Protecting books?

[PH7]

In a 3.5 setting, how would one go about protecting their homes and possessions from fire (magical or otherwise)? In particular, I wonder how wizards would protect their library from, say, a band of adventurers that they may have pissed off?
I first thought of protection from energy or resist energy spells, but they can only be cast on creatures.

I'm interested in both high level and low level solutions.

Thx in advance

[Uncle Pine]

Planar Handbook as prices for both fireproof paper and clothes. Complete Arcane (iirc) has rules for fireproof spellbooks.

[Zsaber0]

I thought in 3.5 it was impossible to burn down a house by RAW.

[BowStreetRunner]

I thought in 3.5 it was impossible to burn down a house by RAW.
The DMG rules for catching on fire only referred to "Characters at risk of catching fire" while the Rules Compendium took the reference to characters and stated more generally "Those at risk of catching fire", and then went on to tell what happened if they failed their save. It's easy to just include unattended items with "those at risk of catching fire", remembering that the DMG states that "Nonmagical, unattended items never make saving throws. They are considered to have failed their saving throws" and therefore start to burn.

Honestly, someone who wants to argue that "Those" doesn't include objects, or that the DMG trumps the Rules Compendium and only characters can catch on fire, is putting a lot of effort into saying that something that happens all the time in the real world and most fantasy worlds (stuff catching on fire) simply can't happen in the world of D&D.

[flappeercraft]

Make your spellbooks all animated objects and make your library have concealed places so that they hide if anyone else than you enters. Make sure to permanency it.

[Uncle Pine]

I thought in 3.5 it was impossible to burn down a house by RAW.

I've also thought that wood and wooden objects (including houses) were immune to fire by RAW in the past, but was proven wrong here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?471999-How-to-be-immune-to-green-slime) a few years ago. For the most relevant post, see here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=20189106&postcount=12).

[Vizzerdrix]

Make your spellbooks all animated objects and make your library have concealed places so that they hide if anyone else than you enters. Make sure to permanency it.

Minor servitor may be more cost effective. Then connect the libraries to a panic room via ducts with several tiny doors along the way that the books can bar. Make the room far too small for small critters.

[Goaty14]

(Leomund's) Secret Chest (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/secretChest.htm) everything so only a full-scale ethereal investigation will find it, and then contingency the chest to teleport to some other secret place if something other than you touches it.

[PH7]

Okay, thanks for the responses. I looked up the fire-resistant parchment. Seems interesting, but unlikely to be used for regular books.

I was thinking more all-purpose actually. Say you are a mage, you love your library, some adventurers are coming who might have some grievances against you (mistakes were made). Does there exist something like an 'Extinguish Fire' spell?
Basically I don't want a low-level group of adventurers to cause an incident like the burning of the library of Alexandreia...

(And yes, of course I have ideas of how to stop them, specifically. But I was wondering if anyone had thought of a more general means to go about protecting against fires in a fantasy setting?)

[Uncle Pine]

Okay, thanks for the responses. I looked up the fire-resistant parchment. Seems interesting, but unlikely to be used for regular books.
It's not that unlikely: fireproof paper is only twice the cost of normal paper (8 sp/sheet instead of 4 sp/sheet), so if you have a couple thousands gp to blow on a personal library you can spend 4,000 gp and have it fireproof instead.

Quench (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/quench.htm) and Control Flames (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/controlFlames.htm) can be used to extinguish fires. Install either as a trap inside ornamental cacti located around the library to have the quenchiest fire sprinklers in the world.

Pyrotechnics (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/pyrotechnics.htm) can also be used to put out small fires and turn them into a minor hindrance against intruders.

[BowStreetRunner]

There is also the Frost Brand (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicWeapons.htm#frostBrand). No fantasy fire department should ever be without one.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Here's a creative solution:

Make your books waterproof, which should be cheaper than fireproof, have your library made into a chamber of airy water, then fill 'er up with water. Your books won't catch fire, guaranteed, and you don't need ladders anymore either. :smallbiggrin:

Chamber of airy water is a wondrous architecture from the stronghold builders guidebook.

[PH7]

That IS certainly creative, but I'll stick with pyrotechnics for now. :smallsmile:

And maybe give the librarian guard a frostbrand? He'd be higher level, but fanatically devoted to putting out fires before fighting. Adds a nice little tactical thing to it...

Thanks for the ideas.

[Uncle Pine]

Here's a random thought: if you remove air from your library low-level adventurers won't be able to breathe and fire can't be started without oxygen.

[Deophaun]

You'd need to gain access to the druid list somehow, but quench would be perfect for it. Covers a 20' cube/level. Much cheaper than a frostbrand if you can put it in a self-resetting trap or make a custom magic item out of it.