Please Help with a Build Swash/Rogue!

Once again, I come to you all, the gaming gurus. A friend of mine has a game going on Saturday night, that I am joining. I'm making an 8th lvl character, and because his world is so full of spellcasters (the main Empire is ruled by them, on a floating continent!) I've been thinking of making something that is a sort of 'mage slayer'.

They're a group of elves (Elves live in this empire, but oddly don't rule it) and are a by-product of the original pact between elves and the humans who first made the Empire (and later some humans evolved into a new magical races themselves, which now rules in the humans' stead)... basically, this group of elves polices and watches out for rogue/dangerous mages and eliminates them if need be.

So, I'm thinking three levels of Swashbuckler, three levels of Rogue, and then going into Assassin. (He's Lawful Evil.) At 8th lvl, his stats would be Str 14, Dex 18, Con 12, Int 16, Wis 10, Cha 10, using a 32 Point Buy and two stat adjustments (4th and 8th lvl). For his feats, he's got Dodge, Mobility, Weapon Finesse (from Swashbuckler) and Improved Initiative.

I'm thinking about putting him into Duelist after a few levels in Assassin... but does anyone have any better ideas for the build as a whole? Or suggestions on items to load him up with? A Magebane sword (from Complete Arcane) is very thematically tempting... as is Occult Slayer down the line.

I like Mage Slayer as a feat, but don't want to have to take Practiced Spellcaster just to kill the nerf to my magic...

So, what do you guys think?

A swashbuckler duelist is a great combo... but you really need to stick with the duelist for a while to get the benefits.

Mike

I like it!

I really like the character concept that you are going with here. (3 levels of swash for insightful strike ++++!) I actually have played a character that is very similar to what you plan on doing and I really enjoyed it. I think that you will be happy with the design as well.

How many levels of duelist and assassin do you plan on taking? 3 levels of assasin maybe? I like to take duelist to either 5th level to get precise strike or 7th level to get acrobatic charge and elaborate parry too. Just sugesstions...

If you want to be the occult slayer I would say that, for your character, mageslayer would be a must for a feat, even with your limited number of feats. Purely for character concept however... go with what you think is best

Again, nice job! I think that you will really enjoy this character!

Yeah, I think Mage Slayer is a required feat. I would like to take Weapon Focus just to offset the loss of BAB from Rogue and Assassin, but that's not really necessary, I suppose. And I have all the reqs there for Duelist already.

My first crack at this actually involved making the character a Tiefling. And there is that one Tactical Feat in Complete Warrior... use the Darkness ability, have people flanking you stabbing eachother instead... heehee.

Any ideas for items? I think most of my spells will be those nifty swift spells in Complete Adventurer. That one that makes someone flat-footed? Damn! Sneak in, attack, then next round, cast, and sneak attack again!