Goblin (LA +0, monster manual) is like a halfling with the fat trimmed off and the goods made better. It has the same modifiers in the ability scores you care about, lovely lovely darkvision, is better at stealth (bigger racial move silently bonus), and has a higher speed which offers several benefits: easier time scouting ahead, easier time evading bigger folks that want to take advantage in melee, better jumping (halflings' +2 racial on jump checks doesn't equal their -6 penalty on jump checks for being slow). The racial Charisma penalty and being seen as a monster (or, at best, a lowest-class citizen) makes life difficult for face type rogues, though.
Humans are just awesome. They can dip whatever they want with their mutable favoured class, a bonus feat and extra skill points are always handy. Lack of Charisma penalty and not being viewed with immediate suspicion for your race is good for keeping your talky skills up and making sure you get a chance to use them.
Teiflings are absolutely wonderful as long as you're not playing a face, and you have LA Buy-off.
Whisper Gnomes (Races of Stone) are very, very good (bordering on LA+1 good).
Air Goblins are very, very good (Unerathed Arcana) - just as good as normal Goblins, with +2 more DEX, and they don't need to breathe, for the price of -2 CON and no bonus to Ride. Whoopie.
Changelings can make incredibly good Face rogues if you pick up the right feats. You can be anyone you want to, which is useful, to say the least.
Not allowing evil doesn't necessarily exclude any race. From the alignment section in the back of the monster manual, even an alignment frequency of "Always" isn't 100%, just damned close to it. For an alignment frequency of Usually (example: goblins are Usually Neutral Evil) it just means more than 50% of the creatures in the default world will be of that alignment. For an alignment frequency of Often (example: hill dwarves are Often Lawful Good), 40-50% of the creatures in the default world will be of that alignment. Exceptions to either case will not be unheard of, and given that adventurers tend to be abnormal specimens of their race anyway, the typical alignment of a given race should not be an impediment to a creature being a PC.
Whisper Gnomes (Races of Stone) have +2Dex, +2Con, -2Str, -2Cha, and a racial Bonus on Hide and Move Silently. They are small creatures (+4'Hide, +1AC, +1to hit), and have 30' ft base speed. Furthermore, they have a racial spell-like-ability allowing them to use Silence 1x/day. And they are only LA+0 and non-evil.
For Combat oriented Rogues, Wood Elf (MM) ist also a good choice. They have +2Str, -2Int in addition to the normal Elf abilities.
Then again for me it's always human unless I'm going for a specific race's aesthetic or roleplay value.
Actually, any race works for a rogue as your choice of race should be made based on roleplaying and storyline rather than maximizing numbers. Most every society has 'em, and limiting yourself to a race that only has a + Dex bonus is limiting your roleplaying opportunities. You'll be fine with any race you choose...except maybe that hill giant. I've heard they have troubles with Sleight of Hand to pick pockets. Big fingers.
Grey Elf, Teifling and Changeling all sound good. What book is the Changeling in? Is there a link somewhere to a list of allowed races to choose from for PC's or is it the DM's descretion?
It is always DMs discretion. Best to check with him before you invest ANY time into a character. Since you are new to the game, you should probably pick a race & class that you think would be fun rather than trying to create a "build".
If you limit things to PHB-only races, human is the best choice (in my opinion, of course). Everybody needs an extra feat, and the extra skill points help too. They also have the flexibility of allowing you to dip any class without having to worry about multiclass XP penalties.
Elves also make good rogues - bonus to Dex, bonus to some skills you care about, the ability to roll a Search check for secret doors without even actively looking, and so on. They also add some weapon proficiencies which can be nice, such as the longbow. The Con penalty is a downer, though.
If you're willing to accept the general screwage you get from being a small race, both halflings and gnomes have advantages. Size bonus to hit and AC, skills, ability mods generally in your favor and so on. I'm not sure the downsides of being Small offset all that, though.
Dwarves can make good rogues if you want to focus on scouting and trap removal. Their reduced speed make them difficult as combat rogues, because it's harder to get into position (a problem the Small races above share). But as a scout/trap finder the dwarf can be very effective - darkvision, stonecunning for helping to find traps in walls, and a Con bonus to help you survive the ambush or trap you failed to detect.
Half-orcs suck at everything except being a barbarian (and even then, they suck - just not quite as bad). However, if you're willing to accept fewer skills, you can make an almost-decent combat focused rogue with the half-orc. But, really, you should avoid this option unless you're intentionally trying to weaken yourself.
Outside the PHB, there's some nice choices. Shaggy already covered goblins, and they're a fine choice. Lots of great synergy with the rogue class. Another good choice is the hobgoblin (though it's saddled with a +1 LA, even though it probably doesn't need it).
I Know it is not the rogue but I play the skill monkey/spring attacker in the party. so i fill the same roll but with a different flavor.
HD
Strange thing is so far I had expected more of you to rally behind the Halfling but as stated in a few posts they do indeed have thier draw backs. I must admit though that a race outside of the PH would be interesting to play since I have never been beyond those race choices offered in the book but as noted it's DM's descretion and ours is an old school DM so I don't particularly see him giving us the flexibility to go beyond the basic PH book unfortunately but then hey you never know. So now I had heard about Catfolk as a playable race, any opinions?BTW I'm not new to the game I'm just asking for opinions here.
Sorry, I only had your post to go by. Your comment:
Is there a link somewhere to a list of allowed races to choose from for PC's or is it the DM's descretion?
Indicates that you are new to the basics of the game.
Bad deal IMO.
Oh and they get +2 Dex too.
It's rare to see a Race with so many good bonuses towards one Class...but for some bizarre reason, Rogue isn't the Elf Favored Class, it's Wizard (something they seem pretty bad at).
If allowed, Grey Elf is slightly better for the Skill Monkey Rogue, and still do-able in combat.
The only real penalty is to Con, so you may want to focus on ranged combat or try for Spring Attack hit-and-run tactics, as opposed to two-weapon fighting mega-damage.
A lot of people think the Halfling is the better Rogue race, and they are pretty good, but they have a few issues.
Bonus to Listen, Move Silently, and (thanks to Size) Hide is pretty sweet.
However, they have no special vision, which is a big drawback to a Rogue (until Goggles of Darkvision come into play).
Bonus to use slings or thrown weapons...these are inferior options for a ranged Rogue at higher levels (sling does pretty bad base damage, less of an issue, but a bow it's not), and thrown weapons are limited as well, as they tend to be a lot more expensive than ammo, and you'll end up wanting Quick Draw eventually, in addition to the standard ranged Feats.
Bonus to saves on the other hand, is quite nice, as it pads all the Rogue's weak points, and buffs their strong suit.
Their 20' movement is a pretty bad deal, since it pretty much makes their +2 to Jump far less useful (due to their hit to size and speed, they take a -5 to Jump, thus the only races that are worse than Halflings are Dwarves and Gnomes when it comes to Jumping), and it hampers their mobility (a big issue when using Tumble).
Their hit to Str and Small size give them a serious problem to consider for a Rogue; lack of carrying capacity. IF your Rogue is a thief (not all are, obviously, but IF), you'll want to carry around a lot of loot. It also, incidentally, hinders their damage, and Intimidate checks considerably.
That having been said, Halflings do excel at Two-Weapon Fighting insanity. The majority of their melee damage is, after all, Sneak Attack damage, and they have the best AC and potential chance to hit, with no penalty to Con, allowing them the best odds of survival and dishing out a lot of damage.
Unfortunately, this is Feat-intensive, as Weapon Finesse is a MUST, and can't be taken til 3rd level unless you take a Fighter level (or Swashbuckler, if things outside the PHB are allowed...or you play a Feat Rogue, which defeats the purpose). Also, in fights where you can't use Sneak Attack, you're worse off than any other kind of Rogue save the Gnome, due to the Str and Size penalties on weapon damage.
Humans, are, as always, a very solid choice for Rogue, with no real penalties, although the lack of nightvision and a bonus to bad saves is noticeable (the bonus Feat can cover this to some extent, but who wants to spend a Feat on something other races get for free? If you don't take a Feat that > racial ability, you should think twice about choosing human. A pretty strong case can be made for Grey Elf Rogue > Human Rogue).
... and the ability to see more clearly (and thus function better) in a Rogue's preferred environment (the dark!).
Elves cannot see any better in the dark than a human or halfling. Low-light vision doesn't help in places like underground tunnels with no ambient light.
also, I enjoy playing the really high int rogue. 16 Int +rogue+human=12 skill points a level, that is 12 skills at max ranks. Dont forget to invest 1 rank into some trained only crossclass skills.
I have played a half-orc thief/assassin, his high skill points offset his lower int, and his higher strength was rather useful for a power attacked sneak attack ^_^. I played him up as a thugish being, standing between fighter and rogue.
I've played a very similar character in a one-session game. And while it's crazy fun, just be aware that you're not going to get the most out of your sneak attack ability this way.
Strongheart (or something to that effect) halflings also get a bonus feat, no extra skill, but small size. Even though small size is a downside in some respects, for a rogue i think it is more good than bad.
Whispergnome is an awesome rogue race. The hide modifiers are ace and they are fast for a small race with their 30ft landspeed. They even get some spell like abilities that complement the rogue. Its a very good rogue package
I also recall theres a chicken-looking race (i wanna say kenku but im not sure, its from MM3) that isnt a bad rogue race if youre looking for something more alternative.
So what are some good races and where do I find them?
Something like this. Key things being fine size, flight, & greater invisibility.
I like the idea of halfling rogues (especially w/the ranged sneak attack from races of the wild) but i just HATE the 20 ft. movement.
so generally elf, what w/the dex. bonus. but a plain ol human is always good to, since the extra feat and skill points can come in handy.
Just my 2 cp.