First time rogue

[Nail]

If a dungeon is well thought out, and contains intelligent monsters, there should be many traps about, ...

Sure.

Counter-point: Traps aren't usually much fun for anyone but the rogue player, and then only if used once-in-a-while. Overuse causes boredom, IME.

 

[Pinotage]

To sum:

Halfling Rogue = Dwarven Rogue = Human Rogue = terrible damage dealers when sneak attack impossible

If you don't like halflings for their slow movement, ok. That's one thing. But I don't buy the "lower damage dealing" argument. All rogues stink when sneak attack is impossible. All rogues can do good damage when sneak attack is possible.

I'll concede the point. While all those halfling abilities look nice, small size and slow movement should be considered. Size penalties play a large part in my games, and halflings are poor at anything such as grapple, bullrush, disarm etc. that requires a size penalty. While damage is only slightly less, I still prefer a rogue that can hold its own in most scenarios.

Pinotage

 

[qaaral]

If you want a melee oriented rogue I think the best muticlass option is barbarian.
The D12 for hp is nice. You might even consider it for your first level just for short term survivability.
The fast movement is very useful for flanking (sometimes letting you avoid an AOO altogether).
The levels stack for the Trap Sense and Uncanny Dodge abilities.
And barbarians get decent skill points unlike fighters or clerics.

 

[Wish]

There are two big questions that you need to answer when building a rogue character. The first is, do object to being useless in combat fairly often? The second is, do you want to be the party face?

Once you have those two questions answered, you can build your character. If you don't mind sitting back and reading a book when undead, golems, and so forth show up, you don't have to worry about combat options - when you can sneak attack, combat takes care of itself. When you can't, you break out that book. If you do, you're going to have to compromise somewhere to get some extra combat effectiveness. If you want to be the face, that's going to pretty much dictate your skill selections - even rogues don't have enough points to do everything well.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet - the ranger rogue. Ranger gets good skill points, and most of the skills you'd want for a "sneak" rogue except disable device and tumble. And they get two weapon fighting feats, and tracking. Having somebody who can track is often very handy. I play a ranger rogue and find it an enjoyable and effective mix. I won't share the specific build, since it's rather specific to certain campaign circumstances (that is, it's a build that wouldn't work well in your described party, in anything resembling a normal campaign), but the overall concept is solid.

 

[Fingers Boggis]

Im going to put my cp's in the barbarian levels for the combat rogue as well. On the last page i spotted a post saying rogue4/wiz 1 qualified for for daggerspell with practiced caster dont have my books in front of me but i thought daggerspell required 3rd level spells rather than caster level 5 or am i completely wrong, if so thats a build i may steal

Other options i quite like are rog/monk for a ninja styley rogue and cleric/rogue is something im starting to try out. Gives skills, some sneak attack, divine feats (i guess if you did some extreme turn undead boosting from other means you could use it to turn rather than as fuel for divine might and the like) atm im only 3rd level (clr2/rog1) but im effective and alive. I went dwarf as a race as dwarven cleric sub levels from RoS have d10 HD which with a con boost gives you 2 more hp/level extra than your human counterpart on average.

cheers
Fingers

 

[nak9788]

If you like the halfing but don't like the fact that they don't have Darkvision, then take the offshoot: Deep Halfing It's stats are explained in the Monster Manual (under Halfing of course). They basically have all the stats a standard Halfing has except they don't have some of their skill bonuses. In exchange they gain Darkvision 60ft, and Dwarven as a free language.

Darkvision is very handy if you like being a scout. That way you can scout ahead in the dark dungeon without having to carry a torch (or similar light source) which would light you up like a christmas tree and therefore defeat any chance of "sneaking up" to people in the dark.

As for their slower speed, simply invest in a pair of Boots of Striding and Springing as soon as you can (adds +10 base speed, +5 Jump Checks), which should let you keep up with the other members of your party.

Finally, if you ever have the desire to Multi-class, keep in mind that Halfing's favored class is Rogue, so you can multi-class to any other single class you want without having to worry about taking an XP penalty. Personally, if you do decide to do that in the future, just make sure you start off as a rogue so you can take advantage of their huge allotment of skill points at 1st level (32 points + (4 x Int mod)).

 

[Votan]

On the last page i spotted a post saying rogue4/wiz 1 qualified for for daggerspell with practiced caster dont have my books in front of me but i thought daggerspell required 3rd level spells rather than caster level 5 or am i completely wrong, if so thats a build i may steal

DaggerSpell Mage

Alignment: Any non-evil
Skills: COncentration 8 ranks
Feats: Weapon Focus (Dagger), Two Weapon Fighting
Special: Arcane Caster Level 5th
Special: Snaeak Attack +1d6

To use practiced spellcaster you need 4 ranks in spellcraft.

To do this as a rogue 4/wizard 1 you must be a human (3 feats).

With 30 point buy, I'd do something like:
Str 12 Dex 14 Con 14 Int 16 Wis 10 Cha 10

With 12 rankls of skills need (all cross class for a rogue) you will be buying some at double cost. You'll have to buy 6 of them as a wizard and the other 6 using 12 rogue skill points. Able Learner doesn't help unless you put off entry one more level so that you can fit that feat in (although this is highly recommended -- the DaggerSpell Mage Skill list is nice but not exceptional).

You have 84 rogue skill points and 6 wizard. As a DSM you get 10 skill points per level.

At level 15 (using the non-able learner version) you cast spells as an 10th level wizard (5th level spells) with a caster level of 14 (one lost due to the empty first level).

You sneak attack for +5d6. Your BAB is (sadly) + 10. You have base saves of +4 +11 +10 which are not bad. You can quicken one spell every round of combat while making a full attack with your daggers (I recommend invisibility -- frustrates enemies and sets up the next sneak attack). You can use arcane infusion (swift action to lose a spelll. powers a dagger with a +1d6 energy attacks for a number of rounds equal to spell level -- this is where the level 1 spells go) for extra damage. Plus, the feat arcane strike lets you sacrifice a spell for a +1 per spell level to hit and +1d4 per spell level in damage on every attack in the next round.

This synergizes very well with a two weapon sneak attack specialist.

Finishing the build is best with either invisible blade (for more sneak attack madness and a better BAB) or Arcane Trickster (for which you easily meet the requirements now and nobody ever complained about improntu sneak attack).

 

[Demoquin]

I am having a lot of fun playing my future Assassin. He is an elven Rogue 5 so far and close to getting the first lvl of Asn. I will also add Invisible Blade which adds MORE sneak attacks with daggers only.

So figure a char with tons of skill points
nice SA damage
able to deal Death Attacks
feint for free in combat
Hide in Plain Sight
access to a lot of useful skills tailored to what you need in the party
Some Spells

Feats i would reccomend are TWF, Finesse, Imp Initiative, Quick Draw, Flick of the Wrist, the Spring attack route, imp TWF, Dual Strike

granted you cant take them all but there is some ideas in there
the level split i am doing is Rog 7 Asn 8 IB 5 at lvl 20 with 11d6 sneak attacks
Rog 5/Asn 1/ IB 1/ Asn 7/ IB 4/ Rog 2

 

[Mr_GrinReaper]

here is the way to go for a Halfling rogue, put your highest stat into dex, (ac and attack rolls)then next go for int, (skill points (and trap disarmament) then charisma, (for a bunch of skills) then strenght, or wisdom (equal, either do more damage, or be more aware of your surroundings) and least important is your constitution, (thats what fighters are for) but you may want to take the toughness feat, just in case.

I'd recommend your 3rd level feat to be weapon finesse, and until then, focus on pretending you're weak for the first bit of battles, and then hitting hard on the monsters while they are focused on the fighters etc...


For skills, try to get as many as you can, including Use Magic Device, all of the awareness skills and stealth skills (search spot listen, move silently hide) you could do well with ranks in disguise, in forgery, and don't forget disable device, thats a must. You need a few social skills, like diplomacy, and sense motive, and in particular bluff, and you need appraise, and a few athletic skills, for a sample look below


Move Silently
Spot
Listen
Disguise
Disable Device
Use Magic Device
Bluff
Appraise
Tumble
Balance
Swim


and thats only if you manage a 16 in int, if not the first to go would be swim, disguise, and Use Magic Device, although that one is useful, and then if you have to go less, (heaven forbid an int penalty) get rid of appraise and balance, but they are pretty important.

and if you get higher then a 16, go for any of the other suggestions I originally put out.

 

[Fingers Boggis]

could you go rogue/assassin then into sublime chord for 9th level spells very easily (nevermind not infront of me i dont even own CA yet ) and thanks for the correction on daggerspell, had a look at the skill list when i got back, Able Learner really is a must, there are several fital omissions IMO (from the standard rogue pov rathre than that of the PrC)

Another option is Lore Delver from RoD, less good for your combat rogue but gives good skills for the traps/locks side, good spell casting and bardic knowledge as well (theres more thats all i can remember off hand) worth a look, as written it has illumian requirement but DM may wave that

cheers
Fingers