From time to time I did get the feeling lockpicking was a bit too powerful. And the skull with the glowing eyes was one of those instances. Felt a bit unexcited when I realized I could lockpick it.
On the other hand, you could argue that sometimes "lockpicking" is just a symbolic way of saying that your character finds a way to overcome the lock by some sort of clever trick. Like, finding a round object with roughly the same size to replace the gem in the skull. That sort of thing. And it can certainly involves magic, like in the case of the chest on the 2nd floor of the inn. It can simply mean you know enough about magic to counter the magic on the lock (How, you ask? No idea). It's just a matter of how you look at it, really.
