I don't understand how Thieves' Tools work in this game

Like, you can consume one to reroll a lockpicking check. That bit makes sense.

But also sometimes you’ll pick a lock, not reroll, and it’ll consume one of your tools anyway.

Same thing with trap disarming kits.

Do they have a ‘durability %’ that is just hidden to the player? Does it relate to the difficulty of the lock itself?

Sometimes I’ll pick seven doors without a single one being consumed, and sometimes three of them will be consumed in a row… ?

I don’t get it, and I found no explanation for it anywhere in the game.

Murvel,

I’ve tried to use Thieves tools once and it went like this:

Tried it on a flimsy door, people were looking so I put the tools away. I instead picked up a barrel and threw it at the door at which point i teleport in, met a chick with paralyzed legs and then teleport out. Door was fine though and the thieves tools had done its job.

I can’t tell if the game is jank and I’m much too creative or if the game is masterclass and I just can’t comprehend its genius.

VinesNFluff,
@VinesNFluff@pawb.social avatar

All of the above.

But if you’re gonna go with gorilla tactics like clipping through, you do know you can just blow up the door, right? :D

ayth,

It doesn’t consume on reroll. It consumes on fail. So you fail, one is used, and it’s showing you how many you have left to keep trying.

Izzy,
@Izzy@lemmy.world avatar

As a rogue with so much bonus to lockpicking I almost never fail a lockpick. I am accumulating thieves tools like crazy. 😵‍💫

TransplantedSconie,

I found a pair of Gloves of Dexterity for my Paladin/Bard. Automatic 18 Dex baby! Those are never leaving his hands lol

fushuan,

I thought the same for the int helmet, but then there’s another that raises cha to 22, and I became a hick again lmao.

Oldmandan,
@Oldmandan@lemmy.ca avatar

On the other hand, my Warlock who coincidentally has the best dex in my party, has been burning through Thieves’ Tools like there’s no tomorrow, since no one has Slight of Hand and I can’t be bothered to go back to camp for Astarion unless I’m doing stuff I know involves him. :P I miss Shadowheart having the Urchin background. :P

forgotaboutlaye,

Definitely seems worth it to keep one rogue in the party just for lockpicking. Seems to save a lot of time.

Oldmandan,
@Oldmandan@lemmy.ca avatar

Caster with Knock is is a solid alternative, although I’ve found myself needing to rest because Gale has spent all his spells on unlocking stuff an unfortunate amount of times. :P

fushuan,

My lore bad has expertise in sleight of hands, the 18 dex gloves and knock. anything over 20 gets a knock, anything under gets the easiest roll of their life (13-17 bonus by now)

Mongostein,

This was true of the original Baldur’s Gate games as well.

FarceMultiplier,
@FarceMultiplier@lemmy.ca avatar

I’ve got 18 now. I really should send some to camp.

AnarchistArtificer,

I usually have Shadowheart in my party so I use guidance for basically everything and adding that 1d4 to Astarion’s lockpicking check feels honestly gratuitous at this point (I still do it tho)

Ravaja,

This combo has opened several 30 point locks for me

fushuan,

I just use a 2nd lvl spell called Knock, why try when you can just succeed. By the time you see 30 locks spending some 2nd lvl spells for knock should be totally fine.

VinesNFluff,
@VinesNFluff@pawb.social avatar

No but like, sometimes you’ll succeed a roll and a message will pop up going “THIEVES’ TOOLS USED”

It seems to happen when I roll something that’s just a bit more than the DC, so like, a lock that needs 20 and I’ll roll 21, it gets consumed. Whereas it seems to happen less when rolling like 10 more than I need.

But then sometimes even this observation doesn’t seem to apply.

Spamdump,

I know exactly what you mean and it happens to me. Pick a lock and succeed on the first try and get the message it consumed one. Happens randomly for me like you.

lzbz,

I think that’s the same message as “used old key”. It doesn’t get consumed, just informs you how it was solved. But I never paid much attention to it, so I might be wrong.

magnusrufus,

Are you sure it’s actually consuming the tools when you get the message that they were used? I noticed the same message and had the same concern but when I started paying closer attention to the number of tools I had in my inventory it only ever went down if I failed a lockpick. If I lockpick and succeed I get the message, and sure I did use my tools, but they remain in my inventory.

Skyhighatrist,

You use thieves tools every time, but they break if you fail. That’s the easiest way to think about it. That message popping up doesn’t correspond with breaking a thieves tools in my experience. So you get the message, but the total available remains the same.

Dimok,

I’ve noticed this too and have been trying to keep an eye on why. I have noticed that when I have quite a bit of + to the roll (dex, sleight, spell bonuses.) and it’s a 10 or below, it doesn’t even light up the thieves kit as being used. When it’s a higher requirement of 15+ OR I don’t use the spell bonus, or I use my main character who has the dex bonus but not the sleight of hand…it doesn’t use it on lower requirements. My guess based off this was that if I blew the requirements away (5 or 10 maybe over the requirement?) it wouldn’t even bother using one. It’s all conjecture though, but that’s the trend I’ve seen since I started paying attention.

SinTacks,

I don’t think I’ve lost any that way yet, only for fails.

Duke_Nukem_1990,

I was pretty sure that every successful pick needs one tool. Maybe you checked the wrong inventory for how many were used? Party members will just use lockpicking tools from other inventories as well.

Trap disarming seems to only consume the tool if you fail the disarm.

Skyhighatrist,

You use thieves tools every time you lockpick, but if you fail they break decreasing your supply by one. If you succeed, you may reuse the same thieves tools for the next lock.

chandz05,

I also think it works this way. Especially since they show up under the dice when you roll for the check

fushuan,

I’ve done gauntlets with over 10 traps with a single tool. This is proof enough lol.

CosmicSploogeDrizzle,
@CosmicSploogeDrizzle@lemmy.world avatar

@remindme 1 day

I also would like to know more about how this works

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