Equipping a level 17 character

[Dark Dragon]

Hi,

sometimes a little wonder happens: a character gets some money after surviving an adventure. But he doesn't know how to spent the money.

In this case it's my elven rogue 11 / assassin 3 / transmuter 3. He's a moderate two-weapon fighter / archer and will follow the path of an arcane trickster / deepwood sniper when reaching epic status.

The feats: Improved Initiative, Quick Draw, Ambidexterity, Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved Critical (Rapier), Death Blow, Scribe Scroll.

The stats: STR 20, DEX 24, CON 20, INT 14, WIS 12, CHA 8 (boosting items included).

His actual magic equipment: +2 adamantine keen rapier (grants weapon finesse, +4 weapon), +2 dagger of greater wounding (+6 weapon), +1 longsword, +1 dagger, +5 deathward bracers (+7 item), +3 cloak of resistance, +2 ring of protection, +1 amulet of natural armor, +2 pearl of wisdom, +1 ioun stone of intelligence (remnant of AD&D), rope of climbing, 50 +1 arrows, bag of holding type I, +2 belt of strength, +4 gloves of dexterity, +2 ring of health, MW mighty 4 composite longbow, ehlonna's quiver, a few low-level arcane scrolls, some potions.

He has 52.000 GP (that's all his money) for upgrading items or buying new ones (yes, he's horribly underequipped, but the DM won't allow more). Allowed splat books: S&S, MoW, MoF, S&F, T&B, DoF, FRCS, MM2.

Any good ideas how to spent the money?

EDIT: Oops, perhaps not the right forum to post my question. Moderators, feel free to move the thread.

 

[Zad]

My two bits:

A dead character isn't anything but a boat anchor. Therefore first, I'd up the bonus on the cloak of resistance, and maybe your ring of health since that's fort save as well as hit points.

AC is good. Therefore see what the most cost effective route to upping your AC is (deflection, armor, etc).

+1 longsword - why. Sell for cash.

I'm not seeing a feat selection that will make a good archer but that's entirely up to you and not what you asked. A sound magical bow is always nice.

Consider a secondary weapon with some nice abilities, preferably something that works for you all the time, rather than just in combat.

And I absolutely can't believe at your level you don't have a Heward's handy haversack. Get one! Get two! Get one for your dog! (Yes you have a bag of holding, but it's still not a haversack.)

 

[Thanee]

In high level D&D characters tend to become more wandering collections of magic items, than actual characters. That means, often the magic items have more effect in the characters daily work, than his class abilities (spellcasters are - of course - the major exception here).

So, be happy, that your DM is not so freegiving with magic items!

Anyways... Here are some good items to consider:

Heward's Handy Haversack
Boots of Springing and Striding or Winged Boots
Vest of Resistance +5
Stone of Good Luck
Headband of Intellect +4 or +6
Heavy Fortification Mithral Shirt
Sure-Striking Dagger (Weapon Enchantment from MoF)
Ring of Blinking
Major Cloak of Displacement
Ioun Stone of Spellstoring

In my experience, AC tends to become of less importance at higher levels, unless you can reach really high levels (like 40-50), since opponents will hit you most of the time, anyways. It's far better to have something, that let's you avoid an attack with a decent chance (like displacement).

Bye
Thanee

 

[Norfleet]

A dead character isn't anything but a boat anchor.

Dead characters make very poor boat anchors, due to the natural tendency pf a corpse to float. Dead characters make very excellent decoys, though. If you're pinned down by enemy ranged attackers, you can poke the dead guy up and out, so he'll draw enemy fire for you. It won't really bother him very much. He's already dead, so a few bolts in the head won't really harm him any.

 

[isoChron]

Get a magic bow. Something like acidic burst or evil outsiders bane. Don't push the weapon enhancement over +1. You hit most of the time and you will get your standard +5 GMW arrows from the friendly tempus cleric .
A few extra dice of damage would be nice.
Upgrade your resistance item to +5.
Buy a belt of many pockets (familiar pocket included ).

BYE

 

[Dark Dragon]

In high level D&D characters tend to become more wandering collections of magic items, than actual characters. That means, often the magic items have more effect in the characters daily work, than his class abilities (spellcasters are - of course - the major exception here).

Absolutely right. I'm trying to avoid that effect as good as possible.

In my experience, AC tends to become of less importance at higher levels, unless you can reach really high levels (like 40-50), since opponents will hit you most of the time, anyways. It's far better to have something, that let's you avoid an attack with a decent chance (like displacement).

Bye
Thanee

Right. So, a Ring of Blinking or Cloak of Displacement is always a good choice at high levels.

Hmm, well the RoB costs 27.000, a Hand of Glory 8.000 (to wear the RoB), HHH 2.000, a mighty longbow +2 8.600, boosting the CoR to +4 costs 7.000.
Summming it up: 52.600...Perhaps there are some jewels to sell as well as the +1 longsword.

I'm not seeing a feat selection that will make a good archer but that's entirely up to you and not what you asked. A sound magical bow is always nice.

When the group changes to 3.5 (in about a year, the current DM wants to finish his story after 3.0 rules), I'll exchange Ambidexterity with Improved Critical (Longbow). Levels 18 and 19 will increase the rogue to level 13, giving two feats: Point Blank Shot and Far Shot. Levels 20 and 21 will increase the wizard to level 5, feats: Silent Spell (Metamagic) and Weapon Focus (Longbow). Then are all requirements met for an arcane trickster / deepwood sniper combination...

Thanks for the input!