Daern's Invulnerable Fortress?

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Adding magic item effects together can lead to some fun and useful items, like adding the 10' x 10' x 50' space of an enveloping pit and a handy haversack effect to a possum pouch for extra deep pockets that you can pull anything out of as a move action, without having to dig.

So I had a thought. Combine a Daern's instant fortress with a lyre of building so you have an impossible-to-damage fortification for emergencies. It certainly saves on 9th level spells when it comes time to repair it (because you never have to repair it). Problem is, you have to actually play the lyre to make it work, which requires checks every hour after the first to keep going, and most non-undead and non-constructs can't go forever, regardless.

In lieu of enslaving a warforged and forcing it to play for you, I was hoping to find an instrument that plays itself that can be added on top of the lyre effect. Anyone know of such an item? I know there's a weapon and an armor that play for, like, a minute on their own, but that's not nearly enough.

So, ideas?

Also, any other neat item combos, either to go along with the above or new ones?

[Gildedragon]

There's singing swords in Magic of Faerun that might work for you

Alternatively: http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/vv/20050121a

Alternatively #2:
Intelligent item, focus on charisma, ranks in Perform, mission: to play it's music continuously

[MaxiDuRaritry]

There's singing swords in Magic of Faerun that might work for youWhere? I'm looking in the weapon abilities, specific weapons, and even the artifact sections, and I can't find singing swords anywhere. I can find an entry elsewhere on the interwebs (http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Singing_sword), but it doesn't give an actual rules entry, there. (The effects look pretty fantastic, though.)


Alternatively: http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/vv/20050121aThis looks like a great way to go about it. The singing teapot et al don't seem to have actual durations, so they last so long as the effect in question is in operation? Sounds good to me.


Alternatively #2:
Intelligent item, focus on charisma, ranks in Perform, mission: to play it's music continuouslyWhile this works, I'm not big on intelligent items. They have their own agendas.

Thanks for the help.

[edit] How does this look? I added a couple of effects on top of it, as well, in order to make it more effective as a defensive fortress.

Device, Daern's Invulnerable Fortress (Crafted using the Enhance Item feat) 109,975 gp (54,987.5 gp Crafted)
—55,000 gp Daern's instant fortress (DMG 254, Small metal cube grows w/in 1 rnd to a 20' x 20' x 30' high adamantine tower, with walls extending 10' into the ground which prevent movement; the door is impenetrable (including Lock spells), and the walls have 100 hp and hardness 20 (can only be repaired w/Miracle & Wish, which repair 50 pts of dmg); the door can be opened & closed at will by owner; anyone caught in the expansion takes 10d10 dmg (Ref DC 38 half); cannot be deactivated unless empty)
—+19,500 gp Lyre of building (DMG 261, While played, negates any physical and magical attacks made against inanimate constructions w/in 300' for 30 min; can magically construct buildings, mines, tunnels, etc; 30 min of playing produces the work of 100 humans working for three days; each hour after the first, wielder must make DC 18 Perform (string instrument) check; if it fails, it cannot be used to build again for 1 wk) (x1.5 cost)
—+27,000 gp Master fiddle (SS 58, At will, when played, allows bardic music to act as inspire courage, countersong, fascinate, suggestion, and inspire greatness as lvl 9 bard (UMD for grig race required)) (x1.5 cost)
—+7,500 gp Horn of resilience (MIC 208, 2/day, all allies including self w/in 30' gain DR 5/-; target of inspire greatness gains 50 temp hp (which last for the duration of inspire greatness or until depleted, and do not stack with other temp hp of any kind)) (x1.5 cost)
—+1,950 gp Nimro's Singing Receptacle (x2) (WotC Archives (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/vv/20050121a), Plays music up to six times per day when the fortress is activated, activating the lyre of building's protection feature, master fiddle's inspire greatness, and the horn of resilience effects and keeping them going so long as the fortress is up; it plays three songs throughout the day, for up to 8 hours each: an upbeat tune starting at sunrise, a heroic and somewhat bombastic tune from midday until sunset, and a soft lullaby with gentle sounds of nature throughout the night; each song is long enough to not repeat more than once while it plays; it takes 10 on Perform checks and automatically passes any Perform check as if it were the creator at the time of creation, with a Perform check of [insert Perform check here]) (x1.5 cost)

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Another idea: I found a fun way to give a functioning size-altering enhancement to ring gates (or their planar equivalent). Enhance a pair of annulats (throwing weapons identical to Xena's chakram) with sizing, then turn them into ring gates. Voila! You now have ring gates that can be any size, and as a bonus, they can even be used as weapons! Add morphing to disguise them as something fairly innocuous-looking, like a pair of poison rings.

[edit] Oh! And I should add a decanter of endless water to the fortress for as much water as anyone could need, so sieges aren't an issue. A necklace of adaptation, so inhabitants can't be smoked out. And both a permanencied teleport circle and a pair of sizing ring gates, so you'll never be trapped inside. Ooh. This is getting interesting.

[Gildedragon]

Or a series of linked enveloping pits; Inside a fortress is built.
A ring gate or movable portal links to one of the rooms.

Portal might be an animated object and walk around, or given to a ghost, or the like. And the top enveloping pit is opened in the basement of the lowest floor of the innermost enveloping pit, making it a loop of Towers and pits

[Mr Adventurer]

Another idea: I found a fun way to give a functioning size-altering enhancement to ring gates (or their planar equivalent). Enhance a pair of annulats (throwing weapons identical to Xena's chakram) with sizing, then turn them into ring gates. Voila! You now have ring gates that can be any size, and as a bonus, they can even be used as weapons! Add morphing to disguise them as something fairly innocuous-looking, like a pair of poison rings.

[edit] Oh! And I should add a decanter of endless water to the fortress for as much water as anyone could need, so sieges aren't an issue. A necklace of adaptation, so inhabitants can't be smoked out. And both a permanencied teleport circle and a pair of sizing ring gates, so you'll never be trapped inside. Ooh. This is getting interesting.

I think that the "sizing ring gates" wouldn't change how the ring gates actually work though.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

I think that the "sizing ring gates" wouldn't change how the ring gates actually work though.The weight limit would still be there, but there's no defined limit to what size of things can go though, other than the size limit on the rings themselves, so changing the size wouldn't change the way they work. After all, changing the size of the gates only changes what size of creatures or objects could be squeezed through, which doesn't actually change the gates' natures at all.

[Mr Adventurer]

Perhaps - though specifically Small characters would need to make the Escape Artist check regardless! :D

[MaxiDuRaritry]

I had a thought. Given that the fortress is de facto invulnerable, why does it need to be made from adamantine? And furthermore, wouldn't the same basic effect be doable via shrink item? So to save a huge amount of money, cast wall of iron several times and use permanencied shrink item to shrink them all down, all using the same password. Then use (greater) psionic fabricate to weave the iron into a fortress virtually identical to the instant fortress. If the fact that the shrunken iron is affected by magic is a problem, just use a Device of shrink item (from Ravenloft: Legacy of the Blood), as those are entirely nonmagical, and thus shouldn't interfere with the fabrication process.

Voila. You now have a reusable shrinking iron fortress that is invulnerable from harm, and it costs considerably less, since most of the costs are virtually nil.

And beyond that, use the Landlord feat to get a huge amount of gold to add features to it. Like a psychoactive skin of proteus's ability to metamorphosis at will. Haunt shift a trusted ghost or other undead minion, or find a friendly fiend of possession to haunt it for you. Now you have a transforming fortress. Have it transform the fortress into a weapon or other item to add special item abilities, like armor and weapon abilities. That works, right?