Pickpocketing in the current state makes little sense. It's designed entirely to make sneaky play less viable outside of combat. You can't steal their armor, weapons or accessories as you could in Skyrim to tilt the fight vastly in your favor. You're limited to a single theft with pathetically low amounts of value and can NEVER steal from that merchant again. Being alert for months at a time is illogical and just a way for the devs to preventyou from gaining massive amounts of items by slowly cheesing the theft system.
They didn't design a creative reason NOT to steal. They didn't design a good theft system. Skyrim had a great idea, and few games have every tried to capitalize on it since. I thought the games industry was about taking what works to make your games better while still providing a new experience. This feels like I'm going back in time to disgustingly restrictive gameplay.
If I want to roleplay as a master thief and rob everything, I can't. There isn't a non-aggressive way to use sleeping magic. There isn't a non-aggressive way to use magic that isn't a buff or heal that doesn't have the NPCs jump down your throat. The game is, despite the customization options and spell "choices" VERY linear in how you play it.
