lockpicking

[Gustamantis]

Hey gang,
I'm starting up a little rogue on my 2nd account, haven't had one in years. I have plenty of characters that are good at killing, I'm looking to ultimately be a locksmith primarily. That being said, I have a few questions.

#1. How many AS ranks do I need to disarm scarabs?
#2. Is there a way to determine what level of creature boxes I can pick or is it just trial and error? (list?)
#3. Currently I'm 3x in perception, picking, and disarming. Is this overkill? I thought I had to be 3x with self lores to get capped boxes, but reading some of these other threads seems to imply 2x is good enough?
#4. If 2x is sufficient in the above skills, will I see benefits from 3x that are worthwhile?
#5. Is sacrificing redux worth gaining self lores or if I remain 3x with no lores will I be ok?

Thanks for any insight you all might provide, I appreciate it. Been a long time since I played a rogue.

[Tgo01]

1) I don't know how many are required but I picked up 15 and have never failed at disarming a scarab with just one try.
2) Trial and error for the most part.
3) 3x in everything is overkill if you just want to pick your own boxes. If you want to pick other people's boxes then it depends on what exactly you want to pick and at what level.

[Gustamantis]

1. I've been 1x AS, so I'll make sure to stop at 15. Appreciate it.

2. Lame! someone should come up with a list of average sized boxes for creatures. I mean you guys have had what? 30 years! c'mon!

3. I definetly want to be able to pick my own boxes, but I think I'd like to be able to pick well over my head. Would be nice if I could get level 60 stuff at level 40, per se, is that feasible at 3x training with lores?

[Tgo01]

I think a good rule of thumb is 2 ranks * critter level (and still probably need lore with some boxes.) So to do level 60 critter stuff you should have 120ish ranks. This isn't a perfect guide of course and there are always exceptions. Some critters have easy boxes for their level and some have tougher ones.

[kutter]

Undead always seem to be a lot tougher for some reason. My rogue is 52 and he is 2X in disarm and lock and 1.5 perception with self lore, he is an ambusher so I was only ever worried about opening my own stuff. That being said, I can get a few trains above my head up to probably 60 so long as they are not undead. With undead I really only try for stuff right around me.

[DaCapn]

Hey gang,
I'm starting up a little rogue on my 2nd account, haven't had one in years. I have plenty of characters that are good at killing, I'm looking to ultimately be a locksmith primarily. That being said, I have a few questions.

#1. How many AS ranks do I need to disarm scarabs?
#2. Is there a way to determine what level of creature boxes I can pick or is it just trial and error? (list?)
#3. Currently I'm 3x in perception, picking, and disarming. Is this overkill? I thought I had to be 3x with self lores to get capped boxes, but reading some of these other threads seems to imply 2x is good enough?
#4. If 2x is sufficient in the above skills, will I see benefits from 3x that are worthwhile?
#5. Is sacrificing redux worth gaining self lores or if I remain 3x with no lores will I be ok?

Thanks for any insight you all might provide, I appreciate it. Been a long time since I played a rogue.

1) Disarm + AS factors in so no AS is needed. 10 AS is pretty standard and is a good idea early on. You'll never "scritch" without AS.
2) Trial and error. Dumber creatures tend to have easier boxes and less traps.
3) 3x Perception is overkill. 2x with lores isn't enough to get everything at cap.
4) I prefer 2x with lores with 3x being a post-cap goal. About level 70 and later is when 2x with lores isn't good enough for everything (but still good enough for almost everything).
5) If you only get through 404, you'll lose about 2% of your redux. It's not a big deal.

[Methais]

So when I eventually 2x in picking, I should be able to open almost any box I pull from Nelemar/Scatter/OTF/Warcamps?

Nice. I always thought 3x was mostly mandatory for level 100+ stuff.

[Jhynnifer]

So when I eventually 2x in picking, I should be able to open almost any box I pull from Nelemar/Scatter/OTF/Warcamps?

Nice. I always thought 3x was mostly mandatory for level 100+ stuff.

2x + lores = roughly 3x. Its our way of cheating.

[waywardgs]

At this point, lores are important. They keep talking about changing this stuff because it doesn't make a whole lot of sense that a square locksmith has to depend on magic to pick well, but so far it hasn't. Get to 404 and then forget other spells for a while if you're just picking and hunting.

[Gibreficul]

#1. How many AS ranks do I need to disarm scarabs?
#2. Is there a way to determine what level of creature boxes I can pick or is it just trial and error? (list?)
#3. Currently I'm 3x in perception, picking, and disarming. Is this overkill? I thought I had to be 3x with self lores to get capped boxes, but reading some of these other threads seems to imply 2x is good enough?
#4. If 2x is sufficient in the above skills, will I see benefits from 3x that are worthwhile?
#5. Is sacrificing redux worth gaining self lores or if I remain 3x with no lores will I be ok?

Thanks for any insight you all might provide, I appreciate it. Been a long time since I played a rogue.

1) About 10-15, more is always better.
2) No, trial and error because not all critters make the same difficulty box as other critters of their level.
3) 3x perception is overkill. I've gotten by with as little as 1x as a locksmith. As for picking/disarming ranks, more is better, always, of course. If you're looking to skimp, I'd do it in the picking before disarming.
4) I'd push for 3x disarming for the safety aspect of it. An excess of disarming ranks can help avoid a major fumble on disarming attempts. As for going to 3x lockpicking, the biggest benefit is that the range of locks you can rep from in LM goes up as you go higher than 2x training.
5) Don't worry about redux, it'll be there no matter how many spells you get... (I don't worry about redux with 70 spell ranks.)

I always got stopped by traps before locks when pushing my limits.

[Tgo01]

1) Disarm + AS factors in so no AS is needed. 10 AS is pretty standard and is a good idea early on. You'll never "scritch" without AS.

So once you get a certain amount of disarm traps skill arcane symbols becomes pointless for this purpose? Do arcane symbols help more than disarm traps skills which is why people recommend to pick up some ranks? I just remember when I was first starting out I skipped out on arcane symbols because I didn't know about the dangers of disarming scarabs and I died a couple of times due to scarabs, I picked up 15 ranks of arcane symbols and never had a problem. I don't use those arcane symbol ranks for anything else so I'd love to get those points back.

Also I checked Krakkipedia and it mentions that disarming scarabs via the disarm verb doesn't lower the value of a scarab, this must mean if you only disarm the scarab once because again I remember disarming scarabs like 10 times just to be on the safe side and the value of the scarabs went way down.

[Methais]

So once you get a certain amount of disarm traps skill arcane symbols becomes pointless for this purpose? Do arcane symbols help more than disarm traps skills which is why people recommend to pick up some ranks? I just remember when I was first starting out I skipped out on arcane symbols because I didn't know about the dangers of disarming scarabs and I died a couple of times due to scarabs, I picked up 15 ranks of arcane symbols and never had a problem. I don't use those arcane symbol ranks for anything else so I'd love to get those points back.

Also I checked Krakkipedia and it mentions that disarming scarabs via the disarm verb doesn't lower the value of a scarab, this must mean if you only disarm the scarab once because again I remember disarming scarabs like 10 times just to be on the safe side and the value of the scarabs went way down.

I disarmed a scarab like 30 times the other day just cause I never tried it before and wanted to see how badly it nerfs the value, and it was literally worth 0 silvers at the gem shop.

[DaCapn]

So once you get a certain amount of disarm traps skill arcane symbols becomes pointless for this purpose? Do arcane symbols help more than disarm traps skills which is why people recommend to pick up some ranks? I just remember when I was first starting out I skipped out on arcane symbols because I didn't know about the dangers of disarming scarabs and I died a couple of times due to scarabs, I picked up 15 ranks of arcane symbols and never had a problem. I don't use those arcane symbol ranks for anything else so I'd love to get those points back.

Also I checked Krakkipedia and it mentions that disarming scarabs via the disarm verb doesn't lower the value of a scarab, this must mean if you only disarm the scarab once because again I remember disarming scarabs like 10 times just to be on the safe side and the value of the scarabs went way down.

You'll still get increased value from AS ranks and better messaging but without it you can still disarm the scarab. I experimented with it a bit around level 70-80 as a 2x locksmith with lores with 0 AS and I never failed a scarab disarm (even on some which were very close to my max trap). It's a good idea to keep some ranks. And yeah, disarming it more than once drops the value substantially.

[Nosh]

..And frankly having AS for the added benefits of scroll reading in general is good.

I was 3x in picking until around level 35 or so, then I fixskilled into 2x with up to 404 and managed to recoup enough points to also put me in to metal breastplate and additional physical fitness for redux. With 2x and lores at 40 I can pick way over my rogue's head level-wise - he can get stuff from skull temple fairly regularly, even if the boxes take a few tries.