What magic items are useful for exploring / general life but not combat?


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion

Scarab Sages

So I was thinking about magic items like the old cloud tent, the handy haversack or the field scriveners desk and it got me wondering. If you exclude combat/power related items (robe of the archmagi, holy avengers, armour +5, etc) what items do people think would be the most use for general exploration or life?

A personal favorite of mine is the field scriveners desk that you can just unfold into a writing desk in the middle of the woods.

So assuming your character has all the level appropriate combat gear they could wish for what items would you be looking for to help with wandering far off places (forest, tundra, mountains, oceans, plains, cities, etc)?


A few of the various feather tokens are go-to purchases for me, because they're cheap and weightless, and you never know when you'll need: a boat, a bird to carry a message, a sneaky weapon, a tree...there are just so many options that can be used creatively (and the things are so cheap they're basically free past a certain level).

Any of the "flying" items make life much easier. There are some that take up a slot, like the Wings of Flying, and others like the Carpet of Flying that do not. Pick your poison.

Apparatus of the Crab for coolness points / underwater exploration.

A few more cheap, but useful items (permanent this time): the Sleeves of Many Garments, the Traveler's Any-Tool, and the Wayfinder are all useful for various reasons.


Don't forget the campfire beads, Decanter of endless water, Stirring spoon (if you don't want to grab the ring of sustenance.


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Honestly I think a lot of magic that exist in PF1 is way more quality of life enhancing than combat useful.

Just think if you had the capability to use Prestidigitation at will.

It can change the color of your clothes and clean them instantly.

It can flavor whatever you cook to be delicious.

Being able to magically clean your clothes (and really house, although the area of effect might be too small to be effective) and make whatever you cook 5 star magically delicious would be life changing.


All the figurines of wonderous power. I know that most of them are combat capable, but the scouting, messenger, mount, and other utility applications are all nice too. I love my critters though.


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Ring of Sustenance, hands down. I no longer need to eat? Awesome. 2 hours of sleep and I'm good?

With that kind of extra time, I could be Batman.


Quixote wrote:

Ring of Sustenance, hands down. I no longer need to eat? Awesome. 2 hours of sleep and I'm good?

With that kind of extra time, I could be Batman.

Does ring of sustenance prevent you from eating, or just remove the need?

I'm too much of a foodie to voluntarily miss out on all the wonderful dishes out there. If it's just the option to skip though, that is nice.


Folding Boat.


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Sysryke wrote:
Quixote wrote:

Ring of Sustenance, hands down. I no longer need to eat? Awesome. 2 hours of sleep and I'm good?

With that kind of extra time, I could be Batman.

Does ring of sustenance prevent you from eating, or just remove the need?

I'm too much of a foodie to voluntarily miss out on all the wonderful dishes out there. If it's just the option to skip though, that is nice.

Removes the need. It's kinda like how non-native Outsiders don't need any food or sleep (but can choose to do either for reasons of etiquette or fitting in or whatever.)

Scarab Sages

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Oh I didn't know about the travellers anytool.

Sandslice wrote:
Sysryke wrote:
Quixote wrote:

Ring of Sustenance, hands down. I no longer need to eat? Awesome. 2 hours of sleep and I'm good?

With that kind of extra time, I could be Batman.

Does ring of sustenance prevent you from eating, or just remove the need?

I'm too much of a foodie to voluntarily miss out on all the wonderful dishes out there. If it's just the option to skip though, that is nice.
Removes the need. It's kinda like how non-native Outsiders don't need any food or sleep (but can choose to do either for reasons of etiquette or fitting in or whatever.)

Yep and its a rule I expand to any abilities/items that negate the need for something. Just makes it more appealing to me that you can do something if you want to you just don't need to. Stuck in a high desert no need to drink or eat. In town for a holiday you can enjoy the good food and sites then even indulge in a few hours sleep if you want to make things open again faster :).


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Elixer of Repression. The descriptive text even explains how it is useful for general life.

In fact, I think we've all met players that could use these.


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I never knew that item existed. Needed for every horror/Cthulhu campaign!


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The Pipe of Holmes is a good one. Really anything that grants the user an Unseen Servant. I gotta agree with C to the Lax upthread; between Unseen Servant in an item and Prestidigitation at will, I feel like life would be extremely stress free.

Another spell to look for in an item is either Make Whole or Mending. The Lyre of Building leaps to mind, but also Living Garments or a Protective Ruff

There's so many spells that are out-of-combat utilities that folks rarely think of until they need them. Comprehend Languages or Tongues, Enhanced Diplomacy at low levels, Fabricate, and so on.

How about the combined efforts of Expeditious Construction and Expeditious Excavation? With a few castings of each, even at low levels, you could create a permanent dugout shelter with a 5'deep pit surrounded by walls that rise another 3' around it, then earthen ramps acting like a sod roof, supported by the side walls and a crossbeam you'd have to manually supply.

Multiple level 1 scrolls of Expeditious Construction; a wizard with Unseen Servant and Expeditious Excavation readied for the day; an area with a decent amount of flat, earthen ground and a supply of tree branches around weighing 40 Lbs or less; Mending, Prestidigitation and Spark as their cantrips. This PC could, conceivably, have a crude but clean and livable 10x10 dugout shack with earthen walls and roof, a smoke hole, a shallow fire pit in the floor, a roaring fire and whatever creature comforts they brought with them in their gear in one day.


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Mark Hoover 330 wrote:
How about the combined efforts of Expeditious Construction and Expeditious Excavation? With a few castings of each, even at low levels, you could create a permanent dugout shelter with a 5'deep pit surrounded by walls that rise another 3' around it, then earthen ramps acting like a sod roof, supported by the side walls and a crossbeam you'd have to manually supply.

You know... I was actually thinking about that a few weeks ago. "I can ask the druid for one of them - with take 10 on Spellcraft, I can easily teach it to the ring of spell knowledge by observing it - then pick up the other one as a spell known." Then the druid missed the session and I didn't get a chance yet.

To topic, though: a big one on Kollanie's wishlist.

Gloves of shaping.

With them, you gain the ability to easily work materials - if the hardness is 8 (hard as stone) or lower, you can work with that material as though it were putty. Harder materials are treated as though only half as hard; steel can be worked using woodworking tools, and even mithril can be carved like stone.

Really handy for a low-Strength crafter who can't be lugging a 50-lb "portable" anvil around everywhere.


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Imagine having the Book of Marvelous Recipes.

Sure, it makes you a better cook. But once per day you can cast Hero's Feast. Which gives you the effect of Remove Disease. Imagine your cooking is so good that it can cure the diseases of your guests.

Your family and friends are never getting sick again.

If your so inclined, you can probably sell your "talent" to the wealthy and literally remove whatever ails them.


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Polypurpose Panacea seems mainly designed for the caster's amusement, though some of the functions do give combat-related bonuses.


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The safecamp wagon would be handy for an explorer. Besides being a much nicer place to sleep than under a tree, it's going to be handy if you ever want to move something really heavy, or if your buddy needs complete bed rest. Mount spells not included tho'.

Boots of the cat are really good boots, and they also make falling much safer. Jumping off a 30' cliff is no big deal if it gives 2-3 points of damage depending on your acrobatics check, 2-3d6 may be a different matter.

Dust of tracelessness is excellent for stealth, especially since it's retroactive and covers the whole party.


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Obviously, the Lyre of Building... break Kingmaker/Skulls&Shackles with a flute.

The spell-component pouch... what goes on in there?

Scarab Sages

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The safecamp wagon one is interesting basically sleeping under it but you have wooden walls to keep non-burrowing wildlife out. Be fun to combine that with tiny hut. Although at later levels I do prefer secure shelter I think you are a bit safer (stone building effectively with alarms, arcane locks and for convenience unseen servant built in.)

Just weird that its not permanent any more so the house dissapears after a number of hours and theoretically can be dispelled.


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Bag of everlasting dung and the expeditious construction spell (gardener's best friend).

I run expeditious construction so that the material component used is the type of material replicated. (Sand for the glassblower,fertile topsoil for raised bed gardens, limestone for the alchemist cement, granite for fieldstone foundations, slate roofing, cobblestone walkways, etc)


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Umm, can we just talk about all the carrying devices in this game for a sec? Bags of holding, the Handy Haversack, the Efficient quiver, Portable Hole, and the Endless Bandolier to name a few. With a bit of gold spent you could potentially carry an entire house worth of stuff on your person and not be encumbered.

Then there's the Robe of Useful Items. Having an average of 10 extra patches besides the standard items, that's a spectacular amount of out-of-combat utility. Some of them, like the war dogs, obviously have a combat application but having the chance to just randomly pull out a mule with saddle bags or a 500 GP silver coffer would be a PRETTY HANDY trick in a lot of circumstances!


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currently my traveling war priest has made great use out of the Iron Spike, multi-tool, sapling rod and drinking horn of endless valor (this is a must have for Drunken Brutes with Drink Is Life).

I let the rest of the group have the combat stuff, I take all the QoL improvement items and things that any traveler would love to have camping.


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Y'know what I think is hilarious? I don't think most of the items mentioned so far would even be considered by my players as a valuable item to keep from a loot pile or to purchase in the city.

I mean, the party contains a Wizard who is also the party magic item crafter. Ring of Sustenance, no-brainer right? He's got Scribe Scroll, Craft Wondrous Item and Craft Wand right now. Every wand or scroll he's made has either been working with the NPC cleric for healing or some kind of attack/buff spell. He's made cheap stat enhancers with Craft Wondrous, and that's after these characters have taken a month of Downtime in 2, two-week chunks between games.

No one except the NPC has a mess kit. He and the Paladin PC have basic adventuring gear. Since its a dungeon exploration game, if the PCs ever need to try and camp IN the dungeon they have no way to secure a door or portal, almost no bedrolls, few torches, and one set of iron rations meant to last a single PC 14 days.

If I gave this party an Iron Spike of Safe Passage, I guarantee it'd be sold.

Scarab Sages

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Mark Hoover 330 wrote:

Y'know what I think is hilarious? I don't think most of the items mentioned so far would even be considered by my players as a valuable item to keep from a loot pile or to purchase in the city.

I mean, the party contains a Wizard who is also the party magic item crafter. Ring of Sustenance, no-brainer right? He's got Scribe Scroll, Craft Wondrous Item and Craft Wand right now. Every wand or scroll he's made has either been working with the NPC cleric for healing or some kind of attack/buff spell. He's made cheap stat enhancers with Craft Wondrous, and that's after these characters have taken a month of Downtime in 2, two-week chunks between games.

No one except the NPC has a mess kit. He and the Paladin PC have basic adventuring gear. Since its a dungeon exploration game, if the PCs ever need to try and camp IN the dungeon they have no way to secure a door or portal, almost no bedrolls, few torches, and one set of iron rations meant to last a single PC 14 days.

If I gave this party an Iron Spike of Safe Passage, I guarantee it'd be sold.

That sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.


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Mark Hoover 330 wrote:


If I gave this party an Iron Spike of Safe Passage, I guarantee it'd be sold.

the Iron Spike is awesome, I've had it since the beginning of the game and use it constantly. It was pretty funny in the beginning as my character comes from a wintery mountainous region and in the first round of the first combat of the first game I was hit with blindness/deafness, which we were too low level to cure for 5 game sessions. Unfortunately the rest of the game didn't take place in snowy mountainous regions so I would put up my snow covered hills in swamps, deserts, temperate forests...so that was fun.

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