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How important is Lockpicking in IWD?

I'm considering a party lacking a thief, I was going to use spells + mage familiar to supplement the lack of find/disarm traps but I was curious if there are is any significant loot in locked chests or behind locked doors that I might be missing out on?

Also as an aside, is there anyone in the game worth pickpocketing that putting points in that skill would be worthwhile?

Comments

  • Lord_TansheronLord_Tansheron Member Posts: 4,211
    edited November 2014
    Anything you can lockpick, you can also open with the spell Knock. You don't even get XP for lockpicking in IWD, so you're not missing out. I think traps can't be disarmed though and that can get very annoying, as there's lots of them and several are permanent and will keep on triggering.

    Pickpocketing in IWD doesn't have threshold values, so even without any points spent whatsoever you can just keep trying/reloading until you succeed. Note that the Ferret familiar has 50 PP (you get it from being Lawful Neutral iirc). Some others may have PP, too? Can't remember.
    Nimran
  • Aozgolo108Aozgolo108 Member Posts: 79
    So the only REAL way to screw myself is not have a thief OR a mage... but I think that carries far more significant downfalls than simply no unlock ability
  • AzzaraAzzara Member Posts: 184
    A cleric can divine traps and then just walk around them. A cleric can also increase their strength above 18 an just bash all locks.
  • lunarlunar Member Posts: 3,460
    edited November 2014
    There are quite a lot of locked treasure chests in the game. You will need a sorc with a knock spell so he can cast 6 of them in one sitting, if you don't have a thief. There are very good random magical items and potions in those chests so you will want them.

    Some traps are very annoying. Particularly, in one Dragons eye area there are many traps, they reset too, so you can trigger them endlessly. They will do nasty stuff like shooting darts with incredibly lethal effects:poison+stun or confusion in a single hit. That's like a death sentence unless you can cure their ailment in time, they can't even gulp potions. And the place you fight a big, bad, nasty boss is littered with those traps, you need to play tactical and manuever and with those traps everywhere, it is going to be a slow and painful process. Can make a challenging battle downright impossible.

    Long story short I strongly suggest you get a thief with good lock/traps skills. You can dual/multi him if you want him to be effective in battles as well, or pick one of the cool kits.
    JuliusBorisov
  • schreierschreier Member Posts: 79
    So far, I've just found one door I couldn't bash in, using a thiefless team (well, future thief, but waiting til Fighter 13, then dualing to thief).

    [Spoiler]The room with the 4 waterdeep prisoners on Dragon's Eye 4[/spoiler]
    JuliusBorisov
  • lunarlunar Member Posts: 3,460
    edited November 2014
    schreier said:

    So far, I've just found one door I couldn't bash in, using a thiefless team (well, future thief, but waiting til Fighter 13, then dualing to thief).

    [Spoiler]The room with the 4 waterdeep prisoners on Dragon's Eye 4[/spoiler]

    What is your strength score? I have found locks I couldn't bash in Dragons eye final areas with 21 str. (frost giant potion) And I tried to play smart with my wimpy cleric by casting holy power and then draw upon holy might, but it just does not work in IWD:DUHM resets the bonus to base strength level, so instead of 20+ strength I got my original 9+2=11

  • schreierschreier Member Posts: 79
    Just 18/95 - so maybe I either got lucky, or didn't try some of the other doors
  • lunarlunar Member Posts: 3,460
    edited November 2014
    I was talking about the final level of Dragon's Eye, the treasure chests in the big bad mama boss's room and her level. They are tough to break. Tell us if you can break them after you finish up the dungeon. :-)
    JuliusBorisov
  • AzzaraAzzara Member Posts: 184
    Playing a solo cleric with strength 13. For bashing locks I use Champion's Strength with Draw Upon Holy Might or Righteous Magic. They stack.
    JuliusBorisovCluas
  • bob_vengbob_veng Member Posts: 2,308
    edited November 2014
    i've noticed that none of the chests in the dragon's eye boss hall require more than 80 lockpick skill to break. i think in the original game they were tougher.

    edit: all in all lockpick is not a necessary skill. doesn't add that much convenience either.
  • BelanosBelanos Member Posts: 968
    Azzara said:

    A cleric can divine traps and then just walk around them.

    There are plenty of traps that you simply can't walk around.

    jackjackWanderon
  • AzzaraAzzara Member Posts: 184
    edited November 2014
    Belanos said:

    Azzara said:

    A cleric can divine traps and then just walk around them.

    There are plenty of traps that you simply can't walk around.
    That's true. Before opening the chests in

    Yxy's treasury

    you should protect yourself from the elements with cleric spells and/or drink all your potions at the same time.
  • MrGoodkatMrGoodkat Member Posts: 167
    Traps man... traps...

    I really don't know how people do it without a Thief. Not literally of course. I know *how* they do it, I just don't know how they can bear it.

    Often I run through an area multiple times for whatever reason and I don't even look at the screen anymore. It must be super annoying always having to expect a character to randomly drop dead because he walked through a trap... especially when you're playing on 'Insane'.
    JuliusBorisov
  • DarkcloudDarkcloud Member Posts: 302
    MrGoodkat said:

    Traps man... traps...

    I really don't know how people do it without a Thief. Not literally of course. I know *how* they do it, I just don't know how they can bear it.

    Often I run through an area multiple times for whatever reason and I don't even look at the screen anymore. It must be super annoying always having to expect a character to randomly drop dead because he walked through a trap... especially when you're playing on 'Insane'.

    high saves and haste. You can run through many traps without them doing anything that way.
  • bob_vengbob_veng Member Posts: 2,308
    this thread is not about traps and to what extent thieves are necessary.
    they're about lock picking and that skill is pretty useless (just use bash or knock).
  • macomeaumacomeau Member Posts: 80
    I find the Thief's lock picking and trap disarming skills indispensable in tandem. There are enough locks you can't bash and enough traps you can't avoid (including on chests whose locks you can't bash) that I want someone with those two skills. I tried a run without anyone with the full thief skill suite and regretted it by the Vale of Shadows.

    There are places where you'd have to blow a ton of spell slots on Knocks (and you can't bash with 19 strength), and you'd still have traps everywhere. You can find them with a monk, or with magic, or a familiar, but you can't disarm them. I feel even dumber setting off traps when I know they're there.

    So, lock pick isn't absolutely necessary, but a thief with that skill (and their others) works better than the kludge alternatives.
    jackjackShikao
  • WowoWowo Member Posts: 2,064
    Swashbuckler 10/Mage x. I went true neutral and the rabbit familiar was fine for the traps while I was dual classing. Now she is dual wielding longswords of action +4 and has 10 APR under tensers. Rock on.
    ShikaojackjackCaptRory
  • FardragonFardragon Member Posts: 4,511
    bob_veng said:

    this thread is not about traps and to what extent thieves are necessary.
    they're about lock picking and that skill is pretty useless (just use bash or knock).

    Whist the title of the thread refers to locks, the first post makes it clear that what the OP is really asking is "do I need a thief?"
  • bob_vengbob_veng Member Posts: 2,308
    yeah, a thief to pick locks presumably.

    the answer: no, you don't need a thief to pick locks.
  • FandraxxFandraxx Member Posts: 193
    While a thief is not needed, i always liked having one. I just feel like their really versatile
    jackjackCaptRory
  • WowoWowo Member Posts: 2,064
    On anything except HoF difficulty I think a thief is worth having just for their ability to set, rather than disarm, traps.

    Particularly in IWD where it's so much harder to rest it really takes the pressure off the first attempt to rest when you have some traps read to visit death and destruction on any trash who would dare to disturb your rest.

    Beyond that, many more difficult fights can really be helped along with some opening traps. For instance, those mages who cast stone skin in the first major boss battle got wiped out before they even got their defences up.

    Plenty of ways to make a fun thief character. Swashbuckler/Mage and Assassin/Mage come to mind being the thief classes in my first 2 IP runs (HoF and multiplayer core respectively).
    jackjackShikaoJuliusBorisovelminster
  • FardragonFardragon Member Posts: 4,511
    That depends. Traps are hugely powerful, but I find it an extremely tedious way to play, not to mention metagaming kills immersion. In order to trap those mages, you have to know where they spawn in. I just whacked them with a Dispel Magic, and defeated them the first time I encountered them.
    jackjack
  • JarrakulJarrakul Member Posts: 2,029
    Honestly, if it's the mages I'm thinking of, I set traps to lure the boss into and they went off and killed the mages accidentally. No metagaming required, but I'll admit to being a tad lucky in my placement.
    jackjack
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