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similar fashion to what is listed above, adding a single Monk level after Rogue
Level 5, and a single Wizard level after Rogue Level 8.  The Monk level adds "flurry of blows" and three Feats, as well as kama weapon proficiency.  The
Wizard level is primarily added to give the character the ability to use all
Sorcerer/Wizard magic items, learn every 1st level Wizard spell from scrolls, and summon a (admittedly very weak) familiar.  It also opens a pair of quests in the single-player NWN game and gives the ability to create a few magic items if the proper scrolls can be found.  The final expression of this character type will be Level 15/3/2 Rogue/Wizard/Monk.  Add the 2nd and 3rd level of Wizard right after the 1st to give the character the ability to learn and cast the critical-to-Rogue 2nd level arcane spells for the game's final confrontations.

HUMAN/HALF-ELVEN/HALFLING ROGUE/RANGER/PALADIN
OK, laugh.  Get it out of the way.  ;-)  Now that you're done laughing, a Level
15/3/2 Rogue/Paladin/Ranger will have up to five (sneak) attacks per round, a weak undead turning ability, nine or more feats, your Charisma bonus as a saving throw modifier, immunity to disease and fear, and the ability to remove disease from another once per day.  The Ranger addition adds significant bonuses to Hide in Shadows and Move Silently in wilderness areas and a favored enemy.  The combination, of course, adds medium and heavy armor, shields, and a large variety of weapons.  And hey, you can even do a (very weak) Smite Evil once per day.  Such a character is also an amusing conversation piece.  However, see above regarding Ranger multiclassing.  This character will almost certainly have to be a Slasher Rogue to take advantage of Ranger Dual Wield, but here's an interesting tip... I've already seen one fan-written module that has a Holy
Avenger Rapier -- yes! -- as its final treasure.  ;-)



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7.0 HENCHMEN
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In the single-player NWN game, you will generally more or less have to choose a henchman.  They come with various abilities, strengths, and weaknesses when playing with the Rogue player.  I list them in order of preference, but remember: you can and should hire any henchman that you think will be of use for a particular section.  Once you've hired a henchman, you can dismiss him or her from your service and they will wait patiently where you did so until you return to rehire them... and rehiring a henchman is free!  The only restriction is that you can only have one henchman at any given time.  Therefore, if you know the next section of the game involves undead, hire Linu, then dismiss her to hire
Grimgnaw for a heavy-duty fight, et cetera.  With that said...

LINU LA'NERAL (CLERIC).  Overall, the best henchman for a Rogue character.  Her
Clerical abilities make an excellent balance to your Rogue abilities, and she stands up well in head-on combat, particularly if you multiclass into Wizard or
Ranger and give her a hand with an animal companion, familiar, or summoned creature.  While in combat, she will heal you, herself, and any animals about automatically if needed (and you can set at what percentage of hit points she does it).  She also efficiently wipes out those pesky undead that are so annoyingly immune to sneak attacks.  ;-)  Best of all, her henchman quest rewards you with the Pendant of the Elf, which gives a steadily increasing
Dexterity (!) bonus, plus either immunity to Fear or Darkvision, either of which is extremely useful to the Rogue on the go.  Finally, amusingly, male characters can start a (ultimately successful) romance thread with her.  Her major disadvantage: she tends to cast negative energy spells on undead if turning doesn't work...

DAELAN RED TIGER (BARBARIAN).
GRIMGNAW (MONK).  From the perspective of a Rogue character, these two are roughly equal in utility as henchmen.  Both are tanks doing highly impressive melee damage, both will cheerfully wade in while you can hang back and sneak attack, and both have reasonably useful henchman quest items for Rogues
(Daelan's item increases Strength and gives immunity to Fear, Grimgnaw's increases Constitution and gives you spell resistance).  No spell-casting though, obviously, and their defenses work only for themselves.  If good- aligned, take Daelan.  If evil-aligned, take Grimgnaw.

SHARWYN (BARD).  Her advantage as a Rogue henchman is that she will in fact get into melee if you instruct her to, she has pretty decent Rogue-support spells, and her Bardic music is definitely of help (though she automatically uses it in the first combat of each new day, so choose your Rest areas carefully).  She's also very easy on the eyes and in my view, has the most interesting and believable stories to tell.  Her disadvantages are the fact that she survives an average of three rounds in anything but the easiest combats and her skills aren't really a good combination with your Rogue skills, particularly if you multiclass into arcane spell-casting.  Looks cool swinging that two-bladed sword, though.  Her henchman quest item is also very useful, adding to Charisma,
Perform, and Persuade skills.  Unfortunately, it's a belt, and there are much better belts out there for Rogues; however, most of the time you want Persuade skills or higher Charisma, you can take your regular belt off and use hers, so get it.  Male characters can start a (ultimately UNsuccessful) romance thread with her.  My advice: hire her long enough to listen to her stories and get her henchman quest items, but leave her in town when it's time to head into danger.

BOODYKNOCK GLINKCLE (SORCEROR).  Fun to be with but not a particularly good
Rogue henchman, he seems to have a nearly unlimited stock of spells.  He's also a good indicator of when it's time to rest: when he gets out his spear or crossbow, head for the Rest button, 'cause this Sorcerer can't hit a damned thing with a physical weapon.  ;-)  You'll mostly want to leave him at home, though: he never casts summoning spells, never brings forth his familiar, and you therefore don't have anyone to distract the bad guys while you sneak attack.
His henchman quest item gives a steadily increasing Charisma bonus and regeneration.  Sharwyn's quest item is more generally useful, though.

TOMI UNDERGALLOWS (ROGUE).  Tomi's the best henchman for virtually every OTHER character type, but obviously of no use to a Rogue as a henchman.  His Quest item is a ring that increases Dexterity and a couple of Rogue skills, but there are much more useful rings for Rogues.  Use Linu's pendant instead, and don't even bother hiring Tomi.



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8.0 ITEMS AND MAGIC
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For the next section, without going into a lot of specifics, I'll list the types of items that you'll want to equip your Rogue with.  The specifics are obviously going to vary depending on how lucky you are in the course of your wanderings, but if particularly good items are for sale or otherwise easily available, I'll mention that.

8.1 ARMOR
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As a non-Thuggish Rogue, you're never going to want to wear anything heavier than studded leather armor to retain your Hide and Move Silently bonuses.
However, your ultimate goal should be to, as much as possible, eliminate your armor completely.  Armor is heavy, cutting down your loot-carrying capacity, and if you multiclass into arcane spell-casting, it also gives you a not insignificant chance of arcane spell failure.  In addition, ANY armor heavier than Leather gives Hide and Move Silently penalties.  Studded leather just minimizes the penalties (-1 to each).  Finally, as your level increases, so will your Dexterity.  Even the lightest Leathers give you a maximum benefit of +6 from your Dexterity and your Dexterity bonus may very well exceed that (especially if you choose to wear both Tomi and Linu's henchmen quest items in the single-player game or otherwise have two Dexterity-enhancing items).  It is therefore in your best interests, over the long haul, to look for lighter and lighter armor with other benefits.

Initially, though, you'll be wearing Leather and Studded leather of the +1 and
+2 varieties, though particularly fortunate Rogues will find armors with both armor class bonuses and various resistances.  Unfortunately, there is no other armor you can buy or have made that will exceed basic armor's capabilities... until Port Llast.  In the Alliance Arms Inn, you will find Elaith.  Do NOT accept his quest until you have purchased a set of Shadow Legion Armor (Leather
AC 2+4, Hide in Shadows +5) from him.  This armor is not only the best protection you will find until very late in the game, but also gives you a nice
Hide in Shadows bonus.  See the Tips for the Single Player game for details.
Greenleaf, an armor you can find, has even better properties (Leather AC 2+5,
Hide in Shadows +5) but looks ridiculous.  ;-)

Once dressed in your Shadow Legion Armor, the replacement you should seek for it should be something of the clothing variety that either gives you elemental resistances, regeneration, damage resistance, spell resistance, or some other benefit in addition to a magical armor class bonus of some kind.  An example: the White Robe of the Archmagi has 0+5 AC, a spell resistance of 10, and gives you +1 to all saves (and lets you use any Dexterity bonus), but is only useful to Rogues that multiclass into Bard, Sorcerer, or Wizard.  Robes of the Dark
Moon give something even better: constant Haste (just the thing for those quick escapes AND is good for +4 AC); this one is a Monk item.  Obviously, a Rogue with a high enough Use Magic Device Skill could also wear both of these items.


8.2 OTHER CLOTHING (CLOAKS, BOOTS, BELTS, GLOVES)
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The best cloak for just about any class in the game is the Cloak of Fortitude, which gives both armor class and saving throw bonuses.  In the included campaign, each city's Cleric and Druid sell them.

Choose your boots based on the other items in your possession, but for Rogues, excellent choices are either the Gargoyle Boots (a small armor class and fortitude bonus plus the ability to cast Stoneskin) or Boots of Hardiness (up to
+3 bonuses in both armor class and Constitution).  Boots of Hardiness are as close as your neighborhood Druid shop.  Boots of Striding (up to a +5 bonus in
Constitution) are a good call if you can't find or afford the other two types.
Boots of Speed not only add Haste, but Haste in and of itself is good for +4
Armor Class.  Don't overlook them!  If you have multiclassed into Monk, Boots of the Sun Soul offer not only an excellent armor class bonus but add up to +3 to your Dexterity.  They're also for sale from the closest Cleric.

When not wearing Sharwyn's belt, which adds to your Charisma, your goal here should be to find a Belt of Giant Strength, which come in various varieties up to +5.  Even Rogues using their Dexterity to attack will probably have also found a composite bow or other weapon adding a Strength damage bonus to their liking.  Until you come across a Belt of Giant Strength, though, a Sash of
Shimmering is a good call.  This one gives you a 10 Spell Resistance.  In the very early game, a Swordman's Belt will give you 5/- slashing resistance.  The
Belt of Agility (up to +3 Dexterity plus freedom) is another belt some Rogues like.

For gloves or gauntlets, most Rogues will head straight for the Bracers of
Dexterity (up to +5 Dexterity) and never look back.  Gauntlets of Ogre Power (+2
Strength) are also an excellent choice.  In the early game, multiclassed spell- casting Rogues prefer Gloves of Concentration (in various strengths).  Yes, there are Gloves of the Rogue.  No, they're not generally worth wearing.  Like your choice in boots, your choice in gloves or gauntlets should be made based on your other selections and the needs of your character.


8.3 JEWELRY (RINGS AND NECKLACES)
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Some Rogues will want to use Tomi's Ring of the Rogue (up to +4 Dexterity plus bonuses to Rogue skills) but honestly, if you stick with Linu's amulet and either gauntlets or some other item that enhances Dexterity, you could very easily find yourself with a mid-20s Dexterity without using Tomi's ring.  This is fortunate, because there are four rings that should be on every Rogue's want- list, and you can only wear two at a time...

The ring that you should end your career with is the Ring of Power.  This one gives 15/- to all elemental resistances, freedom (from paralysis and similar effects), and +1 regeneration.  There is also a Lesser Ring of Power (5/- and regeneration, but no freedom), which is a decent choice.  However, until you find your Ring of Power, keep that hand free for a Ring of Elemental Resistance.
There is an easy place in the single-player campaign you can pick one of these up: Helm's Spirit in Helm's Stronghold at the end of Chapter One will give you this item as his "item reward."  Take it.  Use it.  Love it.  All through
Chapters Two and Three, you will bless this ring's 15/- elemental resistance.

Your other hand should start looking for a Ring of Resistance to wear 'pon it.
This ring gives you steadily ascending bonuses to your saving throws.  Until you find a Ring of Resistance, a Ring of Protection (armor class deflection bonuses to +5) will do.  In addition, find and keep a Ring of Scholars in your backpack.
This handy item increases Lore skill by +5 and can save you Lore potions.  Put it on and use when an item resists your not inconsiderable Lore skill.  If you find one, keep a Ring of Regeneration and use it between fights to build up your hit points until you have your Ring of Power.  Just before the fight starts, though, take the Ring of Regeneration off and put your Ring of Resistance back on.

The smart Rogue in the single-player game will go straight for Linu's Pendant of the Elf and eschew all other amulets and necklaces.  However, there are a variety of other amulets with interesting properties and perhaps you'll find one that you like better (though I never did in two passes through the game as a
Rogue).  Until you get Linu's amulet, an Amulet of Natural Armor (varieties up to +5) is useful.  Rogues in multiplayer games might find the various incarnations of the Amulet of the Master (up to +6 enhancements to virtually all of the Rogue skills plus a Persuade bonus; the Greater Amulet of the Master also adds spell resistance) of use, though the Amulet of Health (immunities to disease, poison, and level drain) might be a better call for some.
Rogue/Clerics are happiest with the Talisman of Pure Good/Evil (depending), which gives spell resistance plus bonuses to Charisma and Wisdom.


8.4 HELMS AND SHIELDS
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Rogues have the widest selection of Helmets in the game; virtually every Helmet has nice properties for Rogues.  The Watchman's Helm gives bonuses to Listen,
Search, and Spot skills and is a good light source; the Moonstone Mask enhances the same skills, but gives Darkvision instead.  Various incarnations of the Mask of Persuasion enhance Charisma, Persuade, and other "in-town" skills.  The
Thayvian Circlet gives a bonus to both Concentration and Intelligence, and +1 to all saves.  This is particularly useful to Rogues that multiclass into Wizard spell-casting.  However, for my money, the best Rogue helm is the Thieves Hood, which gives immunity to knockdown and poison (two of the three banes of the
Rogue life), plus bonuses to the Open Locks and Search skills.

Many Rogues will lack the needed proficiency to even wield a shield, but for those that can, the Mirror Shield is an excellent choice.  This large shield not only gives a very decent armor class bonus, but also has grants spell resistance.  Mirror shields can be purchased from the mercenary guild in Chapter