Stronghold building assistance

[AWiz_Abroad]

Hey GITPers(?)

My party has been working on getting a castle up and running. Do any of you have a map program you like for mapping out castles/fortifications?

Also, in any of your strongholds have you ever utilized a portal mechanism of some sort? if so, please describe. We're doing some favors for a high-leveled NPC Wiz/Archmage/Loremaster, and he's willing to provide us portals in exchange. The problem we're having is how to defend the portal room and how to conceal the other end of the portals.

Thanks

[dantiesilva]

Have you seen the show stargate? If so then I also hope you have forgotten realms material because they talk about just this they make each portal have a combination to unlock a certain point. Throw on arcane lock with a steel door with spikes on it both infront of and behind the door so that way they have to lwt you know they are coming first and you have yourself an iris. Though once people gain acess to teleport spell this becomes kind of useless so you may want to find a way to also block teleportation into the keep.

[AWiz_Abroad]

Blocking TP is relatively easy. We have a spellcaster who's taken up residence in the stronghold (essentially using my character as a way to locate obscure magics through adventuring in exchange for discounted scrolls, spellcasting etc.) Maintaining a Dimensional lock is relatively easy.

I do like the idea of an Iris, but am not sure how the party (which includes non spellcasters) would be able to communicate with the guard force to lower the Iris.

[dantiesilva]

Special magic item made by the archmage so that only they have one.

[AWiz_Abroad]

Each quest we do for him is either another portal, a favor he owes us, or assistance enchanting our vault.

Archmage owes us three additional favors(Vault, Portal to the campaign's equivalent of the Library of Alexandria [archmage's operating base], and decryption of a heavily encrypted ledger we located when we performed some judicious breaking and entering on an evil dragon cult), and I really don't want to be relying on an ancient gnome, who's ex-friend we may have provoked by breaking into his golem creation lab (yeah, another archmage) and then immediately heading to the ancient gnome.

Also wondrous item is just asking to be stolen by the sorceress (and demonbinder) who's been stalking us for a long time. Our druid has made things a bit worse by sending her nightmares anytime she's within 100 miles.


We're ECL 8. The only arcane caster is me, Wiz 4, Master Spec 2, IOTSVF 1. Conjuration specialist, but with a perverse love of fire evocations.

[dantiesilva]

Well there is always training a falcon XD You really screwed yourself. Ahh a wand perhaps.

[AWiz_Abroad]

Thanks for your assistance.

Does anyone have any prefered mapping software for building a castle map?

[Learuis]

http://pyromancers.com/dungeon-painter-online/

Free, Flash-based, with export to png, jpg, or pdf (for full-scale prinout).

Wish I would have found this resource months ago when I started mapping. :)

[AWiz_Abroad]

http://pyromancers.com/dungeon-painter-online/

Free, Flash-based, with export to png, jpg, or pdf (for full-scale prinout).

Wish I would have found this resource months ago when I started mapping. :)

Its.

So.

SHINY!

[Agent 451]

I do like the idea of an Iris, but am not sure how the party (which includes non spellcasters) would be able to communicate with the guard force to lower the Iris.

Take a look at the sending stones in MIC (pg. 184). They operate just like the sending spell from the PH, letting you send a short message to whomever has the other linked stone.

[AWiz_Abroad]

http://pyromancers.com/dungeon-painter-online/



You sir, win.

[AWiz_Abroad]

Take a look at the sending stones in MIC (pg. 184). They operate just like the sending spell from the PH, letting you send a short message to whomever has the other linked stone.

As do you

Thank you both!

Still would accept ideas on how to secure our portal room (as it used to be a hive of scum and villany, so I'm sure someone's got the TP coordinates down).

Also, any of your favorite stronghold defenses. We are in a good kingdom(and good to neutral party[stupid black dragon wyrmlings]), but have provoked the cult of the dragon that's famous for creating dracoliches. DM indicated he's not intending to run a attack the castle, but if we tick off people bad enough, he might reconsider. So other than a sizable guard force (200 or so), a couple of ballista/catapults on the top of the wall, and a grove surrounding it that's the home of a druid, any other ideas would be welcome.

[dantiesilva]

Put a ticking time bomb in there. Have its detonator be a sword that is said to be fabled, when moved unleashes a demon or angel or something extremly powerful. Have the portal underwater with a ceiling over it that only the people who belong their know how disarm the trap, and for laughs and giggles fill it with piranhas.

[Agent 451]

Draconomicon has Lair Wards, which consist of a bunch of cool (and relatively inexpensive) items for dragon lairs on page 84. Easy enough to have some of them like Cavern of Babble (kills intelligent communication, including verbal spell components), or Cavern of the Earthbound (negates any fly spell within the area) be applied to your portal room.

[AWiz_Abroad]

No Mr. Bond I expect you to die?

Pretty Blofeld-ian trap there.

Referencing of Course the Piranha death room.

Lair wards hmmm. . . we've made friends with a good aligned council that studies dragons, I wonder if they know how to do lair wards.

How would you secure your stronghold with lair wards?(I'm AFB at work)

[Agent 451]

Lair Wards don't have any specific rules that say you need to be a dragon to create them, they're just stationary wondrous items. It also states that they are identical to wondrous architecture from the Stronghold Builders Guide. Their creation (and pricing for new types of lair wards) follows the same rules as those within the SBG.

I don't have the SBG, so I'm afraid I can't really elaborate more on their creation.

As for securing a stronghold with them, I was thinking using them specifically in your portal room, to deny spellcasting, flight, or to create illusions that your portal room is just a regular old empty grain silo, etc. There are a few that block scrying and other types of divination, and some that function as globes of invulnerability.

[Kelb_Panthera]

On the communication thing, there are the aspect mirrors from Complete Scoundrel. They're basically a 2-way video phone, though you can have up to a set of 8 keyed to one another if you need confrence calls. :smalltongue:

[HockeyPokeyBard]

You've got an Archmage? Get him to set up a Detect Alignment spell centered on the portal room. When an evil alignment is detected, have it send off a message to the guard room with a sending stone or something.

Or

Set up some kind of alignment detecor in the portal itself. Something comes through that you dont like, have it automatically redirected somewhere you know they dont want to be. 1000ft underground for example.

[Iwasforger03]

Stronghold Builders Guide!

Everything you need to build strongholds, including a feat to double your building funds!

[Jack_Simth]

I do like the idea of an Iris, but am not sure how the party (which includes non spellcasters) would be able to communicate with the guard force to lower the Iris.

Sending Stones, Magic Item Compendium, plus some code or other (because of the False Sending spell).

[Iwasforger03]

http://www.amazon.com/Stronghold-Builders-Guidebook-Dungeons-Roleplaying/dp/0786926554

If you can find a copy somewhere anywhere, borrow it, pdf it, buy it, whatever, it has a lot of resources for constructing citadels, strongholds, castles, keeps, fortresses, etc. There's tons of stuff in there for exactly what you need. You do not HAVE to use the provided prices if the DM is willing to be flexible about it.