[Request] Thieves Tools

Talk about the mods you'd like to see in Daggerfall Unity. Give mod creators some ideas!
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emmathepony
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Joined: Sat Jun 29, 2019 5:26 pm

[Request] Thieves Tools

Post by emmathepony »

I small request since I find thieving to be too easy still, perhaps in order to lockpick you need to have a thieves tools item equipped in your inventory, kinda like how D&D is. I find it a bit silly every player-made character has infinite lockpicks with no consequence so perhaps having to have the thieves tools item equipped will make the system more believable. Have the tools weigh quite a lot and be a little expensive (perhaps only buyable from a thieve's guild?) to stop level 1 players from ransacking homes and getting 20K easily. :mrgreen:

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DigitalMonk
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Re: [Request] Thieves Tools

Post by DigitalMonk »

Heh. I clearly don't understand thievery in DF... I don't think I've ever managed to successfully lockpick anything, or pickpocket anybody. Needless to say, I've never managed to contact the Thieves Guild :lol: So, given that, please forgive my ignorance in the following:

My understanding is that you have to have committed some crimes before you can contact (or be contacted by?) the Thieves Guild. If you have to be in the Thieves Guild before you can get the required tools for lockpicking, does that cause a requirements loop? Or does it just force you to pickpocket people until you're noticed and then you can move on to lockpicking?

My other thought is that most locks, even in our modern world, don't really require specialized tools to pick. It's rather disturbing to me that the standard door lock can be "picked" in about a second ("picked" is the wrong term, as that process is much faster and more dynamic) by small children with a trivially modified blank key (and that's if you want to get fancy) or a bent paperclip. Medieval locks were easier to pick and had larger mechanisms, requiring basically a bent wire and something flat (a file, some other key, a stiletto, etc). Or a skeleton key, which, if you've ever seen what that means, you'd laugh at the whole concept of keys and locks in that period. The trick tends to be more knowledge than tools. So, that could be a requirement, but then we're assuming an adult agent with some lockpicking skill, which is the standin for said knowledge...

Realistically, if I wanted to lock my house in those days, I think I'd bar the door instead. Only works as long as somebody is inside the house to unbar it, though...

Anybody wanna make a prybar mod? If a high enough quality bar-like item is equipped (or at least in inventory?) a strength check is made against the lock/door to break it open. Quite a bit noisier and more likely to attract attention, either from the building's owner or the local guards. But maybe a quick sprint away and wait for the heat to die down, then sneak back into the broken door?

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emmathepony
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Re: [Request] Thieves Tools

Post by emmathepony »

You need to only
Spoiler!
pickpocket (successfully or by failure) 10 NPCs
in order for the guild to contact you, then my idea for this mod to come in you buy thieves tools at the guild for enable lockpicking feature and gives the game an idea of character progression and to balance out the early game more.

I'm not sure about the prybar, by making it quiet wouldn't that essentially give the player an infinite amount of tries to unlock any door without consequence? :o

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DigitalMonk
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Re: [Request] Thieves Tools

Post by DigitalMonk »

emmathepony wrote: Wed Jul 29, 2020 2:47 pmI'm not sure about the prybar, by making it quiet wouldn't that essentially give the player an infinite amount of tries to unlock any door without consequence? :o
I assumed the prybar would be rather noisy, actually, and that you'd either have to hide from the resulting attention or go gangster-style... Not meant as a method any normal thief would take, but something that a warrior might try when desperate. And if they managed to not die in the process, maybe somebody from the Thieves Guild would take pity on them and teach them a better way :lol:

Edit: I'm also totally fine with making it where membership in the Thieves Guild is a requirement and, as you say, adds to a sense of progression. I'm largely just rambling free-form here because I'm avoiding doing the work I should be doing :oops:

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billyloist
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Re: [Request] Thieves Tools

Post by billyloist »

I'm sort of hoping for a full minigame of sorts Oblivion/Wizardry 8 style where you have to manually manipulate the levers yourself. You can still rely on rng if you want to skip the minigame. A critical failure would result in the lock getting jammed so you won't be able to pick it again just like in vanilla. Traps making an appearance would be sick too.
Btw the easiest way to join the guild is to run around and spam lockpicking on locked doors in the walls around the city, no one seems to be bothered by that and they lock themselves afterwards.

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