What's up with the Pick Lock skill?

Discussion in 'Arcanum Hints & Tips' started by Zubbus, Oct 4, 2002.

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  1. Zubbus

    Zubbus New Member

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    I put 3 points in lock picks and have auto-skelly key (but without expert status), but never managed to pick a single lock. I was mainly trying it out at the various doors at Ashbury Haunted Castle. Are they meant to be hard?

    Which areas would be pickable for 3 points, with or without expert status?
     
  2. Sir Nimhrgh

    Sir Nimhrgh New Member

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    I find lockpicking skill quite useless, unles playing pure thief. Axes(if Tech) or unlocking cantrip (if Mage) work better and don't waste your character points.
    Sir N.
     
  3. Settler

    Settler Member

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    Save your game, then have a poke around in Shrouded Hills.

    If that doesn't work, you've got one screwed up game!
     
  4. Shadygrove

    Shadygrove New Member

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    Yes, the doors in Ashbury Castle are hard. 4 points & expert training gets through most city shopkeepers' chests. 3 points & apprentice should get through most of the locks in smaller towns.
     
  5. Ferret

    Ferret New Member

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    Also, be careful about equipping the heavier gauntlets, as they detract from lockpick and pickpocket skill, sue to loss of finger dexterity.

    If you want to pick a lock, get some of those 'light-fingered gauntlets' and switch between them and your normal ones when picking locks.
     
  6. Shadygrove

    Shadygrove New Member

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    Guantlets of Dexterity work better than LFG even for pickpocketing. Unless your DX is already maxed, say with Agility of Fire.
     
  7. Gwindor

    Gwindor New Member

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    I find picklocks one of the best skills in the game (read my other topic)

    I have 4 points, expert, and I can pick all merchant locks, even when I only had 3 points apprentice...

    And you don't damage weapons or makes loud noises either... :)
     
  8. PoiuytMan

    PoiuytMan New Member

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    Or you could just use a TIME BOMB and blow open the doors/chests with no risk at all. Of course, then you need explosives skill, dynamite, etc...

    -Poiuyt Man
     
  9. Evil Assassin

    Evil Assassin New Member

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    Or you could just RAZE all of Arcanum, then no-one would mind if you picked the lock.

    Yes I know, but you started it.
     
  10. Shadygrove

    Shadygrove New Member

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    If you break the chests, you can't go back & do it again tomorow. Sheep should be shorn, not butchered.
     
  11. PoiuytMan

    PoiuytMan New Member

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    Ha, indeed. I've slaughtered everybody with the Bangellian Scourge before... Arcanum gets kinda lonely after that...

    No wonder I never succeeded in the wool business!! :roll:

    -Poiuyt Man
     
  12. zxcvbnmnbvcxz123

    zxcvbnmnbvcxz123 New Member

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    Maybe its just me but if I try to pick a merchant lock... THE CONTAINER IS JAMMED!!!! Any help?
     
  13. PoiuytMan

    PoiuytMan New Member

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    If your lockpicking skill is too low, and/or the lock is too complex, you'll critically fail and jam the lock. Merchants often have hard-to-pick chests. Advance time one day to unjam the lock and try again.

    -Poiuyt Man
     
  14. Gwindor

    Gwindor New Member

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    that's why you have to get like 3-4 lockpicks and aprrentice or expert skill to even try...

    Also, save before lockpicking...
     
  15. Zubbus

    Zubbus New Member

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    T'is one of the older universal traditions to RPGs...
     
  16. Shadygrove

    Shadygrove New Member

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    How it works.

    Each lock has a dificulty rating. Unlocking Cantrip works on a simple equation, MA/lock dificulty. If the result is > 1 you are in. <1 you are not.

    Lockpick has a better chance the better it gets & the more DX you have. It can always miss. Even at 4 points & expert, you have a chance to not open a Shrouded Hills lock, but I don't think you can jam it.

    Get & use Agility of Fire to boost your DX. Locks that jam at DX 12 & 3 points expert lockpick will open at DX 20 & the same. That takes only 2 AoF spells. They are stackable.

    AoF = DX + 4, Charged Rings = DX + 2 each. Trapmakers spectacals = DX + 2 & PE + 2.
     
  17. Evil Assassin

    Evil Assassin New Member

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    Lockpick mastery makes it almost impossible to fail on most locks aswell as giving you a chance to pick "unpickable" locks such as the chest in the animal museum.
     
  18. Gwindor

    Gwindor New Member

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    Well, I can't wait until I get Master Lockpicker :D
     
  19. PoiuytMan

    PoiuytMan New Member

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    I was dying of curiosity when I first came across that chest in the game, so I used a fate point to pick it. :lol:

    -Poiuyt Man
     
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