Advice on Halfling Theif

[Screaming Johny]

From somebody elses post I got the idea to ask the forum for advice.

My favourite race is halfling - I like being underestimated.
My favourite class is thief, and my favourite weapon is the katana.

The problem is the build I have come up with are not very powerful. He has to run and heal far too often, and killing bosses takes forever. In a way that makes sense for a thief, but it gets kind of boring always running away.

Right now I am working with a thief/fighter-to get the feats for/WM with the katana, although I haven't gotten very far yet. Will this build be more viable in a few levels? I had the thought of S(or Bard)/RDD/Assasin, but I can't stand playing evil.

In Baldur's Gate II I often played a Kensai/Theif with the Katana and it was a blast. He could backstab and hang around after to finish the fight.

Any advice on how to create a katana weilding haflling thief that isn't a wimp?

[Fat Puck]

I would pump up strength and constitution, a little bit of dexterity. If you have some points to spend in intelligence you could use magic scrolls and some magic items for spellcasters, some charisma for the use magical device skill...

Once I played a halfling/thief but he became more a fighter than a thief. I think you should sacrifice dexterity. And always take "luck of heroes" feat at character creation.

[JackOfClubs]

Haflings have the disadvantage that medium weapons, like Katana, are two-handed. Also, I think they move more slowly. Thieves have the disadvantage that they have low attack bonuses. You can compensate for the latter by taking a level or two of fighter and, as Fat Puck says, by increasing your abilities, skills and feats. But this is always going to be a weaker melee fighter than a similarly leveled warrior. That is just the trade-off that you have to accept when playing thieves.