Entry Last Update: 04/23/2001
Description: Pick Locks is the ability to open locks without a key, usually using a special instrument called a lock pick.
Who Can Learn It: Only thieves can learn Pick Locks.
What It is Supposed to Do: Allows you to open locked containers without a key.
What it Does: Allows you to open locked containers without a key. Pick Locks appears to be fully implemented at this time.
Activation: PICKLOCK (PICKLOCK [Locked Container] with [Lock pick]).
Usefulness (Low Levels): Moderate. At low levels, you will only be able to pick a few locks (locks too far above your skill level can not be picked), and picking these locks may take multiple tries. However, you can at least TRY to open locked containers, which is more than most people will be able to do.
Usefulness (Mid-Levels): Moderate. Not only can you open most locks at this level, but your delay has been decreased.
Usefulness (High Levels): Moderate. Though most locks can be opened with a "mid-level" amount of skill, there are still a few special locks which only those with high levels can attempt. Also, at this level, the lockpicking delay has been significantly reduced.
How to Practice: Find locked containers and pick them. There is no easy way to practice Pick Locks, though choosing boxes at your "level" will significantly increase how quickly you progress.
Tips: Hunt monsters that exclusively/almost exclusively carry locked containers if you want to practice this skill. In the training grounds, trolls are the only creatures that carry such boxes (they live in a cave in the western forest below the orks). In Spur, the best place to find them are on Rattans and Piks, which live in the sewers below the slums/poor quarter (look for the grate to the west of the slums area constantly being repaired). Both carry locked chests, but Rattan chests are generally easier to open than those on Piks (though Piks chests give more uses). As well, both Rattans and Piks carry Lockpick on them (Piks occasionally carrying the much sought after steel Lockpick). Finally, the delay you get when attempting to pick a lock can tell you what level it is, with longer-delay chests being of higher level than lower-delay chests.
Unconfirmed Rumors (May or May Not Be True): The material that your lock pick is made out of and in what state of disrepair it is in may both affect your skill at picking locks.