One minor Rule has always flustered me and my Players a little bit in these older presentations: How a Thief who failed to Open a Lock was unable to “Try Again” until they had Advanced a Level. While it is very easy to understand the intention behind the conceit (we don’t want to bog down our Play with repeated tries, and the eventual/inevitable elimination of an obstacle) it did always strike me as a little bit disassociated.
So, I put together a d100 Table with some Answers to the Question of “Why” they are unable to Pick a given Lock. Some are akin to Puzzles, and maybe harmless Traps in a way, so I can see a bit of double duty in a few of these for fleshing out those Locks a little more (I also have a Table/Generator on them here: Locks & Lockpicks.) One of the primary “Excuses” we used to lean on for this was not having the appropriate Tools (to be retrieved during Downtime, potentially after putting some word out with Contacts...that might take about as long as it takes for a Level up, etc.)
Most of these entries endeavor to steer away from placing the blame on the luckless Thief themselves, which is always a little refreshing (the Thief Player and their Dice at least tried!) so you might find them useful as “Other Excuses” to strategically retrieve for those abysmally low Percentages they start out with! It’s wise to remember that defeating the Lock in this fashion is only a single method of overcoming this kind of obstacle. It usually does come with less Cost or Risk (doesn’t use up a Knock Spell, preserves the functionality of a Door/Container, doesn’t make Noise and Trigger Wandering Monster Checks like the Fighter’s Shoulder, etc.) But there is often more than one way to skin a Catoblepa in these games!
q.v. Where is the Key To This Locked Door?
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