feats / talents for a rogue / horizon walker?

[ohako]

see if you can spot the influence for this character

human rogue 6 (investigator)/horizon walker X

maxing the following skills

Escape Artist
Climb
Swim
Knowledge (geography)
Stealth
Perception
Survival
Diplomacy

and maxing these skills until I get to horizon walker

Linguistics
Profession (scribe)

My problem is, I'm not really so sure what he's going to do in combat, melee, ranged, whatever. I've got 4 feats before I hit horizon walker (maybe 5), and 3 rogue talents (maybe 4). I've got to take

Endurance

to qualify for the prestige class, and I figure I might take

Skill Focus (Diplomacy)

in order to really jack up the power of the investigator's gather information power

What feats and/or rogue talents would you suggest?

[DEWN MOU'TAIN]

inspired by harry dresden?

[ohako]

ah, Tintin, actually. I figure Captain Haddock can be a drunken rage barbarian with sailing skills and improvised weapons, and Calculus can be an alchemist with sonic bombs. Tintin's a little harder, in that he's a reporter who never seems to write any stories!

Anyway, in the comic Tintin seems to use punches and guns. A hand crossbow-wielding rogue is a good substitute for a gun-user, but I dunno: if Tintin has to whack some goblins or chase down a demon who kidnapped a princess...I sorta want him to be good at it D&D style, you know? There are those nice hand crossbow feats from Drow of the Underdark, which I could ask for.

Okay, so now the question is: how to make a horizon walker/diplomat/whatever be good at fighting with the right weapons/talents/feat choices?

Wouldn't Harry Dresden be some kind of spellcaster?

[Anburaid]

well most of what a rogue gets you, combat wise, is sneak attack, which is primarily melee based.

I would actually dump rogue and go with bard, and out-smart your enemies. Bards get a fair amount of battlefield control spells and abilities which can have a variety of out of combat uses. check out the AGP too for some less musical bard archetypes, like the detective or archivist.

If you want to stay melee focused, then the TWF chain would be decent, as it gets more sneak attack for your buck. Sneak attack also helps counter rogues tending to be less strong than fighter types.

If you have a chosen weapon, consider picking up weapon focus as well to improve your base chance of hitting. To-hit bonuses are few and far between.

When you get to it, vital strike and mobility are good to have, for the tactic of keeping your opponent from hitting you with a full attack. A lot of stronger monsters can rip you apart in a standup fight in a round or two. Fighting a moving battle, in which you get better damage, is a good way to stay alive.