PDA

View Full Version : Design an epic level wizard's home



Lysander
2010-02-14, 02:47 PM
If you were an epic level wizard (in a DnD fantasy world, not you in real life) what would your home be like? Let's assume that you're still alive, rather than a lich or something, somewhere between level 21-30, and that your resources and available construction time while considerable is not infinite. What plane would you put it on? What defenses and guards would it have? What about storerooms, laboratories, libraries, and creature comforts?

Harperfan7
2010-02-14, 03:58 PM
A flying glass skyscraper/castle in arborea that would go wherever I willed it and would occasionally "dock" at random
-its a greenish silver opaque from the outside, but completely transparent from/on the inside. It can turn invisible. It's made of magically hardened glass (via the harden spell from MoF).
-it has a central shaft and a surrounding space, which is floored, whereas the central shaft isn't. It would be wider at the bottom and have an indoor "park" that resembled the forests of arborea.
-the central shaft is an aquarium that runs up the entire length of the structure and is filled with non-mammal life forms from all sorts of tropical waters (including some from the upper planes), many of which are luminescent at night
-the surrounding floors would not have stairs or openings to the next floor. To reach the next floor you have to be wearing a certain ring or amulet that lets you phase through the transparent inner walls (you have to fly on your own).
-each floor would have a different themed museum filled with replicas of various landscapes/creatures/weapons/armor, extensive libraries containing thousands upon thousands of books/inventions, art galleries, a gym/swimming pool, rec rooms (I would have invented pool, at least) and what not.
-the top three floors would be the living quarters
aaaaaa-the first floor would have a central room and several surrounding rooms
aaaaaa-the doorways would be circular
aaaaaa-the floors would be thick furlike carpet, luminescent white sand, moss, lush grass, stone-at-level-with-water, or glass
aaaaaa-the glassteel walls would be transparent with inner star/galaxy looking formations of various colors
aaaaaa-illusions would play music
aaaaaa-dancing lights of various "cool" colors would float around at random
aaaaaa-the second top floor would have a central room only, encircled with portals to various natural landscapes across the prime and upper planes. These areas would be pre-picked and deemed safe.
aaaaaa-the top floor would be one large room with a vaulted ceiling (remember, the walls are transparent) that could frost over at will (to provide a smooth soft light). This would be my bedroom and private study, with all sorts of major creationed-fabricated furniture and self-playing instruments of high quality. It would have a fire pit with an eternal flame (that I could will off and on and whose smoke would cease to exist after about 20ft.). In this room, any guests and I could fly with perfect maneuverability. It could produce whatever food/drink I wanted on a certain table. All my favorite trophies and magic item arsenal would be here in cases. I would have a really bitchin' bed, and a near artifact level scrying crystal, either might be floating. I'd probably have an extremely inaccessible glassteel safe/vault, probably hidden in an extradimension. I don't mean to copy Adrian Veidt, but I would probably create a unique intelligent tiger-like animal as a personal pet (with spell-like abilities).

Various allies (probably eladrin or fey, in addition to adventuring friends and/or family) would be welcome. I would have worked out some uber-complex security system for how they (and only they) could get in, even from other planes.

Now, as for defenses. I would have gate traps that gate in various eladrin, angels, and unique (CG) outsiders with predetermined payment plans. In addition it would have roving sentinels (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7505590#post7505590). Stationary traps (non-destructive high level spells, knockout poison brilliant energy darts, etc.) would guard certain areas. Obligatory anti-scrying/teleportation wards.

It's a home, not a fortress, but it is well defended. In all honesty, I probably wouldn't be there half the time and even so, would probably share it with trusted friends, allies, and family as if it were "ours" and not "mine".

I'm sure I could come up with more details given time, but the idea would stay the same.

AslanCross
2010-02-14, 04:09 PM
I'm in a bit of a hurry right now, but every paranoid epic wizard needs the following: Spell Turrets in every room.

magic9mushroom
2010-02-14, 04:23 PM
You'd put it on your own custom-built demiplane. The entire thing would be covered by a Dimensional Lock only capable of being lowered from inside, with an exception for yourself. It'd also be covered by Greater Anticipate Teleportation in case someone managed to breach the DL. Flowing Time trait would exist and be adjustable. You'd also have some sort of contingency setup on the plane so that if the Dimensional Lock was breached while you weren't inside, the plane goes into temporal stasis until you return.

That's security measures.

Bibliomancer
2010-02-14, 04:36 PM
Someone beat me to Arborea. I guess I'd pick...

A tower of dove grey marble surrounded by a dense forest on the third layer of Celestia (where the Tome Archon of Knowledge lives).
-Each stone of the tower's exterior is roughly the size of the megaliths that make up stonehenge, and each is an independently animated construct, allowing the tower's shape and format to be rearranged fairly easily, as well as acting as a secondary layer of defense, if necessary.
-The core of the tower would be composed of riverine (miniature walls of force from Stormwrack) modified to be translucent (can turn transparent on command), again arranged in large subunits so that they can be rearranged in conjunction with changing the exterior. Most of the time, the interior would be an follows:
-Most of the living space of the tower would be in a sphere in the upper third of the tower, protected by permanent prismatic walls etc. The only way into this area is via a specific corridor which feeds into the sphere from above, guarded by any constructs that I was able to acquire and a host of traps. A fully upgraded nimblewright (sentient construct) acts as the keeper of the door, and only allows visitors in if they have been encoded into the system and have been given recent permission to enter.
-Once a person enters, they will be in a waiting room which doubles as the menagerie, an extradimensional space with a radius of roughly a mile containing a variety of different environments and creatures. The entrance to the rest of the sphere is hidden and mobile, remaining at least a hundred feet from visitors at all times unless they are accompanied by the owner. The nimblewright at the gate notifies the owner of visitors entering this area.
-The rest of the sphere (radius ~500 feet) consists of a permanent antigravity field, tuned precisely to render all entrants weightless. This, combined with an antimagic field, prevents movement except by extraordinary means. The internal rooms consist of smaller spheres floating in the void, with the capacity to move to remain away form unwanted visitors. A special talisman allows visitors or myself to summon a room to them, and rooms are free from the effects of the antigravity and antimagic field. Additionally, each room's ceiling opens via a one way portal to a specific part of Celestia or the Prime Material, allowing fresh air and light in but nothing else.
-The major rooms include a library, an armory, workshops, exercise lounges, recreation facilities (including an enormous three dimensional chess board with sentient pieces), and guest rooms. A variant of the Unseen Servant spell creates attendants who appear as charismatic members of whichever race to which the visitor belongs.
-The most important room in the primary sphere would be the immobile scrying room, located in the center of the sphere with dozens of viewing windows to various planes on standby.

-The inner sanctum and living quarters of the owner would be located at the base of the tower, and could only be accessed via a portal from the most secure of the workshops in the primary sphere, although a fake inner sanctum would be maintained in the primary sphere. Any major items, artifacts, and original works (finished, as opposed to research notes in progress) would be kept here. It is connected to the prmiary sphere by a central spine of riverine to keep the core supported, and appears (if a visitor was somehow able to get past the scrying and teleporation blocks to be outside the central structure in the space between stone and riverine) to simply be the base of the structure.

-Outside the primary sphere, other locations of note include the top floor of the tower (stone), where aerial stables and outdoor facilities are maintain, the portal ring, located within a separate set of safeguards off aorund the primary sphere (to prevent unwanted visitors from gaining access to the main living area with ease), and the rooms of stone in the outer shell, where moderately trusted associates would get to stay.

Around the tower are the gardens, maintained by another variant of the Unseen Servant spell.

Apart from passive anti-scrying and teleportation defense (which apply to the surrounding forest as well, thanks to a mission completed for a local deity a few decades ago), the primary defense is the forest itself. Each of the trees are treants or variations thereof (a favor from Yondalla), and quite a few magical beasts, archons, and angels also exist in this area.

Due to the paranoid defenses surrounding the sphere and sanctum, defenses within them are limited to avoid interfering with day to day life.

In extreme cases, the tower and its contents could be relocated, but such an event would only occur if the lower layers of Celestia itself were being overrun.

theMycon
2010-02-14, 04:38 PM
Flowing Time trait would exist and be adjustable.
I suddenly have a mental image of an elderly wizard couple, passive-agressively fighting by flicking the chronostat up and down every time they pass, arguing over whose turn it is to order the basement Djinn to wish up dinner, and bribing their kids to love them better than the other epic wizard parent with pet Solars.

JohnnyCancer
2010-02-14, 04:46 PM
A giant, spelljamming, adamantine fist with spiked knuckles: MOON-PUNCHER.

Vizzerdrix
2010-02-14, 04:46 PM
The majority of the house would be in one place, someplace temperate with a nice view and close to a good size city. Now the rest of the house, would have the rooms scattered across the land and planes. The doorways would be portals to each room and back.

My bathroom on the E. plane of water, my furnace would be located on the E. plane of fire, etc. I'd keep an entertainment observation deck on that plane that is a constant battle. A bedroom on the plane of Shadow. a garage/workshop on Mechanus. A study in a giant geode cave on the E. plane of Earth, and my back door would lead to a small side street in Sigil. You get the Idea. (Think Hyperion, or Howell's Moving Castle)

I'd also have several flying towers, accessed the same way as the rooms and in various locations. preferably guarded by gargoyles and other monsters. Normal defenses would come as spell turrets and constructs, supplemented with topiary creatures, elementals and the like as needed.

Other than that, the knowledge that an epic level caster lives there should be more than enough of a deterrent for most things. And some well made locks.

Johel
2010-02-14, 06:02 PM
True wizards don't care for big towers, especially when a few spells can shatter them to the ground.

The Mansion :
Secret Chest : because you have to store mundane items somewhere while traveling.
Mage’s Magnificent Mansion : because a 60.000 ft³ mansion, 10 servants and daily banquet for 200 persons is all you need to rule this country. Quick advise : use 10-feet ceiling, not higher.
Mage’s Private Sanctum : every evening, inside the Magnificent Mansion. Covers a 540.000ft³ area. Yeah...
Dimensional Lock : For your bedroom.

If the DM allows custom magic item, a at-will Rod of Dimensional Lock is a priority, as it will allow you to ward the whole mansion everyday.
The price : 1.800 x 8 x 15 = 216.000 gp
The cost : 108.000 gp, 8.640 XP

And if I need more spells :
Dominate a Djinn and use him as an at-will Plane Shift rod.
Dominate a Succubus and use her as an at-will Charm Monster + Suggestion rod.
Every 19 days, cast Dominate Monster again and crush their will.

If I really want to go all the way epic :

Genesis, followed with a lot of Wall of Stones, until I get the rough shape of my dream castle. Let's add a few Walls of Iron to get myself a solid stockpile of metal.
Then let's use the Succubus to charm an army of dwarf craftsmen, use the Djinn to planeshift them to my personal demi-plane and have them work at smoothing the castle and report to the Succubus every week for another application of Charm Monster.
The "lucky ones" who show resistance or suspicion get to sleep with our horny demoness as a "well-deserved reward". When the job is done, depending of my mood, I'll either planeshift the survivors back home or kill them all.
Now, off to populate the place with hundreds of monsters, all obeying the "Succubus Queen" while I travel through the planes and come back once every two weeks for a "brief audience with the Queen", just to Dominate Monster her again.

Raiki
2010-02-14, 08:19 PM
Wow. I thought that my idea was cool, until I read HarperFan's and Bibliomancer's responses.

Anyway, my epic Psion Tyrion, Mind Tyrant of Glahce(pronounced Glass) had his home (fittingly enough) on the plane of Glahce (made by genesis of course).

The plane had a static time trait (so no one ever aged, nothing ever decayed or broke down, etc.) and was physically morphic. Catch was, that the only beings that could change it were the Tyrinage (tee-rin-ah-zhay), a race of diminuative, flying, invisible, incorporeal monkeys that could Dominate Monster at will (created by the epic spell/power Origin of Species) that were racially loyal to my character.

Physically, the plane resembled a series of rooms and halways carved out of emerald glass. Every hour, fresh food and drink was summoned by magical hanging baskets and fountains (one of the party members especially liked the neverending fountain of sweet red wine in the main courtyard). Illumination was provided by the glowing throne at the center of the plane; Light from which diffused itself through the glass to the very edges of the city. From this throne (an artifact), Tyrion could draw directly from the power point reserve of his psionic followers (about 90% of his ten thousand odd followers).

Because the plane was physically morphic, the layout changed daily, but the rooms set aside to house the guardian beasts and other defensive devices never changed much. We had three (always inert, I never actually got to use them) Effigy Tarrasques (turns out he's less indestructable as a construct btw) stored for emergencies, and the Tyrinage took care of most of the rest. One of their favorite tactics was to alter the plane in front of/behind an intruder to emulate the "corridor of doors" gag from looney toons, forcing the intruder to wander, lost, until he starved (or they got bored and sent him to a room with one of the guardian beasts in it.

Besides the, admitedly poorly planned, Robo-Ts, there was an atropal, a Great Wyrm White Dragon (really, what epic wizard doesn't own at least one of these? all you need is a lifetime supply of frozen and charred meat and they'll agree to stay free of charge!), a few inevitables, a purple worm, and of course, all the members of the party had their own suites.

It was a bit crude, but that fit the setting and party, so we all loved it. We still talk about it to this day, even though the campaign ended over 3 years ago.

~R~

Lysander
2010-02-14, 08:58 PM
I don't know. I'm not sure I'd feel safe living with a murderously vengeful djinn and demon kept perpetually docile only with a mind control spell.

My wizardly fortress would be built for convenience. Therefore I'd put it in the Outlands, close to Boccob's realm. I'd be able to consult the Library of Lore whenever I want, and if I want to visit another plane I could teleport to any of the portal towns rather than having to spend a seventh level slot on a plane shift and end up who knows where.

I'd make the surrounding area of the outlands a fertile land of trees, fields, and gently flowing streams extending for several dozen square miles. The whole thing would be surrounded by a brick wall about four feet high, not as a serious defensive measure but just as a symbol of where my property begins.

One part of the land would have a large and opulent temple to Boccob, occupied by a number of his clerics. Travelers to the Library of Lore would be welcome to stop and visit there along the way, and spend the night before attempting to gain entry to the realm. There would be a variety of meeting and dining spaces to discuss magical theory and exchange spells with visitors.

Somewhere else in the area would be an invisible castle. The paths to it, both on the surface, by air, and underground would be protected by monsters, alarm spells, and epic wards made to physically block intruders from progressing further. Various spells would shield the castle from scrying and teleportation attempts (private sanctum, anticipate teleport, carefully placed dimensional locks, etc). There would be no doors, instead there would be animated walls designed to open and close for permitted guests. There wouldn't be that many rooms though. I'd have a small library, workspaces and storage space for treasure and magic items, but I'd probably spend most of my time either at the Library of Lore or at the temple. Instead of a bed I'd probably just sleep while levitating inside a permanent prismatic sphere. There would be a chamber of permanent teleportation circles leading to places I often go in the Outlands.