I wouldn't recommend taking a rogue, they have to be close and only do any damage when backstabbing. Starting out I'd stay away from them, it's easier to keep a single tanky melee alive.
Lockpicks aren't very useful imo, I didn't find a single thing that can't be smashed but can be picked so far. If you can't open a chest just take it and smash or pick it at the homestead with an autoleveled story companion or a henchman with lockpick gear.
Some skills are very good with just 1 point without their mainstats high:
- aero: thunderjump, wind of change, teleport are all great
- witchcraft: oath of desecration, malediction, lower resistances
- water: regeneration, rain
- earth: midnight oil, maybe bless
Very nice and worth to have at 1-2 on 1 of your chars:
- blacksmith, crafting
- barter
- lucky charm
- loremaster
- pickpocket
These will be boosted by gear so don't level them too much. Leadership is kinda in the same boat, but you'll want to have it at 6 so it's probably worth it to take on a PC and have a base level of 3-4 or even 5.
Make grenades and special arrows, they are awesome. Great recipes:
- molotov: bottle + oil barrel + fuse
- oil/ooze flask: flask + oil/ooze barrel
- poison cloud grenade: empty potion vial + ooze barrel + round grenade case
- poison cloud arrow: 2 * (ooze barrel + arrowhead)
The others are good, too but these are the ones with the very common and cheap ingredients.
