Should my Arti dip Rogue?

[Aashrym]

I'm more a fan of the capstone than a splash, but if I were to splash it would be monk instead of rogue.

[gloopygloop]

If you're going to splash another class for Evasion, I'd reccomend Monk for the 2 free feats. You already have all the Rogue skills that you need, so taking Rogue doesn't offer as much synergy as Monk levels offer. Deathdefy has a very good point about very few quests actually needing Evasion, though.

[gloopygloop]

Tangleroot:
I personally can't get to the top without hitting a trap, though I suspect it's possible. Risking going through the final set of traps even with evasion is something I consider unwise.

Instead of going up that little hallway with the traps, go around the outer loop hallway, get their aggro with a bow or throwing weapon and then run back to the shrine after you have their aggro. They'll run through the trap area without triggering the traps and you can fight them right next to the shrine.

[egwenejs1]

Dip Rogue? Why not do it for free - almost. Roll a half-elf arti and get the rogue dilante feat/enhancements. I'm level 8 and loving the extra 2d6 x 3 ranged sneak attack bonus damage with a +2 Keen Repeating Heavy Crossbow of Backstabbing.

[gloopygloop]

Dip Rogue? Why not do it for free - almost. Roll a half-elf arti and get the rogue dilante feat/enhancements. I'm level 8 and loving the extra 2d6 x 3 ranged sneak attack bonus damage with a +2 Keen Repeating Heavy Crossbow of Backstabbing.

Rogue dilletante doesn't grant Evasion.

When people splash Rogue, they generally do so because they get Evasion and full ranks of UMD from the splash. The trap skills are also nice, but the Evasion and UMD are the biggest attractions of a 2 level splash of Rogue.

Monk grants the Evasion, but doesn't give the UMD skills. On the other hand, Monk does give fast Unarmed attack and two bonus feats (at least one of which can be used for Toughness).

The extra backstab damage is certainly nice and if I took a Rogue splash, I'd certainly throw down the couple of AP for Sneak Attack enhancements, but it's not the biggest reason for the splash in most cases.

The reason why Sneak Attack damage is particularly relevant in this case is in deciding whether to take a third level of Rogue splash since you've already lost the capstone with the first two levels of splash and there is no PrE for level 18 Artificer for you to lose. You're not giving up a lot from missing your 18th Artificer level since you only get one 2nd level spell, 60 spell points, one caster level and 1 Spell Penetration.

Even still, I'm generally reluctant to give up spellcasting levels in a primary spellcasting class (Cleric, FvS, Wizard, Sorcerer, Artificer and eventually Druid) unless i'm getting something REALLY big in return.