Heating your Home

[Sigreid]

If a wizard of say, 10-12th level, were to want to create a stronghold/tower high in the frozen mountains; how would best go about heating it so you didn't have to constantly be bringing wood/oil or coal up to heat it? Any ideas?

[Paeleus]

Fire elemental?

[ImproperJustice]

Fire Elemental listed above is a great choice.

Some other more exotic ideas:

A demiplane from the plane of fire contained in a furnace aperatus.

A shard of crystal containing the essence/ soul of a Ref Dragon.

And my personal favorite:

Building your base on a volcano.

[Sigreid]

Nice ideas. I'd been thinking a furnace enchanted with a permanent Heat Metal. But that's not on the wizard list.

Sadly, where I'm looking at there's no volcano around. I'm kind of going with a home in a place where the weather will defeat most armies before they even get there.

[Lord Vukodlak]

Assuming you have a way to make a spell permanent. A wall of fire in the basement could work. It could also be an incinerator to take care of garbage. Run water pipes in the fire and you can even set up a modern like radiator system.

[Krobar]

If you're living by yourself, just get a Ring of Warmth.

[Incorrect]

You definitely need a butler or some servants anyway. They will do it for you.
They will also prepare food and bring you warm slippers.
Its not a stronghold without "the help".

[Sigreid]

Yeah, I don't want any followers freezing to death either. Homes should be comfy.

I like the wall of fire idea.

[Imbalance]

Followers, eh?

Got a cleric? Create food and water. Raise livestock - bovines give off measurable btu's to start with. Freeze-dry the manure for heating fuel in a boiler. Use shape water in lieu of a circulating pump for your radiant system.

[Sigreid]

Followers, eh?

Got a cleric? Create food and water. Raise livestock - bovines give off measurable btu's to start with. Freeze-dry the manure for heating fuel in a boiler. Use shape water in lieu of a circulating pump for your radiant system.

Cleric in the party I'm going to ask to Hallow the joint.

[MoiMagnus]

The best way is having a good isolation.
Air is pretty good for isolation. Put walls with air cavities inside, multiple layers of windows with air between, and some magical component to link them.
(In other words, the best way to have heat is to use intelligence and magic to study the world and find simple solutions)

Alternatively, any air-controlling magic is probably very effective at preventing heat from going away.

Then, for heating (because you will still need some), the other solutions are good.

[nickl_2000]

Use a geothermal heating/cooling system. You can easily dig a hole as deep as you need with move/mold earth, then you just need to make some pipes with the fabricate spell and pump air with Gust or Gust of Wind.

[Unoriginal]

Nice ideas. I'd been thinking a furnace enchanted with a permanent Heat Metal. But that's not on the wizard list.

You don't need a spell to be on your list to enchant something. You don't even need to be able to cast any spells.

Just need to find (or create) the magic item formula for a Furnace of Summer or something like that.

[Sigreid]

You don't need a spell to be on your list to enchant something. You don't even need to be able to cast any spells.

Just need to find (or create) the magic item formula for a Furnace of Summer or something like that.

Good point.

[Willie the Duck]

Most of the spells in the book are designed for adventuring-level scale (duration, etc.). Researched spells should not have the same constraint. If you can make Continual Flame torches, and Create Bonfire cantrips, researching the combination of the two shouldn't be out-of-scope. Maybe after you research it, the DM also has you cast it every day for a year to make it permanent (and limit the number you can make by home many of that level you can cast in a day). Boom. 1 year plus research time (and funds) invested. Now each room of your stronghold or tower now has 1-2 fireplaces with ongoing Create Bonfire spells, which use no fuel, but emit heat (unlike Continual Flame).



Use a geothermal heating/cooling system. You can easily dig a hole as deep as you need with move/mold earth, then you just need to make some pipes with the fabricate spell and pump air with Gust or Gust of Wind.

At some point, it would be more practical to take the stronghold out of the 'high in the frozen mountains,' and into the warm part of the earth, rather than take the heat from the warm part of the earth, and funnel it to the high in the frozen mountains.

[Theodoric]

Place it on top of a Dwarven chimney, use some sort of hypocaust system to heat the rest of the home.

[nickl_2000]

At some point, it would be more practical to take the stronghold out of the 'high in the frozen mountains,' and into the warm part of the earth, rather than take the heat from the warm part of the earth, and funnel it to the high in the frozen mountains.

Bah, what is the fun of that. If we wanted practical we wouldn't be having this conversation to begin with :smallsmile:

[monkey3]

I really miss the Permanency spell from 3.5.
With it, you'd just put Permanent the Bonfire cantrip in all the fireplaces, and your cook stove.

[Sigreid]

I really miss the Permanency spell from 3.5.
With it, you'd just put Permanent the Bonfire cantrip in all the fireplaces, and your cook stove.

Yep. I also miss the lyre of building.

[Willie the Duck]

I really miss the Permanency spell from 3.5.


Yep. I also miss the lyre of building.

What I miss is Dragon Magazine, such that we could have articles like 'Long Term Magic' discussing how to have 1) rules for making reverse gravity or create bonfire more long term than 1 minute duration without 2) making their in-combat uses too overpowering. 3.5 was fine with permanency, but it 1) used xp cost, a mechanic (which along with going backwards in xp in general) people have long wanted to get rid of, 2) was restricted to a specific list specifically because of the unknown consequences of blanket allowances of making things permanent. A nice, concise 4-5 page article in Dragon (thus making clear that the DM still had to okay anything) would work perfectly.

[Sigreid]

What I miss is Dragon Magazine, such that we could have articles like 'Long Term Magic' discussing how to have 1) rules for making reverse gravity or create bonfire more long term than 1 minute duration without 2) making their in-combat uses too overpowering. 3.5 was fine with permanency, but it 1) used xp cost, a mechanic (which along with going backwards in xp in general) people have long wanted to get rid of, 2) was restricted to a specific list specifically because of the unknown consequences of blanket allowances of making things permanent. A nice, concise 4-5 page article in Dragon (thus making clear that the DM still had to okay anything) would work perfectly.

I liked Dragon Magazine, but I think it was basically a combination of fluff and UA/homebrew when I took it.

[Man_Over_Game]

You could just talk to your DM about upcasting a spell like Guards and Wards to include a sort of Leomund's Tiny Hut effect. Or include it as part of the alterations to Druid Grove.

I'd have no problem letting my players implement something like that, although I might make it difficult or expensive.

Maybe you have to hire a high level Storm Sorcerer to enchant the area around the castle to have calm winds and slightly warmer temperatures.

[Unoriginal]

Honestly what's the issue with handling that like a magic item?


5e has made permanent magic effects harder to get, but not impossible.

[Sigreid]

Honestly what's the issue with handling that like a magic item?


5e has made permanent magic effects harder to get, but not impossible.

No real issue. Treating enchanting the stronghold as magic item creation is what I was thinking. I just got curious how other people would handle the puzzle. And it hasn't disappointed. There have been some great ideas I hadn't thought of.

[KorvinStarmast]

The best way is having a good isolation.
Air is pretty good for isolation. Insulation is what I think you meant. :smallcool:

For the OP:
When you get to level 17, do the wish simulacrum thing and have the second or third simulacrum in charge of heating. :)

[Sigreid]

Insulation is what I think you meant. :smallcool:

For the OP:
When you get to level 17, do the wish simulacrum thing and have the second or third simulacrum in charge of heating. :)

At 17 the simulacrum's first job is granting me resistance to all damage types. It's fine if he burns out his ability to cast wish. 😁

[Unoriginal]

No real issue. Treating enchanting the stronghold as magic item creation is what I was thinking. I just got curious how other people would handle the puzzle. And it hasn't disappointed. There have been some great ideas I hadn't thought of.

Another possibility is to convince (or """convince""") a powerful creature with a warming Regional Effect to stay in your castle.

[No brains]

Planar Ally an Azer to be a boiler room operator. You can pay it in metal that it can work while it just sits around in your house.

I think other fire elementals produce more heat, but Azers are the most stable. Magmins and mephits will eventually set the wrong things on fire. Efreet and Salamanders will probably stab you.

I wonder if we can extrapolate units of heat from the die damage of various creatures heat abilities. Can 1 Azer heat a home? Do you need a Fire Elemental for a mansion?

Can you just use blankin' doors and blankets like a normal person?

[Sigreid]

Planar Ally an Azer to be a boiler room operator. You can pay it in metal that it can work while it just sits around in your house.

I think other fire elementals produce more heat, but Azers are the most stable. Magmins and mephits will eventually set the wrong things on fire. Efreet and Salamanders will probably stab you.

I wonder if we can extrapolate units of heat from the die damage of various creatures heat abilities. Can 1 Azer heat a home? Do you need a Fire Elemental for a mansion?

Can you just use blankin' doors and blankets like a normal person?

Whether Azer can generate enough heat or not, I bet they could build a heating and plumbing system.

[Chronos]

The loss of the Permanency spell doesn't matter much, since most of the same spells that used to be able to be made permanent still can be. You just need to do the cast-every-day-for-a-year thing instead of burning XP and an extra spell slot. Which works thematically, anyway.