FrisianDude wrote:Doesn't sound bad, to me, but a ladder would be more logical as that'd be cheaper. Then again, maybe ladders would have a larger chance of falling over or something.

Cheaper, but as others have mentioned, perhaps too easy to use them to get round people's cliff defenses, bypassing palisade / brick walls in doing so. I prefer my original stairs idea.
Someone mentioned they shouldn't use metal, and thus be available to people without mines, but I see no logical reason why stairs should need metal anyway. Just a fairly large amount of wood. I suggested about the same or slightly more than a log cabin. Mainly boards (for the steps themselves), but also some blocks (bannisters). Carpet would also be nice, though maybe not necessary.