View Single Post
Old 10-13-2020, 05:09 PM   #22
phiwum
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Boston area
Default Re: How does anything stay locked?

Quote:
Originally Posted by hcobb View Post
Set the number of dice to cast the Knock spell equal to the number of dice to pick the lock. (Note that this is implied to be a 3d casting roll, but it is not specified.)
That's a reasonable option. Otherwise, Locksmith is strictly much worse than Knock. I don't think the text supports the variable number of dice for the wizard (ITL 40) however.

Suppose there's a 6/DX lock with two Lock spells. A locksmith rolls 8/DX to open it. A wizard (according to RAW and depending on what counts as "ordinary") rolls 3/DX three times. The locksmith with 15 DX has about 0.4% chance to succeed in one minute, while the wizard with 10 DX has 1/8 probability to unlock it in three spell castings.

If we instead suppose that the wizard has to roll the same dice as the lock, then he throws 3/DX twice and 6/DX once. In this case, if the wizard also has DX 15, he's still got a 9% or so chance to unlock the door, so still better off than the locksmith, but that's understandable since undoing a Lock spell ought to be easier than powering through it like the smith.

This might be a reasonable house rule. In the end, however, I'm not sure how much it matters, since Open Tunnel rules the day.

Anthony's suggestion is interesting too (a lock can be gummied by using some Unobtainium and preventing Knock from working at all).

So is Skarg's idea of a lock that disables itself if a Knock is cast on it. It seems to me that Skarg's idea sounds too much like triggering a trap, which a successful Knock never does.

Anyway, some things to think about. I appreciate all the advice.
phiwum is offline   Reply With Quote