gold), even less if you make it so only arcane magic users can use it.


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## Thanee (Aug 14, 2002)

Headband of Intellect
Pearl of Power
Heward's Handy Haversack
Eyes of the Eagle
Boots of Striding and Springing
Cloak of Resistance
Wand of Magic Missiles

Bye
Thanee


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## laiyna (Aug 14, 2002)

If your GM allows items from the KOK-player guide, there are some nice bracers for 2000 gp. They enhance all your spell DC with 2 points.

For the rest the usual crap:

- Headband intelect +2 (doh!)
- Pearl of power (level 1 or 2)
- Blessed Book (expensive but worth it)
- Bag of Holding or Haversack
- Cloak or Shirt of resistance (+1 or +2)
- Necklace of Adaption
- Ring of Concentration +10


The usual crap 

Laiyna


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## BlindKobold (Aug 14, 2002)

What the KOK?


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## RogueJK (Aug 14, 2002)

BlindKobold said:
			
		

> *What the KOK? *




Kingdoms of Kalamar.

http://www.kenzerco.com/rpg/kalamar/index.php


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## smetzger (Aug 14, 2002)

pearl of power

Don't forget to spend money on putting some extra spells in your spell book.

scrolls - have one scroll for every utility spell that you have.

higher level scrolls - take a look at the 4th and 5th level spell list.   You will effectivly get to chose 4 from each list for free.  If there are more than 4 spells that you would really like to have, get scrolls of those extra spells.  You may be able to buy these later, but you never know how restrictive the DM will be on the buying of magic items, this may be your best chance to get the extra spells you want.

Wand of MM is also a good choice.  Or if you plan to pick up some levels of Rogue get a Wand of Ray of Frost


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## Ernst (Aug 14, 2002)

Fade said:
			
		

> *Boccob's Blessed Book is 9000gp, your exact allowance. You'll have nothing else but the clothes on your back though.
> 
> Otherwise a Headband of Brilliance +2, a bag of holding because they're always useful, a bundle of scrolls and plenty of stuff in your spellbook. *




dont have a DMG, what don Boccob's Blessed Book do??


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## BlindKobold (Aug 14, 2002)

It costs 9500gp and allows you to scribe spells for free....


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## 0-hr (Aug 14, 2002)

Ernst said:
			
		

> *
> 
> dont have a DMG, what don Boccob's Blessed Book do?? *



From the SRD:


> The pages of a Blessed Book freely accept spells scribed upon
> them, and any such book can contain up to forty-five spells of
> any level. The book is thus highly prized by wizards as a
> spellbook. This book is never found as randomly generated
> treasure with spells already inscribed in it




So I guess that you pay 9500gp up front, rather than (200gp x spell level) for every extra spell you want beyond your 2/level freebies.

So let's see, you'd need to scribe 48 levels of spells to start making a profit? That seems like a pretty long term investment...

Edit: While I'm here, could someone tell me the starting gold for a 3rd level character? I'm making up a wizard myself. And since he's a Kobold (small, and STR 6) I'm really hoping I can afford a Haversack


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## BlindKobold (Aug 14, 2002)

Funny thing is...

BBB is 9500gp... meaning you can make it for 4750.

5 3rd level spells are 600gp each to scribe, for a total of 3000.

Say you also scribe 5 2rd level spells at 400gp each... that's another 2000.... that's 5000.  Definately worth creating the book.

Is it worth buying.... probably not until you start scribing 4th and higher spells...

5 5th level spells is 5000gp to scribe!   Ugh!


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## Celebrim (Aug 14, 2002)

I'd wait on BBB until you were higher level.  It's a good investment, but you have to stay alive to use it.

Necklace of Adaptation is way out of your price range.

Boots of Striding a Springing have been erratted to a more reasonable cost of 6500 g.p.  You can afford them, but they'd eat up most of your budget.

I personally think that the feather tokens are broken as well (a full grown tree for 50 g.p.?), but if you have money to spare, some of them are nice.

Nifty things for 5th level wizards:

Headband of intellect +2 (4000 g.p)
Pearl of power (level 1) (1000 g.p.)
Heward's Handy Haversack (2000 g.p.)
Ring of Featherfall (2200 g.p.)
Cloak of Resistance +1 (1000 g.p.)
Amulet of Natural Armor +1 (2000 g.p.)
Ring of Protection +1 (2000 g.p.)
Boots of Elvenkind (2000 g.p.)
Bracers of Armor +1 (1000 g.p.)

One or more useful wands, such as:
Wand of Magic Missiles (5th level caster) (3750 g.p.)
Wand of Magic Missiles (1st level caster) (750 g.p.)
Wand of Mage Armor (1st level caster)  (750 g.p.)
Wand of Ray of Enfeeblement (4th level caster) (3000 g.p.)
Wand of Endure Elements (1st level caster) (750 g.p.)

Assorted utility scrolls, selected according to the campaign style, such as:
Scroll of Fly (375 g.p.)
Scroll of Invisibility (150 g.p.)
Scroll of Locate Object (150 g.p.) 
Scroll of Daylight (150 g.p.)
Scroll of Resist Elements (150 g.p.)
Scroll of Leomund's Tiny Hut (375 g.p.)
Scroll of Mount (25 g.p.)
Scroll of Knock (150 g.p.)
Scroll of Rope Trick (150 g.p.)
Scroll of Gaseous Form (375 g.p.)
Scroll of Tenser's Floating Disk (25 g.p.)
Scroll of Identify (125 g.p.)
Scroll of Unseen Servant (25 g.p.)
Scroll of Dispel Magic (375 g.p.)

Curative and restorative potions, such as potions of cure moderate wounds (300 g.p.), Lesser Restoration (300 g.p.), and potions of nuetralize poison (750 g.p.).


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## Voadam (Aug 14, 2002)

wands of lightning bolt or fireball are pretty good at 5th level for giving a lot of firepower, but you have not listed your starting funds or whether you are considering taking any craft feats.


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## Dinkeldog (Aug 14, 2002)

An _amulet of natural armor_ would stack with _mage armor_


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## KarinsDad (Aug 14, 2002)

Celebrim said:
			
		

> *I'd wait on BBB until you were higher level.  It's a good investment, but you have to stay alive to use it.
> *




It depends on what type of a Wizard you are.

If you actually take the Craft Wondrous Items feat, you can craft it yourself for 4750 GP and then still craft other cool items such as a Headband of Intellect with whatever gold you have left (assuming the DM is handing out 9000 GP worth of gold and items).

You then purchase a boatload of Wizard scrolls of 1st to 3rd level and put them into the book for free. This gives you a LOT of versatility over a handful of items, most of which give you +1 to some save or something.

The cost comparison between adding more spells to your spell book with BBB vs. without BBB is:

1st 025 225
2nd 150 550
3rd 375 975

I'd MUCH rather start out a 5th level Wizard with double or triple the number of spells I could just get by gaining levels than with only those spells plus a small handful of +1 items.

And, the money you will save in the future will allow you to actually buy good magic items as opposed to sucking most of it up into your spellbook.


In fact, the DM for the last campaign I ran a Wizard in started us at 4th level and said that I could have any 1st or 2nd level spell I wanted just by paying the scroll cost.

Big mistake.

I had about 30 spells or so.


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## Johno (Aug 15, 2002)

Now the _Boccob's Blessed Book_ thing requires DM-interpretation: 

Caster Level: 7th; Prerequisites: Craft Wondrous Item, secret page; Market Price: 9,500 gp; Weight: 1 lb.

Some DM's follow the Caster Level as a requirement.

You are also assumed to have the _Secret Page_ spell, which is a third level spell. (Be sure to aquire it!)

It is somewhat stretching the imagination to say that you didn't have a spellbook prior to 5th level...It is also safe to say that you definitely didn't have a _Boccob's Blessed Book_ prior to 5th level.

Personally, when creating a 5th level PC wizard, I spent most of the cash except ca. 1000gp on his (non-Blessed) Spellbook, making sure I had the spells I wanted. The 580+gp left over (after mundane equipment) were saved to spend on creating a future wonderous item (Blessed Book? most likely, followed by the handy haversack), safe in the knowledge that he knew Dispel Magic, Haste, Fly,...


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## Jondor_Battlehammer (Aug 16, 2002)

Didn't think of that on my first post. Versatility in spell selection drasticly increses your usefulness and survival. If your DM allows it, go for the spells. The haversack is also a must. Wizards tend to need the extra capacity, not just due to lack of STR, but for teleporting as well. The free action retrival is worth it, too.


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## Ormraxes (Aug 16, 2002)

A wand of shield (caster level 1) only costs 750 cp or 375 gp + 30 xp if you make it yourself.


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## Shard O'Glase (Aug 16, 2002)

As karensdad pointed out item creation feats makes items alot cheaper.  

There really isn't much need for any other feat than wonderous, when you are talking just about ME,ME,ME.  So take wonderous and get a lot more bang for your buck.  I'd definetly go with the BBB, not only does it expand your potential current spell list, it drastically exapnds your future lists as well.  Also if you take craft arms and armor, you might be able to ocnvince the party that they get their guns and ammo from you, at a discount from what you'd pay in the open market.  And then you can quickly expand your cash flow at the cost of exp, which I've found to be worth it a slong as I don't go to far.

   Still boots of cheat as forrester calls the bundles of joy that are striding and springing costs what 6,500/3250 and double your movement.  And never underestimate the advantage you gain by even being better at aggresively advancing the rear flank.   

Me I'd go with BBB, and a whole lot of scrolls.  Considering it's page count you just  about break even with 1st level spells, so I'd stock up with 2nd levels, where you can find a passel of utility spells to really round out the character.


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## XCorvis (Aug 17, 2002)

> _Originally posted by LordAO _*
> You can make a wand of any spell of 4th level or lower. *



D'oh! I was thinking of potions. My bad.


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