tempestuousknave
Thanks for the good input everybody.
(at least) 2 things I was missing: Replacement picks being 3SP/negligible bulk, and critical successes.
I think Merwyn has an excellent point about the rolls being excessive when there’s no time constraints, but I could see how the rolling could build tension when the rogue is trying to break into a dockside warehouse and the paladin is trying to distract the nightwatchman.
The gaminess of pick tracking is not fun, but I’d just say to buy a hundred, and instead of measuring them in qty measure them in the extra round lost fishing a replacement from your pack.
It’s a pretty realistic expectation for a mediocre locksmith in the real world faced with the average door lock. It’s a bit slow for the fantasy expert lock picking thief who’s invested their ability and skill increases to excel at a mundane and achievable task. But time spent is the smaller issue.
And it’s 3 gp a thieves tool set, but the bigger issue is bulk. God forbid you’ve a dozen doors with good locks in a dungeon, that’s 4 bulk worth of picks to get through–pretty much the thiefs whole inventory–and a 50 percent chance of ultimate failure (not to mention 240d20). Pretty rough on the class fantasy. If nothing else I’d change the names of the locks to pad the thief ego: poor becomes average, average good, good master and master legendary. I don’t want my player stymied by an average door because he only brought one backup toolkit.
