veekie, this gets better and better.
What range do you mean by low levels? And what point would be the start for higher levels?
Low levels being levels 1-6, possibly 1-8. While most of the tricks come online by 6th, not all casters can afford the slots or items for them until 8th
High levels being the teen levels, as the more muscular divinations, teleportation and multitools like polymorph really hit their full bloom.
And how would you factor in the role of magic items?
Say, a fighter at level 13 has no way to get teleport from his class - but can get the ability 3/day with boots he can afford since he has more permanent class abilities (higher hp, higher BAB) than a wizard (who gets hp-boosting items and devotes some spells to attacking ability to make up for that). What do you think?
Hm. Possibly we can leave it out - but I found that rather cheap magic items either
a) emulate quite a lot of the spells of spellcasters and
b) protect from quite a lot of the spells of spellcasters.
Also, some items just work with a certain class ability - maybe their use may be included?
Low, this is part of the metric.
The following are what counts:
-Permanent class abilities, like Magic Vestment, Greater Magic Weapon, Greater/Superior Resistance/Mage Armor. These can save you a whole quarter of your wealth, across the whole party no less. More optionally, Anticipate Teleportation, the Hearts of Air/Earth/Water/Fire provide cheap day-long effects.
--Due to spell completion items and item crafting, casters also enjoy cheaper items for the same effect, with wands being significantly more cost effective than potions. Classes with good charisma and Use Magic Device can emulate this, but casters come with it for free and can craft to further reduce the costs.
--Due to role, melee classes, including magic based melee classes like the duskblade and warblade, require a higher investment. The most expensive standard magic item type is a weapon. Therefore any class that requires a melee weapon is already at a sizable disadvantage to begin with. Caster classes with 1/2 BAB do not care because they weren't going to use that BAB to begin with. Classes with low health endeavor not to get hit like everyone else, because the dice difference between d4 and d10 is only 3 hp per level, which falls within random variance of full attack damage. Being full attacked by say...a dragon would have about equal chance to oneshot an unprepared caster or unoptimized meleer.
--Bonus prioritization.
---Caster: Casting stat bonus > Misc AC boosters > Con bonus > Save bonus(classes with Greater/Superior Resistance ignore this) Armor(classes with Magic Vestment/Greater Mage Armor ignore this), Metamagic rods(varies by build) > Misc scrolls
---Melee: Weapon > Str bonus > Con bonus > Dex bonus > Armor > Save bonus > Misc AC boosters > Potions/Activated items. This gets worse for someone with the misfortune to need a weapon bonus on a natural weapon, the most expensive item costs even more.God help the fool with TWF.
Thus, a T3 melee class would need access to something to relieve the load on wealth. Maybe he has alternate defenses that cover for a clubbed save(Warblade), maybe he comes with a fully enchanted weapon(Psychic Warrior), maybe he has magical full plate armor he can summon(Binder), but item dependency is a fact of life for all non-casters. Playing the equipment game with a caster is a lost cause unless you're an Artificer or something.