locksmithing

[trueoutsoldier]

Anyone know a good place to find the average lock and trap sizes of critters. Im picking my own boxes and barely learning but I dont know a good way to gauge what critters I can pick and what I can't.

[Rhovan]

I don't know of any lists to point you towards, but if you train in the rogue's guild you can measure the size of a lock using calipers. It will take some time to gain the skill to be accurate, but you can be sure to use the right pick for the job that way.

[Ayamei]

Where are you getting your boxes from?

[Stry]

I've got a rogue right now at lvl 23

He's got 54 ranks or so in picking/disarm and it takes boxes from stuff roughly 10 levels over his head to get lockmastery reps consistantly. Rotting corpse boxes are perfect for him to get reps from (lvl 32). Later on I've heard that 2x training barely cuts it for some hunting grounds. (minotaurs for example.)

So, I'd suggest not going over 2x ranks per level if you want to learn much from your own boxes, or get Lock Mastery reps. Even then, it takes a good 10-15+ solid boxes picked consecutively to fill up my rogues head.

If you're dead set on getting the best of the best skills for opening boxes., then work on Lock Mastery once you hit lvl 15. It's tough, but the pay off is worth it in my eyes, it expands your capability as a locksmith by leaps and bounds.

[xt3kn1x]

Anyone know a good place to find the average lock and trap sizes of critters. Im picking my own boxes and barely learning but I dont know a good way to gauge what critters I can pick and what I can't.


Really the locks and traps are relative to your skill. I have about 150 ranks in picking locks and I can still fry off small boxes. The trick is using the right pick for the job. Basically the harder the box is to open with your particular pick, the more you learn. Say a box that would require a 90 endroll with a copper lockpick would net more experience than the same box opened with a rolaren or vaalin lockpick. When it comes to building lock mastery, however, you need to open boxes that you at least learn something from the creature who dropped it. Hence, a level 40 rogue could not gain lock mastery from a lesser ghoul box, but you can learn from it.

As for gauging what critters you can pick from... lock mastery. And calipers. When you learn to use calipers well, you'll know what is and isn't out of your league. Lock sizes vary all the time. I still find things in upper 50 hunting grounds with -10 locks.

[Ayamei]

My rogue is 26. I farm boxes from roa'ters on my ranger so she can practice her lock mastery. Roa'ters are 44 I think, but roughly +20 levels above her head. The other posters are right, for lock mastery advancement, you really need to use those calipers so you can better determine to appropriate lockpick for the job.

Another perk is that you break much less picks when you can determine the size of the lock. This link has a great calipers script which will tell you the difficulty of the box in thief-lingo. Plus, a lot of other good scripts for everything, not just rogues.

http://www.arkati.org/oldsite/library.php

[DaCapn]

Since tips are being tossed around:

When you get higher in level, get a few copper lockpicks off the shelf (with a different description than you usual) and break/repair them about a dozen times. You can degrade the pick modifier further and get more exp from the absurdly easy boxes that way.

[Rhovan]

If you are trying to advance in lock mastery from your own boxes, it's easiest not to double in picking locks. Just raise your ranks enough to use the minimum quality lockpick needed for what rank you are on. If you finally start finding boxes that are hard to pick, get more ranks to keep up with what you hunt.

I've never tried getting reps from picking boxes from a critter below what I hunted, but you can get reps for other tasks from them. I underhunted to find easy boxes for both caliper measuring reps and trap components.