Take 20 on Open Lock?

[Destan]

Can one Take 20 when attempting to Open Locks?

Assume all the time in the world, the proper tools, and no distractions.

There's a chance of failure (not opening the lock), so that would lead me to think one couldn't Take 20.

But the counter-argument is that, if given enough time, a guy would be able to do his best (e.g. roll a natural 20) on his attempt.

Let's say you can't Take 20. Can you make multiple attempts, or if you fail it once, does that mean the lock is beyond your skills?

D

 

[Berk]

You can not take 20 on open lock and if you fail all other attempts fail until you put 1 more rank into open lock.

I'm pretty sure that is how it works, too lazy to grab my books atm, but when I'm pretty sure I'm usually right. =op

 

[Purkle-chan]

Well, speaking as a player, IMC the GM generally rules that you can neither take 20 when trying to pick a lock nor can you attempt to pick the same lock twice. Though you could always go away, practice some more to get another rank in the skill, then go and try again. Not really practical in day to day life. However, this probably varies from GM to GM.

 

[Sejs]

I can't stand that "Oh, my pick slipped.. looks like this lock will be forever beyond me until I can get another battery of training in lockpicking" crap.

If you don't jam a lock, break your tools, etc you should be able to try picking it again.. all that happens is it continues to be locked and you wasted your time.

 

[rtricher]

Well the way I work things is that skills don't have automatic successes.. They have they're limitations either you can do it or not. So yes I would allow my players to take a 20 on the lockpick but if the DC is 27 and with the 20 they only have say 25 well then it's not going to open is it?? Of course taking a twenty is like taking 30minutes to do so, and maybe by that time some one will just materialize out of thin air..

It's like jumping if you try to jump a 12' ravine but your maximum jump length is 10' you aren't going to make it wether you roll a natural 20 or not.

 

[NPC]

Failing a skill check is not the same as having a "penalty for failure". Nothing in the description of OL mentions that if you fail the check, you suffer a penalty.

Since there's no penalty for failure, you can indeed take 20 on an Open Lock check.

Lastly, the PH doesn't mention anything about having to wait a certain amount of time before making another OL check, so I think you can make multiple OL checks on the same lock without having to wait.

 

[Drawmack]

I rule that you can take a 20, but you must still roll on any open lock check.

When I was a teenager I had a friend who had a bag of old locks he would pick for fun. He easiy took his time more then once on a lock, but sometimes he screwed the lock beyond repair too.

Natural 1, lock is jammed and must be broken off with a 50% chance you broke your lock pick, unless it's masterwork.

Anything else and you can retry.

 

[Fedifensor]

I had a DM who told me I couldn't take 20 on Open Lock. I asked why, and he said, "It might be trapped". So I just decided to use Open Lock every round until I rolled a 20. He was fine with that.

What a moron...

 

[Celtavian]

Re

I believe the rules state that you cannot take 20 on any roll where failure would result in a negative result. I believe that applies to Open Lock.


With that being said, we allow a person to take 20 on a lock because we feel a skilled person given sufficient time should be able to open a lock that is within their skill to pick. Within their skill is viewed as the maximum result they could achieve by rolling a 20 and adding all modifiers, otherwise the lock is beyond their ability to open without rolling a natural 20. (Sheer luck)

 

[Hypersmurf]

Re: Re

I believe the rules state that you cannot take 20 on any roll where failure would result in a negative result. I believe that applies to Open Lock.

Hmm? It applies to every skill.

The rules state that you can take 20 on any roll where retries are allowed and failure does not result in a negative outcome.

Example: Search. Failing a Search check has no inherent negative outcome. The rule applies, in the sense that you can Take 20 on Search.

Example: Disable Device. If you fail by 5 or more, "something bad happens". The rule applies - in this case, it states that you cannot Take 20, although you can retry by rolling again.

Example: Open Lock. There is no penalty for failure. The rule applies, once again to state that you can Take 20.

-Hyp.