Keep quandry

[Trogdar]

Hey there,

I'm planning on building a keep for my companions and I. The campaign is set in a forgotten realms home brew and I thought I would get some advice related to common magical countermeasures. Is there a list of must haves for a keep to stay relatively safe?

[Nearyn]

Can you perhaps try to elaborate a bit on how much security you want? Because you can pile on the security until the cows come home.

Also, the types of security would (I should think) depend on how the keep is staffed. Is it a just a stone fortress where the players can hang their cloaks on a rainy day, or is it a fully staffed keep with a compliment of soldiers, stables etc?

Help me help you :)

-Nearyn

[Mikaze]

Quandary got banned!? :(

edit- oh, nm

[Lincoln Hills]

We can advise you more thoroughly if we know A) how much money is being spent on the structure, 2) its intended function (is it strictly a home/fortress, or does it integrate a temple, mine or other secondary function?), and 3) the class and level of your PC spellcasters (or associated NPCs.)

Here are a few non-magical but useful tricks that I've put in use in my own campaigns:

1) Flying opponents are relatively common. For courtyards and other small- to mid-sized open areas, it may be a good security measure to suspend netting over the areas - possibly in conjunction with alarm bells heavy enough not to be stirred by every breeze, but light enough to jingle when some invisible foe is sawing an opening.

2) Wall fortifications should include spear- or trident-like blades that make the wall a little too risky for swoop attacks.

3) It can be useful to keep a fine powder handy for guards to employ - similar to that listed in the Advanced Player's Guide. The most common powder that's in ready supply is common fireplace ashes, although flour or chalk dust are options.

4) Read the knock spell carefully and figure out ways to prevent it from undoing your security. Really secure areas should involve multiple bolts and bars.

5) Guards should always require a password, even from people they recognize.

6) If peepholes are necessary, they should take the form of an L-shaped channel through the stone wall, with a mirror at the halfway point - a sort of crude periscope. This eliminates the hazards of line-of-effect and line-of-sight attacks.

7) No defense is foolproof. The best you can do against certain things (ethereal intrusion, burrowing monsters, etc.) is to train your guards that the possibility exists, have at least two plans in place for these circumstances, and make a point of giving the position of "NPC in charge of the defenses when we're not around" to the wiliest NPC you can find.

[Trogdar]

I have nearly unlimited funds so I guess major concerns would be scrying and teleportation.. I guess?

I had thought to build a keep after clearing a promising mine of monsters or the like. I would then hire dwarves to mine and help with the construction of the stronghold so that the mines entry would serve as the stronghold entrance. I will also have several experts to smelt ore and forge exotic metals into equipment. The DM has stated that dwarves can manufacture with exotic metals as quickly as standard materials, so that seems like the way to go.

[Nearyn]

Okay. Nearly unlimted funds. Well then... *cracks knuckles* don't mind if I do.

Several castings of Wall of Stone, Stone Shape, Wall of Iron and Polymorph any Object will allow you to make your walls near-indestructible by any mundane means.

The Symbol of <stuff> spells, means moving around in your keep will be a living hell for any uninvited intruders.

The Guards and Wards spell is a given.

Screen will drown out scrying and cover your keep in illusions.

Teleport Trap spells will trouble attempts to teleport into your keep.

Casting of the Planar Binding chain, Animate Dead or the Create Undead chain, will help add some hard-hitting security to your keep.

Get heavyset iron/ironwood doors and superior locks, and hit them all with Firetrap or Explosive Runes.

Hire tough and loyal guards, get a spellcaster or 5 on retainer and get a druid to fiddle with the grounds around your keep, ensuring treant-trouble for anyone who tries to muster a force against the place.

Casting of Phase door can make secret passages or entrances to hidden rooms you don't want anyone uninvited to enter.

Stinking cloud spells, Walls of fire and Walls of force in strategic locations, forcing people to take damage or burn spells if they can't enter through your phase doors.

And of course, you can go through every trap in the book, some of which are pretty useless and some of which are ballsstompingly, teethgrindingly nasty.

Hope it helps ;)

-Nearyn

[Trogdar]

Thanks, some of those spells I was not aware of.

[bfobar]

Unlimited funds? Buy some create demi-plane scrolls and some permanency scrolls and just worry about defending a door to a planar gate to your actual stronghold...a floating castle in the astral plane.

[Quandary]

The rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated... ;-)

[Kimera757]

No flat surfaces that a flying creature could easily land on. Those surfaces should always be sloped, preferably sharply, or even an onion dome effect.