What spells would you use to secure a safe house?

[AXP_Dave]

What spells would you use to secure a safe house or a liar for the PC's? Arcane lock is nice, but not too hard to beat. Any suggestions for securing a safe house by a faction that has some money and magic?

Thanks,
Dave

[Torchbearer]

What level are the PCs and how much money are you looking to spend on it?

[Lincoln Hills]

Is Morden... - I mean, is private sanctum still on the spell lists?

[AXP_Dave]

Torchbearer wrote:

What level are the PCs and how much money are you looking to spend on it?

PC level is around 5, but the house would be from their noble benefactors. I would think any spell level up to 5th would be acceptable.

Thanks

[AXP_Dave]

Lincoln Hills wrote:

Is Morden... - I mean, is private sanctum still on the spell lists?

Mage's Private Sanctum is in PF and is a good idea

[Thanael]

Illusions + mundane secret doors. Traps (mundane and magical).

Alarm.

Hallow, forbiddance, glyph of warding.

[Tiny Coffee Golem]

Safe houses are usually safe due to secrecy, so Private Sanctum with some arcane locks should be sufficient. Also perhaps an escape route just in case.

Beyond fortification the best safe house would be a Magnificent Mansion, though it' would have to be recast daily and is a higher level than you wanted. Perhaps it could be a custom item.

[Belafon]

It's a tiny bit outside your range (level 6) but Guards and Wards is of course perfect for this. It's not normally a permanent spell so you'd either have to have someone recast it daily or house rule a way to make it permanent.

[Oliver McShade]

If PC are 5th level, and your limiting yourself to 3rd level spells below...

Priest = Glyph of warding, stone shape, obscure object, Continual Flame, Consecrate.

Druid = Fire Trap, Wood Shape, Stone shape, and Diminish Plants for maintaining the lawns.

Wizard = Nondetection, Explosive runes, Rope Trick, Make Whole, Phantom trap, misdirection, magic mouth, Continual Flame, Obscure object, Arcane Lock, Alarm, Prestidigitation, or Mending.

That i might look into from PHB.

[Claxon]

Lots of scrolls of create lesser demiplane?

Lasts long enough to sleep in. Safe unless someone can scry on you and teleport to your location.

[LazarX]

AXP_Dave wrote:

What spells would you use to secure a safe house or a liar for the PC's? Arcane lock is nice, but not too hard to beat. Any suggestions for securing a safe house by a faction that has some money and magic?

Thanks,
Dave

The only security for a safehouse is a low profile. Whatever means you use to secure it through magic, assume that someone has a means to beat it. If the faction leader is giving you a house, someone who works for him is going to betray it to your enemies.

It's part of plot. And there is no spell that's Protection from Plot.

[Lincoln Hills]

Although I share LazarX's cynicism that a safehouse will be impervious if the plot demands that it's not, that doesn't mean that making it proof against casual intrusion is all bad - if nothing else it forces enemies to come to you and buys you some prep time.

It's worth noting, however, that the more wards and defenses you lump onto a place, the more powerfully it'll radiate magic. Nondetection damps this aura for people and magic aura for items, but I don't know of anything that prevents detect magic from sensing magic on an area - even mage's private sanctum, though it prevents mundane observation and magical scrying, doesn't disguise itself from being located with arcane sight or the like as far as I recall. Sometimes being nondescript really is the better option: I suppose it depends on whether you're hiding from wizards (who tend to use magic as their go-to solution, and may be baffled by mundane countermeasures) or rogues (who are accustomed to mundane methods but unable to overcome certain magical obstacles with skill alone.) One method I've used for NPCs was to magically ward the place, but arrange for it to be somewhere (such as directly under a local temple) where such wards would be expected anyhow.

[AXP_Dave]

Lincoln Hills wrote:

It's worth noting, however, that the more wards and defenses you lump onto a place, the more powerfully it'll radiate magic.

Awesome point!

Dave

[Tiny Coffee Golem]

AXP_Dave wrote:

Lincoln Hills wrote:

It's worth noting, however, that the more wards and defenses you lump onto a place, the more powerfully it'll radiate magic.

Awesome point!

Dave

Just make sure the outside is not magical. Perhaps a heavily warded house inside a warehouse. Or just sandwich the walls with lead making sure the magic is on the inside.

Russian nesting dolls of security with the outermost layer (or layers) being mundane, but otherwise still trapped.

[Mysterious Stranger]

Lead seems to block most divination so maybe layer of lead in-between the walls. This will stop a lot of spells. Lead paint would also work but the long term health consequences may be a reason to avoid that. There may also be other metals with similar properties that can be used.

Having an extradimensional bolt hole would also be a good idea. Rope Trick is only a second level spell but would work very well. Maybe create an enchanted door with a permanent rope trick like effect. Someone who knows the command word would be able to access the bolt hole, anyone else would find an empty closet.

Another way would be to locate the safe house in a distant land and reach it with a teleportation device. You could even locate the safe house deep underground.

Combine all three ideas and almost no one is going to find you.

[Pizza Lord]

Mysterious Stranger wrote:

Lead paint would also work but the long term health consequences may be a reason to avoid that.

Luckily there's magical healing in this game, so paint away! What the heck, line the walls with asbestos and install cheap PVC pipe for everyone too!

There's always a way past defenses and I'll try and do the simplest common-sense stuff, but keeping that in mind:
The easiest defense for your money is probably an alarm spell. Simple and effective.

Arcane lock in Pathfinder doesn't look so bad. Get a Good or Superior lock and it adds +10 to the DC. Someone trying to knock has to beat the lock DC and that's now 40 to 50. They get a +10 from knock but that's still pretty tough without an exceptional roll or high caster level. Good luck if they're using a wand.

That's assuming I'm reading it correct. Also make sure it's secured by more than two methods; 2 locks and a rope binding, or a lock, a latch, and a bar. Looks like they still need to beat the lock DC regardless of whether it one of the remaining bindings.

Dispel magic could remove the arcane lock but that won't open the door. Might give their knock a better chance, but they still need two and that's a lot of spells just to get through the door.

Well-spaced iron bars in the walls can prevent easy stone shaping through rock and stone walls and the aforementioned lead sheeting can do the same as well as block divination spells.

Make sure if your chimney is big enough for access that it has a grate across it to prevent 'vermin' access and you keep the flue maintained for a good draft so gaseous intruders get drawn back up. I think a lot of people forget how hard it can be for smoke to go down a chimney. (Though there's probably plenty of other ways for it to get in, under the door for instance.)

If you can find a way to the coexisting location as your house on the ethereal plane, you can build walls of ethereal stone or possibly use wall of stone spells to seal it off preventing ethereal creatures from wandering in unless they smash down the barrier on the ethereal plane. The ethereal location doesn't need to have doors or openings since it won't affect you on the Material plane. That is, unless you have force effects up like mage armor or shield... but it can also be a shock to any intruders charging into an apparently open door or space if they have those spells up, or watching their force effects like magic missile impact on thin air as though striking a shield spell.

[Fake Healer]

Make the upper level look like a semi-secure, if boring safehouse for the PCs complete with some false planning areas and some minor gear stowed in chests in their bedrooms, minor traps and wards. Then you go into the basement, trip the secret lever (perception DC as high as can be afforded) and go into the ultra-secret den of the do-gooders.