Help me with a prison

[Deaths Adorable Apprentice]

So in the campaign I am running there is a lynching the PCs are trying to prevent. I have the actual lynching planned out but it occurs to me that they might break into the jail and try to bust out the victims. I need a few things.

I would like to put people in this jail and I need ideas for why they are in there. Valid reason or not, bonus points if its funny.

Where should I put the keys to the cells? Should there just be one big ring or lots of little ones?

Should it be really good locks or should I have the mage arcane lock the cells to make picking it harder?

What sort of protections should a jail have magical or mundane?

For a brief description of the jail there are three levels. The bottom level has the guards sleeping quarters, the captains office, a storage room full of contraband, and a sort of lounge room where the guards hang out while off duty. The second level has the typical bared cells for groups and individuals. While the third level has cells divided by stone walls to prevent seeing anyone. It is a stone building with tiny windows on the bottom level. This is in a small town with plenty of money and due to the amount of attacks that happen and adventures that pass through the prison is well funded.

Thank you in advance

[KenderKin]

The way of the wicked AP has a prison map, guards and is a free download here on paizo.

[Deaths Adorable Apprentice]

I have the prison I want and the guards its all the 'other' I am unsure of but thank you I will get that

[KenderKin]

[url]http://paizo.com/products/btpy8q8f?Way-of-the-Wicked-Book-1-Knot-of-Thorns- Preview] Link [/url]

I think it solves everything for you....

[Lord Vukodlak]

A lot can depend on the kinds of prisoners kept in the jail.

The locks can be relatively simple but the doors to the cells should be designed so the prisoner can't access them. So a solid door rather then a barred one. The door into the cell block however should have something a bit better.

There isn't a lot a prison can do to stop mid level adventurers, by that point you're not likely to apprehend them unless they surrender. Probably the cheapest way to imprison such characters is with a geas, if they're compelled to return to the cell it makes guarding them a lot easier.

[Deaths Adorable Apprentice]

I like the geas idea not for this situation but for later in a much bigger city. Unless the group really messes this up I am not trying to arrest them. I am trying to prepare for them is all. There is a good chance they will try to break into the prison to bust out the wrongly accused. And I will make the doors solid I like this. Thank you

[Kjeldor]

I would say...

Make the second floor mundane locked with the 3rd floor have a few cells with arcane locks.
Have the keys to the second floor all on 1 ring being held by the captains second in command(maybe have the second in command a mage as well for the arcane locks?)
You could have a permanent alarm on the 3rd floor as well while the second floor and first floor mundane protected.

Just some thoughts. Can't think of much in the way of why there would be folks in the prison, it kind of depends on the town and its laws/values I think.

[Mykrox43]

Drunk clerics, mages practicing magic w/o a license. Rogues-well need I say more. Druids protesting the felling of trees. Just another typical saturday night.The usual suspects.

I'd say regular locks. A few master keys held by the head jailer and sets for the lower level guards.

That's all I got. Hope this helps. Happy gaming,M

[Lord Vukodlak]

Oh added fun, a doppleganger, it of course won't appear as a doppleganger when they look in the cell.

[Deaths Adorable Apprentice]

I love the doppleganger idea and I think that will be happening

[Deaths Adorable Apprentice]

One more question which I feel foolish for not thinking of it ad I hop some one can help me. What about the storage room? For better immersion my brain thinks there should be one and that is a good way to give loot and my group loves loot, who doesn't. What kind of items should there be? How difficult should the locks be? And how much stuff should there be in the contraband room?

[shroudb]

depending on the size of the town that the prison is in, all sorts of fun stuff can be in the prison.

for starters stupidly big/exotic/fearsome animal companions that the guards locked in their fright that they will eat the civilians, much to the protest of their owners (like dinoshaurs, crocs, etc)

a wizard that one of his rivals casted insanity on him

a commoner/adventurer/whatever that someone casted bestow curse on him, with the curse being "being in the wrong spot in the worng time" obviously, once again he is NOW in the wrong spot

a dwarf stonemason that tried to "improve" the city walls, much to the dismay of the actual authorities

a bard that used his fascinate on the ladies a bit "too much"

a swashbuckler mysterious avenger caught in the act

etcetcetc

as for the loot, you can have in a room full of manacles and stuff, a pair of dimenshional shackles hidden away for "specific individuals"

masterwork mancatchers, masterwork weapons for the guards, etc mundane, but pricey things

[Deaths Adorable Apprentice]

I like the ideas and the dwarf is defiantly happening I have a PC playing a Dwarf who has done nothing but complain in and out of game about the protective walls of various towns.

With item taken off of those arrested in the past should I assume that the guards would sell or distribute it among themselves?

[Deaths Adorable Apprentice]

bump

[Sagiso]

I don't remember the exact words, but if you can dig up the list of crimes that Jack Sparrow is charged with in Pirates of the Carribean you might have a prisoner that the party will appreciate.

And though I don't really have advice to offer on how to counter them, keep an eye on if your party is in posession of any tree type feather tokens. Those are always a blast to use.