How would you guard prisoners

[Dakkareth]

Actually flesh to stone or a cleric version thereof would be perfect. Temporal Stasis would be nice too, but it probably to high in level.

Other than that, use bestow curse, poison or magical sleep to render them comatose. As long as they can do anything, they eventually will escape otherwise.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Okay, if I was an evil cleric, I don't think I would waste spells on someone I was going to be killing, sure torture but you have equipment for that. I think I would take one or two make an example of them, telling the others that if they try to escape or cause trouble it will be worse, then drop them in a pit or cage and have some henchmen watching over them.

Don't get me wrong, if they are really important, marked by the god, special blood, last of a race, then I would treat them different but your run of the "meal" prisoners, something simple.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Okay, if I was an evil cleric, I don't think I would waste spells on someone I was going to be killing, sure torture but you have equipment for that. I think I would take one or two make an example of them, telling the others that if they try to escape or cause trouble it will be worse, then drop them in a pit or cage and have some henchmen watching over them.

Don't get me wrong, if they are really important, marked by the god, special blood, last of a race, then I would treat them different but your run of the "meal" prisoners, something simple.

So good will win because evil is stupid?

Frankly - if the prisoners are merely stripped of their posessions, threatened and left in a cage, then they were of precisely zero value in the first place. Why didn't you just kill them there and then?

 

[Harmon]

Very impressive Harmon.

Thanks

Takes little effort- couple spells clerics can cast easily at 10th lvl and theres a role playing aspect to it in that the guards might well be not killed should the prisoners notice the rescuers- "no!! He's a friend!" Heros look a little confused and knocked the guard out, then the guard reports or goes with the heros and makes it easier for the tracking of the heroes (drag a foot or what have you).

 

[barsoomcore]

Heck -- if you've got a cleric with raise dead hanging around, why not just kill them? Use obscure object on their corpses once every eight hours, seal them up inside a stone shaped chamber and you're good.

 

[Sejs]

Heck -- if you've got a cleric with raise dead hanging around, why not just kill them?

Because the dead prisoners know who's trying to Raise them and have the option of saying "Thanks, but no thanks."

 

[barsoomcore]

How do they know? The spell description says: "In addition, the subject’s soul must be free and willing to return. If the subject’s soul is not willing to return, the spell does not work; therefore, a subject that wants to return receives no saving throw."

Nothing there says they know the circumstances under which they are being returned. They can just decide not to go for their own reasons (still owe taxes or something).

Though if it's really important that it be THESE people who are seen to be executed, I'd probably be planning to fake the whole thing anyway. Why take the chance?

 

[Sejs]

It's in the magic section, special spell effects, binging back the dead.

"Revivification Against One's Will: A soul cannot be returned to life if it does not wish to be. A soul knows the name, alignment, and patron diety (if any) of the character attempting to revive it and may refuse to return on that basis. For example, if Alhandra the paladin is slain and her archenemy, a high priest of Nerull, god of death, grabs her body, Alhandra probably does not wish to be raised from the dead by him. Any attempts he makes to revive her automatically fail. If the evil cleric wants to revive Alhanda to interrogate her, he needs to find some way to trick her soul, such as duping a good cleric into raising her and then capturing her once she's alive again."


So, I'm assuming the dead get some kind of ressurection confirmation box that pops up in the afterlife that reads "Soandso (Alignment, Diety) would like to return to you life. Would you like to proceed? [Yes] [No]"

 

[EricNoah]

From an adventure design point of view I love the "fake prisoner" angle. Works well if the PCs don't know the prisoners on sight. Gives PCs a reward/incentive for doing some good roleplaying and investigative work beforehand. The fakes could also be dopplegangers or some other kind of shapechanger.

Ran a Birthright campaign long ago where the goal was to rescue some druids who were being held captive until a public trial and execution. The prison was a semi-public building, and the cells were grate-covered pits in a fairly high traffic area. The trial was to take place at the church on a balcony where speech was magically amplified so the throngs could witness the spectacle.

 

[barsoomcore]

Phooey. I thought I was really on to something there.

Okay, then: mark of justice sounds like a good fit. "If he leaves this room without me, strike him BLIND!" No saving throw, either. If you'd already cursed them with a -6 on, say, their Str, then a mark of justice hitting them AGAIN with ANOTHER -6 ought to leave most people utterly helpless.

Huh? Huh?