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ChudoJogurt
2019-09-20, 10:28 AM
I am here to ask for collective wisdom in a bit of worldbuilding.

In my current campaign my players are to help defend a small prisoner of war camp, meant for the enemy heroes. They'd be expected to be housing prisoners. Most of them would be level-less NPCs, but some have levels, up to potentially level 6, some of them with PC classess, with some 20-50 prisoners.
The guardsmen would be two or three level 6 NPCs, bunch of nondescript Warrior-1/Adept 1 guards, some CR 3 magical beasts (mostly blink dogs, I think) and the prison itself was created with the help of wizard of level 10, and may have Permanencied spells, magic items as needed and if need be, I generally allow the use of Incantations, that may mimic high-level spells (up to level 7 inclusive) and/or just off-the-cuff individual magical effects in the same range of power.

The attackers, likewise, may have up to 4th level arcane spells from the core book only at their disposal, but no incantations, magic items or anything like that.

Neither side has any access to spells from Necromancy School or any Divine Magic in any form.

I want to make sure that the defences the encampment sort of make sense -- that the players don't immediately shout "why didn't the enemy do X, and effortlessly penetrate the security and rescue their prisoners?"
What sort of holes should the magic defence cover? What sort of things should such a prison have to watch out for?

heavyfuel
2019-09-20, 10:39 AM
Prisoners should definitely be in a dimensionally locked area (Hallow+Dimension Anchor) to avoid people simply using Dimension Door in and out with the prisoners

Afghanistan
2019-09-20, 11:40 AM
From your limits you can remove:


Hallow + Dimensional Anchor (Divine magic)
Forbiddance (Divine magic)
Dimensional Lock (8th level)
Halaster's teleport cage (9th level)


This doesn't leave many options that are not too resource intensive, but if you don't mind being a bit unethical, you can always just make the prisoners not want to leave the prison in the first place.

Give them Vodare produced from the spell Extract Drug (Sorc/Wiz 1). It's highly addictive, easy to smuggle into someone's food, and if they don't get a fix once every 2 days they start to take ability score damage. Combine with Sannish and you can always identify a prisoner or a run away by the color of their lips, and they have another drug they are addicted to. A magic item of Extract Drug -at will will run you about 2,000gp per prison complex. Combine this with mundane manacles, a ball gag for spellcasters, an isolation ward for them, and you can safely contain most prisoners, or at least make it so that they do not want to actually leave the prison with very little spellcasting involved.

This isn't evil "technically"? I mean it could be considered "Bringing Despair" or "Bullying and Cowing Innocents", but I think that is more of a criticism of the justice system as a whole than anything else.

Unless of course you are okay with just using an Incantation to replicate Hallow + Dimensional Anchor, than just do this and move on.

denthor
2019-09-20, 04:30 PM
The people attacking

Black tentacles this means dispel magic is needed for the defenders.

Attackers

Improved invisibly

Defenders should have scrolls of see invisibly as it is self only and potions really should not be a thing.

Attackers

Knock spells

Defenders
Unknow defense of this

Attackers

Web spell.

Defenders

Fire they take damage but easy way out

Attackers

Gaseous form seep into the cells and locked doors