What are the most generic class names?

[Pinotage]

Through various editions of the many RPG games we've had different class names for the same concept. Take for example, the 1st edition AD&D Thief, then 3e Rogue and now the 4e Thief again. As a non-native English speaker, what would be the most generic term to use that fits the concept best?

Mage - Wizard
Cleric - Priest
Rogue - Thief
Fighter - Warrior

Personally I find the use of Thief quite confusing. The character isn't really a Thief, so I like rogue better there. Mage, Priest and Warrior also sound more generic. Any definitive generic names?

Pinotage

 

[Elf Witch]

Through various editions of the many RPG games we've had different class names for the same concept. Take for example, the 1st edition AD&D Thief, then 3e Rogue and now the 4e Thief again. As a non-native English speaker, what would be the most generic term to use that fits the concept best?

Mage - Wizard
Cleric - Priest
Rogue - Thief
Fighter - Warrior

Personally I find the use of Thief quite confusing. The character isn't really a Thief, so I like rogue better there. Mage, Priest and Warrior also sound more generic. Any definitive generic names?

Pinotage

I have always disliked the name thief. It is so narrow and personally I no longer like to play with players who view them as thieves and feel the need to steal everything in sight, steal from the rest of the party and pick the King's pocket and get the rest of the party in trouble.

I have been trying to come up with a better name than rogue as well. But out of the two rogue is better.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I think it depends on the edition. The one minor issue I have with rogue is it really describes a personality type (an untrustworthy person) more than anything else (whereas the other generic terms appear to describe behavior and skills). On the other hand, in gaming, you say rogue and people know what you mean right away, so maybe I am wrong.

In 1E and 2E, I think thief was a good generic description of a rogue, since their skills including actual theft. By 3E they really became skill monkeys. So specialist might have been a good generic term. Can't really comment much on 4E as I don't play it.

Clerics I think are tricky, because when I think of priest I think of someone who doesn't fight and who leads public rituals. The D&D cleric is more of a religious warrior or crusader.

 

[Jimlock]

In 2nd e, each class was under a generic group.
(Perhaps even in 1st e... don't remember)


Warrior: Fighter, Paladin, Ranger

Wizard: Mage, Illusionist, ...all specialists...

Priest: Cleric, Druid

Rogue: Thief, Bard

...which is to say that Rogue, Wizard and Warrior did not make their appearance in 3e as names...

I don't think that it really makes a difference, because we've all got to know what each one means,

even if the titles swing from one to the other.

As far as personal tastes go, I certainly prefer Wizard over Mage, (a Wizard is a Wizard... damn!),

...even though a "Mage" has the ability to "fit" in more than one cultures. A Wizard is more western civilization oriented (Merlin).

As for the thief, ...you are right. I prefer Rogue as well... Even though a Rogue is pretty limiting as well.

A Rogue can be anything: spy, scout, infiltrators, thugs, diplomats... which means that he isn't necessarily a "rogue" in the real meaning of the word.
Having said that, I would never stray from Thief or Rogue as a "title" ...I just love it that way!

Warrior and fighter do not make much of a difference... the way "I" see it anyway, even though ppl seem to think

that Warrior is more "generic", ergo more "fitting" for the title...

As for Cleric/Priest... I prefer Cleric better... Its certainly more "Medieval-ish"... A priest brings to mind actual modern priests... and I don't like that at all...

 

[Pinotage]

All very interesting. If you distill the four archetypes down you get:

Cleric - servant of a deity, wielder of divine magic
Wizard - wielder of arcane magic
Rogue - Jack of all trades, skill monkey
Fighter - martial warrior

With that in mind, Warrior probably is a good generic class for the martial weapon wielder, while Arcanist might be something for a mage or wizard (or the old Magic User for 1e). Rogue and Cleric appear harder - I'd agree that Cleric is probably as generic as they come, much the same as Priest - probably good enough for a servant of a deity. I really can't find another generic term that describes the concept of the 'rogue'. Adventurer is an option, but that really defines everybody else as well. Perhaps something like Expert isn't a bad idea and is fairly generic? Then again, that doesn't describe the inherent versatility of the class.

Pinotage

 

[AeroDm]

On one hand I think class names are extremely useful in being evocative and implying an initial flavor. However, I dislike when the name gets in the way of campaign flavor. So a class like "Knight" sort of obviates the ability of the campaign world to have Knights. The same can be said of Barbarians blocking barbarian clans or similar. A lot of those simple terms (Warden, Paladin, Ranger, Marshall, etc), then, are best avoided to preserve the term in game. As a result, I don't recommend going for the most "generic" class name but, rather, the most direct class name that doesn't shut out other terminology. Stuff like "man at arms," "hunter," "magic user," all convey the intention without occupying the slot of the term.

 

[Nadaka]

D20 Modern... Strong/Fast/Tough/Smart/Dedicated/Charismatic Hero.

All base classes are extremely generic, but surprising descriptive.

 

[OnlineDM]

Through various editions of the many RPG games we've had different class names for the same concept. Take for example, the 1st edition AD&D Thief, then 3e Rogue and now the 4e Thief again. As a non-native English speaker, what would be the most generic term to use that fits the concept best?

Mage - Wizard
Cleric - Priest
Rogue - Thief
Fighter - Warrior

Personally I find the use of Thief quite confusing. The character isn't really a Thief, so I like rogue better there. Mage, Priest and Warrior also sound more generic. Any definitive generic names?

Pinotage

Interesting topic, and I don't really have a whole lot to add. I just wanted to note that 4e still uses Rogue for the name of the broad class. There's a new build of the Rogue class called the Thief, and I believe the original 4e build of the Rogue is going to be called the Scoundrel (to differentiate it from the Thief), but they're all still Rogues.

 

[Aldrick Tanith]

I don't have much to add.

I suppose if you wanted to absolutely distill the 'core' essence of all classes into three categories:

Fighter - Focuses on combat.
Specialist - Focuses on skills.
Adept - Focuses on magic.

From there, pretty much every class is either a specialized or hybrid form of one of those three. For example, an Adept breaks down into divine and arcane magic users. A bard is a hybrid of a Specialist and an Adept, etc.

That's not really what you were asking, but it's all I have to add.

 

[the Jester]

Most generic class names:

Fighter
Expert
Magic-user