Gearing a Rogue

[Eugenides]

I'm playing a rogue in a campaign, and we've been fairly under-geared up to this point (DM gave us masterwork weapons and armor, which I'll admit is nice to have, but that's it.) Recognizing that he sort of double-gimped us(we also had to take two levels in an NPC class and we're only level 6) he's decided to let us gear out. Please note, the campaign is dragon-heavy, and they're chromatic, so we will be flat out killing/fighting a large amount of them, so if there are any items that might be useful in this setting, that's a plus.

So here's where we are: Expert 2/Rogue 4 focusing on TWF(rapier and short sword unless there are better options) with the ability to basically find anything and buy it, up to 16,000 coins worth of wealth.

As a player: I'm familiar with the Complete Series and Core, and have little to no grasp of optimization. We're allowed to buy many items from a rather exhaustive list.

I'm not looking to super-optimize my character(as the party and campaign is more about fun than having amazing powerful characters), however, I really don't know what I should be looking for as a rogue. So, suggestions as to what types of items a rogue who suddenly finds itself with 16,000 gold coins worth of wealth in a Dragon-heavy campaign?

[Darrin]

So, suggestions as to what types of items a rogue who suddenly finds itself with 16,000 gold coins worth of wealth in a Dragon-heavy campaign?

Shax's Indispensible Haversack Type II (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=148101).

[Umbranar]

Hmm atleast 1 dragonbane +1 dragonbane weapon springs to mind for the offence. For the defense you should try to fetch things to increase your reflex since you are going to have dragon breaths against you and you have evasion.

Note that most dragons have blindsense atleast so it might be hard to sneak up on them, flanking/initiative is going to give you sneak attacks.

The problem with TWF is that you NEED to SA for damage and you NEED to get close and full-round attack. Rogues vs Dragons is probably not the best since they have tons of attacks aswell (2x claw, 1 breath, bite, wings, tail all depending on age ofcourse) and they cast spells. What exactly is your build? It might be good to break off rogue at 3rd level and go swashbuckler for the extra BAB, 1d10 HD and defensive abilities and go with the Daring Outlaw feat (Complete Warrior). This will result in better HD`s, full sneak attack progress, better BAB and Int to damage.

[hoverfrog]

Rather than blow a feat on TWF take two levels of ranger instead of two levels of rogue. You get most of the skills and the benefit of favoured enemy and TWF thrown in.

[Gwendol]

Swashbucklers get weapon finesse for free, which saves a feat.

Tanglefoot bags works on anything Large or smaller, which likely covers many of the dragons you are to face right now. There's an item in the MiC (Staff of viscous globs or something?) that fires sticky matter up to 100', which is out of blindsense range. Also works against flying creatures.

Ring of the darkhidden makes you invisible to creatures with darkvision. Now the blindsense kind of negates that, but once you have concealement, you still get to keep the 50% miss chance. Combine with Darkness FTW.

Extra movement from things like chronocharm of the horizon walker and anklets of translocation will come in handy in order to move and full attack in the same round.

Have a spell storing weapon and ask the party cleric to cast shivering touch in it (once he/she gets third level spells).

[eggs]

I try to start with as many of the following as possible:

+Numbers: At the moment, I'd only worry about items of +Con and Resistance, but Deflection, Strength, Dexterity and Natural Armor will all be useful eventually. Remember that by Magic Item Compendium rules, these effects don't cost any extra to stack onto other magic items.

Wand Bracer (Dungeonscape) + Wands of Gravestrike (SpC)/Vinestrike (SpC)/Golemstrike (SpC)/Assassin's Strike (CMage version) to get around immunities. People give partially-charged wands flak around here for being used to abuse WBL limitations in a well-known Monk thread, but if you're gearing your character out at the start, you probably only need 10 charges apiece, which will keep costs down.

The Wand Bracer method has some problems with TWF, but that's okay: archery/throwing and natural weapons are usually better routes to take anyway.

Then you're starting to phase into the levels where gear becomes the source of most special abilities. Grab some Anklets of Translocation or Shadow Hands for teleportation, Ring of the Darkhidden for a dirt-cheap way to negate a common perception mode while sneaking around and a Handy Haversack for schlepping things around. What goes in the haversack depends on build specs, but it's hard to go wrong with some acid (for ranged touch sneak attacks and for burning through stuff as a tool), mundane tools, eggshell grenades (if they aren't too powerful) and some utility wands and scrolls (an alter self wand is ideal, but you may not be able to afford many charges at the moment).

[falloutimperial]

From one expert/rogue to another, mundane items are bread and butter. Use extendible poles to knock enemies face-first into your caltrops. Douse foes in oil and bounce torches off of walls with your rubber ball to ignite them. Combat can be a breeze with a little ingenuity and some ingenuity.

Also: Tricorns. Every expert/ rogue should buy this hat. For 15 gp, you get absolutely zero affects, other than being the most dapper gentleman on this side of anything. honestly, is there a character that doesn't look better with this cap? It's like a scalp-eyepatch.

[King Atticus]

Wand Bracer (Dungeonscape) + Wands of Gravestrike (SpC)/Vinestrike (SpC)/Golemstrike (SpC)/Assassin's Strike (CMage version) to get around immunities.

These are great for versatility but if you're going to be focusing on dragon's you might look at picking up a wand of Wraithstrike. It's a 2nd lvl spell so the wand will be more expensive but it's a swift action to cast and every attack that you make that round is resolved against Touch AC. That means the only time you have to hit higher than a 10 is if you're slaughtering Wyrmling's but even that doesn't get higher than 12. Put that in a wand chamber in one of your weapons (dungeonscape; treats the wand as readied when the weapon is in your hand) and use it every round, Activating a wand does not provoke an AoO (All this assuming you can hit a 20 UMD check on a regular basis).

[eggs]

On the attacks-v-touch AC thing, is there a way I can mention flasks without stepping back into that overdone tarpit of a debate? Because stocking a couple dozen flasks of acid/alchemist's X/holy water is a good way to deal with high armor/natural armor/DR values when they crop up.