Sayeth the Sebeok:
To some extent now, the amount of "points"
you can use will be based on your level.

I know you don't want to get all number-crunchery, but this
line kind of confused me. I can see you guys redoing the
points easily enough. "This costs way too much for what it
does. This doesn't cost nearly enough!"

But some sort of 'level thing' went over my head.

I guess my thought is that you now, instead of being given
your thief points at the start, will accrue X points per level.
So when you advance you can either spend your new points on the
'cheaper' skills in your path, or 'save up' for the early
skills in another path.

So before I could practice all the early skills across the board
whenever they became available, until I used up my entire point
reserve, but that that isn't the case anymore.

Is that even close? Am I overthinking it?

You get a set # of points at start.
You gain points in stages as you advance.
The total # of points is the same.
So yes, you are close.

Is it possible, without a quest, to learn both fence and third attack?

Roll a thief and find out.
Enough questions on what is possible. If we're not interested in
giving you the numbers to crunch, we're sure as hell not interested
in crunching them for you.

I'm not interested in taking 100+ hours to find out if I can do something or not, and going by what little is known about the current thief system the skills do next to nothing to interest me in playing one.

They were my second favorite class once upon a time, but seeing the attitude of many thieves around today I doubt I'd enjoy associating with most of them. They've become little more than teenage anarchists, knocking someone out for the money on one hand, stealing purses on another, and mixing chemicals in the bathroom on yet another.

Does this leave room for the honorable thief who's in it to explore dangers and aid their friends? I'm afraid an old tradition may be long gone.

----Quislet

PS. Detect Trap, Gentlewalk, Circle, Appraise, Improved Hide, Acrobatics, Advanced Picklock, Third Attack, Shopkeeper Favors, Shadow Disappear, Fence, and Guild Protection = All the path skills I'd bother with. Apparently one character can't get them all.

So basically level sitting isn't as good as it used to be?

I think that's the just of it. All you rank 35 sitting thieves, dont expect to get all the skills you want

Any chance you can loosen the clamp a bit on thieves pre-25? It's bad that we can't shield block, dual wield, or have enhanced damage before then, but if you decide to go multiple paths early on, then you go two or three ranks in between without learning skills you should have learned 2-6 ranks before.