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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Steampunkette" data-source="post: 9545851" data-attributes="member: 6796468">[ATTACH=full]390996[/ATTACH]While, yes, Robin Hood and other thieves were called "Rogues" they were also called Knaves and Varlets and Vagabonds and worse. Outside of RPGs and stuff the definition of rogue -still- doesn't include "Thief". It's about dishonesty and aberrant or unpredictable actions.They weren't called Rogue because it meant burglar or brigand or highwayman. They were called rogue because it was an insult.The Rogue in Diablo 1 wasn't a thief. She was an archer and a warrior. Here she is with a sword and shield, after all.[ATTACH=full]390997[/ATTACH]She -could- disarm traps, which 2e would've classified as a "Thief", but in 5e a Fighter can disarm traps sooooo...Also the fact that a Bard, who is categorically not a "Thief", was placed under the Rogue group kinda shoots the argument in the foot.No, no, I get it. The words had specific definitions and were created for a specific purpose. But they were also broadly used as insults and have been in the hundreds of years since they were coined. Varlet and Villain both meant "Servant", at one point, after all.I'm just saying the modern interpretation of "Rogue = Thief" is a lot more recent and a lot more narrow than most people seem to think. There have been dictionaries written since D&D 3e came out with the Rogue class in place of Thief, and it's still not put there because that's not how it is widely used.Mostly "Rogue" is still used in the wider lexicon to describe things or people breaking protocol/expectation/etc. "Going Rogue" as it were. It hasn't penetrated as far as Villain's definitional shift, yet. Or Varlet. Or Knave. Or Blackguard.Hell, the only way I'd heard Blackguard used in my life was as a general insult between pirates to the point I sincerely thought it was spelled "Blaggard" and when 3e came out with Blackguard as a prestige class I thought it was pronounced "Black Guard" for almost a decade before someone said it the right way and I went "Ohhhhhhh...."</blockquote>

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