Open locks?

I just cross-class skill points for a ranger or a bard. Better if both in party so the bard can buff the ranger! These guys normally have good Dex. At most I might give the Ranger 1 level of Rogue for the Trapfinding and increasing the Max Open Lock skill/cross-class skill points.

I also have a question. If a "locksmith-type" were to unlock a chest, and maybe or maybe not find a trap, could Open/Close be used to bypass the trap and get the goodies?

 

Crap! That means I'll have to find a save game in 5.5 or God knows where. This is where TFE-X becomes a bit of a drag.

Ah, but the idea was to find a way to not have a rogue when dealing with the tough chests. My open/close idea would not work because of the "unbeatable" SR on those chests, right? That is the reason why Knock doesn't work, right?

 

I don't think the magically held items can be opened with knock and I've never seen it work. I've tried dispell magic on the chest in the fire temple and it didn't work either. Only a rogue with real good skills can open that chest. I guess Troika made it that way because that Frostbrand sword is a really powerful weapon and shouldn't be easy to get. Just a guess.

 

and to ensure people actually bother taking a locksmith along

 

Seems a bit much

I have a rogue with good dex and maxed skill who's failed to open most of the chests in the early part of the game. I shouldn't need spells or NPC's for one of the primary rogue functions.

Can you buy lockslip grease in Homlet?

 

I have an elf rogue (no multi-classing) with the Nimble Fingers feat (+2 to both Open Lock and Disable Device skills) and maximum ranks in Disable Device and Open Lock skills who is using masterwork thieves' tools and I had the exact same experience as you, Kaeper! My rogue has been able to disable every device and open every lock that he has initially tried so far except for some of the locked chests in the Moathouse (where he had to go up a level or 2 before he could successfully open those locks) and Brother Smyth's locked chest (where he had to use Lockslip Grease in order to open the lock).

Yes, you can buy 1 Lockslip Grease from either Gremag or Rannos Davl in their trading post just north of the river running through Hommlet. But be warned - the Lockslip Grease can only be used twice before it disappears, so use it only if you absolutely NEED to. I believe that Gremag and Rannos Davl never restock any of their sold items. Also, the stock of items that Gremag and Rannos Davl sell is exactly the same. They are basically one and the same vendor in terms of how the game calculates what items they have to sell. If you buy Lockslip Grease from Gremag, then the Lockslip Grease will disappear from Rannos Davl's stock of items that he sells, and vice versa.

You can also buy 2 Lockslip Greases in the shopmap (i.e. the starting shop right at the start of the game, before you go to Hommlet for the first time).

 

Click on the game log and look at the lock pick roll to see how you did vs the lock's DC. That way you will know if its even possible for your rogue to open the lock or if he just missed the roll and can try again. Using guidance (+1), potion or spell of Cat's Grace (+4 in DEX, or +2 in skill), bard's competence song (+1), even check your armor DEX rating, you may need to take off heavier armor so you get full use of your DEX bonus (especially if Cat's Graced), get the masterwork lockpicks, used the lock grease, & have a cleric cast prayer.

 

Thanks for those useful tips on how to pick difficult locks. I really appreciate the imparting of your collective wisdoms.

 

Some more things to help out:
if u dont like to ruin' a mele unit by adding rogue levels then u can always stack a barbarian with a few rogue levels without losing anything (he can rage wich in turn means what ever BAB wasted on taking rogue levels get nulified by a a str boost ,so u can stil hit smth with high AC when the situation arises; true enough in the end u will end up with -1 atak due to reduced BAB but usualy the sneek damage done during the journey easly compensates for that)
Haven't seen anyone mention the vest of escape ?? its dirt cheap to make (a sork with grease and knok + about 300 xp) and it seems to not only give u freedom of move(no more pestering entangle/web problems) but also provide a quality lockpick set :evilgrin: