Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Why isn't lock picking skill based?

Kind of like skyrim.
It seems odd I can't directly interact with locks and maybe traps.

If certain classes have affinity then make it easier with more time and resistant lockpics.
Also why can't I see how difficult the lock is before wasting lockpics on it?

It is a skill which Rogues are proficient in and Rangers can be if you pick the Urban environment, works same as any other skill you just can see it in the current Character panel

Its clear you did not read a single word I said.

Because in D&D complex actions are abstracted behind class skills. The whole point is that it represents your character's ability to do something. Further it speeds up game play and doesn't require each player to be any kind of expert so they can focus on enjoying the game.

To strictly answer your question, it is skill based, but it's not a manual mini game.

I'm all for letting Bethesda keep the lock picking mini game style lock picking. I'm also all for not having to roll the dice every time I try to pick a lock. I did, however, like the one time I did, so far, but that was a special circumstance, I think... I didn't know how tired I was of that minigame style until I played The Outer Worlds though, I liked that system, a lot.

As for making it easier, I imagine, as levels progress beyond what we have now, and if things like Expertise are added, it will get easier over time. Along with Perception, and every other skill that's more passive than active, despite having to actually disarm a trap or unlock whatever it is that's being unlocked.

Aside for the fact that it IS skill based (in the sense that its speed and efficiency scale with a skill of your character) if anything I'm wondering why they don't make the process even a bit more automated, like in Pathfinder Kingmaker (where clicking on a lock makes your character with the highest skill automatically attempt the lockpick).
There's no real benefit in having this convoluted intermediate step of having to right click and select the voice from a popup menu.

The thing I am wondering is why there is no dice roll like there is for disarming traps. I understand they might not want us to know what the DC is. But at least, it would be nice if we could see how much we roll with all the bonuses applied to it.

This isn't Skyrim, it's Dungeons and Dragons. The ease of which lockpicking is done is based on the CHARACTER's skill with lockpicking, not your skill as the player. More time is not relevant. Harder locks should have a higher DC to pass the Thieves Tools check.

You should definitely be able to make an Investigation of the Lock/Trap and get an idea of how difficult it is, though. It definitely obnoxious design to combine breakable lockpicks with hidden difficulty levels. If you fail the Investigation check, you remain unsure of the difficulty, otherwise you are told of the DC.

Yeah, but you will trade one oddness, for another.
In current state your character just "somehow do something" and you have no chance of interaction ... when you will get minigame with every lockpick there is potential problem with insignificance of that skill.

Skyrim is actualy perfect example of this problem ... when you buy 100+ lockpicks ... it dont matter that you have lockpicking 15, with enough time and resources you are able to lockpick litteraly anything.
On the other hand, here is good example Oblivion, to remain in Bethesda waters, there it does not matter how big skill you have, my brother was never able to lockpick any "stronger lock" since he was just bad at that minigame. :-/

So ... in this case, it actualy is skill based, its just not your skill, its character skills ... as it should be.
After all, in DnD session i never heard about DM who give to his rogue padlock and piece of wire with words: "So you wanna lockpick? Show me."


This was allready mentioned in sooooooo many feedback post so i bet they know about it ... and hope that will be changed.

On the other hand its odd that we do know how hard will be to steal some item ... we shall know how hard will be to lockpick some chest ... but we will never know how hard it will be to intimidate person, until its too late.
I say we should either see all dificiulties, or none at all!

To be fair, I can often open master level locks in Skyrim, without perks, at skill 15 within 3 picks.

Once you know the game, it's not hard.

That said, I'd like it is the highest skill person would automatically make the attempt.

And how do you disarm traps? Don't think I've ever figured out how.

+1

First someone need to pass perception to notice trap ... then you can right-click on it and there is option "disarm" ...
Then you get standard dice roll.
This goes same with trapped boxes, and traps in the floor.
Sometimes you cant disarm certain traps, not sure if that is a bug or not ...

I think the point is that just like in Skyrim any character could lockpick (no matter that it was tied to the player's ability) in BG3 too any character can do the deed and its up to the luck (instead of fine motor skills) of the player if the action success or do not success.


What's the point of having a Rogue (or Ranger) class if there is no visible difference for this class? I get their skills are improved by higher proficiency. Still I have the impression, and I'm not alone in this, that is almost an anonymous class, all characters can stealth, pickpocket, lockpick, poison and so on.

Rangers, wizards, clerics, warlocks, all have clearly distinctive traits and skills that can not be used by other classes (or that require the use of scrolls or to consume, for wizards that learn spells from scrolls, actions slots).

In Daggerfall, to me the best of the Elder Scrolls, lockpicking was difficult if you weren't a rogue, even wizards, who could create a "open target" spell, would have an hard time lockpicking (to make a spell with high chance of success the wizar have to expect an high consuption of mana), other classes have really hard times and have to try a lot of times.

Skyrim started the trend of characters that can do everything without cocern for class restrictions or story coherence (oh truth be told it was in Oblivion that the trend started, Skyrim just brought it to its full potential).

I would like to see the pure Rogue better caractherized with its own unique skills openly visible just like the other classes have.