How do Athasians lock their doors? Bone and wooden locks seem absurd. Metal locks are so expensive, you might as well hire a host of guards.
What's left? Complicated knots?
and
Locks on Athas
I'm with Brax in that most of the time there would be no locks on most doors.
The only "city" doors I've seen of the poorer sections of Tyr (Amber Enchantress cover) are curtains, how would you plan to lock those?
Sounds reasonable. Iron is rare indeed, but timber is not too common as well, so any door worth lock is expensive enough.
I could see leather straps being used to secure doors and window shutters when people are INSIDE a building and want to keep themselves safe from the outside, like when Athasians bed down for the night.
Agreed. The devices are much simpler and can be made from non-metal quite effectively when they merely secure from the inside, e.g. a wooden bar or stone block.
So one trick would be leave a kid or servant inside to let you back in.
Alternately a familliar might be able to crawl through a very narrow window and move one a bar into or out of position. But then someone else's familliar might be able to do the same trick, as well as yours.
For the morbid, an occasional spellcaster might have an animated skeleton inside the building, moving the bar. But that's probably not the typical home situation. :D
There is also the beaded curtain of vigilance, a new magic item in the, yes, yes, it is true, almost out Athasian Emporium. ;) ... (for a meager 30,000 Cp fee, or 15 if you can craft it yourself hehe)
So there is going to be a Magic Items document for Dark Sun? My group was just starting our first d20 DS campaign using only the Core WOTC books and the DS stuff. While the new spells / powers in the Core Rules document helped, there was a noticeable lack of world specific items.
Was there also a spells / powers expansion document already in the works before the 4.0 announcement? If so, we there currently any plans to continue it?
Thanks for all of the hard work. Your volunteer positions are thankless jobs that are often under appreciated.
So there is going to be a Magic Items document for Dark Sun? My group was just starting our first d20 DS campaign using only the Core WOTC books and the DS stuff. While the new spells / powers in the Core Rules document helped, there was a noticeable lack of world specific items.
Was there also a spells / powers expansion document already in the works before the 4.0 announcement? If so, we there currently any plans to continue it?
Thanks for all of the hard work. Your volunteer positions are thankless jobs that are often under appreciated.
Yes for the first question.
Yes also for the second. Those spells and powers can be found and downloaded on the Athas.org website, in one of the articles by Bruno and Fabricio.
For the morbid, an occasional spellcaster might have an animated skeleton inside the building, moving the bar. But that's probably not the typical home situation. :D
Hahaha! No this is probably not a typical domestic situation! I do like that idea though. I could definitely see Defilers and perhaps even the Veiled Alliance using this method to keep people out of their space.
In my campaigns there are "guarded" rooms in the more fancy inns which cost about triple the cost of an normal room. I include them to reflect the fact that there are no locks on most doors.
:lightbulb
Brilliant, it's just so common sense that I never would have thought of it. Adding "Guarded Room" to my Inn/Tavern price list.Thanks Azazel
Hahaha! No this is probably not a typical domestic situation! I do like that idea though. I could definitely see Defilers and perhaps even the Veiled Alliance using this method to keep people out of their space.
Good point! Of course by that point that you have animate dead, lock spells may be more practical. But a magical lock can be magically unlocked, and even a mechanical lock can be picked, but a solid door that's dead-bolted or otherwise jammed from the inside is fairly secure from those on the outside. Sad thing is that even in this day and age on Earth there are folks that use children for those purposes, leaving a kid stranded in the house alone for most of the day for purposes of opening the locks and bolts when the adults come back. That will probably be the practice in many Athasian homes as well, assuming that they can actually aford a door to block.
In my campaigns there are "guarded" rooms in the more fancy inns which cost about triple the cost of an normal room. I include them to reflect the fact that there are no locks on most doors.
Excellent; that's exactly the sort of out of the box thinking that we should be doing, rather than flinstoning some sort of metal-substitute to make locks. Very logical development. Even in 2007 earth, a stranger who drives to a bad part of town, will often pay a local to watch over his car. If you lack devices and facilities to secure something, or yourself, then the next logical step is to pay someone else to stand guard.
Just more fuel for the fire.
Fine leather stretched taught enough is somewhat translucent (that's what vellum is, more or less, IIRC), so oc'n resin on translucent hide could make sturdy windows of sorts.
Glyphs and wards can be effective at keeping intruders out
in-house security guards, guard animals, minions can also prevent thiefts.
stone blocks that lay on the ground keeping the door shut also works.
there are metal locks on some doors, templar districts may have some for the higher ranks, armory and treasury vaults of minor importance that are not in a sealed room may have metal locks. Casinos and gambling houses may use metal locks.
metal is rare, but not that rare. but chances are someone will steal the entire door to get the lock. then salvage the metal to use for something else.
i use a detection method. if the magic/psionic security system detects an intruder a signal is sent back to a signet ring or some other way to alert both the house guards and the owner. so a templar comes rushing back with his guards.
a well placed bone or wood shard can keep something stuck shut also.
warded doornobs with warded keyholes work also, you slip an enchanted key item into the keyhole and disarm the traps, if the door is opened without the keyitem an illusion spell and a dimensional door activate, the illusion spell masks the dimensional doorway to look like the inside of the structure, those stepping through are transported into a holding cell to await their punishment.
there are hundreds of methods to secure your property without a metal lock. and dont forget that wood and bone and other materials can be magicaly/psionicly enchanted to be as hard if not harder than metal. metal is not needed.