Not one player has Thievery

[Curgyr]

I have four players. Not a one is trained in Thievery or possesses Thieve's Tools. Now, I understand that these types of skills are pretty fundamental in an adventuring party, and yet here we are. I'm not against saying "you can't do it so you miss out" on some things, such as unlocking a door that might lead to a quicker/safer route or accepting that my players simply don't understand the plot-hint-in-form-of-mysterious-book because they are hypothetically abysmal at Religion and/or Society, but some of the gear in this adventure is literally locked behind a Thievery check.

Any idea of what to do?

For smaller lockboxes, I can force the players to pay an expert to pick the lock for them. Might be fun. For larger lockers and stuff, that doesn't work. I was thinking you could just break the box, like a door, perhaps at risk of damaging fragile items inside. Certainly, there are generic hardness/durability rules. What would y'all go with?

[Mark Seifter]

Sounds like you're looking at using the Force Open Athletics skill action!

[Cupcakus]

There's always smashing doors open with a greataxe! My players call this the "Direct approach"

For chests, a crowbar is just as good as a lockpick for lower level characters.

[David knott 242]

And you may be giving them ideas about what to spend their 2nd level skill increase on.

[Taja the Barbarian]

David knott 242 wrote:

And you may be giving them ideas about what to spend their 2nd level skill increase on.

I believe only Rogues get a skill upgrade at level 2: Everyone else gets them at 'odd levels greater than 1' instead. If no one has Thievery, I'm guessing they don't have a rogue in their party...

Now, you might have a character with a 12+ Int, which makes the Skill Training feat an option at 2nd level...

[First World Bard]

If you've got an Arcane or Occult caster, Knock is a level 2 spell.