Campaign help please

[questionmark693]

So my group is trying to defend a village of a thousand people against a horde of hobgoblins thirty thousand strong. They know that. They refused to give up. So they want to know how quickly they can erect towers with magical assistance, bearing in mind they have an eighth level Druid and a ninth level cleric. Does stone shape even work for this? Or are there other spell options?

[pbdr]

The cleric can create a wall of stone that is 9 5 foot squares and 2 inches think, into "almost any shape" with each casting.

This could be a mini tower 5' per side, 10' tall, with a 5'x5' platform on the top. You could also use recess the top slightly and make crenelations fro more cover.

It's not hard to imagine that in a few days, you could make several of these towers, linked with a 5' high wall surrounding a town.

[Henryj]

Has this village already a wooden fence or something like that?
The party have the time/possibility to find a high level wizard/cleric/druid from wich buy some higher level scrolls?

How it is the terrain around the village? (the tactical element would be pretty importat in this kind of situation)
There are rivers for exemple (can be usefull for spells, or simple defense..)?

The druid can use Nature's Rampart (spell compendium) to create various secondary defensive position.. it's not much, but still something...

Obviously it would be better to make a pre-emptive hit and run attack to weaken the hobgoblins.. but at this level everything has a too low area.. (boreal wind can be usefull.. but still just a minor thing)

If the army is far enough, multiply hit and run would be usefull (remember Fabius Maximus, called Cunctator)

By the way.. your players situation seems so fun! (and difficult^^)

[Daftendirekt]

If they can get a Lyre of Building, they could probably get any fortifications they have in mind done in no time.

[Phelix-Mu]

Here are some good things to consider:

1.) One thousand villagers is a lot of people, probably considerably more than can fit in any one building in the village. Barring the existence of some kind of substantial "great hall" structure in the village, it would be worth resources to gather all the villagers in one/several discrete places, which would be sealed up/camouflaged/etc. This would leave the bulk of the village a bunch of empty structures that could be used as defensive positions or sacrificed/collapsed to impeded the movement of the hobgoblins. To wit, leaving the families in their individual houses is a nightmare, as the PCs can't possibly cover that many bases against such numerical superiority.

2.) The party should leverage their future to maximize advantage. This includes stuff like maxing out their credit limit with lesser planar ally. There are many celestials that will sympathize with this kind of valiant last-ditch defense of the weak and helpless. Offer whatever service the celestial demands in exchange for help preparing and help fighting for the duration of the battle. Every skilled combatant is worth it's weight in gold, and many celestials come with abilities that can be very clutch in these situations.

3.) The party needs to inventory all supplies present in the village that might be useful. Does the blacksmith have coal? Does the inn keep large quantities of cooking oil? Is there an alchemist? How many civilians can grab a shovel and start digging? How many torches? How many mirrors? How many caltrops? How many marbles?

Don't give the players too much help with defensive advice, but even if there is one smart person/experience veteran in the village, the players may be able to crowd-source suggestions or w/e. Digging pit traps, collapsing buildings to create flammable areas of rough terrain and cover, raising ramparts (with mundane force or magic), the list of countermeasures is quite extensive.

4.) Spike stones is your friend. This single spell has altered many a battle.

That is all for now. We definitely need to know more if you want further help. The burden for making detailed plans lies with the players, though. If they have time, they can accomplish a pretty startlingly large amount, even with fairly pathetic resources.

Yes, with stone shape and only a cursory idea of stonework, it should be possible to shape a plausible tower out of a wall of stone. The latter spell will be much more useful than stone shape, though.