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<blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 8805923" data-attributes="member: 6877472">So while D&amp;D worlds are generally a mashup of different eras of history, mixing and matching technological advances to keep them from feeling &quot;too modern&quot;, the fact is, even modern locks aren't terribly hard to open with the right tools and you can learn how to bypass them yourself by watching some YouTube videos.&nbsp; Locks during the time periods that D&amp;D tends to mimic should, by rights, be fairly simple to open.And yet, even first level characters can encounter DC 20 locks (5e's Sunless Citadel, for example) that you only have a 25% chance of opening. Who is making all these devilishly complex locks in the first place?In a similar vein, Kobolds, often seen as backwards savages, can churn out very complex mechanical traps and no one bats an eye.&nbsp; I've encountered many a &quot;Hallway of Death&quot; over the years, from your basic, Indiana Jones inspired devices all the way to Rube Goldbergian monstrosities that even Grimtooth (of Grimtooth's Traps) would find excessive.Mechanisms that, mind you, can be found in dank dungeons, where no one has been around to maintain them for decades, if not centuries.Should locks and traps be all that hard to bypass?&nbsp; What would reasonable DC's be for these things?&nbsp; I'm finding it defies logic to keep using high DC's for these sorts of things, and yet, I'm leery about the consequences of lowering the DC's; if it becomes too easy, then locks and traps just become speed bumps, costing nothing but time to bypass.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="James Gasik, post: 8805923, member: 6877472"] So while D&D worlds are generally a mashup of different eras of history, mixing and matching technological advances to keep them from feeling "too modern", the fact is, even modern locks aren't terribly hard to open with the right tools and you can learn how to bypass them yourself by watching some YouTube videos. Locks during the time periods that D&D tends to mimic should, by rights, be fairly simple to open. And yet, even first level characters can encounter DC 20 locks (5e's Sunless Citadel, for example) that you only have a 25% chance of opening. Who is making all these devilishly complex locks in the first place? In a similar vein, Kobolds, often seen as backwards savages, can churn out very complex mechanical traps and no one bats an eye. I've encountered many a "Hallway of Death" over the years, from your basic, Indiana Jones inspired devices all the way to Rube Goldbergian monstrosities that even Grimtooth (of Grimtooth's Traps) would find excessive. Mechanisms that, mind you, can be found in dank dungeons, where no one has been around to maintain them for decades, if not centuries. Should locks and traps be all that hard to bypass? What would reasonable DC's be for these things? I'm finding it defies logic to keep using high DC's for these sorts of things, and yet, I'm leery about the consequences of lowering the DC's; if it becomes too easy, then locks and traps just become speed bumps, costing nothing but time to bypass. [/QUOTE]

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