Feeling lost at how to deduce the right lockpick combination? Not to worry, let’s walk through it step by step. First, let’s stage a demonstration. Use this following lockpick pattern.
Insert it into the drawer, then pull out the assembly. Turn it over, and line up the magnets with the wells. Put the white locking pins into the wells so that all of them attach to the lockpick.
Let’s use this pattern to begin our deduction, since all the magnets are arranged in the same polarity. How do you know the orientation? If you hold the lockpick in one hand, your index finger should naturally rest along one side. Always read the notches on that side and you’ll never be confused. In this case, let’s read the lockpick along the top edge, so all of them are NOTCHED.
Let’s test out the first pin closest to the opening. Slowly insert this test lockpick into the keyway until the last magnet is about to disappear. That’s when the first magnet on the lockpick is over the first locking pin.
There should be no sound. This means that the first locking pin is being repelled – a bad result, since we want all the pins to be drawn away from the shear line so the drawer can move. But, at least you’ve determined the correct orientation on locking pin 1 (closest to the opening) is NO NOTCH.
Conversely, if we started with this test lockpick instead, see how the first two (as read along the top edge) are NO NOTCH? If we inserted that until the last magnet is about to disappear, there should be a click – a good result.
The trick is, once you start pushing the test lockpick further into the keyway, are any clicks a new result, or is it from one that you’ve already deduced? Did two locking pins attach themselves simultaneously, so they sound like one?
In gaming terms, a rogue can either try to deduce the answer by using one test pattern – aka using “one try” or “one success” – or they can slowly work through lockpicks that repel known pin positions, so that any click from the next one is clearly heard. The choice is theirs.
In a Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition game, a skill check in the 20s can give a character two tries, or three tries in the 30s. For other game systems like Edge of Empire or Shadowrun, the number of successes on the dice is the number of tries.
Dungeon Masters can secretly decide that on the third try, a trap is sprung unless they use the correct pattern. But a character can utilize their Perception skills to determine the existence of a trap, and when it’s going to go off, then expend one try/success to reset the timer.
Happy deducing!