D&D 5E How do you restrain a captured spellcaster?

[transtemporal]

Thanks for all the sick and twisted replies guys!

 

[transtemporal]

Well if you're dead set on using only mundane resources, you'll be hard pressed to keep even a medium level wizard contained.

It's more if I have village militia running around with dimensional shackles and anti-magic doo-dads, they start to seem suspiciously well equipped. Plus my players will start stealing them and selling on the black market.

 

[seebs]

You can't in 1e either.

You can in 3E and later, though. I got the dialogue wrong; it was "beating you up makes you forget your spells?" -> "not since third edition came out", or something to that effect. It was ~17 years ago, I don't remember exactly anymore.

 

[Phazonfish]

This is about guards restraining your caster PCs, right? But how helpless do you want them to actually be though? I mean, if you just keep them completely immobilized with zero options then your players might not have a good time. If you're looking for an in-universe explanation for why the city guard would be unprepared, it could just be that non-spell magic abilities like some of the work arounds that arcane traditions provide or options like subtle spell are not things that most casters of the setting have; Player characters are special after all. Sorry if this wasn't helpful, just tossing a few thoughts out there.

 

[Caliban]

The guards have the spellcaster promise not to cast any spells except in self-defense and then puts an ankle monitor on them and let them go about their way.

If they break their promise, the ankle monitor gnaw through their ankle, removing their foot.

Second offense warrants a neck monitor.

 

[Undrhil]

Always blindfold and gag a spell casters. Many spells require line of sight, and a blind fold negates that. The gag is just to keep from having to hear them whine while they can't teleport away.

 

[Kobold Stew]

Nice solution: put him in heavy armor. No spellcasting without proficiency. (Do this on top of manacles + gag just in case he really does have proficiency anyway.)

That's cool -- Cloth armour renders (most) Wizards/sorcerers spell-less; hide extends that to Warlocks. The Warden can say that the armour is for the "protection" of prisoners.

 

[psychophipps]

Tied up, gagged, blindfolded, and naked seems to do the trick.

 

[Gwarok]

This is about guards restraining your caster PCs, right? But how helpless do you want them to actually be though? I mean, if you just keep them completely immobilized with zero options then your players might not have a good time. If you're looking for an in-universe explanation for why the city guard would be unprepared, it could just be that non-spell magic abilities like some of the work arounds that arcane traditions provide or options like subtle spell are not things that most casters of the setting have; Player characters are special after all. Sorry if this wasn't helpful, just tossing a few thoughts out there.

This is just pure speculation on my part, but as a DM sometimes you don't want to actually have your PC's helpless, but at the same time you want them to think the authorities in your campaign have the ability to do so as an option other than killing PC's. Like in real life, if the PC's think the actual Law is unable to punish them, they tend to go all Lord of the Flies. I think he was just coming up with some way to discourage them from robbing the bank in every city they visit or something

 

[cmad1977]

Dagger in the brain.


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