Help with Equipment Restrictions

[Catullus64]

Ok, this is ordinarily the sort of thing I'd hash out myself, but I'm on a time crunch and don't have much time for research. So a proposal for how to handle this upcoming situation in my game would be welcome.

The players have secured themselves positions as attachés to a major diplomat, and are accompanying him to a summit. Formally, they are there as advisors, not security. Informally, they are there to keep an eye out for trouble and to run covert errands for the diplomat.

At the start of the next session, they and their ambassador will board the pleasure barge of the Lizard King, and travel up the coast to the City of the Black Sentinel, where this summit will take place.

Since they are not formally there in a security capacity, and it's a state function, there ought to be restrictions on how much stuff they are allowed to bring, and on what armaments they are allowed to wear. I want to give the players both hard rules and soft guidelines about how much of their stuff they should be able to bring. Any advice for a good ruling?

[strangebloke]

Ok, this is ordinarily the sort of thing I'd hash out myself, but I'm on a time crunch and don't have much time for research. So a proposal for how to handle this upcoming situation in my game would be welcome.

The players have secured themselves positions as attachés to a major diplomat, and are accompanying him to a summit. Formally, they are there as advisors, not security. Informally, they are there to keep an eye out for trouble and to run covert errands for the diplomat.

At the start of the next session, they and their ambassador will board the pleasure barge of the Lizard King, and travel up the coast to the City of the Black Sentinel, where this summit will take place.

Since they are not formally there in a security capacity, and it's a state function, there ought to be restrictions on how much stuff they are allowed to bring, and on what armaments they are allowed to wear. I want to give the players both hard rules and soft guidelines about how much of their stuff they should be able to bring. Any advice for a good ruling?

The key is to think about what could credibly be enforced and what the people running the summit will care about.

IMO, what makes the most sense would be:

no restrictions outside of the summit itself since even diplomats need to be able to defend themselves while travelling, right? The Roman Senate for example didn't allow weapons inside the meeting, but everyone showed up to the meeting with an armed guard.
within the summit, you can bring one relatively small weapon as a sidearm, since swords are considered signs of rank in a lot of cultures.
Armor is allowed since it frequently ends up being part of a formal dress for someone with a military role.
There's a guy with detect magic on at the door scanning people for magic items. He'll let items associated with abjuration and maybe transmutation go but not anything else, since nobody at the summit wants people dominating other peoples' minds or poisoning other people.
There are lookouts throughout the summit itself who are watching for people casting spells or using magical abilities.


Establish pretty early on that you might get evicted from the summit if you get caught violating one of these rules and that there might be social repercussions as well. I think the easiest way would be to show someone getting evicted for breaking the rules just as the party shows up to the summit.

[Amnestic]

Any weapons that are carried could have a peacebond - either mundane (knotted rope or the like) or magical. Make it cost an action to do a strength check at a moderate DC (say, 11-13) to break the peacebond, and if it's magical then breaking it alerts the guards. Lets them keep their weapons while also ensuring they don't get used (except if shenanigans goes down, in which case there's still a cost to doing so).

[Wraith]

I agree with strangebloke in that quite a lot of things could be allowed under the heading of "culturally appropriate" or otherwise traditional. I would suggest a couple of slight alternations though:

Armour should be limited to light only. Whereas an attendee with a militarised culture might be inclined to wear armour as a symbol of their status, stomping in wearing a full suit of platemail with tower shield and face-covering helmet screams out that its someone who is either taking the piss, or who is actively seeking to cause trouble and be prepared for it. Light armour is relatively cheap, and you could count it as traditional or ritualised similar to having the party go out and buy a nice set of Fine Clothes for a fancy ball.

Weapons should be single-handed, or at least they should be Versatile like a quarterstaff. It's supposed to be a peaceful summit, no one has any need to bring in a Greataxe or a Lance, but a 'culturally significant' handaxe, mace, hammer, etc might be appropriate. Again, encourage the party to use "ceremonial" weapons rather than the big, notched cleavers they would normally tote about - give them inspiration if they RP having a fancy, shiny new sword that is impractical but pretty.

That being said, drawing a weapon for any reason other than having had a weapon drawn on them should immediately get them mobbed by guards; Having a weapon is one thing, offering to use it is quite another and it should be clear that party isn't expected to go in looking for a fight. They might not like having to spend their action drawing their weapon when a fight begins, but.... tough luck. Diplomacy can't always involve pressing a knife to someone's throat. :smalltongue:

Consider confiscating component pouches and spell foci at the door. There shouldn't be any NEED to throw room-enveloping fireballs about the place, but if it does happen it should only encourage the attendees to defend themselves and/or run away rather than get into a protracted firefight and turn the summit into a bloodbath.

[strangebloke]

I agree with strangebloke in that quite a lot of things could be allowed under the heading of "culturally appropriate" or otherwise traditional. I would suggest a couple of slight alternations though:

Armour should be limited to light only. Whereas an attendee with a militarised culture might be inclined to wear armour as a symbol of their status, stomping in wearing a full suit of platemail with tower shield and face-covering helmet screams out that its someone who is either taking the piss, or who is actively seeking to cause trouble and be prepared for it. Light armour is relatively cheap, and you could count it as traditional or ritualised similar to having the party go out and buy a nice set of Fine Clothes for a fancy ball.

Weapons should be single-handed, or at least they should be Versatile like a quarterstaff. It's supposed to be a peaceful summit, no one has any need to bring in a Greataxe or a Lance, but a 'culturally significant' handaxe, mace, hammer, etc might be appropriate. Again, encourage the party to use "ceremonial" weapons rather than the big, notched cleavers they would normally tote about - give them inspiration if they RP having a fancy, shiny new sword that is impractical but pretty.

That being said, drawing a weapon for any reason other than having had a weapon drawn on them should immediately get them mobbed by guards; Having a weapon is one thing, offering to use it is quite another and it should be clear that party isn't expected to go in looking for a fight. They might not like having to spend their action drawing their weapon when a fight begins, but.... tough luck. Diplomacy can't always involve pressing a knife to someone's throat. :smalltongue:

Consider confiscating component pouches and spell foci at the door. There shouldn't be any NEED to throw room-enveloping fireballs about the place, but if it does happen it should only encourage the attendees to defend themselves and/or run away rather than get into a protracted firefight and turn the summit into a bloodbath.

shields I could see being banned, simply because there's no reason to have them, but heavy armor seems like it could be totally fair. Parade armor is a thing after all and cultures that did have huge sets of heavy armor did wear them in non-war functions. More to the point it just kind of looks bad to require that a diplomat not be allowed to guard himself.

[Catullus64]

All good advice. Any suggestions as for limits to impose on the non-weapon stuff?

[strangebloke]

All good advice. Any suggestions as for limits to impose on the non-weapon stuff?

like I said, people at a diplomatic summit have to be aware that spellcasting exists and is arguably a greater threat to the summit than swords and axes. Something like Charm Person is a huge problem. Something like Detect Thoughts is similarly troublesome.

The easiest thing is to have guards on the lookout for visible signs of spellcasting. Things like component pouches, arcane foci, vocal and somatic components.... Basically if the wizard starts raising his hands and conjuring a spell everyone should notice.

Similarly magic items that have a conjuration or enchantment or even evocation mechanic might get detected via a 'detect magic' and confiscated. After all nobody wants you to use a ring of fireballs to destroy the summit.

The key is to make the system beatable. Don't make the guards have expertise in perception or anything like that. Make them bribeable. Make it a challenge to be overcome rather than a mechanic by which you railroad everyone. Think of the scene where Gandalf sneaks his staff past the guards in The Two Towers. The party gives up some of their weapons, but Gandalf manages to get his staff through by cleverly persuading the guard that he is a harmless old man. That's what you want to shoot for.

[Unoriginal]

All good advice. Any suggestions as for limits to impose on the non-weapon stuff?

Such limits usually come in two flavors: limits for practical reasons, and limits for traditions, which generally are practical reasons (or were in the past when circumstances were different) that became ritualized.

Personally I would have a rule that the intentional use of magic by the guests is forbidden, with the capacity of the host to perceive if magic is used depending on who said host and their staff are.