What is it about rogues?

[mmu1]

You know what annoys me the most about the guys who play rogues who steal from the rest of the party?

Not even the fact that they do it, but that they usually expect everyone else (PC and player) to turn their brains off just because they succeeded on a die roll.

Never mind that the characters are around each other 24/7 - the idea that the rest of the party might actually find out that they're stealing is never entertained seriously, and any attempts to have the other PCs get suspicious and investigate (even if they have good reason to do so - eventually, evidence always turns up, and if you have a group of 5 people, only one of which has a habit of going off on his own a lot...) are decried as metagaming.

In reality, a lot of players who thrive on keeping secrets (of any kind) from the party are the biggest metagamers on the bunch - their oh-so-clever plans almost always depend heavily (whether consciously or not) on the completely knowledge they, as a player, have of the other PCs.

 

[Dausuul]

I have certainly seen this type of rogue. On the other hand, the rogue in my current campaign is a trusted and trustworthy member of the party. (Probably helps that my PCs don't get all that many opportunities to spend their loot, so the incentive to squabble over it is reduced. Even so, it's a pretty cohesive party.)

 

[outsider]

You know what the absolute worst rogue to have in your party is? A kender. To rp their character properly, they constantly have to be robbing their party members. What's worse, is they get to keep their good alignment while doing so. The rest of the group is expected to play along with their blatant party disruption, and not beat/kill the little twerp no matter how justifed doing so would be.

D&D is a team game. Players shouldn't be stealing from eachother, unless everybody in the group is okay with it. RP shouldn't come ahead of things going smoothly between players out of character.

 

[Aus_Snow]

I kinda like the idea of ranger who was always second last in the marching order.

Yeah, so's if need be the Rogue can backstab the bastard.

Or it could've been like 'ultimate wielder of pens' (i.e., as opposed to swords). Can't get cooler than that.

 

[Lanefan]

I could be wrong, but the first post sounds more like someone who has a beef with more independent character types in general - the Thief being but the most common of such.

Were it a Ranger scouting ahead all the time (something commonly asked of them, when outdoors) would you have a problem with that?

Also, roleplaying involves interactions with other party members, and those interactions aren't always going to be of the fluffy-bunny variety. Let the Thief steal, even from the party; and if he gets caught, let the Fighter bash him upside the head a few times. (or better yet, let the Fighter steal and blame it on the Thief...) In other words, let 'em fight.

Optimized parties that function like efficient well-oiled machines may be very successful at defeating enemies but are gods-awful boring to play in week in and week out. Been there, done that, will try to avoid repeating.

Lan-"I've stolen enough, one of these days I really should pick up a Thief level"-efan

 

[hong]

Um, he's a rogue, that's his job. Also, some people still play them as thieves, as they were intended.

The class is called "rogue", not thief, for a reason.

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

Hong.. the reason is called public relations...

Rogue sounds much more cuddly

I mean really, who would want a guy/gal who steals for a living when you can have a "dishonest or worthless person" hanging about?

 

[hong]

Bah. If they wanted cuddly, they would have called it the rouge!

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

I don't know, Rogue from the x-man is pretty and cuddly

In defense of the thieving, greedy, shifty, sneaky, scouting Rogue:

have you considered that some of this is roleplaying?
<snip>... it is hard to find a way to "portray" a rogue, without using these stereotypical behaviors.

I had to come back to this one... mainly because it took some time to sneak up on me.

Whats the difference between a Rogue, Ranger, and Fighter who all wear leather armor and weild a shortsword.... out of combat?

DnD is a game built on stereotypes.
But best of all, its a game

 

[Deverash]

I don't know, Rogue from the x-man is pretty and cuddly

Isn't Rogue the one who steals the strength, powers, and eventually life of anyone who toucher her, let alone cuddles?

*blink blink* Rogue is a succubus?