Arcane Lock?

[0-hr]

Arcane Lock makes it harder to burst open a door, but doesn't make it any harder to just destroy (like with an axe)?

Arcane Lock
Abjuration

Level: Sor/Wiz 2
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: The door, chest, or portal touched, up to 30 sq. ft./level in size
Duration: Permanent
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

An arcane lock spell cast upon a door, chest, or portal magically locks it. You can freely pass your own arcane lock without affecting it; otherwise, a door or object secured with this spell can be opened only by breaking in or with a successful dispel magic or knock spell. Add 10 to the normal DC to break open a door or portal affected by this spell. (A knock spell does not remove an arcane lock; it only suppresses the effect for 10 minutes.)

Material Component: Gold dust worth 25 gp.

 

[AuraSeer]

Right. It's arcane lock, not arcane nails and planks.

 

[UltimaGabe]

Keep in mind, of course, that generally doors are relatively difficult to break. Not only that, but doing so is extremely loud, and is bound to alert everyone and everything within a couple hundred feet as to what you're doing.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

It's designed to keep the rogues out, not barbarians.

 

[Fester]

Yep, it just glues the door tight (and hence the +10 on the break DC), but doesn't alter the nature of the material that the door is constructed from in any way.

 

[Liquidsabre]

Large steel-reinforced doors are designed to keep barbarians out.

Nothing says alarm like a barbarian banging on the door.

 

[Pax]

Nothing says "secure" like a Force-constructed door in a Wall of Force, arcane locked nice and tight, with a permanent Antimagic field set up just outside said door. ^_^

But generally, yes - arcanelock is only as good as the door it is cast upon. You can still knock the thing off it's hinges, or hack it to flinders - but either option is NOISY, meaning noone can SNEAK their way in.

 

[Li Shenron]

Also the spell has seen its own escape applications Arcane Locking a door behind while you are fleeing from someone gives you a few rounds of advantage because chopping down a door takes generally much longer than bursting it down with a single charge, and even a simple door becomes DC 23.

 

[Shin Okada]

Also the spell has seen its own escape applications Arcane Locking a door behind while you are fleeing from someone gives you a few rounds of advantage because chopping down a door takes generally much longer than bursting it down with a single charge, and even a simple door becomes DC 23.

Unless a fool DM gives the Maul of Titans to a barbarian.

I did.

 

[rushlight]

Busting open a door is different that smashing the door completely. Busting the door is basically breaking the locking mechanism that is preventing the door from opening. The door itself is usually unharmed by this process - it just isn't re-lockable. There might be minor damage to the door at the location of the lock, or damage to the door frame where the lock engages, but the door itself will still be solid.

Taking an axe to the door (all "Here's Johnny!" style) bypasses the strength of the lock itself, and since that's what Arcane Lock enhances, Arcane Lock doesn't help.