Better than equipment for survival: if you need to run away from something don't just run forwards; most things can match the speed of players.
You want to run diagonally. This is faster.
There are a few ways to do this. Hold down control, forwards and one of the sideways arrows. Alternatively hold down both the left and right mouse buttons and a sideways arrow.
Also, try not to travel alone. Try to get your XP in groups.
Following this advice will boost your survivability way more than banded armor.
When crossing dangerous zones you can either use hide and sneak or a cloudy potion (purchasable in the starting cities). The cloudy potion is good for any class to carry as it is an instant click invis, so if your invis starts to fade you can refresh it with no delay and no risk. 10PP per cast though, so try to grab invis from other players.
Also try to get Spirit of the Wolf cast on you by other players. The higher level the better. This will make you run faster too; you can combine it with running diagonally to run even fasterer.
Regarding your original request, a suit of banded armor should set you back around 100pp. If someone is kind enough to make it for you at cost it will knock another 20pp or so off the prices (if I recall correctly).
With any money left over, try getting a high damage piercer for your main hand. When a group is considering inviting you to join as a rogue the biggest thing they will look at is your damage per second, and backstab is a big part of this.
If you want to make a good impression once in groups learn how to use the hide ability to reduce aggro in a fight and how to use sneak to reduce adds while pulling.
I hope this advice helps, sorry for the wall of text
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