The Wiki says the following:

>Lock Mastery has been updated to grant LMASTER FOCUS at rank 1.
>(2*LM rank + (dex OR int bonus / 2)) for LM FOCUS. DEX for PICKLOCK and DISARM, INT for DETECT
>May be stopped using STOP LMASTER FOCUS
>This bonus is mutually exclusive with Lock Pick Enhancement (403) and Disarm Enhancement (404), and the higher bonus will be used.

OK, that all makes sense--but is there a way to determine whether the LMASTER FOCUS bonus or the 403 and 404 bonuses are higher? If the LMASTER FOCUS is higher, I am not using 403 and 44 anyway and might as well drop them. But how does one know which bonus is higher?

Thanks.

--David

"At a moment like this, I can't help but wonder, 'What would Jimmy Buffett do?'"

Just do the math? 403/404 in the wiki have the formula for their bonuses.

- Andreas

Looks to me that once you've mastered LM, the situations where it would pay to use 403 are pretty esoteric. If you've mastered LM and don't want to keep 404, untrain it. The sort of character that might want to use 403 after mastering LM is a very magical rogue going for a record lock right at their limit on an invasion box.

>focusvsspells should do the calculations for you using your current training/ranks.

Thanks, Andreas. I will give that a try.

--David

"At a moment like this, I can't help but wonder, 'What would Jimmy Buffett do?'"

>>I didn't think the 403 and 4o4 formulas were there. I see now they are, but I find them pretty confusing. Specifically, I do not understand what the MIN at the beginning of the formula refers to. Not a big math guy here.

MIN in that case is saying to choose the minimum of the two. Basically, 403/404 can't give you more of a bonus than your lockpicking/trap lore skill. TRUNC(ate) means drop anything after the decimal.

>>>focusvsspells should do the calculations for you using your current training/ranks.

>>Thanks, Andreas. I will give that a try.

Hope it's helpful. If anyone spots an issue with it, just let me know.


- Andreas

<Looks to me that once you've mastered LM, the situations where it would pay to use 403 are pretty esoteric. If you've mastered LM and don't want to keep 404, untrain it. The sort of character that might want to use 403 after mastering LM is a very magical rogue going for a record lock right at their limit on an invasion box.>

Played around with it this morning and that seems to be the case for my level 98 locksmith. Still figuring out exactly where the point is that invar stops being effective and I need to start using vaalin while it's running, but I think I'll eventually drop the spells/harness power.

Not sure what I'll get with those TPs since it's too much of a pain to get anywhere he can actually hunt, but at least I can pick without taking off his kroderine brig now.

Starchitin, the OG

A severed gnomish hand crawls in on its fingertips and makes a rude gesture before quickly decaying and rotting into dust. A gust of wind quickly scatters the dust.