I agree with much of the sentiment of the thread.
1. It is true that Backstab is a powerful Talent, allowing you to have 100% criticals, but unlike every other class archtype, Rogues are pretty much forced into taking it pretty much immediately, which means that you get only one choose-able Talent at level 1 or 2, and after that it's a long time until level 6. "Talent tax" is the right way to put it.
2. Blackjacks should absolutely be added in as a second Backstab-capable weapon. Complete agreement from me here.
3. I also find Guerrilla very underwhelming. It's an AP-loser for single-wielding, and when dual-wielding, it gives you 3 AP worth of damage for 3 AP, which means you're just as well off not bothering with it.
Guerrilla is only good when:
- Attacking from out of combat to start a fight (0 AP cost).
- Using a skill which has powerful sneak attack damage already (The Skill is what's providing the power)
- If you need to finish an enemy off, but it would take 2 dual-wielding attacks and you have only 3 AP left. (Very situational and a questionable use of AP compared to other possible options)
That's it. It just does not seem useful to take a Talent point on.
3. The way I see it, sneaking in combat is often more of a defensive/repositioning tool. Get a bunch of aggro on your rogue, then hide behind something (including smoke) and sneak, then come back when the enemies have turned their back. Guerilla is a bonus for the first attack/repositioning attacks, not something to be used on every attack. Sure, Guerilla is arguably more of a bonus on a two-hander, but you don't get the guaranteed backstab crit from a two-hander.
The AI will be fixed to look for sneaking characters to prevent being stabbed by someone right behind them for several turns. So that will mean you'll need to move somewhere to hide, in which case it will cost you more AP to move back into backstab position while sneaking.
Perhaps better tie backstabbing in with Scoundrel at let backstab damage improve with getting better at scoundreling?
It kinda already does, since Scoundrel increases the damage critical strikes do.
