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Fuse Lockpick and Traps into the Security skill?

Should we fuse Lockpick and Traps into the Security skill?

  • Yes

    Votes: 8 36.4%
  • No

    Votes: 10 45.5%
  • Dynamites blow the trap and the lock (KC)

    Votes: 4 18.2%

  • Total voters
    22
Joined
May 11, 2007
Messages
1,853,653
Location
Belém do Pará, Império do Brasil
One of Van Buren's changes is the aparent fusion of Lockpick & Traps into one single skill, Security, which deals with both objects.

Should we fuse or should we keep them separated?
 

hiver

Guest
I dont know, traps - Outdorsman?
It doesnt really seem completely fitting and natural. And security is way too generic term - with some specific connotations, that doesnt really fit.

How about good old fashioned and very clear - Burglary?

While traps could get fused with Outdorsman - since that IS natural and very reasonable - easily acceptable. And then it could play a role in noticing and disabling traps while youre doing Burglary. Something like a double skill check, that AoD uses, only here it may be a bit softer and use the overall sum of two skills to handle the problem.
 

The_scorpion

Liturgist
Joined
Dec 10, 2006
Messages
1,056
Sounds okay. Depends on what types of locks and traps will be depicted in the game. Either way, don't Focus too much on lockpicking since it's horibly overused in most RPG's. Like an almost destroyed rotting shack somewhere out in the wasteland barely held together by some bamboo sticks supporting the roof yet your superhero can hardly open the shack's door because of high-Level lock... or constantly locked chests and stuff that makes no sense whatsoever (did anybody say Wasteland 2?)
 

hiver

Guest
Thing is... most locks you can just break or shoot off.
I think that should be available- allowed in the game.

The real problem should arise from that being a very loud action to take. Which should change he relations with NPCs - drastically.

So... the actual locpicking and being able to disable traps should be important in specific places, where you dont want to be heard doing those things like bashing a lock with a rock or shooting at it. Where you dont want to be caught steeling.
And of course, there should be a few safes or much harder and sturdy doors that you cant force or blast through - that will actually demand the high skill to handle.

But the usual containers and simply locks should be breakable by force, if you dont have a skill.
 

ERYFKRAD

Barbarian
Patron
Joined
Sep 25, 2012
Messages
28,237
Strap Yourselves In Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Not all traps would come under security, would they? One could as well use a mix of science+outdoorsman to craft traps and repair+outdoorsman to plant them, if that's of any help.
 

Kaucukovnik

Cipher
Joined
Mar 26, 2009
Messages
488
Not all traps would come under security, would they? One could as well use a mix of science+outdoorsman to craft traps and repair+outdoorsman to plant them, if that's of any help.

Sounds messy, a separate skill may work better. Especially if multiple types of traps are planned.

And dynamite is OP indeed. Low skill should have another drawback than just waiting a bit longer for badly timed detonators.
 

felipepepe

Codex's Heretic
Patron
Joined
Feb 2, 2007
Messages
17,274
Location
Terra da Garoa
Lockpick is too usefull, it should be a separate skill. Fuse Traps and Outsdoorsman, that makes more sense (from a mechanics point of view, at least).
 

laclongquan

Arcane
Joined
Jan 10, 2007
Messages
1,870,144
Location
Searching for my kidnapped sister
NOt entirely. Think: you find a mechanical trap under the floor of a military base, and you use the skill to live in the wilderness to defuse it? Ridiculous.

Leave all three alone is my recommendation. Security sound more like hacking, anyway.
 

tuluse

Arcane
Joined
Jul 20, 2008
Messages
11,400
Serpent in the Staglands Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Shadorwun: Hong Kong
I could see traps being disarmed from a security skill, repair, or outdoorsman.

Maybe drop traps and mark them as either outdoorsman or repair traps. So there are two trap disarming skills. It also gives two lesser skills an additional use.
 

Kaucukovnik

Cipher
Joined
Mar 26, 2009
Messages
488
Make both skills worthwhile on their own if possible. Yeah, not being able to shoot locks is unrealistic. So is the inability to blow up thin walls with C4. Or the fact you can travel for weeks without food or water. Or the fact that except sleeping all healing takes effect instanteously.

By this merging logic you could eliminate skills altogether and fuse them into stats in the end.
Let's see merge-able skills:

-Big Guns -> Firearms + STR
-Energy Weapons -> Firearms + Science
Melee -> Close Combat
Small Guns -> Firearms
Throwing
-Unarmed -> Close Combat

Doctor -> Medicine
-First Aid -> Medicine
-Lockpick -> Repair
Repair
Science
Sneak
-Steal -> Sneak
-Traps -> Repair / Outdoorsman / Science

-Barter -> Speech
-Gambling - Speech (poker, etc) / Repair (fruit machines)
Outdoorsman
Speech

Now we are left with 9 skills. That's almost the amount of base stats.
Note that all the suggestions are far less convoluted than the proposed Locks & Traps merge or other suggestions. My examples could as well follow the precedent.
(I actually agree with some of them, but not all by far)

Bottom line: I like the merging/dissolving idea less and less as I think about it and I regret voting for the KC option at first. Can't think of a consistent way to merge them.
And how is the UI supposed to handle an ability that's spread across multiple skills?
 

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