D&D 3.5Opinions on pseudo legendary/artifact item to give to Swordsage/Monk character

[ZiggZagg]

So, in my current campaign, everyone has an intelligent item that augments their abilities in some way. They are all homebrewed and custom tailored to fit either their needs, or personalities, in some way.
There are:
Large Fullblade made of stone, and it grants strength abilities and new Stone Dragon maneuvers to the Warblade
Pair of gloves that augment the dexterity and telekinetic abilities of the rogue
Pair of boots that gives luck rolls and various types of rages (Barbarian normal rage and whirling rage) to the dual wielding Rogue/Swashbuckler
Belt that gives bonuses to all ability scores, saves, and grants additional maneuvers to the swordsage martial artist
Crystal shard that actually get embedded in the head of the halfling telepath that augments her telepathic abilities as well as protects her from enemy mind affecting abilities and wisdom damage...and grants fire resistance (it makes sense, just run with it)

However, a new character has recently joined. He chose NOT to be an Incarnate (special kind of character that basically makes them like a mutant from the X-Men. It's a whole convoluted plot thing, but the rules turned out to be highly abusable and he opted out), so he is a bit low on the power scale compared to the party. He also has a tendency to whine...a lot...so I would like to get ahead of this moving train, so to speak, and give him an item like the others have.

Alright, now that the unnecessarily long introduction is complete, here is my major concern. I am trying to build a custom tailored item that will augment the abilities of this character. From what I have seen, these are the traits he is showing:
He is undead (Necropolitan, I believe, is the name of the race)
He is a swordsage, but has taken the unarmed variant (so has the other swordsage)
He has the Shadow Sun Ninja prestige class, which locks him into...I want to say Setting Sun and Shadow Hand maneuvers(name might be wrong, but the Light/Dark Ninja from Tome of Battle)
The only personality he seems to have is...well...none. He is not the best with the whole ROLEplay thing. He is more of a ROLLplayer (hence the undead race. It helps him avoid some sort of drawback from the prestige class)

Alright, so, first, I need a suggestion of what KIND of item to give him. Like, what slot. I have been doing my best to avoid repeating the item type, so only one person got gloves, only one got a belt, only one has a weapon, etc. Next, I need to come up with what part of his fighting style (which seems very similar to the other Swordsage) to accent. With his prestige class, I was thinking of basing his item off of the Legacy Item that has light and dark abilities (some sort of staff. Don't remember the name.) So, anyway, help me brainstorm, please. Anything is open. These characters are amazingly powerful due to all of the houserules in the campaign, right now, so feel free to go nuts and build, what you would consider, the perfect mini-artifact for a Swordsage/Monk-type character with the Shadow Sun Ninja prestige class. Thank you, in advance, kind forum goers :D

[Extra Anchovies]

A pair of sandals that enhance his mobility and give him 20% concealment if the light level has changed within the last turn? Encourages him to keep going in SSN, to get their light-manipulating abilities, and sandals are thematically fitting for a monk-type.