Just a little add-on to my rant above, now that I have slept and thought about it clearly, i recall the fact that in alot of play hours, I never actually spotted a thief with the Steal: A-abilities ability being used by a computer, so do you know what that means?

IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, YOU NEVER HAVE TO SEE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just don't ever use that particular ability and you will never come across it in the whole of the game. Problem solved. And if you begin to sputter on about how it is part of the thief's repetoir (as if you would actually use this word), and is therefore a valid part of the balancing of the thief-class as a whole, and without it the thief-class would be irrevocably weakened, then you are killing off your own point, since it was you who decided to complain about it in the first place.

BOOYA!