Alleran
2010-09-19, 07:04 AM
My group of players have decided to settle down (so to speak) and create ourselves a stronghold from which we can launch further adventures, demand tithes from the surrounding countryside, and so on and so forth. Of our group, I am the party wizard (it's been a long and welcome relief from DMing, which I usually wind up doing myself), and have been chosen to create many of the magical wards that will protect our stronghold from assault. For the record, I'm an 18th-level wizard (Well, Wiz 6 / Loremaster 9 / Archmage 3, technically, but that's just splitting hairs), so I have a lot of power at my beck and call if need be. The other party spellcaster is a 17th level cleric, but for IC reasons he can't help design this with his own spells, so it pretty much comes down to me (though the others are contributing plenty of the party wealth to getting this set up).
At present, I've used things like the Genius Loci spell, Halaster's Teleport Cage (getting that one was an adventure in itself...), Greater Familiarity of Place, and managed to get a Secure Cavern effect going, before hunting for some other spells to put into place. I'm trying to avoid magic items with a radius of effect at the moment, and am using spells except where I can't get out of it. We've also got a mildly-positive aligned demiplane for some Fast Healing action, but need the big castle (of which I have part as my own tower... gotta love towers) for an outward show of force.
The spell I'm looking at now is Energy Transformation Field (Magic of Faerun p.92). Essentially, any spells cast within the field instead power said field, until it fires off a predetermined spell at a certain point inside the field and expends all the spell levels that power it (e.g. if it were set for a meteor swarm, then it would absorb 9 spell levels worth of spells, then target a meteor swarm spell at a fixed point, then wait for the next nine levels). You need a Disjunction to take it down (or a limited wish or wish) Enough of these, I am thinking, should help deter would-be wizards (and even potentially give pause to higher-level ones) who think of attacking, but I'm not sure what spells to store in the field.
Any suggestions on good ways to make use of this spell would then be much appreciated.
Any other good tips and tricks to use spells in order to create a well-defended base of operations would be helpful too. We do have the limitation that the Stronghold Builder's Guide and a lot of the Draconomicon "stronghold" stuff is almost entirely off-limits except for on a case by case basis, but the DM is willing to listen to requests, and is generally reasonable about it.
At present, I've used things like the Genius Loci spell, Halaster's Teleport Cage (getting that one was an adventure in itself...), Greater Familiarity of Place, and managed to get a Secure Cavern effect going, before hunting for some other spells to put into place. I'm trying to avoid magic items with a radius of effect at the moment, and am using spells except where I can't get out of it. We've also got a mildly-positive aligned demiplane for some Fast Healing action, but need the big castle (of which I have part as my own tower... gotta love towers) for an outward show of force.
The spell I'm looking at now is Energy Transformation Field (Magic of Faerun p.92). Essentially, any spells cast within the field instead power said field, until it fires off a predetermined spell at a certain point inside the field and expends all the spell levels that power it (e.g. if it were set for a meteor swarm, then it would absorb 9 spell levels worth of spells, then target a meteor swarm spell at a fixed point, then wait for the next nine levels). You need a Disjunction to take it down (or a limited wish or wish) Enough of these, I am thinking, should help deter would-be wizards (and even potentially give pause to higher-level ones) who think of attacking, but I'm not sure what spells to store in the field.
Any suggestions on good ways to make use of this spell would then be much appreciated.
Any other good tips and tricks to use spells in order to create a well-defended base of operations would be helpful too. We do have the limitation that the Stronghold Builder's Guide and a lot of the Draconomicon "stronghold" stuff is almost entirely off-limits except for on a case by case basis, but the DM is willing to listen to requests, and is generally reasonable about it.