Rogue

A rogue is a versatile character, capable of sneaky combat and nimble tricks. The rogue is stealthy and dexterous, and the only class capable of finding and disarming many traps and picking locks. Rogues also excel at "sneak attacking" enemies who are caught off-guard or taken by surprise, inflicting more painful injuries.

Party Role
Rogues are deadly but somewhat vulnerable front line combatants. All in all, in combat the rogue remains more interested in supporting teammates — and slipping around to sneak attack — than in standing up to an opponent with regular blows.

The value of rogues lies in the fact that they are the handymen. Without pure battle or magical power, a rogue can contribute in ways as varied as disarming traps, scouting enemies, and persuading possible allies, using their wealth of skill points and long list of useful adventuring skills. Where other characters have the power to defeat enemies, the rogue has the wit to track them down and lead the team past traps and barriers on the way to that fight.

Older usage of terms
In the AD&D Second Edition, "rogue" was a more general term ecompassing both thief and bard classes. The thief was the equivalent class to what is here described as the rogue. This usage can still be seen in such contexts as the Baldur's Gate series of computer games.

Schurke