After the 89th night time ambush thanks to Kingmaker's broken random encounter frequency, I'm fed up and my witch is taking cozy cabin when she hits level 5 next session. It should at least slow enemies down enough for people to stand up and grab weapons. But how else can we optimize this hmnee home defense plan?
We will use this map for the species of the cabin, which means two windows in the back wall and a window on each of the side walls, but no windows on the front door wall.
https://www.reddit.com/r/battlemaps/comments/104yb0p/cozy_cabin_8x8/
We have a cleric, a sorcerer, and a trident throwing champion in addition to my Starless Shadow witch. Lots of magic to throw at the problem, but no one with Snares sadly.
Current ideas:
Putting Alarm and/or Glyph of Warding (maybe with Fire Ray if the GM lets us undercast focus spells) at the front door.
Sticking s poor quality lock on the inside. Enemies won't be able to pick it so the lock quality doesn't matter.
Possibly boarding over the windows, or hanging curtains over them at least.
Placing Light spells around the perimeter to make it easier to spot attackers. (This should be a bad idea because it makes the cabin easier to spot, but the random encounter rules don't account for that.)
What else can we do?
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I'd be skeptical about the "inside lock" trick, personally, but otherwise that all makes sense. Maybe Invisible Item, third rank, on a lock?
If you've got someone with a spellbook (arcane Sorcerer), Architect's Pattern Book is a weekly upgrade to the spell that gives you a bigger room.
Cloak of Feline Rest improves sleeping perception cheaply.
Spare unruned comfort armor to sleep in.
Vulnerable party members sleep under their beds with dummies on the bed.
Marbles under the windows and in front of the door.
In general, third rank Invisible Item does a lot, including breaking line of effect without being obvious. Block two windows visibly, and block the third with an invisible panel.
In two levels, hunt down Liminal Doorway for bested sleeping spaces.
I don't really know how you are supposed to put a lock on it if it isn't on the inside, TBH. "It doesn't include its own lock, but it has a fastener to which a lock can be applied." A padlock on the inside is the easiest way that can work, unless it means installing a lock into the door knob somehow, which seems way less plausible. The alternative is putting a lock on the outside of the door, but if you padlock the outside, the only way to get in is crawling in through a window, which makes no sense to me. A padlock on the inside is just the most logical way to do it. But if that doesn't work, it shouldn't be very hard to nail up a couple of brackets to slide a bar into.
The grimoire is tight, but the sorcerer already has one she's attached to using. (And witches can't prepare from them, right?) Maybe I can talk her into it eventually, or use one myself when I snag the wizard archetype and basic casting.
Well the mere existence of the cabin even unreinforced allows you to get a beneficial defensive position with the champion blocking the door.
Alarm will help to alert you the get into the position. Glyph of Warding could be pretty interesting to put in the door with some cone/burst spell. I agree with boarding over the windows this allows you to concentrate in the entrance but talk with you GM if you are not able to choose the number of windows of to choose not have windows at all once the the spell doesn't specify the number of windows.
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Yeah, I wasn't sure how many windows there are supposed to be but that art shows as good an amount as any.
I don't really know how you are supposed to put a lock on it if it isn't on the inside, TBH. "It doesn't include its own lock, but it has a fastener to which a lock can be applied." A padlock on the inside is the easiest way that can work, unless it means installing a lock into the door knob somehow, which seems way less plausible. The alternative is putting a lock on the outside of the door, but if you padlock the outside, the only way to get in is crawling in through a window, which makes no sense to me. A padlock on the inside is just the most logical way to do it. But if that doesn't work, it shouldn't be very hard to nail up a couple of brackets to slide a bar into.
The grimoire is tight, but the sorcerer already has one she's attached to using. (And witches can't prepare from them, right?) Maybe I can talk her into it eventually, or use one myself when I snag the wizard archetype and basic casting.
Hmm, you're right. I was just thinking of modern integrated locks, but yeah, padlocking the inside is the only thing that makes sense. It seems weird that a cheap lock would be undefeatable that way, but that's the system's problem, not yours.
You need to prepare the spell from the grimoire to benefit, so that would come online at 8th level through multiclassing.
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I don't really know how you are supposed to put a lock on it if it isn't on the inside, TBH. "It doesn't include its own lock, but it has a fastener to which a lock can be applied." A padlock on the inside is the easiest way that can work, unless it means installing a lock into the door knob somehow, which seems way less plausible. The alternative is putting a lock on the outside of the door, but if you padlock the outside, the only way to get in is crawling in through a window, which makes no sense to me. A padlock on the inside is just the most logical way to do it. But if that doesn't work, it shouldn't be very hard to nail up a couple of brackets to slide a bar into.
The grimoire is tight, but the sorcerer already has one she's attached to using. (And witches can't prepare from them, right?) Maybe I can talk her into it eventually, or use one myself when I snag the wizard archetype and basic casting.
Hmm, you're right. I was just thinking of modern integrated locks, but yeah, padlocking the inside is the only thing that makes sense. It seems weird that a cheap lock would be undefeatable that way, but that's the system's problem, not yours.
You need to prepare the spell from the grimoire to benefit, so that would come online at 8th level through multiclassing.
I did a little digging, and Grimoires can actually be used by any prepared casting class. Their rules specifically mention clerics. Many Grimoires individually call out that they work with spells prepared from the book, but not the Architect's Pattern book.
What I think is really interesting is that the rec room is 10 feet per side for every rank of the spell, so a 30 by 30 room for cozy cabin, larger than the cabin itself. That room also presumably just has a single door, making it extra defensible.
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Use your awful athletics to critically fail to force open everything possible, thus imposing a -2 penalty on enemy attempts to force it open.
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In case the GM ends up forcing the locked door open you may want to apply a Lock spell to your lock. This makes athletics and thievery attempts roll against your spell DC or the lock's modifier +4. If you keep using this strat it will scale well as you level and you can even buy a wand of it for daily application.
I don't really know how you are supposed to put a lock on it if it isn't on the inside, TBH. "It doesn't include its own lock, but it has a fastener to which a lock can be applied." A padlock on the inside is the easiest way that can work, unless it means installing a lock into the door knob somehow, which seems way less plausible. The alternative is putting a lock on the outside of the door, but if you padlock the outside, the only way to get in is crawling in through a window, which makes no sense to me. A padlock on the inside is just the most logical way to do it. But if that doesn't work, it shouldn't be very hard to nail up a couple of brackets to slide a bar into.
The grimoire is tight, but the sorcerer already has one she's attached to using. (And witches can't prepare from them, right?) Maybe I can talk her into it eventually, or use one myself when I snag the wizard archetype and basic casting.
Hmm, you're right. I was just thinking of modern integrated locks, but yeah, padlocking the inside is the only thing that makes sense. It seems weird that a cheap lock would be undefeatable that way, but that's the system's problem, not yours.
You need to prepare the spell from the grimoire to benefit, so that would come online at 8th level through multiclassing.
I did a little digging, and Grimoires can actually be used by any prepared casting class. Their rules specifically mention clerics. Many Grimoires individually call out that they work with spells prepared from the book, but not the Architect's Pattern book.
What I think is really interesting is that the rec room is 10 feet per side for every rank of the spell, so a 30 by 30 room for cozy cabin, larger than the cabin itself. That room also presumably just has a single door, making it extra defensible.
Oh good, that helps.
Yep! It's only once a week, but the party can also enjoy a nice, relaxing soak in a bathhouse or something else.
The nice thing about Kingmaker is your story beat moments that warrant the bonuses from the grimoire are unlikely to be more than once a week, and you can probably decide when to engage them and use the enhanced cabin accordingly.
In case the GM ends up forcing the locked door open you may want to apply a Lock spell to your lock. This makes athletics and thievery attempts roll against your spell DC or the lock's modifier +4. If you keep using this strat it will scale well as you level and you can even buy a wand of it for daily application.
That's interesting. It also adds an extra action/layer of complication to leaving the cabin, though, which could be a problem on occasion.
After level 7 take the rank 4 Deep Breath cantrip via MC dedication once it has 8 hours duration. Bury yourselves in the earth of the floor of your cabin.