Lock Bash

Awakening now supported!

This mod allows players and followers to "bash" or "force" open most locked chests and doors. This is the real deal, the character will actually attack the object and it will be destroyed with rubble and all (this was clearly a feature cut from the final game).

The gameplay change can be balanced by a chance to "break" items or "lose them in the rubble". The mod behaves intelligently. Your characters will not bash doors/chests for which you possess a key or can otherwise open without issue. In addition, if a rogue with sufficient skill is standing-by when you attempt to open a locked chest instead of bashing it, you will automatically command them to open it without any manual input. In other words, you no longer have to continuously switch to Zevran or Leliana while exploring and looting.

Class and stats also factor into bashing. The specific attribute used in bashing differs by class, normally: Magic for Wizards, Strength for Warriors, and Dexterity for Rogues. With doors, your stats determine whether or not you can bash at all. With chests, your stats modify the chance of breaking items.

The mod is highly configurable so you can tailor it to your desired level of play. You can turn off item breakage and stat requirements, and go around bashing chests and doors without a second thought. The goal after all is to enjoy the game.

-- Install ---
Extract DAZIPs.
Install with Dragon Age Originsbin_shipdaupdater.exe.

-- Configuration ---

Open DragonAge.ini, found in:
DocumentsBioWareDragon AgeSettings

And add the following lines to the bottom:

[xatmos]
BashChestsOnly=0
BashJustBash=0
BashAchievement=0
BashEXP=1
BashCanRogue=1
BashCanWarrior=1
BashCanWizard=1
BashCanOther=1
BashNoRequirements=0
BashItemBreakNotice=1
BashItemBreakChance=MEDIUM
BashStatRogue=DEXTERITY
BashStatWarrior=STRENGTH
BashStatWizard=MAGIC
BashStatOther=STRENGTH

Most of these options are self-explanatory but here are some details on the less obvious ones:
- BashNoRequirements will always allow bashing regardless of stats (applies to doors always, but chests only when BashItemBreakChance is set to NONE).
- BashItemBreakChance has four settings, LOW (~20%), MEDIUM (~33%), HIGH (~50%), and NONE. When set to NONE there is no chance of breaking items, however you will instead have to pass a "bash" check, unless BashNoRequirements is also set.
- BashAchievement causes bashing to count towards the lockpick achievement.
- BashJustBash will cause the player to bash away even if there is a chance to break items and an eligible lockpicker (other than yourself) present.

-- Uninstall ---

Uncheck from Downloadable Content.

-- Compatibility ---

With other mods:
All of my mods are 100% standalone scripts. No vanilla data is modified in any way. So compatibility with other mods should not be a problem unless they directly contradict in function.

With the main campaign:
Older versions caused some glitches with quests, the newest version should not have any issues, but issues caused by old versions may persist in saved games, sorry.

With the Awakening expansion:
There is likely to be some quest issues, however the current version of the mod will not cause any lasting harm to your game, so if something goes horribly horribly wrong, just disable lock bash and reload an earlier save to play passed the incompatible section. BioWare has not released the toolset resources for Awakening so I cannot identify or address these issues easily.

- xatmos (David Arneson)