Little to steal...

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Hello
I've played IWD1EE now and noticed that my Fighter/Thief as a Thief has had virtually no function. I mean there was little to steal. How about IWD2?

 

I've only played the original, but the thief's main function was to open locked containers and disable traps.
Pick pocketing was limited, but there was some loot. I usually had a bard whose job was to handle pick pocketing while my thief put his points in stealth, open locks, and disarm traps.
Actually, I should rephrase it. The thief's primary job was to disable traps, next since I too used a fighter/thief was backstabbing, and then opening locks that couldn't be bashed. The Bard did the pick pocketing, but there wasn't much to steal. I only recall one or two really good treasures from pick pocketing, but I just save scummed to pick pocket everybody.

In IWD2, the pick pocketing is somewhat bugged in that no matter how many points you put into it, there is always a high chance of failure with anybody that has any decent loot.
Most everyone in Targos has something to steal, but you'll have to do some serious save scumming even if you max out pick pockets and drink a potion of perception and a potion of master thievery.
You're better off putting no more than 5-10 points in pick pocket (by the end of the game, don't bother with more than 5 or 6 until you leave Targos in Oswald's airship) and just save scumming.
On the other hand, there is one quest in Targos that requires pick pocketing, and the quest is one that is long-going, as it gets picked up again at the end of the Ice Temple so is worthwhile. However you can make due with 4 points in Pick Pocket to get that quest.

 

Despite their name, the primary function of a thief in D&D isn't stealing (it's why they were renamed to rogue later).

 

The thief's job is to deal with traps first, since the cleric's "find traps" doesn't let you do anything about the ones on chests. I usually invest in find traps and open locks exclusively for the first three levels then add some stealth in IWD1. In BG1 I put everything into open locks first to open that chest in Wintherp's Inn at Candlekeep, then once it is open I put everything at the next level into disarming traps and try to get it up to 80 for Durlag's tower by putting 2/3 to 3/4 of my points into it.
IWD2 I take a more balanced approach as you don't need that many ranks.

 

Traps are pretty forgettable for most of the game, quicker just to cast a healing spell and remove the damage.
wizard/thief can mirror image their way past most of them.

 

The guide mentioned there is good for the major treasures, but skips quite a few. An example is you can pickpocket some interesting loot in the healer's tent and it's not mentioned in the guide.
On the other hand, most of those guys are hard to pickpocket, and even with an edited character using Dale Keeper 2 I still have a very high failure rate.