Has anyone mentioned deadlocks yet? You fail and it trips a deadlock so that only the key can open it.
Hi there,
I pick locks as a hobby (got hooked at a local con's lockpick village). Realistically speaking, if you fail once you can keep trying until you get it most of the time. Unless you're working with something abnormally complicated (or have really crappy/cheap tools) your tools won't just break like in Skyrim. And if they do you might as well move on because that means there's a piece of metal stuck in it. No more tries (possible great consequence for a critical fumble). What will happen with a tumbler lock, though, is that the lock will gradually wear down. You damage the lock every single time you pick it. Eventually the tumblers will become so loose that it might not open at all, or (more likely) will open with one good bump. That takes a lot of trying though. A lot of very lazy lock pickers will just use a rake and saw it back and forth in the lock until it gives. It takes a lot of dexterity and patience to pick a lock.
So a consequence there could be that they bust the lock. Using time and noise as a consequence is also a good way to introduce encounters, as suggested above. You might also consider frustration as an effect. The more they fail the more frustrated they get, incurring a -1 to their roll until they take a break or do something to calm down, etc.
The idea behind no-reroll is that the one roll you make represents your best attempt, period; as opposed to just one of many attempts where you can just try again. (in other words, it builds all the rolls into one)
And a failure option that hasn't been mentioned yet (or if it has I missed it) is that while your tools survive you've mangled the lock itself in your attempt to open it, and now the key won't even open it.
Speaking of keys - it's amazing how often a party struggles with a locked door when they've in fact got access to the key - somewhere - if they just look carefully for it.
Lan-"forgot in previous post picks and shovels as an alternate way through for an all-Dwarf party"-efan
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I definitely disagree. If your dungeon only has one way into it then there are poor design decisions beyond the nature of locks. Being stymied at that stealthy approach might mean breaking down the door, using knock, becoming ethereal, scaling dangerous walls, trying to smuggle yourselves in… I mean there’s a mountain of tropes and narrative devices to get around this hypothetical door, and being forced to adapt to the unexpected is part of the charm of playing and running the game. If I knew I would always have some degree of lock-picking success that would bore me as a player, and encourage me to be lazy as a DM.
The problem with locks is that the PCs are meant to get through them.
The adventure would end if the PCs fail to get into the dungeon. I agree that there should be some sort of penalty, but there should also be another way around it. I like adding 5 to the DC and letting a try on the next round and having to wait a day if that failed as well.
One of the core rules of D&D is do not roll without a necessary conflict. Near anyone can pick a lot given enough time. For my own amusement I picked up some lockpicks from a friend and tried to pick a lock with no experience at all. After 45 minutes I got it open, whether from dumb luck or slowly learning the basics.
There are three approaches viable here:
1. If there is no risk of discovery/conflict, don't make them roll. They have proficiency so they just do it.
2. If there is risk of discovery or wandering monsters, degree of success determines how long it takes.
3. All locks are trapped. Failure to properly get it first try triggers the trap.
I like to mix all 3 because it is interesting.
Has anyone mentioned deadlocks yet? You fail and it trips a deadlock so that only the key can open it.
Maybe the deadlock is there more as a flag to indicate someone's tried to pick it since it was last locked?Never heard of it, but that doesn't make any sense. Isn't that the point of a lock in the first place?
Why would you design a lock that can be picked unless somebody fails at an attempt to pick it, after which it cannot be picked? If you could actually design a lock that can't be picked, why not make it so it can't be picked in the first place?
If the PC's/Players fail to get through that door...they have to think of a different way. There are millions of ways to get around a locked door. The easiest/safest without magic is picking the lock. But not doing so doesn't mean they just up and go home. That would be the same thing as every 100m dash Olympic sprinter hearing the starting pistol, and then 1 second later, everyone of them that isn't in the front just gives up and says "Oh, well, I'm not in the lead so I can't win. Guess I'll just give up".