I am a little confused about the follower/lockpicking ability. I am RPing my idea of a pure mage, no sneak/pickpocket/lockpick thieving skills at all. I have had Lydia successfully pick a master-locked chest, but then on expert/adept she'll sometimes say "Sorry I can't do that". And it seems she won't open doors, which svcks in Dwemer ruins were the good loot is behind locked gates. Is there a follower who is more reliable with lockpicking, or will open doors?

Who says Mages can't pick locks lol?

Lockpicks are dirt cheap and alot of shops stock them as oppose to just a few characters like in Oblivion. If you pick all the doors and chests you can, your skill in lockpicking will soon get better and better. There is no need really to invest in the perks.

Is there also not a "open lock" spell like in Oblivion?

I don't know if it's different for different followers but I've had Lydia open up several chests for me.

She seems to have no problem opening expert and master level locks on chests. Usually with the cost of one pick. Pretty impressive considering she's hardly a thief build.

Although, once I asked her to open a master lock on a door and she said she couldn't do it. So I don't know if she's somehow restriceted to chests or what.

It comes in handy when your in the middle of a dungeon and you're running low on picks.

Do you have to provide the picks to the follower or do they just have some (like iron arrows)?

You have to give them the lockpicks.

It's more about not wanting to level from non-magical skills.

There's this awesome thing called "roleplaying".

Why would a mage know how to pick locks?

Why would a Mage not? That sounds very stereotypical.


Roleplaying? What's that? I play Skyrim because it's a shoot'em up.

I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner every day, sleep a minimum of six hours, plan my journeys with suitable places to stop and rest along the way and live off the land by hunting and harvesting. Nobody would play this game without roleplaying my friend.

Because a mage wouldn't realistically expect the "Tome of Eldritch Lore and Spellcasting" to just be handed to them at the end of a dungeon? Because spellbooks cost gold? Because valuable treasure which is worth many gold can be found in chests which are often locked? Because any self-respecting dungeon crawler should have someone who knows how to pick locks?

Seems like there's plenty of reasons to me.

uh, yeah... there is a lock pick potion that helps. I never even considered asking my companion to try a lock... is this actually possible?