Transmuted Lockpick Set

From: Elixir of Transmutation

Lore: The Transmuted Lockpick Set is a creation born from the ingenuity and resourcefulness of a skilled locksmith and alchemist named Alistair Locksley. Alistair, renowned for his unmatched expertise in both lockpicking and alchemy, sought to merge his two passions into a single tool. Through tireless experimentation and a deep understanding of the Elixir of Transmutation, Alistair discovered a method to infuse lockpicks with transmutative properties, resulting in the creation of the Transmuted Lockpick Set.

The lore surrounding these lockpicks tells of Alistair’s desire to push the boundaries of his craft and aid fellow thieves, adventurers, and those seeking access to locked places. It is said that Alistair shared his knowledge and taught select individuals his unique technique, ensuring that the art of the Transmuted Lockpick Set would live on.

Use: The Transmuted Lockpick Set is a valuable tool for rogues, thieves, and those skilled in lockpicking. When the lockpicks come into contact with a lock, the transmutative properties infused within them interact with the lock’s tumblers and mechanisms. This interaction alters the lock, making it easier to pick or temporarily rendering it inoperable, depending on the locksmith’s skill and intent.

Tier One Stats:

• Transmutation Effect: The lockpicks transmute the tumblers and mechanisms of locks, making them easier to pick or temporarily inoperable.
• Lock Difficulty: The lockpicks provide a moderate bonus to the locksmith’s ability to pick locks, making it easier to overcome the lock’s security measures.
• Usage: The Transmuted Lockpick Set contains multiple lockpicks for multiple uses.

Temporary Skills Gained:

• Lockpicking: Proficiency in lockpicking is crucial to effectively utilize the Transmuted Lockpick Set. The locksmith’s expertise and dexterity greatly influence the success of using these lockpicks.

Preparation: To create the Transmuted Lockpick Set, the following ingredients and steps are required:

• Elixir of Transmutation: A measured amount is needed as the catalyst for infusing the lockpicks with transmutative properties.
• Lockpicks: A set of high-quality lockpicks, typically made of durable and flexible material, is prepared for infusion.
• Alchemical Tools: Various tools and instruments specific to alchemy are utilized to ensure the precise infusion process.

Cost: The Transmuted Lockpick Set is considered a specialized tool due to its transmutative properties and its value to those engaged in stealthy activities. The cost of acquiring or crafting the lockpick set would depend on the availability of the Elixir of Transmutation and the quality of the lockpicks. Each set would have a moderate cost.

Process:

• Prepare the Elixir of Transmutation by combining the required alchemical ingredients with a specific alchemical process.
• Immerse the set of lockpicks into the Elixir of Transmutation, ensuring that each pick is fully coated and infused with the transmutative properties.
• Allow the lockpicks to dry and settle, solidifying the transmutative effect within them.
• The Transmuted Lockpick Set is now ready for use.

Tags:

• Transmutation: The lockpicks possess transmutative properties, altering the tumblers and mechanisms of locks they interact with.
• Lockpicking: The lockpick set is a specialized tool used for picking locks.
• Consumable: The lockpicks can be used multiple times before needing to be re-immersed in the Elixir of Transmutation.
• Additional: Arcane Infiltration, Adaptive Tumblers, Silent Manipulation, Alchemical Dexterity, Obscured Entry, Etherbound Mechanisms, Rogue’s Artifice, Metamorphic Precision, Shadowbound Tools, Keyless Passage

Perception of Activation:

• User’s Perspective:
  • Sight: As the lockpick makes contact with the lock, its surface shimmers with a liquid-like sheen, momentarily shifting in shape to conform to the lock’s tumblers. A faint glow of silver-blue pulses along its length, and the lock itself appears to ripple subtly, as if momentarily unsure of its own form.
  • Sound: A whispering metallic hum emanates from the lockpick, accompanied by the soft clicking of tumblers realigning. For a brief moment, the lock sounds as though it contains more mechanisms than it should, clicking in patterns that do not seem entirely natural.
  • Touch: The lockpick feels unnaturally smooth and slightly warm to the touch, as though alive. When inserted into the lock, there is a sensation of resistance at first, but then an effortless glide, as if the pick instinctively knows where to move.
  • Smell: A fleeting trace of ozone mixed with aged iron lingers in the air, reminiscent of a blacksmith’s forge just before metal is shaped.
  • Taste: If the user’s fingers brush their lips afterward, there is a faint, tingling bitterness, akin to touching something infused with raw magic.
  • Extrasensory Perceptions:
    • Material Flux: A momentary awareness of the lock’s structure flows into the user’s mind, as if they can sense how it was made, what metals compose it, and where its weak points lie.
    • Echo of Entry: The lockpick imparts a fleeting impression of past uses—whispers of doors unlocked, safes breached, and vaults once sealed.
    • Dimmed Presence: While using the lockpick, the user feels briefly “less observed,” as if reality itself hesitates to take note of their presence.
• Observer’s Perspective:
  • Sight: To an onlooker, the lockpick seems to subtly reshape itself as it enters the lock, bending and shifting with almost imperceptible precision. The lock briefly emits a soft glint, like metal being rapidly tempered, before settling.
  • Sound: The usual sharp clicks of lockpicking are subdued, replaced by a softer, almost melodic sequence of shifting mechanisms. If the observer is close enough, they may hear faint whispers of movement, like the lock is being picked from within rather than by an external tool.
  • Touch: If another person tries to hold the lockpick mid-use, they may feel a momentary resistance, as if the tool does not want to be interrupted.
  • Extrasensory Perceptions:
    • Uncanny Recognition: Anyone particularly attuned to magic or mechanics may feel as though the lock is “changing” rather than being unlocked.
    • Temporal Displacement: A slight sense of déjà vu washes over those nearby, as if the act of unlocking has already happened before they observed it.
• Positives:
  • The lockpick adapts to fit a variety of locks, reducing difficulty.
  • Produces minimal noise, making it useful for stealth.
  • Briefly grants an intuitive sense of the lock’s inner workings.
  • Creates a slight obfuscation effect, making the user momentarily less noticeable.
• Negatives:
  • Some highly complex or magically reinforced locks may resist the transmutation effect, causing unpredictable failures.
  • Repeated use within a short period can cause slight disorientation, as if the user has difficulty recalling which locks they have already picked.
  • Sensitive security systems or magical wards may register the transmutation as an anomaly, potentially triggering an alert.
  • If the lockpick is broken mid-use, the lock itself may become permanently altered, potentially making it impossible to open by normal means.

The Transmuted Lockpick Set, with its unique transmutative abilities, is a highly coveted tool among those skilled in the arts of thievery, espionage, and exploration. However, due to its potentially disruptive nature, the recipe and the lockpick sets themselves are not openly sold in regular marketplaces or conventional shops.

The recipe for the Transmuted Lockpick Set is often passed down through secret societies, underground guilds, or hidden networks of thieves and adventurers. These clandestine organizations and individuals guard their knowledge closely, ensuring that only those they deem trustworthy and worthy gain access to the recipe. Acquiring the recipe may require performing daring heists, proving one’s loyalty, or forging connections within the shadowy underworld.

The Transmuted Lockpick Sets themselves are typically crafted by skilled locksmiths who possess both expertise in lockpicking and alchemical knowledge. These craftsmen are often members of the secret societies or guilds mentioned earlier. They create lockpicks in hidden workshops, safeguarding the secret of their creation.

The environments where the Transmuted Lockpick Sets are commonly used are diverse and depend on the activities of those who possess them. Some common scenarios include:

• Thieving Operations: Skilled thieves and burglars employ the Transmuted Lockpick Sets to gain unauthorized access to secured locations. They use the lockpicks to transmute the locks, making them easier to pick and bypassing the security measures.
• Espionage and Intrigue: Spies and covert operatives use the lockpicks to infiltrate enemy bases, secure sensitive information, or retrieve valuable artifacts. The transmutative properties of the lockpicks allow them to manipulate locks quietly and efficiently, ensuring stealthy operations.
• Exploration and Treasure Hunting: Adventurers and explorers seeking hidden treasures or ancient ruins often encounter locked doors, chests, or secret passages. The Transmuted Lockpick Sets enable them to overcome these obstacles and delve deeper into unexplored territories.
• Locksmithing Challenges: Skilled locksmiths who possess the Transmuted Lockpick Sets may participate in lockpicking competitions or engage in friendly challenges with their peers. The sets provide an edge, allowing them to demonstrate their prowess and outperform their rivals.

The Door That Would Not Open

Long before the world was measured in footsteps, before the rivers chose their beds and the mountains knew their names, there was a man called Alistair Locksley, who was neither king nor thief, yet knew the secrets of both. Some said he was born inside a locked chest, others that he had never once touched a door that would not yield to him. The truth, as it is always, was both less and more.

Alistair was no ordinary locksmith. His fingers were swift as the wind through the cracks of an old castle, his mind sharper than the teeth of the great gears that turned in hidden vaults. Yet for all his skill, there was one door that would not bow to him.

The door stood alone in a forgotten ruin, untouched by time or man. No wall held it. No hinges bound it. It was merely a door, standing where no door should stand. Its keyhole was deeper than the arm could reach, its surface unyielding to all force. No tool could breach it, no trick could deceive it. Many before him had tried, their tools now rusting at its feet.

But Alistair was not like others.

He took from his coat a vial of shifting light, an elixir brewed in the farthest reaches where transmutation and deception danced together. With steady hands, he took his finest lockpick, a tool he had carried from youth to age, and let the potion drink its steel.

And the lockpick changed.

It did not bend nor break, but it was no longer what it had been. It whispered against the air as if remembering all the locks it had ever touched, all the secrets it had ever known. When Alistair placed it against the great door’s keyhole, the metal did not scrape. It sank, as water sinks into dry earth, as a shadow slips across the floor.

Then, the door spoke.

“What name have you worn to come here?”

Alistair, who had carried many names, spoke none of them.

“What place do you seek beyond?”

Alistair, who had walked many paths, named none of them.

“What will you be, if you step through?”

Alistair, who had always known the answer, said at last, “Something new.”

The door sighed. It had kept its vigil for countless years, had resisted countless hands. But before a lockpick that was neither tool nor weapon, neither steel nor thought, it yielded—not broken, not conquered, but changed.

The door became a way.

What Alistair found beyond, no story tells. Some say he walked into the sky, never seen again. Some say he stepped through and, in doing so, became the door himself. But those who carry the Transmuted Lockpick Set today whisper that, if you listen closely when the pick meets the lock, you can hear a question, ancient and patient:

“What will you be, if you step through?”

Moral of the Story: A door is not always meant to be opened; sometimes, it is meant to change the one who seeks to pass.

Suggested conversions to other systems:

Call of Cthulhu (7th Edition) – Transmuted Lockpick Set

• Alchemical Tool, Rare
• Description: An enchanted set of lockpicks infused with transmutation energy, allowing them to subtly shift their shape to fit and manipulate locks with unnatural precision.
• Game Mechanics:
  • Lockpicking Bonus: Grants a +20% bonus to Locksmith rolls when attempting to pick a non-magical lock.
  • Transmutative Effect: If a lock is particularly ancient or complex, the user may spend 1 Magic Point to make the lockpicks momentarily shift to an optimal form, reducing the difficulty of the roll.
  • Supernatural Risk: Any lockpicked with this tool may retain a faint alchemical signature, detectable by those attuned to mystical forces. A failed roll may cause the lockpick to momentarily fuse with the lock, increasing future difficulty.

Blades in the Dark – Transmuted Lockpick Set

• Fine Tool, Illicit, Rare
• Description: A lockpick set that shifts in response to mechanical complexity, allowing the user to bypass locks with uncanny ease.
• Game Mechanics:
  • Fine Item: Functions as a Fine Lockpicks upgrade, granting improved effect on Lockpicking actions.
  • Adaptive Form: When used on a high-security lock, the player may push themselves for 1 Stress to grant an additional +1d to their roll.
  • Potential Complication: On a 1-3 result, the lock may shift permanently, making it obvious that tampering has occurred.

Dungeons & Dragons (5th Edition) – Transmuted Lockpick Set

• Wondrous Item, Uncommon
• Description: These enchanted lockpicks alter their shape slightly upon contact with a lock, allowing for near-seamless manipulation of internal mechanisms.
• Game Mechanics:
  • Lockpicking Bonus: Grants advantage on Dexterity (Thieves’ Tools) checks to pick non-magical locks.
  • Transmutation Effect: Once per long rest, the user may force a lock to temporarily become brittle, lowering the DC of a check by 5.
  • Magical Locks: Against magically reinforced locks, the set does not grant advantage but allows the user to attempt to pick them as if they were mundane locks (if normally impossible).

Knave – Transmuted Lockpick Set

• Consumable, Rare
• Description: This set of lockpicks can momentarily shift to bypass even the most intricate mechanical locks.
• Game Mechanics:
  • Effect: Grants a +1 bonus to lockpicking rolls.
  • Single-Use Activation: Once per session, the user may automatically succeed on a single lockpicking attempt, but the lockpick becomes unusable for the rest of the day.
  • Limitation: Does not work on locks that require magical passwords or unique keys.

Fate – Transmuted Lockpick Set

• Rare, Alchemical Tool
• Description: A set of lockpicks infused with transmutation magic, allowing them to shift subtly to fit and manipulate locks beyond normal means.
• Game Mechanics:
  • Aspect: Master Key in Many Forms – Grants a +2 bonus to Overcome rolls when picking locks.
  • Special Effect: Once per session, the user may declare that their lockpick set adapts perfectly to an unknown or highly secure lock, automatically succeeding on the attempt.
  • Compel Risk: If used repeatedly in a short span, the GM may compel an Overcome roll to resist the picks becoming unstable or leaving residual transmutation energy in the lock.

Numenera & Cypher System – Transmuted Lockpick Set

• Level 5 Alchemical Device, Consumable
• Description: This lockpick set shifts microscopically to fit the lock being picked, making it invaluable for infiltration and high-security access.
• Game Mechanics:
  • Effect: Grants an asset on all Speed-based lockpicking tasks for up to 24 hours.
  • Transmutation Surge: Once per use, the picks can momentarily reconfigure to bypass an extremely advanced lock, reducing its difficulty by two steps but requiring a depletion roll (1 in 1d6).
  • Drawback: Using the picks on ancient or alien locks has a 10% chance of permanently altering the lock, rendering it unusable to conventional tools.

Pathfinder (2nd Edition) – Transmuted Lockpick Set

• Adventuring Gear, Uncommon
• Description: These alchemical lockpicks subtly adjust their form, allowing the user to manipulate locks with near-supernatural ease.
• Game Mechanics:
  • Effect: Grants a +1 item bonus to Thievery checks for picking locks.
  • Transmutation Feature: Once per day, the user may alter a lock’s mechanism, reducing its difficulty by 5 DC for one attempt.
  • Limitation: Against magical locks, this tool does not provide a bonus but allows an attempt where one might normally be impossible.

Savage Worlds – Transmuted Lockpick Set

• Alchemical Gear, Rare
• Description: A set of finely crafted lockpicks that shift their shape to fit the most intricate locks, making them invaluable to infiltrators.
• Game Mechanics:
  • Effect: Grants a +2 bonus to Lockpicking rolls when bypassing standard mechanical locks.
  • Adaptive Shift: Once per session, the user may treat any mechanical lock as if it were two levels lower in difficulty.
  • Potential Complication: On a critical failure, the lockpick fuses with the lock, permanently jamming it and requiring destruction or magical removal.

Shadowrun (6th Edition) – Transmuted Lockpick Set

• Alchemical Tool, Illegal
• Description: This highly advanced set of lockpicks has been infused with alchemical transmutation energy, allowing them to subtly shift their structure to match even the most secure locks.
• Game Mechanics:
  • Lockpicking Bonus: Grants a +2 dice pool bonus on Hardware (Lockpicking) tests.
  • Transmutative Adaptation: Once per day, the user may spend 1 Edge to reduce the threshold of a lockpicking test by 2.
  • Detection Risk: Any lock opened with these picks retains a slight magical residue, detectable with Assensing (Threshold 3) or high-end security scans.
• Availability & Cost: Availability 14F, Cost 15,000¥ per set.

Starfinder – Transmuted Lockpick Set

• Hybrid Item, Level 6
• Description: These lockpicks use a mix of nanite-infused metal and transmutation energy to mold themselves to the lock they are attempting to bypass.
• Game Mechanics:
  • Lockpicking Bonus: Grants a +4 insight bonus to Engineering checks to disable locks.
  • Resonant Bypass: Once per day, the user may attempt to unlock a magically warded or biometric lock using Engineering rather than Mysticism or Computers, reducing the DC by 5.
  • Failure Effect: On a natural 1, the lockpick fuses momentarily with the lock, requiring a full round to reset before another attempt can be made.
• Cost: 7,500 credits.

Traveller (Mongoose 2nd Edition) – Transmuted Lockpick Set

• TL 13, Advanced Security Tool
• Description: Using micro-transmutative filaments, this lockpick set alters its form dynamically to match any mechanical locking mechanism.
• Game Mechanics:
  • Lockpicking Bonus: Grants Advantage on any Mechanic or Electronics (Security Systems) test when attempting to open a non-digital lock.
  • Quick Adaptation: Once per session, the user may automatically succeed on a TL 12 or lower lock without a roll.
  • Security Risk: High-end security measures (TL 14+) may register the micro-transmutative shift, increasing future security alert levels.
• Cost: 25,000 credits per set.

Warhammer (Wrath & Glory) – Transmuted Lockpick Set

• Rare Infiltration Tool, Tech-Heresy
• Description: A set of finely crafted lockpicks infused with arcane transmutation energy, capable of reshaping to defeat even the most intricate locks. Possession of such a tool is heretical in most Imperial jurisdictions.
• Game Mechanics:
  • Lockpicking Bonus: Grants a +2 bonus to Tech tests when attempting to bypass non-electronic locks.
  • Adaptive Mechanism: Once per session, the user may reduce the DN of any lockpicking attempt by two steps.
  • Corruption Risk: Prolonged use of these picks may cause residual warp energy contamination. After every three uses, the user must roll a DN 5 Corruption Test.
• Rarity: Extremely rare; possessing or using one in an Imperial world risks immediate Inquisitorial scrutiny.