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to those with a very high Persuade, as well as extra cash to be had and extra items to talk the various marks out of ::grins::.  Finally, it is basically impossible to complete some of the later quests WITHOUT either a high Persuade skill or a penchant toward random bloodshed.  Bruno, the Half-Orc with the key you'll encounter in your final Academy Rogue training exercise, requires a 4
Skill in Persuade PLUS a 16 Charisma to successfully sucker, by the way.  On the flip side, though, I've yet to see any of the fan-written modules make any real use of the Persuade skill, so if you're not going to play the single-player game, you can probably reduce the number of points you put here.

DISABLE TRAP (DEX).  Again, a fairly "duh" skill, this is one you'll want to max out all the way up to at least level 12 or so, by which time you'll have about a
25 skill, making traps of all DCs between 45 and 50 fall before you.  However, I recommend maxing this out all the way through your career for a simple and amusing reason: if you use the "Recover Trap" skill rather than the "Disable
Trap" skill, this not only gives you raw materials for the "Set Traps" skill, but can also be a nice source of supplemental income.  Some of those higher- damage traps sell for 1000 GP or more...  If you find yourself playing a thuggish Rogue, you can forgo this skill after you have about 12 skill points and just flag harder traps or bash the chests they cover open from a distance.
Finally, if you put five or more points here, you get a +2 bonus on your Set
Trap skill (if you have one).

SEARCH (INT).  This goes hand-in-hand with the Disable Trap skill, and is another you should max out throughout your career.  There are going to be times that you simply forget to go into Search mode, and a high Search skill will even offset this sin to some extent.  However, before you can even bring your Disable
Trap skill to bear on something, you have to find it first.

LORE (INT).  Another skill you should max out until you hit about a 15 skill or so.  By that time, you'll be swimming in Lore potions and anything that a 15
Lore skill won't reveal will certainly fall before a potion (and if it doesn't, you'll make more money selling the item than you'll lose in the 100 GP having identified at a store).  You'll also have either a Ring of Insight or a Ring of
Scholars by this time, both of which enhance Lore skill without need for a potion.

HIDE IN SHADOWS (DEX).  Max this one out all the way through your career.  'nuff said.  ;-)

MOVE SILENTLY (DEX).  Max this one out all the way through your career.  The combination of this and Hide in Shadows is almost TOO good in NWN.  I've walked in Stealth mode into an open room or hallway crowded with monsters and not been noticed until the first sneak attack.  You can also disable traps while in
Stealth mode, thereby sometimes clearing a path for those who like to rush in where Angels fear to tread...  Tip: when in Stealth mode, order your hirelings and other followers to hang back.

SPOT (WIS).  An oft-neglected ability, this is your ability to notice hidden creatures.  In NWN, it also gives you the ability to see through closed doors and stone walls to what might be lurking on the other side.  If you max this ability throughout your career, you'll soon have a very good idea of what is behind the door before you open it, or what the general layout of the dungeon is ten seconds after you enter it (the map just fills in in front of you).  A very cool ability in NWN -- almost feels like cheating.

LISTEN (WIS).  A high Listen score in NWN will give you the ability to hear spell-casters chanting in the midst of a crowded melee, or reveal hidden dangers by the sounds they make.  Set this higher than 10 or so, and you'll soon recognize the chant "ortano fordiguma!" as a good reason to get clear.  Who needs Spellcraft when you have ears?  ;-)  I didn't notice much benefit from setting this much higher than 15 or so, though.


4.2 GENERAL SKILLS
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Once you have spent your points on these, here's some others that you should strongly consider:

HEAL (WIS).  Though you probably won't have much of a Wisdom bonus, the healing kits in NWN more than make up for any deficiency you may have.  Most of the time, you'll use the healing kits post-combat, when you can take 20 (in combat, use your potions).  Even a relatively modest Heal skill will therefore make a
Rogue -- a Rogue! -- capable of healing 20-30 hit points a shot, with excellent chances of eliminating poison and disease in the bargain!  The Heal Skill is your friend.  Even better, these healing kits are plentiful and/or cheap and as long as the monsters have gold, a Rogue is never poor.

CONCENTRATION (CON).  Don't bother spending your Rogue skill points on this, but if you multiclass into any kind of spell-casting, you'd BETTER use your spell- caster level skill points on it.  Most of the time a multiclassed Rogue casts a spell, it's going to be because the sneak attack they just attempted went bad (or sometimes, it's gone TOO well and you've identified yourself as the biggest threat), the bad guy has turned around to engage YOU, and the spell involved is either direct damage or some kind of defense (Invisibility, for instance).  That means the bad guy is certainly concentrating on YOU.  That means you're gonna get hit, and hit hard while in the midst of casting.  Get some points in
Concentration.  But if you don't multiclass into spell-casting, don't bother with this one.

DISCIPLINE (STR).  There are three banes to the Rogue's existence: mind- affecting spells, poison, and knockdown/called shot.  This skill helps with the last, and frankly, I'd rather have this as a class skill than Heal, but I didn't write the NWN Aurora engine.  ;-)  If you have the skill points to spare, I'd put at least a few levels into this.  Trust me: your Dexterity modifiers are of no help if you're on your back.  There's nothing more frustrating than watching your hit-points dwindle swiftly to zero 'cause you're sitting on your *** looking up at the bad guy.

SET TRAP (DEX).  Mostly useful in the multiplayer game, you can also use this to leave your henchmen behind, set a trap, find the next roomful of bad guys, then run, leading them back to your trap and your henchmen.  If you go with this tactic, incidentally, stick with sonic and lightning traps -- they hit everybody in a wide radius and few bad guys are resistant to sonics or lightning.  Do I do this?  I do not.  Are there Rogues that do?  Sure.  Decide if you're one of this type before buying points in this skill.  If you put five or more points here, you get a +2 bonus to your Disable Traps skill, but I personally would rather have those five points IN Disable Traps.

USE MAGIC DEVICE (CHA).  A smart Rogue is a multiclassed Rogue.  You will therefore not have much call for this skill.  However, unlike in real 3rd
Edition D&D rules, Neverwinter Nights sets a static DC for each magic item value.  Once your adjusted Use Magic Item skill surpasses this DC for a given item value in GP, the game never bothers to check your success or failure for items at or below this value.  A Skill below an item's DC always fails, and a
Skill above the DC always succeeds.  This, incidentally, is NOT what the 3rd
Edition rules intended.  Fortunately, being a Rogue is often about exploiting the mistakes of others, so if you feel tempted to exploit this hole in the game, you have my blessing.  ;-)  So, there are definitely Rogues out there using this
Skill, but I am not one of them.  In my view, there are much higher-value Skills than this, and it is still much easier to simply add a level or three of the class that has items you want to use.  I would therefore see the main call for this Skill would be to pick up the ability to use a variety of items spanning a number of different classes.  Monk items seem to be popular this season, particularly for Rogue/Wizards...



4.3 WORTHLESS SKILLS
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Among the mostly pointless skills for Rogues:

PICK POCKET (DEX).  Now frankly, I never saw much call for this Skill, but other
Rogue players swear by it.  In particular, in the early game, most of the peasants walking around Neverwinter are walking around with 40 and 50 gold in their pockets, which when you just start out, is a lot of money.  By the mid- game, though, I don't see how you'll have much use for this skill, particularly if you have a high Persuade.  If you try this in the single-player game, though,
SAVE FIRST.  It is not in your best interests to have half the city guard chasing you.  Smart Rogues evaluate the downside risk and prepare a contingency plan before taking action.  ;-)

PARRY (DEX).  I personally think this is a worthless Skill for Rogues.  For
Rogues, the best defense is either (A) a good offense, (B) as close as the closest doorway, hallway, or Invisibility potion, followed by Stealth mode, followed by a "swing around" (see Tactics, later), followed by a sneak attack (defense option A, in other words).  However, an alternative opinion states that using an outrageously high Parry Skill, a Rogue can be surrounded by enemies and use the Parry Skill's "riposte" or counter-attack function to slowly wear down the throng.  This takes an equally outrageous amount of time, however, so don't count on a quick getaway.  For myself, I believe the second a Rogue goes into
Parry mode, he's lost the fight.  Passive defense is not what Rogues are all about!

SPELLCRAFT (INT).  See Listen.  The saving throw bonus is not worth the skill points you'll pay to get it, and it isn't like you're going to be counter- spelling, even if you multiclass.  Like using Parry, a counter-spelling Rogue has lost the fight.  Play to your strengths, and passive defense isn't among them.  ;-)

TAUNT (CHA).  The idea with this skill is to make a single bad guy that is most important to you lower his defenses.  This can definitely help a later sneak attack, since the effects of this ability last five rounds.  However, this can also be a rather expensive skill to put points into, since it is not a Rogue class skill (why not?).  In general, I wouldn't bother.  If you want to isolate one particular bad guy, Stealth (or use an Invisibility potion), then go see what his back looks like.  Let the other characters in your group distract him.

ANIMAL EMPATHY (CHA), PERFORM (CHA).  These skills are not available to single- class Rogues.  Animal Empathy is somewhat useful in the single-player NWN game for multiclass Rogues that can pick it up.  Perform, obviously, is vital to
Rogue/Bards.



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5.0 FEATS
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Feats are not as important for Rogues as they are for most of the other classes.
A Rogue's Feats in NWN primarily "set the tone" for how you play your Rogue in combat.  However, there are several Feats that can make a big difference.
Before you set your first Feat, though, you should have already decided which type of Rogue you want to play.  In a fight, three types of Rogues are generally the biggest factors:

1) "Thuggish" Rogues
2) "Slasher" Rogues
3) "Gunship" Rogues

Diplomats and Scouts might choose one of the above three types for their combat style, but more often, will choose feats compatible with their other duties within the party or their multiclassing options.  A Rogue/Ranger Scout, for instance, might lean toward the Gunship style under normal circumstances but choose the Weapon Finesse of a Slasher or the Knockdown Feat to complement his
Ranger Dual Wield and Ambidexterity Feats.  A Rogue/Cleric Diplomat might lean toward the Thuggish Power Attack and Cleave Feats, but might take Extra Turning and Empower Spell Feats to enhance the Clerical part of his or her nature and make this character more valuable to the party as a support figure.

The Thuggish Rogue concentrates on Strength-based feats, prefers heavier weapons, uses a shield, often multiclasses with Fighter or Ranger, and generally considers himself a decent first-line fighter who happens to like to attack from the flank.  Dwarves make the best thuggish Rogues.  The Slasher Rogue favors getting in close with lighter weapons, multiclasses well with Monk or Ranger, and generally likes to get a good close look at the blood without making a big target of him- or herself doing it.  Halflings and Humans make the best
Slashers.  "Gunship" Rogues dart in and out of melee, favor ranged sneak attacks, and are just generally unpredictable and wild in combat.  They multiclass well with Wizard and Bard; Elves make the best Gunships.  I'll first cover some Feats based on which of the three major Rogue combat types they favor, then I'll cover the more general Rogue-friendly Feats.


5.1 ROGUE TYPES AND THEIR FEATS
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THUGGISH ROGUES
Feats: WEAPON PROFICIENCY (MARTIAL), POWER ATTACK, CLEAVE, SHIELD.  Thuggish
Rogues are street-brawlers.  They sometimes invest in a big two-handed weapon after taking the Weapon Proficiency (Martial) Feat, or use a Medium weapon if they're a Small size Rogue.  Thugs usually also take the Shield proficiency.  In any case, after the front-line fighters engage, Thugs swing in to the flanks of the battle, picking off one engaged opponent after another, counting on either the highest hit points of all Rogues or an excellent armor class to keep them out of harm's way.  Weapon Proficiency (Martial) can be gained for free by multiclassing with Fighter, and opens up a lot of very nice high damage weapons.
Shield comes free with many multiclass options.

Since many creatures tend to fall to the sneak attack, this makes the Cleave
Feat an excellent investment, allowing the Thug to domino through weaker opponents.  While waiting for an opening in crowded hallways and doors, many
Thugs enjoy using hand axes or slings to make ranged sneak attacks, as both of these weapons may be used while holding onto their shields.  Both are also missile weapons that are eschewed by most other characters, making them easy to pick up.  Like all Rogues, Thugs tend not to focus on any particular weapon, instead using the best weapon they can obtain.

Dwarven Rogue/Fighters make the best Thugs, though surprisingly, a Human
Monk/Rogue (really!) can make quick work of even the most dangerous opponents with no weapons at all (relying on the Stunning Fist, Knockdown, and Sap Feats instead of martial weapons and shields).  Because most skills are done while "taking 20" and because Thuggish Rogues tend to multiclass with Fighter,
Thuggish Rogues can also experiment with heavier armor than the average Rogue type, further improving armor class.  Keep a set of lighter armor handy, however, for scouting duties, and keep in mind that heavier armor limits your dexterity bonus to armor class!  Since Thugs also generally concentrate on the less common Rogue skills such as Taunt and Set Trap, they also have combat options not available to other Rogue types.


SLASHER ROGUES