Control Weather and a safe haven

[CIDE]

I've had ideas to include a variety of out-of-place villages into games. Either my own or ones where I'm playing in where the village is being built. Things like a magically created oasis in the middle of a desert or a temperate zone in an arctic or sub-arctic area. Some of the issues are solved fairly easily; half the problem in the desert is solved by a decanter of endless water. But what about moderating temperature or rail fall in other areas? Keeping plants alive in these places? I'm not sure Control Weather is up to the task for something as extreme as that.

Do you guys have any ideas? What are some of the most extreme areas to build in? Maybe places that require teleportation or flight to even reach?

[The_Jette]

There are some things to take into consideration. Yes, you could have a high level Druid wander into the desert and use Control Weather to start a small spring rain falling, and reduce the temperatures to balmy. However, the problems with the desert aren't all weather related. By causing a quick shower like that, he's flooding the desert, and I mean that literally. Deserts don't have the capacity to deal with large amounts of water, and you end up with flash floods. However, if one was determined enough, they could set about consistently casting control weather in order to shift the climate of a 2 mile wide stretch of desert into an oasis paradise. If it were an elven Druid, they would be able to stay there for decades to centuries, calling their students to them, and starting a community in the Desert. If it's far enough in the desert, nobody will be able to find it. However, if they're there long enough, caravans passing through will stop and trade, and word will get out eventually.
Basically, what I'm saying is that Control Weather, when applied constantly to the same area over the course of months or years can completely alter the landscape. Honestly, I think it sounds like a more valuable usage of magic than figuring out how to create a floating city. And, there are plenty of examples of that.

[souridealist]

I really like this idea!

Even if all Control Weather can really do is steer storms away from a particular area, that's a really good start. I agree that a decanter of endless water makes for a pretty instant pop-up oasis; if you stick to desert plants and animals you might cover things like food supply pretty well. Pathfinder also has a druid spell which creates a spring and is actually called oasis (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/o/oasis/), if you want to be sure no one can steal your water source.

As for sub-arctic: I'd imagine you'd get a lot of semi-underground buildings and turf houses, to trap warmth and shelter people from what snow Control Weather couldn't handle. There's certainly no shortage of spells that would let a druid hollow out the place. Maybe the Daylight spell could be used like growlights, so you could set up half-buried greenhouses and grow crops in all weathers?

[sleepyphoenixx]

Oriental Adventures has the Create Spring spell. It does exactly that, and it's permanent. The spring needs to be created on natural earth or rock and puts forth 6 gallons per hour. It's a shaman-only spell though.

For growing plants in permafrost there's Evergreen (Frostburn, Druid 2). It lasts 1 hour/level, so you'd have to recast it several times per day, but that shouldn't be a problem if your village has a druid with several apprentices.

[CIDE]

Thanks for the awesome responses, guys. I should mention that in one case it's probably an artificer doing all this. So, not even limited to just druid goodies. I do have to ask, though. Any ways to speed up growth of magical plants? All the spells I saw only work on non magical plants. The dm is allowing some of the Dragon magazine magic plants (and i allow them in games I dm) so probably going to grow a few. Especially the fey cherry.

[Gildedragon]

Best way to "speed things up" is planting them in a fast time plane and then teleporting them... Ooooor you could Teleport Through Time a few millenia; plant the tree, artificer up some caretakers, return to the present to have finished.

[CIDE]

Best way to "speed things up" is planting them in a fast time plane and then teleporting them... Ooooor you could Teleport Through Time a few millenia; plant the tree, artificer up some caretakers, return to the present to have finished.

I already make liberal use of a custom magic item of acorn of far travel. Not sure how to get faster then 10x speed without some far plane cheese I really don't want to do. Also, no time travel. Well, in the game I'm playing. I don't need it whee I dm.