Moderately Escapable Prison Compound

[ArcanistSupreme]

I'm currently running a campaign in which I want the characters to be taken prisoner and left in jail to rot. Obviously, I don't want this to be the end of the campaign, so I want them to be able to escape. The tricky part is doing this without making it way too easy or leading them by the nose.

Setting:
Fortress city inhabited mainly by clerics, paladins, and other holy crusader types ( EDIT: most will be warriors). These guys see themselves as the good guys, and the PCs know this and will be forced to avoid killing them (or be forced to kill as few as possible).

Party:
The party consists of either four or five 5th level characters. A barbarian (high intimidate), a druid, a sorcerer/favored soul, a heavily optimized barbarian/bard/warblade, and possibly a duskblade. I want all players to be able to contribute to the escape, but I also want obvious precautions to be taken against their abilities (ie, antimagic cells).

Other Issues:
Another issue is their equipment. They will obviously have this taken from them, and I want them to be able to get it back eventually. I don't want it to be easy and I don't mind them be forced to live without it for a little while. The final issue is communication. The party will not all be in the same room or even the same building. What would be a good way to facilitate communication without breaking credibility?

[Gamgee]

So much irony in one title... can't take it. *head explodes*

[ArcanistSupreme]

I try. And while guards having their heads explode from too much irony might facilitate an escape, that might be viewed as a bit of a Deus ex Machina

[Beorn080]

Does the fortress city have any manner of gladiatorial arena? Or other sort of dangerous but not specifically fatal punishment? Then have the guards start talking in front of the prisoners about one of their number, though perhaps either not specifically which one or directly to the prisoners. Then they know where at least one of them is going to be at a specific time. Also would let one of them get their equipment back while forcing the others to improvise.

[ArcanistSupreme]

I'm not sure about gladiatorial combat (seems distinctly un-paladinish), but perhaps one of the characters could be enlisted to help fight off a big monster. Though the trick in this case would be why they needed a 5th level character's help when the fortress has at least a few dozen NPCs of this level or higher.

[Beorn080]

Could Geas one of the nonlawfuls of the party to complete a stealth mission involving nonlawful means.

[Tackyhillbillu]

Have a turncloak among the Paladins. Say he'll help the characters escape in return for stealing some powerful macguffin. He can carry messages, and deactivate certain features of the prison to allow them to escape.

[ArcanistSupreme]

Th turncoat solves all of the problems and is by far the easiest solution, and it even comes with a plot hook. But what happens if the characters aren't willing to work with him/her? These characters have been known to reject perfectly reasonable offers before, so I want alternate escape routes that can be used if necessary.

[potatocubed]

Security systems are only as good as the people operating them, and people are fallible. Perhaps a door that should remain closed at all times is propped open so a guard can nip out for a fantasy-equivalent-cigarette whenever he feels the need. Perhaps somebody has written down their password because they can't remember it. Perhaps someone has overheard someone else's password (or stolen it, or stolen a key, or been given it for the sake of expediency) and the PCs can get it without having to go through the (much more dangerous) other guy.

[Beorn080]

Well, you got three bookless spellcasters there. Those three should be able to engineer an escape somehow, especially if you have them transferred or something. Not sure what a duskblade gets, but the barbarians should do some bend bars checks. They'll roll a 20 eventually.

[Bibliomancer]

For facilitating communication, prisons have rats. The druid can use the rats to carry messages (I'm sure the players will be able to improvise writing materials).

Even if they're separated, they will probably get some time to walk around (the jailers are paladins, after all) and they can set up a code to be carried by the rats during 'recess', if necessary.

One issue I can see is this: will your PCs really restrain themselves? Some groups don't bother worrying about alienating law enforcement officials, and my group has routinely killed elite government agents to avoid losing treasure.

I doubt that the prison is wealthy enough to have antimagic cells (a casting of antimagic costs 1200gp, assuming you can find a caster who's interested in the first place. Just say that they're bound and gagged, and have aforementioned rats chew through the druid's bounds, or have one of the players use Still Spell (if they have it) to escape. Better yet, have the duskblade NOT be bound, since he looks like a melee combatant (which allows him/her to participate). Combine duskblade spells with barbarian strength, and you've got a jailbreak going.

[ArcanistSupreme]

This is a well established and old fortress city, so antimagic cells are not out of the question. They might be a little shoddy, such as a corner that isn't covered by the field, but I think it's feasible that a town filled with holy warriors has at least one cleric of a high enough level.

As for character restraint, a couple of them might not be too concerned, but they will have to worry about bringing the entire population of the fortress, including a few mid-level NPCs, down on their heads. Fighting a few guards might be possible, but making a stand or fighting their way out won't be a viable option.

As for breaking the bars, the break DC for an iron bar is 28 (pg 61 DMG), so even if the barbarian rolls a 20 while raging, there's no way that he'll be able to hit that DC.

Right now I'm leaning toward the "human's are fallible" concept, but any ideas to either supplement this or flesh it out would be more than welcome.

[Flickerdart]

Antimagic Field is normally centred on the caster. Assuming that this is an item, the field will be radiating from it. So the cell itself isn't Anti-magicked, but a tile, or a fixture on the ceiling/in the floor would be. If they can figure out which one it is and destroy it (difficult, as it would probably be adamantine) then the field drops.

[DabblerWizard]

If this is a 4e game, this would be a great time for the druid to use the Animal Messenger ritual on a rat, much like what was suggested above.

Going along with fallible humans, let your players bluff their way into getting out of the jail cell. Paladins don't have to be super insightful you know.

Maybe one of the guards is particularly simple minded, and doesn't see a problem with letting you "just hold" the cell door key, which you conveniently "lose".

[herrhauptmann]

Have the jailers (on a predictable schedule) gather prisoners together. Perhaps in the yard for 'exercise,' or they get taken to a room with grates in the floor and hosed off with the Decanter of Endless Water (on geyser) or whatever it's called.
It might take a few times before the party knows the routine well enough to orchestrate their own attempt.

Granted, the exercise could be something from Victorian England. Passing a 40 pound medicine ball in a circle" for 2 hours was both 'exercise' and punishment back in the day. As was putting prisoners on a treadmill for several hours. Problem with the treadmill was that it was in a room the size of the treadmill, and quickly got hot and humid (~100F, and indoor rainstorms), which made it more difficult.
Being lawful just means they follow prison guidelines, which means no random beatings by the guards. Being 'good' could mean that elderly prisoners are not forced to perform the more strenuous exercises. Nothing about Lawful Good jailers means that prisoners are fed 3 square meals a day, allowed to receive mail, and shower nightly.

The party could gain the aid of other prisoners who're far along in their own attempts (think Count of Monte Cristo).
Heck, to keep things from getting bogged down, create 4 or 5 groups of NPCs to aid the PCs. The trick to that? If you're running the escape attempt of the duskblade, give the players of the barbarian, druid, favored soul, and warblade an NPC to control. This way the other players get to contribute while you're focusing on each individual PC.

[herrhauptmann]

Maybe one of the guards is particularly simple minded, and doesn't see a problem with letting you "just hold" the cell door key, which you conveniently "lose".

Come on, that's utterly ridiculous. On the level of idiocy. Maybe if a player manages to cast a charm or suggestion on the guard, but only then.

I also like the idea of Druid using animal messenger. Straight up from the Evil Overlord list #42, and totally undefeatable unless there is an ironclad reason beyond DM fiat that there are no rats in the prison.

[ArcanistSupreme]

It's 3.5e, so no animal messenger, sorry. Moronic guards are also out. The schedule thing is also a good idea, and I'll consider the Count of Monte Cristo thing.

I love the idea of PC NPCs, but that could lead to suicidal NPCs, which is a little ridiculous. I guess that I could promise a reward for surviving NPCs. Thoughts?

[herrhauptmann]

I love the idea of PC NPCs, but that could lead to suicidal NPCs, which is a little ridiculous. I guess that I could promise a reward for surviving NPCs. Thoughts?

The NPCs say something along the lines of "When we get out of here and I get home, feel free to stop by the town of X. The wife would love to meet you, or My parents would like to offer their thanks for my safe return."

Turns out the parents are filthy rich nobles. Or the wife is an epic cleric who will cast the resurrection spell for free when a party member is murdered and his body stolen.

Ok, the animal thing can still work, even in 3.5. What's the DC and time spent to train a rat to fetch something?

[Kylarra]

Ok, the animal thing can still work, even in 3.5. What's the DC and time spent to train a rat to fetch something?

A week and a DC 15 handle animal check.

[ArcanistSupreme]

I just meant no animal messenger ritual. The handle animal DC is 15 for fetch and 20 for track. I think it would need to be some sort of combination of these tricks, and it would take two weeks to train the rat both tricks. This could be fun.

By the way, that list is hilarious.

[Flickerdart]

Your players might also draw inspiration from the exploits of one Mr. Welch.

[Gralamin]

I just meant no animal messenger ritual. The handle animal DC is 15 for fetch and 20 for track. I think it would need to be some sort of combination of these tricks, and it would take two weeks to train the rat both tricks. This could be fun.

By the way, that list is hilarious.

You have a druid. Druids can cast Animal Messenger in 3.5 just fine.

[AgentPaper]

The party would probably be kept in two cells. The casters would be in the anti-magic cell while the others are in a high-security cell with extra-reinforced bars, maybe adamantine or similar. They don't keep the prisoners in separate cells, since they only have one of each of these types. Anti-magic and adamantine are both expensive, and mostly not needed for normal prisoners, so it's not hard to imagine why they wouldn't have more than one of each type.

Now, as for actual escaping, you said this is an old fortress, so there might be some run-down bits, and the cells might not be perfectly maintained. Perhaps the anti-magic field is weakening, allowing spells to be cast in the back of the room sometimes. Just give spells cast from the back row of the cell a 80% failure chance, or some such. For the adamantine cell, well, the bars themselves are adamantine, but they're probably in a stone framework, and one or more might have started to get a bit loose. With a bit of work grinding away the stone over a few days, while the guards aren't looking, and they could have a bar loose and ready to be broken out when it comes time to make good their escape.

If the guards think one of the casters is a wizard, they might move him out of the anti-magic cell after the first day, since they figure he can't cast without his book. They might also take one of the martial types out of the high-security cell and into a normal cell if they think it'll be more trouble to have them all together in the adamantine cell than it would be to have one of them in an iron cell, probably with extra guards just in case.

The duskblade might also be mistaken for just another martial-type character, especially if they haven't seen him cast spells, so you might have a caster in the adamantine cell, which could prove useful, even if all his spells are combat-oriented.

As for the equipment, that'd probably be in a single, secure place, probably in the same place they keep most of their other valuables. They're lawful, so if your players are being held before getting a fair trial (another chance to escape, or prove their innocence, either fairly or with tricks) then they won't use them or sell them off or anything. Getting into the vault where the items are kept should prove a challenge, but the other valuables and magic items there should make up for that easily.

If you want, you could have a few of the party's magic items be missing, either for good or to be tracked down. A nice holy relic or two, like a holy avenger greatsword once wielded by the paladin who founded their order, would be another good addition. They could take the valuable relic, but if they do, they paladins will hunt them down to the ends of the earth, and if it's a big, noticeable item like a weapon or armor, they'd have to take care to hide it, or the paladins will be able to track them more easily, and paladins of other orders will be very curious as to how a non-paladin came into it's possession.

[ArcanistSupreme]

ArgentPaper: Those are all excellent ideas, but how do I convey them to the players without out saying, "Gee, that one bar looks pretty loose." The players are likely to give up after casting one or two spells, so if one of those doesn't succeed, or if they aren't standing in the exact spot they need to be when they attempt that, how do I get them to keep trying? I was thinking of having an area that was under a sort of permanent create food/water effect so they could tell that magic was possible in the cell. Is that too obvious?

[Charlie Kemek]

Th turncoat solves all of the problems and is by far the easiest solution, and it even comes with a plot hook. But what happens if the characters aren't willing to work with him/her? These characters have been known to reject perfectly reasonable offers before, so I want alternate escape routes that can be used if necessary.

you could set it up so that the intimidate heavy barbarian intimidates the jail guard to set up the turncoat.

[ArcanistSupreme]

The issue with that is it I have to either make the barbarian think to do that, which would be difficult to do without being super obvious, or essentially play his character for him, which would be way lame.

[Flickerdart]

ArgentPaper: Those are all excellent ideas, but how do I convey them to the players without out saying, "Gee, that one bar looks pretty loose." The players are likely to give up after casting one or two spells, so if one of those doesn't succeed, or if they aren't standing in the exact spot they need to be when they attempt that, how do I get them to keep trying? I was thinking of having an area that was under a sort of permanent create food/water effect so they could tell that magic was possible in the cell. Is that too obvious?

If they want, Spellcraft or Knowledge (Arcana) checks to learn about the Antimagic Field spell's range. Is the cell larger than the range? It is? Then find out where it isn't active. A high enough Search or Spellcraft should reveal where the effect is present.

[Charlie Kemek]

The issue with that is it I have to either make the barbarian think to do that, which would be difficult to do without being super obvious, or essentially play his character for him, which would be way lame.

True, but if you give them 2-3 options, they're bound to figure out one of them. maybe if you make it so that they are all in separate areas, and they all have to figure out their own way out, and the barbarian only has so many options if he can't bend the bars, or break the jail itself.

[Jack_Simth]

It's 3.5e, so no animal messenger, sorry. Moronic guards are also out. The schedule thing is also a good idea, and I'll consider the Count of Monte Cristo thing.

I love the idea of PC NPCs, but that could lead to suicidal NPCs, which is a little ridiculous. I guess that I could promise a reward for surviving NPCs. Thoughts?

Are you certain that there is no Animal Messenger spell in D&D that the party Druid can use?

[ArcanistSupreme]

Good points. I keep forgetting about player knowledge vs. character knowledge. And I forgot about redundant escape plans. I think I've got the escape portion just about planned out now. The only issue now is gear recovery. How do they get back in after the whole complex has put on high alert? Or how do I make it so they can somehow get the gear on their way out (this is less desirable)?

P.S.-How do you do the quote thing? EDIT: Figured it out.