Lockpicking the only way...

[JGrubbs34]

Is lockpicking and/or the standing stone the only ways to open chests?

[Mbalmer]

I haven't found another way. I liked in Oblivion that you could just cast a spell, but there doesn't seem to be that option in Skyrim.

[Feanor]

As far as I know, yes. The former Alteration spell "Open" is not in Skyrim.

[SlfTh3Chl3f]

Apart from lockpicking and the tower stone, you can also get/pickpocket some keys , but that's all.

[OblivionDuruza]

For most quest related chests there is a key lying about somewhere, or which you can pickpocket from, or loot from the corpse of, an NPC. But sadly, Open has been removed pretty much completely and you can't even auto-attempt anymore meaning you physically have to pick every lock.

[JoeyDestructo]

pretty sure every quest is completable without ever having to pick a lock.

[metaphysician]

I wouldn't mind the return of the "auto-attempt" option, but I understand why they yanked Open. Part of their design philosophy seems to be make the skills more distinct, and cut back on identical overlap. In this case, an Open spell would very likely end up as a *superior* way to open locks than the purpose made Lockpicking skill. That would be bad, as there would be no reason to invest perks on Lockpicking when you could invest them in Alteration and get many other benefits, too.

[Iaius Amaius Heron]

Can't wait for Open spells to appear thanks to modders. And the ability to smash open doors/chests.

Forcing everyone to be a thief/rogue if they want phat lewts is just limiting to your character options.

Also, to Oblivion with worrying about "identical overlap". There's just as much "identical overlap" with killing enemies, but nobody whines that you can kill them with a fireball AND a sword!? ZOMG THEY DO THE SAME THINGG CUT ALL BUT ONE WAY TO DO THE SAME THING BECOZ OTHERWIZE DATS KJUST ITENTICAL OVERLAPP[!1!11!!

[OblivionDuruza]

But Lockpicking itself has perks that cover loot you gain from chests as well as the locks themselves, so there is still reason to invest in Lockpicking perks, just as there is reason to invest in Pickpocket perks simply for the extra Carry Weight.

[Dark Spark]

I have:

1) 99+ lockpicks on hand. Never did bother to check the Inventory count itself because...
2) I've gotten through several Master-level locks with around 50 in Lockpicking (and zero perks invested) without ever getting below that '99+' that shows up on the screen.

Keys? They're for the doors which say "Requires a key", no?

[OblivionDuruza]

It's not the difficulty, per se, because I've picked Matser Level Locks with only a pick or two and it's not like the picks are a precious commodity, it's more the fact you have to fiddle with them every time you want to open a lock. Alteration was so simple, cast the spell and it's done, no room for the tedium of lockpicking to come in and irritate or bore you when you're just not in the mood. It'd be less tiresome if locks weren't all the same, if perhaps they were somewhat realistic in the fact that they had different lock mechanisms for different locks, but in Skyrim, it's very much you've seen one lock you've seen 'em all.

[Dark Spark]

Same goes for the locks found in Oblivion.

"Meet the new lock, same as the old lock."

Let us just settle on the notion that Alteration was altered so we can no longer open locked chests with magic. But we can now transform base iron ore into silver, then silver into gold.

[OblivionDuruza]

Which is always a nice improvement now I think about it. I just wouldn't have minded it if they'd kept the auto-attempt feature from Oblivion and allowed me to let the numbers do the talking. Why bother with Lockpicking as a skill anyway if it's possible to pick a Master lock with 15 Lockpicking anyway?

[Lord Cattow]

I actually hoped I could make followers open locks for me instead. That way a High Elf wizard wouldn't have to go as low as to open a filthy lock and just make a low by the ground follower do it. Haven't found one that wasn't bound to just one quest and bound to just several doors yet, to my displeasure.

[azuarc]

What Duruza said. Bring back auto-attempt so I don't have to diddle with the master locks finding the magical pixel, since the game resets your position after every break. Sometimes I get it in two tries, and sometimes it takes me twenty. I'd be content with losing the twenty outright to get the thing open.

[Isildor]

I don't know if this was supposed to happen this way, but in my wife's game, she attempted to shoot a wolf through the bars of a cage with her bow, struck the lock instead and the lock/door opened. Has anyone else seen this?

[Dunmer999]

Someone please test this. Can we smash locks now?

[mjordan]

While on the topic of lockpicking... I just started the game and was able to pick a master level lock with 15 skill and of course, no perks. It wasn't "easy" for me and I used up 10 picks. My question is what will a higher lockpicking skill do for me? I don't intend to use any perks in this tree but I do plan on leveling it to max... Will it become less likely that my pick will break at a higher skill level?

[OblivionDuruza]

The Lockpicking perks can actually be pretty good. Aside from Unbreakable lockpicks and having the pick placed near the sweet spot, there are a number which will actually give you better loot from chest, in terms of more gold, and better items. Higher skill will let you unlock these perks, but it's also supposed to increase margin for error on the area where the lockpick needs to be placed inorder to unlock the lock, iirc.

[Feanor]

The Lockpicking perks can actually be pretty good. Aside from Unbreakable lockpicks and having the pick placed near the sweet spot, there are a number which will actually give you better loot from chest, in terms of more gold, and better items. Higher skill will let you unlock these perks, but it's also supposed to increase margin for error on the area where the lockpick needs to be placed inorder to unlock the lock, iirc.

And let's not forget the +100 carrying wieght!

[OblivionDuruza]

That's a Pickpocket perk though isn't it the third one if I recall. Beautiful perk though, well worth spending 3 points in Pickpocket for.

[Feanor]

That's a Pickpocket perk though isn't it the third one if I recall. Beautiful perk though, well worth spending 3 points in Pickpocket for.

Ups, my bad. Yes it's a Pickpocket perk.

[Gallus]

Well lock picking perk tree would need to be reworked if they added open to alteration, because as it stands right now the lockpicking tree requires way too many useless perk points to get 1 or 2 decent improvements; but I agree it's lame to play a "warrior" or "mage" type character and have to use a "thief" skill to get loot.

I think there should be 3 ways to open chests, one for each character-type (thief, warrior, mage). First you have to get rid of the main-lockpick line. They are useless as even master chests can be opened fairly easy with only 25-30 skill and zero perks. Then convert the old novice through master lock picking perks into "useful" perks, like the treasure hunter / extra gold perks already in game. Maybe some lockpick perks to Auto open any chest (one for each skill teir), that way you can eventually avoid the lockpicking game all together (like with the mage / warrior chest opening equivalents i'm about to suggest).

Then you could work chest-bashing open into 1h / 2h skill tree as a side perk (rank 1-5 for each level of chest) for warrior players.

Then alteration could have open spell. (alteration already useful).

There you have it. 3 player types, each able to open chests in their own way, and while their at it, it would make lockpicking tree worth while.

I should get hired to be a consultant for these games lol.

[OblivionDuruza]

There was a mod which attempted to do this for Oblivion, but the problem is, how do you determine a warrior's chance to open a lock? Simply bashing a lock should not allow you to break though more sophisticated locks as effectively as a spell or proficiency in Lockpicking, and with Strength removed, you'd need to find something else to act as a 'lockbashing' skill, which could potentially be a weapon skill as you suggest. But even then that would undermine Lockpicking as an already tenuous skill itself. What Bethesda really needs to do is make Lockpicking more engaged and more interesting, add variety and make it worth spending the time to do the mini-game. Or, do as they did in Morrowind and remove the mini-game and simple let numbers do the talking, which would actually make the perks necessary and skill in Lockpicking more essential. Alternatively, find some way to balance the skill so you can't simply become good at the mini-game and find yourself picking Master Locks at low levels of Lockpicking without the necessary perks. It's like giving a low level player an exploit through which they can kill any enemy, regardless of weapon skill, it undermines having the skill in the first place.

Maybe if Lockpicking as a skill encompassed 'lockbashing' as a sort of skill derived auto-attempt? I mean, I'm not to fussed that it's a Stealth skill, because if a Thief wants to kill a foe he/she has to use a Combat skill to do it (or Magic, granted).

[Nocturnal]

I seem to find to find a lot more lockpicks in this game so it doesn't concern me if I have to break 20 lockpicks to open a master chest (since I would rather use the perks for something else). That seems to be the problem as I didn't even care how low my skill was when it came to opening the locks, my actions towards chests are 'spammy' and again I didn't even care about the perks which would make lockpicking easier. In Morrowind I found it harder because there was no visual mini-game and was more of a challenge which I liked.

I wish they had kept the 'open' spell though for the RPing options for a mage though.