I have started a human thief that seems to be not so great. I planned on making him an assasin of sorts duel wielding weapons. I got the 2 feats needed to be proficient two handed though I seem to die easily. My thief doesn't have many hit point maybe due to the fact that I only have a 10 cons. I also planned on using a lot of traps which doesn't work out a lot of the time because I am seen even hidden and the trap usually doesn't hurt enough this can be really bad when 4 or more enimies come running. I am also unable to recover traps because I can't raise my disarm traps ability high enough but to recover only the simplest of traps. Suffice to say when met with strong enemies or a group of enemies I can't make it with out a henchman. Does anyone have any advice on creating a thief that can hold his own in melee combat? Is dual weilding with a thief not a good idea or a waste of feats?

Personally I just use *thief* as a sort of complimentary class together with mage or fighter or one of their subclasses. In my opinion playing a pure thief isn´t much fun.
My favourite combination is an elf mage / thief - together with the 3rd ed. rules you can develop a truly awesome character.

Well, here is my little opinion :
Rogues are great BUT you can't play
them like a figther.
Dual weapons is a waste of feats, because
you don't have much of them and at best
you will have a -2 to hit penalty with
each attacks. If your second weapon isn't
small, you will have a -4 penalty :(
Rogues are powerfull in combat when they
could use their sneak attack. So it's very
important to get the initiative to caught
your oponent flat foot or to strike from
behind, ...
But you can't use a sneak attack on : undeads,
constructs, Ooze, Dragons, Elementals (any
creature witch is not subject to critical hits).
If you fight thess type of creature : you're
history.
It's very important to have very good reflex
saves : avoid traps, and fireball like spells
(evasion).
The best race : the hobbit.
And take feats like : improve initiative, dodge,
mobility, Iron will, Lighting reflex, ...

You need to put in some barbarian, fighter, bard or cleric levels. Basically, the thief needs to be a "sub-class" not a "main class."

I play a Ranger/Rogue, at times, and I think that the optimal balance is about 3 to 1 Ranger to Rogue. I level up in the pattern: rogue, ranger, ranger, ranger. (However level 1 MUST be a rogue.)

That will give me full ranger spell capabilities. My animal companion will be pretty strong. Plus, I will get the Rogue "anti-flat-footed" feat. [img]smile.gif[/img]

On the other hand, my first ranger/rogue was 5/4 into Chapter 2. She was weaker in combat, but had the "anti-flat-footed" feat. This feat is important because it preserves your dexterity armour bonus when surprised, possibly when surrounded, too.

So what you're saying is that the rogue is pretty much useless unless duel classed? What about with ranged weapons and with ranged weapons feats. Has anyone beaten the game with rogue that is not duel classed with anything else? This is not good if I can't improve on the rogue then I guess I have to start over and I just made it to chapter 2 there is no way I will be able to complete the game with his current stats and I don't want to duel class. Guess I'll try a bard or something.

My brother is playing a straight thief online and is having fun just running around picking pockets [img]tongue.gif[/img] He leaves the fighting up to Henchmen and/or other members of his party and just hangs back with a crossbow or something [img]smile.gif[/img]

Don't listen to all the people who say rogue is only useful for multiclassing. Just get a strong henchman to take hits while you sneak attack everyone. [img]smile.gif[/img]

I would advise having a high intelligence, like 14, to get a lot of skill points. I think my rogue had 14 int. and had about 11 points to distribute, and he had no problems with low skills.

Also, make sure you get the Use Magic Device skill as high as you can because it lets you use equiptment restricted to other classes...and stuff. It's just really handy to have.

I assume you had put points into use magic device skill. Then you can buy as many scrolls of darkness and ultravision as possible......get as many sneak attack as you like......

I'm planning a fighter/rogue. why first level must be rogue?

You don't have to go with Rogue 1st. It helps with skill allocations, I believe, is why they recommend doing Rogue first. My character started off as a Ranger and then when I was like 3rd level, I added a level of Rogue. I tried to open a chest, but it said that I couldn't do that. Some of my skills were not selected appropriately for this. If you choose fighter, you get more skill allocation points, I believe, so if you jump in midstream don't lose out on as many opportunities. Once I leveled up, I added in the ability to open chests and picked use magic device. This let me ATTEMPT to use those options. When you start off, you get extra skill points. May as well get the Rogue started off right, if you plan to go Rogue mainly. If you want more FIGHTER options, then select it at startup. That way you get that classes skills at less cost. It helps if you add skill points to class options when you level up in the class that uses them. You have to use at least 2 skill points for a cross class.