Characters and Magic Items

I am curious about the typical experience of ENWorlders. I didn't create a poll because there are simply too many parameters.

A: Based by archetype (melee, archer, skill monkey, spontaneous caster, divine caster) how many magical stat boosting items would a character have by level 20?

B: What levels would they get the most basic variety of said items?

Now you can see why I didn't create a poll. The answer obviously varies by class ... and that alone means that there is no correct answer. In cases of casters, it obviously varies by casting stat as well, which is why I didn't ask for the specific stats boosted (although feel free to list them if you so desire). Feel free to be specific or as general as you desire.

For example:

Melee: STR and CON (maybe DEX) and the STR magical item is often by level 5, CON magical item is often by level 7 if the STR item is received first.

Feel free to disagree with my example, it is just an example. Also, feel free to add an additional archetype if you think I missed one.

*Shrug*. Campaign dependent. YMMV. I recommend looking at the pre-statted NPCs in the DMG as examples of the default assumption.

Olgar Shiverstone said:

*Shrug*. Campaign dependent. YMMV. I recommend looking at the pre-statted NPCs in the DMG as examples of the default assumption.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the input. The fact that campaigns differ is actually what I am interested in. I'm not looking for "the truth," I'm looking for your experience.

As far as the NPCs ... NPC builds don't equal player builds. example PrCs might be more effective, although even then I don't think WotC game designers put as much thought into characters as much as the typical player around the table. That isn't meant as an insult fwiw, more of a comment on time deadlines that WotC authors face.

NPCs don't have enough money to get many stat boosting items.

I don't really remember what level people get things.

Melee goes for STR. At high levels, a dex item usually comes in if the character goes to go Mithral instead of Adamantine.

Arcane casters generally go for their casting stat fast - a melee character gets more efficiency by alternating sources since there's an overlap between STR (+ att, dmg) and magic weapons (+ att, dmg) while a caster can really only increase their spellpower in a few ways. Dex is a tertiary effort to boost AC and ray attacks.

Divine casters usually need their WIS a bit less, and their Con a bit more. After that, it's a bit of a toss up. Some people will rely heavily on Divine feats, and may need CHA almost as much a Wis. Heavy use of Divine Power can reduce or eliminate the need for a STR item. On the other hand, some clerics will be more melee focused and may totally hose CHA.

Archers probably go Dex, then STR. Rangers will get wisdom later for their spells.

Rogues probably go mostly Dex. They primarily want INT for the extra skill points, so an item doesn't really help. Similarly, there are other cheap ways to boost CHA based skills, although characters specializing in social stuff will probably get an item there too.

Everyone gets Con.

Characters with leadership may get CHA items to boost their followers regardless of normal class priorities.

So most characters will probably have around 3 stat boosters by high level.

I give out magical items based on the appropriateness to where they were found, who had them, and what their history is as compared to the events the PCs find themselves in.

The actual mechanical benefits and what the PCs might "need" is secondary to that (if thought of at all) and since no one has ever taken any of the item creation feats because of the downtime and money needed to make them it has never been in the players' power to determine this for themselves.

EDIT: Also, there are no (or few) "magic item shops" in Aquerra.

The Only Numbers You'll Ever Need

Well, the DMG gives the amount of wealth at 760,000gp. Figure 75% of that is probably magic items in high magic worlds like FR, GH, or Ebb and the rest is in land, loot, loyalty, and upkeep. So for a campaign that doesn't go over the top in ridiculous amounts of magical items and power, you can assume a "normal" amount at 75%.


SET 1 - NORMAL
("Normal" magic item amount campaign 75% of total wealth is magic items: 570,000):
a) FOUR 142,500 gp magical items

b) ONE 142,500 gp item + FOUR 106,875 gp items

c) ONE 142,500 gp item + FIVE 85,500 gp items

d) ONE 142,500 gp item + SIX 71,250 gp items

e) ONE 142,500 gp item + SEVEN 61,071 gp items

f) ONE 142,500 gp item + EIGHT 53,437 gp items

g) TWO 142,500 gp items + FOUR 71,250 gp items

h) TWO 142,500 gp items + SIX 47,500 gp items


SET 2 - HIGH
In a high amount of magic items setting, you would max out the wealth and it would all be in magic items with the following sets (760,000).

a) FOUR 190,000 gp items

b) TWO 190,000 gp items + FOUR 95,000 gp items

c) ONE 760,000gp item (according to the DMG a 20th level adventure would not require an item of higher value than that..)


SET 3 - LOWER
In a lower amount of magic items setting (50%) considering the 75% modifier (25% land, loot, loyalty and upkeep), you're looking at 285,000 in magic items:

a) FOUR 71,250 gp items

b) TWO 71,250 gp items + FOUR 17,813 gp items

SET 4 - REALLY LOW
In a relatively non-magical setting, you could look at probably 25% of total (190,000 @75% = 142,500 in items)

a) FOUR 35,625 gp items

b) TWO 35,625 gp items + FOUR 17,813 gp items


Thoughts?


jh

IME, by level 20, I'd expect a PC to have a stat boosting item for every stat that he cared about (e.g., I wouldn't expect a fighter to have a Headband of Intellect, but I'd expect him to be boosting at least Str and Con, likely Dex, and maybe Wis), and I'd expect the stat boost to be +6 on all of the important stats for that class. At only 36K for the +6 item, that's not expensive at all when the PC might be carrying around three-quarters of a million GP in stuff.

Also, at those higher levels, I might expect the PCs to have spent some money in getting stat-boosters that combine multiple stat boosts in one item, to save on precious body-slot space (e.g., a headband of intellect and wisdom, or some such).

As far as the level at which PCs might first be getting stat-boost items, that depends, in large part, on whether you let PCs buy items, or if you limit magical treasure to "found" items. If the latter, you can obviously control it to "whenever you want". I tend towards the former; in that case, I typically see PCs buy the +2 items for the first time at somewhere between 4th and 6th level, depending on their cash on hand. For example, a fighter will likely spend his money first on a magic weapon, then on good armor; gauntlets of ogre power will probably be the first "permanent" magic item he'd seek out after those.