Tough to break into vault in DF

[lachimba]

In my emerging mega dungeon for DF I want to have a 'bank' vault.

If I make it virtually impossible to break into without the keys elsewhere in the dungeon.

I could just say its indestructible, but I think for fair suspension of disbelief I need to at least have a convincing reason why chipping away at it or using magic wont get you in.

A width by length by height drained magic zone around the vault backed up by some thick orichulam and meteoric shell layers over the very think metal vault?

Otherwise I think a very high ST golem with a pile of tools programmed to chip away at it for a week or two would eventually make progress.


Along with a complex trapped lock dependent on keys both magical and non magical and a coded entry system?

That might make it too easy to disable the lock so that noone can get in, which also strains credibility about why some idiot hasn't already intentionally or unintentionally disabled it.

A switch that needs to be flipped elsewhere would be fine, but I'm not sure how the signal would get to the vault through the no mana zone.


Ideas?

[Bruno]

You have to be veeeery careful with using materials like orichalcum and meteoric iron as architectural features. They're valuable, and to plate a bank vault you need lots and lots.

My players would steal those, even if it took multiple trips, ordering special equipment and hiring minions, and fighting off the monster hordes each time. They'd probably also steal whatever's in the vault too, just on principle.

EDIT: Basically, and this is a fact that the real world has resigned itself to, there's no such thing as an "invulnerable" vault. There's only vaults that make it take long enough to break in that the guards find you first. So start thinking along the real world lines:

Combinations are generally unsafe, don't use them. Multiple keys combined with a strict timer system where the vault can only be opened on certain days, or certain times of day, are a safer bet.
Consider magical alarms going off if tampered with, summoning very dangerous spectral guards that are re-created anew each time, and also setting up a hullabaloo that attracts wandering monsters.
The alarms can make an ear-piercing screech that deafens any PC without Protected Hearing, and possibly is a pain-inducing Affliction (for combat penalties!). Have flashing lights too (the Flash spell, going off every turn).


Make the vault area hard to live in: deoxygenated air, poisonous and corrosive gasses...
Put the whole vault under water.
Better yet, put the whole vault under lava. The area leading to the vault becomes lethally hot, with doxygenated air and poisonous/corrosive gasses... and then you have to deal with lava :)

[Nemoricus]

One potential way to deal with it is to say that, as a divine artifact, the vault cannot be affected by merely mortal magic. It also lets any trigger mechanism you'd like open the vault, because that's what a god willed.

Alternatively, embed the vault in a mana absorbing stone that, while potentially valuable, is too heavy to make looting it practical.

Don't forget wandering monsters. The vault doesn't need to be absolutely indestructible if it's too dangerous to just sit there and chip away at it for the long time needed.

[Andreas]

You could include kinds of stone in your setting that are far more resilient than any real life stone (and if those kinds of stone lose most of that property if cut away from the surrounding stone, their impact on the rest of the setting could be very small). The vault can be located in a natural chamber of such rock, which means that the ones who made the vault could focus almost all their efforts on the vault door.

[RyanW]

The interior of the vault actually lies within a different realm or a pocket dimension. Bypassing the lock only gets you into the false vault behind the physical door, rather than the true vault behind the metaphorical door.

[Anders]

Originally Posted by Bruno

You have to be veeeery careful with using materials like orichalcum and meteoric iron as architectural features. They're valuable, and to plate a bank vault you need lots and lots.

My players would steal those, even if it took multiple trips, ordering special equipment and hiring minions, and fighting off the monster hordes each time. They'd probably also steal whatever's in the vault too, just on principle.

So much this. There's a story in Swedish RPG circles about the guy who had the entrance to his dungeon guarded by a mithril door. The characters took one look at it and stole the door without ever entering the dungeon. It was worth more than the entire rest of the dungeon.

And in my campaign, they spent an entire game meeting discussing how to steal the copper of the roof of an abandoned church.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Bruno

You have to be veeeery careful with using materials like orichalcum and meteoric iron as architectural features. They're valuable, and to plate a bank vault you need lots and lots.

Do not taunt the players with "unstealable" loot, either. The wall that was a single diamond suffered a sad fate, involving a Wish and some wheelbarrows.

[David Johnston2]

Put it in a zero mana zone, and put the lock one level down. operating the door through a mechanical linkage.

[Rysith]

Originally Posted by Bruno

You have to be veeeery careful with using materials like orichalcum and meteoric iron as architectural features. They're valuable, and to plate a bank vault you need lots and lots.

You also need to be careful that the vault doesn't end up costing more than its contents - If your players go on a sidequest to get the key that will let them open the divine, indestructible, clearly-placed-here-at-great-effort-and-expense vault and find a hundred gold coins, they are going to be disappointed.

Another possibility would be to have a self-destruct device - if the vault is breached, it will destroy it's contents. Make sure that your players know that if they try to force the vault they might lose the loot, and they won't. You'll also want to plan for the players attempting to salvage the destruction device too, once they get the key to open it safely.

[lachimba]

Originally Posted by Rysith

Another possibility would be to have a self-destruct device - if the vault is breached, it will destroy it's contents. Make sure that your players know that if they try to force the vault they might lose the loot, and they won't. You'll also want to plan for the players attempting to salvage the destruction device too, once they get the key to open it safely.

Then it becomes why no one else triggered the self destruct device.

I wonder about putting the vault under a time stasis spell. That's epic magic, but that's fine for epic treasure and goes along with other magic (teleport, enchantment) that the PCs cant get access to. The key just undoes the time stasis.