Helping a partymember with a rogue-ish...thing...

[Vidar]

So a friend of ours has the archetypical point of view known as "rogues are superior in every single way, even more than Marry Poppins", and we all know Marry Poppins won't take shit from anyone, so she cursed the rogue to suck forever, which explains why they're pretty hard to play.
Gawain is so nice as to allow him to retrain his rogue levels to psychic rogue levels, with 9+int skills.

That would make him a Tiefling Rogue4/Swashbuckler3/Fighter1/Swordsage2
Feats:[spoiler] Daring Outlaw (he likes SA), weapon finesse, TWF (counts as ITWF&GTWF per house rule), shadowblade and carmendine monk[/spoiler]
Stats: not entirely sure: S14/D20/C18/I20/W14/C12
He fancies Island of blades, making him always flanking thus eligible for SA and always in a shadow hand stance for dex to damage(when not immune or uncanny dodging).

The problem: he thinks the world and the game are against him, because his rogue appears to be utterly useless, and we were looking at other possibilities to let him actually play along [cue Sunic coming in telling how melee has no right aspiring to be useful].  Getting Hustle at rogue9 will be a great addition, among others.
The request: what can be done to keep the "rogue" and actually do something with it that lets him keep up with normal encounters and how does he progress from here on out?

Thanks in advance.

[juton]

What exactly is the role he is aiming for in the party? Out of combat Rogues make great faces, skillmonkeys and trapfinders. In combat Rogues make great glass cannons. You won't be able to do all stellarly so you have to choose.

If you wanted raw power you'd go Rogue/Wizard/Unseen Seer/Arcane Trickster, you have the int to make it work. Psychic Rogue is good too, but not as powerful. If your friend is a team player and is willing to delay until a flank is set up then maximize sneak attack and ways to get around it. If you friend isn't a team player then look at ways to enhance there psionic or magical power.

Can you tell us about the campaign, is there lots of undead for instance? High level casters? Bunch of mooks? Rogues can get screwed easily in the wrong campaign setting.

[Soda]

What's the rest of the party like? That rogue doesn't look bad at all. I'd drop the fighter level, switch to psychic rogue and keep taking it.

Or, as mentioned, "If you wanted raw power you'd go Rogue/Wizard/Unseen Seer/Arcane Trickster."

[Vidar]

Yes, I forgot to add: the player has a bias against casting of any kind, knowing that psychic rogue would be a better addition than normal rogue, he agreed but was kind of reluctant of starting to learn those powers.
He wants it to still be "rogue", (original plan was full rogue, then 3 lvls SwBcklr, then 2 lvls SS, then 1 lvl fighter, all added reluctantly). He wouldn't want to suddenly go "wizard that has some rogue like abilities", which however Gawain and I agreed would have been the best way too.

Considering role: I'm not sure how well he fares as face, and per houserule we need a LITTLE bit of talk backing up our rolls, skills he has plenty, but for some reason his trap detecting failed 2 times out of 2. He would like to be a glass cannon, but he has trouble getting ANYWHERE on the battlefield and still being able to full attack (that's why he soarly needs hustle and the likes). Then there's ofcourse the trouble with SA being botched by a pretty big bunch of encounters.

Party: I'm playing a spellscale half dragon cleric4/ordained4/prestige paladin2, more like melee with a bunch of strength. My girlfriend is a spellscale bard4/crusader1/bardader customized prc 5. She's pretty useful all round, to make an understatement. And our young friend is a spellscale warmage 5/rainbow servant5. Technically, another friend would play along and if that fool would, he'd play a frenzied berserker (copied from the TO section)

[sonofzeal]

Sounds like the player's not happy with this current progression.  That's your main problem.

Is he making use of UMD?  If not, he really really should be.  It's not casting, and it'll make him way more effective.

Try Swashbuckler3 / Rogue 17 + Daring Outlaw?  He'll get to play a basically pure rogue, but with a significant boost in power.

Alternatively, waft the Factotum class under his nose.  It's pretty darn Rogue-ish, but significantly more effective.  Make sure to introduce "Font of Inspiration" at the same time.

There's also the Beguiler, which is more magical but may work out for him.

My final suggestion would just be to houserule the Rogue class.  Let him play Rogue20 but give him Island of Blades for free, and toss in various Sneak-Attack boosters ("Rogue's Vest", "Heartskewer Daggers") as treasure.

In any case, I would never force him to play a build he dislikes.  He'll hate the character, get frustrated, and the game (this is a game, remember?) will cease to be fun.  And when the game consistently isn't fun for one person, it often starts becoming less fun for everyone else.

[Akalsaris]

It sounds to me like the player isn't an optimizer and the rest of the party is very optimized.  I agree with zeal - simply house-ruling rogue to be a better class in combat is probably the best solution here.  Give it a d8 HP, pounce, and island of blades or improved feint as bonus feats or something - as long as the rogue doesn't somehow overshadow you and the other players, who cares if his character is house-ruled?

For a rules-legal version...hm...

Tiefling Rogue 3/variant barbarian 2/Swordsage 3/Nightsong Enforcer 1+

Variant barbarian that looks absolutely nothing like a normal barbarian: trade fast movement for pounce (CC), rage for two-weapon fighting (UA), and uncanny dodge for improved trip (UA Wolf totem). 

Char1: Combat Reflexes
Char3: Weapon Finesse (XYZ)
Bonus 5: Two-Weapon Fighting
Bonus 5: Improved Trip
Char6: Carmendine Monk (for swordsage) or Shadow Blade (I'd take shadow blade)
Char9: Double Hit (assumes TWF qualifies as ITWF due to house-rule)

Basically a rogue with a little more HD and BAB, plus it gets pounce and island of blades, and probably the SS maneuvers that help with maneuverability.  Double hit is nice for AOO's along with improved trip, and has a pretty cool rogueish feel.

[Vidar]

Ah, but he isn't force to play the character, on the contrary, we advised against it, but he wouldn't hear anything of it. To be more precise, he wanted to play swashbuckler3/rogue2/duelist10/swb or rogue x and after much deliberation he finally gave in to dropping the duelist. Now he's fixated on al those "damage and AC from int and dex", and I'm not sure if he'll be ok with just a fix on the rogue if it means he should drop some of those. Still, the choice is up to Gawain and I forgot to give him the link to this thread, which I'll do immediatly and let him look into the already given suggestions, for which my thanks by the way. More are still welcome though 

[wO-_-OdrOw]

getting caught up in stats to this and that isn't worth it in after a point, but it's always fun to track down all those little feats... i guess.. what's wrong with a swordsage or factotum with warblade dips? that's what i'd be playing.

[GawainBS]

I wouldn't mind houseruling the Rogue, but I doubt he'd be using it effectively. It seems, to me, like he's deliberately refusing any kind of boost, since that is "munchkinizing" and that's "an abomination that shouldn't belong in a game."
I suggested he took boosts like Sudden Leap and Shadow Jaunt (or Jump?), so he'd be able to get around the battlefield better. He ignores the option of retraining his current manouvres to some of those. I don't know why. He rather uses Emerald Razor... UMD is out of the question. He ignores it. I told him about wands and scrolls and what they could offer him.
My gutfeeling is that he expect the other players to suddenly start playing a Bard/Fighter, a Healbot Cleric and a pure Blaster, just so he feels less useless. I'm already urging the others to hold back a bit.
I think a souped-up Psychic Rogue/Swordsage/Swashbuckler is the best option. Thanks for suggesting it.  I doubt he'll touch his PP, though.