Well, if you have them maxed out, you can use two swords instead of one sword, one dagger.
Yes, but then you should be concentrating on strength and you still have to waste enough points on dexterity to get the dual wield. Dagger damage is more effected by dexterity so you end up doing a lot more damage with daggers than you would swords if you just concentrate on dexterity.
Hm. Interesting. Is that accurate? I hadn’t thought of the strength/dexterity tradeoff too much. More damage can be put out with a dagger and a sword instead of two swords?
Apparently so - someone ran the numbers over at the Dragon Age Social forums. In fact here it is. As you can see the dagger/dagger cunning build ( with lethality ) is the DPS leader for melee rogues and dagger/dagger dex builds are at least as good and generally better than two full-sized weapons. Which is good to know, because even if you go with a different configuration, it means you can at least skip that last skill on the dual-wield tree. Rogues are always skill-starved compared to warriors, so having an extra point to distribute elsewhere is handy.
Thanks for the link.
Actually, I was saying dagger dagger not dagger sword. But Tamerlane’s great link says it all. I also didn’t mention that I did go with Lethality in my build and dropped a lot into cunning.
Yeah, I saw that part in the skill tree which first got me thinking about it, but with so many nice swords to equip, I didn’t give it any thought in my swordlust. Now, I see differently.
Gr. Now I should redo the entire character and start over.
Well, I haven’t exhaustively looked it up, but from what little I’ve read it LOOKS like you can’t get the Far Song bow unless you somehow let the smiths daughter die in Redcliff, which apparently causes him to kill himself, freeing up the bow. 
Which I didn’t do (just talking to her causes her to run home, so I’m guessing the only way to the bow is to not talk to her?).
Anyway, I wanted to say I appreciate the links. I may have to go back to an earlier save of my character and play through again to pick up some of the stuff I missed before. On another board a poster hinted that there is a way to get Alistair to marry the princess AND to get Loghain as well (by ‘turning’ Alistair with gifts, if I’m reading it right), so I might try that too. I got a link from that other thread on what gifts to give to who as well, so that might make it easier.
-XT
I think the “turning” you’re referring to is the “hardening” of Alistair after his sidequest. Once he is rejected by his sister and you leave the house, a dialogue option to tell him something like “Everyone’s out for themselves. You have to learn that” this will allow him to be persuaded to marry the queen. Also it will allow him to join you in a threesome in the pearl as well. (read that one, never tried it.) Dragon Age Wiki lays out just about every end game scenerio, but some of it you have to dig for. Try checking the companion bios for some good info on your options.
I forgot to get the blacksmith’s daughter on the first pass through. If you forget her, she’s still available to find, although I don’t know how she’d get killed. Maybe if you don’t get her and then don’t do anything about Connor and go off and do another quest? What about if you let the zombies kill Redcliffe Village?
I haven’t found a save that far back at the right place yet. The saves I have I must have already saved her, because he’s there and thanks me for helping him out, blah blah blah. So, looks like either I roll up a new char (I have like a month before the expansion comes out, so it could be done) or just hope that the new game will have a decent bow in it. I’ll probably go that route.
-XT
One of the (if not the, barring DLCs I haven’t played) best massive armors in the game is found at the deep end of the dwarven Deeps. Armor of the Legion or something like that, the armour worn by those dwarves that go down there to die. Pitch black, mean looking (except the helmet, which looks kind of goofy), and it provides the best protection you can get. It also requires something like 42 STR to wear, though.
The magical elven armor you get by doing the gravestone quest in the forest is lighter and about as efficient in defense (thanks to the full set enchantment)… but you have to do the gravestone quest, and those wraiths aren’t nice people :).
Oh, and unless they’ve patched it, picking the ranged path on a rogue is… suboptimal. No backstab bonus ? … OK… No poison damage either ? BAH ! Might as well have been a warrior 
The Boots Of the Legion are in a sarcophagus in the same area, as is the Helmet Of the Legion. If you have the armor equipped when you get to the room with the helmet in it, there’s a little marker to activate to get some dwarf spirits to attack you. Otherwise, the spirits are kneeling and praying and don’t acknowledge your presence.
bows are kind of crap until the paragon quest (darkspawn forger drops spearthrower) or the dalish quest
xtisme appears to have done the Dalish quest first, which I believe he is referring to as his “first dungeon.” He has Falon’din’s Reach, one of the best longbows in the game and is whining about it not being good enough ;). Of course someone who did that quest last would be cursing the lack of bows even more.
Two as good or slightly better longbows - Mage’s Eye, found in Haven ( no plus damage damage, but better chance to hit and better critical chance ) and Marjolaine’s Recurve ( plus cunning, slightly better plus damage, rapid aim - probably the best longbow ), which can only be gotten from Leliana’s quest and then only if things get hostile. But all three of the above longbows represent the pinnacle in base longbow stats ( damage, armor penetration, etc. ). There isn’t anything better in that class.
Well, whining aside, I am just used to games where as you progress the equipment gets better. I understand that the bow Far Song is supposed to be the best bow in the game, but I did the Redcliff quests early on, so don’t want to go that far back to redo the quest to rescue the black smiths daughter (besides, I’d feel a bit hinky letting her die so that he’d commit suicide just so I could get a better bow :eek:).
At any rate, the new expansion will be coming out soon so hopefully there will be some new gear in there somewhere for my rogue. From what I have read they are going to let you respec your character as well, which will be nice as I have a better idea now what is important and what isn’t.
-XT
I was kidding :). But Far Song ( which is probably the best now that I look it up - I’ve never seen it in game ) doesn’t have any better base stats than the above bows. They all top out at 9.60 damage, etc. - it could be that’s all the designers are willing to give, though you never know.
As to better equipment as you progress, it does just a bit as you get higher level materials as you progress and of course some equipment ( but not all ) can be upgraded at merchants. But since the major quests are mostly non-linear it wouldn’t make much sense to have named uniques to have significantly different bonuses depending on when you get them. Like Baldur’s Gate you just have to live with knowing where all the best things are to be found after awhile.