With Throne of Bhaal, Thieves and Bards were allowed to use and make scrolls or to Use Any Item. I agree that ToB is a Uber Item Campaign. And again, I'd be happy to point to aVengers Rogue Rebalancing Mod which 'upps' the Thieves/Bards to their Pnp counterparts, which also included some Thief-specialty weapons without overpoweredness.
A part from the possible Thief nerfness, SoA has been a good game. I still play it.