I personally play the following for my own rogue:
Elf Shadowblade
Default Attribs
Mnemonic level 1
1 Scoundrel
1 Poly
1 Sneaking
Then I pick the rest of my talents as I go. I go into thievery after character creation because sneaking lets me blitz the boat and shore drivel. Once I start source blast scene, I grab the hunk of leg and get adrenaline. So I start off with the 4 skills and go fast.
Stab the scared magister for first kill, 12 wits gives me the initiative over the other magister.. adren+sac and unload skills for untouchable kills in the beginning. Same thing with the cockroaches but use chicken claw since they lack armor. By the time i'm in town I've done the card table aggressive method and gotten quick level 2. Then I talk to elodi, get the huntsman skill from the head piece and loot the caves but dont do the frogs. Use the restore scroll from the boat on the sick dude for his stuff then take the mushroom from healer, make potion, then go from there. I usually will try to clear first fire slug from dug up entrance by migo and then scout out the first part of prison for loot at the waypoint. By then I backtrack, do crocs for the gloves, do frogs, teleport the chest for more loot, and do the rest of the fort in order that tickles my fancy. After level 4, rogue is stupidly easy. massacre the townsfolk by the cook and get all the gear... arena is a walk in the park after that.
