# Wizard equipment



## shadyizok (Dec 23, 2009)

Hey guys,
I'm playing a wizard right now (just turned lvl5) with lvl 3 worth of gp + a ton of loot which should bring is up to around lvl5 equivalent. But I'm not entirely sure what to buy, or that I should save my money for later. We use these rules in our campaign:

No one item may cost more then 25% of your total cash (unless it's loot found)
You can sell loot found for half price, but if you decide to keep it, it only counts as half price for your characters part of the loot aswell. (this is to keep loot interesting in comparisson to bought custom items).

Assuming we sell all the loot and we end up with around 9k gp - 1k gp for the stuff I allready have (mostly some scrolls and mundane items + some services I bought). What should I buy?

A headband of int +1 or +2 (my int is currently 19) offcourse is a must. Maybe a vest of resistance +1? A pearl of power lvl1? I would love a metamagic rod of extend but it's 33%. I could ask my DM real nice though...


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## Runestar (Dec 23, 2009)

A wand or two containing your favourite spells could be useful. Good choices include benign transposition or grease.

Headband of intellect+2, since +1 versions shouldn't exist.

Complete mage has heward's fortifying bedroll (3000gp), which lets you gain the benefits of 8 hours of sleep in just 1 hour (including the time needed to ready your spells). 

Metamagic rods are definitely useful, so try to get one if you can.


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## irdeggman (Dec 23, 2009)

Runestar said:


> A wand or two containing your favourite spells could be useful. Good choices include benign transposition or grease.




or ones that are used but not frequently enough to memorize - like knock, identify (an expensive wand - maybe a bunch of scrolls instead), invisibility, haste.




> Complete mage has heward's fortifying bedroll (3000gp), which lets you gain the benefits of 8 hours of sleep in just 1 hour (including the time needed to ready your spells).





Still can only gain your "daily" spell allotment, i.e., you can't attempt to gain an extra set of spells using this bedroll.


There is a wondrous item (an eternal wand - magic item compendium pg 159, originally from Eberron) - allows using a wizard spell 2/day. Fairly good item for those spells you need maybe a couple of times a day (see knock)


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## Runestar (Dec 23, 2009)

> Still can only gain your "daily" spell allotment, i.e., you can't attempt to gain an extra set of spells using this bedroll.




Didn't mean to suggest otherwise. Just felt needing to rest only 1 hour instead of the full 8 hours would be a boon to any party.

Tome of worldly memory (MIC) if you are your party's encyclopedia.

Maybe a pearl of power or 2. Heward's haversack if you don't already have one.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Dec 23, 2009)

Quiver of Ehlonna.

Any Wizard with anything resembling a collection of wands/rods/staves can get utility out of this inexpensive magic item.

And if you're an Elf, you can use it for your bow & arrows.


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## Freakohollik (Dec 24, 2009)

Don't forget the all important cloak of resistance. Ring of protection and amulet of natural armor are less important since you probably won't have enough AC to avoid hits anyway. Metamagic rods won't come until later. The only ones I consider worthwhile are the quicken and empower rods, both of which will be outside your price range. If you can't find anything you like, just save your GP.


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## Runestar (Dec 24, 2009)

If your DM allows spell compendium, there is greater resistance, a 4th lv spell which grants +3 resistance bonus to all saves for 24 hours. I know it is quite far away, but might be worth considering over whether to hold off that cloak of resistance. 

Else, I say go with the rod of lesser extend, headband of intellect+2 and a wand of benign transposition.


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## shadyizok (Dec 24, 2009)

Runestar said:


> A wand or two containing your favourite spells could be useful. Good choices include benign transposition or grease.
> 
> Headband of intellect+2, since +1 versions shouldn't exist.
> 
> ...



I'm not a real fan of wands but I do think I want at least one, in case my spells run out or something so I can contribute at least somewhat.
My DM allows stat items from +1 to +6. So a headband of int +1 should be good enough for now and a lot cheaper. That bedroll seems pretty usefull but a little expensive at this lvl for it's use. Maybe next lvl.



irdeggman said:


> or ones that are used but not frequently enough to memorize - like knock, identify (an expensive wand - maybe a bunch of scrolls instead), invisibility, haste.
> 
> There is a wondrous item (an eternal wand - magic item compendium pg 159, originally from Eberron) - allows using a wizard spell 2/day. Fairly good item for those spells you need maybe a couple of times a day (see knock)



Ive seen the everwand. Very usefull for a knock spell or shatter or something I agree but 4,420 gp is just more then I can afford right now.



Runestar said:


> Tome of worldly memory (MIC) if you are your party's encyclopedia.
> 
> Maybe a pearl of power or 2. Heward's haversack if you don't already have one.



 The haversack offcourse! Didn't even think of that... I'm not the knowledge guy of the party though (I have some, but we have a duskblade with the 5 identifying knowledges and knowledge devotion).



Dannyalcatraz said:


> Quiver of Ehlonna.
> 
> Any Wizard with anything resembling a collection of wands/rods/staves can get utility out of this inexpensive magic item.
> 
> And if you're an Elf, you can use it for your bow & arrows.



Hmm I might use it instead of the haversack eventually but I don't have wands, rods or staves yet.



Freakohollik said:


> Don't forget the all important cloak of resistance. Ring of protection and amulet of natural armor are less important since you probably won't have enough AC to avoid hits anyway. Metamagic rods won't come until later. The only ones I consider worthwhile are the quicken and empower rods, both of which will be outside your price range. If you can't find anything you like, just save your GP.



Really? No extend? I thought that to be a great rod. To get things like your mage armor/greater mage armor, tattoo and falselife to last all day long.



Runestar said:


> If your DM allows spell compendium, there is greater resistance, a 4th lv spell which grants +3 resistance bonus to all saves for 24 hours. I know it is quite far away, but might be worth considering over whether to hold off that cloak of resistance.
> 
> Else, I say go with the rod of lesser extend, headband of intellect+2 and a wand of benign transposition.



That greater resistance sounds like a nice spell and sort of fits my character. I like buffing myself with spells more then ramming a billion items on me.


Ok thanks for all the help so far. I talked to my DM and he'll allow me one item of up to 3000. So I'm thinking this:
 - Haversack 2k
 - Headband of int +1 1k
 - Lesser metamagic rod of extend 3k
 - Wand of benign transposition .75k
 - Pearl of power lvl 1 1k
total= 7.75k
Does that sound reasonable?


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## Runestar (Dec 24, 2009)

Your DM allows +1int items? 

Otherwise, looks good.


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## shadyizok (Dec 24, 2009)

Runestar said:


> Your DM allows +1int items?
> 
> Otherwise, looks good.




Yep. And +3 and +5 aswell as the regular +2, +4 and +6. Bonus squared * 1000. That's the way we've been playing for years.

Also I found the artificers monocle in the MiC. That seems like a really good item.  For a measely 1500 enough identify's to last the rest of the campaign with easy requirements seems really powerfull to me. And I might even get the others to agree buying it with the party pot (we made a deal to each set aside 10% of our  personal loot as a party pot. This is to buy for healsticks, ressurections and other stuff off benefit to the entire party.)

Have others tried this item? Is it as good as I think?


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## Freakohollik (Dec 25, 2009)

shadyizok said:


> IReally? No extend? I thought that to be a great rod. To get things like your mage armor/greater mage armor, tattoo and falselife to last all day long.




Those spells last 1 hour/level which is all day long in most cases. The case where you're not covered is if you're doing some kind of overland travel and dealing with random encounters every few hours. That case typically doesn't come up enough to warrant buying the rod.


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## Runestar (Dec 25, 2009)

> Those spells last 1 hour/level which is all day long in most cases. The case where you're not covered is if you're doing some kind of overland travel and dealing with random encounters every few hours. That case typically doesn't come up enough to warrant buying the rod.




At lower lvs, you typically don't have the caster lv to make spells last all day. In these cases, extend can be well worth it. Say at 5th lv, a 1 hour/lv spell would last 5 hours. Extend, well, extends this to 10 hours, easily the bulk of your adventuring day. 

If you suspect that combat might drag on for a while, using it on 1round/lv spells such as haste might be worth it as well, to ensure that it sees the whole party through the entire fight. 

Some useful spells to extend include rope trick (making it last for at least 10 hours, enough for your entire party to get the full 8 hours rest), mage/greater mage armour and yes, create magic tattoo (though its effects don't quite seem worth it for the gold cost until lv13 - +1caster lv).


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## shadyizok (Dec 25, 2009)

Runestar said:


> At lower lvs, you typically don't have the caster lv to make spells last all day. In these cases, extend can be well worth it. Say at 5th lv, a 1 hour/lv spell would last 5 hours. Extend, well, extends this to 10 hours, easily the bulk of your adventuring day.
> 
> If you suspect that combat might drag on for a while, using it on 1round/lv spells such as haste might be worth it as well, to ensure that it sees the whole party through the entire fight.
> 
> Some useful spells to extend include rope trick (making it last for at least 10 hours, enough for your entire party to get the full 8 hours rest), mage/greater mage armour and yes, create magic tattoo (though its effects don't quite seem worth it for the gold cost until lv13 - +1caster lv).



Excactly. And I could always sell it later if I don't think it's usefull enough anymore on later lvls.
Are there any items I shouls really consider in the long run? Like a headband of int +6 offcourse but what else? I was looking at that orange ioun stone and the ring of arcane might. Caster levels are very good but are these worth their cost? Are there any other no brainers to dump my hardearned cash in on later levels?


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## Shin Okada (Dec 26, 2009)

shadyizok said:


> Hey guys,
> But I'm not entirely sure what to buy, or that I should save my money for later.




Do your campaign tend to have enough down time between each adventures (or between each delves in an adventure)?

If so, you should better CREATE magic items instead of buying them. You are a wizard indeed.

IMHO, you should at least better create scrolls. Utility spells and combat spells which do not involve saving throw are good for scrolls.

But creating scrolls of damaging spells (such as fireball) at your current caster level is not a bad idea. Say, having 10 scrolls of caster level 5 fireball is good for a 5th-level wizard. You will likely to use up all of them before hitting level 6-7. On the other hand, if you create a CL 5 wand of fireball, you will not likely to use all of it's charges before that wand becomes .... an obsolete weapon to you.


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## Shin Okada (Dec 26, 2009)

shadyizok said:


> I was looking at that orange ioun stone and the ring of arcane might. Caster levels are very good but are these worth their cost? Are there any other no brainers to dump my hardearned cash in on later levels?




For sure. Caster level does matter. Not only it increases the duration and damage of many spells, CL does matter when you try to dispel or try to penetrate SR.

But those items are relatively expensive. Maybe you should better wait until you hit higher levels.


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## Runestar (Dec 26, 2009)

Scrolls of fireball? Dc of 14 and 5d6 damage (before factoring in reflex saves for half and fire resistance)? 

What kind of wizard do you plan on playing anyways? That might impact the sort of gear you want.


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## Shin Okada (Dec 26, 2009)

Runestar said:


> Scrolls of fireball? Dc of 14 and 5d6 damage (before factoring in reflex saves for half and fire resistance)?




Still works when playing a 5th-level wizard. Not so many enemies have energy resistance at that level. And it costs only 15 XP and 187.5gp to create one.

Wizards cannot fight all the encounters with their spell slots alone. So he does need consumable magic items to complement.

I do not recommend such tactics if one is playing a sorcerer or warmage.


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## shadyizok (Dec 26, 2009)

Shin Okada said:


> Do your campaign tend to have enough down time between each adventures (or between each delves in an adventure)?
> 
> If so, you should better CREATE magic items instead of buying them. You are a wizard indeed.
> 
> ...



I don't have any item creation feats, barring scribe scroll, and I don't intent on taking any others. Our campaign does have enough time to create things (lot's of travel, but so far most of it has been by ship) but I don't have the proper tools available. Except for scribe scroll. I have used it for a couple of lower lvl spells but I'll take your advice and try and create a couple of damage spells.



Runestar said:


> Scrolls of fireball? Dc of 14 and 5d6 damage (before factoring in reflex saves for half and fire resistance)?
> 
> What kind of wizard do you plan on playing anyways? That might impact the sort of gear you want.



I'm playing an arrogant grey elf generalist. (I know specialisation is better but it's one of my first wizards and I wanted every spell available). He thinks magic is the most supreme form of any art or craft and constantly tries to proof that he is better with his spells. I usualy take every spell just once and try to get lot's of utility spells aswell as some combat spells in there.
I'm gonna go in paragnostic apostle, geometer, abjurant champion and archmage for prestige classes.
Is a nice runestaff a good idea? You know so I can study utility spells but change them to combat spells if needed?


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## paigeoliver (Dec 26, 2009)

I would suggest scribing a lot of scrolls right away, but not scrolls of fireball (maybe 1 of them). Scrolls of fireball are going to cost you 312 gp each and will have a piddling average damage. A 5th level caster casting fireball from memory will get an OK result as his average foe will fail the save, but cast that same spell from a scroll and the average foe will make the save.

You need to start a library of 2 of each of things like knock, comprehend languages, haste, mount (make a dozen or get a wand of it), floating disc, rope trick, invisibility and the like. Basically go through your spells and scribe things that don't have savings throws and are not all that dependent on caster levels and particularly concentrate on spells that you won't obviously need daily. 

And (as I briefly mentioned above) a wand of mount is inexpensive and really useful. Not so much for riding as it is for using the summoned horse to trigger traps, block squares, distract large stupid creatures and the like.


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