Beguiler equipment advice

[mrorangesoda]

Hi all,
I'm playing a level 3 gnome beguiler in a 3.5 game (with some pathfinder-y house rules. We use the core books, PH2, and SpC spells approved by the DM for my advanced learning only). He looks like this:
HP 29 Str 7 Dex 14 Con 18 Int 18 Wis 11 Cha 15 AC 15  with some leather armor, a light crossbow, dagger, and a backpack full of all the adventure-y stuff his weak little gnomish arms can carry.
We're nearly done with a two-part adventure and by the time it's over I expect my savings in gold to tip over to the 2000-ish range. I'm kind of at a loss of what to spend it on.
My top two choices are a Mithril Chain Shirt or a Handy Haversack with a resistance cloak as a distant third, but can't decide which is better. The chain shirt gives me 2 more AC and frees up another lb or two, while the Haversack makes it so I have to worry less about carrying in general or retrieving items.
If I try to answer the question in character, I'm kind of stuck too (he really doesn't want to get stabbed/ die, but has only been hit a handful of times and is pretty darn hardy- the Amazonian warrior woman, elf druid, and wizard blasting fire from his hands have been more obvious targets- whereas carrying stuff is probably getting tiresome. But we have made friends with a Dwarven armorer in our base city who could use the business.).
So I'm wondering which is better from a min/max side/ what you would go with?
Thanks

p.s. hoping I did this right, the beguiler handbook discussion thread was pretty dead.

[Dawnmor]

Well from my perspective, sense your not getting hit alot, and your Saves I doubt arent too bad.  I suggest going with the Haversack on the pure principle that the more you can carry means the more you can sell for later.  So yeah, I vote for the Haversack so you can carry more around and such .

In DND there is nothing wrong with being a packrat.  If you got a dwarf who has MERCANTILE Background you can sell more stuff for more money easily.

[rot42]

I would go with the Haversack. Starting next level, you can open every combat with Blinding Color Surge and worry a lot less about attack rolls for several levels. The move action retrieval also helps you carry and utilize a Swiss army knife worth of tools for situations where your focused spell list is less effective.

[mrorangesoda]

Sounds sensible. Thanks for your input!

[Janthkin]

Definitely the haversack.

But here's my list of stuff for a Beguiler (this was a level 7 WBL selection, with a shout-out to Bunko's Bargain Basement):

Headband of Conscious Effort   MIC 109   2000
Rod of Ropes   C Scoundrel 116   4000
Anklet of Translocation   MIC 71   1400
Ring of Silent Spells    MIC 127   2000
Rind of the Darkhidden   MIC 122   2000
Heward's Handy Haversack   DMG 259   2000
+1 Blueshine Mithril Chain Shirt   MIC 7   3600
Shiftweave outfit   MIC 133   500

[mrorangesoda]

Definitely the haversack.

But here's my list of stuff for a Beguiler (this was a level 7 WBL selection, with a shout-out to Bunko's Bargain Basement):

Headband of Conscious Effort   MIC 109   2000
Rod of Ropes   C Scoundrel 116   4000
Anklet of Translocation   MIC 71   1400
Ring of Silent Spells    MIC 127   2000
Rind of the Darkhidden   MIC 122   2000
Heward's Handy Haversack   DMG 259   2000
+1 Blueshine Mithril Chain Shirt   MIC 7   3600
Shiftweave outfit   MIC 133   500

Thanks for the input. A lot of that stuff sounds supercool, but (unfortunately) I don't have access to MIC.