[ravenfish]

I think the fundamental problem thieves have is that they spend their points becoming very good at non-combat stuff in a genre that intentionally glosses over non-combat stuff as much as possible. If looting a dungeon were played less as a smash-and-grab and more as a heist then the thief would be very effective, but such a playstyle would marginalize many of the other character types, so problems are generally resolved violently and the thief struggles to pull his weight.