D&D 3E/3.5 3.5 melee rigue build help

Sorry for the misspell in the title

I was hoping for help on making a melee rogue build from 1 to 10, level by level (or up to 20 if you're adventurous).
RACE
Because we will most likely start from 4th level in this upcoming campaign (it has been a habit of the DM so far), a character with a total level adjustment of no more than +1 is fine. In addition any template is fair game. I also am not very fond of small characters for this role since I don't like losing damage with small weapons.
ABILITIES
My scores (as I've assigned them presently) are:
STR: 18
DEX: 18
CON: 14
INT: 14
WIS: 12
CHA: 12
ALIGNMENT
From past experiences I'm most comfortable playing a chaotic good or chaotic neutral character.
HOUSE RULES
We have house ruled free multiclassing so that is not a problem and I am not opposed to dabbling in other classes as long as they are not purely arcane casters and as long as it won't hinder my rogue abilities too much.
BOOKS
All 3.5 books will most likely be fair game unless the build becomes completely broken
CONCEPT
I've played rogues in the past and really enjoyed the sneak attack aspect. The problem is that the other characters I play with don't tend to give me flanking all that often. Therefore going first should be important in order to catch enemies flatfooted. I then plan on "selectively" joining melee combat. My group tends to lack the classic tank so nobody can always be relied upon to absorb the damage. That needs to be taken into consideration. Also any ideas for items to buy at level 4 with 5400gp would be appreciated.

Swashbuckler3/rogue5/monk2 with Ascetic Rogue and Daring Outlaw and Ability Focus (stunning Fist).

You'll have full sneak attack, a real nice stunning fist DC that allows you to place the following attacks as sneak attacks and Int to damage as well. TWF and Dual Strike add to the mix.

Since your Wis and your Int aren't that good, you might forget about the monk part...

For the swashy levels, check out all available Complete variant class options, there are great ones for that class.

Edit: Totally different build: put in 3 levels wizard and get all those nice low level spells like Invis, False Life, Jump, Spider Climb, Shield, Mage armour, Critical Strike and all the other nice low level Spell Compendium things (Daggerspell Stance is very useful for melee rogues). False Life is always nice for extra hitpoints. And all you need are 3 levels wizard and enough money to buy all the nice cheap spells... and write scrolls!

You know, if you find SA unreliable, there's also always the Martial Rogue variant. Variant Character Classes :: d20srd.org

With so many books allowed, you have lots of options to fill in those numerous bonus feat slots. I like that variant more than plain rogue, actually. It also works well to multiclass with Swordsage (Tome of Battle), which is often feat-starved, and combines so nicely with Rogue. If you use that variant, you might want to multiclass with some other martial class a bit and work towards a role of combat specialist, doing things like tripping as well as damage, and combining it with your Use magic Device ranks to truly be a battlefield jack of all trades.

IMO, the variant, with all those skill points and feats, really lends itself towards a "combat tricks" kind of build, and they can be rather fun. My sample, below (VERY long-winded!):
[sblock]One of my favorite characters actually started at ECL 4 and used the variant. He was a Goliath (Races of Stone; +1 LA) Rogue 2 / Barbarian 1. He basically went 2/3 rogue, although my eventual plans were him to go 8/8 and then branch off into something else just for fun (plan was Warblade -- for yet another set of the uncanny Dodges. Yay, alt. class features!). With your stats, you could pull off something similar. He used several of the Goliath racial sub. levels for Barbarian (like Mountain Rage, to grow fully large, and the 2x DR as /adamantine) and Rogue (d8 HD, %crit immunity). He also took wilderness rogue to further flesh out a nature theme. Variant Character Classes :: d20srd.org

I used the Lion Totem (C.Champion, trade fast move for pounce) and Wolf Totem (UA; gain Imp. Trip and Track, lose a bunch of stuff rogue gives anyway) on the Barbarian side, as well as the Whirling Frenzy variant for raging (it is debatable if it can be combined w/ Mountain Rage). I was also looking into some dragon mag. stuff like Fearsome Gaze and Unshakable (p. 11 here: http://www.crystalkeep.com/d20/rules/DnD3.5Index-Classes-Base.pdf).

May not want or be able to use all of that stuff (technically, can't have more than one variant class even if nothing interferes, but my DM was nice), but I figure some of it might be interesting for you to add in. Might also want to look at the lunar rogue sub. levels on that same website.

For combat, it revolved around mainly the Knockback feat (Races of Stone), and just making the longest string "combo" I could:
Pounce, for a full charging attack, each with a chance to home run bat the poor guy
Whriling Frenzy + Mountain Rage for an extra attack and reach.
Improved Trip, so I could make them prone before actually attacking.
Shock Trooper tactical feat (C.Warrior) to both take the PA penalties to AC instead of attack and also to Knock foes back diagonally and into each other for more trip attempts (it's like bowling).
Leap Attack (C.Adventurer), to make those full attack charges (at no PA attack penalty, see above) really painful.
Cometary Collision (PHB2), so I could set against anyone charging w/in my charge range, and cut them off with my full attack pounce of death, knock them 30 ft back, and rob them of their entire turn.
Steadfast Boots (inexpensive item, Magic Item Compendium), to let me set against a charge with any weapon, so those Cometary collisions did double damage.
And so on...

Just saying in a rather lengthy manner...you can use your massive feats list to make truly EPIC attack techniques, whether you make a "combo" list that long or not.
And this was just his "main schtick," of which he had all the pieces by 9 HD and enough for it to function by 4 HD. He could still use UMD, tumble, survive in nature, trap find, and many other things.[/sblock]

1-2 lvs in swordsage can be useful if you think you need that little edge in delivering sneak attacks (via cloak of deception and that fire elemental summoning maneuver). You can also work your way to assassin's stance to offset the loss of sneak attack dice and take shadow blade when feats allow.

Runestar said:

1-2 lvs in swordsage can be useful if you think you need that little edge in delivering sneak attacks (via cloak of deception and that fire elemental summoning maneuver). You can also work your way to assassin's stance to offset the loss of sneak attack dice and take shadow blade when feats allow.

Click to expand...

Indeed. It's almost become standard for my Rogues now to dip in two levels at 9 and 10 HD. Going in at 9 offers IL 5 and thus level 3 maneuvers. Unfortunately, you can't choose Assassin's Stance for your first one (take Island of Blades or Child of Shadow instead), hence the second level at 10. You could use the level 9 feat for the stance, but I prefer to use it to get Adaptive Style or Shadow Blade (or both, eventually).

While going into the Shadow Hand Discipline, the tactical feat, Gloom Razor, is actually pretty good, may be worth checking out.

So I've looked at the Tome of Battle and if I interpret it correctly then I could take assassin stance as long as my IL is over 3 not just Swordsage. Therefore I could take Swordsage as early as levels 3&4 and get assassin stance at 4?

How does Rogue 8/Swordsage 2/ Swashbuckler 10 look (assuming I take daring outlaw to combine Rogue and Swashbuckler levels)?

How does Rogue 8/Swordsage 2/ Swashbuckler 10 look (assuming I take daring outlaw to combine Rogue and Swashbuckler levels)?

Click to expand...

Assuming your DM does not use multiclassing xp penalties, fairly well, IMO, though you could just stop rogue at lv3-4 and go straight swashbuckler (unless you want the extra skill points).

So maybe something like rogue4/swashbucker4/swordsage2/swashbuckler+10.

Alternatively, if the DM does use xp penalties, then your progression may be more stunted. Something like rogue2/swashbuckerX/swordsage1, slowly progress to rogue3/swashbuckler3/swordsage2, then swashbuckler all the way.

So I've looked at the Tome of Battle and if I interpret it correctly then I could take assassin stance as long as my IL is over 3 not just Swordsage. Therefore I could take Swordsage as early as levels 3&4 and get assassin stance at 4?

Click to expand...

As a 3rd lv stance, you need IL5 to be able to qualify for assassin's stance. So the soonest you can take it is at lv8 (6 lvs in non-swordsage/swordsage2).

StreamOfTheSky said:

You know, if you find SA unreliable, there's also always the Martial Rogue variant. Variant Character Classes :: d20srd.org

[/sblock]

Click to expand...

I second this. The feats more than make up for the loss of SA and 1 BAB.

Thanks,
Rich

Either build listed will have you using invisible blade which makes great use of feints.
Daring Outlaw (DnD Optimized Character Build - D&D Wiki)
This is not entirely but you could change warblade and assassin for something else. Maybe your DM allows assassins, but the author of that build never said how a lvl 1 warblade could use lvl 5 swordspells.

Complete scoundrel (DnD Optimized Character Build - D&D Wiki)
This isn't a rogue built per say but it will allow to do everything a rogue does and then some as well as net you the same BAB and sneak attack progression. It makes heavy use of other means to gain sneak attack advantage. Built by your truly.

As you can see I am not a believer that the expert role is to deal damage. Your job is break into places, break people out, charm the crowd, steal secure items, kill people without being noticed. If all you care about is damage, then really you should play barbarian.