D&D 5E What Defenses Might Be Found in a Noble's Manor?

[Trickster Spirit]

Hi ENWorlders, I'd like to pick the collective braintrust's, well, brain, about how to flesh out my plans for an upcoming session.

My player's' characters have found themselves on the wrong side of the law for a crime they didn't commit, and though the source isn't terribly reputable, the best lead they've got is that the chief-of-staff for one of the city's wealthiest and most powerful nobles is involved in the frame-job. Hoping to find evidence that will exonerate them, they've settled on pulling a heist come nightfall.

I've got the primary location (the chief-of-staff's office) all worked out - traps, treasure, skill checks, the works - but I could really use a hand sketching out the defenses and security measures made by the rest of the manor itself and the accompanying grounds. Alarm spells warding the perimeter of the grounds are a given, as are patrolling guards they'll need to evade if they want to get inside undetected, but pit traps and scything blades don't really fit with what I envision to be a lush estate frequently wandered by dilettantes during daylight hours.

The campaign's running in a relatively "low-magic, low-level" world; the PCs themselves are only 3rd level, and maybe the most powerful mage in the city is only 6th or 7th level. There's a wizards' college in the city, that I'm thinking the nobleman contracts his wards out to; the college likely sends out low-level apprentices periodically to top-off the alarm spells (I'm willing to inflate the spell duration given the repeated applications of the spell to the same area). But what other defenses, magical or otherwise, might be present?

Basically I'm looking for creative applications for low-level spells and not-terribly-powerful magic items that would prevent things from being a cakewalk, along with mundane security measures that are more interesting than just locks and a wandering encounter table featuring guards and hounds. I'd like to strike up an Ocean's Eleven style vibe for this, where a direct assault would probably going to end badly for them but casing the joint first would reveal a couple possible security flaws the could exploit. Can anyone think up some nifty complications I could throw in to make the PCs' lives more difficult? Any suggestions for skill checks beyond the obvious perception, stealth, climb and lock-picking rolls?

Thanks in advance everybody!

 

[Hand of Evil]

Peacock (male of Peafowl) used as guard dogs - they are territorial and let out calls, in game they may surprise players who may be expecting dogs. They are noted for aggression because the males protect the eggs.

Traps would be on windows and doors. They would not want to hurt family members.

 

[Mistwell]

People are the cheapest and most common defense. Not just guards. Just your everyday staff, in large numbers, who will run to the city guard when there is trouble, or hop on a horse and ride to them.

 

[MonkeezOnFire]

Glyph of Warding has an option to hold spells. It could be fun with effects that make an area hard to get through such as grease and web so that any surrounding guards can easily catch up and apprehend fleeing suspects. Darkness could also fill this role, making it difficult to navigate. It can also contain illusion spells which could be useful to misdirect intruders. You could have the illusion be one of something dangerous such as flames so that intruders avoid an area, or you could hide entrances to secret passages under an illusion to hide them.

Nondetection is a relatively low level solution to opposing scrying magic.

The extra dimensional space provided by Rope Trick can be used as a guard station or simply a place to hide things.

Also fun are secret passages built into the home. Have shortcuts for guards to avoid the traps and traverse the compound quickly. A vault full of treasure must also be hidden behind secret doors and passages.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Animated Object are also good guards, Rug Of Smothering but outside the MM, Gong Of Alarm.

 

[Riley37]

Guard animals with strong senses other than sight might be a standard countermeasure against Invisible trespassers.

Also, misdirection. Have a obvious strong well-defended vault, use it for gold and such, but keep the most important things (the ones you don't need to access daily) somewhere else.

 

[dracomilan]

My own campaign setting, Alfeimur, is pretty low magic. In one of the published adventures the PCs had to enter a local lord fortress, and they had to avoid:
- dogs: do not underestimate them. They smell invisible foes and can pinpoint hiding PCs to armed guards
- bolted doors: each door in a noble keep was historically closed with two or more bolts. This prevents an effective use of the knock spell.
- serfs: young boys running errands everywhere in a castle. They could be ideal spies and tell the PCs about secret passages, locked doors and guard patterns. But the PCs could also stumble in them and they could raise the alarm if startled
- acolytes: low level clerics should be quite common in a castle, and the second son of the Lord could well be a powerful cleric.

 

[Hand of Evil]

My problem with dogs is with a house that has a lot of traffic and staff, dogs become less dependable, they have to be brought in for the job and be kept away from people other than their handlers but this could be a hired based business for the home or the city district; i.e. district watch with dogs trained to recognized none district smells.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Architecture and layout.

Luring characters into dead ends and/or locking them into sections of a manor where there is no way out.

Sliding walls (walls, not simply panels) help to confuse PCs and to drive them into traps or waiting guards. Tapestries and curtains can hide crossbow-wielding foes.

 

[Voort]

Hidey-holes and mercenaries in residence.

http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/firebraces-selgaunt