Picking locks, pins and torque

Choose Pick lock beside the door

Keep Lockpicks or Master Lockpicks in your pack, stand beside a locked door and use Pick lock. Walking into a locked door can also open the picking panel. The menu shows how many pins the lock has. You do not need to be sneaking. In Bat Form you cannot manipulate picks. A matching dungeon key can open its own lock without picking.

Feel, push and ease

The panel has Feel, Push left, Push right and Ease. Use their displayed controls or click the buttons. Feel improves the current pin hint and adds 2 torque points. A correct push sets one pin and removes 8 torque points. A wrong push binds the pin and raises torque. Ease removes 15 torque points without undoing pins already set. Every accepted one of these actions uses a world turn, so nearby creatures can keep moving.

Read the hint carefully

The faint shift hint can point the wrong way, with a one-in-four chance of a misleading direction. A give hint and a wants to go hint name the correct direction. At Sneak level 50 or above, one ordinary Feel gives a reliable direction. Two Feels do so even at level 0. Setting a pin starts a new hidden direction for the next pin.

Master picks still work pin by pin

Master Lockpicks never snap. Feel displays a certain direction on its first use, but you still need to push each pin the right way. Master picks do not open the whole lock automatically and the ordinary action budget still applies. When binding forces the Master Lockpicks to bend, torque falls to 94. Ease is still useful.

Four lock tiers and a fixed attempt budget

Tier 1 locks have 3 pins and allow 12 actions, tier 2 has 4 and allows 16, tier 3 has 5 and allows 20, and tier 4 has 6 and allows 24. Sneak level 20 adds 2 actions to an attempt. Level 50 instead adds 4. Feel and Ease count too. Setting the last pin on the final allowed action succeeds. Running out of time ends this attempt without spending a pick unless that action also broke it.

Torque, breakage and spare picks

Binding can break ordinary Lockpicks at their 100-point limit, or a Bent Spoon at 70. The display rounds torque. A wrong push can fill the bar without breaking the tool until another wrong push. Feel can raise torque to the tool limit without snapping it, so a correct push or Ease can still relieve that pressure. One tool is spent per break. With another ordinary pick available, the pins already set remain set and the attempt continues from 40 torque. Losing your last ordinary pick ends the attempt when no Master Lockpicks remain.

The torque bar is relative to your tool

The Torque bar shows strain as a share of your current tool’s limit. It fills at 70 torque points for a Bent Spoon and at 100 for ordinary picks. Firm begins at 40% of that limit, High strain at 70%, and ABOUT TO SNAP at 90%. The red colour begins at 85%. Master picks still cannot snap, even when the shared strain display warns of it.

Withdrawing and trying again

Cancel or Pull the picks out abandons the attempt. Withdrawing does not spend a world turn or consume an unbroken pick. Opening the panel again starts a fresh attempt with no pins set and no torque. A successful ordinary lock gives 5, 7, 9 or 11 Sneak experience at tiers 1 through 4, unless Sneak learning is disabled.

Noise and consequences

Pushing is the noisy part. The first push in each ordinary door or home attempt broadcasts the incident for nearby witnesses and guards. Feel and Ease do not make that push noise. Being noticed can alert guards and bring the watch, even if the attempt fails. Successfully picking a home also records the offence even if nobody saw it. Picking your own cell lock does not send this ordinary picking alarm. Breaking out has its own consequences.

Where the lock tier comes from

A household lock uses the wealthiest resident’s role, with one extra tier for a cheese cellar or cheese shop, up to tier 4. A physical door outside a household can carry its own lock tier, otherwise it starts at tier 1. Your current prison cell has its own tier. A Bent Spoon works only at that cell door and only when you have no ordinary or Master Lockpicks to use.

Replacing your tools

General stores sell ordinary Lockpicks. Shadowmongers sell ordinary picks at shop tiers 1 through 3 and Master Lockpicks from tier 3. The tool pages list base prices and stock counts. Vendor price modifiers and earlier purchases change what is currently on offer. The listed price is for one pick, rather than the whole stock. Picks are used through the door action rather than by consuming them from the pack.