Re: How does anything stay locked?
 

Wizards ARE running the place, aren't they?

Re: How does anything stay locked?
 

My take is that the WG polices their own because they are in desperate need of warm bodies to power their enchantments. Ergo they must have that 90% approval rating and make public examples of any wizard who steps out of line in an obvious way.

Re: How does anything stay locked?
 

That would be good, except that there are details that require the bandits to be longtime residents who have personal incentives to strike at this particular bank. Following the robbery, they will have to leave town I reckon, but their identities will be known fairly easily.

Re: How does anything stay locked?
 

Banks tend to have layers of security. Most of which has been already covered here: guards, locks, traps, alarms

And yes Knock spell is only 2 ST, but 5 different locks will still take 10 ST to get through. Layers. Many doors with many locks.

Has anyone mentioned Gates? "Control Gate" is a IQ 18 spell, so it would take an advanced wizard to alter the gate. That is, gates can have rules that governs who can travel through them and to which other gate, etc. A gate that only allows the bank manager through to a cavern without exit deep in a mountain will be hard to break into. And if that gate also takes anyone else to another cavern but the reverse trip is only allowed by the manager. Bank robbers will find them selves fighting their way out of a deep dungeon.

The would be bank robbers would have to defeat guards, locks, traps and alarms only to go through a gate to a far away place with no immediate return.

Re: How does anything stay locked?
 

Yes, I've thought about gates as a means of controlling access to the vault. I haven't gone with that solution yet, just because it is a bit too much magic in a pedestrian enterprise for my taste.

Re: How does anything stay locked?
 

Maintaining gates requires so much wizard power that the presence of a gate network requires 90% popularity for the WG.

Re: How does anything stay locked?
 

Yeah, using a gate for an inaccessible vault for something valuable means you really want a gate wizard around every time you use the gate, in case it starts to flicker out...

Re: How does anything stay locked?
 

Problem is that a single gate wizard will require a 45+ powerstone for maintenance, which requires a $225 refill after every use, on top of the wizard's salary.

For high traffic areas (i.e. gate stations) you keep at least half a dozen apprentices around and in the usual case a dozen total wizards to handle double failures.

This is why I've found that nobody can afford to run a low-traffic gate network. (Tollenkar is losing massive amounts of money in his operations so go arrest whoever it is that is bankrolling him.)

Re: How does anything stay locked?
 

Only your ST 6 wizards need a 45+ powerstone.

Normal wizards only need about 40 other ST from some combination of sources, either powerstones, people casting Aid ST, or the new Legacy staff mana.

Re: How does anything stay locked?
 

Right. An IQ 18 wizard will have up to 18 or 36 mana points in his staff. Together with his ST, that's only one apprentice needed (assuming he has Staff V and has spent a *lot* of experience on the staff).