[3.5] Warding a chest

[Torq]

I'm AFB right now, but I'm trying to figure out a few ways to ward a chest against a couple 4th level PCs. I don't have their character builds yet, but ideally they should not be able to open it. They're charged with retrieving the chest but it's contents need to be kept secret until they return it to the man paying them for the job.

So far, I have:

A few high DC locks
Chest Made of adamantine (what would the skill check be to identify the metal? Some Appraise or Craft check?)
Arcane Lock Spell

Any other suggestions?

[Antonok]

Adamantine chest sealed with Sovereign Glue.

[Funkyodor]

It could be trapped in such a way that if it is broken into / opened without using the key then it's contents are lost forever like a torn bag of holding. So even if the characters bust into it, they get nothing except the anger of their employer.

Or it could be like a nesting doll and have a trapped chest within a trapped chest. Make the first trap wicked /difficult enough and they might not try the second.

[Binks]

Ominous threats about what might happen were they to open it? Trying to make it impossible to open just gives your PCs a challenge IMHO, and there's nothing a PC likes better than a challenge.

Threats of disaster should the PCs open the chest or making the contents of the chest sound worthless (sentimental value is great for these sorts of things) are probably the best ways to go. Make the PCs see the chest as nothing more than a paycheck once they return it and they won't even bother trying to open it.

[Kansaschaser]

Make the chest out of Riverine. Then, make it locked with 10 different Master Riverine locks. Finally, have the chest encased in a mobile Anti-Magic field that only extends out a few inches from the chest so they can't cast any magic at it, such as Knock.

[Torq]

Adamantine chest sealed with Sovereign Glue.

Good idea.


It could be trapped in such a way that if it is broken into / opened without using the key then it's contents are lost forever like a torn bag of holding. So even if the characters bust into it, they get nothing except the anger of their employer.


The items in the chest are the basis for the start of an ongoing campaign, so, even though it'd be funny, I can't do it.



Or it could be like a nesting doll and have a trapped chest within a trapped chest. Make the first trap wicked /difficult enough and they might not try the second.

This would be hilarious.


Ominous threats about what might happen were they to open it? Trying to make it impossible to open just gives your PCs a challenge IMHO, and there's nothing a PC likes better than a challenge.

Threats of disaster should the PCs open the chest or making the contents of the chest sound worthless (sentimental value is great for these sorts of things) are probably the best ways to go. Make the PCs see the chest as nothing more than a paycheck once they return it and they won't even bother trying to open it.

Their employer/patron will make it clear that the consequences of opening the chest are significant.


Make the chest out of Riverine. Then, make it locked with 10 different Master Riverine locks. Finally, have the chest encased in a mobile Anti-Magic field that only extends out a few inches from the chest so they can't cast any magic at it, such as Knock.

Are there game mechanics for having an AMF cast on an object? Would it be like crafting a wondrous item with an ongoing spell effect.
Obviously, I can just say that it is that way because I say so, but I usually like to have the mechanics available in case they come up with something clever.

[King Atticus]

Throw in a Mimic (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/mimic.htm) just before that chest (maybe mimic is the only visible chest in the room actual chest is in a closet behind it) that will attack if they try to open it. This will reinforce the idea that opening chest = bad idea. Then you can put these other ideas on the actual chest if you'r players aren't the types to learn from object lessons. :smallwink:

[Torq]

Throw in a Mimic (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/mimic.htm) just before that chest (maybe mimic is the only visible chest in the room actual chest is in a closet behind it) that will attack if they try to open it. This will reinforce the idea that opening chest = bad idea. Then you can put these other ideas on the actual chest if you'r players aren't the types to learn from object lessons. :smallwink:

If they dispatch the guards too easily, then this is definitely going to happen.

[Mystify]

The items in the chest are the basis for the start of an ongoing campaign, so, even though it'd be funny, I can't do it.


Just make sure they know about it beforehand.

[Lonely Tylenol]

Don't make it adamantine! Your players will try to sell it!

Definitely go with the Mimic idea. Or the babushka doll method. OR BOTH.

[W3bDragon]

Any other suggestions?

Instead of going the brute force path with making a chest that cannot be opened, try the finesse route of giving them no reason to open it.

Instead of their employer asking them to retrieve a chest, he asks them to retrieve a valuable statuette of some sort. You can have fun with the PCs sweating to get the (deceptively) fragile statuette back to their employer in one piece, only for him to promptly throw it to the ground, breaking it, and retrieving the actual item needed from inside the hollow statuette.

If you think the statuette is too small to hold the items you have in mind, then put a bag of holding inside the statuette with the items inside it.

[avr]

Have the chest be a homunculus. There's an animated chest either in the ECS or Magic of Eberron, I forget which. The chest can tell its owner if it's been forced open...

[Voyager_I]

Instead of going the brute force path with making a chest that cannot be opened, try the finesse route of giving them no reason to open it.

Instead of their employer asking them to retrieve a chest, he asks them to retrieve a valuable statuette of some sort. You can have fun with the PCs sweating to get the (deceptively) fragile statuette back to their employer in one piece, only for him to promptly throw it to the ground, breaking it, and retrieving the actual item needed from inside the hollow statuette.

If you think the statuette is too small to hold the items you have in mind, then put a bag of holding inside the statuette with the items inside it.

This is probably better than my idea of covering the chest entirely in Explosive Runes.

[macdaddy]

If they are 4th level, why not just an adamantine chest with an 18th caster level wizard lock?

Personally, I like the fragile statue route suggested by W3bDragon. I like the do plots within plots and hiding things in plain sight. Otherwise my PCs outmaneuver me and get the jump on the baddies. Against the run of the mill, thats ok, but against the evil baddie super boss types, its unacceptable.

[panaikhan]

As has been stated before, don't make it something that opens.
if it can open, PC's WILL try to open it.
The statuette is a good idea.
Another idea: it's not a chest. It's a scroll case. Inside is a nondescript scroll. Hidden within the construction of the scroll case is another scroll, which Word of Recall's (or whatever the game mechanic is) the actual chest.

[Kansaschaser]

Are there game mechanics for having an AMF cast on an object? Would it be like crafting a wondrous item with an ongoing spell effect.
Obviously, I can just say that it is that way because I say so, but I usually like to have the mechanics available in case they come up with something clever.

For the Anti-Magic Field to be shaped would probably require the Spell Shaping ability from the Archmage prestige class or the Extraordinary Aim Feat.

If the item was made as a permanent magic item through the Craft Wonderous Item feat, then you probably don't need Spell Shaping or Extraordinary Aim. When making magic items, you can often change how the spell functions or behaves when it's a permanent magic item.

[Torq]

Instead of going the brute force path with making a chest that cannot be opened, try the finesse route of giving them no reason to open it.

Instead of their employer asking them to retrieve a chest, he asks them to retrieve a valuable statuette of some sort. You can have fun with the PCs sweating to get the (deceptively) fragile statuette back to their employer in one piece, only for him to promptly throw it to the ground, breaking it, and retrieving the actual item needed from inside the hollow statuette.

If you think the statuette is too small to hold the items you have in mind, then put a bag of holding inside the statuette with the items inside it.

I originally was going to go with having all of the items in a Bag of Holding so that the PCs could watch their employer pull all of the items out of the bag, and then the employer would give them the bag as an extra reward along with their payment. This is a good way to still have the PCs get the bag, but not be tempted to unload it before they deliver it back to their employer.

I can probably still do the chest idea, but have the figurine be inside the chest, so that even if they open the chest, they find miscellaneous treasure, and nothing that would give the entire plot of the campaign away.