Some of you may have noticed it, but backstab got reworked so that in factors in 2 things better:
1) Hitroll of the thief making the stab: previously this affected the stab, but was inadverty capped at around 15. Now hitrolls of any number (the higher the better) will impact the chance of landing the backstab.
2) Target's armor class: This also plays a factor now, so mobs with lower armor classes will be harder to hit.
The numbers are still being tweaked a bit, so expect to see some small changes (1%-2%) of how often you hit one way or another.