Magic-using Riot Cops?

[Balor Patch]

Originally Posted by Harbinjer

Except I'm not worried about foot-soldiers. The question is how does a city in that situation keep the peace when there are magic users throwing around fireballs (or worse). An ordinary town guard won't be prepared for that. Even a low-level adventuring party could be an unstopable force for mayhem if they put thier minds to it.
What is necessary to make the town guard prepared?

For the wizard's swashbuckler friend? They're doomed. Especially since buffing his buddy is often the most useful thing a wizard can do in a fight. Wizards are better cat burglars (with Invisibility, Levitate, and Lockmaster) or bards (Mind Control) or... anything else. Fighting is the niche they invade the least. What assumptions are you making about their relative point value compared with other miscreants?

[Harbinjer]

Originally Posted by evileeyore

You say this as though the Mages would not be in charge. They'd throw-down hard with any Wizard that stepped out of line... of course, just like the nobles, that line is probably blurry and there is a lot they can get away with.

The essence of my question is "What does this 'Throwing Down Hard' look like?"


If you want more details, it is, in fact, a Euro-centric metropolis with a standing town guard for basic law and order and regional peacekeeping in and out of city walls. They are trained and prepared for any mundane threat, but its been awhile since there was a serious attack, so they my be a little experienced for some scenarios. Most of their duties are closer to policing the population. They probably have something like a SWAT team, but I haven't defined those capabilties yet (that's the reason for my question).

There is another faction that are somewhat similar to what you might call "Doomsday Preppers." The city was under the thumb (claw?) of a dragon for many years, but the dragon left and while most of the town has put it behind them, this group fully expects the dragon to come back some day, and they fully expect to deal with it in a permanent way when it does. Day to day, they are mostly about stockpiling supplies and making sure those supplies are properly rotated and kept up. The public face is similar to a food bank.

Either one or both of these groups would take responsibility to shut down any notion someone had of destroying the town, including two drunk wizards who get into a fight during a public event, or well-planned heist of the city's wealth by a band of rabble-rousers who casually use fireballs and summoned elementals as a distraction while they themselves are stuffing jewels into a bag of holding.

The point is: with magic, every now and then things will get out of hand, intentionally or otherwise, and this city has the resources to prepare for the unusual. There should be someone the first responders can call on (typically the second, third, or fourth responders) who are prepared to deal with a higher level of mayhem.

What I don't know is what the response is in these cases, and because, as I said, a small adventuring party can cause a lot of destruction, this is something with potential in-game consequences. I'm hoping for something more than a massive battle.... in fact I'm trying to avoid that and the collateral damage associated with it.... I'd like a force that can simply "throw down hard."