Ok so basically I'd like to play as a thief but with no magic whatsoever. Now every single discussion about the subject that I've found so far encourages using the stun spell and going fully magic. I am kinda concerned because maybe there's a reason to it and going full "thief" isn't really viable.

This is my first playthrough and I've been trying to find something that works. The best I've managed so far is to take the monk history (+1 perception, no gold), put points in melee, two in prowl and one in backstab and gradually dump some points in PP and LP.

The thing is I am reduced to a melee fighter, as prowl doesn't seem to work at all. Atm i am in the first town - Hills something something and not really sure whether this was a good Idea or not.

Tld dr.

Can someone give me some kind of a tip how to build a thief without magic that eventually becomes playable.

By no magic, do you also mean no tech? Because the best non-magical thief build is also something of a tech build.

Backstab is definitely the way to go, as are Prowling, Pickpocket and (eventually) Spot Trap and Disarm Traps.

High DX will give you more attacks, and is necessary to boost Backstab and Pickpocket. High PE is necessary to boost the other three skills I mentioned.

You'll also need at least one attack skill; I recommend Melee since it works well with Backstab. Investing in Dodge isn't a bad idea either, but you don't need it right away.

The way it works is, first you put at least one point into a skill, and then you find someone to apprentice you in that skill. If you talk to everyone, including the wandering guards, you'll eventually find someone willing to apprentice you in those skills. (Which will cost money, so make sure you have some.) Apprenticeship unlocks a bonus to that skill, while more points increase your chances of succeeding... and drastically reduce your chance of a critical failure or backfire.

The person who apprenticed you will also tell you where you can find an expert; and the expert will point you toward the master. (Don't bother getting Pickpocket mastery, however; the perk it gives you is useless, and the quest you have to do for it makes it very not worth it.) You'll need to invest more points into a given skill before the expert or master will train you; which means you may have to level up your stats as well first.

All of the above skills are magic-tech neutral, with the exception of Disarm Traps, which will increase your Tech Aptitude (TA). This means that you can make better use of tech weapons than magic ones (which lose some or all of their magic bonuses in the presence of high TA). You may also either want to stock up on weapons or invest in Repair, since a number of the dungeon monsters you'll eventually meet will damage your weapons and/or armor.

As far as actually becoming a thief, first have a conversation with the trio guarding the way out of the first town. Then, when you get to the bigger cities, seek out people who have quests which are, um... questionably ethical. That's all the hint I can give you without actually revealing any spoilers; your first playthrough really ought to be as unspoiled as possible. Have fun.

I've watched some thief playthroughs for Arcanum and once you get up to maximum skill(5) for prowl you'll be almost invisible. You'll be quick with the 18 dexterity. If you choose backstab you can hit with a number of melee weapons, so make sure you also work up melee. Pretty much every single opponent will go down to a single hit with maximum backstab and melee.

I've also seen it used with either thrown or guns where you are literally invisible while hitting them. Believe me, prowl and your choice of attack is really broken. You'll have pretty much no trouble with any of the combat.

Thanks guys for the help. I've also figured out what i was doing wrong. I was using real time combat when i tried to backstab, When I switched to turn based things really started to look up.

Now the gameplay is very similar to Fallout 1/2, just too bad there aren't any Jet equivalents so i can boost my APs to good like values.

Cheers.

Oh yes, there are. Both magickal and technological.