Only on level 17 and I'm planning my next playthrough... as a Thief. But how could a thief fight a dragon? Can't sneak up on it. Stabbity stab with little daggers is laughable. Heck, you can't even knock it out of the sky since you don't have range attacks.

Is there more to the Thief archetype than cloaks and daggers? Perhaps a sub-specialty in Destruction magic (and other magic)?

Until then, I'll pick the dragon's pocket to get the Iron Shield of the Nord it just ate.

Can you not use a bow?

You sneak up and kill it. I'm not kidding I've done this when it was sleeping on a word wall. You also COULD do the main quest, where you would learn a shout that solves this problem.

A tr00 and kvult thief won't stoop to using bows. XD

I one shotted a regular dragon on my Thief/Assassin by sneaking up on it at one of the out door locations. It's not always possible but those little daggers can be mighty powerful once you get the right perks. My character uses bows too so dragons in flight are no issue. Once they land I pick them off with archery if I'm alone or run in and 2h them while they are distracted. Invisibility potions are also an option for sneaking up on them. But typically my Thief/Assassin ignores dragons because he isn't the least bit interested in the main quest line and only kills them when he has to.

My thief uses bows - which have put a lot of xp into sneak. He also hasn't spoken to Alvor, got the dragonstone or entered dragonsreach. He's level 32 and the only dragon he's seen is Alduin at Helgen.

I can 1 hit any drag on my thief... they are so powerful

1. Bow
2. Dual wielding daggers isn't laughable, its pretty deadly. Especially with poison

My thief uses bow's, she also when not directly on a "job" has a companion, usually left at the nearest tavern when doing said job, at least at low lvl's. Sennia has heard that some thieve's use magic, though she has none of her own.

Play through the Thieves Guild quests and you'll find that a thief in Skyrim needs more skills than just pickpocketing

Oh, my mistake, I forgot that sneaking with bows is an assassin trait, perfect for thieves.Off topic, I'm surprised it's possible to play the game without ever touching the main storyline. Don't you need to progress the story in order to gain access to certain areas of the game? I am planning multiple playthroughs where I explore different character traits, but I'd occasionally progress the storyline in order to eventually "beat the game".

I am a dual-daggers assasin/thief. And i can handle most dragons just fine.

I just got the dragonstone and I plan to fight the first dragon. I was leaning towards not doing it but I thought it would be a nice challenge Thief vs. Dragons. I use my bow and two daggers but I do not perk archery or one handed. All stealth skills are perked and for actual battles, I will NEED poisons. Poisons will be a main part to this build. So far its loads of fun.

get marons razor then run around it hitting it with it and hope for it to trigger. i killed my first elder dragon my runnig right at it, picked him in to nose and he droped dead

or sneak up on it, 30x back stabb = dead dragon

I'd use the bow!
I always use this anyway to manage to bring the dragons down (even though I am playing an Imperial Warrior)

It is possible with high enough sneak/illusion to sneak attack a dragon for x30 normal damage, which depending on your difficulty setting, will outright kill him or leave him hurting.

Thing is, I've only found a dragon perched on a world wall ONCE on my level 47 thief character. Usually they're flying about and not within a dagger's reach. This means a bow, which can take a while. Although sometimes I get lucky and the dragon attacks something else on the ground, letting me get off a sneak attack.

I've done that too. It is hard to catch them sleeping but not impossible and with the 15x backstab bonus it is no problem taking out a dragon with a single strike.

Just use a Skill on the side that will allow you to combat dragons effectively. Or you could just not do the main quest to stop dragons appearing

wait till it land and attack a bear or something than sneak sneak sneak STAB STAB STAB

Bow's, sword, dagger? All viable.

You can certainly play a thief that only uses daggers and never picks up a bow. There is nothing wrong with that and it is a legitimate interpretation of the thief archetype. However, many folks see the bow as being a weapon legitimately used used by thieves. That is also a legitimate interpretation of the theif archetype, and would seem to fit in with a thief more so than destruction magic (unless you were a Dunmer). Bows are very effective in dragon fights. If I were you, I'd either pick up a bow to fight dragons or stick to your daggers with the understanding that it is going to be very difficult to slay dragons because you will probably need to catch them sleeping.

Good advice everyone, thanks. Finding sleeping dragons and backstabbing them will be fun. I plan to be a Thief / Assassin, so the bow will be critical.