Dragon Age: Origins gameplay and discussion thread.

[seireikhaan]

Never used them myself. Didn't seem worth investing in.

Regarding opening locks, after 1.5 playthroughs doing all sides, I can safely say that outside of a few rogue-main character only missions, you won't ever need a locksmith as there's nothing useful in locked crates outside of a few golds along the way and experience (which you get cheaply via elfroots/deep mushrooms).

Trap removal is more useful of course, but something anyone with a decent cunning score can do.

I believe rogues are the only one's who can actually spot the traps, however. Personally, after not having a rogue the first playthrough, I have to say that having one the second go through has made things quite a bit easier, since I'm not bumbling into every trap laid out for me. Stealth, of course, helps disable the irritating buggers so you can safely disable any/all traps, then setting your own.

EDIT: Particularly fun moment when I bombed an emissary with flasks, slowly leading him away from his buddies and down a hallway as he chased a path of fruitlessness straight into a claw/soulrot/freeze trap combo for insta-death.