Mages and their towers

[Raunchel]

This is an exceedingly common trope, as you all know. The great and potent mage living in a tall tower studying and weaving great and terrible magicks (TM).

I can't say that I don't like it, but I was thinking about the reasons for this. A few that I could think of (in universe) are:
1) You get a much greater line of sight from high up, which really helps with some spells
2) It's far more defensible than a little hut
3) It gives space to store all the books and the like
4) Watching the stars is a lot easier without anything in the way
5) You can put the labs where you produce smelly fumes higher up, so they don't reach your living quarters.

Do you have any more suggestions?

[Segev]

The "more defensible" thing is a big part of it. Anything assaulting the tower doesn't demand immediate attention while it hammers at the lower gates. Essentially, a tower is a one-man fortification. With good line of sight, the wizard can hurl spells at approaching armies long before they get to him, and can ignore lesser threats that would be dangerous to a simple hut or even a nice house.

As to why not a manor house or something, it's again an isolation issue. The "lonely manor" trope is fun, but if you pay attention, it's still got a serving staff. And mages are often loners if they're not a minionmancer of some sort (necromancer, conjurer with a lot of bound servants, etc.). So a tower that is just a house atop some fortifications suits a lot of mages much better.

The higher vantage is also better for studying the sky, again if only because it gets you over obstructions that might obscure the horizon. And traditionally, magi were astronomers and astrologers.

Also provides a convenient place for flying familiars and minions to come and go from without having to drop down. And for the mage himself to fly in and out of. He's less concerned about all those annoying steps when he lives mostly in the top floor or two and can fly in and out. Heck, he can levitate between floors if he wants. Stairs may be a convenience for guests or non-flying familiars.

[Slipperychicken]

-It takes less space, and therefore less land. One can use the rest of the land for demonstrations and practices which might go badly indoors, or for other buildings.
-Airborne minions can easily deliver messages to upper levels.
-He can set up pretty lights for peasants to gawk at.
-Its height means he can see bad things coming, and quickly send signals to a nearby ruler to inform their response.

[Altair_the_Vexed]

In medieval-early modern technology level settings, a very tall tower is also a symbol of status - they're hard to build without falling down, so you must be clever and rich.

An extremely tall tower - sky-scraper height, like Peter Jackson's Orthanc or Barad-dur - is a symbol of magical power. Until we have steel reinforced concrete and girder construction techniques, there is an upper limit to tower height - so you must be holding up your sky-scraper tower with magic.

Of course, there also the Freudian symbolism of a very tall, slim, thrusting, upright building - but let's keep it PG13! :smalleek:

[VoxRationis]

It reaches towards the heavens, symbolizing a search for knowledge and aspirations towards great things. Depending on how mages work in a setting, that sort of symbolism may be important to them.

[Pronounceable]

Fighting further and further upwards (downwards too for that matter) is far more satisfying than fighting through rooms in a castle or manor.
Also if there's one thing every rpg nerd is obsessed with, it's increasing numbers and floors are eminently countable.

I mean, sure, in universe reasons are all well and good, but we all know why the wizard tower is such a staple of FRPGing.

[Orderic]

Some in-universe justifications for towers can be quite setting-specific. A tower might have a certain symbolism that is helpful for spells, or it could simply have been built to reach a ley line that is annoyingly high.


Apart from that, Wizards love showing off and what better way is there to show off (Without actually doing anything) than having a massive tower, perhaps even one with impossible architecture?

[Clistenes]

If you are a wizard high level enough you don't need servants, cooks, doors, windows, fireplaces, chimneys, lamps, kitchens, pantries or even air vents... magic can take care of everything.

Taking it into account, you don't need a house or castle; those are too easy to sneak in, anyways.... you can build your home/magical lab inside a dungeon with a single phase door access or no access at all (use a Magic Circle or Portal to get out).

The other option is to stack the rooms one on top of another inside a stone shell, hence the tower. You can even take an existing tower keep and wall the door and done...

Of course, it would probably be safer to live in a normal house and pretend to be a normal person (keep your lab in the basement behind a keyed phase door), but many wizards may not want to bother with the deception...

[Segev]

There's also the egotistical option of having your tower be shaped into a giant statue of yourself.


Of course, it would probably be safer to live in a normal house and pretend to be a normal person (keep your lab in the basement behind a keyed phase door), but many wizards may not want to bother with the deception...

And then put some sort of summoned watchdog up in the tower to pretend to be you!

[EccentricCircle]

Also in a medieval setting the rich and powerful people probably live in castles and tower houses, while everyone else lives in cottages. There isn't as much in between. The wizard is likely to be wealthier and more powerful so gets a tower house, whereas the stereotypical witch is more likely to have a cottage, being more of a folk healer and hedge mage.

[Segev]

Also in a medieval setting the rich and powerful people probably live in castles and tower houses, while everyone else lives in cottages. There isn't as much in between. The wizard is likely to be wealthier and more powerful so gets a tower house, whereas the stereotypical witch is more likely to have a cottage, being more of a folk healer and hedge mage.

I...don't think "tower houses" ever were much of a thing IRL. Towers historically were watch-point fortifications. The "wizard's tower" is really a somewhat uniquely fantasy trope, likely grown out of the notion of the court wizard having his own private tower in the castle.

I could, of course, be completely wrong, but this seems the model that best fits with what I know of history and the history of fictional wizards.

[JeenLeen]

There's also the egotistical option of having your tower be shaped into a giant statue of yourself.



And then put some sort of summoned watchdog up in the tower to pretend to be you!

I just had the idea of having an NPC do this, but the tower is also a construct. So if the wizard gets tired of the area, his tower just walks away. Or the tower attacks while the wizard flings spells from the window.

It actually could be fun to have an area known to be ruled (in the sense of peasants paying tribute but the wizard gives some protection) by a giant construct wizard. If the PCs manage to investigate enough, they realize the 'wizard' is just a construct and the real wizard is a dude living inside.

[VoxRationis]

I...don't think "tower houses" ever were much of a thing IRL. Towers historically were watch-point fortifications. The "wizard's tower" is really a somewhat uniquely fantasy trope, likely grown out of the notion of the court wizard having his own private tower in the castle.

I could, of course, be completely wrong, but this seems the model that best fits with what I know of history and the history of fictional wizards.

As I understand it, medieval Bologna used to be filled with the darn things.

[Max_Killjoy]

It's wikipedia, but it will do:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_house

[Vizzerdrix]

It's wikipedia, but it will do:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_house

Ooooh. I want it! :smallredface:

[Segev]

I just had the idea of having an NPC do this, but the tower is also a construct. So if the wizard gets tired of the area, his tower just walks away. Or the tower attacks while the wizard flings spells from the window.

It actually could be fun to have an area known to be ruled (in the sense of peasants paying tribute but the wizard gives some protection) by a giant construct wizard. If the PCs manage to investigate enough, they realize the 'wizard' is just a construct and the real wizard is a dude living inside.Could be cool. Might use a Stone Colossus from the ELH for a base on the stats.


It's wikipedia, but it will do:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_house
Huh, nifty!

I wouldn't have thought them practical enough for use as houses, nor ritzy enough for aristocrats' vanity. I stand corrected.

[Darth Ultron]

In the Forgotten Realms the first powerful wizards of the near modern era were elves. And elves at the time lived in a lot of tree cities. So the elven wizards lived on tree tops (like the rest of the elves). When humans learned magic, and became wizards, they naturally wanted to emulate the elven idea.....but as humans don't like to live in trees: they live in towers instead.

[RazorChain]

This is an exceedingly common trope, as you all know. The great and potent mage living in a tall tower studying and weaving great and terrible magicks (TM).

I can't say that I don't like it, but I was thinking about the reasons for this. A few that I could think of (in universe) are:
1) You get a much greater line of sight from high up, which really helps with some spells
2) It's far more defensible than a little hut
3) It gives space to store all the books and the like
4) Watching the stars is a lot easier without anything in the way
5) You can put the labs where you produce smelly fumes higher up, so they don't reach your living quarters.

Do you have any more suggestions?

I think the trope stems from Tolkien and that maguses were often connected to astronomy and astrology. There is actually no reason for a wizard to live in a tower.

[Xuc Xac]

Of course, there also the Freudian symbolism of a very tall, slim, thrusting, upright building - but let's keep it PG13! :smalleek:

You start with wands, then rods, then staves as you grow in magical power. Towers are the next inevitable phase as you keep scaling up.

[Seclora]

From the Mage's perspective, a tower allows them, the being capable of casting fly, an advantage over mundanes trying to attack them while also forcing them into an area that optimizes fireball and lightning bolt efficiency. Also makes them feel as literally above the masses as they already feel metaphorically.

From the Mundane's perspective, a tower puts the mage and his crazy experiments as far away from the wine cellar, kitchens, and storehouse as possible by creating vertical as well as horizontal distance. Building him a tower on the outer wall also ensures that he has incentive to involve himself in the event of a siege. In time, it just becomes tradition to house mages in a tower and especially eccentric and explosion-prone wizards have towers built far, far away from civilization. Obviously, the magi fight for control of the tower in an effort to determine who is the 'ultimate caster' leading to a prestigification of lone towers in mage culture.

[Max_Killjoy]

You start with wands, then rods, then staves as you grow in magical power. Towers are the next inevitable phase as you keep scaling up.

Sometimes a soaring magical edifice is just a soaring magical edifice.

[Segev]

You start with wands, then rods, then staves as you grow in magical power. Towers are the next inevitable phase as you keep scaling up.

Actually, watching Little Witch Academia, the big tower at the school always reminds me of a wizard's staff. I have since been pondering a wizard's staff that is a miniature tower, possibly as a variant on Daern's Instant Fortress.

[JeenLeen]

You start with wands, then rods, then staves as you grow in magical power. Towers are the next inevitable phase as you keep scaling up.

I may use this concept in a homebrew setting, where magic has to be focused through some, um, focus. A powerful wizard could use a wand, but he'd be limited to wand-level effects. Most effects get by with a large staff, but for really massive things, use your home base itself as the focus.

[Max_Killjoy]

I may use this concept in a homebrew setting, where magic has to be focused through some, um, focus. A powerful wizard could use a wand, but he'd be limited to wand-level effects. Most effects get by with a large staff, but for really massive things, use your home base itself as the focus.

That's actually an interesting in-setting "how magic works" limit that might help with some attempts at balancing out spellcasters.

[Joe the Rat]

It allows access to ley lines within the earth, and those in the air (which are typically about 100' up)
A more reliable lightning attractor.
It's harder to notice changing planes when you are going up stairs.
Your home is actually floating 50 feet off the ground. The tower portion is camouflage.


Seriously, visibility (what you can see), defensibility, and status (that you can be seen) are likely the big drivers.

[DavidSh]

Sorcerers performing their sorcery in tower rooms predate Tolkien. Read The Worm Ouroboros (from 1922), where the King of Carce has a room for this purpose high in the Iron Tower, described:

Now the fashion of the chamber was that it was round, filling the whole space of the loftiest floor of the round donjon keep. It was now gathering dusk, and weak twilight only entered through the deep embrasures of the windows that pierced the walls of the tower, looking to the four quarters of the heavens. A furnace glowing in the big hearth threw fitful gleams into the recesses of the chamber, lighting up strange shapes of glass and earthenware, flasks and retorts, balances, hour-glasses, crucibles and astrolabes, a monstrous three-necked alembic of phosphorescent glass supported on a bain-marie, and other instruments of doubtful and unlawful aspect. Under the northern window over against the doorway was a massive table blackened with age, whereon lay great books bound in black leather with iron guards and heavy padlocks.

But this is just part of a fortified palace, not the entire dwelling.

[EccentricCircle]

I...don't think "tower houses" ever were much of a thing IRL. Towers historically were watch-point fortifications. The "wizard's tower" is really a somewhat uniquely fantasy trope, likely grown out of the notion of the court wizard having his own private tower in the castle.

I could, of course, be completely wrong, but this seems the model that best fits with what I know of history and the history of fictional wizards.

I was thinking of the small castles scattered across Ireland (and I think also Wales). I know in some cases the king would give minor nobles a loan (of around ten pounds) with which they could build a small castle, effectively a fortified manor house. This meant that it was harder for the occupied people to rebel against the largely English nobility. Disappointingly it is now no longer possible to build a Lego castle for ten pounds, much less a real one.

[Vogie]

Other ways to make it more realistic -

Base it off of more normal towers, such as in large forests or at the edges of borders, similar to Forest Service/Border guard towers
Have it attached to surrounding walls for defense as an attached defended road, a la the watchtowers on the Great wall of China, just taller.
Have them act as a lighthouse, or as "Range Light" style indicators down rivers.


Actually, watching Little Witch Academia, the big tower at the school always reminds me of a wizard's staff. I have since been pondering a wizard's staff that is a miniature tower, possibly as a variant on Daern's Instant Fortress.

I've been experimenting with a downscaled Rod of Security that is actually a Wizard's tower... whoever made it just shrunk the tower, reinforced it to be carried, but couldn't unshrink it due to reinforcement, so they just figured out how to shrink themselves, hop in & out, and made sure it couldn't topple over when activated.

[Corsair14]

Wizards don't like being bothered. They build a tower and hope it and its reputation are enough to keep visitors away. It also puts them above everyone else.

[Mith]

I like the idea that a tower can be used as the arcane equivilent to condensation towers or some weird experiments like that.

[Nifft]

Incorporeal critters and Earth Elementals can attack you through the ground.

Druids can re-shape unworked stone, so you want to work all the stone -- this is why towers have dungeons as foundational elements.

Your astral and ethereal defenses also have better LoS through air than through earth.

[lightningcat]

I personally like the reasoning used in the Belgariad. The sorcerers lived in towers because their mentor/god lived in one. Most of the towers were actually a single room dwelling on top of the tower with no other rooms. They also used them to observe the stars, and the occasional experiment with flying, but those were mostly afterthouhts. Even those that were trained by others used towers because it was tradition, even though the tradition was entirely accidental and meaningless.

[Vitruviansquid]

Wizards are *******s.

They don't like people. They don't like the way petty non-magical people show up at their door and ask them to do stuff that takes them away from their books and experiments. They don't like the way people ask them to magically make food because the harvest was bad, because these idiots don't understand all the extremely esoteric reasons why you wouldn't, and then they have the gall to accuse you of being stingy. But really, it's hard to understand how people's problems affect them when you are used to casually turning your own problems into frogs with a wave of your hand.

This is why wizards don't like people and people don't like wizards. This is why wizards build towers. Towers physically separate you from other people living below, and also, unlike, say, a pyramid, provides an extremely narrow space so as to limit the number of people who can bother the wizard at one time.

[Segev]

But really, it's hard to understand how people's problems affect them when you are used to casually turning your own problems into frogs with a wave of your hand.

Also, the massive carpet of frogs left over from solving your problems can't hop into the upper floors of a tower nearly as easily as into the ground-level hut or cottage.

[Jay R]

Think about all the problems people have with high-level parties. With scrying spells you can find out anything. Then you can teleport to get what you want, pick it up, and teleport home. So a high enough level wizard can base his adventure out of an isolated home.

Why is it isolated?


Wizards don't like being bothered. They build a tower and hope it and its reputation are enough to keep visitors away. It also puts them above everyone else.

Exactly. In the words of Mar-Grouch the Mystic,
"Hrmf! Smell of people reaches my nostrils! Hagh! --Awful! I saved your lives ... I did not invite you in to foul my air. Begone -- ere my patience curdles as does my nose!"

[Denny O'Neill, "Come Darkness, Com Death", Showcase #84]

[Frozen_Feet]

Traditionally, magicians were also astrologers and astronomers, so they lived in high constructions built on high and isolated places for the purposes of stargazing. Planets and constellations have magically important symbolic meanings and are vital for various forms of divination and ritual scheduling.

[Tyrrell]

With inspiration from Ars Magica:

Other folks don't get along well with wizards. Limiting contact is safer for everybody and isolated towers are ideal for that.

Wizards build their towers where they can find the best magical auras this is rarely on the ground level of a city street

The existent and frequently used magical tower conjuring ritual is much easier to find and use than coming up with an alternative by yourself, especially when you're just starting out. Modifications can be made later.

Towers are a structure that is ideally suited for enchanting with magical defenses. It's far more efficient to craft spells to affect a tidy target such as "this tower" than spells to defend a collection of several small buildings or a portion of a larger structure.

[Nifft]

Wizard towers are giant magical hummingbird feeders.

Nobody knows why, but having giant magical hummingbirds in the area improves magical research rolls.