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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 5464249" data-attributes="member: 42582">Not entirely. The 4e PHB, p 262, has a table of DCs to break or burst common items. The 4e DMG, pp 64-65, has the same information, correlates it with suggested levels for which each item is appropriate (in effect, CRs for doors and portcullis), and also suggests that the DCs can be used for locks as well.This is pretty similar to the first edition of HeroWars - there is an assumption that difficulties will be set with metagame considerations in mind, but there is also guidance being given to the GM as to what are the canonical ingame examples of doors that those difficulties correspond to.So from its description, a player can work out how hard a door is to break down. Projecting this to locks will depend on how often the GM includes locks that are harder to pick than the door they are on is to break down.But in any event, the notion that you can't tell how hard a lock is to pick is in my view a little unrealistic. If you have no DEX and no training you know you have a 65% chance of making an Easy check, but much less chance at anything more difficult. Unless the GM tells you the lock looks simple to you, you have not much chance. If you have DEX or traning but not both, you have around a 90% chance of making a simple check, and a 65% chance of making a Medium check. Unless the GM tells you the lock looks hard to you, you know your chances of picking the lock are better-than-even. If you have DEX and training - as is the case for most Rogues - then you have a 65% chance of making a Hard check, around a 90% chance of making a Medium check, and no chance of failing an Easy check. You'll only raise a sweat if the GM tells you the lock looks hard to you.If the lock is going to require multiple checks to open (eg the GM has set up a 4/3 skill challenge along the line of some trap disablement mechanics) then you'd also expect to know that going in - the GM would give some description of the complexity of the lock, or its puzzle-like nature, or the fact that there is both a lock and a padlock on the bolt, or whatever.If the GM described the lock in this way, and your PC had training in Thievery, why would you think the lock was anything other than a very mundane obstacle?Again, I'm not sure if these diagnoses of 4e's skill system are based on play experience, or are purely theoretical hypotheses.</blockquote>

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