Expected Enhancement Bonus by Level (Weapons & Armor)

[Syntallah]

I seem to remember seeing a table in one of the books that broke down, by level, the expected enhancement bonus that a PC should have under normal circumstances (e.g. an 8th level fighter should have a +2 sword kind of thing).

Problem is, for the life of me, I cannot find that table. Does anyone know where it can be found?

 

[cross ofth carpenter]

I don't think there is an expected enhancement bonus by level, although you might check
the NPC WBL guides and equipment in the DMG. The expected enhancement bonus if any
depends on your campaign, whether it is low-level or high-level, low-magic or high-magic etc. As well as what you as the DM choose to allow as far as options, for example some DMs might consider purchasing magic items from ye old magic shoppe to be unrealistic or not have such a thing so instead you have to take what you find in loot. I would not say that there is anything that a fighter should have by level, since it depends for example on what your DM is throwing at you and the type of campaign your are playing but something like the following might make sense.

0-4 normal equipment

5-6 some masterwork equipment

7-10 +1 equipment, perhaps +2.

11-14 +2, +3 equipment

15-20 +4, +5 equipment.

 

[delericho]

I don't think there is such a table in the books. Though the tables of sample NPCs indicate when they gain such things... but those tables aren't really suitable for PC use.

"Trailblazer" did a fairly detailed analysis of the game, and actually concluded that our assumption that the game assumed a certain rate was actually incorrect - 3e is balanced on the assumption that PCs won't have access to any particular items, even the "big six". (Which creates a problem, really, since of course they have those things!)

As a rule of thumb, I would suggest a Fighter should have a magic weapon with a plus (or equivalent) of about one-third his level - that is, at level 3 he would have a +1 sword, it might become +1 flaming at 6th level, +1 flaming burst at 9th level, and so on. But, of course, any optimiser would probably laugh at that approach.

 

[Kinak]

Problem is, for the life of me, I cannot find that table. Does anyone know where it can be found?

You might be thinking of the old inherent bonuses table. I want to say it was in Unearthed Arcana, but don't quote me on that, it's been a while.

The closest thing in the core rules are the wealth by level guidelines. The numbers will sort of fall out if you run through a couple builds, but they're not explicitly spelled out.

"Trailblazer" did a fairly detailed analysis of the game, and actually concluded that our assumption that the game assumed a certain rate was actually incorrect - 3e is balanced on the assumption that PCs won't have access to any particular items, even the "big six". (Which creates a problem, really, since of course they have those things!)

I can't say that entirely surprises me, but it's cool to hear that someone did the math.

There's an unfortunate tendency for some gamers to conflate "optimal" with "mandatory" rather than with "encouraged." The path to becoming optimal just becomes a "feat tax" or "WBL tax" or "item slot tax" or what have you, as though the problem with being optimal is not having enough power.

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[Celebrim]

I generally assume that I'm being a bit Monty Haul if average gear is above +1 per 4 levels of the party. By 4th level I'd expect everyone to have a +1 magic weapon, but generally not before. At 2nd level there might be 1 for the whole party, and it a less desirable one like a dagger, handful of crossbow bolts, handaxe or the like.

However, I do by intention break this rule in one case for every campaign, where I introduce 1 wildly over powered for the level item around 3rd level in order to produce an iconic weapon that a player can keep for their whole career. The latest in this long running series is a +2 eager keen rapier of speed named 'First Blood' that is an intelligent, legacy weapon (it has additional powers as you level up). This is essentially a +5 weapon first found when the party was 4th level. Of course, owning these minor artifacts usually carries consequences as the owner eventually discovers.

 

[Grogg of the North]

At the end of the MIC there is a table that talks about what "level" items you should expect your (N)PC to have for equipping them quickly. I'm not sure if that's what you're looking for but, it's in Chapter 6.

 

[Rath the Brown]

Grogg has it correctly; Table 6-3 on pg 226 gives a list of level and price range for an appropriate item.