Very difficult to find lockpics compared to vanilla

Type: 

Suggestion

Severity: 

Normal

Game version: 

OpenMW

Concerns: 

TR_Mainland

Found in Version: 

Status: 

Description: 

I was playing a non-thief character who happened to use Security as one of their major skills (explorer who was able to work their way around locks and traps).

Problem is, not joining the TG or HH meant there were no vendors who sold lockpics, not even less savory pawnbrokers like the guy in Helnim. Not to mention they never came up in any dungeons or on any defeated enemies, even on smugglers and bandits. I feel like they are an essential part of clutter for dungeons and around less savory groups, and should also sometimes come up in levelled lists. I cleared the entirety of Mandaran which was full of bandits/smugglers and not a single lockpick or probe to be found on any desk, chair, crate or surface, or in any container or on anybodys inventory. This seems like a missing element of worldbuilding.

Compare this to Vanilla where I took a boat to Sadrith Mora and found 4 different vendors who sold lockpicks - the theives guild one who did business with me even though I wasn't a member, but also notably a smith and general trader as well. The smith makes sense too - they would forge these sometimes. And also they frequently come up in dungeons or as loot including in the inventories of smugglers, at least I remember finishing vanilla playthroughs with far more lockpics and probes than I knew what to do with.

I understand that the mainland is more civilised than Vvardenfell, but regardless I feel like this facet of gameplay /roleplay for non-theives is ignored in the world/level design!

Comments

Okay so I've looked at https:

Ronik's picture

Okay so I've looked at https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Thieves_Tools_Merchants and my main takeaways are:

  1. The main sources of thief tools in vanilla are Thieves Guild, Morag Tong, House Hlaalu and surprisingly, Camonna Tong vendors.

  2. Vanilla sometimes drops random TG/MT NPCs in cities just so there's some Thief Service and Assassin Service representation.

  3. There's a couple of examples of major traders of a particular city with some lockpicks in stock (like Arrille) if the previous two points don't apply.

  4. Pawnbrokers always buy thief tools, but very few of them have them in stock.

  5. There's much less thief tool vendors in Redoran and Telvanni cities compared to Hlaalu.

So there's definitely room to improve for TR, although I would disagree with some of the observations made by OP (Specifically, the Sadrith Mora smith and general trader don't sell lockpicks. Also lockpicks aren't really included in too many leveled lists).

I made a fix with following changes:

  1. A couple of Camonna Tong NPCs are now vendors selling lockpicks to n'wahs.

  2. Andothren and Akamora Morag Tong guildhalls which previously didn't sell lockpicks now do. Eventually I'll also revise the other service NPCs in these locations since they seem kinda lacking at the first glance. One NPC in Bodrum tradehouse was also recruited to Morag Tong and given Assassin Service class.

  3. Some existing lockpicks vendors in TR had their stock buffed since it was quite limited previously.

  4. A few traders in cities without any relevant guild NPCs were selected to sell some lockpicks and probes as well.

Patch File: