how to not get my parties cities sieged by good characters or gods

[Kimras]

we are a lawful evil and so are our cities we have slowly taken over our worlds largest desert and created great underground cities without these cities it would be impossible to cross the desert. every human that lived in these oases have been turn to vampires by our queen. we have great abundance of resources from mining. with these resources we make many magic items and plain masterwork items. we have whorehouse that lead to the plain of lust and the restaurants use magic to make the most delicious food on the plain and inns that have bard to put you to sleep. no one from outside the city is allowed to have weapons and any weapon bought within the city are put in a vault and teleported to them upon leaving. we allow any one to come in as long as they give up their weapons and put on a magic bracelet that does not allow the wearer to use magic. the entrances are all monitored with 20 vampire soldiers with detect magic permanently upon them. we also have a church for every evil god.

can we better in any way to make us more secure and a better cities in general.

[Sith_Happens]

Securing this city is more or less the same as securing any other city. By the sound of it you have a very good start, if you're worried Good spies/saboteurs/insurgents then I'd suggest giving your border guards Detect Good and barring entry to anyone who pings moderate or higher on it (after putting on the bracelet so they can't benefit from Undetectable Alignment and friends, of course). That should keep out most of the individual threats, the rest is just a matter of keeping your secret police well-supported (at a bare minimum, they should likewise all have permanent Detect Magic and Detect Good to catch anyone who teleported in).

The best way to keep the place prosperous, meanwhile, is to oppress its inhabitants only as much as it takes to keep the trains running on-time. Sorry if that's not to your liking, but the empirical support for this technique is overwhelming. Also, curry relations with Hell, Sigil, and the City of Brass.

[MrBright01]

Make your city so useful to the outside world, that they dare not risk the result of destroying it.

• You already serve a useful purpose, allowing folks to cross an otherwise uncrossable desert.
• Offer it as an entirely neutral meeting point for all who want it. Became a place where foes can meet on even ground for diplomacy (enforced by your magical bracelets, non-weapon rules, and secret police bodyguards for all.)
• Always be lawful, as hard as you can. Apply the law to everyone, and when one of your own people break it, especially against a culture you have reason to distrust, punish them severely and publicly.
• Counter-Intuitive though it may be, try to be honest whenever you can with said cultures.
• Make a doomsday device that will destroy the city, and only the city, if a certain condition happens (Say, if any three of the player characters place a hand on the central support pillar and speak a certain word.) Make sure that the countermeasure is widely known, but not what it is or how it is triggered. This way, any value they may seek from your land (desert passage, easy access to mines, and so on) is destroyed if you are attacked.
• Make enough diplomatic ties and treaties with other nations, especially lawful but non-evil ones, that taking you out would spark WWII.

In truth, you look well on your way to making the city as safe as possible. Don't forget, if the DM REALLY wants to lay siege, nothing will stop them, but with treaties, you might be able to turn to allies... and maybe eventually turn them, wink-wink.

[Vaz]

Evil is defined as being fairly selfish. In other words, run it like any major government in this world.

Despite what has been said, a DM will find someway of getting. A CE Spy hired by the good forces, or one under nondetection/false alignment type spells can bypass enough divinations.

If you have border guards with immensely high checks (depending on setting, i tend to have guard posts manned at least some time by a Druids with Sense Motive, Spot and Listen maxed out with an eagle or owl animal companion. At lower levels, Binders, or Casters with a Familiar, while in higher OP there would be polymorphed casters with mindsight transformed into spellweavers (or even Mindraped if it was EVIIIIIILLLL rather than just 'evil') who would be a able to identify incoming targets.

If your DM wants to get in, though, he will. As said,,either by being an Epic Level spy/party face to beat any sort of checks you have in place, some major acrobat/flyer/teleporter/shapechanger to get past any physical blocks you put up (a druid wild shaped into an ox carrying a wagon is fairly inconspicuous to those without access to locate something wrong, like true seeing say, and even then, he could probably just take the form of a crow or whatever is native to the area and fly in, or a mouse and crawl in through gaps in the wall etc). As said, there are counters, but they tend to be fairly cost expensive as opposed to properly training your gateguards to be suspicious and wary - possibly sending them to a school where they can gain feats like 'apprentice' for new class skills, suchh as spot and listen.

In such event, you might want contingencies in place. If the good gods are going to be so interested in taking it, then the evil gods are going to want to keep it. Entering some sort of pact, such as with a demon, or preferably devil (or yugoloth) lord to help protect the city with his Legions could provide a climactic encounter, as well as some useful side missions as you attempt to enter the pact with your your new patron. A good one is that those whose die within the city limits have their souls become owned by the patron (which could lead to ironically, said patrons own lord getting upset), so cannot be raised. Unless the patron says so. At which point, a horde of undead, lead by a platoon of Bearded Devils and a Squad of Cornugons charge out from the crypts to push back the forces of good. Fairly epic.

[captain fubar]

there are a few holes in your security that can be closed at little or no cost though over all its a good start.

1.replace the bracelets with colors. a mid-high level caster will just cut off the offending hand and heal it back with his now functioning magic. this dosn't work so well with the neck though.

2.diversify the guards it would not do to have the fist dread necro to hear of your city telling the exclusively vampire guards to join his side rather than putting on the bracket.

3. a few of the printed deities would be upset about having a temple in the middle of some city, venica would likely consider telling everyone that he even exists to be an offense, then there are the racial deities that no amount of lip-service would apease like loth or grumush. you are probably better off only dealing with the churches that actually like you.

[Kimras]

there are a few holes in your security that can be closed at little or no cost though over all its a good start.

1.replace the bracelets with colors. a mid-high level caster will just cut off the offending hand and heal it back with his now functioning magic. this dosn't work so well with the neck though.

3. a few of the printed deities would be upset about having a temple in the middle of some city, venica would likely consider telling everyone that he even exists to be an offense, then there are the racial deities that no amount of lip-service would apease like loth or grumush. you are probably better off only dealing with the churches that actually like you.

two quick things one could you explain the color thing I've never heard of something like that? the deity temples are hidden the are only found on a map that will show the temple to those of the religion they are mostly so those who worship the gods and can do so without persecution.

[GreyBlack]

two quick things one could you explain the color thing I've never heard of something like that? the deity temples are hidden the are only found on a map that will show the temple to those of the religion they are mostly so those who worship the gods and can do so without persecution.

When he says color, methinks he meant collar, as he said something about it being around the neck. As to the churches, certain deities value a certain amount of secrecy, so putting them in the same safe zone as other areas may peeve them off.

Something else to do to ensure you maintain control? Read the evil overlord's handbook. There are some very good suggestions there, but the best thing you can do in my opinion is to always act like a benevolent ruler. It puts the good nations off your tail while keeping your populace in check. Oh, by all means, be vindictive when the populace steps out of line, but always make a point that they're disrupting the social order that keeps society together. Public executions for whatever issue you want to reinforce is extremely helpful, as is implementing a secret police and having a marketing department to control people's thoughts and feelings.

[Kimras]

When he says color, methinks he meant collar, as he said something about it being around the neck. As to the churches, certain deities value a certain amount of secrecy, so putting them in the same safe zone as other areas may peeve them off.

Something else to do to ensure you maintain control? Read the evil overlord's handbook. There are some very good suggestions there, but the best thing you can do in my opinion is to always act like a benevolent ruler. It puts the good nations off your tail while keeping your populace in check. Oh, by all means, be vindictive when the populace steps out of line, but always make a point that they're disrupting the social order that keeps society together. Public executions for whatever issue you want to reinforce is extremely helpful, as is implementing a secret police and having a marketing department to control people's thoughts and feelings.

there are multiple cities we own and there is a different church hidden right out side the city.
when you say control the populations thoughts and feelings I'm thinking lots of bards since there are no psionics in this game any thing better than that for thought control without psionics.

[GreyBlack]

there are multiple cities we own and there is a different church hidden right out side the city.
when you say control the populations thoughts and feelings I'm thinking lots of bards since there are no psionics in this game any thing better than that for thought control without psionics.

There's a subtle difference between mind control and thought control. Where one assumes direct control, the other is far more insidious. Yes, using bards is part of it, but also rhetoric and manipulation of the public zeitgeist is necessary. Keep the people happy, make it so they don't even want to rebel or aid outsiders against you. Those few dissidents whom aren't completely thrilled have a tendency to disappear in the middle of the night. Keep up with the message that you are the greatest people whom have ever existed on the plane, and all outsiders are simply jealous of your security. After all, freedom through security. Tell the people they are free while keeping their actual powers in check. Start a public food assistance program, and provide free entertainment to the masses, as obviously your country is powerful enough to provide for everyone. Every so often, maybe a "terrorist" organization (which is really just your own special agents) attacks a local pub, which provides you with a reason to tighten your grip and give yourself more power over the populace through fear. Take some local dissidents and claim they were the ones who attacked the pub, threatening your nation's security, and give them a public execution and trial for their crimes, complete with "evidence" to show that they were the ones who did it.

Basically, the entire thing is "Power as a mandate from the masses." Keep your population happy and not only will they not welcome foreign invaders, but they will even fight tooth and nail to keep you in power. Which will be useful, because you will always need cannon fodder.

[VoxRationis]

I think that "Power is a mandate from the masses" is 99 to 100 percent wrong in a world where leaders can teleport, create dimensional rifts, and incinerate armies with nothing but their own personal power.

[GreyBlack]

I think that "Power is a mandate from the masses" is 99 to 100 percent wrong in a world where leaders can teleport, create dimensional rifts, and incinerate armies with nothing but their own personal power.

Sort of. If the forces of good are only going to get the city by killing everyone inside, then how's that going to look on their good guy report card? Besides, it's lawful authority.

[MrBright01]

There's a subtle difference between mind control and thought control. Where one assumes direct control, the other is far more insidious. Yes, using bards is part of it, but also rhetoric and manipulation of the public zeitgeist is necessary. Keep the people happy, make it so they don't even want to rebel or aid outsiders against you. Those few dissidents whom aren't completely thrilled have a tendency to disappear in the middle of the night. Keep up with the message that you are the greatest people whom have ever existed on the plane, and all outsiders are simply jealous of your security. After all, freedom through security. Tell the people they are free while keeping their actual powers in check. Start a public food assistance program, and provide free entertainment to the masses, as obviously your country is powerful enough to provide for everyone. Every so often, maybe a "terrorist" organization (which is really just your own special agents) attacks a local pub, which provides you with a reason to tighten your grip and give yourself more power over the populace through fear. Take some local dissidents and claim they were the ones who attacked the pub, threatening your nation's security, and give them a public execution and trial for their crimes, complete with "evidence" to show that they were the ones who did it.

Basically, the entire thing is "Power as a mandate from the masses." Keep your population happy and not only will they not welcome foreign invaders, but they will even fight tooth and nail to keep you in power. Which will be useful, because you will always need cannon fodder.

GreyBlack, I want you in one of my games SO BAD... You are exactly the kind of player I find fun.

What he said is optimal, especially this part....

...always act like a benevolent ruler.

[Vogonjeltz]

we are a lawful evil and so are our cities we have slowly taken over our worlds largest desert and created great underground cities without these cities it would be impossible to cross the desert. every human that lived in these oases have been turn to vampires by our queen. we have great abundance of resources from mining. with these resources we make many magic items and plain masterwork items. we have whorehouse that lead to the plain of lust and the restaurants use magic to make the most delicious food on the plain and inns that have bard to put you to sleep. no one from outside the city is allowed to have weapons and any weapon bought within the city are put in a vault and teleported to them upon leaving. we allow any one to come in as long as they give up their weapons and put on a magic bracelet that does not allow the wearer to use magic. the entrances are all monitored with 20 vampire soldiers with detect magic permanently upon them. we also have a church for every evil god.

can we better in any way to make us more secure and a better cities in general.

How are the vampires dealing with their insatiable thirst for blood if everyone is now a vampire?

[Kimras]

How are the vampires dealing with their insatiable thirst for blood if everyone is now a vampire?

we have prisoners we extract blood from them then heal them and our prisons are as secure as possible

[Sith_Happens]

...Wait, is this entirely a vampire city, or is it just the "starter" population?

[Kimras]

...Wait, is this entirely a vampire city, or is it just the "starter" population?

About 27% of the population is vampire the rest is a mix of many different evil creatures and neutral creatures but no one group exceeds 8% is this a problem