In this blog I will be showing you how to build a rogue from the ground up and not just any rogue but a power player in any party.
First you need to select what race you want to be and what you choose will slightly effect your advantages in lower level game play. Each of the races has advantage to selecting it but these will only carry you so far and when building a character that will be doing a lot of scouting and sneaking behind enemy lines what you do with your feats and rogue talents will affect your survival more than if you have pointy ears or not.
For this example I am going to keep it simple and design a human and here is why.
#1) Human: Bonus feat at 1st level, extra skill points regardless of favored class alternate option, favored class rogue= extra rogue talent every six levels of rogue, and you can put a +2 stat adjustment anywhere you like.
Stat lines vary based on individual campaigns so I will use my campaign default array to build this character.
17,16,15,14,13,12 (this stat line allows players to have a moderate amount of power when building any character)
Str:12 Dex:16/18 (+2 stat increase) Con:14 Int:17 Wis:13 Cha:15
Here is the adjustments to stats per level
4th: +1 Int (18)
8th: +1 Dex (19)
12th: +1 Dex (20)
16th: +1 Cha (16)
20th: +1 Wis (14)
I know that this looks odd but min/maxing one stat line (Dex) is foolish and a well rounded character has a better chance of survival and more tools to rely on than a rogue who only inflates his dex score at every chance.
Now comes the primary abilities of any rogue, his skills. Rogues run on 8+Int mod for every level of rogue they have and being human has increased that by +1 per level. With our current build we have a starter Int of 17: +3. So, you will have 12 skill points to spend every level of rogue you gain. upon reaching 4th level your Int will change to an 18 granting you an additional +4 skill points and changing your total to 13 skill points a level.
For now lets focus on the basics
Acrobatics: very useful in keeping your rogue on top of the situation in combat
Bluff: keep this maxed every level you will be using it a lot in and out of combat.
Climb: Rogues need to have a moderated climbing ability
Craft: (Traps) This skill is way under used but is an extremely useful tool
Disable Device: Primary rogue skill keep it maxed
Escape Artist: doesn't need to be maxed but is very useful against grapples
Perception: well duh a clueless rogue is a useless rogue
Sleight of Hand: Again this is primary
Stealth: keep this maxed this for obvious reasons
Use Magic Device: Keep this maxed to utilize wands/staves/scrolls and other magic items
Place your remaining skill points anywhere else you like, its all fluff after the bases are covered.
My recommendation is drop a point in survival even though you wont receive the class +3 bonus its always a good idea to be able to take care of yourself in the wild.
With skills done its time to look at your feats.
Human Bonus feat: Combat Expertise
1st Level: Improved Feint
3rd Level: Improved Dirty Tricks
5th Level: Skill Focus (Bluff)
7th Level: Agile Maneuvers
9th Level: Greater Feint
11th: Level: Greater Dirty Tricks
13th Level: (Elective)
15th Level: (Elective)
17th Level: (Elective)
19th Level: (Elective)
By 11th Level a primary fighting style is already in place and the remaining feats can be used to either strengthen that style by selecting feats such as (two-weapon fighting) to gain more attacks or theses feats can be used to strengthen weaker points of the rogue such as (Iron Will). From there its all insult to injury.
Now we need to select some rogue talents to better balance our rogue.
2nd level: Finesse Rogue
4th level: Surprise Attack
6th level: Fast Stealth
8th level: Trap Spotter
From here you may select any of these in any given order.
10th level: Crippling Strike
12th level: Opportunist
14th level: Slippery Mind
16th level: Fast Getaway
18th level: Dispelling Attack
20th level: Improved Evasion
Now that you have a good idea as to how your rogue will look at higher level lets jump back to level one and see what we have at our disposal.
Combat:
At level one our base attack is +0, and we only have a strength of 12 (+1) so our ability to hit in melee is very low. So I recommend that you always utilize ranged attacks if possible and if forced into melee use your acrobatics to move through combat and flank with an ally using your sneak attack and the +2 flanking bonus along with improved feint to lower the AC of your enemies. Upon reaching 2nd level the game changes, you will have a base attack of +1 but you will now apply your Dex (+4) to your attack modifier in melee gaining a total of +5 (compare this to the fighter types in your group and you will notice that your only +1 or so behind) Not bad for a skinny Rogue.
Advice: As you level keep in mind your abilities in combat are used to trip up and devastate the enemy, never charge the enemy head on (that's what Fighters, Paladins and Barbarians are for) and only engage an enemy alone if you have to. Always flank, if you can't flank, force the enemy flat footed by using your feint ability and deliver sneak attacks. Keep in mind that if you are not delivering sneak attacks to an enemy that can be sneak attacked then you are doing something wrong and need to re-position your rogue.
Enjoy.
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