(3.5) Help me pick some items for my Duelist?

[Alejandro]

Thanks in advance to any who help.

I have a 4th lvl rogue/3rd lvl swashbuckler/soon to be 4th lvl duelist. We've just finished a big quest, and I will soon have (estimate) 25,000 GP to spend, as my share of the loot. There's so many magical items I could get, I thought I would ask forumites who may know better than I. I will list what I have now; any suggestions for what I should purchase or upgrade are very welcome. Pretty much any 3.5 book, including MIC, is alright to draw from.

I already have:

Rapier +1, acidic
Dagger +2
Light crossbow +1, auto-loading
Non-magical whip and mighty whip dagger
Ring of protection +3
Ring of fire resistance, 10
Boots of striding and springing
Amulet of natural armor +1
Bracers of defense/armor +1
Gloves of dexterity +2
Cloak of resistance +5

I often have to serve as the party's only tank. We have plenty of heal magic available. Again, any suggestions would be great.

[Feliks878]

How about some sort of headband of intellect? Your head slot appears empty and both Duelists and Swashbuckler's gain bonuses from that stat. I know it's not very flashy, but unless your int is already very high, it'd add some AC and damage.

[Alejandro]

Hadn't thought of that, it's a possibility. But, my INT is 18 naturally, so I can already take advantage of +4 worth of swashbuckler and duelist bonus. I would have to gain 5th level as a duelist before I could raise my armor class any further, so the headband would only increase insightful strike right now.

[tyckspoon]

Well, the boring way would be to just up the plusses on some of your gear- your weapons could stand to be a little higher, and your bracers and amulet of natural armor are about due for an upgrade. I would also consider just getting some armor- sure, you drop your Duelist AC bonus, but a mundane chain shirt provides just as much AC bonus as being a level 4 Duelist with 18 Int anyway, and it's much much cheaper AC than buying bracers of armor (for comparison: +5 AC from a +1 Chain Shirt is 1,250 gp. +5 AC from Bracers of Armor is 25,000 gp.) As your party's designated person-who-gets-beat-up, you want cheap AC like that. You could also definitely use a +Con item, either as a belt or added on to your amulet; assuming your group is also using the updated ability-stacking rules in MIC, that won't cost any extra.

What I would do in your situation, however, is just troll through the MIC a bit and grab whatever looks fun. Maybe a weapon augment crystal, definitely some Chronocharms, one of the more interesting belts since you currently don't have anything in that slot, one of the vests.. I don't remember any specific items to recommend, unfortunately, but there should be something that really catches your imagination in there.

[Alejandro]

Tyckspoon,

I actually have been looking through MIC. Some of the items I have noted so far are the Rogue's Vest, the Shirt of Ironskin, a Belt of Battle, and maybe the augment crystals for hurting constructs or undead.

[mregecko]

Greater Truedeath Crystal(s) - Sneak Attack those undead, and permanent ghost strike, and an extra 1d6 dmg against undead. Assumes you can get access to a Greater Magic Weapon (+3) from an arcane caster, which should be do-able around 11th or 12th level. Just be nice to your local wizard.

Boots of Speed - Haste is never a bad thing to have.

Belt of Battle - Insanely powerful item. Buy as many as you can afford.

That's what I would go for. But that's what I always go for with my melee characters ;-)
-- G

Edit: Ninja'd by the OP!