What to buy?

[Shnigda]

Hi guys, I have a TWF rogue5/swashbuckler2 that is about to go into shadow dancer for HiPS. My party and I recently killed an enemy fighter who had +4 armour and a +4 trident. We sold the items and now have about 5000gp each to spend.
What items are good to spend this gold on?
I have an amulet of tears, mithralmist shirt, shadow cloak, gloves of dexterity +2 and a rapier +1. Should I upgrade my masterwork shortsword to be +1? Or are there better items? Maybe smoking enchantment or save up for a collar of umbral metamorphosis?
The second part of my question is how many levels shadow dancer is good for.
Any help and suggestions is much appreciated!

[Xervous]

If you are already committed to the feats for Shadowdancer it is good for ONE level, HiPS... If you aren't committed the collar would be a nice way to nab HiPS without throwing away feats and a class level, though it's the feats that are hurting you more.


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This is not to say you are going down a bad path. Everything is relative in DnD. Depending on the rest of your party you might not be building a character of the same general competency level.

[RolandDeschain]

Ring of the Darkhidden.

Oh...and take the Darkstalker feat when you can.

CHEERS!

[olejars]

Ring of the Darkhidden.

Seconded on the ring of Dark Hidden. Best 2,000 gp you can spend.

[BowStreetRunner]

You could add the Shadowstrike property to your Rapier.

[Agahnim]

Hey I Can Chan :

"A +1 bloodstone collision dispelling impaling prismatic burst spell-storing vampiric adamantine rapier (195,320 gp; 3 lbs.) if you can use the Dungeon Master's Guide and the Magic Items Compendium. Perspective: This weapon costs nearly two tons of gold.":smallbiggrin:

[ericgrau]

Certainly too early for a +1 weapon and really all it gives is +1 damage. You can carry a couple oil of magic weapon at 50 gp a pop just in case you face DR/magic, but even then you might face other DR instead. Silversheen (temporarily makes your weapon silver) and a backup cold iron weapon might be nice too.

Anklets of translocation are pretty popular. MIC, 1,400 gp swift action 10' teleport 2/day IIRC. There's some debate about whether it counts for skirmish, so check with your DM there. Could at least help you move to a flank while full attacking the same turn.

A few 50 gp potions are nice in case you get a buff round. Protection from evil and reduce person are handy. For you reduce person is effectively +2 AC, +2 to hit, -2 damage (-1 str damage, 1d6=>1d4 is 1 less on average). So a small gain not worth wasting a turn but if you have extra time before battle it's a good deal at 50 gp a pop. Unless you're already a small race. Tiny size gets 0' reach which sucks. You might want to browse the PHB and spell compendium for other random utility spells to get in 50 gp potion or oil form, especially if the party doesn't have the right type of caster to scroll it.

Likewise in general I'd browse the cheap stuff in MiC. Anything 500 gp or less. You might find some great random stuff to spend your leftover change on.

Some good random junk in the DMG include the tree feather token (400 gp) and whip feather token (500 gp). For the whip feather token Note that grappled foes are denied their dex bonus to AC and being grappled makes it difficult to attack or cast. At level 7 it has a pretty good chance of hitting and grappling unless the foe is large size. Note that it gets two attacks from its BAB and that whips have a 15' reach. Save it as a great one-off for a major fight. And since it lasts an hour you can let it loose ahead of time. The tree feather token is because you never know when a gigantic oak tree will come in handy, though I think for your build and budget it might be a bit early to get one. A reliable disable + sneak attack trigger that will win you a major fight seems better, plus in a few levels it won't be so reliable any more so now's the time.