What do you think?

Sounds good, definitely needs consequences though and possibly be a perk?

In strength, definitely. Possibly magic also, I guess you could melt the lock? :shrug:

Be more specific. Do you mean like in Fallout where you can't pick the lock anymore or do you mean like literally breaking the lock in order to bypass it?

If you can't guess, I mean with a big hammer, smashing it down.

Yes be able to break the lock with your weapon, but have a chance of the weapon breaking.

Yes, for chests and doors. There has been soo many times when I ran out of lockpcks and wanted to bash open the lock, but I knew it couldn't be done

Well, I mean, I couldn't. Like I said, in Fallout 3 you could "break locks" which made it so you could only open the lock with a key.

If you break a lock you can't put a key in it in real life.

I don't care. I didn't say you could. I don't understand why you're not getting this.

Let's bash that lock open with a mace. Yeah!

i want an option to kick open a door and break open a chest
which would destroy said lock

I agree that something like this would be a good idea, because as it stands, the security skill or alteration is pretty much essential to every character, because locked containers and doors are so common and often don't have keys. Not opening them will potentially mean missing out on good loot, thus, any character will probably want to improve these skills, even if it makes little sense for that character to do so. To solve this, I'd like to see an option to bash locks with weapons in Skyrim, though it should have some concequences so that the security skill does not become unnecessary. It should provide an alternative to security, while still allowing the latter to have some benefits. For one thing, bashing locks should be noisy, meaning there's a risk someone will hear and come to investigate, this makes sense, because I'd imagine using a large hammer to break open a chest is going to cause a lot of noise, and from a role-playing standpoint, it means that stealth characters still wouldn't want to bash locks, and stealth characters are the kind of characters most likely to use security anyway. There could also be a risk of damaging the contents for containers. This way, security still has advantages over bashing locks, and it should, because security is used only to open locks, for lock bashing, you would likely get better at it from the same skills that let you fight better with the weapon you're using to bash the lock. It makes sense that if you have one skill that lets you fight better and open locks, and one that just lets you open locks, the latter would be better at what it does.

I like the idea. Hell in thief you could bash locked doors open. But I really like the idea of penalties as a result. Even if it is injuries incurred through say kicking a door open. Or damaging equipment, or as you pointed out items in a chest. Excellent idea.

Bashing open (and visibly damaging/destroying!) almost any door and container should be an option, though I doubt we'll get this one. Not without consequences though - after all, somebody paid for the item to be made in the first place, and you're destroying someone's property here.

By the way: So should be using Telekinesis to do the same, or any destructive magic ("Opening" doors with a fireball? Hell yeah!). And so should be simply stealing the keys off the right NPC (what the hell is it with all those locked containers which not even the NPCs can use, since they don't have keys for them?!?).

Only for doors, so that ir alarms everybody nearby. Otherwise Bethesda would definitely axe lockpicking.

Maybe hand to hand can be usefull.

Magic already has the Open Lock spell. That's all they need.

I say no, only because certain playstyles should have advantages over others. Fighter characters should be at a disadvantage when it comes to getting loot, but they're able to hold their own against tougher enemies who have better loot anyways. Thieves should avoid combat whenever possible, so they get their fix by grabbing whatever's tucked away in places people don't want them to be. Mages, well, they have a very expensive lifestyle and they just get whatever they can

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1165035-lock-bashing/

Mages use an Open spell, Thieves use their lockpicks.

The mighty Warrior can either use magic or a thief-tool to open locked doors and chests. :facepalm:

Yes, bring in lockbashing! A strong warrior should be able to bash them open with his weapon!

Where's the "yes to both with no consequence" option?

I'd like to be able to smash locks if my strength is high enough, or possibly a combination of strength and weapon skills (smashing a lock with a club for instance).

You'd have to be an idiot to smash an entire container and damage the inside items when you're trying to break a little lock.

This. If you're strong enough, you should be able to break any locks, without penalty.
Open spells and lockpicks still have the advantage of being silent, with lockpicking not giving off any light and being the stealthiest.

The mighty Warrior kills all inhabitants in the cave, then proceeds to bash open the puny locked chests and take the loot for himself.
The Thief sneaks in and lockpicks & loots the chest without anyone noticing.

I'm glad you agree

Why should warriors have a penalty when arguably, it's alot easier to smash a lock than to pick one? I've smashed locks myself in real life and I'm not even a big guy.

Can't really say anything as far as magic goes though, I don't have any real life experience regarding that obviously, but I think each "playstyle" should have an equal option with equal rewards when it comes to opening locked stuff.

But the thief doesn't get the items from the dead bodies. Sounds like the thief gets less loot than everyone else, which is a bad thing for a character archetype that is supposed to be richer than others.

What? A thief character can kill just as well as a warrior character or a mage for that matter in TES games.

A thief uses lockpicking to open chests, the bonus being he doesn't have to invest into strength to bash locks or into magic to open locks with spells.

A warrior uses strength to bash chests, the bonus being he doesn't have to invest into lockpicking to open locks or into magic to open locks with spells.

A mage uses magic to open locks with spells, the bonus being he doesn't have to invest into lockpicking to open locks or into strength to bash locks.

See, this system is fair to all playstyles