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View Full Version : Epic base of operations. [3.5e]



Baalthazaq
2009-04-06, 05:25 AM
I was talking to a friend about how to do certain things.

One of the things I was extremely interested in at epic levels as a Wizard is developing not my own epic spells, but my own school of magic to do with fate and destinies.

One of the things I wanted for this though was an actual school. A place for my students to study, and obviously wanting a bit of prestige I came up with a few options.

My question is, how viable are they? I know some are against the rules as set, but are there ways around them?

1) Island Paradise garnered from Raise Island (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/spells/raiseIsland.htm). This is an extremely expensive and time consuming option. It would need to be done several times to get adequate space.

2) Take over an existing Island and Permanency Mordakainen's Magnificent Mansion somewhere on it, with teleportation circles to important locales around the globe.

3) Permanency Fly and any growth spell on a permanently enthralled turtle. Ideally we want Colossal+. We then build the school into it's shell, ideally combining it with a certain amount of extra dimensional space.

4) Rods of Security. Lots of them. You can use them once a week, which means minimum 7, assuming 199 students could keep them permanently locked in the paradise, assuming some simple method of activating them could be found. Every 199 students raises the number of rods required by 7. (I may be mistaken about how these rods work).

5) Genesis (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/spells/genesis.htm) may be a viable option too.

Any other ideas for magical locales? Any ideas on how I could pull off any of the above without house ruling anything in?

Finally, due to the magic which my school revolves around: Is there any way of entering two portals simultaneously? So far I'm thinking a clone would work, as would the epic spell Time Duplicate (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/spells/timeDuplicate.htm) but ideally we want something lower level.

mostlyharmful
2009-04-06, 05:31 AM
Genisis (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/spells/genesis.htm) is the traditional epic mage hangout, set whatever planer traits you want, set the land to be made out of diamond and strip mine it to afford decent hired help to do the fancy bits of your wall-of-stone/fabricate created palace/library/school.

Then sling a couple portals to the elemental planes for fresh water, waste disposal and heat and bingo.

Baalthazaq
2009-04-06, 05:34 AM
Ninja'd.

I just added the Genesis idea before I saw your post. :)

The problem is I'm not sure how it works. Instead of a plane in that case, couldn't I just have a sphere of 180ft Diamond? I always assumed you wouldn't be allowed something like that.

Is it accessible only from a fixed location where you created it? Is it accessible from anywhere you desire? Tell me more. :)

shadow_archmagi
2009-04-06, 05:57 AM
Obviously you start with an incredibly massive turtle, and then you put four elephants (huge ones, with bones of iron and nerves of gold for better conductivity over long distances) on it's back. Then you balance a giant disk on the backs of the elephants, and the whole thing rides through space on the back of the turtle.

Baalthazaq
2009-04-06, 06:18 AM
I considered my own planet. What I initially considered was simply greater teleporting to the moon and building my school there, maybe with the help of a Telekinetic Sphere...

I didn't get the Turtle directly from discworld, it just made sense that you'd want something solid as foundations.

jcsw
2009-04-06, 06:45 AM
For all the milk and honey, see the Mythal epic seed in Lost Empires of Faerun.

Biffoniacus_Furiou
2009-04-06, 09:31 AM
Use Genesis, give it the Limited Magic trait to prohibit the use of Divination, Conjuration (Creation), and Conjuration (Calling) magic, as well as Psychoportation Psionics. Such spells will simply not function when used within the plane or to interact with the plane. Not even the gods will be able to look in on your sanctuary. Spells such as Gate will not be able to access this plane. Plane Shift can be used to travel to and from this plane, but only if the caster has the proper key. It will be impossible to divine what the key would be to access this plane due to the limited magic trait, therefore not even the gods would be able to access this plane unless you gave them a key. There is only one key, and it is Sovereign Glued onto you to prevent theft, and made out of lead thus immune to divinations. Plane Shift is inaccurate, but your plane is small enough that anywhere you land is within walking distance of your intended destination.

Making it out of diamonds is likely to get your DM to just ban the spell. Make it mostly stone, with an ample amount of dirt and a pond. Put a large stone spire at the center, which you can use Fabricate to turn into a stone building. Bring in plants sufficient to sustain breathable air, such as grass and trees, probably using NPC laborers to do the work. Put proper fish and vegetation in the pond to keep it clean. A few Permanencied Gust of Wind spells placed high up can keep a breeze going through the whole place. Put in a small windmill to irrigate the grounds from the pond, or use a Permanencied Animated Object to do the work. Remember that spells like Wall of Stone will not function here, a drawback of preventing easy access via Gate.

Baalthazaq
2009-04-06, 11:28 AM
Some awesome suggestions in this thread, all good quality. Anything else I could do thematically? I'm a numbers guy but I'm a concepts guy first.

Can I change the plane if I cast it twice? I know I can extend the plane with Genesis cast a second time, but what about altering specifics?

Could I conjure walls of stone then turn off conjuration when I was done building my plane? Would permanent teleportation circles stay? Would the walls crumble?

I'd technically need more than one key.

Can I slow aging like a rod of security's world?

Also, sorry, but would it be tied to a specific location or not? I always assumed not but I'd like to be sure.

Texas Jedi
2009-04-06, 12:20 PM
Some awesome suggestions in this thread, all good quality. Anything else I could do thematically? I'm a numbers guy but I'm a concepts guy first.

Can I change the plane if I cast it twice? I know I can extend the plane with Genesis cast a second time, but what about altering specifics?

Also, sorry, but would it be tied to a specific location or not? I always assumed not but I'd like to be sure.

I think I can answer those some of the questions. First if you cast Genesis again it will add to the growth of the demiplane. I think it will double the size but I am not 100% sure. Genesis' growth is tied to your experiance level I think. Man, I really need to pull out my DnD books and refresh on them.

Second, you are creating a demiplane. A plane that doesn't really fit to the multiverse. There will be a permanent 'door' created on the Astral Plane for it but that would be the only permanent way in. You can create other portals after the fact to get in but the spell only creates an Astral Plane entry. Spells suchs as Plane Shift, Gate, ect. will get you there unless you do as Biffoniacus_Furiou suggested and make those schools of magic inhibited.

Bayar
2009-04-06, 01:18 PM
How about Genesis, have a plane made of fresh water and an island in the middle. Cast Magnificent mansion on the island. There you go !

Baalthazaq
2009-04-06, 03:58 PM
How about Genesis, have a plane made of fresh water and an island in the middle. Cast Magnificent mansion on the island. There you go !

I'm going to need at least 4 castings of it to get the size I want. I think it's more important that it look right than be impenetrable to the Gods. I personally prefer the God-Proof idea, but I think the character wouldn't.

720 foot radius = 1.6 million square feet or 150k square meters... puts me out 20k XP though.

Radar
2009-04-07, 04:23 AM
I'm going to need at least 4 castings of it to get the size I want. I think it's more important that it look right than be impenetrable to the Gods. I personally prefer the God-Proof idea, but I think the character wouldn't.

720 foot radius = 1.6 million square feet or 150k square meters... puts me out 20k XP though.
You could quadruple the surface if you would make the gravity a bit weird so that the whole boundary of your spherical demiplane would be the ground. It would look very cool as well. :smallbiggrin:

Triaxx
2009-04-07, 07:02 AM
Balls to that. You want Epic? Then you have to have a Planar Sphere. Nothing says I own you like having a home that travels the plane in comfort and safety. Especially if you use a few magical tricks to seperate the inside from the outside and then animate the outer sphere. Not only can it travel the planes, but it can also travel within the planes. Super Monkey Ball D&D style.

Add the fact that you can then make the space inside extra dimensional, and you've got all the space you want. Let's see a 400' hollow sphere, surrounding one that's slightly smaller with a permanent grease spell, and some weight at the bottom. Give yourself a magical window so you can see where you're going, and a permanent teleportation circle with an indeterminate destination. So you can make like Star Trek and set it right outside the sphere. Step on, and you're outside. It's not even necessary for it to be a stone sphere. You could even create one out of Adamantite.

Baalthazaq
2009-04-07, 03:07 PM
Balls to that. You want Epic? Then you have to have a Planar Sphere. Nothing says I own you like having a home that travels the plane in comfort and safety. Especially if you use a few magical tricks to seperate the inside from the outside and then animate the outer sphere. Not only can it travel the planes, but it can also travel within the planes. Super Monkey Ball D&D style.

Add the fact that you can then make the space inside extra dimensional, and you've got all the space you want. Let's see a 400' hollow sphere, surrounding one that's slightly smaller with a permanent grease spell, and some weight at the bottom. Give yourself a magical window so you can see where you're going, and a permanent teleportation circle with an indeterminate destination. So you can make like Star Trek and set it right outside the sphere. Step on, and you're outside. It's not even necessary for it to be a stone sphere. You could even create one out of Adamantite.

Ok... but how do you go about making one of those?

Are you sure it isn't like the layers of hell that are flat and exist in a void?

Is it closed or can I walk off the edge? Also, is the Plane created in Genesis actually spherical? Definitely?