You probably know that merchants re-roll their inventory every time you talk to them.
I have found that even (unique?) Quest Items (Gold-Color) given as reward from quests/dialogue can be re-rolled. All it takes is load your game and do the dialogue again.

I am a <span class="bold">Priest level 11</span>, just started Act 1, on HARD... So I have only just begun :-)
I have played some on EASY with a Paladin (~same level) and only found a couple of weak items. (Only done Iron Mines...)
It seems that on HARD items are better - actually A LOT BETTER!!

Even the companions are OK. I might be a bit enthusiastic, but so far (level 12) they ROCK !!!
Both (<span class="bold">Diabolus</span> and <span class="bold">Hugo</span>) started with ~200 in health and some nice DPS...

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#001 - <span class="bold">Boots Of Saint Baudolino</span> = +15 to All Attributes / +2 Mana each 10s
* in Hillbrant - Tavern 1st Floor (up the stairs) - from Herminus
* talk about Crusades (1st dialog option, 1st time you see it)
- if you start your dialogue asking about something else, it will not come up again !!!

#002 - <span class="bold">Prosecutor Ring</span> = +14 to All Attributes / +2 Mana each 10s
* in Hillbrant - Church - from Vallarian
- as reward for becoming a Prosecutor (only the Priest can take this quest)

Screenshots @ Picasa

I have not decided what is better:
+ Attribute Points (to all)
+ % Experience
+ % Damage Reduction
+ % Resistance (Poison, Lighting etc)

I also have another ring and a shield (a couple of hundreds gold cheap) that give +7% Experience
The two +2 Mana over 10 seconds - don't make a big difference when you have 300+ mana.

Up until now, I have only cleared the Cemetery and Crypt (killed Herbertius) and found <span class="bold">Saint Ambrosiuss Skin</span> in the crypt.
* Items in chests don't seem to re-roll even if you save-load before opening the chest
* Items dropped by enemies remain the same even if you re-load and defeat them again.
* No change in items on the floor - re-loading the level makes no difference in their stats.

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Regarding Companions - Their starting stats on EASY were pitiful.
I will update as soon as I find more GOLDEN items that can be re-rolled easily.

I'm the same situation altough I'm sure I'm going to finish, don't exactly have the patience to go through most of Act 1 right after I'm almost done with it.

It's certainly a bizarre difficulty if hard makes it easier because of better items but I assume that while you don't exactly have relatively decent items it's harder or?

Seems you have nice luckk. I tried priest on hard and still got same items like in normal. Only tiny difference i have found so far is +20 to one attribute, -4 to rest in shop. Everything is the same. Maybe later in the game i will find some cool stuff but now its only harder due to increased monsters hp (novice offensive spells are really terrible XD). I'm in half act1.

I just discovered item's properties are applied when it is created. Items in chests/on NPC enemies/on the floor are created when you enter the map for the first time. So, if you find some item you want to reroll, you have to remember where it is located, load from Autosave-Level and get it fast. This can be time-consuming with items wielded by powerful enemies or located in far corner of the map. But there are plenty items that are close to map entrances. For example, golden amulet from Bishop Trevorius's body can be rerolled quite easily (i got +2 to magical skills, some resistances and chance to hit).

i have a priest at the end of iron mines but on easy mode, hard mode sounds way better now that there are cheats

Good to know. I will try then, to re-enter the level :-) Is "pushing your luck" a cheat? I don't think so.

For some GOOD stuff (like ++ for all) you should be comfortable with 10-20 re-rolls.
You make up for the time you don't have to re-load when you die...

*edit* Ok I spent way too much time on this and finally got the following -
Boots of Saint Baudolino +14 to all Attrib, +11 Speed, +23 chance to hit
Effective +25 Speed.

That's insane!

Mine gave 42 HP and 20% to lightning and magic resist..

COOL !!! I know it take a while, but well, one more "tour" with the ring and you're set for the next 15 levels at least...

If one had money (now I don't) great gear exists that gives even +9 to ALL attributes.
The white lady (<span class="bold">Suzan</span>) has lots of good stuff...

Imperial Battle Axe Divine Power
Magister Belt Divine Power
Magister Ring Divine Power
Plate Armour Divine Power or Scale Armour Divine Power I guess the first map ((<span class="bold">Hillbrandt</span>) does not work like this as you cannot re-load it. I must remember to save now BEFORE I go to a new area (just in case).

The game Autosaves before you enter a new map, but i keep a special save for that anyway. And if I forget to save on it, I usually remember about it after some time. Then I quicksave, load from Autosave-Level, save on New Map save, then reload from quicksave.