> So....what thief build would you suggest for a guy who's last thief attempt was over 20 years ago, and deleted at lvl 9.
What are your goals? For PK you want to be poisoner, thug or binder. Poisoner is tricky, but has a high upper limit in terms of effectiveness. I personally found it difficult, but there have been extremely deadly poisoners. Binder can be effective, but it's very feast or famine. If you knock someone out and land all your bindings then your odds of killing them are good. If you don't, they're not good. Thug is more straightforward and arguably more effective at sub-hero levels.
If you're not BATTLE, you may find that scrolls enhance your effectiveness. It depends somewhat on which scrolls you know about. Costs 11 thief points to get arcane lore, though. If you want to use scrolls, you probably want arcane lore. Also you'll find yourself in constant competition with other scroll-using thieves for the most sought-after scrolls, which are limited (with a low limit).
Biggest thing you need to remember: you are fragile and you are not a warrior. In my experience, most of your kills will come in one of these four scenarios:
a. Perma-lagging someone stronger than you when they're fighting someone else, either a PC or NPC, e.g. cabal inner,
b. Perma-lagging someone when they're already very hurt, a situation you're able to engineer because you're patient and they can't see you,
c. Perma-lagging someone who needs to enter commands in order to be effective, e.g. a mage,
d. Knockout, recite/steal/etc., backstab, trip;trip;trip.
> How would YOU practice scrolls/staves/wands with a non-mage?
Buy the cheapest ones you can find and spam. If you're a non-mage you can't use wands. Buying/spamming is more feasible if you're able to efficiently farm gold. "Arcane Literacy" edge also helps.