So you see... I simply don't see melee characters as a viable class currently.... a melee rogue would be so weak and brittle he'd die from being looked at.
He does, as I discovered after level 4. I build my Rogue pretty much with equal points into DEX and SPD, but at that point you need to give him 2 or so points into CON to keep up with the damage you take. Getting it from gear is a good idea, but you may want to put a couple points into base CON.
The trick with the Rogue is to plan and carefully time the use of his starting skills. Luckily they have fairly low cooldowns and low AP cost compared to magic. Tactical retreat is great to move to the enemy rear lines, at which point you enter Sneak mode and become walking death. You can do massive damage from a backstab in sneak mode. If you get surrounded, Invisibility can get you out.
