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View Full Version : Spell for creating castles? [3.5]



SarahShade
2011-03-12, 11:02 AM
So, I remember having once read a 9th level spell which will erect a castle to the caster's specifications, from designs on a sheet of vellum.

And after several hours of searching every last place I could think of, including this forum, I can't find it again.

Does anyone else remember this spell?

If not, does anyone want to take the challenge of locating it, or writing something new along these lines?

Thanks! ^_^;

bloodtide
2011-03-12, 12:40 PM
Magical Fortress
Abjuration
Level: 10
Casting Time: 1 full round
Range: Medium (100 feet + 10 feet/level)
Effect: One magical castle
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

This is a particularly strange spell, as you can cast it only once. With a grand display of magical energies, you instantaneously create a castle of your design that has two rooms per caster level. The entire square footage of the castle cannot exceed 100,000 square feet. The castle walls are made of stone, the doors of wood (with DC 30 locks), although the hardness of all materials is increased by +5.
The interior of the castle is fully furnished, and each room is magically lit with a brightness level that varies with your whim (from true daylight to magical darkness). The castle also automatically contains weapons (melee and ranged) and chain hauberks enough to outfit 50 guards or defenders.

In addition, you can choose one of the following options:

* The castle exists on another plane (an otherwise empty pocket dimension), with only the doorway existing on the plane on which you cast the spell.
* The castle floats in the air at a height of your choosing. The magic keeping the castle in the air cannot be dispelled.
* The castle is surrounded by a magical field through which one general type of creature, chosen by you, cannot pass (undead, aberrations, humanoids, etc.).

Lastly, you can choose to have any portion of the castle disappear or fall apart upon your death, or you can choose to have the whole place collapse at the time of your demise. If the castle floats, you can have it fall when you die.

Gamer Girl
2011-03-12, 12:44 PM
I have an epic spell:

Create Building
Conjuration (Creation)
Spellcraft DC: 19
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 11 minutes
Range: 3,000 ft.
Area: Building with a radius of up to 60 ft. and a height of up to 180 ft.
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
To Develop: 171,000 gp; 4 days; 6,840 XP. Seed: conjure (DC 21). Factors: change area to 10 ft. radius, 30 ft. high cylinder (+2 DC), increase area by 400% (+20 DC), change range from 0 ft. to 300 ft. (ad hoc +4 DC), range +900% (+18 DC), instantaneous (ad hoc x5 DC). Mitigating factors: increase casting time by 10 minutes (-20 DC), ten additional nexus towers contributing epic spell slots (-190 DC), ten additional casters contributing 5th-level spell slots (-90 DC).

This spell creates an entire building somewhere within the radius of the spell and up to the size indicated above. The building is permanent and non-magical, and thus cannot be affected by dispel magic and similar spells. The quality of the building depends on the caster's skill in Knowledge (architecture and engineering). Care should be taken that the foundation of the building has been cleared of all obstacles and is on firm ground before the casting, or the construction might be unstable.

SarahShade
2011-03-12, 02:34 PM
Thanks for the replies!

I'll see if I can assemble something new using these as guidelines.

If it helps jog anyone's memory or pique someone's interest, I'll list details I remember from the spell that prompted this line of thought:

• Specifically 9th level, definitely Sor/Wiz at least. Maybe the capstone for some sort of stronghold-themed Cleric domain. Slight chance it's also available to Druids, Clerics in general, or Wu Jen.
• Long casting time, something like 8 hours or more.
• Makes use of or mimics local materials. Do not remember which, though I'm thinking it's more likely using local materials. You may be able to provide additional raw materials to supplement construction.
• Definitely Conjuration (Creation) or Transmutation.
• The resulting structure is unmistakably a castle or fortress. Battlements and towers are expected in the spell description.
• Uses expensively-scribed blueprints as a material component or focus, and they require a Craft check (or maybe Knowledge: Architecture & Engineering, but I don't think so) of some kind. Someone other than the caster can make them. I quite specifically remember that the blueprints had to be on fine vellum, like you'd scribe a scroll on.
• XP cost… Less than 5,000 XP, probably more along the lines of 1,000 to 2,500. Not sure, but it might have been able to be paid by someone other than the caster, like the person who designed the castle.
• The castle is on the plane in which the spell was cast, and entirely permanent and nonmagical. Other magic is needed to furnish, equip, and reinforce it.
• Some sort of specific limits on the floorplan, described in terms of volume, height (?), and castle features. Possibly defined in terms of the "stronghold spaces" of the 3e Stronghold Builder's Guidebook, though I'm not confident about this.

Hopefully, someone else's sensibilities will be offended by the notion of not being able to find this spell. ~_^

Realms of Chaos
2011-03-12, 03:42 PM
Might you be remembering the ice castle (or was it ice fortress :smallconfused:) spell from frostburn?

SarahShade
2011-03-12, 04:06 PM
I don't think so, though I am a fan of that spell.

A friend of mine just sent me this, which may have been what I was thinking of. It's from a lost homebrew thread on the old WotC forums, circa 2007.


CREATE STRUCTURE
Conjuration (Creation) [Earth]
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 9
Components: V, S, M, F, XP
Casting Time: 1 hour
Range: Long (400 ft. + 40 ft./level)
Effect: One or more structures with a volume of no more than 4 10-ft.-cubes (1 stronghold space)/level
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

You complete the lengthy incantation, and behold as the lines and runes you scribed on the parchment slowly fade away. When you look up from the blank vellum, the stronghold you designed stands before you.

You create a structure (or series of structures) from locally available materials. These structures are fully furnished with doors, cabinets, chairs, beds, and similar furniture. Expensive furnishings and/or decorations and architectural features require a successful Craft check to create.

Material Component: A plan of the building scribed with rare inks on fine vellum (cost: 50 gp per 10-ft cube).
XP Cost: 1,000 XP.

It's more open-ended than I remembered, but the volume restrictions being in stronghold spaces, the XP cost, and the material component all match what I was thinking of.

Any thoughts on or critiques of this one?