>Hi.
>
>I'm thinking I'd like to try out a thief. I've seen the thief
>builder tool and have searched through a lot of the helpfiles
>but I have a number of questions as I try to figure out what a
>good balanced build looks like. Any advice would be really
>helpful regarding must-have skills or combos that are highly
>recommended or very commonly taken...


I've never played a neo-thief, but this is what I've gleaned from other's experiences. Take it for what it is worth.

>1) Do most people follow a single path to the end, or do most
>people mix and match quite a bit? Are there certain skills
> thresholds) you'd recommend hitting for each path to make it
>worth it--if so, which are most important as a strong PKer?

Most thieves take a path to sort of the "signature" skill, then decide if they want to take it to the end or pursue some other skills from general skills or from another path. Some of the signature skills would be like acrobatics in pickpocket or truss in binder.

>I'm thinking of making a (primarily) binder, but not clear on
>how far it's worth going in that path or others. Also open to
>other suggestions as a moderately experienced player but
>totally new to thief class. I want a strong PKer, as much as
>is possible for thieves. Thinking about a villager, perhaps,
>for what it's worth.

Binder is a decent path for a villager. One thing to keep in mind is that drag is size/str based and shadow drag doesn't prevent the victim from making themselves visible as far as the last I'd heard.

>2) How useful is climb? Where are some examples where it can
>be used? Can it get to you places like arial city or around
>the south bend of Hamsah outskirts, etc.?

For a villager, climb is extremely useful unless you are playing an arial as it will let you get at areas that would otherwise require flying which you can't get as a villager due to magical restrictions (again unless you are an arial).

>3) Do most people take shield block? Would it generally put
>you at a disadvantage not to take it? Costs a lot.

I wouldn't recommend it for the same reasons Tsunami cites below.

>4) Does blackjack operate differently than garrotte or weapon
>butt blackjack? Should a character only take one of these, or
>does it benefit a binder-focused thief to have various options
>to knock people out? Are they affected differently by the size
>of your opponent (what would be best for a gnome that might be
>fighting bigger opponents regularly)? Which is most reliable?

Blackjack requires you to "wield" a blackjack item in one hand. You can use it on anyone one greater than your size or smaller. Can use on fighting people.

Weaponbutt blackjack uses your weapon and follows the same rules as blackjack AFAIK but with reduced success.

Garotte cannot be performed on fighting opponents, but has a good success rate.

>5) I'm unclear on when people can see what you're doing as a
>sneaking thief. Can people see you when sneaking and hidden,
>anytime you look at them? Thus, is eye of averice a pretty
>critical one to take?

If they can't see you, they can't tell you looked at them. Anything that causes you to step out they can see, as well as anything with a room echo (like assassin endure). Most things they won't see unless it causes you to step out. Scout ragers can stay hidden when calling rager powers, but the room echo still happens I believe.

>6) How important is improved hide?

AFAIK this just lets you stay hidden while doing a couple of things. I think mostly just tells and cb. If there are others I'm not aware, but maybe opening doors/containers (that might be a different skill)

>7) Advanced lockpicking/locksmithing...especially when having
>around average intelligence, are they really useful/needed for
>getting decent higher level treasures or access to high level
>areas out there?

Wouldn't bother with a rager. Is more important for gold gathering than anything else I can think of.

>Thanks for answering any or all of these questions or for your
>general thoughts and how to pick from the many options. I know
>a lot of it is personal preference, but also some insight on
>overall balance and usefulness can really help reduce the
>learning curve.
>
>The level of customizations in this game make it really
>awesome but are also sometimes overwhelming. Gotta rely on you
>veterans for help!