[DrKvothe]

Maybe the advice was meant to keep costs down? Somewhat misguided, I think, since there's plenty of cash to spare after the essentials.

Shopping list:
-2x 5/55 rings
-good ratio 1 hander for lvls 1-20
-baton of faith for 20+ when dmg cap comes off
-dark mail gauntlets for that sexy mana
-some armor to get your AC up. can be a full set of banded or a couple of pieces of high AC armor or a mix. Also hp and even mr if you care, although it won't really matter for a while.

So you could splurge and go guardian's mace or jade mace for pre-20, although you'll be perfectly fine with sword of skyfire. The best trade-able 1h in the game for pallies just ties with baton of faith for ratio, so there's really no point at all of a 1hb/s for 20+.