The Invincible Jail (Community Project)

[Hanuman]

Ok, to start this is an adventure meant for high level adventurers.

The purpose of this jail is to be what is essentially a "TPKO via jail", or "No Hope of Escape" scenario where only the most foolish or brave adventurers would ever try to recover a lost party member from. The point of that is to force an interception and make it a "save or die" scenario, without the actual death. This grants captured characters a second chance and a very cinematic rescue, if that's failed then players may opt to channel it into a wider story arc by trying for a jail break.

This jail should be THE TOUGHEST nut to crack and I mean absolutely impervious to all of the normally most effective ways to do this to the point that only an extremely well coordinated team of high level adventurers or a sheer force helping you such as a celestial army or a demigod.

The only purpose of this jail is to:

Defend it's prisoners from being injured, killed or otherwise accessed. This includes information access to make sure NOTHING gets in or out.

Accept incoming prisoners and have room for them, transfer them securely and make sure once locked up they are incapable of leaving.

Defend it's structure from being overrun, its securities from being breached, and to make sure it's not messed with.

Sustain it's prisoners, probably with a stock of sustaining spoon-like technology, create water and prestidigitation to clean surfaces and prisoners and warm the food.

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Let's get down to business.

We need a few things:

Basic Design

Geography

Plane

Warden

Main Theme of Guards

Weather and Climate

Exterior Surveillance

Protective Measures

Contingencies and Reactions

List of most popular breakout scenarios.

[JeminiZero]

In lieu of being a normal prison where the inmates eat, sleep, breath and plot outbreaks etc, maybe make it a stasis prison instead? Essentially, all inmates are stored in quintessence. This prevents them form attempting any sort of escape, and also prevents sending or similiar from contacting them.

[FelixG]

Or use Trap the Soul on them and then store the gem they are trapped inside in a secure location. That way they would be even hard pressed to locate the person

[Hanuman]

In lieu of being a normal prison where the inmates eat, sleep, breath and plot outbreaks etc, maybe make it a stasis prison instead? Essentially, all inmates are stored in quintessence. This prevents them form attempting any sort of escape, and also prevents sending or similiar from contacting them.

I was thinking of a matrix-like trap but I like this idea better.

I like this idea, though I am conflicted between turning them to stone, shrinking the object and then sealing them in quintessence OR the less practical but more graphic just leaving them as a statue.

This would allow better identification of a prisoner.

THOUGH, my mind splits into 2 paths, 1 path being that the added difficulty in needing to understand the convoluted storage system they use in organizing their prisoners (like a prisoner library except with just numbers on the books, ect. seems more effective and more to the root of "this is a jail no one escapes from".
Alternatively one could assume they never expect anyone to break in, so making a more stylized storage system doesn't seem to matter as no one is ever going to break in.

Or use Trap the Soul on them and then store the gem they are trapped inside in a secure location. That way they would be even hard pressed to locate the person

Perhaps for maximum difficulty trap the soul, flesh to stone on the body and then shrink the statue to tiny size and seal both in quintessence?

Thoughts? Additional points?

[Kaww]

StF, shrink them and sell them as DnD miniatures? In game - maybe the prison's location is not known. Instead it is the place for worlds chess tournaments? Since casters have high enough mental stats to play it has every reason to be protected against divination, have antimagic rooms etc. They make prisoners dress up like game pieces and then puff they are peons, kings, bishops, succubus queens...

[FelixG]

Perhaps for maximum difficulty trap the soul, flesh to stone on the body and then shrink the statue to tiny size and seal both in quintessence?

Thoughts? Additional points?

Well, Trap the Soul pulls their material body inside after their soul is pulled out, so you only have one item to deal with.

Another trap could be all of the gems are stored in one area, each has a number carved or magically placed on it, whenever one is picked up all others jump to another area, so they have to find a way to ensure that they retrieve their friends gem and not another otherwise they are going to be chasing these things across multiple dungeons

[Ormur]

Wondrous architecture and wall augmentations from the Stronghold Builders guide can help. If you want to keep the prisoners in relatively normal prison conditions without allowing for escape you could house them in cells made out of walls of force with antimagic sigils and the only opening being on the top. That only leaves mundane ways of getting out (or Mystra). The DC for climbing walls of force is 70, the escape artist check to get through them is 120. I suspect jump checks for whatever height the cell is would be much easier so that would have to be negated whenever the cell is opened.

Regardless of the conditions of the prisoner I think most of the prison should at least be built out of walls of force but unfortunately they can't be shaped (unless possibly with metamagic) which makes creating openings and doors harder. They're also vulnerable to disintegrate just like mundane walls. Building it underground or on the elemental plane of earth with hundreds of metres of solid rock or some ways of automatically countering disintegrate spells might be enough passive protection for the structure of the prison. Prismatic walls are better on the outside.

I suggest the only way would be to get in should be via teleport, that solves the problem of no openings. There should be only one room which you could teleport into and that should be heavily defended. Maybe it's possible to even make sure no one can teleport there without permission or it could be restricted to certain individuals.

Edit: Duh, of course it should be on a demiplane to boot.

I've seen threads about structures that are neigh impervious and ways to break them. Sofawall's Cube is one, Living in a Flying Box is another.

[Eloel]

1- Flesh to Stone
2- PaO to paper with photo
3- Make a book
4- ???
5- Profit! (Or rather, prisoner catalogue)

[FelixG]

If you want to go all out as well, you could have the entire prison on another plane, maybe even a custom one made from Genesis

[Hanuman]

StF, shrink them and sell them as DnD miniatures? In game - maybe the prison's location is not known. Instead it is the place for worlds chess tournaments? Since casters have high enough mental stats to play it has every reason to be protected against divination, have antimagic rooms etc. They make prisoners dress up like game pieces and then puff they are peons, kings, bishops, succubus queens...

I think that's a great idea, but perhaps not have it a widespread theme of the prison.
The chess masters could be one of the prison levels elite team of guards enlisted by the warden, each with their own special powers.
One of the traps could be protected by Chaturani, hold person and translocation spells, where another could be a glammer of one of the chess masters and he actually uses magehand to move the pieces, where if you refuse or lose the game, the ceiling drops. Harsh but effective trap.

If you want to go all out as well, you could have the entire prison on another plane, maybe even a custom one made from Genesis

I like the custom plane, what is the best combination of planar traits to make a jail with?

1- Flesh to Stone
2- PaO to paper with photo
3- Make a book
4- ???
5- Profit! (Or rather, prisoner catalogue)

I do like this idea, but at the same time wouldn't the most brilliant idea for a prison to have the way prisoners are stored to be completely bizarre fashion?
This might take some thinking.... Something the players would NEVER suspect...

[hydraa]

cast Imprisonment from within a hostile environment (lava) or plane, or if it works from such thing as a rope trick and then burn the rope. If the location from where it was cast no longer exists, can they be retrieved (wish can not bring them back, but then wish may be able to bring the entry poiint back)

[Duke of URL]

If you want to go all out as well, you could have the entire prison on another plane, maybe even a custom one made from Genesis

Yeah, demiplane with all interdimensional access blocked would be my first thought as well. The only way around the dimensional blocks would be some kind of portal that is not only heavily guarded, but requires multiple keys to open, with each key held by a powerful being or extremely heavily guarded, and a reliable communications link between them.

The only way to force a way into the prison would be to collect all of the keys, and that would have to be done in a very limited timespan, so as to not alert the other keyholders of the attempt so that they can take steps to prevent the attack. Obviously, this means the best time to do so would be when they're already meeting to open the portal, but of course, security would also be at its highest point then.

I like the custom plane, what is the best combination of planar traits to make a jail with?

In this case, any, really. It comes down to why they are being imprisoned, not slain, but generally, the same as the material plane they come from. The biggest variable might be the time trait, but that would be very situationally dependent.

[Darrin]

Flesh to stone is an interesting option because it creates some unexpected complications, particularly for divinations. Once turned to stone, the target is no longer considered living or dead. They cease to be a creature for the target of divination spells, such as discern location, which can be very difficult to counter).

Discern location can still be used to find an object, such as a statue of the target (assuming you know the target was turned into a statue), but you can complicate that by polymorphing the statue into something else... make it roughly the same size and material, and it should be permanent (but can be dispelled). You could also break the statue into different pieces, and store the pieces in separate locations.

Since flesh to stone also turns the target's equipment into stone, it can also be used to similarly hide any distinctive equipment that could be used to divine their location. ("Okay, discern location failed to find Aragorn, try discern location on Aragorn's Sword").

There's also a spell in Complete Mage, an alternative to magic jar that could be used to store creatures: smoky confinement. It involves a Fort save rather than a Will save, and the target is trapped "unaware and ageless" inside a 100 GP bottle or vase made out of glass, crystal, etc. The creature/vase would still be findable via divination, but fluff-wise this sounds a lot cooler than "yeah, he got turned into a statue".

[LOTRfan]

Isn't Carceri the Plane of Prisons?

Granted, its not very like a prison, as people are allowed to move around on the pseudo-planet they are assigned to.

Perhaps have some of the guards be Gehreleth mercenaries that have been rescued from Carceri. They already have experience being wardens. Plus, the fact that they (along with any gear they are wearing) can be liquefied into a bottle of instant army could be pretty useful, especially when intruders are found or if someone actually tries to escape.

[FelixG]

Well, perhaps have PART of the plane be under different time rules, like 1 second real time to a million years passed in the time zone, to retrieve and place the items they use a special transportation spell as i assume magic would be instantaneous no matter the frame of relative time

[Hanuman]

Isn't Carceri the Plane of Prisons?

Granted, its not very like a prison, as people are allowed to move around on the pseudo-planet they are assigned to.

Perhaps have some of the guards be Gehreleth mercenaries that have been rescued from Carceri. They already have experience being wardens. Plus, the fact that they (along with any gear they are wearing) can be liquefied into a bottle of instant army could be pretty useful, especially when intruders are found or if someone actually tries to escape.

Thats a little like comparing Alcatraz to Australia.


OK, I think it's decided that PLANES should be both the type and geographical location but I have some questions about that.

1) How many planes can fit in another plane? Can we go for Demi-Demi-Demi-Demi-Demi-Demi-Demi-Demi-Demi-Demi-Demi-Demi-Demi-Demi-Demi-Demi-Demi-Demi-Demi-Demi-(20)Plane?
2) Can we have different planes which are visible and contained without the ability to actually access them? This draws off a few principles at a time:
A) Overlapping planes like the plane of Shadow.
B) Inter-Demi-Planes, demi-planes within demi-planes
C) Shaped and fixed location planes, planes that both have a custom shape and a visible appearance from the underlying plane they overlap, but perhaps one-way impeding such as the boundaries of the plane impede movement yet are one-way altered, as in you need to be in the plane to alter whats in it thats blocking you from entering it. Catch 22.
3) Can we have overlapping planes that are both fixed and occupy the same space but cannot by any means access eachother?



OK, how about this for some brainstorming.

For simplicity sake for now, the demiplane which the prison is located on will be called Plane 1 or P1.
The outside of the prison is something like a big concave cone which sinks underground, the structure isn't important because any parts that aren't moving are made of adamantium or something else that's ridiculous, the size of the prison is MASSIVE.

Inside the cone are square doorways that are closed and locked, but not trapped, they simply require a massive key built into the Prison Transport Vehicle (PTV) whatever that is, which is going to be the thing that players try to intercept BEFORE it gets to P1, or else they are usually sunk.

There are about 100 doorways arranged on several heights going up and down the inside of the cone, each doorway protrudes squarely and is sheer. There are several if not dozens of doorways per level in arrangement, these are aligns in a checkerboard alternation kind of like a cone sift or a strainer would have.

The center of the cone at the bottom has a glorious magical fire (real hot fire) which's light pierces even magical darkness and is enough to illuminate the entire prison cone.

While the PTV is not approaching to dock or leaving from a door the prison is in "active" mode, which means the cone starts spinning and creates an alternating centrifuge, one layer of doors goes clockwise on a track and the next goes counterclockwise and so on, between 0 and 10 rounds it picks up enough speed to be able to generate strong wind while standing infront of a door (massive balance check) and within 20 rounds it builds up to hurricane force and anyone not rooted to the ground starts being swept away. Getting hit by a door is pretty much assured instant death or dismemberment.

Above the cone are sheer cliffs in a circle with observation decks stationed all around, the gravity for the cliffs faces the wall so you could step off the top layer ground and then "fall" about a foot and walk on the cylindrical cliffside as if it were the floor, this allows guards to be able to face upwards, turn around 180 degrees and face downwards.


Thoughts so far? Things to change?

[Ravens_cry]

Line all the cells with lead and a magic trap that sprays randomly selected paint on the walls every day. That way, no scrying in, no chance of blind teleportation because the appearance changes every day.

[Hanuman]

Line all the cells with lead and a magic trap that sprays randomly selected paint on the walls every day. That way, no scrying in, no chance of blind teleportation because the appearance changes every day.

Hmm, what about a mixture between that, glams and material switching, like, the walls ACTUALLY reconfigure?

[Ravens_cry]

Hmm, what about a mixture between that, glams and material switching, like, the walls ACTUALLY reconfigure?

That would also be good, better in fact.

[super dark33]

first: lots of traps,
second: too tough guards
third:bars are burning adamentine spiked bars +5
forth:antimagic on cells
fifth: evidence locker is far away
sixth and last: the prisoners are naked

[Ravens_cry]

first: lots of traps,
second: too tough guards
third:bars are burning adamentine spiked bars +5
forth:antimagic on cells
fifth: evidence locker is far away
sixth and last: the prisoners are naked

seventh: casters are bound, gagged, and loud gongs are played at all hours.
eighth: uniforms for guards are not uniform, every single one is distinctive to them.
ninth: prisoners are tattooed on arrival with individual and magical designs as well as text detailing their physical description, with records detailing each prisoner kept in several secure locations.

[PersonMan]

If statues of prisoners are kept, carefully label and slice apart the statue. Keep right arms in one end of the prison, left arms in the opposite end, etc. to ensure that rescuers must travel as much and as long as possible to get all the parts.

Also, before petrification/soul trapping smack on a Mind Rape to implant false memories of their arrest, put in stuff like small weak points in the defense which lead to traps, etc.

EDIT: Probably make casters forget their casting ability, too. Or instill a belief that it's being blocked by [device], which is at [heavily guarded location, actually a trap]. In actuality, they just have a tiny metal sphere surgically implanted in their heart that's radiating an AM field.

[Callista]

So what's stopping the party bard from seducing the prison guards?

[Eloel]

So what's stopping the party bard from seducing the prison guards?

They are constructs?

[WeLoveFireballs]

Howzabout this? Turn to stone, miniaturize and stick inside of a balors heart. Enchant it so that it has dr 80/- or so. Leave an antimagic field around the Balor. Now he can only be overpowered by physical force without any magic items and should they accomplish that he will explode instantly destroying the figurine and probably them.

[Hanuman]

Ok, very nice thoughts everyone, let's turbo charge these:

first: lots of traps,
second: too tough guards
third:bars are burning adamentine spiked bars +5
forth:antimagic on cells
fifth: evidence locker is far away
sixth and last: the prisoners are naked
seventh: casters are bound, gagged, and loud gongs are played at all hours.
eighth: uniforms for guards are not uniform, every single one is distinctive to them.
ninth: prisoners are tattooed on arrival with individual and magical designs as well as text detailing their physical description, with records detailing each prisoner kept in several secure locations.

1) Everything is just one big trap, filled with more traps, which are trapped.
2) Guards, instead of being things could be a force, like, a haunting or souls bound to a massive artifact interlaced into the plane, that way you have a constantly recharging undying supply of defenses, and each type of guard could be different themed per level meaning less predictability and more complexity in a battleplan.
3) Having bars would be cute.
4) Agreed.
5) Evidence locker == furnace flame in the center of the outer jail at P1? This is a permanent holding facility, I'd imagine it would be incinerated or gated to the negative plane.
6) Probably best.
7) Same precautions for everyone, if casters are bound and gagged then everyone is. Psionic dampening shackles that disrupt recharge resting, drain stats to 1 each and eat spell slots, PP and anything that isn't at will.
Guards per level are all naturally psionically connected thus silent alarm and advanced teamwork?
8) Guards have a complex and contrived system of near impossible to duplicate mannerisms, they simply do not have uniforms but trying to impersonate one would require careful study, shapechange and an epic Perform [Acting] roll, reroll each target?

If statues of prisoners are kept, carefully label and slice apart the statue. Keep right arms in one end of the prison, left arms in the opposite end, etc. to ensure that rescuers must travel as much and as long as possible to get all the parts.

Also, before petrification/soul trapping smack on a Mind Rape to implant false memories of their arrest, put in stuff like small weak points in the defense which lead to traps, etc.

EDIT: Probably make casters forget their casting ability, too. Or instill a belief that it's being blocked by [device], which is at [heavily guarded location, actually a trap]. In actuality, they just have a tiny metal sphere surgically implanted in their heart that's radiating an AM field.

What about use the mind rape to show the people closest to them and begin scrying away?

I like the sliced statue idea, but what about these 2 things:
A) Can sliced statues be mended back together?
B) Even better is in each statue is represented as the finished product held together in a stasis field of force, but only a few of the pieces are actually real, the rest would be duplicate regular stone statue slices made to duplicate the originals, that way you could have a finished statue, have the real thing there, AND everywhere else?
C)I don't think full usage of the mindrape ability goes well with rescuing them, having 1 in every stat is fine since they can't cast at 1 mental stat anyway.

So what's stopping the party bard from seducing the prison guards?

Nothing, but a brilliant answer would be that the guards don't have any real power to change anything, are all misinformed to how anything works, and almost everything is automated. The guards probably act more like janitors in this scenario.

Additional thoughts: Why not make all the demi-planes function (in 10' sections) as segmented pocket dimensions "quilted" into demi-planes? That way any pocket dimension items will cause 10' sections to collapse and form gates which would be negated and warded, ect?




MORE IDEAS PLEASE! =D

[Kelb_Panthera]

If this is intended for use in a game, don't you guys think you're going a tad overboard, what with the dissected statues being stored all over the prison? A good adventure is supposed to be difficult, not nigh-impossible.

[Hanuman]

If this is intended for use in a game, don't you guys think you're going a tad overboard, what with the dissected statues being stored all over the prison? A good adventure is supposed to be difficult, not nigh-impossible.

This is basically a "fate", it's not actually meant as an adventure but instead it's more like "if you are sent here it's the same as losing your body, mind and soul".

Creating it is more of a "walk the walk" exercise, so if you threaten an impossible jail that you can actually back it up a session later and see how deep your characters feel like going down the rabbithole to rescue a character who is technically worse than dead.

[Ormur]

If you want to reduce all stats for the prisoners to one and you're allready going into mindrape territory there's a spell that does that from the same source. Eternal torture in BoVD is a permanent 9th level evil spell.

[PersonMan]

How far does the "prevent prisoners from being killed" thing go? If I were the prison-people, I'd beat prisoners down to 1 HP, deny them sleep and stack on loads of status effects(blind, deaf, slowed, sickened, etc.) so that even if they are rescued, they're 100% dead weight for the rescuers.