Lockpicking (Skyrim)

The art of Lockpicking is used to open locked doors and containers faster and with fewer broken lockpicks. "Go fiddling with any locks around here, we're going to have a real big problem."

- Guard

Lockpicking is a skill in and is one of the six skills that falls under The Thief play-style.

Description
The lockpicking mechanic is more similar to Fallout 3's system than the Security skill from Oblivion, except that a player can unlock a lock of any difficulty regardless of their skill level. To open locks, one must feel for the correct tumbler position with a lockpick while turning a tension wrench clockwise in the lock. Caution should be used, as the lockpick will break if too much pressure is applied while it is in the wrong position. The higher the level of the lock, the less pressure allowed before the pick breaks. Taking certain perks in this skill will widen the correct tumbler position for picks, making locks easier to open.
 * Governing Guardian Stone: The Thief

Skill Books

 * Advances in Lockpicking - found on a table in Bannermist Tower.
 * The Wolf Queen, v1 - found near the end of Duckglow Crevice (which is in the hills east of Fort Dunstad), right after the fight with two Chaurus Reapers. It is up the stairs in that room on a table.
 * Proper Lock Design - found on a table on top tower in Faldar's Tooth.
 * The Locked Room - found in Honeystrand Cave on a bandit's body. The cave is just south of Ivarstead.
 * Alternatively found in the lower levels of Alftand Animonculory, inside a locked cage, on a skeleton near a Master-leveled-locked chest.
 * Cronvangr Crave on the table inside the vampire house.
 * Surfeit of Thieves - found in Mistveil Keep Jarl's Chamber and in Volskygge.

The following Miscellaneous Quest increases the Lockpicking Skill:
 * Retrieve Amulet for Shahvee in Windhelm Argonian assemblage, (note: also increases light armor)
 * Retreive Finn's Lute for Inge Six Fingers at the Bard's College in Solitude, (note: also increases the Sneak, Alchemy, Pickpocket, and Speech skills

Trainers

 * Ma'jhad (Expert): Khajiit Caravans (Wandering)
 * Vex (Master): Thieves Guild in Riften

Perks
The following are the perks that become available to select as the skill is leveled up

Lockpicks
Lockpicks are easily obtained, as almost all merchants carry at least 1 of them. Some of the easier ways are:
 * The Thieves Guild fence Tonilia carries around 30 picks for sale.
 * The Khajiit trader outside Whiterun also carries 30 or more picks for sale.
 * Babette in the Dark Brotherhood usually sells between 15 and 20 picks.
 * General goods traders such as Belethor often carry 5 to 10 picks.
 * Nearly all merchants, even food vendors will generally carry at least 1 lockpick in the miscellaneous category.
 * Checking chests, bags and other storage units.
 * Killing or pickpocketing bandits or humanoid monsters.
 * The Skeleton Key. This lockpick is unique in that it will never break; the animation for the pick "breaking" will still occur if you put too much pressure while in the wrong position, but the pick itself doesn't break, meaning that you can try an infinite number of times.

Console Commands
This only works on the PC
 * Add code for lockpicks is "player.additem 0000000a amount". Note: you can also shorten the code by removing zeros. For example, to add 5 lockpicks, type "player.additem a 5" (without the quotes).
 * Enter the console. Click on the chest/door you want to unlock, and type "unlock". The chest/door will unlock.