Maximising Stealth

[Shnigda]

Hey guys,

I have been wondering what would be the best ways to maximise my character's stealthiness (Hide & Move Silently).

My current character is a level 5 Elf Rogue (or is it Rouge as I so often see? XD ).

I have a Mithralmist Chain Shirt for the obscuring mist creation in my space. My stats are: STR 12 DEX 19 CON 12 INT 12 WIS 10 CHA 12

I currently have 8 ranks in Hide and 8 ranks in Move Silently (boosted to 12 from my DEX mod

In our campaign we get feats at odd levels and my current feats are: Weapon Finesse, Dodge, Combat Reflexes and Two-Weapon Fighting (I took the Murky-eyed flaw for an extra feat)

I am planning on taking one level of Shadowdancer as soon as I can for HiPS (I think that would be my 8th level?) so one of my feats needs to be Mobility

So what would you guys suggest to make this a good build and to maximise its stealthiness so that I can use my TWF for applying stealth attack damage? I currently have 1600gp and am allowed to pay the appropriate gold and xp to a wizard to have items created for me as if I were making them myself (I would also like your thoughts on that if possible... At the time it seemed like a good idea, but I now realise that it could lead to the party being hugely OP at in future?)

Any and all thoughts would be appreciated!

EDIT: All books are available, as are Dragon Mags

[Vhaidara]

What sources are available to you?

Not a lot you can do for 1600gp.

As far as mandatory things, the biggest one is the Darkstalker feat from Lords of Madness. It allows you to hide from things like Blindsight, Tremorsense, and other not-sight/hearing senses. Which like 40% of the Monster Manual has.

[Ellowryn]

Honestly Shadowdancer is a pretty terrible PrC with some horrible feat requirements. Something that has been thrown around these forums alot lately is using Warlock (CArc) to snag the Darkness invocation (along with some form of darkvision if you need it) and then grabbing the Blend into Shadows feat from DotU for Hide in Plain Sight. Plus warlock gives you an at-will ranged attack among other useful things. As has already been mentioned Darkstalker is going to be insanely important throughout any campaign, so grab that asap.

[Shnigda]

I haven't heard of the Warlock thing...
Do you know how many levels you need to dip into warlock in order to get darkness and make that version of HiPS viable? (I also dont really see my character wanting to delve into being a warlock fluff-wise... :/ )
Also, we are using the PF version of Dodge (also do you need Mobility constantly to keep the benefits of being a shadowdancer or can you retrain the feat once you have taken the dip?)

[Chronos]

Shadowdancer is fine in a core-only environment, where there's no other way to get HiPS and where there aren't many good feats for a rogue. In an all-books environment, though, the opportunity cost is just way too high: You've got other options available, and some feats are too good to miss out on. Personally, my preferred way to get HiPS from class levels (i.e., not from race, which you've already locked in) is one level of Incarnate, followed by three of Umbral Disciple (the Incarnate level isn't strictly necessary, but it makes Umbral Disciple easier, and gives you some nice boosts to other skills along the way).

The warlock method is easier, requiring only one level and one feat, but it's also not as useful, since it won't let you sneak up on someone unawares: They'll still see a big ball of magical darkness moving around; they just won't see you in it.

[Shnigda]

Could you explain the incarnate/umbral discipline thing to me?

[Chronos]

The combo to get Hide in Plain Sight isn't complicated. Incarnate gets you, among other benefits, one point of essentia (you could also get this from a variety of feats). Umbral Disciple requires one point of essentia, plus some skills that you'd be investing in anyway. Umbral Disciple gives you another point of essentia, for two total. At 3rd level, it gives you an ability that grants concealment, plus also HiPS if you have two points of essentia invested in it.

Now, the other benefits to that one-level Incarnate dip are a bit more complicated, since you're bringing in an entire new magic system. Look up any of the Incarnum guides to see how they work, but as an example, you could use that level to get +8 to Disable Device, Open Locks, and Sleight of Hand, plus an at-will ranged touch attack that does 3d6 damage.

[Eloel]

See if you can grab the Dark template from Tome of Magic. It's LA +1, and gives a lot do a stealthy character, including HiPS

[Dgrin]

May I suggest reading this guide by JaronK (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=61a9dma0dvffnrsloc92lcsta0&topic=9959), it should help

You can ask any leftover questions here, I guess

[JW86]

See if you can grab the Dark template from Tome of Magic. It's LA +1, and gives a lot do a stealthy character, including HiPS

The Collar of Umbral Metamorphosis grants this template, hide bonuses and hide in plain sight.... I think the 'always on' version is 20k+, so maybe not available now... but well worth it later in game.

[ShurikVch]

Templates:
Chameleon Creature (Underdark) give +10 on Hide, and +4 on Move Silently checks; LA +1
Lolth-Touched Creature (Monster Manual IV) give +4 on Hide and Move Silently checks (but shifts alignment to CE); LA +1
Shadow Creature (Manual of the Planes) give Shadow Blend and +6 on Move Silently checks; LA +2

Feats:
Numerical bonuses are surprisingly low:
The most generous is Sand Camouflage (Sandstorm) - +4 on Hide checks (in areas with 1 - 11 inches of appropriate loose soil) or +10 (12" or more)
Bind Vestige (Tome of Magic) - +4 competence on Hide checks (with Leraje vestige)
Crowd Tactics (Races of Destiny) - +4 on Hide checks (in square with a crowd)
Able Sniper (Races of the Wild) - +4 on Hide checks (to hide again after you have made an attack roll while hiding)
For the rest you probably will do better just with Skill Focus (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#skillFocus) in Hide and Move Silently.

Gloom Razor (Tome of Battle) - if enemy missed you due concealment, you will get invisibility effect against this enemy for 1 turn (you may get concealment via Shrouded Dance skill trick)

Reroll failed check:
Sly Fortune [luck] (Complete Scoundrel) - expend one luck reroll as an immediate action to reroll a Hide, or Move Silently
Umbral Mark (Dragonmarked) - reroll Hide 1/day

Negate penalties:
Swift and Silent [Regional] (Player's Guide to Faerûn) - move at your normal speed while using Hide or Move Silently at no penalty
Lightfeet (Races of the Wild) - ignore Move Silently penalties from noisy terrain
Ritual of the Woodland Bond (Player's Guide to Eberron) - don't take any penalty on Move Silently checks made in areas of undergrowth
Concealed Ambush (Dr#339) - Hide penalty for sniping is only -10 (instead usual -20)
Forest Ambusher (Dr#315) - penalty for sniping is only -15; also, +3 on Hide checks (in forests)

[Inevitability]

A single level in the Ghost template class will give you the incorporeal subtype (which eliminates the need for Move Silently) and the ability to float through walls (which will prevent almost all types of visual detection). Oh, and you are immune to lifesense, should it ever come up.

[rrwoods]

You want whisper gnome (Races of Stone) instead of elf -- +4 racial to move silently and effective +8 to hide (+4 racial which stacks with +4 size) and 30 ft speed ... +2 DEX and CON to boot! It's available in a web supplement if you don't have the book.

Edit: here it is. (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20040807a&page=3)