In general I'm with you that thieves >> assassins. But I think when you're talking about these ranks (25-28) and this level of gear differential, that the odds favor this assassin most of the time.
> Can deal damage in a one-round lag opener, giving, as Scrimbul said, the potential for three MANGLES via a wasted command by the assassin.
If you're saying a missed kot means thief gets 3 knifes...then my response is that if that's not outright impossible, it's pretty damn unlikely to happen unless thief thief is a total trigger whore. And even then, he'd have to be completely free of his own lag at the point when the assassin's command missed.
> Can perma-lag via cheapshot if catches without flight. That's huge.
This is mitigated by the fact that thief is unlikely to be able to melee the assasin to death via pure cheap shot spam. So he has to do "something" first. If that's knife or backstab, then assassin has the chance to flee and quaff flight.
If you're relying on parting block, then first of all that implies the thief has a buddy to help him spam it up and that he's taken the time to do so. At 75% it'll fail 3 times out of 4.
Also a 25-28 thief isn't going to have cheap shot at a respectable percentage, so it may not even fire on a given trip.
> Has the mace skill, something the assassin doesn't. Huge.
He's also probably looking at non-perfected enhanced damage and only 2nd attack. Also maces are heavy, and Scrimbul's thief is tricked out on damroll, meaning he probably drops the mace first thing.
> Access to greater protection than the assassin as well as bless/frenzy/haste buffs. HUGE.
If the haste scroll is in. It usually isn't. Bless? Seriously? High-20s thief probably isn't getting a lot of aura/shield/stoneskin scrolls.
> A well played thug thief with the scrolls skill should scare ANY ASSASSIN.
In order for the scrolls to matter, barring haste, he has to knock you out. That means he's relying on weaponbutt. Weaponbutt sucks. ESPECIALLY when at low-ish percentages.
Like I said in that other post, as the assassin I'd be more worried about a binder at those ranks, all else being equal.