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ffone
2011-01-08, 09:10 PM
What's a good way to prevent a prisoner from spellcasting? Bound up, taken away material components, etc.? Is there a drug which suppresses spellcasting ability? Silence spell and make them write?

(For higher level/wealth/magic, there's antimagic shackles, and Feeblemind for arcanists - although the latter might plausibly make them too dumb to interrogate.)

Greenish
2011-01-08, 09:14 PM
What's a good way to prevent a prisoner from spellcasting?Kill them, imprison their soul, then destroy the body. It's the only way to be sure*.


*Disclaimer: you can't actually be sure.


[Edit]: Beat the caster almost to death. Tie it up. Have a warforged (they don't need rest) with the Mage Slayer feat and a truncheon (with Greater Mighty Wallop cast on it) stand right next to the caster.

Jack_Simth
2011-01-08, 09:15 PM
What's a good way to prevent a prisoner from spellcasting? Bound up, taken away material components, etc.? Is there a drug which suppresses spellcasting ability? Silence spell and make them write?

(For higher level/wealth/magic, there's antimagic shackles, and Feeblemind for arcanists - although the latter might plausibly make them too dumb to interrogate.)
Well, you've hit the highlights already.

However, Arcane Sight (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/arcaneSight.htm) will tell you the highest-level spell a character has to cast.

Combine with the Poison (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#poison) that attacks that caster's primary stat, and you're good.

Or you could skip Arcane Sight, damage their casting stat down to 0 with poison, and wait for them to recover naturally enough that you can interrogate them.

Dead_Jester
2011-01-08, 09:17 PM
Antimagic field with contingent greater dispel if a spell is cast should work for most, unless he is an initiate of Mystra, in which case, you are better off killing him and trapping his soul to interrogate it later.

mootoall
2011-01-08, 09:24 PM
Well unless your DM builds a caster for the specific purpose of being able to escape capture, simply binding their hands (or cutting them off), gagging them/casting silence on them and burning their component pouch will work.

Emmerask
2011-01-08, 09:30 PM
What's a good way to prevent a prisoner from spellcasting? Bound up, taken away material components, etc.?


Donīt forget to gag them and that should be enough for most low level prisoners...


Is there a drug which suppresses spellcasting ability?


Only to lower their casting attribute:

Zixalix
A potent combination of many rare herbs and alchemical substances, zixalix provides appropriate alchemical treatment for somatoform disorders, psychotic disorders (including schizophrenia), and psychosexual disorders.
Initial Effect
1d4 points of Intelligence damage.
Secondary Effect

Zixalix staves off the most severe symptoms of the indicated disorders.
Side Effect
n/a.
Overdose
If more than three doses are taken in a 24-hour period, the imbiber takes 1d4 points of Constitution damage.

might be worth a look for wizards ^^


Arthorvin

A fragrant gray powder made from rare magical plants, the drug called arthorvin is an appropriate alchemical treatment for anxiety, mood disorders, and dissociative disorders.
Initial Effect
1 point of Charisma damage.
Secondary Effect
The user is in a calm, peaceful mental state for 2d4 hours and gains a +1 alchemical bonus on Will saves.
Side Effect
Arthorvin causes a general dulling of the imbiber’s emotions and reactions. While the drug is in effect, the user takes a -1 penalty on all initiative checks.
Overdose

For Sorcerers

Greenish
2011-01-08, 09:30 PM
Well unless your DM builds a caster for the specific purpose of being able to escape capture, simply binding their hands (or cutting them off), gagging them/casting silence on them and burning their component pouch will work.Abrupt Jaunt.

Beguiler. :smallwink:

mootoall
2011-01-08, 09:35 PM
Abrupt Jaunt.

Beguiler. :smallwink:

You make two excellent points. Though if the guy has Abrupt Jaunt, they've already escaped (though as a DM I would say that the rope becomes part of his "equipment" and therefore wherever he jaunts to he's still tied up), and if he's a straight beguiler who's got all his special silent, still spells ... well, yeah, that's a good defense!

EvilJoe15
2011-01-08, 09:39 PM
At low levels: Chop off their arms, sew shut their mouth, and interrogate them via detect thoughts.

At high levels: Mindrape.

mootoall
2011-01-08, 09:39 PM
At low levels: Chop off their arms, sew shut their mouth, and interrogate them via detect thoughts.

At high levels: Mindrape.

Your name does not disappoint sir.

LibraryOgre
2011-01-08, 09:40 PM
Attribute drain or damage. Strip him of gear and do attribute damage (Int, Wis or Charisma) until they're vegetative.

Zonugal
2011-01-08, 09:49 PM
Regarding prepared spell casters, place the prisoner in an environment which makes receiving a good night of sleep utterly impossible.

mabriss lethe
2011-01-08, 09:50 PM
Call in the spellthieves.
Once the caster is subdued, just have high level spell thieves drain him dry. Be nice and even give him the option of doing it voluntarily. (otherwise, they have to beat the spells out of him.) Once drained, keep the caster from getting any uninterrupted rest.

Tvtyrant
2011-01-08, 10:03 PM
Cast Nightmare on them each night. Problem solved.

Dr.Epic
2011-01-08, 10:06 PM
Anti-magic zone. Or if they're an arcane caster, just put a crap ton of armor on them and make sure they can't take it off. And then throw them in a river.

Dusk Eclipse
2011-01-08, 10:10 PM
There are some manacles that cast Anti-magic field on the wielder (does anyone has a better word?)

And IIRC there is a poison in Complete Scoundrel, that severed a Cleric (and I suppose favoured soul too) connection to his/her deity for a day, preventing them from preparing spells.

Asheram
2011-01-08, 10:10 PM
... It's Really REALLY expensive but, a mirror of life trapping?
For those prisoners that are too dangerous to have in actual prisons?

Milo v3
2011-01-09, 01:07 AM
If they are a divine caster use Quell (An undead which brakes divine contact).
If not do what I did in to our prisioner. Note: Not a paladin option.

1.Get someone to cast Bestow curse on the prisoner (To lower Will save)

2. Get a different person (Best to be a Bard or sorcerer (good Cha)) to use charm (Make them friendly)

3. Get the person from step 2 to use suggestion (Tell them that casting a spell will cause a magical trap which is known as "Familycide" (Kills every direct blood link to the target) so they shouldn't cast spells)

4. Get the person from step 3 to tell the prisoner that they aren't supposed to tell them that info.

Acanous
2011-01-09, 01:20 AM
if you have a wizard of your own, prepping Dispel Magic and readying to counterspell works for any interrogation that you have to pull him out of your anti-magic field for.

Alternately, have a Warforged Fighter, monk or Barbarian grapple the wizard.
Use the gag option. Ta daa.

Zaq
2011-01-09, 01:50 AM
Keeping them unconscious is pretty much the best way to be sure. Just rack up enough nonlethal damage to keep 'em asleep until you're ready to be done with them. I'm not sure what the best way to go about interrogating them is, but if you need them alive and unable to cast, you really can't go halfway. Casters just have way too many tricks up their collective sleeves. (Granted, most casters that you're capable of taking prisoner in the first place will either not possess or will have already used those tricks, because otherwise you couldn't have captured them, but . . .)

Waker
2011-01-09, 01:55 AM
Not a permanent solution, but it could annoy them. Put a Mark of Justice (Clr 5, Pal 4). Permanent duration, no save. Just say that they aren't allowed to escape and they get hit with with a curse. Obviously less effective against a Beguiler since they would have Break Enchantment by the time you could use this on them, but against a wizard (sans spellbook) or a sorcerer (who might not have the spell) it could be funny.

MammonAzrael
2011-01-09, 02:05 AM
I'm a firm believer in non-lethal damage exceeding their hit points.

LongVin
2011-01-09, 02:30 AM
What would you do for a cleric then?

Milo v3
2011-01-09, 02:41 AM
Send in the Quell. I said this already. It disrupts divine magic so Quell next to a chained up cleric, Druid, Paladin, Ranger, ect.

Trekkin
2011-01-09, 03:13 AM
Quintessence. Simply coat them in Quintessence and keep them in stasis until you want access to them; it's hard for a spellcaster to foil being frozen in time.

If you can't afford the legion of manifesters needed to reliably make that much time stop goo, I consider Int damage the optimum solution; even non-Int based casters explicitly cannot think at 0 Int, and if you slip up in poisoning them they're still not going to be able to come up with a cunning escape plan.

If all else fails, a phthisic is a reliable source of Int damage/drain. Besides, having a living nightmare eat your caster prisoners until they stop making trouble is a remarkably potent deterrent.

EDIT: if you use transparency, Brain Lock is good.

There is also a Robe of Powerlessness to lock down all Int casters under 19 Int, if you can pay 5.5k gp, or a Vacuous Grimoire for 6k gp.

MORE EDITS: or have a pet Thought Eater poke them until they're 0 Int.

ryzouken
2011-01-09, 03:21 AM
Shackles of Antimagic
BoED of all places.
100,000+ gp if memory serves. Drops a 5' AMF on the wearer's head when they're closed.

Nonlethal them unconscious for temporary storage (just keep hitting them every hour or so). Arcane Casters can suck a Feeblemind for long term storage (heightened if you choose to prevent Break Enchantment). Divine Casters are tricksy. The AMF may or may not work (as noted above), and Feeblemind won't help much either. Knocking them out will function, stat damage will get you a day or so's worth of storage... A resetting stat damage trap would be ideal for long term storage.

I remember there being an ooze that prevented spells and the like from being cast within an area or something to that affect... (might just have been it was immune to spells) Hmm....

Charm + Sequester?

Waker
2011-01-09, 03:27 AM
Arcane Ooze, MMIII. Spell Siphon says that each turn that an arcane spellcaster is within 60ft, he has to make a Fort Sv DC 25 or lose a random spell of the highest level they can cast. Requires line of effect though, so no sticking this thing in a jar next to them. Otherwise you need to find a way to put it next to them without having to worry about the ooze eating them.

TheWhisper
2011-01-09, 03:41 AM
No one has mentioned energy drain?

ffone
2011-01-09, 03:46 AM
I should've said off the bat: this would be to interrogate them as well, so keeping them unconscious or unable to speak are not ideal (but Detect Thoughts is a good suggestion). Fortunately most of the things suggested here are consistent with that. Wow, lots of nice ideas!

The suggestion to put an arcane caster is heavy armor is quite humorous and logical!

Ravens_cry
2011-01-09, 05:39 AM
Bind them, gag them, take away their spell book, spell component pouch, holy symbol. Have a prestidigitation magic item in their room that changes the colours of the walls every hour and have said room be a sealed box on a tram line, while they are in a bag of holding that also casts ghost sound, blurting discordant noises day and night, and acts like a bottle of air for it's inhabitant. A ring of sustenance should prevent any 'escapes while feeding the prisoners' scenarios.

Psyren
2011-01-09, 11:38 AM
Shackles of Antimagic
BoED of all places.

Why is that surprising? BoED is all about not slaying prisoners out of hand, but with spellcasters (especially evil Psions) you'd have no choice.


(For higher level/wealth/magic, there's antimagic shackles, and Feeblemind for arcanists - although the latter might plausibly make them too dumb to interrogate.)

Shackles of Silence are the budget alternative, costing a whopping 11 times less than AMF shackles. You'd again have trouble with interrogation unless you (a) use some kind of telepathy or (b) pass notes, and it wouldn't do much to restrain psions, but for most other casters it can work.

Jair Barik
2011-01-09, 12:43 PM
Have a rogue slap them around with a sap alot substituting Sneak attack for ability point damage hrough feats? Keep them unconscious, they can't cast whilst unconscious.

Aurenthal
2011-01-09, 01:00 PM
I think you should look at the VERY heavy armors in races of stone, buy the one that gives the most percentage of spell failure. Iīm also thinking you can drain him levels with monsters or necromancy spells. Also I found touch of Idiocy very good for draining their mental stats.
Also you can use a locked gauntlet, so their hand isnīt free for spellcasting

Hope I helped :smallsmile:

EDIT:First strip him of all his posesions, except his undies... And equip him with the VERY heavy armor and put the gauntlets

ffone
2011-01-09, 01:14 PM
I think you should look at the VERY heavy armors in races of stone, buy the one that gives the most percentage of spell failure. Iīm also thinking you can drain him levels with monsters or necromancy spells. Also I found touch of Idiocy very good for draining their mental stats.
Also you can use a locked gauntlet, so their hand isnīt free for spellcasting

Hope I helped :smallsmile:

EDIT:First strip him of all his posesions, except his undies... And equip him with the VERY heavy armor and put the gauntlets


LOL two locked gauntlets w/ weapons in them, since you 'need a free hand for spellcasting' (w/ a somatic component), that's great.

Maybe a tower shield in one hand, since they have 50% arcane spell failure? Does this add with armor? That + half-plate gets up to 90%, and if Races of Stone has a 50% armor..

It's funny how some of the best ways to do this (esp. when low budget) seem to be to 'give' the prisoner things...thanks to DnD's design to make it harder to get around things that are usually 'voluntarily assumed' penalties / side-effects to good things (armor and shields) as opposed to usually 'bad' things that heroes are 'supposed' to overcome (like having the Concentration and Escape Artist to deal with bound spellcasting).

Aurenthal
2011-01-09, 02:11 PM
LOL two locked gauntlets w/ weapons in them, since you 'need a free hand for spellcasting' (w/ a somatic component), that's great.

Maybe a tower shield in one hand, since they have 50% arcane spell failure? Does this add with armor? That + half-plate gets up to 90%, and if Races of Stone has a 50% armor..

It's funny how some of the best ways to do this (esp. when low budget) seem to be to 'give' the prisoner things...thanks to DnD's design to make it harder to get around things that are usually 'voluntarily assumed' penalties / side-effects to good things (armor and shields) as opposed to usually 'bad' things that heroes are 'supposed' to overcome (like having the Concentration and Escape Artist to deal with bound spellcasting).

Yeah, but make sure you put "useless" weapons on the gauntlets, like a sap, or a dagger :smallbiggrin:

Ytaker
2011-01-09, 02:24 PM
.Maybe a tower shield in one hand, since they have 50% arcane spell failure? Does this add with armor? That + half-plate gets up to 90%, and if Races of Stone has a 50% armor..


http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/armor.htm

Shields

If a character is wearing armor and using a shield, add the two numbers together to get a single arcane spell failure chance.

How much does it cost to make a cursed item that the wizard couldn't take off?

Zaq
2011-01-09, 02:55 PM
How about just two locked gauntlets with two tower shields? Would they stack? Add a dab of Sovereign Glue to the insides of the gauntlets if you want to be sure.

Wouldn't stop Stilled spells or spells without somatic components (or divine spells, though the locked gauntlets might apply to somatic components even without ASF), but hey, I think that it would get you 100% spell failure for things to which it applies.

Psions, of course, just need to be beaten into unconsciousness if you don't have a constant AMF/NPZ handy. Sad but true. Well, I guess a dedicated Psithief could keep them at 0 power points.

ffone
2011-01-09, 03:27 PM
The situations I have in mind is actually a rather difficult one for the PCs: the prisoner being a high-level Beguiler; they get Stilled and Silent Spell as bonus feats, and some spells which are good for escaping (Swift Etherealness, then move out of bindings, then Invisiblity) and don't require material components. Even having a PC standing by to AoO / ready-action-attack may not suffice, since, as I understand it, if you AoO / ready-action-attack against something you need to be aware of it - so if it's Silenced an Stilled you couldn't? (In any case the NPC also has the Conceal Spellcrafting skill trick.)

Hmm - if you go ethereal with Ethereal Jaunt or similar spells (Swift Etherealness, etc.) would bindings on you stay material, or would they stay with you (you'd be ethereal but still bound up)? Can PCs help deal with this by making use of the 'attended objects' rules?

ffone
2011-01-09, 03:28 PM
The situations I have in mind is actually a rather difficult one for the PCs: the prisoner being a high-level Beguiler; they get Stilled and Silent Spell as bonus feats, and some spells which are good for escaping (Swift Etherealness, then move out of bindings, then Invisiblity) and don't require material components. Even having a PC standing by to AoO / ready-action-attack may not suffice, since, as I understand it, if you AoO / ready-action-attack against something you need to be aware of it - so if it's Silenced an Stilled you couldn't? (In any case the NPC also has the Conceal Spellcrafting skill trick.)

Hmm - if you go ethereal with Ethereal Jaunt or similar spells (Swift Etherealness, etc.) would bindings on you stay material, or would they stay with you (you'd be ethereal but still bound up)? Can PCs help deal with this by making use of the 'attended objects' rules to make sure the NPC is 'wearing' the things that inhibit her?

(Trying to think of tactics when the PCs don't have ready access to more specialized things like Antimagic Field, mental-stat-hitting poisons, spells or abilities that drain/steal prepared spells or induce negative levels, etc.)

tyckspoon
2011-01-09, 03:36 PM
Hmm - if you go ethereal with Ethereal Jaunt or similar spells (Swift Etherealness, etc.) would bindings on you stay material, or would they stay with you (you'd be ethereal but still bound up)? Can PCs help deal with this by making use of the 'attended objects' rules to make sure the NPC is 'wearing' the things that inhibit her?

Generally they'll stay material, because the person casting the spell is the one who gets to define what his possessions are. If he doesn't want to claim ownership of the restricting items, he doesn't have to take them along when he goes ethereal or teleports.

Edit: It's rather unpleasant, but pummeling him deeply unconscious is probably the most reliable and easily accessible method of containment. That or filling him with Drow Knockout Poison until he fails a save.

Jack_Simth
2011-01-09, 03:41 PM
(Trying to think of tactics when the PCs don't have ready access to more specialized things like Antimagic Field, mental-stat-hitting poisons, spells or abilities that drain/steal prepared spells or induce negative levels, etc.)
A Rod of Wonder can fix Ethereal escape - transport a very large rock to the Ethereal plane (will take a few tries, make sure to have an expendable minion do the actual work), and put it in the spot you have the prisoner. Ethereal Plane is Occupied -> No Ethereal Travel there.

There's also Dimensional Anchor and Forbiddance.

As an Arcanist, a Beguiler needs rest to replenish spells - no rest = no spells replenished (if the prisoner has already exhausted the applicable spells, at least...). A moving treadmill the size of the room will do it, or just poking the prisoner with a pointy stick once per hour.

As for readied actions:
They can interrupt anything. That's the point. However, if the prisoner has both swift-action and standard-action options for escape, then the first one blows the readied action, the second works. You do need to be aware of it, but if you look hard enough, one of the books specifies that the concentration required for spellcasting is unmistakable.

But yeah - keep him unconscious with nonlethal damage until you can get to one of the specialized methods is recommended.

true_shinken
2011-01-09, 04:03 PM
The situations I have in mind is actually a rather difficult one for the PCs

Spellthieves. Everything is easier with Spellthieves.

ffone
2011-01-09, 05:40 PM
You do need to be aware of it, but if you look hard enough, one of the books specifies that the concentration required for spellcasting is unmistakable.


Neat. Do you have a reference for that I can quote?

The Concealed Spellcasting skill trick says almost the reverse: if you succeed (on the sleight of hand vs spot), you don't provoke AoOs (and that in any case, the whole point of the skill trick is they don't know you're spellcasting.)

But I agree readied / AoO attacks should take care of spellcasters without the corner case ability to conceal it.

deuxhero
2011-01-09, 05:46 PM
The suggestion to put an arcane caster is heavy armor is quite humorous and logical!


Acctually that will only prevent the spells that binding their hands will stop. Read the relevant rules.

gbprime
2011-01-09, 05:53 PM
Personally, I'd go with inventing something like a custom Bestow Curse application. A curse, for example, that all their spellcasting (and even psionics!) requires the addition of a rod/cudgel/staff of some rare wood as a focus. (Just make sure it costs more than 1 GP so they can't Eschew it.) Then until they get the curse removed, they cannot cast without the largish and hard to conceal macguffin item you've assigned to them. :smallamused:

Its more humane than beating or poisoning them and much, much cheaper than antimagic.

ffone
2011-01-09, 05:56 PM
Acctually that will only prevent the spells that binding their hands will stop. Read the relevant rules.

I suppose that the conceal spellcasting wouldn't bypass the need to disentangle themselves from the manacles (and even if the NPC can succeed on that, the PCs definitely could see that and sap-smack them accordingly; Escape Artist takes 1 minute).

Another tack I thought about - the PCs say to the prisoner, "We're going to cast Dominate Person on you; please voluntarily fail your save, if you don't, we'll smack you around again."