Preventing intrusion by evil rogues

[Max Caysey]

So I have this castle, Im an epic wizard, who fears that my Nether Scrolls will be stolen by meddlesome elves or other fouls creatures... I have them places, by teleport inside a glass steel box, which I have placed within an Anti-magic field, which I have placed inside a telekinetic sphere, which is encircled by a prismatic sphere, but I fear, that even so, I will never spot the rogue comming...

I wear a Rope of Eyes, and have trained my eyes well and enhanced them with magic, but still I fear that I will be the victim of theft... can you help me? I need to know how to stop hiding rogues!

Thanks

[DoctorGlock]

Why not on a genesis demiplane locked in by forbiddence effects to stop anyone but yourself from planar travelling there?

[Flickerdart]

Mindsight is foolproof unless you have a Hellbreaker with Telepathic Static teleporting right up to you to suppress your Telepathy prerequisite, and Anticipate Teleport takes care of that.

Have you considered polymorphing your scrolls into things that aren't scrolls? Maybe dragons.

[StoneCipher]

If you can make a permanent invisibility purge and light the room up like 4th of july the rogue is very well on his way to being caught. Cover the floor in sawdust for good measure. But, you should be worried about the rogue killing you or knocking you out more than you should worry about your scrolls being stolen. Any sane rogue will know that while you're home, there's pretty much no way they can get in and out safely.

[Xelbiuj]

Plenty of monsters to guard it.
Move it to a demiplane, one with horrible properties.
Have false items for them to try to steal.
Surround it with voidstone.
Destroy all traces of anyone but yourself from knowing about it.

[Curmudgeon]

Mindsight is foolproof unless you have a Hellbreaker with Telepathic Static teleporting right up to you to suppress your Telepathy prerequisite, and Anticipate Teleport takes care of that.
Mindsight really isn't foolproof. You can foil it with either an Antimagic Field or Mind Blank, by becoming Ethereal, or just saturate the senses by shaking out a big bag o' rats nearby.

[Flickerdart]

Mindsight really isn't foolproof. You can foil it with either an Antimagic Field or Mind Blank, by becoming Ethereal, or just saturate the senses by shaking out a big bag o' rats nearby.
All the other stuff has been tread over countless times, but the rats thing straight up does nothing to mask an intruder - Mindsight shows you their Intelligence score, and it won't be hard to find the singular intelligent being in the pile.

[Milodiah]

Stupid phone, wiping/posting/whoevenknows my post.

Anyway, as I was trying to say.

My opinion is that there should always be flesh-and-blood patrols of some kind at this level of security. Locks can be picked, traps disarmed, abjurations dispelled, etc. But so long as you ensure the guards remain loyal and un-subverted, they'll be an added level of difficulty that will prevent intruders from dissecting your security at their leisure.

Also, ensure that your security protocols are not predictable. If the intruders figure out that there's a time frame where it's "safe" to hit the place. I'm not a very good "programmer" for magic, but I'm sure you can figure out a way to wipe the place with an intruder-killing spell at semi-random intervals, so they can't know they'll have enough time to crack the door or dispel the ward before the next kill switch activation.

[Flickerdart]

I'm not a very good "programmer" for magic, but I'm sure you can figure out a way to wipe the place with an intruder-killing spell at semi-random intervals, so they can't know they'll have enough time to crack the door or dispel the ward before the next kill switch activation.
With a Spell Clock, you can do it constantly. Create guards immune to your kill spell of choice, making sure that this immunity is very hard to get otherwise (Emerald Legion are good for this since they have a very thoroughly documented creation process & are immune to pretty much all the things).

[rmnimoc]

For the best unpredictable guards, get some bind some Slaadi and have them pull watch, with some Modron for the inner chambers. Then the scroll inside can be a soul gem under a PAO trap.

You're a 20th level wizard, why isn't anything you want safe in a heavy gravity static demi-plane (2x Gravity DC 16 strength check to move a unattended object; 1 day in the material to 1 round in the plane; covered in mud that is just flesh to stone, stone to mud creatures of CR30+) after turning the scroll to stone and then mud as well, then turn the mud to stone (all the mud) and the stone to flesh (all the stone) and bring the flesh (all of it!!!!!!!!) to life. Then add a limited magic trait that requires an epic spell to cast, preferably one with Transport, and Dispel seeds that adds teleport through time to the list of spells that can be cast, then you use the static soil to travel back in time to before the scrolls were turned to mud and retrieve them whenever.

Actually in hindsight I'm not sure that would work, but I feel it's worth posting anyway.

[Milodiah]

With a Spell Clock, you can do it constantly. Create guards immune to your kill spell of choice, making sure that this immunity is very hard to get otherwise (Emerald Legion are good for this since they have a very thoroughly documented creation process & are immune to pretty much all the things).


A constant spell would just be like a minefield, a serious but noticeable spell that would just be another thing to disarm. But should they move in without casing the joint, it'd catch them off-guard. After all, there's a lot less magic to be detected from the "residue" than a constant spell, and unlike a trapped door or whatever, there's no trigger for a Search check to find until they're already in the AoE. One thing I also found interesting/kinda funny is that a friend of mine who was an MP was stationed at some really secure location (as in, he couldn't tell me what it even was secure), and in addition to the scheduled and unscheduled drills they had, there was even a special, really dramatic alarm, with the klaxons and red lights and all that, that they would apparently sound sometimes for no reason just to scare the hell out of anyone who may have actually been infiltrating and make them think they've been detected so they'd do something stupid and get caught. I assume the CO must have played a bit too much Splinter Cell or something, but if it works...


Also, your guards should be stacked with every type of _______sense you can dig up. Tremorsense, blindsense, True Sight, generic Wisdom buffs for the Spot and Listen checks, etc.


Not to mention sending them to seminars on how to avoid being a terrible guard. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheGuardsMustBeCrazy)

[Max Caysey]

Thanks for the advise. They all go into the to do list of my protection of my keep.

But Im still afraid that a thief might sneak past my hard pressed spotting eyes of my guardians... but thanks so far.

[Werephilosopher]

Why not on a genesis demiplane locked in by forbiddence effects to stop anyone but yourself from planar travelling there?

That would also stop you from getting there. I'm pretty sure Manual of the Planes said that you can't plane shift to demiplanes except those you've created, so you wouldn't need forbiddance.

[Renen]

Cast Mage’s Magnificent Mansion (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/magesMagnificentMansion.htm), and keep everything in there. The entrance is invisible, and there are VERY few ways of getting in.

Or... do the time travel self-alert trick. While I dont remember how its properly done, here's me winging it:
1) Notice things got stolen
2) Time travel (via that 9th level spell from an online article) a few days into the past, and leave a note for yourself.
3) You now know the details of the theft before the theft.

[DoctorGlock]

That would also stop you from getting there. I'm pretty sure Manual of the Planes said that you can't plane shift to demiplanes except those you've created, so you wouldn't need forbiddance.

I did not know this. Now you need a way to stop wish/miracle based travel though.

[Sith_Happens]

But Im still afraid that a thief might sneak past my hard pressed spotting eyes of my guardians...

Why? Your stuff is in a metal box in an Antimagic Field in a Telekinetic Sphere in a Prismatic Sphere... and you're worried about Rogues. Trust me, the only way a noncaster is stealing anything from you is by the DM saying they do, which there's no way to stop by definition.

If you still want to fill the one actual hole I noticed, though, then put a Selective or Extraordinary Spell Aimed Forbiddance in the box so only you can teleport into it. Oh, and just for fun, have a Reverse Gravity between the Telekinetic Sphere and the Prismatic Sphere.

[Coidzor]

Run a shellgame in the castle with the toughest anti-scrying and anti-teleportation defenses and plenty of defense against more hands-on approaches, and then have your own series of private demiplanes filled with minions who are absolutely loyal to you and will murdermaimkill anything that enters that isn't you, and also alert you whenever there's an intrusion, instantly.

Say a mixed army of Ice Assassin Solars and Shadesteel Golems and maybe some Ice Assassins of any pre-epic or epic Psions you might have in your rolodex for good measure.

Of course, if you really want to stop people from using the Hide skill, you'll want to get some Ice Assassins of some creatures with excellent spot checks and then layer enough of them with appropriate buffs that a rogue 10-20 levels higher than your character would be guaranteed to get detected before proceeding past your buffer zone.