| Lock/Trap Quality | Open Locks and Remove Trap Adj. | Notes and probability |
| Shoddy | +10% | Very poor quality; bad worksmanship, cheap materials and outdated technology. 1-15% chance of device being this quality. |
| Poor | +5% | Poor quality; bad workmanship, cheap materials or outdated tech. 16-40% chance of device being of this quality. |
| Average | 0 | Average quality. 41-75% of device being of this quality. |
| Good | -10% | Good quality. High quality materials used. 76-90% of device being of this quality. |
| Excellent | -20% | Very good quality. Excellent materials, workmanship or innovative tech. 91-98% chance of device being of this quality. |
| Peerless | -40% | Exceptional quality. Excellent materials, workmanship and innovative tech. 99-00% chance of device being of this quality. |
I also added a set of higher quality thieves picks and tools to the equipment list. The "Peerless thieves picks and tools" cost 250gp, but grant a 10% bonus to all OL/RT checks made by the thief using them.In addition, I came up with a system allowing for multiple attempts at picking a single lock. By the book, if the thief fails the first attempt, he must wait until he gains another experience level before attempting it again. This is a little unreasonable, in my opinion.
I rule that the first attempt at picking a lock takes 1d4 minutes. Each subsequent attempt is made at a -10% (cumulative) chance of success, and takes an additional 1d6 minutes (so, the first attempt is 1d4 minutes, the second is 1d4+1d6 minutes, the third is 1d4+2d6 minutes, etc)
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ReplyDeleteRather than always being more difficult, I would give a chance, say 10% or thereabouts, that the attempt just fails. If you fail by more than that, the locked is jammed and is then harder to pick. If you jam the lock again it becomes completely messed up and cannot be picked at all and must be broken open.
ReplyDeleteEspecially for low-level thieves and smaller parties without multiple thieves, and with more difficult locks, that gives a better chance for the PCs to get through various locks without finding an adamantine lockpick.
I just wanted a simple rule to get around the illogical official rule that you have to wait till you gain a level to retry a lock. This isn't modern style campaigns where you magically gain levels every other encounter. By the time you gain a level in my game, that lock is long gone and forgotten :)
DeleteIn some of my games way back in the day, the players would keep locked chests they couldn't open for years and multiple levels. It didn't matter if there was just 50 cp and a potion of ventriloquism, they were going to open that lock and collect that loot no matter what!
DeleteIn my Labyrinth Lord game I use the thief's level as the maximum number of attempts at a given lock (before having to wait a level). Each attempt takes d6 rounds. There are frequently other less graceful means of getting around a lock. ;)
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