Critique this build please

[geezee]

My first shot at a rogue. At level 4, with excellent gear, he is kicking butt as would be expected from a STR-based melee.
Here's the planned build @ 14:
Dwarf Rogue 8/ Fighter 4/ Barb 2
16 14 15 11 13 9, INT tome @ lvl 1.
Feats: Toughness, Power Attack, Cleave, 2HF, I2HF, Great Cleave, Improved Crit, G2HF
Maxed Skills: OL, Search, Spot, DD, UMD, Haggle, Jump. Balance nearly maxed, a few into Intimidate, and 2 into Tumble

This toon is built to do a lot of AOE melee damage and have decent survivability while maintaining respectable rogue skills. I was thinking about how the prevalence of wall of fire in the end game has made melee near useless. In a firewall he should be able to do a lot of AOE damage. This way, if mobs are going to turn their backs on him, he will punish them and help bring them down fast.

Obviously he gives up single target sneak damage by going 2HF instead of 2WF. But I wanted to make a character who can also dish out damage straight up, as well as maximizing AOE damage with cleave/great cleave, 2HF and sneak damage.

I'm still debating the 2nd barb level versus another rogue level. Just wondering if anyone has played a character like this and what your thoughts are.

Thank you.

[sigtrent]

You may find your int is a bit low for search disable unless you have really good gear for your level or investin a lot of enhancemetns/feats. You will probably be fine so long as you arn't doing quests too far over you own level.

You should do good damage although I would still recomend at least taking normal TWF. I have a similar rogue and I almost never used a two hander past level 6 or so because TWF did so much more damage. Cleave could get you a lot more agro than you want to have.

Despite what you may hear, melee damage still matters most of the time. Occasionaly you are partying with more than one damage focused caster and melee damage can seem an after though. But most groups I've been in the melees are still killing the majority of the monsters and doing the bulk of the damage.

[Aeneas]

just me, but, i don't think a backstab die, another point of trap sense,improved evasion and rogue dex 3 is worth a combat feat and 1 more point of bab. At least not a feat you could pick up at level 15 in like a week or two when the cap goes up. Then again i don't like perfect builds and i think a fault or two forces you to pay better attention while you play. You could also just wait until the cap raise to take those 2 rogue levels as well though, you'd just see the benefits later, but be able to cap out rogue skills before you run out road.

[brshelton]

firewall does not negate a good melee. I play a sorc. I play a DPS STR ranger. My DPS str ranger can outdo a firewall and has kept aggro from the black dragon off a caster dropping firewalls. And dragons arent even favored.

[geezee]

Thanks for the feedback.

I was planning to take Rogue at levels 15, 16, 18, and 19. Fighter at 17 and 20 for an extra feat (S2HF) and the STR enhancement.

And yes, a melee can do good single target DPS. But without AOE attacks, there is no way he can compete with the number of kills wall of fire can get. In a quest like Trial by Fire, which has a lot of melee mobs, a mage can solo it in the time it would take a melee to go afk and get a glass of water. The point of this build is to expedite the process by doing AOE damage.

Looks like I miscalculated a bit on my skills. Do I need to max OL, DD, spot, and search, or can I skimp on any of those a few points?

The build is a blast so far. So far the character generally dominates kill counts and doesnt die too often. It's my first rogue, and I'm amazed with all the red numbers he gets from cleave with a holy greataxe. But it's hard to get a sense of end-game potency from performance at level 5. The time will come soon when the monsters are too tough to risk agroing more than one at a time. With a vorpal DA and a tower shield, cleave and great cleave may still be pretty good, so I plan to at least try that tactic out.

Any other thoughts?