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Old 07-23-2010, 02:59 PM   #37
Nymdok
 
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Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Houston
Default Re: REALLY Difficult Locks

Quote:
Originally Posted by sir_pudding View Post
I've asked this before, but why exactly do you think that equipment quality is open ended?
I dont present this table as one to be applied to equipment across the board.

The idea of a skill 15 having a 50/50 shot of picking Fort Knox in an hour just didnt sit well with me.

I was unhappy with the idea that locks (in high tech) only come in 5,0,-5. It seemed kind of unsatisfying being so discrete, and since you and i had freshly dissagreed on the subject in the other thread, I figured I'd noodle over it and see what I got for my troubles.

I started to think about what kind of lock difficulty would be tough for someone with a Lockpick skill of 25, and , not so much what that lock might be like (Im not a locksmith myself), but who would use that lock and be able to afford it. Thats where I came up with the idea of -20 (Which I then reduced down to -15 based on your TL suggestion)

Then I went the other way and asked whats simpler than a basic lock? novelty handcuffs and slotted bathroom doorlocks came to mind and I thought, could someone, even a particularly dense someone, pick this lock? I figure someone with IQ 9 could pick it with certainty.

From there, I fit a curve to the data using the listed cost modifiers a few different ways (as seen in the first post) and found numbers that I thought were smooth and reasonable. Then we wound up here :)

To address directly your question about the quality of lockpicking equipment, As I said above, Im going to stick to the +2, with a few possible exceptions (Lockpick gun for Basic Locks +4, Maybe even a Slim Jim for car doors +4?).

Nymdok
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