I've a question concerning how the official Doghousing events happen.
The initial depiction of a sanctioned Doghousing had four dottari, two dogs, and four Hellknights being present with 1d4 prisoners. But it is also implied that there is only one doghouse that a prisoner is forced into.
First, what prevents a prisoner from just sitting down? Are they secured so that they can't sit or lie down? (Are they able to sag against their chains or ropes?) This part isn't really described too well.
Second, where are the dogs kept? Do the guards just stay there at all times with the dogs? (The dogs are described as being kept hungry and thirsty, what prevents the dogs from biting at their "masters"?) Or are they brought out for the actual events?
Third and most importantly... how many doghouses are there? The initial depiction has only one doghouse described. But there's 1d4 prisoners. Do the guards just start shoving people into it like it's some Kyton-inspired clown car? Or do they draw lots, shove one prisoner in, drag the others back to prison, and when in a couple days the person inevitably collapses as a level 1 commoner would have 3-4 hit points and fatigue, thirst, and hunger would knock them out quickly (or honestly one dog attack), drag them out and toss the next unfortunate in?
For that matter, given it takes a while for hunger to take effect (3 days minimum), while thirst kicks in after the first day. Are the prisoners being starved prior to being doghoused?
(How did other GMs handle this? I'm sure there are plenty of GMs with overly intelligent players who'd pull doghousing apart so I'm curious as to how other people handled this. But I especially would love to hear from Mr. Jacobs.)
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Seeing there was never any follow-up on this, I figured I'd tell folk what I did with this.
Doghousing is Barzillai Thrune's method of spreading terror and fear through the city. Keeping it in one locale is... not conducive for this. After all, people have to pay to go over the Bleakbridge, and not everyone is going to go to the southern part of Veritas Plaza.
In addition, the Doghouses seem... a rather idiotic system. If you have four doghouses all together, then you risk having the prisoners work together to fend off dogs and get food and water (or even escape). If there are four separate doghouses not close enough to allow that, then it's a waste of space and effort. You might as well just put people in a stock and supply stones and rotten vegetables to throw at the prisoners.
So I put four Doghousing sites around Kintargo. One is in Veritas Plaza. The second is north of that, outside of the burned out shell of the Silver Star. The third is just south of the Bleakbridge. And the last is on the edge of a green area north of Alabaster Academy.
The number of locations being used depends on the number of prisoners "chosen" for this (due to suspicions of Raven sympathies).
One other thing I'm going to do is when all of the Doghousing victims for the week are saved, that week the Ravens don't lose Supporters and gain an additional number of Supporters equal to the number of people rescued. After all, the Ravens are looking after their own and even those accidentally swept up into things. It's not the same outrage of watching people die in doghouses, but it rewards the Ravens for actually DOING something instead of just letting people die or be tortured in a public spectacle.
(It's a bit confusing as to what happens with Supporters if you rescue the Doghousing victims. The book states "For each person lost to doghousing, the Silver Ravens gain 1d6 supporters. Check for the week’s doghousing victims at the start of each rebellion’s Upkeep phase." This implies that if the Silver Ravens rescue those people, it costs them potential supporters. That doesn't seem to invite a heroic response, thus... giving a different benefit for rescuing the victims.)
The implication in my mind was that the other prisoners were held nearby while the doghouse was "occupied".
The mechanics of doghousing were never confusing to me. I'm not sure it would work super well in a setting with citizens of various sizes, but I guess you could create several of the direct sizes or adjust the spikes (or something).
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Considering how easily the old Doghousing was to outdo, I decided to enact a new punishment for Thrune to use. I was inspired by the episode of The Mandalorian that had Din run into a Jedi for the first time - the punishment cages.
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The replacement for the doghouses will be Magical Architecture - The Angel Cages (named because of a vigilante that was thwarting Thrune called "The Angel"). The prisoner will stand on a narrow platform, surrounded by three glowing circles - at thigh level, waist level, and neck level.
Periodically the person is shocked.
Any attempt to heal them will result in the person is tortured horribly - Initially they will lose one hand at the wrist, which is cauterized. The second, they lose their legs at the calf. The third chops their heads off.
A DC 30 Disable Device is needed to deactivate the trap long enough to release the person, but if the check is failed by 5 or more, the trap is activated and the prisoner dies horribly. Alternatively, Dispel Magic might work but the devices are at a CL of 15. Also, a 1,000 gold piece bribe will get people released. (Also, high-level guards will have a key.)
Whoa, that's pretty intense. Seems like the kind of thing you wouldn't be able to put in mass production though or replace easily.
Considering how easily the old Doghousing was to outdo, I decided to enact a new punishment for Thrune to use. I was inspired by the episode of The Mandalorian that had Din run into a Jedi for the first time - the punishment cages.
-------------
The replacement for the doghouses will be Magical Architecture - The Angel Cages (named because of a vigilante that was thwarting Thrune called "The Angel"). The prisoner will stand on a narrow platform, surrounded by three glowing circles - at thigh level, waist level, and neck level.
Periodically the person is shocked.
Any attempt to heal them will result in the person is tortured horribly - Initially they will lose one hand at the wrist, which is cauterized. The second, they lose their legs at the calf. The third chops their heads off.
A DC 30 Disable Device is needed to deactivate the trap long enough to release the person, but if the check is failed by 5 or more, the trap is activated and the prisoner dies horribly. Alternatively, Dispel Magic might work but the devices are at a CL of 15. Also, a 1,000 gold piece bribe will get people released. (Also, high-level guards will have a key.)
The DC's only make sense at a level at which Barzillai already shouldn't be ruling Kintargo anymore. I'd tone it down a bit in that regard.