3.5 Fortress ideas....

[fl_swat]

We are expecting the town we're in to be taken over from within and we are going to setup a defensive position in an underground cave system under the city in case the fight above ground is to much. Deep in the cave is another entrance to the other side of a mountain that we can use to evac through if needed. Our cash flow is very limited. We could use some cheap, but effective defensive ideas. Trap ideas, strategies, tricks, etc are all welcomed. Thanks in advance.

[BRC]

We are expecting the town we're in to be taken over from within and we are going to setup a defensive position in an underground cave system under the city in case the fight above ground is to much. Deep in the cave is another entrance to the other side of a mountain that we can use to evac through if needed. Our cash flow is very limited. We could use some cheap, but effective defensive ideas. Trap ideas, strategies, tricks, etc are all welcomed. Thanks in advance.

First, look up Tucker's Kobolds. Lots of good low-cost tactics there.

Alright, what are your assets, and what foes are you expecting to fight. Can your enemies see in the Dark? Can you?
One trick is to get lots of dry straw. You can lure enemies into a cavern or corridor full of straw, light the straw on fire, and seal the door behind you. The Fire itself won't deal much damage, but the smoke and lack of oxygen will.

How mazelike are these caves? If there are multiple paths, plan out the ones you want to use and turn all the others into rigged-to-collapse deathtraps.

[Krobar]

A couple bags of holding filled with oil and caltrops can make the going very difficult for pursuers. Especially if you light the oil with a burning hands spell or something.

[ahenobarbi]

Prepare Explosive runes. Summon celestial monkeys. Each monkey takes a piece of paper with runes, gets close to enemy, reads runes :smallbiggrin:

Definitely spread caltrops. They are cheap, you don't have to spend time working with the during fight and they will slow down some enemies.

Gather lots of wood between you and attackers and pour some oil on it. Not only this will slow attackers (difficult terrain) but will damage them (since you are setting this on fire).

[Shining Wrath]

Assuming you are dealing with standard-order (demi)human baddies

Caves are seldom flat. Grease the uphill places - not right at the bottom, let them get 30' up the slope and then slide down.

Caves echo. Any way of creating a loud noise can cause temporary or even lasting deafness, which sucks for their casters.

If a choke-point where they have to come at you one at a time exists, a supply of tanglefoot bags can come in handy.

What others have said about flaming oil.

Think "Home Alone". Heavy objects on ropes, tripping and falling, drop things on their heads, and if you can get your hands on a bunch of mundane vermin a bucket full of centipedes or scorpions or spiders can ruin someone's entire day.

[RFLS]

If you have access to them (doubtful), castings of permanent image can be useful.

[Threadnaught]

It's expensive and takes ages to build, but I have the idea for several entrances all using the same type of gateway.

This isn't Tucker's Kobolds, this is Threadnaught's Grand Army.
It requires a good deal more planning, a huge amount of resources and that you/or the character, have meglomaniacal tendencies.

Gateway is four Gatehouses in a cross, one leading in from the outside, the opposite leading into the main stronghold and the other two, to a bunch of barracks and the defenders' side of the gatehouses. And there's a room about the central area where they meet, which defenders can use to dump even more crap onto the attackers. :smallamused:
Yes, either attackers bust straight through and head straight for the base, taking fire the whole way, or they bust one of the gates leading to the guardhouses and deal with the frontline defenders first. Eitherway they have to break through four gates while under fire.

Once you've got your entrances perfected, go ahead and build your very own Tippyverse inspired fortress, allow citizens to buy real food from the outside by using the money they earn from working in your fortress, get about 5 Teleportation Circle Docks, these being the only parts of the fortress left uncovered by the effects of Dimensional Lock Traps which aren't dedicated to feeding citizens.
The Ozmidium walls of the fortress are of course laced with Walls of Force to prevent enemies from bypassing the Gates.

I probably need to build some kind of super weapon while I'm at it. :smallamused:

Make it a whole damn city under a mountain. :smallamused:

[fl_swat]

We are expecting orcs and half orcs. Half our group can see in the dark, the other half can't. I like some of these ideas guys. Thanks

[Immabozo]

I once was in a campaign where we had 2 monstrous characters, in a town hostile to monstrous characters. We were hidden in the healer's home for about a week before we were discovered. When the angry mob with torches and pitchforks showed up, I (as a cleric, whose motto was "if you're not cheating, you're not trying") cast ventriloquism and then invisibility. While my monstrous friends ran away while I distracted them by placing menacing, frightening growls all around, taunting them, "I'm behind you"s, and taking advantage of my flute we found creating the sound of no more than 100 human's in a location I designate within X feet. They were so confused and spread out and all over the place and we got away so easily, that they decided to come back and kill everybody. I just continued to distract and cause mayhem so well, that the handful of us killed the whole mob with no casualties (no survivors means it's not coming to bite us in the rear end)! The highlight of that encounter was me getting one of the threatening members of the mob tackled by no less than two other members of the mob, by taunts that seemed to come from the first guy and piss off the other two.

My favorite part of that character, was that I got so good at the ventriloquism trick to distract people, my DM let me do a will save or the target (while in melee combat with me) would believe someone was behind him and I was able to sometimes, flank foes all by myself.

I was a not in any way optimized cleric in melee combat as a first time player, so this wasn't incredibly effective, but it was funny as hell.

I eventually came up with another tactic that, looking back, shouldn't have worked, but as a new player, my DM was just so amused at my tactics, that he let me do it. I would cast ventriloquism, invisibility, silence on myself, then complete verbal components of spells outside the silenced zone. It was in a major tournament that I did this and after I figured it out, I CRUSHED any spell caster!

[BRC]

We are expecting orcs and half orcs. Half our group can see in the dark, the other half can't. I like some of these ideas guys. Thanks

Well Orcs and Half Orcs can all see in the Dark, so limiting the Light isn't going to help you.

Caltrops are a good way to slow down an enemy.

Line certain hallways with Straw and Lamp Oil, allowing you to stall the Orcs by lighting fires behind you. Find some Chokepoints where you can hold off the Orkish advance.

Who is in the party and what sort of resources do you have at your disposal. Also how much time do you have?

[fl_swat]

Well Orcs and Half Orcs can all see in the Dark, so limiting the Light isn't going to help you.

Caltrops are a good way to slow down an enemy.

Line certain hallways with Straw and Lamp Oil, allowing you to stall the Orcs by lighting fires behind you. Find some Chokepoints where you can hold off the Orkish advance.

Who is in the party and what sort of resources do you have at your disposal. Also how much time do you have?

Ranger, rogue, cleric, pally, warrior, bard, monk, 2 wizards. We have between 2 weeks and 2 months to prepare. This has been something happening over a long period of time, but suddenly came to our attention. We have time to set up plenty of stuff, just needed the ideas.

All of the doors have traps that we will reset except for the safe passage. I like the idea of using straw and setting it on fire that a few have mentioned.

[Immabozo]

That cleric can cause some serious confusion and thus slow them down with invis + ventriloquism, as I suggested. Also, invisible creatures are easy to get out, so he should have little problems himself.

Also, portable holes. I dont know how much they are/if available to you, but throwing down a 10 foot hole behind your party, or a few, will work fantastically.

What levels are everyone?

[Immabozo]

Another idea is the Cleric spell shape stone. Simply close off the tunnel behind you, only leaving the trapped and on fire hallways as the way out

[Scow2]

Think like a dwarf. Dig down to the magma sea, and create elaborate pump networks to flood hostile approaches with the molten rock. Maybe even waterpumps as well. Prepare for offensives from Titans, megabeasts, elephants, and Carp. Spinning Blade traps are deadly, as are Force Cage and mundane cage traps. Capture the forgotten beasts deep within the cave networks, and unleash them on the orcs!


What game are we talking about again?