I was wondering if there's someone in the starting town who can join you and has pick locks. I don't like all those chests that I can't open staying locked.
Also, hairpins are the poor man's lockpicks. The guy with the pannier sells them, IIRC. You'll find a rogue very shortly. Talk to the hottie in the middle of the wagon circle to start the quest.
Yesterday I realized something. In the Thieves' Guild I could buy lockpicks at 5 cp each (10 for 5 sp), but they also had the recipe to make them, so I thought it'd be cheaper to make my own. I then went to the workbench, checked the recipe and it needs the second tier of steel, which costs 4s 8c at my 10% discount if I remember correctly (to make 10 lockpicks). Add to that the charcoal (didn't need to buy as I have some from adventuring) and the material cost is almost the same as the merchant price. Why bother?
perhaps. At this moment all I find are the tier 1 steel all over the place, but only 1 tier 2 steel, maybe when I go to the next stage I'll find them, but for now, buying the materials to craft instead of buying the actual items just doesn't make sense
There are very few items that craft for more than they cost. Almost all the low-mid alchemy potions come out about even. A good source of early money are bear traps. They're fairly cheap to make, not a high skill level, and the items aren't hard to find. You'll make about a ducat or so on each, depending on haggle skill.