Hey Folks! DMing 4e, Need some clarification, First, the Arcane Lock Ritual Text:
RITUAL: ARCANE LOCK
You bind a door so that intruders can’t easily pass. The door is limned with amber light, which fades to a soft glow, marking it as impassible to anyone other than you and your allies.
Component Cost: 25 gp
Market Price: 150 gp
Key Skill: Arcana Level: 4
Category: Warding
Time: 10 minutes
Duration: Permanent
You lock a door, a window, a gate, a portcullis, or some other means of ingress. You can open the door normally, but those who don’t have your permission to use it find it locked.
Your Arcana check, with a +5 bonus, sets the DC for Thievery checks or Strength checks made to open the door.
When you perform the ritual, you can allow for certain other creatures or types of creatures to pass through the door normally, ignoring the ward’s effect.
You can choose any or all (or none) of the following options:
Password: You can set a verbal password. If uttered within 5 squares of the portal, the speaker can ignore the ward for the next minute.
Individuals: You can designate up to ten other specific individuals who can ignore the ward at all times.
Descriptions: You can describe one or more categories of creatures who can ignore the ward at all times, using specific, observable characteristics such as species, type, size, or equipment carried or worn.
The Arcane Lock remains until you dismiss it, the door is destroyed, or until the ward is defeated, such as by the Knock ritual or a successful Strength or Thievery check. Wherever you are, you instantly know if your Arcane Lock is defeated by one of these methods.
First published in Player's Handbook.
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So, Can this be put on a personal item, like a bag, or a satchel, or a backpack, or a jar? I know as DM I can "allow" whatever, but I'm looking for some insight into what is most fair.
At first I didn't see any problem with allowing it on a "non-passage way" type object, but then I read:
"Wherever you are, you instantly know if your Arcane Lock is defeated by one of these methods (Strength or Thievery)."
That seems a bit unfair to a rogue in the party who wants to redivide up the wealth of the group and makes a good roll. Or an NPC in the street who is clearly more a thief than the paranoid wizard is perceptive.
Wouldn't an Arcane Lock basically be fool-proof? Even if it's defeated, it still alerts.
On the flip side, it cost the wizard component costs, obtaining the ritual, and the thoughtfulness to use the ritual in this manner to begin with.
Thoughts?
RITUAL: ARCANE LOCK
You bind a door so that intruders can’t easily pass. The door is limned with amber light, which fades to a soft glow, marking it as impassible to anyone other than you and your allies.
Component Cost: 25 gp
Market Price: 150 gp
Key Skill: Arcana Level: 4
Category: Warding
Time: 10 minutes
Duration: Permanent
You lock a door, a window, a gate, a portcullis, or some other means of ingress. You can open the door normally, but those who don’t have your permission to use it find it locked.
Your Arcana check, with a +5 bonus, sets the DC for Thievery checks or Strength checks made to open the door.
When you perform the ritual, you can allow for certain other creatures or types of creatures to pass through the door normally, ignoring the ward’s effect.
You can choose any or all (or none) of the following options:
Password: You can set a verbal password. If uttered within 5 squares of the portal, the speaker can ignore the ward for the next minute.
Individuals: You can designate up to ten other specific individuals who can ignore the ward at all times.
Descriptions: You can describe one or more categories of creatures who can ignore the ward at all times, using specific, observable characteristics such as species, type, size, or equipment carried or worn.
The Arcane Lock remains until you dismiss it, the door is destroyed, or until the ward is defeated, such as by the Knock ritual or a successful Strength or Thievery check. Wherever you are, you instantly know if your Arcane Lock is defeated by one of these methods.
First published in Player's Handbook.
--------------------------------------------------
So, Can this be put on a personal item, like a bag, or a satchel, or a backpack, or a jar? I know as DM I can "allow" whatever, but I'm looking for some insight into what is most fair.
At first I didn't see any problem with allowing it on a "non-passage way" type object, but then I read:
"Wherever you are, you instantly know if your Arcane Lock is defeated by one of these methods (Strength or Thievery)."
That seems a bit unfair to a rogue in the party who wants to redivide up the wealth of the group and makes a good roll. Or an NPC in the street who is clearly more a thief than the paranoid wizard is perceptive.
Wouldn't an Arcane Lock basically be fool-proof? Even if it's defeated, it still alerts.
On the flip side, it cost the wizard component costs, obtaining the ritual, and the thoughtfulness to use the ritual in this manner to begin with.
Thoughts?
