im about to finish the thieves guild quest line but i know i have to give back the skeleton key, should i do it or keep it. i kinda svck at lock picking but i know i can buy a lot from the thieves guild people. is it worth it to turn it in?

I'm at the same point as you. I think I'll just keep buying lockpicks til I have a couple thousand or so, and then return it.

I've still got Vex and Delvin for quests, so I'm not on a shortage of quests.

Nocturnal will be happy to have it back and you'll be happy to have a finished story line and a completed quest in your journal.

Lockpicks are everywhere, and they're cheap. I buy them whenever I can, but I don't think I could use them all up if I tried.

If you hate the minigame, I guess that's one reason to keep the Key. Personally I like getting the Lockpicking Perks to make it easier.

But I say give it back. You're tough, you can pick locks without a magic item for babies holding your hand.

I gave it back.

lock picking is not that hard and don't forget to take the perks too.

Bring a companion along and have them do the lock picking for you? I've heard you can do that, but I've never bothered to do it myself.

Don't keep it---you can level up really fast in your lockpicking skill if you use the Thieves Guildmaster gauntles (and a combination of potions, perks and enchanted lockpick enhanced items). This will level you up to lockpick 100 really fast. At lockpick 100, your picks will NEVER break. so level 100 = having a skeleton key.

Return the Skeleton Key to the Nocturnal and she'll reward you with one of 3 superpowers that you can't earn anywhere in the game. This works the same way the Stones do, so you can switch between any of these superpowers. Hint: Mercer uses an incredible amount of supernatural power against you, Karliah, and Brynjolf in the Eyes of the Falmer chamber before the final boss fight. That's what you stand to get from the Nocturnal! You can also switch between these powers---just revist the Twilight Selpucher once per day. These powers can come in REAL handy down the road for the main and even dragon quest lines. Trust me

But consider some procrastinating before returning the skeleton key. Use it to pick all those Master/Expert locks you ran across in your previous treks across Skyrim. The Master/Expert leveled chests typically contain some really $$$ loot if you're over level 20. One good place to start your shopping spree is at that Dwemer museum in Markath. Help out the mage in that quest to rid the excavation site of that frost spider and he'll give you the museum access key. On your way into the caverns, help yourself to all those $$$$ Dwemer artifacts he's got locked away in those display cases. I collected an entire Dwemer set of armor and weapons that way.

Keep it til level 100. That's what I should have done. >.<

Since the skeleton key doesn't break, you'll level up a WHOLE LOT SLOWER than using a regular pick. The leveling rate works similar to the combat skilling up rate. Just keep a couple 60-70 lockpicks, lock picking jewelry/armor and potions handy. Besides, the picks hardly weigh anything so you can carry bulk quantities around. They're also pretty easy to come by, especially if you're a TG member. As a thief, you can conveniently buy them in bulk quantities for dirt cheap from Tonila back at the guild HQ in Riften. You can also get a steady supply from any of the TG fences in the traveling Kahjit caverns, or in the city holds.