I just wanted to go over something that was bothering me.
Repairing Thieves' Tools right now has a cost associated to it. I think that this is a bit extreme compared to what it takes to repair items normally. Critically failing a Pick Lock check causes your set of picks to become broken. This is understandable but the fact that it calls out replacing the broken picks is rough.
Here's my suggestion.
Change the Critical Failure for Thievery - Pick Lock to the following.
Critical Failure You either undo one success you have already gained, or, if you have no successes, you break your tools. The tools can be used while broken, but are treated as poor-quality tools. If your tools are already broken then your picks are destroyed and must be replaced. Replacing them requires 6 sp, or 50 sp for expert-quality thieves’ tools.
Outside of that you can let picks be repaired normally by the Craft skill. There still is a chance for Critical Failure which will destroy them but it gives you a chance to save them and prevents an instant loss of character wealth.
Mend is a cheap option if you have a caster ... and an hour.
In this situation, I'm not sure Mend would work. Right now it specifically says that you have to pay to repair the picks.
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Mending will work.
It targets a nonmagical object of light bulk or less. Check.
It removes the Broken condition from that object. Check.
Sure, the Thievery skill says you have to pay to fix broken lockpicks, but after Mending them, you don't have broken lockpicks.
Don't get hung up on the fact that it specifically calls out the price to replace them. The only reason that rule is there is because without it, people would think they need to buy a whole new thievery kit which is much more expensive. The price listed to replace broken picks is just saying "Hey, you don't need a new thievery kit, just replace the broken picks for a greatly reduced price." It is definitely not saying "The only possible way to resolve the problem of broken lockpicks is to replace them and all other possible solutions are forced to fail because of this rule."
Considering the current reading is:
Critical Failure You either undo one success you have already gained, or, if you have no successes, you break your tools. The tools can be used while broken, but are treated as poorquality tools. repairing them requires replacing the tools (costing 6 sp, or 50 sp for expert-quality thieves’ tools).
I don't believe that either the standard Repair action for crafting nor the Mending spell would work since it specifically calls out repair conditions for it. But if it does, then technically that would allow the Repair action for crafting work as well.
Either way would still love some clarification in the text for the skill in future revisions.
You can repair a broken vorpal sword. You can certainly repair a broken lockpick. Remember that "broken" is a distinct condition from "destroyed." Broken really means battered, bent, etc, not shattered into little pieces.
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Gloom, seriously, that is not an EXCLUSIVE RULE. It is just telling you that you don't have to buy a full-price thieves tools. You can repair anything with a broken condition. You can use skills+time to do it, or you can use magic, or you can purchase replacements.
I do believe they used the wrong word. They should have said "replacing them" rather than "repairing them".
I'm 100% certain that this is what they meant.
The alternative, which you (Gloom) seem to suspect, is that everything in the world can be repaired by skills and/or magic EXCEPT thieves tools.
This just simply is not the case. There is no reason. No remotely plausible justification. No rhyme. No reason. As Fuzzypaws said, if you can repair a vorpal sword with the broken condition, then you can repair a simple little piece of non-magical bent metal (lockpick) with the broken condition.
Repair is a easy DC Craft skill check that takes 10 minutes
I'd really like to think that this is the case. Either way, clarification on wording for the Lockpicking action would definitely be appreciated!
Nothing in that rule excludes mending (or any other method of repair) from working - what exactly needs clarifying?
'repairing them requires replacing the tools (costing 6 sp, or 50 sp for expert-quality thieves’ tools)'
This wording specifically says that repairing the tools requires a cost. Typically, when you look at wording it's recommended to take the more specific wording.
It's just ambiguous. Trying to argue that it's not is a really strange hill to choose to die on.
Maybe this time a "usually" is needed. huh.