Magic Items with the Best Value

[vulcan_idic]

I've just been looking through the DMG and A&E and was thinking about magic items with the best value... most utility for the least money. I put together this list of the items that I think are the best values given the price.

From DMG 3.5:

Ring of Feather Falling - 2,200
Ring of Sustenance - 2,500
Immovable Rod - 5,000
Bag of Holding - Type I - 2,500/Type II - 5,000/Type III - 7,400/Type IV - 10,000
Boots of Elvenkind - 2,500
Cloak of Elvenkind - 2,500
Decanter of Endless Water - 9,000
Dust of Dryness - 850
Dust of Tracelessness - 250
Hand of the Mage - 900
Helm of Comprehending Languages and Reading Magic - 5,200
Heward's Handy Haversack - 2,000
Horn of Fog - 2,000
Lens of Detection - 3,500
Murlynd's Spoon - 5,400
Necklace of Adaptation - 9,000
Helm of Telepathy - 12,000
Rope of Climbing - 3,000
Salve of Slipperiness - 1,000
Scarab, Golembane - 2,500
Slippers of Spider Climbing - 4,800
Stone of Alarm - 2,700
Unguent of Timelessness - 150

From Arms and Equipment:

Bag of Endless Caltrops - 2,300
Steadfast Boots - 6,000
Everfull Mug - 800
Testing Chalice - 4,000

Any other thoughts? Not necessarily limited to these two books, those were just the ones that I happened to be flipping through when I thought of the question. What do you folks think? What magic items provide the most "bang for your buck" so to speak?

 

[Pielorinho]

If your strength is less than stupendous (say, 18+), I think the Haversack is the clear winner. Every character I've ever had buys one of these puppies as soon as possible (which, in Spycraft and other genres, is unfortunately never). Who wants to deal with encumbrance rules?

A Bag of Tricks is also a pretty sweet item for some characters. Druids can use it for animal growth purposes; Rogues can use it for flanking; and everyone can use it to test traps and such. If you've got a torchbearer or other wussy character with your party, give them the bag of tricks so they'll have something to do (toss furballs) in a fight.

Finally, don't forget the necessary wand of cure light wounds. Every party from, say, 3-10th level ought to have one of these, freeing up the cleric to cast other spells or obviating the need for a cleric entirely (assuming a bard or druid or paladin or Use Magic Device monkey); from 11th-level up, a wand of cure moderate can fill the slot, although CLW still won't go awry. Use your big cure spells in the middle of battle, but between fights, the wand offers very cheap healing, using very few resources -- about 3 gp per hp gained, as compared to a potion's 6 gp per hp gained.

Daniel

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Horseshoes of speed 1,900 gp

The poor man's teleport.

 

[tensen]

If your strength is less than stupendous (say, 18+), I think the Haversack is the clear winner. Every character I've ever had buys one of these puppies as soon as possible (which, in Spycraft and other genres, is unfortunately never). Who wants to deal with encumbrance rules?

Actually the Haversack is extremely useful to anyone that goes through a lot of weapons. Just the look on the enemy's face who is waiting with glee for the archer to run out of arrows... and then have their jaw drop, as the archer pulls another quiver from the haversack.... immediately without having to dig around in the pack for a while. Or the thrown weapon master who can grab those weapons when he looks to have run out of all throwing weapons on them.

 

[Ferret]

By the loks of it the Ring of feather fall preety much covers death by falling for 2,200 GP. That can't be bad.

 

[green slime]

As a self-buffing spellcaster, I can never doubt the value of a ring of counterspell charged with dispel magic.

Feather fall the character can cast by themselves. But to prevent the loss of GMW, Haste, Greater Invisibility, See invisibility, darkvision, Stoneskin, Keen Edge, Mage Armour and Flame Arrow to a single spell is priceless

 

[Mac Callum]

For the ranged attacker the Quiver of Ehlonna has to be right up there.

The Wand of Lesser Vigor (Comp. Divine) has replaced the mandatory Wand of CLW in my group. Max HP for that cure level every time (and in battle it's basically fast-healing 1 for X rounds AND ensures an auto-stabilize every round it's in effect!). For the same price as a Wand of CLW, it's a no-brainer.

Pearls of Power and Rings of Wizardry are priceless (and therefore, cheap!).

 

[Thanee]

Pearls of Power yes, Rings of Wizardry no, they are horribly overcosted.

A very good item is Headband of Disguise for a mere 1,800 gp.
Lesser Metamagic Rods are very useful.
Cloak of Resistance is also a winner.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Vrecknidj]

Light fortification can be added for 3,000gp (or more, of course). One of my players has this on his character's +1 leather armor and it's saved that character's skin more than once. A 25% chance to eliminate a sneak attack or a critical can really pay off. I believe the last time it paid off was when a dragon was attacking their settlement. The character was in the wrong place and the wrong time, the dragon got a critical bite, but the fortification came through--it would have been the end for that character.

Dave

 

[spyscribe]

An alternate name for our campaign could be "1001 uses for your pitcher of endless water."

Our fighter pulls that thing out at the drop of a Hat of Disguise.