Rogue's are especially worthless in 3.5 for most campaigns. They can backstab. Their weapon selection is tripe. They have low HP. Their AC is generally junk. Flanking opponents is not easy. Rogue abilities are often worthless or broken, like Evasion/Improved Evasion (yay I dodge a Fireball in a ten foot hall way, taking absolutely no damage... Um no). Backstab is one of their biggest abilities and it usually ends up not happening and most of the dangerous baddies are immune to backstab. Rogue's usually end up being skill "whores" as I've heard people refer to them. While in an RP heavy game, that's not a bad thing per say, they still end up generally useless in every other part of the game.<br/><br/>Despite the Rogue being so atrocious, like Monk, I still take Rogue levels for the skill points in games that will have a lot of RP. Yet, I am gimping myself. Selena is not nearly as potent as she could be if I had only taken 1 level of Rogue and or none.<br/><br/>So why do I take Rogue? D&D 3.5 basically assumes that everyone, other than a Rogue, is blind as a bat, deaf as someone with shot out ears, cannot search worth a damn, cannot tell a lie from a truth, can't lie to save their own hide, are as stupid as dirt, and generally are anything but above average like a hero is supposed to be.<br/><br/>Thus, I take Rogue to make a more balanced "realistic" hero type. Especially in a Drow campaign. If you took the classes as they were, the Rogue would be ruling the Drow world, not the Cleric. Drow society is reliant more on verbal/mental cunning than it is physical prowess. A Rogue could lie his way through everything and tell when someone is trying to horribly lie to him. Thus he could plan the demise of everyone else, carry it out, and no one would none the wiser.<br/><br/>That is why Drow like Jarlaxle and Gromph hold so much power despite being males. They are actually smarter than the female clergy who rule the city. They, of course, still have to tread carefully, but they nevertheless hold immense power - something the females begrudge them for. Yet, the female's aren't stupid either. They can see the games Gromph and Jarlaxle play.<br/><br/>So basically, having no skills translates into an unrealistic representation of life, especially in Drow life. One has to have Spot, Listen, Bluff, Sense Motive, Diplomacy, and Knowledge Skills, to actually function in a realistic none-gimped fashion.