Pick Lock Difficulties - Suggestions?

jh

Emirikol said:

I generally go for 2 challenge dice if it's a "normal lock", which in my opinion include a simple bolt or a wooden bar across the (other side of) door, often I add one or two misfortune depending on if the door is thick, sturdy and/or fits well into it's frame.

Now, if the lock requires a key it's more advanced so then I mostly go with at least 3 challenge dice, depending on how simple the lock system is. It could go as high as 5 challenge dice in extreme cases. Here I also throw in a misfortune or two on regular basis, and I discourage players untrained to try picking them (a chaos stars will probably jam the lock and/or the noise will alert the guards if a PC who is untrained in skullduggery attempts to unlock it).

I'm more a standard good quality lock (which is not the average) is 2D. The typical lock is 1D because most people can't afford better (but don't have much to steal). A wealthy person 3D. Imperial Security, Naughty Books Section of Temple of Sigmar's Library, 4D+

Metagame, locks are not really to keep players out, they are to challenge and the real question is "how long does it take, do you make too much noise, does guard come, is it trapped/" If really designing it into adventure (admittedly often it's just an element of realism), the issue is not "success" but absence of chaos stars and enough surplus hammers to mean you were fast and did it before guard appears.

Hi,

I usually go with something like; 1D for peasants hovel doors (lifting a latch with a thin knife), 2D for a simple lock, 3D for a wealthy persons door/chest, and 4-5D for seriously important devices.

I second Valvoriks point about using the difficulty to test scene specific events (noise,delays, etc). The more challenge dice the more chance of a chaos star, my players have learnt that stars while picking locks are the thing to fear. A star while getting into a merchants workdesk might simply have one of the picks jam in the lock even if the roll was successful and the desk accessed, leaving a trail of evidence that is tricky to remove. A star while accessing the same desk belonging to a suspected rogue bright wizard may have a particularly unpleasant fireball explode in their faces.

I also often call a pair of banes as damage to the tools of the trade, giving a misfortune dice to future checks until the tools are repaired or replaced.

(most of this developed after one of my players Halfling theif "owned" all the doors in Stromdorf, nearly unravelling the plot ahead of time. In fact the whole party are such a bunch of theives and extortive gits it pretty much forced my hand)

If you want a lock to a really nasty obstacle which even a high rank thief would have problems with you could also give it a few Failure symbols in the difficulty (apart from 4-5 challenge dice). I guess that could be considered a houserule, but that kind of difficulties are given on the high rank actions so I think one could use the same mechanic also for skill checks.

valvorik said:

I do essentially this. "low" quality locks (which are going to be typical/majority) 1d. Brass tier homes and shops, for example. Good quality (prosperous places of business) and most silver tier buildings are 2d. 3d for Gold tier buildings, or silver tier buildings that normally would have a need for extra security (moneychanger, etc) . 4d are going to be special locks for especially important buildings or containers.